importunate desire to adde something so Errors are propagated by succession and at last grow infinite that not so much as the Prints of the former remain That not onely the Experiment will be difficult but a man can hardly reade them without laughter Moreover I pass by many men who have written Wonders to be delivered to Posterity promising Golden Mountains yet Write otherwise then they thought Hence most ingenious men and desirous to learn are detained for a very long time and when they despair of obtaining what they seek for they finde that they spent their time pains and charge in vain and so driven to desparation they are forced to repent by leisure Others grown wise by other mens harms learn to hate those Things before they know them I have divided these Secrets into several Classes that every man may finde what he likes best Lastly I should willingly pass by the offending of your Ears if I had no care to refell the Calumnies of detractors and envious men that most immoâ—â—esily wound me calling me a Sorcerer a Conjurer which names from my tender Youth I have abhorr'd Indeed I always held myself to be a man subject to Errors and Infirmities therefore desired the assistances of many Learned men and that if I had not faithfully interpreted they would reprove me But what I always feared came to pass that I should fall into the hands of some vile and hateful men who by doing injury to others justly or unjustly labour to win the popular and base Approbation and Applause of the Vulgar by whose venom'd Teeth those that are wounded do not consume but by retorting the venome back upon them they overthrow their own Honor. A certain Frenchman in his Book called Daemonomania Tearms me a Magician a Conjurer and thinks this Book of mine long since Printed worthy to be burnt because I have written the Fairies Oyntment which I set forth onely in detestation of the frauds of Divels and Witches That which comes by Nature is abused by their superstition which I borrowed from the Books of the most commendable Divines What have I offended herein that they should call me a Conjurer But when I enquired of many Noble and Learned Frenchmen that were pleased to Honour me with their Visits what that man was they answered that he was an Heretick and that he had escaped from being cast headlong from a Tower upon Saint Bartholomew his day which is the time appointed for the destruction of such wicked men In the mean time I shall desire the great and good God as it becomes a Noble and Christian man to do that he may be converted to the Catholike Faith and may not be condemned whilst he lives Another Frenchman who unworthily reviled all the Learned men of his Age joyns me amongst them and holds that onely three Physitians that are his Friends are Praise-worthy as the most Learned of all men of our Times and amongst them he reckons up himself for the Book is published in his Name it is a wonder what Inventions that man hath found out to win praise who having no man to commend him nor is he worthy commendations yet he hath undertaken to commend himself I pass over other men of the same temper who affirm that I am a Witch and a Conjurer whereas I never Writ here nor elswhere what is not contain'd within the bounds of Nature Wherefore Studious Readers accept my long Labours that cost me much Study Travel Expence and much Inconvenience with the same Minde that I publish them and remove all Blindness and Malice which are wont to dazle the sight of the Minde and hinder the Truth weigh these Things with a right Judgement when you try what I have Written for finding both Truth and Profit you will it may be think better of my Pains Yet I am assured there will be many ignorant people void of all serious Matters that will Hate and Envy these Things and will Rashly pronounce That some of these Experiments are not only false but impossible to be done And whilst they strive by Arguments and vain Disputes to overthrow the Truth they betray there own ignnorance Such men as vile are to be driven from the Limits of our NATURAL MAGICK For they that believe not Natures Miracles do after a manner endeavour to abolish Philosophy If I have over-passed some Things or not spoken so Properly of them as I might I know there is nothing so Beautiful but it may be Adorned Nor so Full but it may be Augmented J. B. P. The FIRST BOOK OF Natural Magick Wherein are searched out the Causes of things which produce wonderful Effects CHAP. I. What is meant by the name of Magick POrphyry and Apuleius great Platonicks in an Oration made in the defence of Magick do witness that Magick took her name and original from Persia. Tully in his book of Divination saith that in the Persian language a Magician is nothing else but one that expounds and studies divine things and it is the general name of Wise-men in that country S. Jerome writing to Paulinus saith that Apollonius Tyanaeus was a Magician as the people thought or a Philosopher as the Pythagoreans esteemed him Pliny saith that it is received for a certainty among most Authors that Magick was begun in Persia by Zoroastres the son of Orimasius or as more curious Writers hold by another Zoroastres surnamed Proconnesius who lived a little before The first Author that ever wrote of Magick was Osthanes who going with Xerxes king of Persia in the war which he made against Greece did scatter by the way as it were the seeds and first beginnings of this wonderful Art infecting the world with it wheresoever he came insomuch that the Grecians did not onely greedily desire this knowledge but they were even mad after it So then Magick is taken amongst all men for Wisdom and the perfect knowledge of natural things and those are called Magicians whom the Latines call Wise-men the Greeks call Philosophers of Pythagoras onely the first of that name as Diogenes writes the Indians call them Brackmans in their own tongue but in Greek they call them Gymnosophists as much to say as naked Philosophers the Babylonians and Assyrians call them Chaldeans of Chaldaea a county in Asia the Celtes in France call them Druids Bards and Semnothites the Egyptians call them Priests and the Cabalists call them Prophets And so in divers countries Magick hath divers names But we finde that the greatest part of those who were best seen into the nature of things were excellent Magicians as amongst the Persians Zoroastres the son of Orimasius whom we spake of before amongst the Romanes Numa Pompilius Thespion amongst the Gymnosophists Zamolxis amongst the Thracians Abbaris amongst the Hyperboreans Hermes amongst the Aegyptians and Budda amongst the Babylonians Beside these Apuleius reckons up Carinondas Damigeron Hismoses Apollonius and 〈◊〉 danus who all followed Zoroastres and Osthanes CHAP. II. What is the Nature
of Magick THere are two sorts of Magick the one is infamous and unhappie because it hath to do with foul spirits and consists of Inchantments and wicked Curiosity and this is called Sorcery an art which all learned and good men derest neither is it able to yeeld any truth of Reason or Nature but stands meerly upon fancies and imaginations such as vanish presently away and leave nothing behinde them as Jamblichus writes in his book concerning the mysteries of the Aegyptians The other Magick is natural which all excellent wise men do admit and embrace and worship with great applause neither is there any thing more highly esteemed or better thought of by men of learning The most noble Philosophers that ever were Pythagoras Empedocles Democrites and Plato forsook their own countries and lived abroad as exiles and banished men rather then as strangers and all to search out and to attain this knowledge and when they came home again this was the Science which they professed and this they esteemed a profound mysterie They that have been most skilfuâ— in dark and hidden points of learning do call this knowledge the very highest point and the perfection of natural Science insomuch that if they could find out or devise amongst all natural Sciences any one thing more excellent or more wonderful then another that they would still call by the name of Magick Others have named it the practical part of natural Philosophy which produceth her effects by the mutual and fit application of one natural thing unto another The Platonicks as Plotinus imitating Mercurius writes in his book of Sacrifice and Magick makes it to be a Science whereby inferiour things are made subject to superiours earthly are subdued to heavenly and by certain pretty allurements it fetcheth forth the properties of the whole frame of the world Hence the Aegyptians termed Nature her self a Magician because she hath an alluring power to draw like things by their likes and this power say they consists in love and the things that were so drawn and brought together by the affinity of Nature those they said were drawn by Magick But I think that Magick is nothing else but the survey of the whole course of Nature For whilst we consider the Heavens the Stars the Elements how they are moved and how they are changed by this means we find out the hidden secrecies of living creatures of plants of metals and of their generation and corruption so that this whole Science seems meerly to depend upon the view of Nature as afterward we shall see more at large This doth Plato seem to signifie in his Alcibiades where he saith That the Magick of Zoroastres was nothing else in his opinion but the knowledge and study of Divine things wherewith the Kings Sons of Persia amongst other princely qualities were endued that by the example of the Common-wealth of the whole world they also might learn to govern their own Common-wealth And Tully in his book of Divinations saith That amongst the Persians no man might be a King unless he had first learned the Art of Magick for as Nature governs the world by the mutual agreement and disagreement of the creatures after the same sort they also might learn to govern the Common-wealth committed unto them This Art I say is full of much vertue of many secret mysteries it openeth unto us the properties and qualities of hidden things and the knowledge of the whole course of Nature and it reacheth us by the agreement and the disagreement of things either so to sâ—nder them or else to lay them so together by the mutual and fit applying of one thing to another as thereby we do strange works such as the vulgar sort call miracles and such as men can neither well conceive nor sufficiently admire For this cause Magick was wont to flourish in Aethiopia and India where was great store of herbs and stones and such other things as were fit for these purposes Wherefore as many of you as come to behold Magick must be perswaded that the works of Magick are nothing else but the works of Nature whose dutiful hand-maid Magick is For if she find any want in the affinity of Nature that it is not strong enough she doth supply such defects at convenient seasons by the help of vapours and by observing due measures and proportions as in Husbandry it is Nature that brings forth corn and herbs but it is Art that prepares and makes way for them Hence was it that Antipho the Poet said That we overcome those things by Art wherein Nature doth overcome us and Plotinus calls a Magician such a one as works by the help of Nature onely and not by the help of Art Superstitious profane and wicked men have nothing to do with this Science her gate is shut against them neither do we judge them worthy to be driven away from this profession onely but even out of Cities and out of the world to be grievously punished and utterly destroyed But now what is the 〈◊〉 and what must be the learning of this professor we purpose to 〈◊〉 in that which floweth CHAP. III. The Instruction of a Magician and what manner of man a Magician ought to be NOw it is meet to instruct a Magician both what he must know and what he must observe that being sufficiently instructed every way he may bring very strange and wonderful things to pass Seeing Magick as we shewed before is a practical part of Natural Philosophy therefore it behoveth a Magician and one that aspires to the dignity of that profession to be an exact and a very perfect Philosopher For Philosophy teaches what are the effects of fire earth air and water the principal matter of the heavens and what is the cause of the flowing of the Sea and of the divers-coloured Rain-bowe and of the loud Thunder and of Comets and firy lights that appear by night and of Earth-quakes and what are the beginnings of Gold and of Iron and what is the whole witty force of hidden Nature Then also he must be a skilful Physician for both these Sciences are very like and neer together and Physick by creeping in under colour of Magick hath purchased favour amongst men And surely it is a great help unto us in this kinde for it teaches mixtures and temperatures and so shews us how to compound and lay things together for such purposes Moreover it is required of him that he be an Herbalist not onely able to discern common Simples but very skilful and sharp-sighted in the nature of all plants for the uncertain names of plants and their neer likeness of one to another so that they can hardly be discerned hath put us to much trouble in some of our works and experiments And as there is no greater inconvenience to any Artificer then not to know his tools that he must work with so the knowledge of plants is so necessary to this profession that indeed it is all in all He
