Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/641

Rh the church of Chuttens, in the Jorat Hills, possessed a miraculous image of St. Pancrace. A pig having destroyed a child, this image was Drought out, and the child was restored to life. The pig was cited to appear in the bishop's court, and, being found guilty of willful murder, was sentenced to death. De Ruchat adds that the executioner was a pork-butcher.

With an abundant share of exorcisms, charms, and enchantments for the extirpation of vermin in olden time, England does not appear to have enjoyed the notoriety of the legal proceedings against animals which we have recorded as prevalent in foreign countries. There is, however, a curious case of the trial of a dog in 1771, near Chichester, which gave rise to a facetious parody, "A Report of the Case of Farmer Carter's Dog, Porter," by Mr. Long, a lawyer, who died in 1813. Home, in his "Every-day Book" (vol. ii.), gives an account of this mock trial, somewhat abridged from the original pamphlet in his possession, but without other alteration, together with a portrait of the dog Porter in the dock. The names of the parties engaged in the real trial are given, with those of the nicknames in the parody. The former are Butler, Aldridge, Challen, and Bridger, understood by the names of J. Bottle, A. Noodle, Mat o' th' Mill, and O. Ponser.

In Lord Fountainhall's "Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs," a curious affair is mentioned in connection with the boys of Heriot's Hospital in 1681-'82, the year in which the Earl of Argyll was tried and convicted of high treason for refusing the test-oath without certain qualifications. The hospital boys made a mockery of the reasoning of the Crown lawyers on this subject. They resolved among themselves that the house-dog belonging to the establishment held a public office and ought to take the test. The paper being presented to the mastiff, it refused to swallow the same unless it was rubbed over with butter. Being a second time tendered, buttered, the dog swallowed it, and was next accused and condemned for having taken the test, with a qualification, as in the case of Argyll!

Charms and exorcisms for the dispersion or destruction of noxious animals prevailed from a remote period, and some of the superstitions, in a modified sense, still exist in our own country, and especially abroad. In the middle ages, history makes frequent mention of the calamities caused by plagues of insects. These were the more destructive, as agricultural science, almost in its infancy at that period, offered few remedies for preventing or mitigating the ravages. Recourse was consequently had to the assistance of the clergy, who listened to the complaint, interposed with prayers, and anathematized those enemies of mankind as the work of Satan. Thus St. Mammet, Bishop of Vienne, exorcised certain devils who had taken the figures of wolves and pigs, and had devoured children. Gregory of Tours (573-595) alludes in his "History" to talismans against mice, serpents, and conflagrations.

The suits against animals not unfrequently led to more serious