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whether they be active and eager, or dull and gen- | northern countries, mead simple, which, well tle. The seventh is the emission, or detention of made and seasoned, is a good wholesome drink, the spirits in bodies. The eighth is the dilatation, and very clear. They use also in Wales a comor contraction of the spirits in bodies, while they pound drink of mead, with herbs and spices. But are detained. The ninth is the collocation of the meanwhile it were good, in recompense of that spirits in bodies, whether the collocation be equal, we have lost in honey, there were brought in use or unequal; and again, whether the spirits be a sugar-mead, for so we may call it, though withcoacervate, or diffused. The tenth is the density, out any mixture at all of honey, and to brew it, or rarity of the tangible parts. The eleventh is and keep it stale, as they use mead for certainly, the equality, or inequality of the tangible parts. though it would not be so abstersive, and openThe twelfth is the digestion, or crudity of the ing, and solutive a drink as mead; yet it will be tangible parts. The thirteenth is the nature of more grateful to the stomach, and more lenitive, the matter, whether sulphureous or mercurial, and fit to be used in sharp diseases: for we see, watery or oily, dry and terrestrial, or moist and that the use of sugar in beer and ale hath good liquid; which natures of sulphureous and mercu- effects in such cases. rial seem to be natures radical and principal. The fourteenth is the placing of the tangible parts in length or transverse, as it is in the warp and the woof of textiles, more inward or more outward, &c. The fifteenth is the porosity or imporosity betwixt the tangible parts, and the greatness or smallness of the pores. The sixteenth is the collocation and posture of the pores. There may be more causes; but these do occur for the present.

Experiment solitary touching the finer sort of base

metals.

849. It is reported by the ancients, that there was a kind of steel in some places, which would polish almost as white and bright as silver. And that there was in India a kind of brass, which, being polished, could scarce be discerned from gold. This was in the natural ure: but I am doubtful, whether men have sufficiently refined

Experiment solitary touching induration by sym-metals, which we count base; as whether iron,

pathy.

847. Take lead and melt it, and in the midst of it, when it beginneth to congeal, make a little dint or hole, and put quicksilver wrapped in a piece of linen into that hole, and the quicksilver will fix and run no more, and endure the hammer. This is a noble instance of induration, by consent of one body with another, and motion of excitation to imitate; for to ascribe it only to the vapour of lead, is less probable. Query, whether the fixing may be in such a degree, as it will be figured like other metals? For if so, you may make works of it for some purposes, so they come not near the fire.

Experiment solitary touching honey and sugar. 848. Sugar hath put down the use of honey, insomuch as we have lost those observations and preparations of honey which the ancients had, when it was more in price. First, it seemeth that there was in old time tree-honey, as well as bee-honey, which was the tear or blood issuing from the tree: insomuch as one of the ancients relateth, that in Trebisond there was honey issuing from the box-trees which made men mad. Again, in ancient time there was a kind of honey, which either of its own nature, or by art, would grow as hard as sugar, and was not so luscious as ours. They had also a wine of honey, which they made thus. They crushed the honey into a great quantity of water, and then strained the liquor: after they boiled it in a copper to the half; then they poured it into earthen vessels for a small time, and after turned it into vessels of wood, and kept it for many years. They have also at this day, in Russia and those

brass, and tin be refined to the height? But when they come to such a fineness, as serveth the ordinary use, they try no farther.

Experiment solitary touching cements and quarries. 850. There have been found certain cements under earth that are very soft; and yet, taken forth into the sun, harden as hard as marble: there are also ordinary quarries in Somersetshire, which in the quarry cut soft to any bigness, and in the building prove firm and hard.

Experiment solitary touching the altering of the

colour of hairs and feathers.

851. Living creatures generally do change their hair with age, turning to be gray and white: as is seen in men, though some earlier, some later; in horses that are dappled, and turn white; in old squirrels that turn grisly; and many others. So do some birds; as cygnets from the gray turn white; hawks from brown turn more white. And some birds there be that upon their moulting do turn colour; as robin-red-breasts, after their moulting, grow to be red again by degrees, so do goldfinches upon the head. The cause is, for that moisture doth chiefly colour hair and feathers, and dryness turneth them grey and white: now hair in age waxeth drier; so do feathers. As for feathers, after moulting, they are young feathers, and so all one as the feathers of young birds. So the beard is younger than the hair of the head, and doth, for the most part, wax hoary later. Out of this ground a man may devise the means of altering the colour of birds, and the retardation of hoary hairs. But of this see the fifth experiment.

