Note 2167 — II. His Criticism of and Part in Medieval Learning
Reading edition
Ibid., 208. Nam Parisius nuper fuit unus sapiens, qui serpentes quaesivit et unum accepit et scidit eum in parva frusta, nisi quod pellis ventris, super quam reperet, remansit integra, et iste serpens repebat ut poterat ad herbam quandam, cuius tactu statim sanabatur. Et experimentator collegit herbam admirandae virtutis.
A Greek precursor of this tale may be found in the plot of the lost Polyidus of Euripides, as reproduced in Hyginus, Fabulae, 136. “... draco repente ad corpus pueri processit, quod Polyidus, aestimans eum velle consumere, gladio repente percussit et occidit. Altera serpens parem quaerens vidit eam interfectam et progressa herbam attulit atque eius tactu serpenti spiritum restituit....” Polyidus then resuscitated the dead boy by the same method.
Paris continued to be a center of experimental research after Bacon, for in a Wolfenbüttel MS (2503, 15th century, fols. 271-82) we find “Experiments collected by masters of Paris that are greatly praised, and first concerning powders.” The Explicit dates the collection about 1331 A. D. See also Wolfenbüttel 2189, 15th century, fols. 174-5, Quedam experimenta parisiis probata 25.