the very first cause to these inferiours deriving her force into them like as it were a cord platted together and stretched along from heaven to earth in such sort as if either end of this cord be touched it will wag the whole therefore we may rightly call this knitting together of things a chain or link and rings for it agrees fitly with the rings of Plato and with Homers golden chain which he being the first author of all divine inventions hath signified to the wise under the shadow of a fable wherein he feigneth that all the gods and goddesses have made a golden chain which they hanged above in heaven and it reacheth down to the very earth But the truth of Christianity holdeth that the Souls do not proceed from the Spirit but even immediately from God himself These things a Magician being well acquainted withal doth match heaven and earth together as the Husband-man plants Elmes by his Vines or to speak more plainly he marries and couples together these inferiour things by their wonderful gifts and powers which they have received from their superiours and by this means he being as it were the servant of Nature doth bewray her hidden secrets and bring them to light so far as he hath found them true by his own daily experience that so all men may love and praise and honour the Almighty power of God who hath thus wonderfully framed and disposed all things CHAP. VII Of Sympathy and Antipathy and that by them we may know and find out the vertues of things BY reason of the hidden and secret properties of things there is in all kinds of creatures a certain compassion as I may call it which the Greeks call Sympathy and Antipathy but we term it more familiarly their consent and their disagreement For some things are joyned together as it were in a mutual league and some other things are at variance and discord among themselves or they have something in them which is a terror and destruction to each other whereof there can be rendred no probable reason neither will any wise man seek after any other cause hereof but only this That it is the pleasure of Nature to see it should be so that she would have nothing to be without his like and that amongst all the secrets of Nature there is nothing but hath some hidden and special property and moreover that by this their Consent and Disagreement we might gather many helps for the uses and necessities of men for when once we find one thing at variance with another presently we may conjecture and in trial so it will prove that one of them may be used as a fit remedy against the harms of the other and surely many things which former ages have by this means found out they have commended to their posterity as by their writings may appear There is deadly hatred and open enmity betwixt Coleworts and the Vine for whereas the Vine windes it self with her tendrels about every thing else she shuns Coleworts only if once she come neer them she turns her self another way as if she were told that her enemy were at hand and when Coleworts is seething if you put never so little wine unto it it will neither boil nor keep the colour By the example of which experiment Aâ—drocides found out a remedy against wine namely that Coleworts are good against drunkennesse as Theophrastus saith in as much as the Vine cannot away with the savour of Coleworts And this herbe is at enmity with Cyclamine or Sow-bread for when they are put together if either of them be green it will dry up the other now this Sow-bread being put into wine doth encrease drunkennesse whereas Coleworts is a remedy against drunkennesse as we said before Ivy as it is the bane of all Trees so it is most hurtful and the greatest enemy to the Vine and therefore Ivy also is good against drunkennesse There is likewise a wonderful enmity betwixt Cane and Fern so that one of them destroyes the other Hence it is that a Fern root powned doth loose and shake out the darts from a wounded body that were shot or cast out of Canes and if you would not have Cane grow in a place do but plow up the ground with a little Fern upon the Plough-shear and Cane will never grow there Strangle-tare or Choke-weed desires to grow amongst Pulse and especially among Beans and Fetches but it choaks them all and thence Dioscorides gathers That if it be put amongst Pulse set to seethe it will make them seethe quickly Hemlock and Rue are at enmity they strive each against other Rue must not be handled or gathered with a bare hand for then it will cause Ulcers to arise but if you do chance to touch it with your bare hand and so cause it to swell or itch anoint it with the juice of Hemlock Much Rue being eaten becometh poison but the juice of Hemlock expels it so that one poison poisoneth another and likewise Rue is good against Hemlock being drunken as Dioscorides saith A wilde Bull being tyed to a Fig-tree waxeth tame and gentle as Zoroaster saith who compiled a book called Geoponica out of the choice writings of the Antients Hence it was found out that the stalks of a wilde Fig-tree if they be put to Beef as it is boiling make it boil very quickly as Pliny writeth and Dioscorides ministreth young figs that are full of milky juice together with a portion of water and vinegar as a remedy against a draught of Bulls blood The Elephant is afraid of a Ram or an engine of war so called for as soon as ever he seeth it he waxeth meek and his fury ceaseth hence the Romans by these engines put to flight the Elephants of Pyrrhus King of the Epyrotes and so got a great victory Such a contrariety is there betwixt the Elephants members and that kind of Lepry which makes the skin of a man like the skin of an Elephant and they are a present remedy against that disease The Ape of all other things cannot abide a Snail now the Ape is a drunken beast for they are wont to take an Ape by making him drunk and a Snail well washed is a remedy against drunkennesse A man is at deadly hatred with a Serpent for if he do but see a Serpent presently he is sore dismaid and if a woman with child meet a Serpent her fruit becometh abortive hence it is that when a woman is in very sore travel if she do but smell the fume of an Adders hackle it will presently either drive out or destroy her child but it is better to anoint the mouth of the womb in such a case with the fat of an Adder The sight of a Wolfe is so hurtful to a man that if he spie a man first he takes his voice from him and though he would fain cry out yet he cannot speak but if he perceive that the man hath first espied him he
Pliny hath gathered into his books many things out of the Antients works that were extant in his time We will relate some of them He saith That an herb which grows in the head of an Image being wrapt in a cloth is good for the Head-ach Many men have written of Holy-wort it hath a flie-beetle in the stalk that runs up and down in it making a noise like a Kid whence it receives the name and this herb is passing good for the voice Orpheus found out by his wit the properties of Stones The stone Galactites in colour like milk if you cast the dust of it upon the back of a Goat she will give milk more plentifully to her young if you give it a nurse in her drink it encreases her milk Christal is like unto water if one sick of an Ague keep it and roul it in his mouth it quenches his thirst The Amethist is in colour like wine and it keeps from drunkenness In the stone Achates you may see fruits trees fields and medows the powder of it cast about the horns or shoulders of Oxen as they are at plough will cause great encrease of fruits The stone Ophites resembleth the speckles and spots of Serpents and it cures their bitings If you dash the stone Galcophonos it sounds like brass stage-players are wont to wear it because it makes one have an excellent voice The stone Hematites being rubbed is like blood and is good for those that bleed and for blood-shot eyes and the stone Sinoper is of the same both colour and vertue The residue I will not here set down because I have handled them more at large in that which I have written of the knowledge of Plants CHAP. XII How to compound and lay things together by this likeness WE have shewed how that Nature layes open the likenesse of vertues and properties now let us shew how to compound and lay those things together for this is a principle of most use in this faculty and the very root of the greatest part of secret and strange operations Wherefore here thou must imitate the exact diligence of the Antients studying to know how to apply and lay things together with their likes which indeed is the chief matter wherein the most secrecies do consist It is manifest that every kind of things and every quality can incline and draw and allure some things to it and make them become like it self and as they are more active so they more easily can perform it as for example fire being very active doth more easily convert things into it self and so water into water Avicenna saith That if any thing stand long in salt it will become wholly salt if in an unsavory vessel it will become unsavory he that converses with a bold man shall be bold if with a fearful man he shall be fearful and look what living creature converses among men the same will be tame and gentle Such positions are usual in Physick as All parts of the body are nourished by their like the brain by brains teeth by teeth lights by lights and the liver by the liver A mans memory and wit is holpen by a Hens brain and her skull if it be put into our meat whilst it is new helps the falling-sicknesse and her maw if you eat it before supper though you hardly digest it yet is it good to strengthen the stomack The heart of an Ape takes away the palpitation of a mans heart and encreaseth boldnesse which is seated in the heart A wolfs yard broiled and minced is good to eat for the procuring of lust when strength begins to fail The skin of a Ravens heel is good against the Gout the right-heel-skin must be laid upon the right-foot if that be gouty and the left upon the lest and finally every member helps his like But these things Physitians write of whose sayings it is not our purpose here to rehearse Furthermore we must consider and be well advised what things such or such a quality is in and whether it be there onely after a common sort or else in some great measure and whether it be an affection or perturbation and whether it come by chance by art or by nature as for example heating cooling love boldnesse barrennesse fruitfulnesse sadnesse babling or such like and whether it can cause any such matter as we would work thereby for examples sake If you would make a woman fruitful you must consider with your self the most fertile living-creatures and amongst the rest an Hare a Cony or a Mouse for an Hare is bigge even after she hath brought forth she genders every month and brings not forth all her young at once but now and then one upon sundry daies and presently goeth to buck again and so conceives while she gives suck and carries in her womb at once one young that is ripe another that hath no hairs and a third that is but lately conceived Again you must consider the parts and members where that property lyeth and minister them to your Patient as to make a woman fruitful you must give her the womb and curd of an Hare and to the man the stones of an Hare In like manner any particular creature that was never sick is a help against all diseases If you would have a man become bold or impudent let him carry about him the skin or eyes of a Lion or a Cock and he will be fearlesse of his enemies nay he will be very terrible unto them If you would have a man talkative give him tongues and seek out for him water-frogs wilde-geese and ducks and other such creatures notorious for their continual noise-making the tongues whereof if you lay under the head or side of a woman as she is sleeping because they are most clamorous in the evening they will make her utter her night-secrecies Other things we omit as being superfluous and unprofitable here seeing we have largely handled them in our books of plants CHAP. XIII That particular creatures have particular gifts some in their whole body others have them in their parts PArticular creatures are not destitute of excellent and strange properties but are very powerful in operation more then ordinarily their kind yields and this is by reason either of some hidden property or rather of the heavenly aspects and influences working diversly in divers particulars as Albertus supposeth and in one particular more then in most other of the same kind These sundry effects and inclinations of such particulars a Magician must also be well acquainted with that knowing sundry ways whereby to work he may make choice of the fittest and such as may best serve his present use and need for this is our task to reach the way and method of searching out and applying of secrecies which done no further thing can be required of us Therefore to our purpose Albertus saith That there were once two twins one of them would open doors and gates if he did but touch them
