the brain were hurt this being the immediate agent and instrument without which the heart doth not operate in sensation VII To conclude the nerves to have their originall from the brain becauseâ—of their similitude is a weak argument For 1. Many children are not like their parents from whom they have their originall but like strangers many times to whom they have no relation 2. There is no similitude between the brain and nerves for that is soft and moist these hard and dry 3. Nor is the nerve in its medullary part like the brain for this is cold the marrow is hot 4. If the nerves are from the brain because their inward parts are soft and marrowy then the bones should be derived also from the brain for they have much more marrow in them 5. If the nerves are from the brain because they have two tuniclesâ— as it hath by the same reason let the Arteries also have their beginning from thence for these also are double tunicled 6. All nerves have not this medâ—llary substance within them VIII Though the heart hath but one little nerve which being tied looseth its sense beneath the knot but above retains it though this I say be so yet from hence it cannot be proved that the brain is the originall of the nerves or of sensation but rather the heart for the upper part of the nerve is sensible because it is joyned with other nerves whereas the lower part is joyned to none 2. The spirits in the upper part are tempered by the frigidity of the brain whereas the lower part hath no refrigeration and though the faculty or power of sense is from the heart yet the act of sensation is not exercised without a temperate heat or refrigeration 3. I think this is rather a conjecture of the Galenists then an experiment for who did ever find this nerve in a living creature IX Aristotles reasons for the coldnesse of the brain are to me not improbable or easie to be answered for if the brain were hot we should never sleep seeing coldness causeth sleep 2. There are more moist humors and flegme ingendred in the brain then any where else 3. There is not blood in the brains as in other parts of the body for it is the blood that warms the body I say there are not veins incorporating themselves into the substance of the brain and terminating there as they do in the flesh and skin which is the cause that every part of the flesh or skin being pricked bleeds so doth not the brain whose substance is white and bloodless therefore though there be veins in the brain yet they are distinct from the substance of the brain and not ending in them neither is that heat which is in the brain it s own but adventitious and externall to wit of the arteries and veins as also of fumes and vapours so then the brain is the coldest of all the parts of mans body yea colder then the bones because the bones are dry the brain moist but cold with moisture is greater effectively then with siccity so the water is colder then the earth If it be objected that the brain is hot because the head is more hairy then any other part of the body and because the brain stands continually in need of ventilation by the nostrils and transpiration by the seams of the skul I answer That hairs are ingendred by the adventitious heat of the brain out of the excrementitious humors of the head and fumes which ascend thither and therefore the brain stands in need of ventilation â—ecause of the many hot fumes and vapours continually ascenâ—ing thither X. The blood and spirits which are in the brain alter not â—ts natural temperament which is cold especially seeing the â—lood is sent thither for nutrition but nourishment is to cheâ—â—sh the part nourished being converted into its substance â—nd not to alter its temperament Now the reason why we â—eel the moisture of the brain but not its frigidity is because â—here is nothing to hinder the tact from discerning its moisture â—eing in a soft substance for where the substance is hard there â—he tact is hindred from feeling the moisture though it be â—oist as when we touch ice but the tact is hindred from dicerning the frigidity of the brain because of the veins and â—rteries within it containing warm blood and spirits yet â—hough the brain be cold the pith in the back-bone which is â—oyned to the brain is hot because we finde no flegme aâ—out it as about the brain it is harder then the brain thereâ—ore more apt to receive and to retain heat it is begot of blood which is hot and it was fit that this warm pith should be joyned to the cold brain for moderating the brains frigidity XI The brain was made cold to temper and moderate the â—eat of the heart but not to diminish or destroy it and for the same cause the heart was made hot to temper but not to destroy the brains frigidity therefore nature hath placed them at a proportionable distance for had they been nearer their actions upon each other had been more violent 2. Though the organs of the sense be in the brain yet the original of senâ—ation is not there but in the heart for the brain with its organs are helps and instruments not the efficient causes of sensation 3. The mutuall action of the heart and brain upon each other is not done immediately but by the intercourse of the spirits XII Though nature doth not make two members specifically different in the same body for the same operation therefore fishes want Lungs because they have gills for refrigeration yet she hath made both the brain and lungs too in our bodies for the same end and work namely to refrigerate the heart and yet in this she is not superfluous because the heart stood in need of a double refrigeration as being subject to a double heat the one is natural for tempering of this the brain was made that so the animal spirits might be generated the other is adventitious caused by hot fumes for cleaâ—â— of these and of cooling the heart the lungs were made aâ—â— so were the arteries too As for the two eyes and two ears and other double organs in our bodies they are not specificallâ— different XIII As the male hath a hotter heart then the female 〈◊〉 he hath a larger brain for the most part that there may be the more refrigeration I say for the most part because the work of nature admit divers times exceptions so Lions though hoâ—ter then men yet have lesser brains then men but that heat iâ— the Lion is more terrestriall â— and therefore needs lesseâ— refrigeration then that which is more aerial yet it may be supposed that man abounds more in heat then Lions because he hath a strait body which is caused by the abundance of hot bloud and spirits in mans body more then in other creatures XIV That the testicles are not
not speak of this airy food yet Pliny and others do 2. Scaliger writes that Claudius saw a Camelion lick up a fly from his breast And Bellonius upon exenteration found flies in the Camelions belly Answ. So I have seen Dogs and Cats eat Flies Monkies and Turkies eat Spiders and Dogs eat grasse yet it will not follow that they feed on these but rather eat them out of wantonnesse or for physick so doth the Camelion sometimes eat flies and so doth the Ostridge eat Iron and divers birds swallow stones 3. There are found in this animal the guâ—s the stomach and other parts for nutrition which had been superfluous if it feed on aire only Answ. These parts are not superfluous though they feed on air but necessary because the air on which they feed is not pure but mixed and therefore nutritive Again they vvere to eat sometimes flies for pleasure or physick therefore the stomach was necessary Moreover we must not think every thing in nature superfluous whereof vvee can give no reason for so wee may accuse her for giving eyes to Wonts tears to Men Goats and Dogs whereof they make no use And why she is so bountiful to the Fox and so niggardly to the Ape in giving the one too great a tail the other none at all 4. He reasons From the bignesse of the Camelions tongue and the slimy matter in it that air cannot be its nutriment Answ. Its tongue vvas made to catch flies but not for nutriment as is said and that slimy matter is given as well for its prey as for the destruction of Serpents its enemies for it useth upon the sight of a Serpent to let fall that slimy matter on his head vvith which he is presently killed 5. The air cannot nourish because it hath no taste Ans. Tast belongs not to nourishment for they who have lost their tast are not therefore the lesse nourished Again though the pure air be tastlesse yet air thickned and moistned is not so as we may perceive by the divers tasts in waters Besides though the air be tastlesse to us it may be otherwise to the Camelion 6. There can be no transmutation of air into the body nourished because there is no familiarity of matter between air and a living body Ans. This may be true of pure air but not of mixed and of our bodies not of the Camelions Besides divers creatures live on dew which is but watrish air and how many in Arabia are fed with Manna vvhich is both begot of and in the air 7. Nutriment is condensated by the natural heat but air by the bodies heat is rarified Ans. The contrary of this is seen continually by the air vve breath out which is still thicker then that we take in For though the heat doth rarifie the air yet by the moisture of our bodies it is thickned 8. All aliment must remain some time in the body but air is presently expelled Answ. The air which is attracted by the Lungs and serves for refrigeration of the heart is quickly again expelled because it is to stay no longer then it performs its office vvhich is to refrigerate but that air on which the Camelion and other creatures feed must and doth stay longer 9. Air in regard of our natural heat is cold and so contrary but aliment is potentially the same Ans. All aliment is contrary at first or else there could bee no action and so no nutrition Again vvhat is cold is potentially the same vvith our bodies in respect of the substance not of the quality Besides