Experiment solitary touching the differences of liv- as the whale is far greater than the elephant: and ing creatures, male and female.

852. The difference between male and female, in some creatures, is not to be discerned, otherwise than in the parts of generation: as in horses and mares, dogs and bitches, doves he and she, and others. But some differ in magnitude, and that diversely; for in most the male is the greater; as in man, pheasants, peacocks, turkeys, and the like and in some few, as in hawks, the female. Some differ in the hair and feathers, both in the quantity, crispation, and colours of them; as helions are hirsute, and have great manes: the shes are smooth like cats. Bulls are more crisp upon the forehead than cows; the peacock, and pheasant-cock, and goldfinch-cock, have glorious and fine colours; the hens have not. Generally the hes in birds have the fairest feathers. Some differ in divers features: as bucks have horns, does none; rams have more wreathed horns than ewes; cocks have great combs and spurs, hens little or none; boars have great fangs; sows much less; the turkey-cock hath great and swelling gills, the hen hath less: men have generally deeper and stronger voices than women. Some differ in faculty, as the cocks amongst singing-birds are the best singers. The chief cause of all these, no doubt is, for that the males have more strength of heat than the females, which appeareth manifestly in this, that all young creatures males are like females, and so are eunuchs, and gelt creatures of all kinds, liker females. Now heat causeth greatness of growth, generally, where there is moisture enough to work upon: but if there be found in any creature, which is seen rarely, an over-great heat in proportion to the moisture, in them the female is the greater, as in hawks and sparrows. And if the heat be balanced with the moisture, then there is no difference to be seen between male and female, as in the instances of horses and dogs. We see also, that the horns of oxen and cows, for the most part, are larger than the bulls, which is caused by abundance of moisture, which in the horns of the bull faileth. Again, heat causeth pilosity and crispation, and so likewise beards in men. It also expelleth finer moisture, which want of heat cannot expel; and that is the cause of the beauty and variety of feathers. Again, heat doth put forth many excrescences, and much solid matter, which want of heat cannot do; and this is the cause of horns, and of the greatness of them, and of the greatness of the combs and spurs of cocks, gills of turkeycocks, and fangs of boars. Heat also dilateth the pipes and organs, which causeth the deepness of the voice. Again, heat refineth the spirits, and that causeth the cock singing-bird to excel the hen.

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beasts are generally greater than birds. For fishes, the cause may be, that because they live not in the air, they have not their moisture drawn and soaked by the air and sun-beams. Also they rest always in a manner, and are supported by the water, whereas motion and labour do consume. As for the greatness of beasts more than of birds, it is caused, for that beasts stay longer time in the womb than birds, and there nourish and grow; whereas in birds, after the egg laid, there is no further growth or nourishment from the female; for the sitting doth vivify, and not nourish.

Experiment solitary touching exossation of fruits.

854. We have partly touched before the means of producing fruits without cores or stones. And this we add farther, that the cause must be abundance of moisture; for that the core and stone are made of dry sap: and we see that it is possible to make a tree put forth only in blossom, without fruit, as in cherries with double flowers, much more into fruit without stone or cores. It is reported that a scion of an apple, grafted upon a colewort stalk, sendeth forth a great apple without a core. It is not unlikely, that if the inward pith of a tree were taken out, so that the juice came only by the bark, it would work the effect. For it hath been observed, that in pollards, if the water get in on the top, and they become hollow, they put forth the more. We add also, that it is delivered for certain by some, that if the scion be grafted the small end downwards, it will make fruit have little or no cores and stones.

Experiment solitary touching the melioration of

tobacco.

855. Tobacco is a thing of great price, if it be in request: for an acre of it will be worth, as is affirmed, two hundred pounds by the year towards charge. The charge of making the ground and otherwise is great, but nothing to the profit; but the English tobacco hath small credit, as being too dull and earthy: nay, the Virginian tobacco, though that be in a hotter climate, can get no credit for the same cause: so that a trial to make tobacco more aromatical, and better concocted, here in England, were a thing of great profit. Some have gone about to do it by drenching the English tobacco in a decoction or infusion of Indian tobacco; but those are but sophistications and toys; for nothing that is once perfect, and hath run his race, can receive much amendment. You must ever resort to the beginnings of things for melioration. The way of maturation of tobacco must, as in other plants, be from the heat either of the earth or of the sun: we see some leading of this in musk-melons, which are sown upon a hot-bed dunged below, upon a bank turned upon the south sun, to give heat by reflection; laid 853. There be fishes greater than any beasts; upon tiles, which increaseth the heat, and covered

Experiment solitary touching the comparative magnitude of living creatures.

with straw to keep them from cold. They remove | incorporation doth make the mixture of the body them also, which addeth some life: and by these more equal in all the parts; which ever induceth helps they become as good in England, as in Italy a milder taste. or Provence. These, and the like means, may be tried in tobacco. Inquire also of the steeping of the roots in some such liquor as may give them vigour to put forth strong.

