174 THE SALAMANDER INCOMBUSTIBLE. 



that the same race which, furnishes the " bane " affords also the 

 "antidote;" and though in Rome it was a common proverb, "If 

 a Salamander bites you, put on your shroud," it was not from 

 any deficiency of sovereign remedies. 



But the grand absurdity of all was the belief that the Sala- 

 mander was incombustible ; that it not only resisted the action of 

 fire, but could live in the midst of it without inconvenience, and 

 extinguish it at pleasure. It is somewhat remarkable, however, 

 that while some of the ancient writers express themselves with 

 evident reserve and hesitation on this point, the belief appears to 

 have held its ground long after the exaggerated idea entertained 

 by the ancients of the animal's poisonous properties had begun to 

 decline. Aristotle has often been quoted as giving his sanction 

 to the belief which obtained in his time, but the language he 

 employs " For the Salamander (as they say~), walking through 

 the fire, extinguishes it" clearly shows that he had some doubts 

 about the matter. Pliny expresses his doubts still more xm- 

 cquivocally, and this is the more remarkable, since, as a general 

 rule, the more extraordinary the stories he relates, the more 

 ready he is to adopt them. He puts it thus : that if what the 

 magicians report of the Salamander's power to extinguish fire 

 had proved true, it would have been long since put in practice 

 at Rome ; and then he adduces the authority of Sextius, who, as 

 he says, " denieth flatly that it doth extinguish and put out the 

 fire." It seems strange that long ages after this, Lord Bacon 

 should be found, as in his " Sylva Sylvarum," expressing himself 

 as in doubt whether the animal really possessed the extraordi- 

 nary power over the flames that was ascribed to it. But that 

 the popular belief in the incombustible nature of the Salamander 

 still obtained appears evident from a curious reference to the 

 subject in "The Plaine Man's Pathway to Heauen" a book, by 

 the way, to which John Bunyan was probably indebted for the 

 original idea of the " Pilgrim's Progress," and which, in his " Grace 

 Abounding," he mentions as one of the two books that formed the 

 only dowry of his wife where it is said, " As the Salamander 

 is alwaies in the fire and neuer consumeth, so the wicked shall 

 be alwaies in the fire of hell, and neuer consume." The last 

 remnant of this ancient belief appears now to have passed away, 

 its disappearance having, no doubt, been greatly expedited by 

 what, according to the high authority of Sydney Smith, has 