how many sorts of cold meats fish fruits hearbs sallets do men eat in Summer vvhich notwithstanding are the same potentially with their bodies 10. Some deny air to be an aliment or that it entreth into mixt bodies and it s not easie to demonstrate that it is convertible into water and we doubt that air is the pabulous supply of fire much lesse that flame is properly air kindled Ans. Some have denyed Snow to be white or fire hot therefore no wonder if some fantastical heads deny air to be an element or that it entreth into mixt bodies Danaeus indeed thinks air and water to be all one because water is quickly turned into air and because they have great affinity but this is against himself for what can be turned into another substance is not the same nothing is convertible into it self and if air be vvater because this can be turned into that then vvater is earth for in many caves vvater drops turn to stones and so we shall make but one element Again if air enter not into mixt bodies what is that unctuous humidity or oyl which we finde in all perfect mixt bodies It cannot be fire nor earth for these are neither unctuous nor humid nor can it be water for though that be humid it is not unctuous it must needs then be air Again when the Doctor saith It is not easie to demonstrate the conversion of air into water he denieth both sense and reason for this conversion is as demonstrable as our respiration in winter when the air which a man attracteth is turned into water drops on his beard sheets rugs and blankets reason also shews this for if water can be turned into air why cannot air be turned into water both communicating in the symbolical quality of humidity Lastly his doubting and the Lord Verulams denying air to be the pabulous supply of fire is causless For I ask what is it that substantially maintains the fire They answer It is combustible matter in the kindled body But in this they trisle for I ask what this combustible matter is Earth it cannot be for earth 1. as earth is not combustible and we see that after the fire is spent earth remains in ashes Nor can it be water for that maintains not the fire but extinguisheth it It must then necessarily be air for we see by daily experience that the more of this unctuous or aereal humidity is in the fewel the more apt it is to burn And when this is spent the fire dieth as we see in candles lamps torches links and whatsoever hath pinguedinous matter in it Fernelius indeed gives a threefold food to the fire to wit combustible stuffe smoak and air but all this may be reduced to air For nothing is combustible which hath not in it aereal humidity and smoak is nothing else but air cloathed with the fiery quality of siccity and calidity wanting nothing but light to make it fire Therefore we see how quickly smoak is turned into flame and this into smoak again To conclude air is the very life of fire which would quickly die if it received not animation by ventilation This we see in cupping-glasses how nimbly the fire when almost extinguished will upon a little vent suck the air to it CHAP. VIII 1. Divers animals long-lived without food The Camelion live on air only 2. Divers creatures fed only by water 3. Chilification not
never comes nor heat converteth water-drops into stones and the cold of some waters metamorphise stickes leaves and trees pieces of lether nut-shels and such like stuffe into stones why then may not cold convert Ice into a higher degree of hardnesse and prepare it for reception of a new forme which gives it the essence and name of Crystall 2. A liquation in Crystal may be effected but not without some difficulty but Ice may dissolve in any way of heat Answ. The difficult melting of the one and easie liquation of the other wil not prove that Crystal was not Ice but that it is notice For as Scaliger saith Valde à seipso differt quod fit dum sit cum est Ice before it attains the hardnesse of a stone or Crystall is yet water formally and Crystal onely materially or in the way of preparation But when it ceaseth to be ice it assumes the form of crystal and wil not deny its original that it was once Ice which now is a stone The matter then of crystal is water and it is made of Ice because it was water by which â—â—e it hath stept up to the forme of a stone 3. They are differenced by supernatation or floating upon water for crystal will sink but ice will swim in water Answ. It s no wonder to see a stone sink and ice swim for crystal when it was ice swimmed being now a stone sinks as being a body more compact hard solid and ponderous so a stick will swim but when it is converted to a stone it sinks The argument therefore is good thus Crystal sinks Ice swims therefore crystal is not ice but it will not follow therfore crystal was not ice 4. They are distinguished in substance of parts and the accidents thereof that is in colour and figure for ice is a fimilary body but the body of crystal is mixed and containeth in it sulphure for being struck with steel it sends forth sparks which are not caused by collision of two hard bodies but they are inflamable effluences discharged from the bodies collided for a steel and flint being both met will not readily strike fire Answ. Crystal is not so much distinguished either in substance or accidents from ice as a chick is from an egge and yet the chick was an egg What wonder is it if crystal having received a new form be distinguished from ice whereas we see greater distinctions daily in our own nutrition our bloud flesh and bones have neither the colour figure or substance of corn fruits hearbs roots and other meats we feed upon In the same rose-leaf there be distinct qualities and operations one part being restringent the other laxative the same Rhubarb as it is differently prepared differently worketh one way by loosning another way by binding the belly Let us not deny that distinction to a natural which we give to an artificial preparation there are distinct colours in one and the same leaf of a gillyflower or tulip Again when he saith That Ice is a similary body but Crystal is mixed Here is no opposition for similary and dissimilary are opposite not similary and mixed for a similary body may be mixed so is flesh so is bloud so is ice except he will make it a pure element And when he saith Crystal containeth sulphure in it This is very unlikely for sulphure is hot and inflamable it is also viscous and fat it is of a piercing quality and of an ungrateful smel none of which qualities we finde in crystal In fiery mountains there is most sulphure in snowy mountains most crystal but his reason to prove there is sulphure in crystal is invalid because saith he being struck with steel it sends forth sparks by this reason he may prove there is sulphure in every hard thing even in wood and sticks for by attrition or any other violent motion they are inslamable as the Americans know who use no other way to kindle their fires but the attrition of sticks Arrows will burn in the air their Lead will melt bels mil-stones and cart-wheels will grow extream hot with motion and so wil water is there sulphure in all these And here he contradicts himself when he saith That the sparks are not sent forth by collision of two hard bodies but they are inflamable effluences discharged from the bodies collided I would know how these effluences can be discharged if the bodies be not collided and how they can bee collided without collision These sparks then are doubtlesse the accension of the aire and aerial parts of these hard bodies by motion and collision being no way hindered by wetting the Steele and Flint for I have tried the contrary by wetting both and yet the Sparks fly out as readily as if both had been dried so they will out of Flints taken out of Rivers where they have been perpetually moist so that the sparks are not quenched at their eruption because the air is not wet though the Steel and Flint be 5. They are saith he differenced in the places of their generation For Crystall is found in Regions where Ice is seldom seen Answ. It is sufficient that in those Regions where Crystall is found Ice is sometimes seen and as Ice is there but seldome seen so Crystal is there but seldome found The best and greatest quantities are found in cold and snowy Countries Again though in those hotter Countries the air above is warm yet in the bowels of the earth it is as cold or rather colder then elsewhere by antiperistasis and that is sufficient to prove Crystal may be there generated 6. They have contrary qualities elementall and uses medicinall Answ. It is true Ice is moist and Crystall dry so water is moist and salt is dry will it therefore follow that salt is not generated of water Allum Salt-peter Vitriol are all hard and dry so are the bones in our flesh the teeth in our gums the stones in fruits yet all are begot of soft and moist materials As for their contrary medicinall uses I question not whereas there are in one and the same simple as I shewed but now contrary effects II. In the 2 3 and 4 Chapters of the second book the Doctor hath divers pretty and pleasant Discourses of the Loadstone and Amber yet to some passages I cannot assent as 1. when he saith There is coition syndrome and concourse of the Load-stone and Iron to each other For I doe not think that the stone is moved at all to the Iron for every naturall motion hath its reason and end the end of attraction in animals and vegitables is for aliment the motion oâ— stones and other heavy bodies downward is to enjoy their Matrix or Center but no end can be assigned why the Loadstone should draw or move towards the Iron the motion therefore is in the Iron and other metals which are moved to the Loadstone as to their Matrix saith Scaliger therefore it is no more wonder for Iron to move to