Experiment solitary touching flesh edible, and not

edible.

859. Of fleshes, some are edible; some, exFor those that are

Experiment solitary touching several heats working cept it be in famine, not.

the same effects.

856. Heat of the sun for the maturation of fruits; yea, and the heat of vivification of living creatures, are both represented and supplied by the heat of fire; and likewise the heats of the sun, and life, are represented one by the other. Trees set upon the backs of chimneys do ripen fruit sooner. Vines, that have been drawn in at the window of a kitchen, have sent forth grapes ripe a month at least before others. Stoves at the back of walls bring forth oranges here with us. Eggs, as is reported by some, have been hatched in the warmth of an oven. It is reported by the ancients, that the ostrich layeth her eggs under sand, where the heat of the sun discloseth them. Experiment solitary touching swelling and dilatation in boiling.

not edible, the cause is, for that they have therefore those creatures which are fierce and commonly too much bitterness of taste; and choleric are not edible; as lions, wolves, squirrels, dogs, foxes, horses, &c. As for kine, sheep, goats, deer, swine, conies, hares, &c., we see they are mild and fearful. Yet it is true, that horses, which are beasts of courage, have been, and are eaten by some nations; as the Scythians were called Hippophagi; and the Chinese eat horse-flesh at this day; and some birds, such as are carnivore, and birds of prey, gluttons have used to have colts'-flesh baked. In rather the choleric nature of those birds, than are commonly no good meat, but the reason is, their feeding upon flesh: for pewets, gulls, shovellers, ducks, do feed upon flesh, and yet are good meat. And we see that those birds which are of prey, or feed upon flesh, are good meat when they are very young; as hawks, rooks out The reasons are three: first, because men in of the nest, owls, &c. Man's flesh is not eaten. humanity do abhor it: secondly, because no living creature that dieth of itself is good to eat: and therefore the cannibals themselves eat no of such as are slain. The third is, because there man's flesh of those that die of themselves, but must be generally some disparity between the nourishment and the body nourished; and they must not be over-near, or like: yet we see, that in great weaknesses and consumptions, men have Experiment solitary touching the dulcoration of been sustained with woman's milk; and Faci

857. Barley in the boiling swelleth not much; wheat swelleth more; rice extremely, insomuch as a quarter of a pint, unboiled, will arise to a pint boiled. The cause no doubt is, for that the more close and compact the body is, the more it will dilate now barley is the most hollow; wheat more solid than that; and rice most solid of all. It may be also that some bodies have a kind of lentour, and more depertible nature than others; as we see it evident in colouration; for a small quantity of saffron will tinct more than a very great quantity of brasil or wine.

fruits.

arm of some wholesome young man, and the blood to be sucked. It is said that witches do greedily eat man's flesh; which if it be true, besides a devilish appetite in them, it is likely to proceed, for that man's flesh may send up high and pleasing vapours, which may stir the imagination; and witches' felicity is chiefly in imagination, as hath been said.

nus, fondly, as I conceive, adviseth, for the pro858. Fruit groweth sweet by rolling, or press-longation of life, that a vein be opened in the ing them gently with the hand; as rolling pears, damascenes, &c.: by rottenness; as medlars, services, sloes, hips, &c.: by time; as apples, wardens, pomegranates, &c.: by certain special maturations; as by laying them in hay, straw, &c. and by fire; as in roasting, stewing, baking, &c. The cause of the sweetness by rolling and pressing, is emollition, which they properly induce; as in beating of stock-fish, flesh, &c.: by rottenness is, for that the spirits of the fruit by putrefaction gather heat, and thereby digest the harder part, for in all putrefactions there is a degree of heat: by time and keeping is, because the spirits of the body do ever feed upon the tangible parts, and attenuate them: by several maturations is, by some degree of heat and by fire is, because it is the proper work of heat to refine, and to incorporate; and all sourness consisteth in some grossness of the body; and all

Experiment solitary touching the salamander.

