The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Matthias de l'Obel (1538 - 1616)
Alias Lobelius
Botanist
Relevant locations: Birth place in Flanders, Netherlands
Residence at Lime Street, London
Linked print sources: as Mentions or references - Thomas Platter's Travels in England, 1599: Rendered into English from the German.
References in Documents:
In the ale-houses tobacco or a species of wound-wort are also obtainable for
one’s money, and the powder is lit in a small pipe, the smoke sucked into the
mouth, and the saliva is allowed to run freely, after which a good draught of
This same
1. An African charm made of teeth.2. Many weapons ,arrows other things made of fishbone.3. Beautiful Indian plumes ,ornaments and clothes fromChina .4. A handsome cap made out of goosefoots fromChina .5. A curious Javanese costume .6. A felt cloak fromArabia .7. Shoes from many strange lands.8. An Indian stoneaxe , like a thunder-bolt.9. Beautiful coats fromArabia .10. A string instrument with but one string.11. Another string instrument fromArabia .12. The andhorn tail 13. A fan made out of a single leaf.14. Curious wooden and stone swords .15. The twisted horn of a bull seal.16. A round horn which had grown on anEnglish woman’s forehead.17. An embalmed child (Mumia).18. Leathern weapons .19. The bauble and bells ofHenry VIII ’s fool.20. A unicorn’s tail .21. Inscribed paper made of bark.22. Indian stoneshears .23. A thunder-bolt dug out of a mast which was hit at sea during a storm; resembles theJudas stone.24. A stone against spleen disorders.25. Artful little Chinese box .26. Earthen pitchers fromChina .27. Flying rhinoceros .28. (Caterpillar) Hairy worm ,sidopendra .29. Flies which glow at night inVirginia instead of lights, since there is often no day there for over a month.30. A small bone implement used inIndia for scratching oneself.31. The Queen of ’sEngland seal .32. Turkish Emperor ’s goldenseal .33. Porcelain fromChina .34. Falcon’s head made of fine feathers.35. Many holy relics from aSpanish ship which he helped to capture.36. A Madonna made ofIndian feathers.37. A andTurkish pitcher dishes .38. An Indian chain made of monkey teeth.39. A sea-halcyon’s nest , sign of a calm sea.40. A pelican’s beak , theEgyptian bird that kills its young, and afterward tears open its breast and bathes them in its own blood, until they have come to life.41. A mirror which both reflects and multiplies objects.42. Crowns made of claws (ungulis).43. Heathen idols .44. Saddles from many strange lands; they were placed round the top on stands.45. Two beautifully dyed Indian sheepskins with silken sheen.46. Remora . A little fish which holds up or hinders boats from sailing when it touches them,likewise another species called ‘torpedo’ which petrifies and numbs the crews’ hands if it so much as touches the oars.47. A sea mouse (mus marinus ).48. Numerous bone instruments .49. Reed pipes like those played byPan .50. A long narrow Indian canoe ,with the oars and sliding hung from the ceiling of this room.planks ,
This city of
Rubi facie senticosa Planta. A
tall
woody Plant, described in some sort, and so called,
by
is uncertain, being cut off
at both ends; almost seven
inches in compass, strait, and but
very little taper'd. Ori
ginally, had two or three
Branches, here cut off. En
compassed with a great
many pointed Studs, (whence its
Name) thick set, and sometimes
growing double, flatish,
and about an inch broad by the length
of the Club, after
the figure of the
Thorns of the Rasberry-Bush. Like to
which they are also meerly cortical, having not one fiber
of
wood in them, whereby they break like Cork,
but are
not so soft. The wood is as hard, as that of Holly, and
the Pith but small. So that notwithstanding the simili
tude of their Thorns, yet is it a different Plant
from the
Rubus.
green, might weigh four or five ounces. And is said to be
dug up, sometimes, of fourteen Ounces. The
Plantun
certainly describ'd.
La
chryma Jobi;Lobelius ,(
chryma Jobi;
c)
c)
Bals
Reed;Garcias , to a
Flag;
Cod.
of the Male, the other of the Female: and supposeth, that
the uncertainty of Relations hereof may proceed partly
from the not distinguishing betwixt them. The Stalk of
the Male indeed seems to have some little likeness to a
Flag.
But the Seed-Cod is there neither figur'd nor describ'd.
described (
a)
a)
c. 1
Strumosus
long, thickest towards the top, and there a little depressed
as an
Apple. Soft and brittle, and now just of the colour
of
Buff-Leather. The Warts or Knobs all round about it,
are neither blisters, nor solid, but embossed parts of the
Rind.
Melopepo compressus alter,Lo
belio .This came from
belio
or from the Stalk to the top, and three and ½ inch broad;
at both ends, compressed like a Bowl. Of a dusky yellow
mixed with tawny.
Siliqua
Apocyni latifolij. Given by
and
figur'd in d) d)
c. 15. p.
135
thicker than their natural shape. Of kin to that which
Scammony of Montpelier. Along the
middle or centre of the Cod, runs a slender fibrous pillar,
to
which, and not to the sides of the Cod, the
Seeds are
fasten'd on both sides it; and so encompassed about
with
Down, wherewith the Cod is fill'd up. A provident fore
cast of
Nature to keep them warm. The said Down
con
sisteth not of single Hairs, but Plumes, affixed to the Seeds,
wherewith
they are winged for their being more dispersed
ly
wafted by the Aer, and prevent their falling
in a ruck on
the ground.
hinus
Mosses, with the Title of
Muscus Coralloides.
Figur'd by
hisAu
strian wormwood.
strian
.French hony sweet
wort
wort
.Lobel 's Orpine
.Lobel 's sea
Knotgrasse
Knotgrasse
.Lobel 's sea
Knotgrasse
Knotgrasse