Natural History 119consciously focused on the provisions of cures than were works on ani-
mals, and for this reason were more closely aligned with the practice of
medicine or “physic.” Indeed, during the Middle Ages, the chief reposi-
tory of knowledge about nature was not natural history, but medicine.^2 In
addition to living things, “stones” or “minerals” were also the subjects of
natural histories along with specifi c geographical locations, both familiar
and exotic, aspects of animal and human psychology, and even human
productions.
The content and style of works of natural history is best conveyed
through consideration of a typical example, such as The Historie of Foure-
footed Beastes (1607) by English clergyman and naturalist Edward Topsell
(1572–1625?). In the preface to the work, Topsell states that it is his in-
tention to provide the reader with descriptions of “the true and lively
nature of every Beast, with a discourse of their severall Names, Condi-
tions, Kindes, Vertues (both naturall and medicinal), Countries of their
breed, their love and hate to Mankinde, and the wonderfull worke of God
in their Creation, Preservations, and Destruction.”^3 Topsell’s thirty- page
account of the lion, for example, commences with a general introduction
accompanied by an illustration, before proceeding to an account of the
“severall names of Lions” in ancient and modern languages, etymological
speculations on those names, the kinds of lions, their geographical distri-
butions, their color, epithets, voice, rage, food and eating, cruelty, hatred,
terrors, lust, adultery, and respect for their elders. There follows a selection
of stories about lions, usually to do with their relations with humans—
Androcles and the lion, unfortunate men devoured by lions, men who
have overcome lions, men transfi gured into lions. Topsell then gives an
account of the mental characteristics of lions, their understanding, their
anger and its signs, epigrams of poets concerning the rage of lions. Specifi c
practical advice concerning the hunting and taming of lions is provided
next, along with the “uses” of their parts. References to statues of lions,
the constellation of the lion, scriptural allusions to the lion follow. The
entry concludes with a separate section on “the medicines of the Lyon.”^4
The reader is thus presented with what seems to be an odd combina-
tion of fact, folklore and fantasy, literary allusions, poetry, and pharma-
cology. While some information appears in a form that might pass as
“zoology” today, the intention of the author seems to be to provide a
comprehensive account of this animal not as it appears in nature, but as it
is represented in texts. Topsell’s work is primarily one of scholarship rather
than observation. The claims it makes are authenticated through appeals
to textual authorities, the vast majority of which are ancient sources.