before you yet doubtlesse I shall do you right otherwise if I acquaint the world with your vertues and that you are one of that small number which in this sordid and phantasticall Age loves true and solid Learning not being carried away with the vain whimzies of brainsick Sciolists whose learning and piety consists in shaking the foundation of both esteeming that building strongest which is erected on stubble and straw but let them aloue with their brittle and sandy ground-work Old Truth is that sure Rock against which Hell gates shall not prevail I have adventured to consecrate this small piece to you as one who is truly acquainted and affected with the Old and True principles In this Dedication I have endeavoured to discharge my selfe of ingratitude and oblivion and to testifie to the world how much I am indebted to you which I will alwayes thankfully acknowledge so long as I am Sir Your humble servant to command ALEXANDER ROSS AN APPENDIX Containing divers passages of Fishes Presages Sneezing Thunder c. With a Refutation of Doctor HARVY the Lord BACON and others CHAP. I. 1. Fishes breath not the Reasons thereof and the contrary objections answered 2. Fossil or earth-fishes 3. Fishes delight in the light 4. Fishes of Humane shapes 5. Fishes are cunning and docible creatures 6. Why some Fishes have Feet and Wings 7. Many monstrous fishes I. THat Fishes have no breathing or respiration is manifest 1. Because they want Lungs and other Instruments of breathing For though they may receive aire in at the mouth and let it out again by their gills yet this is not respiration which is the action of the Lungs Wind-pipe and Diaphragma in attracting the air for refrigeration and emitting the same 2. There is no air under or in the water therefore fishes cannot breath there For this cause terrestriall creatures die in the waters for want of air as fishes die in the air for want of water If any will say That man dieth in the water not for want of aire there but for want of gills or some other passage to let out the water received into the lungs I answer The Dolphin hath a passage or Fistula to let out the water and yet there he could not live without suffocation if he did not now and then elevate his head above the water to draw breath If it be be again objected That water is a body mixt with air therefore Fishes doe breath I answer That so is wine which we drink mixed with more air then water is yet if we did not draw the air above we should be quickly choked The quantity of air in the water is so little that it is discernable by Art onely not by the senses and so there is some water in that air which we breath yet we are not said to breath water but air Again if there were air in the water which the fishes drew bubbles would appear upon the superâ—icies thereof as we see in Mice or other terrestriall creatures drownd in the water For as soon as the water fils the breast and lungs it draws out the air which tending upward towards the superâ—â—cies â—auseth bubbles If it be objected That fishes breath and yet â—ake no bubbling because the air hath a free passage through the gills I answer That the freenesse of passage is no hinderance to bubbling seeing any light agitation of the water will make bubbles when it hath received air within ir and so we deny not but fishes may make the water bubble not by their breathing but by their motion 3. If fishes breath air in the water why doe they die when they are in the air If any say It is because they cannot endure the coldnesse of the air I answer That the water is colder then the air Again we see that the hotter the air is the fishes die the sooner Hence it is observed that â—els live longer in a Northern then in a Southern wind and these live longer out of the water then other fishes because their heat is in a more viscid and slimy humidity then others Hence it is that the parts cut off doe live and move sometime because their heat is not easily dissipated in so slimy a matter But some will object That fishes out of the water gape for air therefore they breath Answ To gape or open the mouth is no argument of breathing except we will give respiration to Oysters which sometimes gape Again fishes gape not for air but for water so men in the water being almost stilled gape not for water but for air Object 2. The air penetrateth into the thick earth therefore much more into the thin water Answ. I deny that air can penetrate into the thick parts of the earth for that were to make penetration of dimensions but onely to avoid vacuity the air enters into and fills up the holes and cavernosities of the earth for if the air could pierce the thick earth there would never be earthquakes and if that air which is mixt with the substances of the earth were sufficient for respiration Moles needed not take so much pains as to work through and make cavities purposely for respiration For shut up a Mole within a parcell of earth which he cannot dig through he will die for want of sufficient air Object 3. Exhalations and vapours arise out of the water which shews there is air Answ. These exhalations are the thinner parts of the water turned into vapours by heat or motion whence it will not follow that air is in the water actually or a body separated from the water in which are not cavities as in the earth and much lesse will it follow that fishes breath in the water though there were air in it seeing they want the organs of breathing as is said Object 4. Fishes inclosed in a vessel halfe full of water strive to get up into the air Answ. This striving to get uppermost is not to enjoy the air which is not their element but to get out of prison and to have more scope being straitned in a narrow vessel so fishes in the net struggle to get out and to be at liberty Object 5. Fish in a close vessell die for want of air Answ. They die for want of sweet water which being included from fresh air degenerates and putrifies Hence fish die in a pond that is long frozen because the water for want of agitation and fresh air becomes â—nwholsome to the fishes which yet can live a moneâ—h together under the Ice without any air Scaliger shewes that he hath kept fish in a close vessel who have lived and the same in an open vessell who have died It is also manifest that Leaches in a close glasse will live whole years without air Object 6. Pliny objects against Aristotle that as some creatures have not blood but an humor so some fishes want lungs but have some other instrument by which they breath Answ. It is as easie for us to deny as
more then others 2. The capacity of the vessels may be the cause of this differance for in men and beasts the veins arteries and nerves wherein the spirits and blood are contained be larger then in birds and therefore in them is a more sudden eruption of the blood spirits and consequently a shorter motion then in birds 3. The weight of the bodies in men and beasts farre exceed the weight of birds bodies and therefore are not so apt to be moved His Lordship is pleased to call The opinions of sympathies and antipathies ignorant and idle conceits and a forsaking of the true indications of causes Felix qui potuit rerum cognosere causas God will have us in some things rather admire his wisdom then know his secrets and because we cannot attain the true reason of many things we are to submit our judgments to a reverend admiration of his goodness who can give the reason of that sympathy between the loadstone and the iron Between the same stone and the pole We see there is a sympathy between some simples and some humors and between some parts of our bodies and some drugs What other reason properly can be given why Faltick draws choler Agaric fleghm Epithymum melancholy Why Selenites as Fernelius observeth being applied to the skin stayeth bleeding Why should Cantharides work onely on the bladder Why doeth Hemlock and Henbane poyson men which nourish birds How do cats come to the knowledge of Nip and dogs of grasse who taught the Chicken to fear the Kite or the Lamb the Wolfe And why have some men strong Antipathies with some meats Why are some sounds some smels some sights grateful to us some again odious If there be no sympathies and antipathies why are water and fire so averse to each other The Vine will not prosper if the Colewort grow near it he gives a reason for this Because the Colewort draweth the fattest juyce of the earth and where two plants draw the same juyce their neighbourhood hurteth This reason may be as well rejected as admitted for otheâ— plants that are set neare and among Cole-worts fare not the worse for their vicinity except it be Rue and not onely doth this Antipathy last between the Vine and Colewort when they are alive but when they are dead and separated from the earth for they write that Coleworts hinder inebriation and suffer not the wine to fume into the head and why is not the vine as strong to draw its nourishment from the earth as the Colewort seeing it hath more spirits and extends it selfe to a greater circuit and height But when he saith That Rue being set by a Figtree becometh stronger because the one draweth juice fit to refult sweet the other bitter I would know how one and the same piece of earth can afford sweet juyce to the one bitter to the other at the same timeâ—punc and how the fetide juice of the earth goeth into the Garlick and the odorate into the Rose when they grow together Sure these are whimzies for no piece of earth can have so many contrary qualities at the same time nor can there be severall juyces in one bud as he saith afterward neither is the earth any thing else but the common matrix of the plants affording them moisture and nourishment which my Lord acknowledgeth proceeds rather from the water then from the earth when he saith That white Satyrion bean flowers c. are very succubent and need to be scanted in their nourishment he contradicts his former assertion when he said That white was a penurious colour and where moisture is scant And yet he saith That white plumbs are the worst because they are over-watry So