APPETITE OP THE GLUTTON. 63 



Ancient writers had some curious notions concern- 

 ing the eating powers of the glutton. Thus, Pontop- 

 pidan says, " If the glutton finds a carcass six times 

 as big as itself, it does not leave off eating while a 

 mouthful of it is left. It must be plagued with such 

 an insatiable hunger that a full belly does not even 

 satisfy it." The bishop also affirms that a personal 

 friend, in whose truthfulness he could place implicit 

 confidence, informed him that he had seen a glutton, 

 when captured alive, a rare occurrence, and kept in 

 confinement by being chained to a staple in a wall, 

 endeavour to appease its hunger by eating the mortar 

 and stones !" " Perhaps," says this quaint old author, 

 " the glutton is created as a moral lesson for those men, 

 of whom the apostle says, ' At deres Gud er bugen,' 

 1 Whose belly is their God/ " 



Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, in Sweden, 

 asserts that the glutton squeezes itself between two 

 trees, in order to get rid of the contents of its stomach, 

 so that it may eat again. The same author adds, that 

 if a person sleeps on a bed covered with a glutton's 

 skin, he will be troubled with the most frightful 

 dreams. He will have visions of dainty meats and 

 expensive drinks, of which he cannot partake, al- 

 though dying of hunger and thirst; and this tanta- 

 lizing banquet will be spread before his longing eyes 

 night after night without a single intermission. 



The Norwegian glutton is long and thin in body. 

 It is evident that its voracious appetite does not put 

 much flesh on its bones. It is about three feet four 

 inches in length. Its claws and teeth are sharp ; its 

 muzzle is pointed ; its colour is black, streaked with 

 brown and yellow; sometimes it is brown, with a 



