one thing and another thing if it be put under the Table for if you fit the stone by equally poising it to make it move freely or put it into a Boat and put a stone above it it will attract it or reject it as we said before but if you put it under the stone it will work contrarily for that part that drew above will drive off beneath and that will draw beneath that drove off above that is if you place the stone above and beneath in a perpendicular By which Experiments one may see cleerly That the situation will work contrary operations and change the forces of it by turns Wherefore in the operations of it you must chiefly mark the position if you put the Loastone above or beneath CHAP. XIX How the attractive force of the Loadstone may be weighed WE can also measure that attracting or expelling vertue of the Loadstone or poise it in a balance which will be of no small consequence in the following considerations and especially for a perpetual motion and to make Iron hang pendulous in the Air when the true and certain attractive Vertue is found our from the Circumference to the Centre The Art is this Put a piece of a Loadstone into a balance and in the other scale as much weight of some other matter that the scale may hang equal then we apply a piece of Iron lying on a Table that it may stick to the Loadstone that is in the scale and that they may stick fast by their friendly points you shall by degrees cast some sand into the other scale and that so long till the scale and iron part so by weighing the weight of the sand we have the Vertue of the Loadstone we sought to finde We may also put the iron into the scale and lay the Loadstone on the Table CHAP. XX. Of the mutual attraction and driving off of the Loadstone and of Iron NOw are we come to the other part of our Treaty wherein we discourse of the mutual union of Loadstones and of their differences one with the other the effects whereof are so known that they are in the mouths of all men nor will any man almost say that he knows them not The operation is this Because there is such a Natural concord and sympathy between the iron and the Loadstone as if they had made a League that when the Loadstone comes neer the iron the iron presently stirs and runs to meet it to be embraced by the Loadstone And that embraceth it so fast that with tossing of it up and down you can scarce part them And the Loadstone runs as fast to the iron and is as much in love with that and unity with it for neither of them will refuse to be drawn But the weaker still runs willingly to meet the other That you may believe this you shall try it thus Either hang them both by a thread or put them in boats or balance them on the needle Pliny speaking of this saith For what is more wonderful or wherein is Nature more wanton what is more sluggish than a cold stone yet Nature hath given this both sense and hands What is more powerful than hard iron yet it yields and submits for the Loadstone draws it and that matter that conquers all things runs after I know not what and as it comes neer it stops and lays fast hold and stays constantly to be embraced Lucretius seeking the cause of this effect How it should be that Loadstone Iron draws And Orpheus in his Verses relates that iron is drawn by the Loadstone as a Bride after the Bridegroom to be embraced and the iron is so desirous to joyn with it as her husband and is so sollicitous to meet the Loadstone when it is hindred by its weight yet it will stand an end as if it held up its hands to beg of the stone and flattering of it as if it were impatient that it cannot come at it by reason of its ponderosity and shews that it is not content with its condition but if it once kist the Loadstone as if the desire were satisfied it then is at rest and they are so mutually in love that if one cannot come at the other it will hang pendulous in the air Wherefore Albertus very ignorantly told Frederick the Emperour that a friend of his shew'd a Loadstone that did not attract iron but was attracted by it since the lighter of these two will stir when the heavier approaches neer it CHAP. XXI The Iron and Loadstone are in greater amity then the Loadstone is with the Loadstone THe exceeding love of the Iron with the Loadstone is greater and more effectual and far stronger then that of the Loadstone with the Loadstone and this is easily proved For lay on a Table pieces of iron and Loadstone of the same weight and let another Loadstone be brought neer when it comes to a fit distance the iron will presently stir and runs toward the Loadstone and embraceth it And it is proved better thus Let a Loadstone embrace a Loadstone and be set softly neer the iron when the force of its circumference comes to the iron the Loadstone will presently let fall the Loadstone and lay hold on the iron but let iron and that be joyned no Loadstone can ever take them asunder to stick there CHAP. XXII The Loadstone doth not draw on all parts but at certain points YEt we must not think that the Loadstone draws