it seems that white is both a penurious and a super-plentifull colour where moisture is scant and yet over-watry The opinion that an Oke bough put into the earth will put forth wild Vines is rejected by him upon this ground â—t is not the Oke saith hee that turneth into a Vine but the Oke bough putrifying qualifieth the earth to put forth a vine of it selfe If the earth could put forth a vine of it selfe what need it to be qualified by the putrified Oke bough If it be of the putrified Oke bough as doubtlesse it is that the vine is generated then the earth doth not of it selfe send forth the vineIt is naturall for one thing to be generated out of the corruption of another but for plants to be generated of the earth alone without either seed boughes or some putrified materials of other things were miraculous He saith That transmutation of species is in the vulgar Philosophy pronounced impossible but this opinion is to be rejected What he means by vulgar Philosophy I know not but this I know that the Philosophy which is vulgarly received by all learned and wise men hold the transmutation of species impossible not to God who could transform Lots wife into salt Nebuchadnezzar into a beast waters into blood a rod into a serpent and water into wine but to Art or Nature which cannot transform species whether we understand the word in the extent and universality or as it may signifie the individuall nature under such a species For every individual consists of a matter and a forme the whole composition cannot be transformed into another composition nor the form to another specificall form nor the matter into another matter not the first for generation is not the changing of one composition into another but an introduction of a new form into the matter not the second for one form alwayes perisheth by corruption upon the introduction of another by generation not the third for the matter which is the common subject of all mutations must be alwayes the same in substance though it receive some alterations in qualities Transmutation then of species is impossible to Nature not to Chymists who think to transform silver into gold not to the Roman Church which holds a transubstantiation of bread into Christs body not unto Poets who sing of so many metamorphoses and transformations of men into beasts nor of those who think Witches can transform themselves into Cats Hares and other creatures He tells us That Mushroms cause the accident which we call Incubus or the Mare in the stomack If this were true in Italy and Africa where these are ordinarily eaten this disease would reign most but we find that the Northern Countries are more subject to the Incubus then the Southern Many then eat Mushroms who never were troubled with this disease many are troubled with it who never eat them But indeed the Incubus or Mare is no disease of the stomack as he saith but of the Diaphragma and lungs which being oppressed by a thick flegme or melancholy send up gross vapours into the throat by which speech is hindred and into the brain by which the imagination is disturbed It is reported saith he that grain out of the hotter Countries
to dwell about the Springs of Nilus both were Troglodits or dwelt in holes And Nonnesus in Photius is said to have lighted upon these Pigmies in his Navigation about those places where the Nubae dwelt Neither is it a sufficient reason to denie Pigmies because some ridiculous things are written of them as that they fight with Cranes upon the backs of Rams or Goats though this be ridiculous yet it may be true for there are some ridiculous truths and some serious lies But if this were a fable yet that there were Pigmies may be a truth there be many fictions made of Saturn Iupiter Ianus and other Heathens Likewise of S. Christopher S. George S. Francis and many other Christians shall we therefore conclude there were never any such men Neither was Homer the first that makes mention of Pigmies for Ezechiel long before spake of them Ezek. 27.11 for the word Gammadim is translated Pigmies by Aquila Vatablus Lyra Arias Montanus the vulgar Latin and Munster who affirms that all the Hebrews expound the word thus Besides the Italian and Spanish Translations use the word Pigmie and do not retain the textuary word as the Doctor thinks though the French and English Translations do Now why the Septuagints translated the word Gammadim into Watchmen I know not except they meant those three thousand Pigmies which a certain King of India did entertain for his Guard for though they were small of stature yet they were good Archers IV. That there have been Giants that is men of extraordinary strength and stature is not to be questioned since they are mentioned in so many Stories often in the Scripture For what were Og Sampson Goliah and the Anakims but Giants It is written that Pallas the Son of Evander whom Turnus killed was higher by the head then the Walls of Rome For eight hundred years after Christ his body was found near the Walls which being set upon its feet the shoulders thereof touched the Pinacles of the Wall S. Augustine de Civit. Dei l. 15. c. 9. saw a mans tooth bigger then his fist Ios. Acosta Hist. Ind. l. 7. shewes there were Giants in new Spain For he saw at Mexico a tooth as big as a mans fist About the Straights of Magellan there are Giants ten or eleven foot high Acost l. 1. c. 9. The bones of Giants found in Peru are thrice as big as the Indians Cambden tells us of two teeth sound in Essex which would make two hundred of ours And if you will believe Nunesius the Jesuit de rebus Iapan the King of China was guarded with Giants which are also the Porters of his chief City I will say nothing of the Giants mentioned by Pliny Plutarch Herodotus and others Before the Flood there were greater store of them then since because the vigour of the Sun the fertility of the earth the goodnesse of food and the feed of generation did decay But we must not think that Giants and Pigmies are Monsters seeing they are not the errors of nature which aimeth at their generation according to the proportion of seed which admits of extension and remission But if the quantity be such that the functions of man are hindred such may be called Monsters as that young Giant at Millan which Scaliger saw Exerc. 263. which was so tall that he could not stand but lie along extending his body the length of two beds joyned together What the Greeks have feigned of the Giants I have spoken elsewhere Mystag Poet. V. That divers diseases are procured by fascination that is by a malignant look or aspect is manifest by innumerable testimonies of good Authours Now fascination is twofold Diabolical and Physical or Natural Of the former I doe not speak but of the latter which causeth diseases not by the look or sight it self which consisteth rather in reception with Aristotle then in emission with Plato although I deny not some kind of emission there is but I say fascination causeth diseases three ways First when the horrid and truculent look of a malicious deformed Hag affrights children and tender natures upon which proceeds an agitation and sudden commotion of the spirits and humours whence ensueth diseases Secondly by some malignant vapour breath or spirit from the eye or mouth Thirdly by a secret antipathy so there are who will swoun and sweat at the sight of certain meats which they abhor And indeed sympathies and antipathies there are almost in every Simple which we receive for physick as Fernelius de abdit rer caus l. 2. shews hence it is that some things purge onely the Spleen some the Liver some the Breast only Hence also the Cantharides are offensive to the Bladder Lepus marinus to the Lungs But that History is strange which is recorded by Francis Mendosa lib. 4. de Flor. Philos. Problem 11. of the Duke of Brigantia's one-eyed servant who with his eye could make any Falcon or Sparrow-Hawk in their â—light â—all down to the ground as if they were dead this could not bee by any malignant vapour that did reach so high it must bee therefore a strange antipathy of which we can give no more reason then why the Load-stone draws Iron or draws it not when touched with Garlick Why the stone Selenites as Fernelius shewes touching the skin should stay bleeding in any part of the body or why the Ring in which it is set being put on the third finger stays the Dysentery within an howre Why Rhubarb and Scamony purgeth choler Epithemium Polypodium and Sena melancholy Agarick phlegme and why Quick-silver delights so much in gold Why the shadow of the Fraxinus or wilde-Ash is so pernicious to Serpents Why there is such antipathies and sympathies among Hearbs Trees I know what I said but now Book 2. c. 3. of the Garlick in hindring the Load-stones attraction is contradicted by Doctor Brown and before him by Baptista Porta yet I cannot believe that so many famous Writers who have affirmed this property of the garlick could be deceived therefore I think that they had some other kinde of Load-stone then that which we have now For Pliny and others make divers sorts of them the best whereof is the Ethiopian Though then in some Load-stones the attraction is not hindred by garlick it follows not that it is hindred in none and perhaps our garlick is not so vigorous as that of the Ancients in hotter Countries yet I finde that not onely by garlick is this attraction hindred but also by fire rust oyl and other fat things also by the presence of another Load-stone and that as it draws the Steel with one end so it repels it with the other But to return to our Fascination that it is caused by an occult quality is plain because it is cured by another occult quality For Mendosa Prob. 11. sheweth that it is known by experience how Fascination is cured by the foot of a Mole or Wont laid to the childes forehead which can be nothing else
