328 APPENDIX. 



space, and then re-enter the empty matrix, wherein it disposed itself 

 quietly in a coil*. 



Earthworms when they emerge from the soil, and crawl about, 

 have been long known to presage change of weather : *' Item vermes 

 terreni erumpentes.'* — Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 18. sect. 88. 



By the barber-surgeons and physicians of ancient times down to 

 comparatively recent days, earthworms were often prescribed me- 

 dicinally. Q. Seramis Samonicus, a physician of the age of Severus, 

 deems it not beneath him to tell the young how to improve the hair : 



" Lumbrici quoque terrestres miscentur olivo 

 Et juvenem prsestant redivivo flore capillum." 



And earthworms, boiled in goose-grease, are good for deafness ; and 

 the powder of them roasted helps decayed teeth. But their virtues 

 are best given in the words of Dr. Bullein : — 



" Earth wormes are hot of nature and of them are a pressious 

 ointment made to close woundes, and if thei be sodden in goose 

 greece and strained it is a good oyntment for to drop into a dull hear- 

 ing eare, poring it in the contrarie side. Earth wormes stamped are 

 good for payned teeth. The oyle of wormes be greatly commended 

 for the comforting of the sinewes, jointes, vaines, and goute, thei 

 must be washed in white wine, and the oiles of Verbascum or Cowslops, 

 of Roses, of Lilies, of Dil, of Chamomill, all sodden together, whan it 

 is colde put in your earth wormes, stoppe your glasse, let it stande 

 xl daies in the sunne, then straine it, it will make an excellent oile 

 against ache, sciatica, goute, &c. Reade more of them Plini lib. xxx. 

 cap. ix. And thus I do ende of earth wormes, whiche are the bowels 

 of the grounde or earth, whiche earth is colde and drie of nature, 

 yet the mother of eche lining wight, fostereth and geueth fode to 

 euery creature, both sensible and insensible and remaineth still firme 

 and stable, and eche creature hath his originall spring, and first life 

 upon the earth, whan thei haue runne their race, some in pleasure 

 and other some in wretchednes, the earth doeth deuoure them againe 

 at length and swallow them, as though thei had neuer bene : and 

 thus is generacion turned into corruption as Aristotle affirmethf ." 



'* After these follows properly the Worms, which some have called 

 the intestines of the earth. These proceed immediately from the 

 egg, and do not afterwards undergo any change, coming forth at 

 their full perfection. The females, from their first hatching, have 

 their little eggs, which are very distinct and perceptible. I observe 



* The " eggs " described and delineated in Jones's Anim. Kingd. p. 209. fig. 85, 

 Ijelong evidently to a species different from our L. terrestris. The figures of 

 Lyonet resemble ours. — Lesser Insect Theology, pi. 2. f. 1, 2 ; and so do those 

 given by Duges, which he says are the eggs of the Lumbricus trapezoides. — Ann. 

 des So. nat. xv. p. 337. pi. 9. f. 6. See Williams, Rep. p. 261. 



t The Booke of Simples, fol. xc. — See also Jonston, Hist. nat. de Insect, lib. iii. 

 198; and Paulus iEgineta by Adams, iii. 85. Aldrovandus de Insect, lib. vi. 695. 

 Lesser Insect Theol. ii. 182. — The original storehouse is Plinii Hist. Nat. lib. xxx. 



"A day or two ye shul have digestives 

 Of wormes or ye take your laxatives." — Chaucer. 