all their corn wasted And as these mice are generated suddenly so they are suddenly consumed in a few dayes the reason whereof cannot be so well assigned Pliny could not find how it should be for neither could they be found dead in the fields neither alive within the earth in the winter time Diodorus and Aelianus write That these field-mice have driven many people of Italy out of their own Countrey they destroyed Cosas a City of Hetruria many came to Troas and thence drove the inhabitants Theophrastus and Varro write That mice also made the inhabitants of the Island Gyarus to forsake their Country and the like is reported of Heraclea in Pontus and of other places Likewise also Frogs are wonderfully generated of rotten dust and rain for a Summer showre lighting upon the putrified sands of the shore and dust of high-wayes engenders frogs Aelianus going from Naples in Italy to Puteoli saw certain frogs that their fore-parts moved and went upon two feet while yet their hinder parts were unfashioned and drawn after like a clot of dirt and Ovid saith one part lives the other is earth still and again mud engenders frogs that sometimes lack feet The generation of them is so easie and sudden that some write it hath rained frogs as if they were gendred in the Air. Phylarchus in Athenaeus writes so and Heraclides Lembus writes that it rained frogs about Dardany and Poeonia so plentifully that the very wayes and houses were full of them and therefore the inhabitants though for a few daies at the first they endured it killing the frogs and shutting up their houses yet afterward when they saw it was to no purpose but they could neither use water nor boil meat but frogs would be in it nor so much as tread upon the ground for them they quite forsook their countries as Diodorus and Eustathius write The people Autharidae in Thesprtaia were driven out of their Country by certain imperfect frogs that fell from heaven But it is a strange thing that Red Toads are generated of dirt and of womens flowers In Dariene a Province of the new world the air is most unwholesome the place being muddy and full of stinking marishes nay the village is it self a marish where Toads are presently gendred of the drops wherewith they water their houses as Peter Martyr writes A Toad is likewise generated of a duck that hath lyen rotting under the mud as the verse shews which is ascribed to the duck When I am rotten in the earth I bring forth Toads happily because they and I both are moist and foul creatures Neither is it hard to generate Toades of womens putrified flowers for women do breed this kind of cattel together with their children as Celius Aurelianus and Platearius call them frogs toads lyzards and such like and the women of Salerium in times past were wont to use the juice of Parsley and Leeks at the beginning of their conception and especially about the time of their quickening thereby to destroy this kind of vermin with them A certain woman lately married being in all mens judgement great with child brought forth in stead of a child four Creatures like to frogs and after had her perfect health But this was a kind of a Moon-calf Paracelsus said that if you cut a serpent in pieces and hide him in a vessel of glasse under the mud there will be gendred many worms which being nourished by the mud will grow every one as big as a Serpent so that of one serpent may be an hundred generated and the like he holds of other creatures I will not gainsay it but only thus that they do not gender the same serpents And so he saith you may make them of a womans flowers and so he saith you may generate a Basilisk that all shall die which look upon him but this is a stark lie It is evident also that Serpents may be generated of mans marrow of the hairs of a menstruous woman and of a horse-tail or mane We read that in Hungary by the River Theisa Serpents and Lyzards did breed in mens bodies so that three thousand men died of it Pliny writes that about the beginning of the wars against the Marsi a maid-servant brought forth a serpent Avicenna in his book of deluges writes that serpents are gendred of womens hairs especially because they are naturally moister and longer then mens We have experienced also that the hairs of a horses mane laid in the waters will become serpents and our friends have tried the same No man denies but that serpents are easily gendred of mans flesh especially of his marrow Aelianus saith that a dead mans back-marrow being putrified becomes a serpent and so of the meekest living Creature arises the most savage and that evil mens back-bones do breed such monsters after death Ovid shews that many hold it for a truth Pliny received it of many reports that Snakes gendred of the marrow of mens backs Writers also shew How a Scorpion may be generated of Basil. Florentinus the Grecian saith That Basil chewed and laid in the Sun will engender serpents Pliny addeth that if you rub it and cover it with a stone it will become a Scorpion and if you chew it and lay it in the Sun it will bring forth worms And some say that if you stamp a handful of Basil together with ten Crabs or Crevises all the Scorpions thereabouts will come unto it Avicenna tells of a strange kind of producing a Scorpion but Galen denies it to be true But the body of a Crab-fish is strangely turned into a Scorpion Pliny saith that while the Sun is in the sign Cancer if the bodies of those fishes lie dead upon the Land they wil be turned into Scorpions Ovid saith if you take of the Crabs arms and hide the rest in the ground it will be Scorpion There is also a Creature that lives but one day bred in vineger as Aelianus writes and it is called Ephemerus because it lives but one day it is gendred of the dregs of sowre wine and as soon as the vessel is open that it comes into the light presently it dies The River Hippanis about the solstitial daies yields certain little husks whence issue forth certain four-footed birds which live and flie about till noon but pine away as the Sun draws downward and die at the Sun-setting and because they live but one day they are called Hemerobion a daies-bird So the Pyrigâ—nes be generated in the fire Certain little flying beasts so called because they live and are nourished in the fire and yet they flie up and down in the Air. This is strange but that is more strange that as soon as ever they come out of the fire into any cold air presently they die Likewise the Salamander is gendred of the water for the Salamander it self genders nothing neither is there any male or female amongst them nor yet amongst Eeels nor any kind else which doth not generate of
legs after that he caused another of his legs to be broken but the Dog still kept his hold after that his third leg and yet still he kept his hold after that his fourth leg and yet the Dog was still as fierce upon the Lion as at the first Nay when last of all his head was cut off from his body yet still it stuck fast by the teeth in the same place where he took his first hold Alexander seeing this was much grieved for the Dogs death and greatly amazed at his valour that he would rather suffer his life then his courage to be taken from him The Indian perceiving that gave to Alexander four such Dogs and he received them as a great Present and accepted them gladly and thankfully and moreover rewarded the Indian that gave them with a Princely recompence This same story Philes also writes But Diodorus Siculus and Strabo say that Sopithes a King gave Alexander an hundred and fifty of these Dogs all very huge and strong and usually coupling with Tygres And Pollux writes the same And Plutark describes the Indian-dog and his fight before Alexander as it is before related Pliny writes that the King of Albania gave Alexander a great Dog wherewith he was much delighted but when he brought the Dog first Bears then Boars and then Deer and saw he would not touch them being much offended that so great a body should have so little courage he caused him to be killed The King that gave him hearing this sent him another and withal charged the Messenger that he should not be tryed in small matches but either with a Lion or an Elephant So then Alexander caused a Lion to be set before him and presently the Dog killed him afterward he tried him with an Elephant and the Dog bristled and barked at him and assaulted him so artificially every way till the Elephant was giddy with turning about and so fell down and was killed Gratius writes of this kind of dogs thus generated of a Bitch and a Tygre There is also another kind of Dogs Generated of a Lion And these are strong Dogs and good Hunters Pollux saith that Arcadian Dogs first came of a Dog and a Lion and are called Lion-dogs And Coelius writes the same and Oppianus commends the Arcadian Dogs and those of Tegea which is a Town of Acadia This is also A strong and swift Dog gendred of a kind of Wolf called Thos which as Aristotle writes is in all his entrails like a Wolfs and is a strong beast swift and is wont to encounter the Lion Pliny saith it is a kind of Wolf Hesychius saith it is like a Wolf Herodotus that it is gendred in Africa Solinus calls them Ethiopian Wolves Nearchus calls these beasts Tygres and saith there be divers kinds of them Wherefore Gratius saith that dogs generated of these Thoes are strong and fit to hunt and calls them half-savage as coming of a tame Dog and a savage kind of Wolf There is also a Dog called Crocuta gendred of a Dog and a Wolf Pliny saith that these Dogs break all things with their teeth and presently devout them As the Indians join Tygres so do the Gaules join Wolves and Dogs together every herd of Wolves there hath a Dog for their Ring-leader In the Country of Cyrene in Libya Wolves do couple with Dogs as Aristotle and Pollux write Galen in his book concerning the use of Parts writes that a Bitch may conceive by a He-wolf and so the She-wolf by a Dog and retain each others seed and ripen it to the bringing forth of both kinds Diodorus saith that the dog which the Aethiopian calls Crocuta is a compound of the Nature of a Dog and a Wolf When Niphus was hunting one of his dogs eagerly pursued a she-wolf and overtaking her began to line her changing his fiercenesse into lust Albertus saith that the great Dog called a Mastive is gendred of a Dog and a Wolf I my self saw at Rome a dog generated of a wolf and at Naples a she-wolf of a dog Ovid saith that the dog Nape was conceived of a Wolf and Ovid and Virgil both mention the dog Lycisca which as Isiodore writes are generated of wolves and dogs coupling together Coelius calls these dogs Chaonides being gendred of a kind of wolf called Chaos as some suppose whence they have that name But if we would generate swift dogs as Grey-hounds we must join dogs with some swift beasts As couple dogs and foxes together and they will Gender swift Dogs called Lacedamonian Dogs Aristotle and out of him Galen report that beasts may couple together though they be of a divers kind so that their nature do not much differ and they be of a like bignesse and thereby sutable for their times of breeding and bringing forth as it is betwixt dogs and wolves of both which are gendred swift dogs called Lacedaemonian dogs the first births are of both kinds but in time after sundry interchangeable generations they take after the dam and follow the kind of the female Pollux saith These are called Alopecidae fox-dogs as Xenophâ—â— also writes of them and makes them to be hunting dogs and surely the best and swiftest hunting dogs as Grey-hounds are long-headed and sharp-snouâ—ed as foxes are Hesychius and Varinus call them Dog-foxes But now if we would generate a kind of Swift Dogs and strong withal we must make a medley of sundry kinds of dogs together as a Mastive and a Grey-hound gender a swift and withal a strong dog as Aristole writes or else couple a dog with a wolf or with a Lion for both these mixtions have Hunts-men devised the former to amend certain natural defects in one kind and the latter to make their dogs stronger for the game and craftier to espie and take advantages as commonly together with the properties of the body the qualities of the mind are derived into the young ones Ovid mentions such mungrels amongst Actaeons dogs and Oppianus in his book of Hunting counsels to join in the Spring-time divers dogs together if we desire to have any excellent parts in any as the dogs of Elis with them of Arcadia the dogs of Crete with them of Pannonia Thracians with them of Caria Lacedaemonians with them of Tuscia and Sarmatian dogs with Spanish dogs Thus we see how to generate a dog as stomackful as a Lion as fierce as a Tygre as crafty as a fox as spotted as a Leopard and as ravenous as a Wolf CHAP. VII How to generate pretty little dogs to play with BEcause a dog is such a familiar creature with man therefore we will shew how to generate and bring up a little dog and one that will be play-full First of the generation Of little Dogs In times past women were wont to esteem little dogs in great price especially such as came from Malta the Island situate in the Adriatical Sea neer to Ragusius Callimachus terms them Melitean dogs And Aristotle in his Problems shews the manner of
their generation where he questioneth Why amongst living creatures of the same kind some have greater and some have smaller bodies and gives thereof a double reason one is the straightnesse of the place wherein they are kept the other is the scarcenesse of their nourishment and some have attempted to lessen the bodies of them even after their birth as they which nourish up little whelps in small cages for thereby they shorten and lessen their bodies but their parts are prettily well knit together as appears in Melitaean dogs for nature performes her work notwithstanding the place Athenaeus writes that the Sybarites were much delighted with Melitaean dogs which are such in the kind of dogs as Dwarfes are among men They are much made of and daintily kept rather for pleasure then for any use Those that are chosen for such a purpose are of the smallest pitch no bigger at their best growth then a mouse in body well set having a little head a small sâ—out the nose turning upward bended so for the purpose when they were young long ears short legs narrow feet tail somewhat long a shagged neck with long hair to the shoulders the other parts being as it were shorn in colour white and some of them are shagged all over These being shut up in a cage you must feed very sparingly that they never have their fill and let them couple with the least you can find that so lesse may be generated for so Hippocrates writes that Northern people by handling the heads of dogs while they be young make them lesse then and so they remain even after they are come to their full growth and in this shape they gender others so that they make as it were another kind But if you would know the generation of a Dog that will do tricks and feats one that will make sport of himself and leap up and down and bark softly and 〈◊〉 without biting and stand upon his hindermost legs holding forth his other legs like hands and will fetch and carry you must first let them converse and company with an Ape of whom they will learn many sportful tricks then let them line the Ape and the young one which is born of them two will be exceeding practised to do feats such as Juglets and Players are wont to shew by their dogs Albertus saith that these kind of dogs may very well be generated of a dog and a fox CHAP. VIII How to amend the defects and lacks that are in dogs by other means WE may also supply the lacks that are in dogs by other means and teach them new qualities even by their food and nourishment for we have shewed oft-times that qualities are drawn in together with the milk and nourishment whereby we live Columella shews how to make Dogs strong and swift If you would have them full of stout spirits you must suffer them to suck the breasts of some other beasts for alwayes the milk and the spirits of the nurse are much available both for the quality of the body and the qualities of the soul. Oppianus bids us to keep hunting dogs from sucking any ordinary Bitches or Goats or Sheep for this saith he will make them too lazy and weak but they must suck a tame Lionesse or Hart or Doe or Wolf for so they will become swift and