Nor is this Salamanders wooll desumed from any Animal, but a Mineral substance Metaphorically so called from this received opinion. For beside _Germanicus_ his heart, [SN: Suetonius.] and _Pyrrhus_ his great Toe, [SN: Plutarch.] which would not burn with the rest of their bodies, there are in the number of Minerals some bodies incombustible; more remarkably that which the ancients named _Asbeston_, and _Pancirollus_ treats of in the Chapter of _Linum vivum_. Whereof by art were weaved Napkins, Shirts, and Coats, inconsumable by fire; and wherein in ancient times to preserve their ashes pure, and without commixture, they burnt the bodies of Kings. A Napkin hereof _Pliny_ reports that _Nero_ had, and the like saith _Paulus Venetus_ the Emperour of _Tartary_ sent unto Pope _Alexander_; and also affirms that in some part of _Tartary_ there were Mines of Iron whose filaments were weaved into incombustible cloth. Which rare Manufacture, although delivered for lost by _Pancirollus_, yet _Salmuth_ his Commentator affirmeth, that one _Podocaterus_ a Cyprian, had shewed the same at _Venice_; and his materials were from _Cyprus_, where indeed _Dioscorides_ placeth them; the same is also ocularly confirmed by _Vives_ upon _Austin_, and _Maiolus_ in his Colloquies. And thus in our days do men practise to make long-lasting Snasts for Lamps out of Alumen plumosum; and by the same we read in _Pausanius_, that there always burnt a Lamp before the Image of _Minerva_. CHAPTER XV Of the Amphisbæna. That the Amphisbæna, that is, a smaller kind of Serpent, which moveth forward and backward, hath two heads, or one at either extream, was affirmed first by _Nicander_, and after by many others, by the Author of the Book _De Theriaca ad Pisonem_, ascribed unto _Galen_; more plainly _Pliny_, _Geminum habet caput, tanquam parum esset uno ore effundi venenum_: but _Ælian_ most confidently, who referring the conceit of _Chimera_ and _Hydra_ unto Fables, hath set down this as an undeniable truth. Whereunto while men assent, and can believe a bicipitous conformation in any continued species, they admit a gemination of principle parts, not naturally discovered in any Animal. True it is that other parts in Animals are not equal; for some make their progression with many legs, even to the number of an hundred, as _Juli_, _Scolopendræ_; or such as are termed _Centipedes_: some fly with two wings, as Birds and many Insects, some with four, as all farinaceous or mealy-winged Animals, as Butterflies, and Moths: all vaginipennous or sheath-winged Insects, as Beetles and Dorrs. Some have three Testicles, as _Aristotle_ speaks of the Buzzard; and some have four stomachs, as horned and ruminating Animals; but for the principle parts, the Liver, Heart, and especially the brains; regularly they are but one in any kind or species whatsoever.