Marius The Leprosie called Elephantiasis appeaâ—ed first in Italy in the time of Pompey He speaks also of other diseases which not long before his time sprung up in Italy A kind of Fever called Coqueluche by the French invaded their country anno 1510. England was plagued with a new sweating sicknesse anno 1529 The French malady appeared first at Naples anno 1492. The Scorbutus is but a new disease in those parts Many strange kinds of vermin have been bred in mens bodies in this last Age not known before in this part of the world Of these and many more new diseases Fernelius Fracostorius Sebizius and others do write Now it is no wonder that there are new diseases seeing there are new sins 2. New sorts of foods and gluttony devised 3. New influences of the Stars 4. New Earthquakes and pestiferous exhalations out of the Earth 5. New temperaments of mens bodies 6 Infections of waters malignant meteors and divers other causes may be alledged for new diseases but none more prevalent then the food which is converted into our substance therefore in eating and drinking wee should regard the quantity quality and seasons II. It is strange to consider the diversitie of colours caused in the same Individual body of man by the same heat the chylus milk sperm and bones are white the blood and liver red the choler yellow the melancholy green the spleen blew a part of the eye black the hairs of divers colours and yet none blew or green And as strange it is that in some the skin is tauny in others white and in others black all which is effected by one and the same Sun which as it produceth all things by its heat so it giveth colour to all things for what giveth the essence giveth also the consequences yet Dr. Brown Book 6. c. 10. will not have the Sun to be the caus of the Negro's blacknesse 1. Because the people on the South-side of the River Senaga are black on the other only tauny 2. Other animals retain their own colours in that clime 3. In Asia and America men are not so black I answer that it will not follow that the Sun is not the cause of blacknesse for he doth work upon each Subject according as it is disposed to receive his impression and accordingly produceth diversity of colours Hence in the same hot climat men are black Parrets and leaves of trees are green the Emmets as some report are white the Gold is yellow and every thing there hath its own peculiar colour and yet all are produced by the same Sun nay the same man that hath a black skin hath white teeth the same Sun at the same time in the same Garden doth cloath the Lily in white the Rose and Cherry in red and divers fruits in black it is observed that the Sun whiteneth those things which are inclined to be hard and blackneth soft things so he makes the Ethiopians teeth white the skin black he makes the green corn turn white and hard with his heat and at the same time makes the plumb black and soft women that blanch or whiten their linnen in the Sun know that he can â—an their skins but whiten their cloth â—gain the air may be more temperate and greater store of refreshing windes and exhalations on the one side of the river Niger then on the other and so the Suns operation may bee hindred which is the cause that in America and Asia under the same parallel men are not so black as in Africk where there is more heat and greater drought For it wants those fresh Winds and great Lakes and Rivers which are in Asia and America The Suns heat then is the cause of blacknesse in such as are capable of it whether the clime be torrid or frigid Hence in cold countries we finde black crowes and in hot white Swans Besides this narration is suspicious for on both sides of the River men have been seâ—n equally black and there be some in Asia as black as in Affrica He objects again That Nigro's transplanted into cold countries continue their hue therefore the Sun is not the sole cause of this blacknesse Ans. The question is not if the Sun be the sole cause but whether a cause at all which the Doctor in his former objections seemed to deny 2. I say that the Sun is the sole primary cause if there be any other causes they are secâ—ndary and subordinate to the Suns heat and influence 3. Hee may as well infer the Sun is not the cause of greennâ—sse in leaves grasse or plants in the Torrid Zone because these being transplanted into cold climats retain their hues Book 6. c. 12 And indeed he seems to make the spirit of Salt peter in the Earth the cause of viridity because in a glasse these spirits project orient greens I should like his reasons well if the verdure of the plant were not more real then that of Salt-peter in the glasse but what will he say to that Earth where is no Salt-peter at all and yet the â—earbs are green Or is there Salt-peter in a glasse of pure water where I have seen green leaves bud out of the stem of an hearb Besides I finde urine out of which Salt-peter is made to spoil the greennesse of the hearbs 4. If the impression of black which the Sun causeth in a hot clime must alter in a cold then may the other qualities also which the Sun by his heat procureth be lost in a cold countrey and so what is hard in Ethiopia must bee soft in England and the heat of Indian spices must here grow cold He objects again that there are Negroes under the Southern Tropick and beyond which are colder countries I answer that these Negroes were colonies out of hotter countries and not Aborigines or Natives at first And he confesseth there be Plantations of Negroes in Asia all which retain their original blacknesse Lastly he objecteth That in the parts where the Negroes possesse there be rivers to moisten the air and in Lybia there are such dry and sandy desarts as there is no water at all but what is brought on camels backs and yet there are no Negroes therefore drinesse cannot cause blacknesse I answer 1. It cannot be proved that the Neâ— groes who dwell neere rivers had their originall there 2. Though there may be some moist exhalations yet it seems they are not so abundant as to qualifie the Suns heat 3. Though the desarts of Lybia be dry yet they are not so hot as under the Line It is the excesse of heat and siccity together that causeth blacknesse and not one of these alone 4. We see men grow tauny here by conversing much in the Sun And further South more tauny and still as the heat increases the degrees of blacknesse increase also to deny this were to deny our senses and we see dead bodies hung in the Sun grow black the same would befall to living bodies if they continued
absolutely necessary Strange operations of some stomachs The Ostrich eats and digests Iron 4. How Bees Gnats c. make a sound Of Glow-worms and Grains bit by Pismires the vegitable Lamb and other strange plants 5. The Tygers swiftnesse The Remora stays ships THAT divers animals even men and women can subsist without food is plain by these examples A certain maid in the Diocesse of Spire anno 1542. lived three years without meat or drink In the year 1582. in the Palatinat there lived a maid nine years together without food who afterward married and had children Rondeletius l. 1. de pis c. 13. writes of a maid in France and of another in Germany who lived divers years without food and of another whom hee saw that had no other food but air ten years together Ficinus saw a man who had no other food but what the air and Sun afforded him In the year 1595. a maid lived at Colen three years without food another at Bern lived eighteen years on the air alone anno 1604. Other examples I could alledge out of Citesius Physitian of Padua Lentulus of Bern Ioubertus and others but these may suffice to let us see that nutrition doth not consist meerly in meat and drink I will not here alledge examples of miraculous fasts or of Diabolical and Magical but such as are meerly natural as these which I have named for in them the natural heat was weak and not able to master the humidity with which they abounded So then where there is a weak heat and much sweet phlegm which is imperfect blood as Physitians call it there the life may bee prolonged without food I have read Mendoza in Flor. phil of a Venetian who fasted forty six years being of a cold constitution and abounding with thick phlegme we see this in the hearb Semper-vivum which many years together liveth and is green without earth or water having much natural humidity within it So the Camelion is onely fed by air as is said which appears to be true however Dr. Brown Book 3. c. 21. writes to the contrary by these reasons 1. The testimonies both of ancient and modern Writers except a few and the witnesses of some yet living who have kept Camelions a long time and never saw them feed but on air 2. To what end hath Nature given it such large Lungs beyond its proportion Sure not for refrigeration lesse Lungs would serve for this use seeing their heat is weak it must be then for nutrition 3. There is so little blood in it that we may easily see it doth not feed on solid meat The Doctor saith That Frogs and divers Fishes have little blood and yet their nutriment is solid But he doth not prove the nutriment to be solid Besides they have more blood then is in the Camelion 4. To what end should it contnually gape more then other animals but that it stands more in need of air then they towit for nutrition as well as refrigeration The Doctor imputeth this gaping to the largenesse of his Lungs This is but a shift for other animals whose Lungs doe exceed both the Lungs and whole bodies of many Camelions do not gape as this doth and yet they stand more in need of refrigeration as having more blood and heat then ten thousand Camelions 5. He that kept the Camelion which I saw never perceived it to void excrements backwards an argument it had no solid food and what wonder is it for the Camelion to live on air when Hay a beast of Brasil as big as a Dog was never seen to feed on any thing else as Lerius witnesseth The Doctor concludes That the Camelion is abstenious a long time but not still because divers other animals are