132 SHAKESPEARE’S [GoaT. 
ing the leaves of tamarisk lose their gall. The rhodo- 
dendron is poison to Goats, and yet the same helpeth a 
man against the venom of serpents. Also they avoid 
cummin, for it maketh them mad, or bringeth upon them 
lethargies, and such like infirmities. He avoideth also the 
spittle of man, for it is hurtful to him, and yet he eateth 
many venomous herbs and groweth fat thereby. The Goats 
of Cephalonia drink not every day like other Goats, but 
only once or twice in six months, And wheras all other 
kind of cattle, when they are sick, consume and pule away by 
little and little, only Goats perish suddenly, insomuch as all 
that are sick are unrecoverable ; and the other of the stock 
must be instantly let blood and separated before the infec- 
tion overspread all. The female Goat easeth the pain of 
her eyes by pricking them upon a bullrush, and the male 
Goat by pricking them upon a thorn. The females never 
wink in their sleep, being herein like the roe-bucks. There 
are certain birds called [Goatsuckers] because of their suck- 
ing of Goats, and when these have sucked a Goat, she 
presently falleth blind. Young wild Goats gather meat 
and bring it to their mothers in their age, and likewise 
they run to the rivers or watering-places, and with their 
mouths suck up water, which they bring to quench the 
thirst of their parents; and whereas their bodies are rough 
and ugly to look upon, the young ones lick them over with 
their tongues, making them smooth and neat. The horns 
[of the wild Goats] serve them [the shepherds] instead of 
buckets to draw water out of the running streams; they 
are .so great, that no man is able to drink them off at one 
draught. The wild Goats of Egypt are said never to be 
hurt by scorpions. 
Topsell, “ Four-footed Beasts,” pp. 181-94. 
Ir Goat's blood be taken warm, with vinegar and the 
juice of hay and the like be boiled with glass, it makes the 
glass soft like paste, and it may be thrown against a wall, 
and will not break, and if the aforesaid be poured into a 
vase, and the face anointed with it, strange and horrible 
things will appear, and the man will think that he must 
die. 
Albertus Magnus, “ Of the Virtues of Animals,” 
