iendly aspects, as in the hour of
Venus. Such signs as ascend in the day must be taken in the day. If
they increase in the night, then the work must be done in the night.
Wise men tell us that an olive planted by a virgin will thrive, but if
by an unchaste woman it will wither. If a serpent be found in a hole,
it may be safely pulled out by the left hand, but to attempt to do so
with the right would be dangerous.

Learned writers on magic say that if one take a new knife, and cut a
lemon with it while the operator is expressing words of hatred or
dislike against a person he or she may wish evil to, the object of
hatred will feel uneasy, and become unwell. If a live pigeon be cut
through the heart while an evil wisher is venting curses against a
friend or neighbour, the individual against whom the evil wishes are
made will suffer in body and mind. A man will be put in great fear if
his image, prepared according to the arts of magic, be suspended by a
single hair or thread, however far distant he may be from the scene of
operation. If a person suffering from toothache or asthma catch a live
frog before sunrise, and spit into its mouth, immediate relief will be
the result. If the plague or any epidemic disease threaten a village
or town, the disorder will be stayed by a live toad being suspended
for three or four days in a chimney. The dried body of a dead toad,
worn in the breast, prevents the possessor of the charm from being
injured by any infectious disease. Hippocrates had great honours
conferred on him on account of the cures he effected by the
application of certain parts of reptiles to disordered persons. The
heart of a toad, suspended by a blue ribbon round the neck, will cure
the king's evil. Rape seed, sown with cursing and imprecation, grows
better, we are told, than when the seed is blessed. If one wear a
girdle of civet-cat skin in battle, he will escape unhurt. Those
skilled in such secrets say they can be easily explained. In their
arguments they point to the antipathy of certain natural things,
animate and inanimate, to other things in nature. The wing of a bat
and the heart of a lapwing repel evil spirits and wicked passions; the
bustard flies off when a horse comes in sight, and the hart bounds
away at the sight of a ram or viper; a lion trembles at the crowing of
a cock. If one swallow the heart of a lapwing, mole, or weasel, taken
from the animal when alive, it will improve his understanding, and
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