Book II, chapters 5–10: Mingling and generating living creatures

CHAP. V.

That new kinds of living Creatures may be generated of divers beasts, by carnal copulation.

WE have shewed that living Creatures are generated of putrefaction: now we will shew, that sundry kinds of beasts coupling together, may bring forth new kinds of Creatures, and these also may bring forth others; so that infinite monsters may be daily gendred: for whereas Aristotle saith, that Africk alwayes brings forth some new thing; the reason thereof is this, because the Country being in most places dry, divers kinds of beasts come out of sundry quarters thither, where the Rivers were, and there partly for lust, and partly by constraint, coupled together, and so gendred divers monstrous Creatures. The Antients have set down many such generations, and some are lately devised, or found out by chance; and what may be hereafter, let men of learning judge. Neither let the opinions of some Philosophers stay us, which hold that of two kinds divers in nature, a third cannot be made, unlike to either of the parents; and that some Creatures do not gender at all, as Mules do not: for we see, that, contrary to the first of these their positions, many Creatures are generated of kinds divers in nature, and of these are generated others, to the perpetual conservation of this new kind; as hath been tried in many Villages, that divers kinds coupling together, have brought forth other new kinds, differing from their progenitors every day more and more, as they multiply their copulations, till at length they are scarce in any thing like the former. And against their second Position, we must not think that the one example of Mules not gendring, should prejudice the common course of other creatures. The commistions or copulations, have divers uses in Physick, and in Domestical affairs, and in hunting: for hereby many properties are conveyed into many Creatures. First, we will rehearse those experiments, which the Antients have described, and then those which new Writers have recorded, and our selves have seen in divers Countries. And by this, the ingenious Reader may find out others. But first I will relate certain observations, which Aristotle and others have prescribed, that this kind of generation may be more easily wrought. First, the creatures thus coupled, must be of an equal pitch; for if there be great oddes in their bignesse, they cannot couple: a dog and a wolf, a Lion and a Panther, an Asse and a Horse, a Partridge and a Hen, are of one bignesse, and therefore may couple together; but a Horse and a Dog, or a Mare and an Elephant, or a Hen and a Sparrow cannot. Secondly, they must have one and the same space to bring forth in: for if one of them bring forth in twelve moneths, and the other in six, then the young will be ripe by one side, when it is but half ripe by the other. A dog must have two moneths, and a horse must have twelve: and the Philosopher saith, no creature can be born, except he have his full time. So then a dog cannot be born of a man, nor a Horse of an Elephant, because they differ in the time of their bearing. Again, the creatures which we would thus couple, must be one as lustful as the other: for a chaste creature, that useth coition but once a year, if he have not his female at that time, he loseth his appetite before he can fancy any other mate: but those which are full of lust, will eagerly couple with another kind as well as their own. Among four-footed beasts, a dog, a goat, a swine, an ass, be most lascivious; among birds, partridges, quailes, doves, sparrows. Moreover, they must be coupled at such a time as is fit for generation: for Nature hath prescribed certain times and ages fit for that work. The common time, is the Spring; for then almost all Creatures are prone to lust. The ages of them must likewise be fit: for the generative power comes to creatures, at a set age. Neither of them must be barren, nor weak, nor too young; for then their seed is unfit for generation: but both of them, if it may be, in the prime of their best age and strength. If any creatures want appeti[…]e thereunto, there be many slights, whereby we may

Make them eager in lust.

And if the female do cast out the seed, there be means to make her hold in it. Provokements to lust there are many set down by Writers, and some usual with us. Aelianus writes, that keepers of sheep, and goats, and Mares, do besmear their hands with salt and nitre, and then rub the generative parts of them in the time of their coition, for their more lustful and eager performance of that action. Others besmear them with pepper, others with nettles seed, others with myrrh and nitre; all of them kindle the appetite of the female, being well rubbed therewith, and make her stand to her male. The He-goats, if you besmear their chin, and their nostrels with sweet ointment, are thereby much enclined to lust; and contrariwise, if you tie a thred about the middle of their tail, they are nothing so eager of copulation. Absyrtus sheweth, that if you wipe off some nature of seed of a mare, and therewith besmear the nostrils of a Stallion horse, it will make him very lustful. Dydimus saith, that if Rams, or any other beasts, feed upon the herb Milk-wort, they will become both eager to lust, and stronger for the act of copulation. Pliny sheweth, that Onions encrease desire of copulation in beasts, as the herb Rotchet doth in men. The She-ass, holds the seed within her the better, if presently after copulation she be well beaten, and her genitories besprinkled with cold water, to make her run after it. Many such helps are recorded by those who have written the histories of living creatures.

