Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/636

 542 Outlines of European History phenix, and in still stranger habits of real animals. A single example will suffice to show what passed for zoology in the thirteenth century. The "There is a little beast made like a lizard and such is its salamander ^^^^^^ that it will extinguish fire should it fall into it. The beast is so cold and of such a quality that fire is not able to burn it, nor will trouble happen in the place where it shall be." This beast signifies the holy man who lives by faith, who " will never have hurt from fire nor will hell burn him. . . . This beast we name also by another name, salamander. It is accustomed to mount into apple-trees, poisons the apples, and in a well where it falls it poisons the water." Medieval " The eagle [we are told by a learned writer of the time elg^f habits of Henry II], on account of its great heat, mixeth very cold stones with its eggs when it sitteth on them, so that the heat shall not destroy them. In the same way our words, when we speak with undue heat, should later be tempered with discretion, so that we may conciliate in the end those whom we offended by the beginning of our speech." Moral It will be noticed that the habits of the animals were sup- Sved from poscd to have some moral or religious meaning and carry with the habits ^m a Icsson for mankind. It may be added that this and of animals similar stories were centuries old and are found in the encyclo- pedias of the Romans. The most improbable things were re- peated from generation to generation without its occurring to any one to inquire if there was any truth in them. Even the most learned men of the time believed in astrology and in the miracu- lous virtues of herbs and gems. For instance, Albertus Magnus, one of the most distinguished thinkers of the thirteenth century, says that a sapphire will drive away boils and that the diamond can be softened in the blood of a stag, which will work best if the stag has been fed on wine and parsley. From the Roman and early Christian writers the Middle Ages got the idea of strange races of men and manlike creatures of various kinds. We find the following in an encyclopedia of the