strong like to their nurses that give them suck And Aelianus gives the very same precept in the very same words for saith he when they shall remember that they had such strong and swift nurses nature will make them ashamed not to resemble their qualities Pollux saith that for a while the Dams milk is fittest meat for whelps but after let them lap the blood of those beasts which dogs have caught that by little and little they may be acquainted with the sweetnesse of hunting Ctesias in his book of Indian matters writes that the people called Cynamolgi do nourish and feed many dogs with Bulls blood which afterward being let loose at the Bulls of India overcome them and kill them though they be never so fierce and the people themselves milk their Bitches and drink it as we drink Goats or Sheeps milk as Aelianus reports and Solinus writes that this is supposed to make that people flap-mouthed and to grin like dogs We may also make an Ass become couragious if we take him as soon as he is brought forth into the world and put him to a Mare in the dark that she may not discern him for her own Colt being privily taken from her she will give suck to the Asse as to her own foale and when she hath done thus for the space of ten daies she will give him suck alwayes after willingly though she know him to be none of hers Thus shall he be larger and better every way CHAP. IX How to bring forth divers kinds of Mules WE will speak of the commixtion of Asses Horses and such like though it be a known matter yet it may be we shall adde something which may delight the Reader Aelianus writes out of Democritus that Mules are not Natures work but a kind of theft and adultery devised by man first committed by an Asse of Media that by force covered a Mare and by chance got her with foal which violence men learned of him and after that made a custom of it Homers Scholiast saith that Mules were first devised by the Venetians a City of Paphlagonia It is writâ—â—â— Genesis chap. 36. v. 24. that Anah Esau's kinsman feeding his fathers Asses in the wildernesse found out Mules Now A Mule cometh of a Mare and an Ass. They have no root in their own kind but are graffed as it were and double kinded as Varro saith If you would have a strong and a big Mule you must chuse a Mare of the largest affize and well-knit joints not regarding her swiftnesse but her strength But there is another kind of mule called Hinnus that cometh of a Horse and a She-ass But here special choice must be made of the Asse that she be of the largest affize strongly jointed and able to endure any labour and of good qualities also for howsoever it is the Sire that gives the name to the young one and it is called Hinnus of the Horse yet it grows altogether like the Dam having the main and the tail of an Asse but Horses ears and it is not so great of body as the Mule is but much slower and much wilder But the best She-mules of all are generated of a wilde Ass and of a She-ass and these are the swiftest too for though the Mule that is begotten by the He-asse be both in shape and qualities very excellent in his kind yet that which is begotten of the wilde Asse cometh nothing behind the other but only that it is unruly and stubborn and somewhat scammel like the Sire These Mules thus gendred of a wilde Asse and a She-asse if they be males and put to cover a Mare beget excellent young
forth an infant that had the face of a man but the thighs of a Goat The same Author writes That Women lie with He-goats and with the Cynocephali for the He-goats are so lecherous that in the madnesse of their lust they will set upon Virgins and by force ravish them Herodotus in his second book writeth of a He-goat that had to do with a woman openly and in the sight of many men standing by Strabo saith that in the Mediterranean Sea a little without the mouth of a River neer to Sebenis and Pharnix there is an Island called Xoas and a City within the Province of Sebenis and the Cities Hermopolis and Mendes where Pan is honoured for a God and with him is likewise honoured a He-goat and there as Pindarus reports He-goats have to do with women In the utmost corner of the winding of the River Nilus saith he are fed certain Herds of Goats and there the lecherous He-goats are mingled with women Aelianus also writes of the Indians that they will not admit into their Cities any red Apes because they are oft-times mad in lust towards women and if at any time they find such Apes they hunt and destroy them as being adulterous beasts Pliny writes also That Man couples with divers kinds of beasts for some of the Indians have usual company with bruit beasts and that which is so generated is half a beast and half a man CHAP. XIII That divers kinds of birds may be generated of divers birds coupling together BEfore we come to speak of the commixtion of birds it is meet to prescribe certain observations for the more easie effecting thereof that if we have need to supply any defects in any birds we may be the better instructed how to perform it readily to make them fitter for our uses Se shewed before out of Aristotle that if we would mingle Creatures of divers kinds we must see that they be of like bignesse of a like proportion of time for their breeding of a like colour but especially that they be very lecherous for otherwise they will hardly insert themselves into a strange stock If a Falconer be desirous to produce fighting Hawks or Cocks or other birds he must first seek our good lusty males such as be strong and stomackful that they may derive the same qualities into their young ones Next they must procure strong and couragious females for if but one of them be stomackful the young ones will rather take after the dulnesse and faint-heart of the one then after the quicknesse and courage of the other When you have thus made choice of the best breeders before their copulation you must keep them together within doors and bring them by little and little acquainted with each other which you may best do by causing them to feed and to live together Therefore you must prepare a pretty little cottage about ten foot long and ten foot broad and let all the windows be made out toward the South so that there may good store of light come in at the top of the house In the middle you must make a partition with lattises or grates made of Osiers and let the rods stand so far asunder as that the birds head and neck may go in between them and in one side of the room let that bird be alone by her self which you would make tame in the other side put the other birds which you purpose to join in copulation with the strange bird So then in the prime of the Spring for that is the time wherein all Creatures are most eager in lust you must get you fruitful birds and let them be of the same colour as is the bird which you desire to become tame These you must keep certain daies at the same boord as it were and give them their meat together so that the strange bird may come at it through the grate for by this means she will learn to be acquainted with them as with her fellows and will live quietly by them being as it were kept in prison from doing them any wrong whereas otherwise she would be so fierce upon them that she would spare none but it she could destroy them all But when once by tract of time and continual acquaintance with his fellows this male-bird is become somewhat gentle look which of the females he is most familiar with let her be put in the same room where he is and give them both meat enough And because commonly he either kills or doth not care for the first female that is put unto him therefore lest the keeper should lose all his hope he must keep divers females for supply When you perceive that he hath gotten the female with young presently you must divorce one of them from the other and let him in a new mate that he may fill her also and you must feed her well till she begin to sit upon her egges or put the egges under some other that sits And thus shall you have a young one in all respects like the Cock but as soon as the young ones are out of the shell let them be brought up by themselves not of their mother but of some other Hen-bird Last of all the females of this brood when they be come to ripenesse that they stand to their Cock their first or their second brood will be a very exact and absolute kinde CHAP. XIV Divers commixtions of Hens with other Birds WE will begin with Hens because they are in great request with us and are houshold-birds alwayes before our eyes and besides they may be very profitable and gainful if we can tell how to procreate and bring up divers kinds of them Cocks are of all other most lecherous and they spend their seed not only at the sight of their Hens but even when they hear them crake or cackle and to represse their lust they are oftentimes carved They tread and fall to their sport almost all the year long Some Hens are very lusty and withal very fruitful insomuch that they lay three-score egges before they sit to hatch them yea some that are kept in a pen do lay twice in one day and some bring forth such store of egges that they consume themselves thereby and die upon it We will first shew How to couple a Partridge with a Hen. Partridges are much given to lust and very eager of coition and are mingled with other birds of divers kinds and they couple betwixt themselves and so have young ones as first with Hens of whom they procreate certain birds which partake of both kinds in common for the first brood but in processe of time when divers generations have successively passed they take meerly after the mother in all respects as Aristotle writeth The field-cocks are usually more lustful then houshold-cocks are and they tread their Hens as soon as ever they are off the roust but the Hens are more inclinable to coition about the middle of the day as Athenaeus writes
a dapple Gray or of any one colour or of sundry colours together And Absyrtus teacheth the same in effect counselling us to cover the Mares body with some stuff of that colour which we would have the Colt to be of for look what colour she is set forth in the same will be derived into the Colt for the horse that covers her will be much affected with the sight of such colours as in the heat of his lust he looketh on and will beget a Colt of the same hue as the example then before his eyes doth present unto him Oppianus in his first book of Hunting writes the same argument Such is saith he the industry and practisednesse of mans wit that they can alter the colour of the young ones from the mother and even in the wombe of their Dam procure them to be of divers colours for the Horse-breeder doth paint the Mares back with sundry colours even such as they would procure to be in the Colt against the time that both she desires horse the Stallion is admitted to cover her So the Stallion when he cometh and sees such goodly preparation as it were for his wedding presently begins to some at the mouth and to neigh after her and is possessed with the fire of raging lust throughout his whole body raving and taking on that he cannot forthwith satisfie himself upon his bride At length the Horse-breeder takes off their fetters and lets them loose together and the Mare admits him and afterward brings forth a Colt of as many colours as she beheld in the time of her copulation for as she conceives the Colt so withal she conceives those colours which she then looks upon How to procure white Pea-cocks Informer times white Pea-cocks were such a rare sight in Colen that every one admired them as a most strange thing but afterward they became more common by reason that merchants brought many of them out of Norway for whereas black or else party-coloured Peacocks were carried into that Country to be seen presently as they came thither they waxed white for there the old ones sit upon their eggs in the air upon the tops of very high mountaines full of snow and by continual sitting there it causeth some alteration in their own colour but the young which they hatch are white all over And no doubt but some such courses will take good effect in all kinds of birds for if we take their Cages or Coops wherein they are kept and their nests wherein they sit and white them on the inside with some plastering work or else cover them all over with white clothes or curtains and so keep them in with grates that they may not get out but there couple and sit and hatch their egges they will yeeld unto us white broods So if you would Procure Pigeons of party colours you must take that course which Oppianus hath set down At such time as they fall to kissing their mate and are desirous of copulation let him that keeps them lay before their eyes sundry clothes of the bravest colours they can get but especially purple for the pigeons will in their heat of lust be much affected and delighted with the sight thereof and the young ones which they bring forth shall resemble the same colours The subtil Fowler saith he that gives himself to take and to bring up birds is well acquainted with and is wont to practise such experiments and very artificially procures fine colours in young Pigeons he casteth before their sparkling eyes fine wrought tapestry and red coverlets and purple garments and so whiles he feeds their eyes with pleasing sights he steals away their imagination to the colours which they look upon and thereby derives the very same colours into the young ones How to procure a shag-hair'd Dog In â—aâ—ting time you must strew their kennels and the places where they lie and couple and usually haunt with the fleeces and hides of beasts and so while they continually look upon those sights they will beget shag whelps like Lions This we heard came to passe by chance and without any such intended purpose that a little Bitch lying continually in a Rams fleece when she came to be with whelp she brought forth puppies of the like hair as the fleece was How to procure Swine and other beasts to be white Swine-herds and Keepers of beasts when they would have white litters are wont to beautifie and to build the stables and places whither the beasts resort to lye with white roofs and white eaves and the Swine which were brought forth in such white sties and the other beasts likewise that were brought forth in such whited places