7V//. 1 /:/;/ slIRBW, Oli 



other, yet th.- bite of a shn-w is M > insignificant a* to make hanlly an\ mipreM eren on the 

 delicate skin nf the human hand. 



Popular prejudici-. however, here steps in. and attributes to tin- Lit.- of tin- Shrew Midi 

 venomous j in i jH-rties that in many parts of the world the \ijN-r is let** feared ilian tin- little 

 harmless Shrew. Tin- very touch i.f tin- Shrew's foot is considered a* a certain herald of .-\il. 

 ati<i animals or men which had been "Shrew struck" were 8iip|.os,.d t., labor under a mai:id\ 

 which was incural'l-- .-\i-i-pt l>\ a rather singular remedy, which part.ik.-s som--\\ hat <.f the 

 hoin<i-o|iathi<- principle, tliat sjmilia sitnilil>us eurantur." 



Tin- curative power which alone could heal tin- Shrew stroke lay in tin- branches of u 

 Slut-wash, or an ash tree which had Iteen imbued with tin- shrewish natiiit- l.\ a MTV -.iinpli- 

 process. A living Shn-\\ was .aptuif<l and carri-d to tin- a-sli-tn-*- wliich was ini.-n>|.-.| t<> 

 iht> hcalin virtues \i\ .. . . .- madi into tin v .'.'<> ' pool Bkrav 



into tin- cavity, and the aiipT-hol.- cl<.s,-,| |.\ a o<M|-n plu^. Fortunately for th 

 \M-.-r--h- ! In: I prisoner, the entin H-anl of ail would almost iiniiH-<liat-l> . .1 ,- its di-ath 

 But were its little life to linger for ever so long a time in the ash-trunk, its inninvratioti would 

 still have taken plare, for where superstition mines its cruel head, huinaiiit \ is l>:mis|i,-,|. 



The iMtfiular ideas n*s]MH-tini; the Shn-w's liite, whicli one.- it-i^n.-d e\en OM-I- the s. j, t , 

 title world, and are still in full forre throughout many portions ( ,f the rural districts, may 

 be guthfivd from the following extract from a curious old zoological author named Tops.-!, 

 in his "History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents," published in London in the year 

 A.D. 1658, p. 406:- 



" It is a ravening beast, feigning itself gentle and tame, but being touched, it biteth 

 de-]>, and jxiysoiieth deadly. It beareth a cniel minde. desiring to hurt anything, neither in 

 then- any creature that it loveth, or it loveth him, because it is feanxl of all. The cat*, as 

 we have said, '! hunt i'. and UD ''- M ''> > ' ""' 'i.-Hi. En U ttfcQJ ;'. !'.> OOMUM 

 away and die. They annoy vines, and are seldom taken, except in <-old ; they frequent 

 ox-dung, and in the wintertime rejMiir to hous^-s. ptrdens. and stalles. wh.-it- they are taken 

 and killed. 



"If they fall into a cart-road, they ilie. and cannot get forth again, as .!/;// ////.v. .\,, ,//,//,/. 

 and Pliny affirm. And the reason is given by Philex, for tx-ing in the same, it is so amazed, 

 and trembleth, as if it were in bands. And for this cause some of the ancient* have prescribed 

 the earth of a cart-road to be laid to the biting of this mouse as a remedy thereof. They go 

 very slowly ; they are fraudulent, and take their prey by deceit. Many times they gnaw the 

 oxes hoofs in the stable. 



"They love the rotten flesh of ravens; and therefore in I-'nnn; . when they have killed 

 a raven, they keep it till it stinketh. and then cu-st it in the places where the Shrew-mice 

 haunt, whereunto they gather in so great a number, that you may kill them with shovels. 

 The Egyptians, upon the former opinion of holiness, do bury them when they die. And thus 

 much for the description of this beast The succeeding discourse toiu-heth the m-decines 

 arising out of this beast ; also the cure of her venomous bitingB. 



"The Shrew, which by falling by chance into a cart-rode or track, doth die upon the some, 

 l>eiiur burned, and afterwards beaten, or dissolved into dust, and mingled with goose -greaae, 

 being rubbed or anointed upon those which are troubled with the nwelling coming by the 

 cause of some inflammation, doth bring into them a wonderful and most admirable cure and 

 remedy. The Shrew being slain or killed, hanging so that neither then nor afterwards she 

 may touch the ground, doth help those which are grieved and pained in their bodied, with 

 sores called fellons or biles, which doth jKiin them with a great inflammation, so that it be 

 three times environed or compassed about the party so troubled. 



"The Shrew which dyeth in the furrow of a cart-wh.-.-!. leing found and mwled in ] 

 clay or a linnen cloth, or in crimson, or in scarlet \\iMillen cloth, and three times marked about 

 the impnstrumes. which ill suddenly swell in any man's body, will very speedily and effect- 

 ually help and cure the same. 



"The tail of a Shrew being cut off and burned, and afterwards beaten into dust, and 



