26 Rev. Dr Scott 07t the Semamith of Solomon. 



to admire its dexterity, and declare that it discovered great wiiv- 

 doni, though it was little on the earth. 



Indeed, every reflecting person would be filled with amaze- 

 ment, when he beheld this Httle animal creeping up the walls, 

 or along the ceiling of a house, grasping, as it would seem, the 

 inequalities of the timber, and roughnesses of the stones, that 

 its fall might be prevented, and its journey, perilous, at least, 

 if not impossible to other creatures, accomplished. 



The animal, which performs such feats of daring and skill, 

 loves to frequent houses of every name, new houses as well as 

 old, palaces as well as cottages. Aristotle says, that it dwells in 

 stables ; Antonius Liberalis, that it is found near common shores ; 

 Pliny, that it resides in slaughter-houses, windows, caverns and 

 tombs ; Arnobius, that it nestles in the cavities of statues ; and 

 Mathiolus, that it lodges in the holes of walls near the ground. 

 With great propriety, then, it has been called the house-lizard, 

 by Porphyry, as quoted by Eusebius, by Suidas^ by the Ety- 

 mologist, and Phavorinus, among the Greeks ; and by Alhasim, 

 an Arabian physician of Bagdat. 



Aristophanes, Dioscorides, and Avicenna declare, that this li- 

 zard fastens itself by its hands to the roofs of houses, but some- 

 times losing its hold, drops down among the dishes on a table, 

 and poisons the liquor of the cups, if it happens to touch it. 

 Those may believe this account who can, but our faith is not 

 strong enough to credit what Bustamentinus of Complutum as- 

 serts, that, when, by some accident, these animals have been 

 mingled with the food, they have poisoned whole nations. Many 

 are the remedies prescribed against these poisonous results by 

 yEtius, Paulus ^gineta, and Avicenna, but whether they be 

 dictated by knowledge or error, is another matter. 



That lizards of all kinds are very numerous in Syria, these 

 words of Bruce demonstrate : " I am positive that I can say 

 without exaggeration, that the number, I saw one day in the 

 great court of the Temple of the Sun at Balbec, amounted to 

 many thousands. The ground, the walls and the stones were 

 covered widi them ; and the various colours of which they con- 

 sisted, made a very extraordinary appearance, glittering in the 

 sun, in which they lay sleeping and basking." 