so He may as well infer that the Camelion is cornuted because divers other animals are so Each species hath its property which is not communicable to other species otherwise it were no property II. That water is the aliment of divers creatures is plain 1. By the vegetables for hearbs trees and plants are nourished by it 2. By animals for it is the food of many fishes as was shewed by that fish which Rondeletius his wife kept three years in a glasse Grashoppers feed upon dew which is water I have read Mendoza Prob. 23. of Worms in Armenia which feed only on Snow and of some birds whose aliment is only water 3. By men for Albertus Magnus speaks of one who lived seven weeks together only upon water I know Aristotle l. 7. de anim Galen and Averroes are against this opinion But we must understand they speak of the pure element of water which is not nutritive not of that which is impure mixed or compounded for such may nourish Doctor Brown will not have water an aliment 1. Because some creatures drink not at all Answ. To such water indeed can be no aliment and so indeed his argument is good but to say that water is no creatures aliment because some creatures do not drink at all is as much as if he should infer that no man eats bread because some men never ate any 2. He saith That water serves for refrigeration and dilution therefore it is no aliment Answ. Why may not the same thing serve both Doe we not many times eat cooling hearbs which both refrigerate and feed us 3. If the ancients saith he had thought water nutritive they would not have commended the Limpid water for the best but rather turbid streams where there may be some nutriment Answ. If the Ancients had spoken of Waters fittest to feed Eels Frogs and such as live on mud they would have commended the turbid streams but they spake of such Waters as are fittest for our bodies and therefore they commended the Limpid for the best and yet he confesseth in the purest water there is much terreous residence and consequently some nutriment III. Chilification is an action of the stomach but not absolutely necessary because many creatures in the Winter live without it And this act is not to be ascribed to the heat of the stomach for though heat as heat doth concoct yet it doth not chilifie for neither fiery nor feverish nor any other heat of the body can perform this but that of the stomach therefore this action must proceed from the specifical form and proper quality of the stomach which turns all it receives into a white creamy substance but cannot produce several substances as the Liver doth because it is not so hot as the Liver or rather it hath not that specifical form which the Liver hath Besides that the stomachs work is to master the aliment to concoct it and to prepare it for the Liver But besides this quality of the stomach there is another more strange when som can eat and digest coals sand lime pitch ashes and such like trash This is called by Physitians a disease under the name of Pica Citta Malacia but I think it proceeds not only from a
from their chiefe Citie Samaria but I understand that table of Nations which Salmanasser brought in to possesse the Israelites lands These with so many of the ancient Samaritans or Israelites as remained in the land retained the ancient Hebrew characters in which the Law was given by Moses and these letters for distinctions sake were named Samaritan and those of Esdras called Hebrew and square from their form Some ancient coins as Sicles have been found with Samaritan characters on them which shew this difference The form of these letters may be seen in the Samaritan Alphabets As these Samaritan retained the ancient characters so they did the ancient Pentateuch of Moses and no more Now that Hebers posterity retained their language without mixture after the Flood is proved by Austin and Ierome out of the Hebrew Names given to the creatures before the Flood It stood also with reason that Hebers family should not be partakers of the worlds punishment in this confusion of tongues seeing they were not guilty of their sins CHAP. XIII 1. There is not heat in the body of the Sun 2. Islands before the Flood proved 3. The seven Ostiaries of Nilus and its greatness The greatness of old Rome divers ways proved Nilus over-flowing how proper to it the Crocodiles of Nilus its inundation regular THe Doctor in his subsequent discourses 6 Book c. 1 2 3 4 5 6 hath many learned Cosmographicall passages collected dextrously out of many approved Authours against which I have nothing to say onely he must give me leave to dissentfrom him in his opinion concerning the Suns heat when he sayes that if the Sunne had been placed in the lowest spheare where the Moon is by this vicinity to the earth its heat had been intollerable What will he say then to that world lately discovered in the Moon by glasses as fallacious as the opinion is erroneous Surely these people must live uncomfortably where the heat is so intollerable or else they must have the bodies of Salamanders or else of those Pyrusâ—ae in the Furnaces of Sicily but indeed though the Sunne work by the Moon upon sublunary bodies yet the Moon is not hot nor capable of it no more then the line is capable of that stupidity which from the Torpedo is conveyed by the line to the Fishers hands No celestiall body is capable of heat because not passive except we will deny that quintessence and put no difference between Celestial and Elementary bodies The Sun then is not the subject but the efficient cause of heat the prime subject of heat is the element of fire the prime efficient cause is the Sun which can produce heat though he be not hot himself And this is no more strange then for him to produce life sense vegetation colours odors and other qualities in sublunary bodies which notwithstanding are not in him though from him Again if the Sun be the subject of heat because he is the original and effector of it then Saturn is the subject of cold the Moon of moisture and Mars of drinesse and so we shall place action and passion and all elementary qualities in the heavens making a Chaos and confusion of celestial and sublunary bodies Moreover if the Suns vicinity causeth the greatest heat why are the tops of the highest mountains perpetually cold and snowy Why doe there blow such cold windes under the Line as Acosta sheweth We conclude then that the Sun is the cause of heat though he be not hot as he is the cause of generation and corruption though he be neither generable nor corruptible Ovid then played the Poet not the Philosopher when he causeth the Suns vicinity to melt Icarus his waxen wings II. He sayes That Islands before the Flood are with probability denied by very learned authors Answ. He doth not alledge any one probable reason out of these Authors in maintenance of this opinion I can give more then probable reasons that there were Islands before the Flood First the whole earth it selfe was made an Island therefore the Sea is rightly called Amphitrite from encompassing the earth For this cause David saith That God hath founded the Earth upon the Waters And though Earth and Sea make but one Globe yet the Earth onely is the Center of the world as Clavius demonstrates 2. The world was in its perfect beauty before the Flood but Islands in the Sea tend no lesse to the beauty and perfection of the world then Lakes upon the Land 3. All the causes of Islands were as well before the Flood as since for there were great Rivers running into the Sea carrying with them mud gravell and weeds which in time become Islands There were also Earthquakes by which divers Islands have been made the vapour or spirit under the bottome of the Sea thrusting up the ground above the superficies of the water and who will say that in the space of 16. hundred years before the Flood there should be no Earth-quakes Again in that time the Sea had the same power over the neighbouring lands which it hath since the Flood But we find that Islands were made by the Sea washing away the soft and lower ground in peninsules at this day there doubtless the Sea wanted not the same force and quality before the Flood for there were as forcible winds and as impetuous waves Lastly Islands are made when the Sea forsakes some Land which it useth to over-flow and this property also we cannot deny to have been in the Sea before the Flood for there were windes to beat off the Sea to drive together heaps of sand into some altitude whereby the water is forced to forsake the land whence hath proceeded divers Isles III. He saith Book 6. c. 4. there were more then seven Ostiaries of Nilus Answ. There were but seven of note the other four were of no account but passed by as inconsiderable Hence they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therfore the stream of all waters run upon seven so Virgil septem discurrit in ora And AEn 6. septem gemini turbant trepida ostia Nili Ovid calls the Riâ—er Septemfluus by others it is named Septemplex by Valerius septem amnes Claudius gives it septem cornu Manilius septem fauces Ovid septem portus Statius septem hiemes Dionysius Afer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These seven mouthes have their particular names given them by Mela and other Geographers and so the Scripture gives it seven streams Isaiah 11.15 at this day there are but foure left two of which are of little use therefore the Doctor needed not to have troubled himselfe so much as he doth because so frequenely this is called the seven-mouthed river for it is usuall to give denominations not from the exact number but from the most eminent and major part of the number He may as wel except against Moses who indivers places reckons but seventy souls which went down into AEgypt and yet Saint Steven in the Acts mentions 75 souls Again he
