SCORPION"
450
SCOTCH PHILOSOPHY
Icon, et Descripf. A nimal. Icon, i, Der A nimal Ecerteh: ; but without descriptions. Three kinds of scorpions are named in the Descript. de VEnypte, xxii, 409 sq.) The wilderness of Sinai is especially alluded to as being in- habited by scorpions at the time of the Exodus (Ueut. viii, 15), and to this day these animals are common in the same district as well as in some parts of Palestine. Ehrenberg {Synib. Phys.) enumerates five species as oc- curring near Mt. Sinai, some of which are found also in the Lebanon. Ezekiel (ii, 6) is told to be in no fear of the rebellious Israelites — here compared to scorpions. There are many scorpions in Palestine — in the plains of Jordan, on the mountains of Judah,etc. (Troilo, Trm\ p. 433 ; Schulz, Leituxy, iv, 352 , Thomson, Lund and Book, i, 378 sq.), and they are proverbially common in Banias (Cajsarea Philippi). A part of the mountains bordering on Palestine in the south was named from them A crubbim. See Bochart, tluroz. iii, 538 sq. ; Shaw, Ti'av. p. 1G8. On the scorpion of Asia Minor, see Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 309 sq. ; and on those of Egypt, Olivier, Voyage, \, 171. Those found in Europe seldom exceed two or three inches in length, but in the tropical climates they are occasionally found six inches long. Those of Palestine are from one to three inches in length. There are few animals more formidable, and none more irascible, than the scorpion ; but, happily for mankind, they are equally destructive to their own species as to other animals. Maupertius put about a hundred of them together in the same glass j and they scarcely came into contact when they began to exert all their rage in mutual destruction, so that in a few days there remained but fourteen, which had killed and devoured all the rest. But their malignity is still more apparent in their cruelty to their offspring. He enclosed a female scorpion, big with young, in a glass vessel, and she was seen to devour them as fast as they were extruded. Tliere was only one of the number that escaped the general de- struction— by taking refuge on the back of its parent; and this soon after avenged the cause of its brethren by killing the old one in its turn. Such is the terrible nature of this insect; and it is even asserted that when placed in circumstances of danger, from which it per- ceives no way of escape, it will sting itself to death. Orduiarily, however, it is said to be extremely fond of its young, which it carries about on its back.
A scorpion for an egg (Luke xi, 12) was probably a proverbial expression. According to Erasmus, the Greeks had a similar proverb {avri irepKin: aKopiviov). But the creature has, of course, no likeness to an egg, as some have supposed that this passage implies (comp. Thomson, Land and Book, i, 379 sq.). The apostles were endued with power to resist the stings of serpents and scorpions (Luke x, 19). In the vision of St. John (Rev. ix, 3, 10) the locusts tliat came out of the smoke of the bottomless pit are said to have had '■ tails like unto
Scorjiions. 1. BiUhus occitanut, Syria. 2. Scvri^io Ca-»ar, West Africa.
scorpions," while the pain resulting from this creature's sting is alluded to in ver. 5. The prophecy here has received many fanciful interpretations. See Rkvela- TioN, Book of. The "scorpions" of 1 Kings xii, 11, 14; 2 Chron. x, 11, 14, have clearly no allusion whatever to the animal, but to some instrument of scourging, un- less, indeed, the expression is a mere figure. Celsius {Hiei'ob. ii, 45) thinks the "scorpion" scourge was the spiny stem of what the Arabs call IJedek, the Solanum melongena, var. esculentum, egg-plant, because, according to Abul-Fadli, this plant, from the resemblance of its spines to the sting of a scorpion, was sometimes called the " scorpion thorn ;" but, in all probability, this instru- ment of punishment was in the form of a whip armed with iron points, "Virga — si nodosa vel aculeata, Scor- pio rectissimo nomine vocatur, qui arcuato vulnere in corpus infigitur" (Isidore, Oriy. Laf. 5, 27 ; and see Jahn, Bibl. A nt. p. 287). In the Greek of 1 Mace, vi, 51, some kind of war missile is mentioned under the name rrKop- TTihor ; but we want information both as to its form and the reason of its name. See Smith, £)ic(. of C/ass. Antiquities, art. " Tormeiitum." Another tropical use of the word is given in the Jlishna {Chelim, xii, 3).
Scorpios, in mythological astronomy, was the Scorpion in the circle of the zodiac, a monster which Diana sent to encounter Orion when pursued by the lat- ter.
Scot, Reginald, was the younger son of John Scot of Scotshall, near Smeethe, Kent, England, and was born in the first half of the 16th century. He studied at Oxford, and upon his return home devoted himself exclusively to learned pursuits. His famous work. The IHscoverie of Witchcraft, was published in 1584, and is designed to combat the prevalent belief on the subject. It called forth the Dcfinonology of James I, who informs us that he wrote it " chiefly against the damnable opin- ions of Wierus and Scot, the latter of whom is not ashamed in public print to deny there can be such a thing as witchcraft." Scot's work passed through three editions and was translated into French and German. It was ordered to be burned by the common hangman, and copies of it are now extremely rare. He iiublished A Perfect Platform of a Hop Garden (1576). His death occurred in 1599.