the iron with every part but at a set and certain point which is to be searched out with great reason care and diligence You shall find it thus either hang up the iron or balance it on a Table that it may presently leap to be embraced from them then carry your Loadstone round about it and when you see the iron tremble and run toward the Loadstone touching it that is the very point of attraction and the beams of its vertue are sent round about from that point wherefore the farther from that point the iron is the more faintly and weakly will it move for the more forcible vertue nests in the Centre as in its Throne CHAP. XXIII That the same Loadstone that draws doth on the contrary point drive off the iron THat no man might be deceived thinking the Loadstone that draws iron to be different from that stone that drives it off I tell him of it beforehand and I shall by experiments dissipate this cloud Pliny saith the Loadstone that draws iron to it is not the same with that which drives iron from it And again In the same Ethiopia there is a mountain that produceth the stone Theamedes that drives off iron and rejecteth it Pliny not knowing this erred exceedingly thinking that they were two stones that had these contrary operations whereas it is but one and the same stone that by sympathy and similitude draws the willing iron to it but with the opposite part by antipathy of Natures it drives it off And you
to them they supposing it is a Deer indeed will entertain him and draw neer to him and will not flie away and embrace him as much as one would do a Friend come from a long journey but by this great friendliness they get nothing but nets and snares Catching of Bustards Bustards of all Birds are thought to be most in love with Horses and it appears because they cannot endure other living creatures but when they see a Horse they will presently flie to him with great joy and come neer to him If a man put on a horse skin he may catch as many as he please for they will come neer for love of the horse So almost are The Polypi or Pourcontrels taken The Polypi take delight in the Olive tree and they are oft-times found fastned with their claws about the body of it sometimes also they are found clapping about the Fig-tree that grows neer the Sea and eating the Figs saith Clearchus Wherefore Fishers let down an Olive-bough into the Sea where the Polypi use to be In short space without any labour they draw up as many Polypi as they will Opian handsomely describes it thus The Polypus doth love the Olive tree And by the speckled leaves t is wonder he Is catch'd Again He is enraged for the Olive-bough The wary Fisher doth by this know how To catch this Fish for he doth binde about A piece of Lead an Olive-branch throughout The Fish lays hold and will not let it go He loves it and it proves his overthrow CHAP. IV. What noises will allure Birds NOt onely love but noises and Musick will draw them and each creature delights in some special noise First The Dolphin loves the Harp And with this Musick is he most delighted as also with the sound of the Organs Hence Herodotus first and others from him report that Arion was carried to Tenarus on a Dolphins back for when the men of Corinth cast him into the Sea he begged that he might have his Harp with him and might sing one song as he was thrown in But a Dolphin took him and brought him to Tenarus Opian A Wolf is charmed by a Minstrel or Flute A Minstrel at Pythiocara when he sang and played very pleasantly he made the Wolves tame Aelian Horses delight in the Musick of the Flute The Horses of Lybia are so taken with the noise of the Flute that they will grow tractable for mans use thereby and not be obstinate Shepherds make a Shepherds Pipe of Rhododaphne and by piping on this they will so delight Horses that they will run after them and when the Shepherds play on the Horses will â—â—and still and weep for joy Euripides saith that Shepherds provoke Mares to take Horse by playing on a Pipe and the Horses are so provoked to back the Mares Stags and Bores are taken with a Pipe It is a common saying among the Tyrtheni that Bores and Stags are taken most with them by Musick which so comes to pass Nets being pitchâ—d and all things made ready for to ensnare them a man that can play well on the Flute goes through dales and hills and woods and plays as he goes neer their haunts they listen exceedingly after it and are easily taken by it for they are so ravished that they forget where they are And thus by delight they fall into the snare and are taken Aelian The Pastinaca is taken by dancing and Musick When the Fisherman sees the Pastinaca or Ray swimming he leaps ridiculously in his Boat and begins to play on the Pipe the Pastinaca is much taken with it and so comes to the top of the water and another lays hold of him with his Engine Grampels by Musick are enticed on land Fishermen catch Grampels by Musick some lie hid others begin to play with the Pipe when the Grampels hear the Musick they presently come forth