Editing John Napier (section)

==Interest in the occult==
In addition to his mathematical and religious interests, Napier was often perceived as a magician, and is thought to have dabbled in [[alchemy]] and [[necromancy]]. It was said that he would travel about with a black spider in a small box, and that his black [[cockerel]] was his [[familiar spirit]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnston |first=Ian |url=http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=523542005 |title=Scots genius who paved way for Newton's discoveries |newspaper=[[The Scotsman]] |date=14 May 2005 |access-date=29 March 2011 |archive-date=27 December 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051227004113/http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=523542005 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Springer |first=Will |url=http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=41962005 |title=Napier's wizard roots&nbsp;– article about Napier's interest in the occult |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=14 February 2005 |access-date=29 March 2011 |archive-date=21 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021012042/http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=41962005 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/napiers-bones/|title=Napier's bones|publisher=National Museums Scotland|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-date=24 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924002353/https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/napiers-bones/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some of Napier's neighbours accused him of being a sorcerer and in league with the devil, believing that all of the time he spent in his study was being used to learn the black art. These rumours were stoked when Napier used his black cockerel to catch a thief. Napier told his servants to go into a darkened room and pet the cockerel, claiming the bird would crow if they were the one who stole his property. Unbeknownst to the servants, Napier had covered the bird with soot and when the servants emerged from the room, Napier inspected their hands to find the one who had been too afraid to touch the rooster.<ref>{{Cite book|title=John Napier : life, logarithms, and legacy|last=Havil, Julian, 1952-|isbn=9781400852185|location=Princeton|pages=21|oclc=889552514|date = 5 October 2014}}</ref>

Another act which Napier is reported to have carried out, which may have seemed mystical to the locals, was when Napier removed the pigeons from his estate since they were eating his grain. Napier caught the pigeons by strewing grain laced with alcohol throughout the field and then capturing the pigeons once they were too drunk to fly away.<ref>{{Cite book|title=John Napier|last=Havil|first=Julian|date=31 January 2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400852185|location=Princeton|pages=20|doi = 10.1515/9781400852185}}</ref>

A contract still exists for a [[Treasure hunting|treasure hunt]], made between Napier and [[Robert Logan of Restalrig]]. Napier was to search [[Fast Castle]] for treasure allegedly hidden there, wherein it is stated that Napier should "do his utmost diligence to search and seek out, and by all craft and ingine to find out the same, or make it sure that no such thing has been there."<ref name = DNB/><ref name=":1" /> This contract was never fulfilled by Napier, and no gold was found when the Edinburgh Archaeological Field society excavated the castle between 1971 and 1986.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=John Napier : life, logarithms, and legacy|last=Havil, Julian, 1952-|isbn=9781400852185|location=Princeton|pages=22, 23|oclc=889552514|date = 5 October 2014}}</ref>