860. There is an ancient received tradition of the salamander, that it liveth in the fire, and hath force also to extinguish the fire. It must have two things, if it be true, to this operation: the one a very close skin, whereby flame, which in the midst is not so hot, cannot enter; for we see that if the palm of the hand be anointed thick with white of egg, and then aqua vitae be pourea upon it, and inflamed, yet one may endure the

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more in wine than in water. The cause may be trivial: namely, by the expense of the liquor, in regard some may stick to the sides of the bottles: but there may be a cause more subtile; which is, that the liquor in the vessel is not so much compressed as in the bottle; because in the vessel the liquor meeteth with liquor chiefly; but in the bottles a small quantity of liquor meeteth with the sides of the bottles, which compress it so that it doth not open again.

upon air contiguous.

The

861. Time doth change fruit, as apples, pears, pomegranates, &c., from more sour to more sweet: but contrariwise liquors, even those that are of the juice of fruit, from more sweet to more sour: Experiment solitary touching the working of water as wort, musted, new verjuice, &c. The cause is, the congregation of the spirits together: for in both kinds the spirit is attenuated by time; but in the first kind it is more diffused, and more mastered by the grosser parts, which the spirits do but digest: but in drinks the spirits do reign, and finding less opposition of the parts, become themselves more strong; which causeth also more strength in the liquor; such as if the spirits be of the hotter sort, the liquor becometh apt to burn: but in time, it causeth likewise, when the higher spirits are evaporated, more sourness.

Experiment solitary touching blows and bruises. 862. It hath been observed by the ancients, that plates of metal, and especially of brass, applied presently to a blow, will keep it down from swelling. The cause is repercussion, without humectation or entrance of any body: for the plate hath only a virtual cold, which doth not search into the hurt; whereas all plasters and ointments do enter. Surely, the cause that blows and bruises induce swellings is, for that the spirits resorting to succour the part that laboureth, draw also the humours with them: for we see, that it is not the repulse and the return of the humour in the part strucken that causeth it; for that gouts and toothaches cause swelling, where there is no percussion at all.

Experiment solitary touching the orrice root. 863. The nature of the orrice root is almost singular; for there be few odoriferous roots; and in those that are in any degree sweet, it is but the same sweetness with the wood or leaf: but the orrice is not sweet in the leaf; neither is the flower any thing so sweet as the root. The root seemeth to have a tender dainty heat; which when it cometh above ground to the sun and the air, vanisheth for it is a great mollifier; and hath a smell like a violet.

865. Water, being contiguous with air, cooleth it, but moisteneth it not, except it vapour. cause is, for that heat and cold have a virtual transition, without communication of substance; but moisture not: and to all madefaction there is required an imbibition: but where the bodies are of such several levity and gravity as they mingle not, there can follow no imbibition. fore, oil likewise lieth at the top of the water, without commixture: and a drop of water running swiftly over a straw or smooth body, wetteth not.

And there

Experiment solitary touching the nature of air.

866. Starlight nights, yea, and bright moonshine nights, are colder than cloudy nights. The cause is, the dryness and fineness of the air, which thereby becometh more piercing and sharp; and therefore great continents are colder than islands: and as for the moon, though itself inclineth the air to moisture, yet when it shineth bright, it argueth the air is dry. Also close air is warmer than open air; which, it may be, is, for that the true cause of cold is an expiration from the globe of the earth, which in open places is stronger; and again, air itself, if it be not altered by that expiration, is not without some secret degree of heat; as it is not likewise without some secret degree of light: for otherwise cats and owls could not see in the night; but that air hath a little light, proportionable to the visual spirits of those creatures.

Experiments in consort touching the eyes and sight.

867. The eyes do move one and the same way; for when one eye moveth to the nostril, the other moveth from the nostril. The cause is, motion of consent, which in the spirits and parts spiritual is strong. But yet use will induce the contrary; for some can squint when they will and the common tradition is, that if children be set upon

Experiment solitary touching the compression of a table with a candle behind them, both eyes will

liquors.

864. It hath been observed by the ancients, that a great vessel full, drawn into bottles, and then the liquor put again into the vessel, will not fill the vessel again so full as it was, but that it may take in more liquor: and that this holdeth

move outwards, as affecting to see the light, and so induce squinting.

868. We see more exquisitely with one eye shut, than with both open. The cause is, for that the spirits visual unite themselves more, and so become stronger. For you may see, by looking

in a glass, that when you shut one eye, the pupil blushing, it is true the spirits ascend likewise to of the other eye that is open dilateth.