of their holes as if they had been charmed and they are so ravished that they will come out of the waters These go back and play on the Pipe the others run and catch them on dry Land CHAP. V. Fishes are allured by light in the night AMongst the many Arts to deceive Animals Light is one for at night when some Fish rest Fishermen carrying Light in their Boats draw these Fish to them and so strike them with a three-forked Spear or catch them alive Which Opian knew Either at noon or when the Sun doth set Are Fishes caught or else in the dark night By burning torches taken in the Net For whilst they take such pleasure in the Light The Fisherman doth strike them with his dart Or else doth catch them then by some such Art Many men have been much troubled how to make a Fire or Light under Water that Fishes seeing it afar off might swim to it I have done it thus I made a Pillar of Brass or Lead three or four foot diameter it was sharp or pyramidal below that it might sink the better into the deep and it was bound about with iron hoops that being sunk by its weight it might be drawn under the water I set on the top a Pipe that was fifteen or twenty foot long and one foot broad The middle of this Pillar had many open windows five or six and these were Glass-windows well polished and fitted to them and the joynts were well glued wiht Pitch that no water could come in I sunk the Pillar by its weight in a place fit for it but the mouth of the Pipe stood at least two foot above water then I let down a lighted Candle into the belly of the Pillar by the Pipe with a cord and it was so provided that what motion soever it had it should always stand upright The Light passed through the windows into the waters and by reflection made a Light that might be seen under water very far to this Light abundance of Fish came and I catched them with Nets CHAP. VI. That by Looking-Glasses many Creatures are brought together IF Females be wanting Looking-Glasses may serve to make reflexion of themselves so these Creatures deluded by their own pictures are drawn thither Also Liquors may serve in stead of Glasses The Cuttle is taken with a Glass Glasses put into wood are let down by a cord by the Fishermen into the waters and as they flote they are drawn by degrees the Cuttle seeing himself in it casts himself at his own image and laying fast hold of the wood with his claws whilst he looks upon his own picture as enamored by it he is circumvented by the Net and taken A Jackdaw is taken with a Looking-Glass Jackdaws love themselves the Fowler following to take them invents such wayes for where he sees they flock there he sets a Bason full of Oyl the curious Bird coming thither sits on the brim of the Vessel looking down to see her own Picture and because she thinks that she sees another Jackdaw she hastens to flee down and so falls into the
purer Elements and is called the Earth a thick and grosse substance very solid and by no means to be pierced through so that there is no solid and firm body but hath earth in it as also there is no vacant space but hath air in it This Element of earth is situate in the middle and centre of all and is round beset with all the rest and this only stands still and unmoveable whereas all the rest are carried with a circular motion round about it But Hippon and Critias held that the vapours of the Elements were the first beginnings Parmenides held that their qualities were the principles for all things saith he consist of cold and heat The Physitians hold that all things consist of four qualities hear cold moisture drouth and of their predominancy when they meet together for every Element doth embrace as it were with certain armes his neighbour-Element which is next situate to him and yet they have also contrary and sundry qualities whereby they differ for the wisdom of nature hath framed this workmanship of the world by due and set measure and by a wonderful fitnesse and conveniency of one thing with another for whereas every Element had two qualities wherein it agreed with some and disagreed with other Elements nature hath bestowed such a double quality upon every one as finds in other two her like which she cleaves unto as for example the air and the fire this is hot and dry that is hot and moist now dry and moist are contraries and thereby fire and air disagree but because either of them is hot thereby they are reconciled So the Earth is cold and dry and the water cold and moist so that they disagree in that the one is moist the other dry but yet are reconciled in as much as they are both cold otherwise they could hardly agree Thus the fire by little and little is changed into air because either of them is hot the air into the water because either of them is moist the water into the earth because either of them is cold and the earth into fire because either of them is dry and so they succeed each other after a most provident order From thence also they are turned back again into themselves the order being inverted and so they