became thereby white all over CHAP. XX. How it may be wrought that Women should bring forth fair and beautiful children BY this which hath been spoken it is easie for any man to work the like effects in mankind and to know how to procure fair and beautiful children Nay Writers make mention that these things which we speak of have oftentimes fallen out by chance Wherefore it was not here to be omitted The best means to produce this effect is to place in the bed-chambers of great men the images of Cupid Adonis and Ganymedes or else to set them there in carved and graven works in some solid matter that they may alwayes have them in their eyes whereby it may to passe that whensoever their wives lie with them still they may think upon those pictures and have their imagination strongly and earnestly bent thereupon and not only while they are in the act but after they have conceived and quickned also so shall the child when it is born imitate and expresse the same form which his mother conceived in her mind when she conceived him and bare in her mind while she bare him in her wombe And I know by experience that this course will take good effect for after I had counselled many to use it there was a woman who had a great desire to be the mother of a fair Son that heard of it and put it in practise for she procured a white boy carved of marble well proportioned every way and him she had always before her eyes for such a Son it was that she much desired And when she lay with her Husband and likewise afterward when she was with child still she would look upon that image and her eyes and heart were continually fixed upon it whereby it came to passe that when her breeding time was expired she brought forth a Son very like in all points to that marble image but especially in colour being as pale and as white as if he had been very marble indeed And thus the truth of this experiment was manifestly proved Many other women have put the like course in practise and their skill hath not failed them Oppianus mentions this kind of practise that it is usual amongst the Lacedaemonians for they saith he when they perceive that their wives are
not out of the low and hollow parts but out of the highest And there are four seeds required because so many will easily and fitly close together A matter which if it were true it might be a very ready means which would produce exceeding many and wonderful experiments By such a means Berries that are party-coloured may be produced If you take a great many berries white and black and red one amongst another and sow them in the earth together and when they are shot up bind all their stalks into one they will grow together and yeeld party coloured berries Pliny writes that this way was devised from the birds Nature saith he hath taught how to graffe with a seed for hungry birds have devoured seeds and having moistened and warmed them in their bellies a little after have dunged in the forky twistes of Trees and together with their dung excluded the seed whole which erst they had swallowed and sometimes it brings forth there where they dung it and sometimes the wind carries it away into some chinks of the barks of Trees and there it brings forth This is the reason why many times we see a Cherry-tree growing in a Wilow a Plane-tree in a Bay-tree and a Bay in a Cherry-tree and withal that the berries of them have been party-coloured They write also that the Jack-daw hiding certain seeds in some secret chinks or holes did give occasion of this Invention By this self-same means we may produce A Fig that is partly white and partly red Leontius attempts the doing of this by taking the kernels or stones that are in a Fig somewhat inclinable to this variety and wrapping them up together in a linnen cloth and then sowing them and when need requires removing them into another place If we would have An Orenge or Citron-tree bear divers Apples of divers relishes Pontanus our Country-man in his work of Gardening hath elegantly taught us how to do it We must take sundry seeds of them and put them into a pitcher and there let them grow up and when they come forth bind the sprigs together and by this means they will grow up into one stock and shrowd themselves all under one bark but you must take heed that the wind come not at them to blow them asunder but cover them over with some wax that they may stick fast together and let them be well plaistered with morter about the bark and so shall you gather from them in time very strange Apples of sundry relishes Likewise we may procure A Damosin and an Orenge or Limon to be mixt together In our books of Husbandry we shewed at large by many reasons alledged to and fro that sundry seeds could not possibly grow into one but all that is written in favour of this practice is utterly false and altogether unpossible But this experiment we our selves have proved whereby divers kinds of Damosins are mixt together While the Damosin-trees were very tender and dainty we fastened two of them together which were planted neer to each other as Sailers plat and tie their Cables but first we pared off the bark to the inmost skin in that place where they should touch together that so one living thing might the more easily grow to the other then we bound them up gently with thin lists made of the inner bark of Elm or such like stuff that is soft and pliable for such a purpose lest they should be parted and grow asunder and if any part of them were so limber that it would not stick fast we wedged it in with splents yet not too hard for fear of spoiling it Then we rid away the earth from the upper roots and covered them with muck and watered them often that by this cherishing and tilling on they might grow up the better and thus after a few years that they were grown together into one tree we cut off the tops of them about that place where they most seemed to be knit together and about those tops there sprung up many buds whereof those which we perceived had grown out of both Trees we suffered to grow still and the rest we cut away and by this means we produced such kind of fruit as we speak of very goodly and much commended And concerning Limons I have seen some in the Noble-mens Gardens of Naples which partly by continual watering at seasonable times and partly by reason of the tendernesse and the ranknesse of the boughs did so cling and grow together that they became one tree and this one Tree brought forth fruit compounded of either kind We may also effect this featly by earthen vessels for the plants that are set therein we may very conveniently cherish up with continual watering and perform other services towards them which are necessary for their growth And as it may be done by Limons so we have seen the same experiment practised upon Mulberry-trees which growing in moist and shadowed places as soon as their boughs closed one with another presently they grew into one and brought forth berries of sundry colours If we would procure that A Lettice should grow having in it Parsley and Rotchet and Basil-gentle or any such like commixtion we must take the dung of a Sheep or a Goat and though it be but a small substance yet you must make a shift to bore the Truttle through the middle and as well as you can get out the inmost pith and in stead thereof put into it those seeds which you desire to have mingled together packing them in as hard as the Truttle will bear it and when you have so done lay it in the ground about two handful deep with dung and hollow geer both under it and round about it then cover it with a little thin earth and water it a little and a little and when the seeds also are sprung forth you must still apply them with water and dung and after they are grown up into a stalk you must be more diligent about them and by this means at length there will arise a Lettice mixed and compounded with all those seeds Palladius prescribes the same more precisely If you take saith he a Truttle of Goats dung and bore it through and make it hollow cunningly with a bodkin and then fill it up with the seed of Lettice Cresses Basil Rotchet and Radish and when you have so done lap them up in more of the same dung and bury them in a little trench of such ground as is fruitful and well manured for such a purpose the Radish will grow downward into a Root the other seeds will grow upward into a stalk and the Lettice will contain them all yeelding the several relish of every one of them Others effect this experiment on this manner They pluck off the Lettice leaves that grow next to the root and make holes in the thickest substance and veins thereof one hole being a reasonable distance from the other wherein they put the forenamed seeds all but
the rather because many rude and unskilful men being drawn on partly by the hope of gain which they looked for by it and partly by the pleasure and delight which they did take in it have bestowed themselves in these experiments to the great slander both of the Art it self and also of the professors thereof so that now adays a man cannot handle it without the scorn and obloquy of the world because of the disgrace and contempt which those idiots have brought upon it For whilst they being altogether ignorant of the Principles of these things have labored to make sophistical and counterseit gold they have utterly miscarried in their endeavours and wasted all their substance and quite undone themselves and so were deluded by that vain hope of Gold which set them on work Demetrius Phalereus said very well of these men That which they should have gotten saith he they did not get that which they had in their own possession they lost and so whereas they hoped to work a metamorphosis or alteration in the Metals the alteration and change hath lighted heavily upon themselves in respect of their own estate and when they have thus overthrown themselves they have no other comfort left them but onely this to broach many lies and counterfeit devices whereby they may likewise deceive others and draw them into the very same lurches which themselves have before fallen into And surely the desire partly of the Art it self and partly of the great gain which many men hoped after by the same hath filled the world with so many Books and such an infinite number of lies that there is scarce any other matter in the like request so that it was very well done of Dioclesian the Emperour and it was high time for him so to do to establish a Decree that all such lying Books that were written concerning that matter should be cast into the fire and burnt to ashes Thus was an excellent good Art discredited and disgraced by reason that they abused it which falls out also in many other better things then this is The Art of it self is not to be fet at nought but rather to be embraced and much to be sought after especially by such as apply their minds to Philosophy and to the searching out of the secrecies of Nature for they shall find in it many things which they will wonder at and such as are exceeding necessary for the use of men and when they shall behold the experience of many kinds of transmutations and sundry effects it will be no small delight unto them and besides it will shew them the way to profounder and worthier matters such as the best and soundest Philosophers have not been ashamed to search into and to handle in their writings I do not here promise any golden mountains as they say nor yet that Philosophers stone which the world hath so great an opinion of and hath been bragged of in many ages and happily attained unto by some neither yet do I promise here that golden liquor whereof if any man do drink it is supposed that it will make him to be immortal but it is a meer dream for seeing that the world it self is variable and subject to alteration therefore it cannot be but that whatsoever the world yields should likewise be subject to destruction so that to promise or to undertake any such matters as these are it were but rashness and meer foolisâ—ness Put the things which we purpose to discourse of and to deliver are these which hereâ—fter follow and I would request the Readers to take them in good part and to conteâ—t themselves â—ith these lest if they attempt to proceed to further experiments herein they prove themselves as foolish and as mad as those which we have spoken of before These things which here you shall find I my self have seen and proved by experience and therefore I am the bolder to set them abroach to the view of the whole world CHAP. I. Of Tin and how it may be converted into a more excellent Mettal TInne doth counterfeit and resemble Silver and there is great amity and agreement betwixt these two Mettals in respect of their colour The Nature and the colour of Tinne is such that it will whiten all other Mettals but it makes them brickle and easie to be knapt in sunder onely Lead is free from this power of Tinne but he that can skilfully make a medley of this Mettal with others may thereby attain to many pretty secrecies Wherefore we will endeavor to counterfeit Silver as neâ—r as we can A matter which may be easily effected if we can tell how to abolish and utterly destroy those imperfections which are found in Tinne whereby it is to be discerned from Siver The imperfections are these First it is wont to make a creaking noise and crasheth more then Silver doth Secondly it doth not ring so pleasantly as Silver but hath a duller sound Thirdly it is of a more pale and wanne colour And lastly it is more soft and tender for if it be put into the fire it is not first red hot before it be melted as Silver will be but it clings fast to the fire and is soon overcome and molten by the heat thereof These are the qualities that are observed to be in Tinne not the essential properties of the Nature thereof but onely accidental qualities and therefore they may be more easily expelled out of their subject Let us see therefore how we may rid away these extrinsecal accidents and first How to remedy the softness of Tin and the creaking noise that it makes You must first beat it into small powder as you shall hereafter be instructed in the manner how to do it and when you have so done you must reduce it into one whole body again And if it do not lose its softness at the first time as you deal so by it use the same course the second time and so likewise the third time rather then fail and by this means you shall at length obtain your purpose for by so doing the Tin will wax so hard that it will endure the fire till it be red hot before ever it will melt By the like practice we may also harden all other soft bodies to make them red hot before they shall be melted but the experience hereof is more clear in Tinne then in any other Mettals whatsoever We may also take away the creaking noise of Tinne if we melt it seven several times and quench it every time in the urine of children or else in the Oyl of Wall-nuts for this is the onely means to expel that quality and imperfection out of it Thus then we have declared the manner how to extract these accidents from it but all this while we have not shewed how it may be transformed into Silver which now we are to speak of as soon as ever we have shewed the manner How to bring Tin into Powder which we promised to
