CURIOUS CREATURES. 323 



did not onely draw the poyson of it unto his owne 

 body, and so dyed, but also killed his horse thereby." 



THE SALAMANDER. 



Many writers have essayed this fabled creature, but 

 almost all have approached the subject with diffidence, 

 as if not quite sure of the absolute entity of the animal. 

 Thus, Aristotle does not speak of it authoritatively : 

 " And the Salamander shews that it is possible for 

 some animal substances to exist in the fire, for they say 

 that fire is extinguished when this animal walks over 

 it." Pliny, on Salamanders, writes : " We find it stated 

 by many authors, that a serpent is produced from the 



spinal marrow of a man. Many creatures, in fact, 

 among the quadrupeds even, have a secret, and myste- 

 rious origin. 



" Thus, for instance, the salamander, an animal like a 

 lizard in shape, and with a body starred all over, never 

 comes out except during heavy showers, and disappears 

 the moment it becomes fine. This animal is so intensely 

 cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way 

 that ice doth. It spits forth a milky matter from its 

 mouth ; and whatever part of the human body is touched 

 with this, all the hair falls off, and the part assumes the 

 appearance of leprosy. . . . The wild boar of Pamphy- 

 lia, and the mountainous parts of Cilicia, after having 