CHAP. VI.

How there may be Dogs of great courage, and divers rare properties, generated of divers kinds of Beasts.

WE will first speak of Dogs, as being a most familiar creature with us, and suiting with many beasts, in bignesse, in like time of breeding; and besides, being alwayes ready for copulation, and very lecherous, oft-times coupling with beasts of a far divers kind, and so changeth his shape and fashion, leaveth the bad qualities of his own kind, and is made fitter to hunt, to keep any thing from spoil, to play or make sport, and for divers other uses. And first, how

A strong Indian-dog may be generated of a Tygre.

This is called by some, a Mastive; by others a Warrior, or a Hircan-Dog. Aristotle calls them Indian-dogs, and saith, they are generated of a Dog and a Tygre; and elsewhere, of a dog and another wilde beast, but he names it not. Pliny writes, that the Indians intending to generate dogs of Tygres, tie the She-tygres in the woods about rutting time; and dogs coupling with them engender young: but the first and second births they care not for, as being too fierce; but the third they bring up, as being milder and fitter fot their uses. Aelianus relates the story of this kind of Dogs, out of Indian Writers: that the stoutest Bitches, and such as are swiftest to run, and best to hunt, are by the shepherds tied to certain Trees within the Tygres walk: as soon as the Tygres light upon them, if they have not before met with their prey, they devour them; but if they be full of meat, and hot in lust, then they couple with the Bitches; and so generate, not a Tygre, but a dog, their seed degenerating into the mothers kind. And these dogs thus gendred, scorn to hunt a Boar, or an Hart; but a Lion they will set gallantly upon. A Noble man of India made trial of the valor of these dogs, before Alexander the Great, on this manner: first, he set an Hart before him; but the Dog scorning the Hart, stirred not at him; next, a Boar, but neither stirred he at the Boar; after that a Bear, but he scorned the Bear too: last of all, a Lion; then the Dog seeing that he had an even match in hand, rose up very furiously, and run upon the Lion, and took him by the throat, and stifled him. Then the Indian that shewed this sport, and knew well this Dogs valour, first cut off his tail; but the Dog cared not for his tail, in comparison of the Lion which he had in his mouth: next, he cut off one of his legs; but the Dog held fast his hold still, as if it had been none of his legs: after that, he caused another of his legs to be broken; but the Dog still kept his hold: after that, his third leg, and yet still he kept his hold: after that, his fourth leg, and yet the Dog was still as fierce upon the Lion, as at the first: Nay, when last of all his head was cut off from his body, yet still it stuck fast by the teeth in the same place, where he took his first hold. Alexander seeing this, was much grieved for the Dogs death, and greatly amazed at his valour, that he would rather suffer his life, then his courage to be taken from him. The Indian perceiving that, gave to Alexander four such Dogs; and he received them as a great Present, and accepted them gladly and thankfully: and moreover, rewarded the Indian that gave them, with a Princely recompence. This same story Philes also writes. But Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, say that Sopithes a King, gave Alexander an hundred and fifty of these Dogs, all very huge and strong, and usually coupling with Tygres. And Pollux writes the same. And Plutark describes the Indian-dog, and his fight before Alexander, as it is before related: Pliny writes, that the King of Albania gave Alexander a great Dog, wherewith he was much delighted: but when he brought the Dog, first Bears, then Boars, and then Deer, and saw he would not touch them, being much offended that so great a body should have so little courage, he caused him to be killed. The King that gave him, hearing this, sent him another, and withal charged the Messenger, that he should not be tryed in small matches, but either with a Lion or an Elephant. So then, Alexander caused a Lion to be set before him, and presently the Dog killed him: afterward he tried him with an Elephant; and the Dog bristled and barked at him, and assaulted him so artificially every way, till the Elephant was giddy with turning about, and so fell down and was killed. Gratius writes of this kind of dogs, thus generated of a Bitch and a Tygre. There is also another kind of Dogs

Generated of a Lion.