remaining Powders make a mass which you may form into cakes which being burnt on hot Ashes smell very sweetly I take out the Cinnamon and the Woods because in burning they cast forth a stink of smoak Another way Take one pound and a half of the Coals of Willow ground into dust and seirced four ounces of Labdanum three drachms of Storax two of Benjamin one of Lignum Aloes mix the Storax Benjamin and Labdanum in a Brass Morter with an Iron Pestle heated and put to them the Coal and Lignum Aloes powdered Add to these half an ounce of liquid Storax then dissolve Gum Tragacantha in Rose-water and drop it by degrees into the Morter When the powders are mixed into the form of an Unguent you may make it up into the shape of Birds or any other things and dry them in the shade You may wash them over with a little Musk and Amber upon a Pencil and when you burn them you will receive a most sweet fume from them Another Perfume Anoynt the Pill of Citron or Lemmon with a little Civet stick it with Cloves and Races of Cinnamon boyl it in Rose-water and it will fill your chamber with an odorifeous fume CHAP. IX How to adulterate Musk. THese Perfumes are often counterfeited by Impostors wherefore I will declare how you may discern and beware of these Cheats for you must not trust whole Musk-Cods of it there being cunning Impostors who fill them with other things and onely mix Musk enough to give its sent to them Black Musk inclining to a dark red is counterfeited with Goats blood a little rosted or toasted bread so that three or four parts of them beaten with one of Musk will hardly be discovered The Imposture may be discerned onely thus The Bread is easie to be crumb'd and the Goats blood looketh clear and bright within when it is broken It is counterfeited by others in this manner Beat Nutmegs Mace Cinnamon Cloves Spikenard of each one handful and seirce them carefully then mix them with the warm blood of Pigeons and dry them in the Sun Afterward beat them again and wet them with Musk-water and Rose-water dry them beat them and moysten them very many times at length add a fourth part of pure Musk and mix them well and wet them again with Rose-water and Musk-water divide the Mass into several parts and rowl them in the hair of a Goat which groweth under his Tail Others do it Another way and mingle Storax Labdanum and Powder of Lignum Aloes add to the Composition Musk and Civet and mingle all together with Rose-water The Imposture is discovered by the easie dissolving of it in water and it differeth in colour and sent Others augment Musk by adding Roots of Angelica which doth in some sort imitate the sent of Musk. So also they endeavour To adulterate Civet with the Gall of an Ox and Storax liquified and washed or Cretan Honey But if your Musk or Amber have lost their sent thus you must do To make Musk recover its sent hang it in a Jakes and among stinks for by striving against those ill savours it exciteth its own vertue reviveth and recovereth its lost sent THE TWELFTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of Artificial Fires THE PROEME BEfore I leave off to write of Fire I shall treat of that dangerous Fire that works wonderful things which the vulgar call Artificial Fire which the Commanders of Armies and Generals use lamentably in divers Artifices and monstrous Designs to break open Walls and Cities and totally to subvert them and in Sea-fights to the infinite ruine of mâ—rtal men and whereby they oft-times frustrate the malicious enterprizes of their Enemies The matter is very useful and wonderful and there is nothing in the world that more frights and terrifies the mindes of men God is coming to judge the world by Fire I shall describe the mighty hot Fires of our Ancestors which they used to besiege places with and I shall add those that are of later Invention that far exceed them and lastly I shall speak of those of our days You have here the Compositions of terrible Gun-powder that makes a noise and then of that which makes no noise of Pipes that vomit forth deadly Fires and of Fires that cannot be quenched and that will rage under Water at the very bottom of it Whereby the Seas rend asunder as if they were undermined by the great violence of the flames striving against them and are lifted up into the Air that Ships are drawn by the monstrous Gulphs Of Fireâ—Balls that flie with glittering Fire and terrifie Troops of Horse-men and overthrow them So that we are come almost to eternal Fires CHAP. I. How divers ways to procure Fire may be prepared VItruvius saith That it fell out by accident that sundry Trees frequently moved with Windes and Tempests the Bows of them rubbing one against another and the parts smiting each other and so being ratified caused heat and took fire and flamed exceedingly Wilde people that saw this ran away When the Fire was out and they durst come neerer and found it to be a great commodity for the Body of man they preserved the Fire and so they perceived that it afforded causes of civility of conversing and talking together Pliny saith It was found out by Souldiers and Shepherds In the Camp those that keep watch found this out for necessity and so did Shepherds because there is not always a Flint ready Theophrastus teacheth what kindes of Wood are good for this purpose and though the Anger and the handle are sometimes both made of one sort of Wood yet it is so that one part acts and the other suffers so that he thinks the one part should be of hard Wood and the other of soft Example Wood that by rubbing together will take Fire They are such as are very hot as the Bay-Tree the Buck-thorn the Holm the Piel-Tree But Mâ—estor adds the Mulberry-Tree and men conjecture so because they will presently blunt the Ax. Oâ— all these they make the Auger that by rubbing they may resist the more and do the business more firmly but the handle to receive them is to be made of soft Wood as the Ivy the wilde Vine and the like being dried and all moisture taken from them The Olive is not fit because it is full of fat matter and too much moysture But those are worst of all to make Fires that grow in shady places Pliny from him One Wood is rub'd against another and by rubbing takes Fire some dry fuel as Mushroomes or Leaves easily receiving the Fire from them But there is nothing better then the Ivy that may be rubbed with the Bay-Tree or this with that Also the wilde Vine is good which is another kinde of wilde Vine and runs upon Trees as the Ivy doth But I do it more conveniently thus Rub one Bay-Tree against another and rub lustily for it will presently smoak adding a little Brimstone put your fuel
Oyl and the thick Oyl sticks to her and so she is catched without snares or nets How Quails are taken with a Locking-Glass Clearchus saith that Quails spend their seed not only when they see the Females but when they hear their cry also The cause is the impression in their mindes which you shall know when they couple if you set a Looking Glass against them and before that a Gin for running foolishly to their picture in the Glass they see they are catcht Athenaeus and Eustathius CHAP. VII How Animals are congregated by sweet smells THere are many odours or other hidden qualities that gather Animals together from the particular Nature of things or of living Creatures I shall speak of the smelling odours and other aliments that they much desire As The Unicorn is allured by sent Tretres writes that the Unicorn so hunts after young Virgins that he will grow tame with them and sometimes he will fall asleep by them and be taken and bound The Hunters clothe some young lusty Fellow in Maids clothes and strewing sweet odours on him they set him right against the place where the Unicorn is that the winde may carry away the smell to the wilde Beast the Hunters lie hid in the mean time The Beast enticed with the sweet smell comes to the young man he wraps the Beast's Head in long and large sleeves the Hunters come running and cut off his Horn. To make Wheezles come together The Gall of a Stellio beaten with water will make Wheezles come together saith Pliny Also the wise Plinianists write that with the Gall of a Chamaelion cast into water Wheezles will be called together To make Mice come together If you pour thick lees of Oyl into a Dish and set it right in the house they will stick to it Palladius But Anatolins saith if you pour Oyl-Lees into a Brazen Bason and set it in the middle of the house all the Mice at night will meet together To make Fleas come together The fat of a Hedge-hog boyl'd in water and taken off as it swims on the top if you anoynt a staff with it and set it in the house or under your bed all the Fleas will come to it Rhasis To bring Frogs together The Gall of a Goat set into the earth in some Vessel is said to bring all the Frogs together if they can finde any delight therein CHAP. VIII How Creatures made drunk may be catch'd with the hand I Have said what draws them now I shall say what will make them drunk There are many simples that will do it that you may take them with your hands whilst they sleep and because there are divers Animals that are made drunk with divers things I shall speak of them in order And first How Dogs are made drunk Athenaeus saith that Dogs and Crows are made drunk with an Herb called Aenutra but Theophrastus from whom he had it saith that the Root Aenothera given with Wine will make them more tame and gentle Whence Aenutra comes by corruption of the word Theophrastus his Aenothera is Rhododaphni as I said So Asses are made drunk And when they sleep they are not onely taken but if you pull off their skins they will scarce feel you nor awake which comes by Hemlock for when they have eaten that they fall so fast asleep that they seem stupid and sensless So Horses are made stupid by Henbane seed if you give it them with Barley and they will be so fast asleep that they will be half dead half a day A certain Cheat who wanted money on his way cast this seed to some of his company and when they lay almost dead asleep and they were all much troubled for them for a reward he promised to help them which received he put Vinegar to their Nostrils and so revived them Whereupon they went on their journey So Libards are made drunk Opian teacheth the way and how they are taken when they are drunk In Africa so soon as they come to a Fountain where the Libards use to drink every morning there the Hunters in the night bring many vessels of Wine and not far from thence they sit covered in blankets The Libards very thirsty come to the Fountain and so soon as they have drunk Wine that they delight in first they leap then they fall fast asleep on the ground and so they are easily taken If you desire to know how Apes are taken being drunk Athenaeus writes that Apes will drink Wine also and being drunk are catch'd And Pliny saith that four-footed Beasts with Toes will not encrease if they use to drink Wine So Sows run mad eating Henbane-seed Aelian saith that Boars eating this Herb fall sick of a lingring disease and are troubled it is of the Nature of Wine that disquiets the minde and head So Elephants are made drunk Athenaeus reports out of Aristotle's Book de Ebrietate that Elephants will be drunk with Wine Aelian writes that they give the Elephant that must go to war Wine of the Grapes and made Wine of Rice to make them bold Now I will shew bow Birds laid asleep may be catch'd with your hands If then you would know how Birds may be catch'd with hands Pliny writes A certain Garlick grows in the Fields they call it Alum which being boyled and cast to them is a remedy against the villany of Birds that eat up the Corn that it cannot grow again the Birds that eat it are presently stupid and are catch'd with ones hand if they have staid a little as if they were asleep But if you will Hunt Partridge that are drunk Boetius teacheth you thus You shall easily hunt such Partridge if you cast unto them meal wet in wine for every Bird is soon taken with it If you make it with water and wine mingled and put that which is stronger into the vessels so soon as they have but sipt a little they grow drowsie and stupid He sheweth How to take Ducks with your hand If any one observe the place where Ducks use to drink and putting away the water place black wine in the place when they have drunk they fall down and may be easily taken Also wine-lees is best Ducks and other Birds being drunk are soon taken With some meats as are the Bur Dock seed strewed here and there in places where Birds frequent they are so light-headed when they have eaten them that you may take them with your hands Another bait Tormentil boy'ld in good wine and boyl Wheat or Barley in the same cast to Birds is good to catch them for they will eat pieces of Tormentil with the seeds and be drunk that they cannot flie and so are they catc'd with your hands This is best when the weather is cold and the Snow deep Or else strew Barley-corns in places where many Birds come then make a composition like a pultis of Barley-meal Ox-gall and Henbane-seed set this on a plank for them when they have tasted it