are made mutually of one another for the change is easie in those that agree in any one common quality as fire and air be easily changed into each other by reason of heat but where either of the qualities are opposite in both as in fire and water there this change is not so easie So then heat cold moisture and drouth are the first and principal qualities in as much as they proceed immediately from the Elements and produce certain secondary effects Now two of them namely heat and cold are active qualities fitter to be doing themselves then to suffer of others the other two namely moisture and drouth are passive not because they are altogether idle but because they follow and are preserved by the other There are certain secondary qualities which attend as it were upon the first and these are said to work in a second sort as to soften to ripen to resolve to make lesse or thinner as when heat works into any mixt body it brings out that which is unpure and so whilst it strives to make it fit for his purpose that it may be more simple the body becometh thereby smaller and thinner so cold doth preserve binde and congeal drouth doth thicken or harden and makes uneven for when there is great store of moisture in the utter parts that which the drouth is not able to consume it hardens and so the utter parts become rugged for that part where the moisture is gone sinking down and the other where it is hardened rising up there must needs be great roughnesse and ruggednesse so moisture doth augment corrupt and for the most part works one thing by it self and another by some accident as by ripening binding expelling and such like it brings forth milk urine monethly flowers and sweat which the Physitians call the third qualities that do so wait upon the second as the second upon the first and sometime they have their operations in some certain parts as to strengthen the head to succour the reins and these some call fourth qualities So then these are the foundations as they call them of all mixt bodies and of all wonderful operations and whatsoever experiments they proved the causes hereof rested as they supposed and were to be found in the Elements and their qualities But Empedocles Agrigentinus not thinking that the Elements were sufficient for this purpose added unto them moreover concord and discord as the causes of generation and corruption There be four principal seeds or beginnings of all things Jupiter that is to say fire Pluto that is to say earth Juno that is to say air and Nestis that is to say water all these sometimes love and concord knits together in one and sometimes discord doth sunder them and make them flie apart This concord and discord said he are found in the Elements by reason of their sundry qualities wherein they agree and disagree yea even in heaven it self as Jupiter and Venus love all Planets save Mars and Saturn Venus agrees with Mars whereas no Planet else agrees with him There is also another disagreement amongst them which ariseth from the oppositions and elevations of their houses for even the twelve signs are both at concord and at discord among themselves as Manilius the Poet hath shewed CHAP. V. That divers operations of Nature proceed from the essential forms of things ALl the Peripatericks and most of the latter Philosophers could not see how all operations should proceed from those causes which the Antients have set down for they find that many things work quite contrary to their qualities and therefore they have imagined that there is some other matter in it and that it is the power and properties of essential formes But now that all things may be made more plain we must consider that it will be a great help unto us for the making and finding out of strange things to know what that is from whence the vertues of any thing do proceed that so we may be able to discern and distinguish one thing from another without confounding all order of truth Whereas one and the same compound yeelds many effects of different kinds as we shall find in the processe of this Book yet every man confesseth that there is but one only original cause therein that produceth all these effects And seeing we are about to open plainly this original cause we must begin a little higher Every natural substance I mean a compound body is composed of matter and form as of her principles neither yet do I exclude the principal qualities of the Elements from doing their part herein for they also concur and make up the number of three principles for when
