THE ERD SHREW, OR SHREW-MOUSE. 435 



fortunate circumstance that the larger animals are not so vindictively pugnacious as 

 the moles and the Shrews ; for it would be a very hard case if we were unable to put 

 two horses or two cows in the same field without the certajnty of immediate fight, and 

 the probability that one of the combatants would lose its life in fhe struggle. Such, 

 however, is the case with the Shrews ; for if two of these little quadrupeds be confined 

 in the same box, they are sure to fight to the death, and the consummation of the com- 

 bat is, generally, that the vanquished foe is eaten by the victor. 



However great may be the damage which the bite of such tiny teeth may inflict upon 

 each other, yet the bite of a Shrew is so insignificant as to make hardly any impress even 

 on the delicate skin of the human hand. Popular prejudice, however, here steps in, 

 and attributes to the bite of the Shrew such venomous properties that in many districts 

 of England the viper is less feared than the little harmless Shrew. The very touch of 

 the Shrew's foot is considered as a certain herald of evil, and animals or men which 

 had been " Shrew-struck " were supposed to labor under a malady which was incurable 

 except by a rather singular remedy, which partakes somewhat of the homoeopathic prin- 

 ciple, that " similia similibus curantur." 



The curative power which alone could heal the Shrew-stroke lay in the branches of 

 a Shrew-ash, or an ash-tree which had been imbued with the shrewish nature by a very 

 simple process. A living Shrew was captured and carried to the ash-tree which was 

 intended to receive the healing virtues. An auger-hole was made into the trunk, the 

 poor Shrew was introduced into the cavity, and the auger-hole closed by a wooden plug. 

 Fortunately for the wretched little prisoner, the entire want of air would almost imme- 

 diately cause its death. But were its little life to linger for ever so long a time in the 

 ash-trunk, its incarceration would still have taken place, for where superstition raises 

 its cruel head, humanity is banished. 



The popular ideas respecting the Shrew's bite, which once reigned even over the 

 scientific world, and are still in full force throughout many portions of the rural districts, 

 may be gathered from the following extract from a curious old zoological author named 

 Topsel, 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 

 deep, and poysoneth deadly. It beareth a cruel minde, desiring to hurt anything, neither 

 is there any creature that it loveth, or it loveth him, because it is feared of all. The 

 cats, as we have said, do hunt it, and kill it, but they eat not them, for if they do, they 

 consume away and die. They annoy vines, and are seldom taken, except in cold ; they 

 frequent ox-dung, and in the winter time repair to bouses, gardens, and stables, where 

 they are taken and killed. 



If they fall into a cart-road they die, and cannot get forth again, as Marcellus, Nican- 

 der, and Pliny affirm. And the reason is given by Philes, for being in the same, it is 

 so amazed, and trembleth, as if it were in bands. And for this cause some of the an- 

 cients 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 France, when they have killed 

 a raven, they keep it till it stinketh, and then cast 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 toucheth the 

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



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

 same, being burned, and afterwards beaten, or dissolved into dust, and mingled with 

 goose-grease, being rubbed or anointed upon those which are troubled with the swelling 

 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 bodies, with sores called fellons or biles, which doth pain them with a 