dilated again and all the wrinkles will be gone and it will appear as it did at frst that you may read the Letters upon it without any hindrance Now I will shew the way How in the Sections of Books the Characters shall be hid When the Book is well bound and cut and coloured black if we open it and turn back the leaves that they may be turned in we may write at the corners of the leaves what we will but when the Book is set back again and the leaves put into their own places nothing is seen or can be imagined to be writ in them but he that would read those Letters must set the Book that way as it was and the Letters will be read So may we write on fly-traps that are made with wrinkles and then draw them forth If need be we may do The same with Cards to play with You may excellent well write on Cards if you put them in some order that one may follow the other and some shall be upright others turned downwards When you have set them right together you may write all things where they divide mingle the Cards together again and turn them and nothing will be seen but some disorderly marks if any man look curiously upon them But he that would read them must set them in order and they will joyn and be read exactly Also we may write in white Pigeons and other white Birds feathers of their wings turning them upwards for when they return to their own places they will shew nothing But if they be brought to their former posture you will read the Letters and this is no small benefit for those that shall use them for messengers There is a way To hide Letters upon wood Any one may make Letters upon wood and not be suspected for they shall not be seen but when we please Let the wood be fleshy and soft of Poplar or Tile-tree or such like and with those iron Markers Printers use when they make stamps upon Brass commonly called Ponzones make Letters in the wood half a finger thick then hew the wood with a Carpenters hatchet as deep as the Letters go when all is made plain and equal send the stick to your friend or board to him that knows the matter he putting the wood into the water the wood will swell out that was beaten in with the marks and the Letters will come forth That we may do in wooden vessels polished by the turner if when they are turned we mark the Letters on them and then turn them again when this is done send it to your friend and let him soke it in water c. CHAP. VI. In what places Letters may be inclosed I Shall speak in what places Letters may be inclosed and not be suspected and I shall speak last of Carriers I shall bring such examples as I have read in Antient Histories and what good a man may learn by them First How to hide Letters in wood Theophrastus's opinion was that if we cut the green bark of a Tree and make it hollow within as much as will contain the Letters and then bind it about in a short time it will grow together again with the Letters shut up within it Thus he saith That by including some religious precepts in wood people may be allured for they will admire at it But I mention this out of Theophrastus rather for a similitude then for to do the thing I would have for that would require a long time But this may be done well in dry wood as in Fir thus the chinks fastning together with common white glew Also the Antients used To conceal Letters in Junkets I will relate the cunning of the Wife of Polycretes for she whilst in the Milesian camps they solemnized a Solemn Feast of their Country when they were all fast asleep and drunk took this opportunity to tell her brothers of it and did thus She desired Diognetus General of the Erythrei that she might send some Junkets to her brothers and when she had leave she put a leaden scrole into a cake and she bad the bearer tell her brothers from her that no man should eat of it but themselves When they heard this they opened the cake and found the Letter and performed the contents of it They came upon the enemy by night that was dead drunk at the Feast and conquered him Also the Antients were wont To shut up Letters in living creatures Herodotus saith That Harpagus sent Letters to Cyrus put into the belly of a Hare whose entrails were taken out by one that counterfeited a shepherd hunting So Letters may be hid in Garments The secret places of clothes are best to avoid suspicion as in your bosom or under the soles of your feet Ovid in his Arte Amandi writes to this purpose Letters may be concealed in your brest Wrapt in a clowt which way is held the best Or else you may under your feet provide A place full closely Letters for to hide To hide Letters in your belt Those of Campania were wont when they would discover any thing to the Carthaginians and the Romans besieged them round they sent a man that seemed to run from them with a Letter concealed in his girdle and he taking occasion to escape brought it to the Carthaginians Others carried Letters in their scabbards and sent them away by messengers and were not found out But we use now adays To hide letters in the Bowels of living creatures For we wrap them in some meat and give them to a Dog or some other creature to swallow that when he is killed the letters may be found in his belly and there is nothing neglected to make this way certain The like was done by Harpagus He as Herodotus saith being to discover to Cyrus some secrets when the ways were stopt that he could do it by no other means he delivered the letters to a faithful servant who went like a Hunter that had catcht a Hare and in her belly were the letters put when the guts were taken forth and so they were brought to Persis We use also To shut up letters in stones Flints are beaten very fine in brazen Mortars and sifted then are they melted in a brass Cauldron by putting two ounces of Colophonia to one pound of the powder of the stone and mingling them put your letters into leaden plates and hide them in the middle of the composition and put the lump into a linnen bag and tye it fast that it may be round then sink it into cold water and it will grow hard and appear like a flint CHAP. VII What secret Messengers may be used THe Antients used the same craft for Messengers for they used men that should be disguised by their habits and some living creatures besides For To counterfeit the shape of a Dog It was the crafty counsel of Josippus that the Messengers should be clad with skins and so they past the enemies guards and
end of the Pipe and he that is at the other end shall do the like the voice may be intercepted in the middle and be shut up as in a prison and when the mouth is opened the voice will come forth as out of his mouth that spake it but because such long Pipes cannot be made without trouble they may be bent up and down like a Trumpet that a long Pipe may be kept in a small place and when the mouth is open the words may be understood I am now upon trial of it if before my Book be Printed the business take effect I will set it down if not if God please I shall write of it elsewhere CHAP. II. Of Instruments Musical made with water OLd Water-Instruments were of great esteem but in our days the use is worn out Yet we read that Nero took such delight in them that when his Life and Empire were in danger amongst the seditions of Souldiers and Commanders and all was in imminent danger he would not forsake the care of them and pleasure he took in them Vitruvius teacheth us how they were made but so obscurely and mystically that what he says is very little understood I have tryed this by many and sundry ways by mingling air with water which placing in the end of a Pipe or in my mouth where the breath of the mouth strikes against the air and though this made a pleasant noise yet it kept no tune For whilst the water bubbles and trembles or warbles like a Nitingale the voice is changed in divers tunes one note is sweet and pleasant two squele and jar But this way it will make a warbling sound and keep the tune Let there be made a Brass bottom'd Chest for the Organ wherein the wind must be carried let it behalf full of water let the wind be made by bellows or some such way that must run through a neck under the waters but the spirit that breaks forth of the middle of the water is excluded into the empty place when therefore by touching of the keys the stops of the mouths of the Pipes are opened the trembling wind coming into the Pipes makes very pleasant trembling sounds which I have tried and found to be true CHAP. III. Of some Experiments by Wind-Instruments NOw will I proceed to the like Wind-Instruments but of divers sorts that arise by reason of the air and I shall shew how it is dilated contracted rarified by fire condensed by cold If you will That a vessel turned downwards shall draw in the water do thus Make a vessel with a very long neck the longer it is the greater wonder it will seem to be Let it be of transparent Glass that you may see the water running up fill this with boiling water and when it is very hot or setting the bottom of it to the fire that it may not presently wax cold the mouth being turned downwards that it may touch the water it will suck it all in So such as search out the nature of things say That by the Sun beams the water is drawn up from the Concave places of the Earth to the tops of Mountains whence fountains come forth And no small Arts arise from hence for Wind-Instruments as Heron affirms Vitruvius speaks the like concerning the original of Winds but now it is come to be used for houses For so may be made A vessel to cast forth wind You may make Brass Bowles or of some other matter let them be hollow and round with a very small hole in the middle that the water is put in at if this be use the former experiment when this is set at the fire it grows hot and being it hath no other vent it will blow strongly from thence but the blast will be moist and thick and of an ill savour You may also make A vessel that shall cast forth water There is carried about with us a Glass vessel made Pyramidal with a very narrow long mouth with which it casts water verâ— faâ— off That it may draw water suck out the air with your mouth as much as you can and presently thrust the mouth into the water for it will draw the water into it do so until a third part of it be filled with water When you will spouâ— the water afar off fill the vessel with air blowing into it as hard as you can presently take it from your mouth and incline the mouth of the vessel that the water may run to the mouth and stop the air and the air striving to break forth will cast the water out a great way But if you will without attraction of Air make water fly far with it heat the bottom of the vessel a little for the air being rarefied seeks for more place and striving to break forth drives the water before it Thus â—runkard making a little hole in a vessel of wine because the wine will not run out the mouth beinâ— stopt whereby the air might enter they will blow hard into that hole then as they leave off the wine will come forth in as great quantity as the air blowed in was Now I will shew How to make water ascend conveniently We can make water rise to the top of a Tower Let there be a leaden Pipe that may come from the bottom to the top of the Tower and go down again from the top to the bottom as a Conduit let one end stand in the water that we desire should rise the other end that must be longer and hang down lower must be fastned into a vessel of wood or earth that it may take no air at all let it have a hole above the vessel whereby the vessel may be filled with water and then be stopt perfectly Set a vessel on the top of the Tower as capacious as that beneath and the leaden pipe now spoke of must be fastned at one end of the vessel and go forth at the other end and must be in the upper part of the vessel and let the pipe be divided in the middle within the vessel and where the pipe enters and where the pipe goes out they must be joynted that they take no air when therefore we would have the water to ascend fill the vessel beneath with water and â—â—op it close that it take no air then opening the lower hole of the vessel the water will run forth for that part of water that runs out of the vessel will cause as much to rise up at the other end by the other leaden pipe and ascend above the Towâ—r the water drawn forth is filled up again we may make out use of it and the hole being stopt the lower vessel may be filled again with water and so doing we shall make the water to escend a ways We may also By heat alone make the water rise Let there be a vessel above the Tower either of Brass Clay or Wood Brass is best let there be a pipe in the middle of it that may