dislikes the Title given by Ortelius to Nilus when he calls it the greatest river of the world But Ortelius was not mistaken in calling it so for it is the greatest though not perhaps in length because it may be some are longer the which are not certainly known yet in breadth when it overflowes the whole Countrey in which respect it may be called rather a Sea then a River and so it was called by the Ancients as Pior Valerius sheweth Nile saith Basil is liker a Sea then a River and some esteem the length of it a thousand German miles or 35. degrees having Summer at the springs thereof and Winter at the other end the same time It is also the greatest in regard of use and benefit for no River doth so much enrich a Countrey as Nilus doth Egipt It is the greatest also in same for no River is so renowned in Writers By the world also is meant so much as is known to us for the Rivers of America are known rather by hearsay then otherwise The greatness of this River was of old Hieroglyphically expressed by the vast body of a Giant There is a Statue of Nilus in the Vatican the picture whereof is in Sands his Travels the greatest of Poets by way of excellency calls this the Great River In magno maerentem corpore Nilum Again the Doctor will have Rome magnified by the Latines for the greatest of the earth to be lesser then Cairo and Quinsay to exceed both But he is much mistaken for Cairo as Sands tells us who was there is not above 5. Italian miles in length with the suburbs and in bredth scarce one and a halfe whereas Rome was almost fifty miles in compasse within the walls and the circuit of the suburbs much more as Lipsius de mag Rom. l. 3. c. 2. hath collected out of divers Authors He shewes the greatnesse of it also by the number of the people therein for there were three and twenty thousand poor which was maintained upon the publick charge then if we reckon the multitude of rich men and their train which was not small for divers of the great persons maintained families of foure hundred persons if we look upon the multitude of Artificers of Souldiers of Courtiers of strangers from all parts flocking thither as to the great Metropolis and shop of the World we shall find there were no lesse then four millions or fourty hundred thousand people which is more then can be found in many large provinces Heliogabolus collected the greatness of this City by the Cobwebs found in it which being gathered together did weigh ten thousand pound Another argument of its greatness may be collected out of Eusebius his Chronicle who reckons that for many dayes together there were buried of the plague ten thousand daily Not without cause then was Rome called the Epitome of the world by Aristides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earths workhouse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worlds Citadel or Castle by Saint Iohn the great Citie and the great Babylon by Virgil Maximum rerum And it stood with reason that Rome should be the greatest of Cities being the Queen and Mistress of the greatest Empire of such large Territories and full of people Cities and Nations Rome then was every way the greatest Citie both in extent in power in people in glory in magnificence What Citie ever had that multitude of stately Palaces Temples Theaters Olisks triumphant Arches Baths and other publick buildings as Laurus sheweth As for Quinsay in China we have a fabulous narration in M. Paulus Venetus that is was an hundred miles in compasse but his narrations have been found erroneous and if the Kingdome of China comes far short of the greatnesse of the Roman Empire surely Quinsay must fall short of Rome which as the Poet saith Inter alias tantum caput extulit urbes Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressâ— As for Quinsay now it is not thirty miles in compasse as Nicolas de Contu sheweth who was there Again he saith That this anuall overflowing is not proper unto Nile being common to many currents in Africa I answer It is so proper to Nile that no other River doth so orderly so frequently so fully overflow their banks as this doth Crocodiles saith he are not proper to Nile Answ. They are so proper that no river either in Africk Asia or America hath such Crocodiles as Nilus if either we consider the magnitude multitude or fiercenesse of them Other Crocodiles chiefly the American are gentle the AEgyptian fierce and cruel which is the cause that Dogges are so afraid to drink out of Nilus whence arose that proverb Canis ad Nilum The greatest Indian Crocodiles exceed not twenty foot in length as Scaliger shewes but those of Nile are three hundred foot long whose jawes are so wide that one of them can contain a whole heifer at a time some have been found there of 25 and above 26. cubits in bigness as AElian reports The Romans to shew how proper this beast was to Nile represented AEgypt by a Crocodile in that Coin on which Augustus stampt a Crocodile tied to a palm-tree with this Inscription Primus relegavit for he subdued AEgypt and restored peace to them Again he saith That the Causes of Niles inundation are variable unstable and irregular because some yeares there hath been no increase at all Answ. He may as well say that the causes of all natural effects are variable because sometimes they faile But all naturall causes operate for an end therefore are constant regular and stable so are not Chance and Fortune which Aristotle excludes from naturall causes Are the causes of rain and storms irregular variable and unstable because sometimes it rains more in Summer then in Winter Or is generation irregular because sometimes women miscarry Naturall causes alwayes produce their effects or for the most part so that they faile but seldome and that upon the interposition of some impediment whereas fortuitall causes produce their effects seldome The causes then of Niles overflowing are not contingent but certain constant regular and stable because they never faile or but seldom upon some impediment in the producing of that effect As for the AEgyptian raines I have spoken elsewhere animad on Sir Walt. Raleigh Now because of this regular constant and beneficial inundation of Nilus it was called Iupiter AEgiptius and divine honours were given to it its annual festival was kept about the Summer Solstitial when it overflows the land This was called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priests used to carry the water of Nile on their shoulders with great solemnity to their temples falling down on their knees and lifting up their hands gave solemne thanks to Iupiter Nilius to whose honour they dedicated a certain piece of coin with this Inserâ—ption Deo Sancto Nilo CHAP. XIV 1. The cause of Niles inundation 2. Lots wife truly transformed into a salt Pillar 3. Hels
for him to affirm that which he could never prove For neither doth he shew what these fishes be nor what are these instruments nor though there were such can he prove that they breath by them And though some creatures have an humor in stead of blood yet that humor hath not the properties qualities nor office of the blood Object 7. Fishes gape therefore they breath Answ. Here is no sequell for Oysters gape which breath not and many creatures breath which gape not Again if with their gaping there were any breathing we should see saith Aristotle the breathing parts move but there is no motion at all and it is impossible there should be attraction and emission of the air without motion Besides if Fishes breathed we should see some bubbles on the water when their breath went out as in breathing animals when they die in the water It is true that lunged fishes such as Dolphins Whales Seals and Frogges make bubbles because they breath which will not prove that all fishes do so And yet there be other causes of bubbling besides expiration for rains tempests vapours or any agitation of the water will cause bubbling Object 8. The Moon gives increment to shell-fishes therefore their spirits also do increase Answ. It 's true if they speak of the animall and vitall spirits but what is this to breathing the subject whereof is the air and not those innate spirits and if increment of substance doth suppose respiration then trees must breath as they grow in bignesse And although the Moon causeth humid bodies to swell yet she doth not make the air by which we breath being a part of the Universe Object 9. Fishes doe smell and hear therefore they breath because air is the matter of all three Answ. Air indeed may be called the matter of breathing but not of hearing and smelling it is not the air we smell or hear but we smell the odors and hear the sounds in the air which is therefore properly called by Philosophers the Medium not the matâ—er of hearing and smelling And as the air is to us so the water is to fishes the medium of hearing and smelling And if it be the matter of breathing to fishes then it is not air but water which they breath whereas indeed water cannot be the subject or matter of breathing nor can they breath at all which want the organs of breath Object 10. No animall can live without respiration therefore fishes breath Answ. The antecedent is denied for many animals live without respiration onely by transpiration such are insects so doth the child in the matrix so do women in their histericall passions these breath not yet they live Object 11. Pliny tells us that fishes do sleep therefore they breath Answ. Breathing hath no relation to sleep it is neither the effect nor cause nor quality nor part nor property nor consequent of sleep for some animals sleep which breath not all that time as Dormice in Winter the child in the mothers womb breathes not as having in the matrix or membran within which he lieth no air at all but a watrish humor which if he should suck in by the lungs he would be presently suffocated yet at that time the chid sleepeth There is no community at all in the subject or organ of sleep and respiration nor in their natures the one being a rest or cessation the other a motion the one consisting in the