And these are strong Dogs, and good Hunters. Pollux saith, that Arcadian Dogs first came of a Dog and a Lion, and are called Lion-dogs. And Coelius writes the same: and Oppianus commends the Arcadian Dogs, and those of Tegea, which is a Town of Acadia. This is also

A strong and swift Dog, gendred of a kind of Wolf called Thos,

which, as Aristotle writes, is in all his entrails like a Wolfs; and is a strong beast, swift, and is wont to encounter the Lion. Pliny saith, it is a kind of Wolf; Hesychius saith, it is like a Wolf; Herodotus, that it is gendred in Africa: Solinus calls them Ethiopian Wolves: Nearchus calls these beasts Tygres, and saith there be divers kinds of them. Wherefore Gratius saith, that dogs generated of these Thoes, are strong, and fit to hunt; and calls them half-savage, as coming of a tame Dog, and a savage kind of Wolf. There is also a

Dog called Crocuta, gendred of a Dog and a Wolf.

Pliny saith, that these Dogs break all things with their teeth, and presently devout them. As the Indians join Tygres, so do the Gaules join Wolves and Dogs together; every herd of Wolves there, hath a Dog for their Ring-leader. In the Country of Cyrene in Libya, Wolves do couple with Dogs, as Aristotle and Pollux write. Galen in his book concerning the use of Parts, writes, that a Bitch may conceive by a He-wolf, and so the She-wolf by a Dog, and retain each others seed, and ripen it to the bringing forth of both kinds. Diodorus saith, that the dog which the Aethiopian calls Crocuta, is a compound of the Nature of a Dog and a Wolf. When Niphus was hunting, one of his dogs eagerly pursued a she-wolf, and overtaking her, began to line her, changing his fiercenesse into lust. Albertus saith, that the great Dog called a Mastive, is gendred of a Dog and a Wolf. I my self saw at Rome, a dog generated of a wolf; and at Naples, a she-wolf of a dog. Ovid saith, that the dog Nape was conceived of a Wolf; and Ovid and Virgil both, mention the dog Lycisca, which, as Isiodore writes, are generated of wolves and dogs coupling together. Coelius calls these dogs Chaonides; being gendred of a kind of wolf called Chaos, as some suppose, whence they have that name. But if we would generate swift dogs, as Grey-hounds, we must join dogs with some swift beasts. As, couple dogs and foxes together, and they will

Gender swift Dogs, called Lacedamonian Dogs.

Aristotle, and out of him Galen, report, that beasts may couple together, though they be of a divers kind; so that their nature do not much differ, and they be of a like bignesse, and thereby sutable for their times of breeding and bringing forth, as it is betwixt dogs and wolves; of both which, are gendred swift dogs, called Lacedaemonian dogs: the first births are of both kinds; but in time, after sundry interchangeable generations, they take after the dam, and follow the kind of the female. Pollux saith, These are called Alopecidae, fox-dogs; as Xenoph[…] also writes of them, and makes them to be hunting dogs: and surely the best and swiftest hunting dogs, as Grey-hounds, are long-headed, and sharp-snou[…]ed, as foxes are. Hesychius and Varinus call them Dog-foxes. But now, if we would generate a kind of

Swift Dogs, and strong withal,

we must make a medley of sundry kinds of dogs together; as a Mastive and a Grey-hound gender a swift, and withal a strong dog, as Aristole writes: or else couple a dog with a wolf, or with a Lion; for both these mixtions have Hunts-men devised; the former, to amend certain natural defects in one kind; and the latter, to make their dogs stronger for the game, and craftier to espie and take advantages; as commonly, together with the properties of the body, the qualities of the mind are derived into the young ones. Ovid mentions such mungrels amongst Actaeons dogs: and Oppianus in his book of Hunting, counsels to join in the Spring-time, divers dogs together, if we desire to have any excellent parts in any; as the dogs of Elis, with them of Arcadia; the dogs of Crete, with them of Pannonia; Thracians, with them of Caria; Lacedaemonians, with them of Tuscia; and Sarmatian dogs, with Spanish dogs. Thus we see, how to generate a dog as stomackful as a Lion, as fierce as a Tygre, as crafty as a fox, as spotted as a Leopard, and as ravenous as a Wolf.

CHAP. VII.

How to generate pretty little dogs to play with.

BEcause a dog is such a familiar creature with man, therefore we will shew how to generate and bring up a little dog, and one that will be play-full. First of the generation

Of little Dogs.

