Topsell states that “the left eie of a Hedgehog being fried with oyle, yealdeth a liquor which causeth sleep, if it bee infused into the eares with a quill. Warts of al sorts are likewise taken away by the same. If the right eie be fryed with the oile of lineseed and put in a vessell of red brasse, and afterward anoint his eies therewith, as with an eie-salue, he shal see as well in the darke as in the light.” The distinction is often a very important one in these old recipes between left or right, hind leg or front, male or female, and the like, and an error in any of these details completely upsets all hope of any benefit being derived; thus we see in this last receipt that a man might fry the left eye for ever, and never get any nearer the gift of nocturnal vision. In the same way “tenne sprigs of Laurell, seauen graines of Pepper, and the skin of the ribs of an hedgehog dryed and beaten, cast into three cups of water and warmed, so being drunk of one that hath the Collicke, and let rest, he shall be in perfect health; but with this exception, that for a man it must bee the membrane of a male hedgehog, and for a woman a female.” Porta declares that the ancients made their hair grow by using the ashes of a land-hedgehog. As no one ever heard of a water-hedgehog this stipulation seems almost needlessly precise. In another recipe we are told to “take the body of a hedgehog burnt to powder,[59] and if you adde thereto Beares-grease it will restore unto a bald man his heade of haire againe, if the place be rubbed vntil it be ready to bleed.” Bear’s grease pure and simple has long had a reputation amongst hair-dressers, and if this be as potent as they would have us believe, the rest of the prescription can scarcely claim much of the credit. The writer adds that “some mingle red Snailes,” but this is clearly optional, and we should certainly avail ourselves of the option. Epilepsy was to be cured by wearing a ring in which a portion of the hoof of a deer was enclosed. It may interest anyone with a partiality for venison to know that “Deer’s flesh that is catcht in Summer is poyson; because then they feed on Adders and serpents: these are venemous creatures, and by eating of them they grow thirsty; and this they know naturally, for if they drink before they have digested them they are killed by them; wherefore they will abstain from water, though they burn with thirst. Wherefore Stag’s flesh eaten at that time is venemous and very dangerous.” Shakespeare refers to the weeping of the deer, and tells how “The big round tears Cours’d one another down his innocent nose In piteous chace.”