senses within the head the other in the lungs breast and Diaphragma Again respiration consists rather in the actions of life and sense which accompany waking then in sleep which resembles death Respiration is for refrigeration of the heart which is more heated by the motions of the body whilst we are awake then by rest when we are asleep therefore men that walk labour run struggle or whose heart is heated by anger or Feavers breath much faster then in sleep as standing more in need of air for refrigeration So children because of their heat breath faster then old men Therefore we concludeâ—with Aristotle that fishes which want lungs throats have gills breath not for what needed lungs to draw in air seeing Nature hath given them gills to let in water for cooling the fishes hear which is but weak because they have little blood II. That some small fishes have been found on hills farre from the Sea is verified by divers as also that sometimes fishes are digged out of the earth which we may call Fossil to distinguish them from aquatile is recorded by grave and ancient Writers But I believe that these are not true fishes but rather terrestriall creatures resembling fishes in their outward shape for as many fishes resemble terrestriall animals which are not therefore properly terrestriall so many terrestriall creatures may resemble fishes which properly are not such or else where these Fossil fishes are found there are subterraneall waters not farre off by which they are conveyed thither Hence sometimes fishes have been found in deep wells and I have read of some fishes found in springs of sulphury and allum water for otherwise fishes can no more live in the earth then earthy creatures in the water seeing nothing can live out of its own element where it hath its originall food and conservation Or lastly these land fishes have been such as have fallen out of the clouds For I have read in good Authors of divers showers or rains of fishes and of Frogs and Mice and such like animals out of the clouds III. That Fishes in Moon-shine nights chiefly when she is in the full delight to play upon the superficies of the water is plain by fishermen who take greatest quantities of them then The cause of this may be the delight that fishes take in the light or else they finde some moderate heat in the superficies of the water when the Moon is full but I rather think it is the pleasure they take in the Moon light which gives a silver brightnesse to the water and Natâ—re hath given them a quick sight and eminent eyes whereas the senses of smelling and hearing are in them yet the organs are so obscure they cannot be found and albeit they have all the senses yet they are dumb for they make no sound at all because they breath not nor have they the organs of sounding such as the throat windpipe and lungs IV. That some fishes resemble men in their faces hands and other parts is no fable for such are not only recorded by the ancients but also have been seen by late Navigators Lerius saw none of them yet relates that an American fisherman cut off the hand from one of those fishes which did offer to get into his boat the hand had five distinct fingers like ours and in his face he resembled a man Scaliger writes that one of those sea-men or men-fishes was seen by Hierom Lord of Noâ—icum which laid hold on the cable of his ship this story he related as a truth
sticks and glow-worms or cats eyes are fire or flames and if stars be flames because in colour they are like to flames let us say that the Heaven is water for in colour it is like water IV. It seems saith he Cent. 1.45 that the parts of living creatures that lie more inwards nourish more then the outward flesh except it be the brain which the spirits prey too much upon to leave it any great vertue of nourishment This is not so for experience shews the contrary that the outward flesh of sheep and so of other animals nourish more then the heart lungs liver kidney and spleen Therefore Galen l. de cibis reckoneth these amongst his meats of bad juyce and indeed this stands with reason for that nourisheth most which is easiest of concoction and softest and most abounding in benign and nutritive juyce but such is the outward flesh not the heart kidney c. which are harder and drier and not so apt to be converted into blood It is true the Romans made much of the gooses liver more to please their palate then out of any good nutriment it offorded so they preferred moshromes and such like trash to the best nutrive meates as for the brains they are less nutritive then the flesh not because the spirits prey upon them for the animal spirits in the brain do not prey more upon it then the vital spirits do upon the heart which notwithstanding his lordship acknowledgeth to be more nourishing then the outward flesh because more inward but because the brain is less sanguineal then the flesh for those parts which they call spermatical are less nutritive what is more inward then the Spinalis medulla or pith in the back bone on which the animal spirits do not prey and yet it is little nutritive V. The fift cause of cold saith he Cent. 73. is a quick spirit inclosed in a cold body as in nitre in water colder then oyle which hath a duller spirit so show is colder then water because it hath more spirit so some insects which have the spirit of life as snakes c. are cold to the touch so quick silver is the coldest of all mettals because fullest of spirits Answ. No spirit can be the cause of cold for all spirits in vigitable animals produce heat and are produced of heat therefore we finde that where there are most spirits there is least cold 2. Nitre which is mentioned by the Ancients is hot and not cold and therefore both Dioscorides Pliny and Galen adscribe to it the qualities of heat to cut extennat discuss and purge gross and cold humors and if that nitre which we use at this day be not the same yet it is not much unlike as Mathiolus shews as having divers qualities of the old nitre besides it is a kinde of salt and is begot of hot things as pigeons dung and the urins of animals therefore Brun. Seidelius makres it hot 3. I deny that water is colder then oyl to the outward touching for hot waters as he said before are in this regard cold and if oyl hath a dulâ—er spirit then water how comes it to mount upward and swim above the water sure this ascendant motion cannot produce from the earthy and gross substance but from the quick spirits thereof therefore we finde that water is cold and oyl hot in operation because more full of spirits then water 4. I deny that snow is colder then water because it hath more spirit but because it is more condensed for heat and cold are more active in a dense and solid then in a thin atternated substance so ice is colder then water and yet who will say that there is more spirits in the ice then in water besides the snow is colder then the water because begot of colder winds and in colder clymats 5. I deny that insects are cold to the touch for having in them the spirit of life because they are colder when that spirit is gon as we see in all dead bodies which are colder then when they were alive therefore death is called by the Poets frigida more and gelidum frigus the spirit of life is that which is both begot of heat and begets heat and preserveth it that when that spirit leave suâ— heat also for sakes us caler ossa relinquit saith the Poet It is not therefore the spirit of life but the temperament and constitution of the body of divers earthy and watrish animals which argue cold and we see that for this cause womens bodies are colder then mens and some men of colder constitutions then others because they have fewer spirits and more of earth and water in them We know also how dull and stupid our hands are in cold frosts till the spirits in them be quickned by heat 6. I deny also that quicksilver is the coldest of metals because fullest of spirits for it is much doubted whether Mercury be cold at all for agility proceeds from heat not from cold and such a quality became the messenger of Iupiter by whom all things receive life and vigour Indeed Mercury may be called the Monster of Nature for sometimes it refrigerats sometimes it califieth it cures sometimes cold sometimes hot diseases take it hot it produceth cold take it cold it produceth hot effects and it hath this quality of heat that nothing is more penetrating then it is Christopher Encelius de re metalica makes it hot and moist in the fourth degree Quercitan in his answer to Aubert makes it rather aerial then aquiall we know that heat is one of the qualities of air Renodaeus in Pharmac makes it both hot and cold Keckerman in Sist. Phy. sayth That it is hot as it is full of spirits but cold as these spirits are congealed Croclius in Bas. Cly. prescribes it in defluxions of the head and in hydropsies which shews it is hot And Poterius in Pharm Spagir tells us That by reason of its different operations no man can tell whether heat or cold be most predominant but it is certain saith he that it is both for is known by our senses that it is cold it is known by its effects and operations that it is hot for it cuts atâ—enuates dissolves and purges which are the effects of heat and so his Lordship doth acknowledge in the next following leaf That heat doth attennate and by atenuation sendeth forth the spirit In his following discourses he hath phrases not to be tolerated in Phylosophy as when he saith Cent. 1.80 That tangible bodies have an antipathy with air Belike then the air is no tangible body but experience shews the contrary that air is tangible both actively and passively our bodies are sensible enough of this tangibility both in hot and cold weather Again if by tangible bodies he mean grosse and dense bodies how can air have an antipathy with them seeing air is one of the ingredients of which all mixed bodies are compounded can it â—e contrary or antipatheticall