In times past, women were wont to esteem little dogs in great price, especially such as came from Malta the Island situate in the Adriatical Sea, neer to Ragusius. Callimachus terms them Melitean dogs. And Aristotle in his Problems, shews the manner of their generation; where he questioneth, Why amongst living creatures of the same kind, some have greater, and some have smaller bodies; and gives thereof a double reason: one, is the straightnesse of the place wherein they are kept; the other, is the scarcenesse of their nourishment: and some have attempted to lessen the bodies of them, even after their birth; as they which nourish up little whelps in small cages: for thereby they shorten and lessen their bodies; but their parts are prettily well knit together, as appears in Melitaean dogs: for nature performes her work, notwithstanding the place. Athenaeus writes, that the Sybarites were much delighted with Melitaean dogs, which are such in the kind of dogs, as Dwarfes are among men. They are much made of, and daintily kept, rather for pleasure then for any use. Those that are chosen for such a purpose, are of the smallest pitch, no bigger at their best growth then a mouse, in body well set, having a little head, a small s[…]out, the nose turning upward, bended so for the purpose when they were young; long ears, short legs, narrow feet, tail somewhat long, a shagged neck, with long hair to the shoulders, the other parts being as it were shorn, in colour white; and some of them are shagged all over. These being shut up in a cage, you must feed very sparingly, that they never have their fill; and let them couple with the least you can find, that so lesse may be generated; for so Hippocrates writes, that Northern people, by handling the heads of dogs while they be young, make them lesse then, and so they remain even after they are come to their full growth: and in this shape they gender others, so that they make, as it were, another kind. But if you would know the generation of a

Dog that will do tricks and feats,

one that will make sport of himself, and leap up and down, and bark softly, and […] without biting, and stand upon his hindermost legs, holding forth his other legs like hands, and will fetch and carry; you must first let them converse and company with an Ape, of whom they will learn many sportful tricks; then let them line the Ape; and the young one which is born of them two, will be exceeding practised to do feats, such as Juglets and Players are wont to shew by their dogs. Albertus saith, that these kind of dogs may very well be generated of a dog and a fox.

CHAP. VIII.

How to amend the defects and lacks that are in dogs, by other means.

WE may also supply the lacks that are in dogs, by other means, and teach them new qualities, even by their food and nourishment: for we have shewed oft-times, that qualities are drawn in together with the milk and nourishment whereby we live. Columella shews how

to make Dogs strong and swift:

If you would have them full of stout spirits, you must suffer them to suck the breasts of some other beasts; for alwayes the milk, and the spirits of the nurse, are much available, both for the quality of the body, and the qualities of the soul. Oppianus bids us to keep hunting dogs from sucking any ordinary Bitches, or Goats, or Sheep; for this, saith he, will make them too lazy and weak; but they must suck a tame Lionesse, or Hart, or Doe, or Wolf; for so they will become swift and strong, like to their nurses that give them suck. And Aelianus gives the very same precept, in the very same words: for, saith he, when they shall remember that they had such strong and swift nurses, nature will make them ashamed not to resemble their qualities. Pollux saith, that for a while, the Dams milk is fittest meat for whelps; but after, let them lap the blood of those beasts which dogs have caught, that by little and little they may be acquainted with the sweetnesse of hunting. Ctesias in his book of Indian matters, writes, that the people called Cynamolgi, do nourish and feed many dogs with Bulls blood, which afterward being let loose at the Bulls of India, overcome them and kill them, though they be never so fierce: and the people themselves milk their Bitches, and drink it, as we drink Goats or Sheeps milk, as Aelianus reports: and Solinus writes, that this is supposed to make that people flap-mouthed, and to grin like dogs. We may also make

an Ass become couragious,

if we take him as soon as he is brought forth into the world, and put him to a Mare in the dark, that she may not discern him; for her own Colt being privily taken from her, she will give suck to the Asse as to her own foale: and when she hath done thus for the space of ten daies, she will give him suck alwayes after willingly, though she know him to be none of hers. Thus shall he be larger, and better every way.

CHAP. IX.

How to bring forth divers kinds of Mules.

WE will speak of the commixtion of Asses, Horses, and such like: though it be a known matter, yet it may be we shall adde something which may delight the Reader. Aelianus writes out of Democritus, that Mules are not Natures work, but a kind of theft and adultery devised by man: first committed by an Asse of Media, that by force covered a Mare, and by chance got her with foal; which violence men learned of him, and after that made a custom of it. Homers Scholiast saith, that Mules were first devised by the Venetians, a City of Paphlagonia. It is writ[…] Genesis, chap. 36. v. 24. that Anah, Esau's kinsman, feeding his fathers Asses in the wildernesse, found out Mules. Now

A Mule cometh of a Mare and an Ass.

They have no root in their own kind, but are graffed as it were, and double kinded, as Varro saith. If you would have a strong and a big Mule, you must chuse a Mare of the largest affize, and well-knit joints, not regarding her swiftnesse, but her strength. But there is another kind of mule called Hinnus, that cometh

of a Horse and a She-ass.