869. The eyes, if the sight meet not in one angle, see things double. The cause is, for that seeing two things, and seeing one thing twice, worketh the same effect: and therefore a little pellet held between two fingers laid across, seemeth double.

870. Poreblind men see best in the dimmer lights: and likewise have their sight stronger near hand, than those that are not poreblind; and can read and write smaller letters. The cause is, for that the spirits visual in those that are poreblind, are thinner and rarer than in others; and therefore the greater light disperseth them. For the same cause they need contracting; but being contracted, are more strong than the visual spirits of ordinary eyes are; as when we see through a level, the sight is the stronger; and so is it when you gather the eyelids somewhat close: and it is commonly seen in those that are poreblind, that they do much gather the eyelids together. But old men, when they would see to read, put the paper somewhat afar off: the cause is, for that old men's spirits visual, contrary to those of poreblind men, unite not, but when the object is at some good distance from their eyes.

871. Men see better, when their eyes are overagainst the sun or candle, if they put their hand a little before their eyes. The reason is, for that the glaring of the sun or the candle doth weaken the eye; whereas the light circumfused is enough for the perception. For we see that an over-light maketh the eyes dazzle; insomuch as perpetual looking against the sun would cause blindness. Again, if men come out of great light into a dark room; and contrariwise, if they come out of a dark room into a light room, they seem to have a mist before their eyes, and see worse than they shall do after they have stayed a little while, either in the light or in the dark. The cause is, for that the spirits visual are, upon a sudden change, disturbed and put out of order; and till they be recollected, do not perform their function well. For when they are much dilated by light, they cannot contract suddenly; and when they are much contracted by darkness, they cannot dilate suddenly. And excess of both these, that is, of the dilatation and contraction of the spirits visual, if it be long destroyeth the eye. For as long looking against the sun or fire hurteth the eye by dilatation; so curious painting in small volumes, and reading of small letters, do hurt the eye by contraction.

872. It hath been observed, that in anger the eyes wax red; and in blushing, not the eyes, but the ears, and the parts behind them. The cause is, for that in anger the spirits ascend and wax eager; which is most easily seen in the eyes, because they are translucid; though withal it maketh both the cheeks and the gills red; but in

succour both the eyes and the face, which are the parts that labour; but then they are repulsed by the eyes, for that the eyes, in shame, do put back the spirits that ascend to them, as unwilling to look abroad: for no man in that passion doth look strongly, but dejectedly; and that repulsion from the eyes diverteth the spirits and heat more to the ears, and the parts by them.

873. The objects of the sight may cause a great pleasure and delight in the spirits, but no pain or great offence; except it be by memory, as hath been said. The glimpses and beams of diamonds that strike the eye; Indian feathers, that have glorious colours; the coming into a fair garden; the coming into a fair room richly furnished; a beautiful person; and the like; do delight and exhilarate the spirits much. The reason why it holdeth not in the offence is, for that the sight is the most spiritual of the senses; whereby it hath no object gross enough to offend it. But the cause chiefly is, for that there be no active objects to offend the eye. For harmonical sounds, and discordant sounds, are both active and positive: so are sweet smells and stinks: so are bitter and sweet in tastes: so are over-hot and over-cold in touch: but blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives; and therefore have little or no activity. Somewhat they do contristate, but very little.

Experiment solitary touching the colour of the sea

or other water.

874. Water of the sea, or otherwise, looketh blacker when it is moved, and whiter when it resteth. The cause is, for that by means of the motion, the beams of light pass not straight, and therefore must be darkened: whereas, when it resteth, the beams do pass straight. Besides, splendour hath a degree of whiteness; especially if there be a little repercussion: for a lookingglass with the steel behind, looketh whiter than glass simple. This experiment deserveth to be driven farther, in trying by what means motion may hinder sight.

Experiment solitary touching shell-fish. 875. Shell-fish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with the insecta; but I see no reason why they should; for they have male and female as other fish have: neither are they bred of putrefaction; especially such as do move. Nevertheless it is certain, that oysters, and cockles, and mussels, which move not, have no discriminate sex. Query, in what time, and how they are bred? It seemeth, that shells of oysters are bred where none were before; and it is tried, that the great horse-mussel, with the fine shell, that breedeth in ponds, hath bred within thirty years: but then, which is strange, it hath been tried, that they do not only gape and

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