Basiliscus
（
βασιλίσκος). The basilisk, sometimes called
cockatrice, from the vulgar belief in modern times that it is produced
from the egg of a cock. Nicander describes it as having a small body, about three palms long,
and of a shining colour. All the ancient authors speak with horror of the poison of the
basilisk, which they affirm to be of so deadly a nature as to prove fatal, not only when
introduced into a wound, but also when transmitted through another object. Avicenna relates
the case of a soldier to whom, having transfixed a basilisk with a spear, its venom proved
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Remains of the Basilica at Pompeii. (Overbeck.)
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fatal, and also to his horse, whose lip was accidentally wounded by it. Linnaeus
refers this creature, as mentioned by the ancients, to the
lacerta
iguana. Calmet supposes the Scriptural basilisk to be the same with the
cobra di capello, but this is not found in Africa. The serpent which is described
under the name of
buskah answers very well in most respects to the
ancient descriptions of the basilisk.