But here special choice must be made of the Asse, that she be of the largest affize, strongly jointed, and able to endure any labour, and of good qualities also; for howsoever it is the Sire that gives the name to the young one, and it is called Hinnus, of the Horse; yet it grows altogether like the Dam, having the main and the tail of an Asse, but Horses ears; and it is not so great of body as the Mule is, but much slower, and much wilder. But the best She-mules of all, are generated

of a wilde Ass, and of a She-ass,

and these are the swiftest too; for though the Mule that is begotten by the He-asse, be both in shape and qualities very excellent in his kind, yet that which is begotten of the wilde Asse, cometh nothing behind the other, but only that it is unruly and stubborn, and somewhat scammel, like the Sire. These Mules thus gendred of a wilde Asse, and a She-asse, if they be males, and put to cover a Mare, beget excellent young ones, which by little and little wax tame, resembling the shape and mildnesse of their Sire, but the stomack and swiftnesse of their Grand-sire; and they have exceeding hard feet, as Columella writes. These happily are the Mules which Aristotle writes, are only in Syria, swift, and fertile, called by the common name of Mules, because of their shape, though their kind be of a wild Asse. But there is a more common kind of

Strong Mules gendred of a Bull and an Ass,

which is a fourth sort of Mules, found in Gratianopolis, and called by a French name, Jumar. Gesner reports, that at the foot of the Hill Spelungus in Rhetia, was seen a Horse gendred of a Mare and a Bull. And I my self saw at Ferraria, certain beasts in the shape of a Mule, but they had a Bulls head, and two great knobs in stead of horns; they had also a Bulls eyes, and were exceeding stomackful, and their colour was black: a spectacle, wherewith we were much delighted. I have heard, that in France, they be common; but I could see none there, though I passed through the whole Country.

CHAP. X.

How to mingle the Sheep and Goats together, by generation.

IF we would better any qualities in a Ram, we must effect it by coupling them with wild beasts, such as are not much unlike, either in quantity or in kind. There is a beast called

Musinus, gendred of a Goat and a Ram.

Pliny saith, that in Spain, but especially in Corsica, there are beasts called Musimones not much unlike to Sheep, which have Goats hair, but in other parts, Sheep: the young ones which are gendred of them, coupling with Sheep, are called by the Antients, Umbri: Strabo calls them Musimones. But Albertus calls them Musini or Musimones, which are gendred of a Goat and a Ram. I have heard that in Rhetia, in the Helvetian confines, there are generated certain beasts, which are Goats in the hinder parts, but in the former parts, Sheep or Rams; but they cannot live long, but commonly they die, as soon as they are born: and that there the Rams being grown in years, are very strong and lustful, and so oft-times meeting with goats, do run over them: and that the young ones which wilde Rams beget of tame Sheep, are in colour like the Sire, and so is their breed after them; and the wool of the first breed is shaggy, but in their after-breed soft and tender. On the other side, there is a beast called

Cinirus, generated of a He-goat, and an Ewe,

as the same Albertus writeth. But the best devised adultery is, to couple in generation, and thereby to procreate young ones, of

A wilde and a tame Goat.

Writers affirm, that whatsoever kind hath some wilde, and some tame, the wildenesse of them, if they couple with the tame of the same kind, is altered in the succeeding generations; for they become tame. Columella writes, that many wilde Rams were brought out of Africa into Cales, by some that set out games before the people; and Columella, the Uncle of this Writer, bought some of them, and put them into his grounds; and when they were somewhat tame, he let them cover his Ewes: and these brought lambs that were rough, and had the colour of their Sire: but these then afterward coupling with the Ewes of Tarentum, begot lambs that had a thinner and a softer fleece. And afterward, all their succeeding generations resembled the colour of their Sires, and Grand-sires, but the gentlenesse and softnesse of their Dams. The like is experienced in Swine: for we may bring forth

Of a wild and a tame Swine, the beast called Hybrides:

for a Boar is exceeding hot in lust, and wonderfully desires coition; insomuch, that if the female refuse to couple with him, either he will force her, or kill her. And surely howsoever, some wilde beasts being made tame, are thereby unfit for generation, as a Goose, a Hart brought up by hand from his birth; and a Boar is hardly fruitfull in such a case: yet there is no kind so apt for generation, the one being wilde, and the other tame, as the kind of Swine is. And those which are thus gendred, these half-wilds, are called Hybrides, happily because they are generated in reproachful adultery: for Hybris signifies reproach.