descend down to the water beneath and be set under it but fastned that it take no air let the vessel above be made hot by the Sun or fire for the air that is contained in the vessel rarefies and breathes forth whereupon we shall see the water rise into bubbles when the Sun is gone and the vessel grows cold the air is condensed and because the air included cannot fill up the vacuity the water is called in and ascends thither CHAP. IV. A discription of water Hour-glasses wherein Wind or Water-Instruments for to shew the Hours are described THe Antients had Hour-Dials made by water and Water-Dials were usual and famous Heron of Alexandria writ Books of Water-Dials but they are lost I have writ a Book of them and that this part may not be deficient I shall shew two that are made by contraries one by blowing in the air the other by sucking it out This shall be the first A Water-Dial Take a vessel of Glass like a Urinal it is described by the letters AB On the top is A where there is a very small hole that the point of a needle can scarce enter it at the bottom neer the mouth let there be set a staff EF that in the middle hath a firm Pillar going up to the very top of the vessel let the Pillar be divided with the Hour-lines Let there be also a wooden or earthen vessel GH full of water Upon the superficies of that water place the Glass vessel AB that by its weight will press toward the bottom but the air included within the vessel keeps it from going down then open the little hole A whereby the air going forth by degrees the vessel will gradually descend also Then make by another Dial the marks on the staff CD which descending will afterwards shew the Hourmarks When therefore the vessel goes to the bottom of the wooden vessel the Dial is done and it is the last Hour But when you would have your Dial go again you must have a crooked empty pipe OK the upper mouth K must be stopt with the finger K so K being stopt with the finger that the air may not enter sink it under the water that it may come within the vessel AB then put your mouth to K and blow into it for that will raise the vessel upward and it will come to its former place and work again I shall also describe for my minds sake Another Water-Dial contrary to the former namely by sucking in the air Let there be a Glass vessel like to a Urinal as I said AB and being empty set fast on it the vessel CD that it cannot sink down then fill it with water as far as B Let there be a hole neer the top E wherefore sucking the air by the hole E the water comes into the vessel AB from the vessel CD and will rise as high as FG when therefore AB is full of water stop the hole E that no air enter and the water will fall down again In the top of the vessel AB let there be another very small hole that the air may come in by degrees and so much as there comes in of air so much water will go forth On the superficies of the vessel make Hour-lines that may snew the Hours marked 1 2 3 c. or if you will let the Still fastned to a Cork swim on the top of the water and that will shew the Hours marked on the outside of the vessel CHAP. V. A description of Vessels casting forth water by reason of Air. NOw I will describe some Fountains or Vessels that by reason of air cast forth water and though Heron ingeniously described some yet will I set down some others that are artifically found out by me and other men Here is described A Fountain that casts forth water by compression of the Air Let there be a vessel of water-work close every where AB make a hole through the middle and let a little pipe CD go up from the bottom of the water-work vessel D so far from the bottom that the water may run forth Upon the superficies of the Tympanum let there be C a very little hole with a cover to it or let it have as the Greeks call it Smerismation to shut and open it handsomely and in the upper surface of the Tympanum bore the basis quite through with a little pipe which enters into the hollow of the Tympanum and having in the hole beneath a broad piece of leather or brass that the air coming in may not go back wherefore pour in water at E that it may be three fingers above the bottom then blow in air as vehemently as you can when it is well pressed in shut the mouth then opening the mouth A the water will fly up aloft until the air be weak I at Venice made a Tympanum with pipes of Glass and when the water was cast forth very far the Lord Estens much admired it to see the water fly so high and no visible thing to force it I also made another place neer this Fountain that let in light and when the air was extenuated so long as any light lasted the Fountain threw out water which was a thing of much admiration and yet but little labor To confirm this there is An Artifice whereby a hand-Gun may shoot a bullet without fire For by the air onely pressed is the blast made Let there be a hand Gun that is made hollow and very smooth which may be done with a round instrument of lead and with Emril-powder beaten rubbing all the parts with it Then you must have a round Instrument that is exactly plained on all parts that may perfectly go in at the mouth of the wind Gun and so fill it that no air may come forth let it be all smeer'd with oyl for the oyl by its grossness hinders any air to come forth So this lead Bullet being put into the Guns mouth and thrust down with great force and dexterity then presently take away your hands but you must first shut the little hole that is in the bottom of the hole and the bullet and little stick will fall to the bottom and by the violence of the air pressed together it will cast out the Bullet a great way and the stick too which is very strange Also I will make A Vessel wherewith as you drink the liquor shall be sprinkled about your face Make a vessel of Pewter or Silver like to a Urinal then make another vessel in the fashion of a Tunnel or a round Pyramis let their mouths be equal and joyn'd perfectly together for they must be of the same bredth let the spire of it be distant from the bottom of the Urinal a fingers breadth and let it be open then pour water into the vessel and fill the Urinal unto the hole of the spire end and fill the Tunnel to the top and the rest of the Urinal will be empty
because the air hath no place to get forth when therefore any man drinks when the water is drank up as far as the hole of the spire end by the air pressed within is the water thrust violently forth and flies in the face of him that drinks Also there is a vessel that no man can drink out of it but he who knows the art Make an earthen or metal vessel in form of a Bottle or Flagon and make it full of holes from the neck to the middle of the belly From the bottom let a pipe ascend by the handle of the vessel and the handle being round about it let it come above the brims of the vessel empty under the handle in a place not seen make a little hole that any man holding the vessel by the handle may with his finger stop and unstop this hole when he please under the brim of the vessel where you set it to your mouth let there be another secret hole Then pour water into the vessel if now any man put the bottle to his mouth and raiseth it to drink the water will run forth at the neck that is open and at the belly but he that knows the trick taking the vessel by the handle shuts the hole with his thumb and not moving the vessel he draws the air with his mouth for the water follows the air and so he drinks it all up but if any man suck and shut not the hole the water will not follow CHAP. VI. That we may use the Air in many Arts. VVE may use Air in many Artifices I shall set down some that I may give a hint to others to invent more And chiefly How wind may be made in a chamber that guests may almost freeze Make a deep pit and put in a sufficient quantity of river or running water let the pit be close stopt onely let a pipe convey it through the walls that it may be brought into the chamber Let the water be let down into the pit by a kind of Tunnel lest the air should come forth at the place where it goes in by the water is the air of the pit expelled and comes by the pipe into the chamber that not onely those that sleep there but such as converse there are extream cold and benummed I will shew How Air may serve for Bellows I saw this at Rome Make a little cellar that 's close on all sides pour in by a Tunnel from above a quantity of water on the top of the wall let there be a little hole at which the air may break forth with violence for it will come so forcibly that it will kindle a fire and serve for bellows for Brass and Iron-melting furnaces the Tunnel being so made that when need is it may be turned and water may be put in THE TWENTIETH BOOK OF Natural Magick The Chaos wherein the Experiments are set down without any Classical Order THE PROEME I Determined at the beginning of my Book to write Experiments that are contain'd in all Natural Sciences but by my business that called me off my mind was hindred so that I could not accomplish what I intended Since therefore I could not do what I would I must be willing to do what I can Therefore I shut up in this Book those Experiments that could be included in no Classes which were so diverse and various that they could not make up a Science or a Book and thereupon I have here heaped them altogether confusedly as what I had overpassed and if God please I will another time give you a more perfect Book Now you must rest content with these CHAP. I. How Sea-water may be made potable IT is no small commodity to mankinde if Sea-water may be made potable In long voyages as to the Indies it is of great concernment For whilst Sea men by reason of tempests are forced to stay longer at Sea than they would for want of water they fall into great danger of their lives Galleys are forced all most every ten days to put in for fresh water and therefore they cannot long wander in enemies countries nor go far for enemies stop their passages Moreover in sea Towns and Islands when they want water as in our days in the Island Malta and in the Syrses Souldiers and Inhabitants endured much hardness and Histories relate many such things Hence I thought it necessary to search curiously whether Sea-water might be made potable But it is impossible to finde out any thing for this how it may be done unless we first finde out the cause of its saltness and what our Ancestors have said concerning that matter especially since Aristotle saith That the salt may easily be taken from the Sea because the sea is not salt of its own Nature but by the Sun that heats the water which draws out of it cold and dry earthly exhalations to the top of it and these being there burnt cause it to be salt when the moist subtile parts are resolved into thin vapors We therefore imitating Nature by raising the thin parts by Chymical Instruments may easily make it sweet For so the Nature of the Sea makes sweet waters for the Rivers There are also veins of the Sea in the deep parts of the earth that are heated by the Sun and the vapours are elevated to the tops of the heighest Mountains where by the cold superficies they meet with they congeal into drops and dropping down by the vaulted roots of Caves they run forth in open streams We first fill a hollow vessel like a great Ball with Sea-water it must have a long neck and a cap upon it that live coles being put under the water may resolve into thin vapors and fill all vacuities being carryed aloft this ill sented grossness when it comes to touch the coldness of the head or cap and meets with the Glass gathers like dew about the skirts of it and so running down the arches of the cap it turns to water and a pipe being opened that pertains to it it runs forth largely and the receiver stands to receive it as it drops so will sweet water come from salt and the salt tarryeth at the bottom of the vessel and three pound of salt water will give two pounds of fresh water but if the cap of the limbeck be of Lead it will afford more water yet not so good For Galen saith That water that runs through pipes of Lead if it be drank will cause an excoriation of the intestines But I found a way How to get a greater quantity of fresh water when we distil salt water Make a cap of earth like to a Pyramis all full of holes that through the holes Urinals of Earth or Glass may be brought in Let their mouths stick forth well luâ—ed that the vapor may not exhale the cap after the fashion of the limbeck must have its pipe at the bottom running round and let it crop forth at the nose of it Set this upon a
Chap 13 The fifteenth Book Of Fishing Fowling Hunting c. VVHat meats allure divers animals Chap 1 How living creatures are drawn on with the baits of love Chap 2 Animals called together by things they like Chap 3 What noises allure Birds Chap 4 Fishes allured by light in the night Chap 5 By Looking glasses many creatures are brought together Chap 6 Animals are congregated by sweet smells Chap 7 Creatures made drunk catcht with hand Chap 8 Peculiar poysons of Animals Chap 9 Venomes for Fishes Chap 10 Experiments for hunting Chap 11 Tee sixteenth Book Of invisible Writing HOw a writing dipt in divers liquors may be read Chap 1 Letters made visible in the fire Chap 2 Letters rubâ—d with dust to be seen Chap 3 To write in an egge Chap 4 How you may write in divers places and deceive one that can reade Chap 5 In what place Letters may be inclosed Chap 6 What secret messengers may be used Chap 7 Messengers not to know that they carry Letters nor to be found about them Chap 8 Characters to be made that at set days shall vanish Chap 9 To take off Letters that are written on paper Chap 10 To counterfeit a Seal and Writing Chap 11 To speak at a great distance Chap 12 Signs to be made with fire by night and with dust by day Chap 13 The seventeenth Book Of Burning-glasses and the wonderful sights by them REpresentations made by plain Glasses Chap 1 Sports with plain Looking-glasses Chap 2 A Looking-glass called a Theatrecal-glass Chap 3 Operations of Concave glasses Chap 4 Mixt operations of plain Concave glasses Chap 5 Other operations of a Concave-glass Chap 6 How to see in the dark Chap 7 An Image may be seen to range in the air Chap 8 Mixtures of Glasses and divers operations of Images Chap 9 Effects of a Leuticular Crystal Chap 10 Spectacles to see beyond imagination Chap 11 To see in a Chamber things that are not Chap 12 The operations of a Cristal-pillar Chap 13 Burning-glasses Chap 14 A Parabolical Section which is of Glasses the most burning Chap 15 That may burn obliquely and at very great distance Chap 16 That may burn at infinite distance Chap 17 A Burning-glass made of many spiritural Sections Chap 18 Fire kindled more forcible by refraction Chap 19 An Image to be seen by a hollow Glass Chap 20 How Spectacles are made Chap 21 Foils are laid on Concave glasses and how they are banded Chap 22 How Metal Looking-glasses are made Chap 23 The eighteenth Book Of Things heavy and light THat heavy things descend and light ascend in the same degree Chap 1 By drinking to make sport with those that sit at table Chap 2 To part wine from water it is mingled with Chap 3 Another way to part water from wine Chap 4 To part a light body from a heavy Chap 5 To mingle things heavy and light Chap 6 Other ways to part wine from water Chap 7 The â—evity of water and air different and what may be wraught thereby Chap 8 The ninteenth Book Of Wind-Instruments VVHether material Statues may speak by an Artificial way Chap 1 Musical-Instruments made with water Chap 2 Experiments of Wind-Instruments Chap 3 A Description of Water-hour-glasses Chap 4 Of a Vessel casting forth water by reason of air Chap 5 How to use the air in many Arts Chap 6 The twentieth Book Of the Chaos HOw water may be made Potable Chap 1 To make water of air Chap 2 To alter the face that ones friends shall not know him Chap 3 That stones may move alone Chap 4 An Instrument whereby to hear at great distance Chap 5 To augment weight Chap 6 The wonderful proporties of the Harp Chap 7 To discover frauds in Impostors that work by natural means and pretend conjuration Chap 8 Experiments of a Lamp Chap 9 Some mechanical Experiments Chap 10 FINIS