this their counterfeit practise hath been derected by this chance that the hair of a horses skin being galled off in any place after a while hoary hairs have grown up there of themselves and it is not unlikely but that this chance taught them that practise The manner of the doing it is first to shave off the hair in that place where you would have a white spot and then rub off or cut the upper skin and so you shall there have a white patch But Oppianus speaking of the same experiment shews that it is to be done by fire There be some Horses saith he that are full of white round spots intermingled with their black colour it cometh by the industry of the Horse-breeder who when they are yet tender and young cunningly burns off their hair with an hot iron But on the contrary if you would have The hairs of a wounded or galled place to grow up of the same colour as the other hair is of Tiberius hath taught the way how to do it You must knead three pints of bruised or ground barley and put to it the froth of nitre and a little salt and make it into loaves then you must put them into an Oven till they are burned to coals afterward crush them and beat them to powder and then mix them with oyle and anoint the sore or the scar therewith and this you must do for twenty daies But what should be the reason that this barley ashes should cause not white hairs but the like in colour to the rest to grow upon the scars or sores of horses whereupon it is cast that Alexander Aphrodisaeus ascribes to this because barley hath in it a purgative and cleansing force and so wasteth and expelleth the humors and all the naughty stuff that was gathered by the sore into that part because it was maimed and consequently not so well able to relieve it self Neither yet will I here omit that toyish experiment whereby we may Procure in Oxen a counterfeit shew of fatnesse If you take an Oxe well grown in years and make a hole into his thigh and blow wind thereby into him and afterward give him meat he will shew fat though indeed he be very lean We may also by giving them some kind of water to drink Cause the fleeces and hides of cattel to be of divers colours as Aelianus sheweth The River Crathis affords one channel that makes beasts white for Oxen and Sheep and all four-footed beasts as Theophrastus saith as soon as they drink of it become white though before they were red or black In Euboea all for the most part are white Oxen by nature Sheep by reason of the diversity of mater which they drink do diversly change their colour the force and nature of the Rivers working this change in them especially at every ramming time Some are turned from black to white and contrariwise some are turned from white to black these alterations are commonly seen neer to the River Antandrus and neer also to a certain River in Thracia The River Scamander which is neer unto Troy makes as many Sheep as drink of the water thereof to become yellow We may also conjecture and foresee by certain outward bodily signs in the Dam or Sire What colour their young ones will be of To foreknow the colour of young Mules we must take special example of the hairs of their Dams ears and eye-lids for howsoever the rest of their body is of one and the same colour yet in those two parts we may discern so many and such colours as the foal shall have as Columella writeth So if you look under the Rams tongue you shall there find certain veins which if they be black then will the Lambs be black also but if they be white then he hath begotten white Lambs for look what colour these veins are of with the same colour will the fleece of the Lambe be overspread insomuch that if there be sundry colours in them there will be also sundry like colours upon the Lambes as Aristotle Democritus and Didymus do witnesse Now how we may Know by the egge whether the chick when it is hatcht will be a Cock or a Hen Aristotle teacheth us for saith he if the egge be exactly round then it will yield a Cock-chicken but if it be somewhat long then it yields an Hen-bird the reason is because in things that are round the natural heat is more kindly and strongly compacted together How to make a bird sociable and familiar with thee Now we will speak of the sociablenesse and familiarity which a certain Pie had with a friend of mine who by this pretty device did make the Pie so well acquainted with him and so serviceable to him that she would flie unto him not only for the supplying of her daily wants but as it were for love never forsaking him night or day The device was this While she was yet unfeathered in the nest he broke off her lower beak even to her very jaws that the poor wretch could not eat any meat but that which was put into her mouth with hands and he himself gave her with his own hands all the meat she did eat After that she would flie to his trencher at dinner and supper and would prate and chat unto him very flippant insomuch that nothing could be spoken in the house but she would imitate it and speak it again and not only frame her tongue to their words but her body also to the imitating and resembling of their actions And he was wont still to leave her loose at home and she would flie about everywhere but still at dinner and supper times she would return home It fell out that the man had occasion to go from home fifteen or sixteen days journey she would alwayes bear him company now and then flying a great way before him and would sit still upon a bough till he came at her and then she would leap upon his cap and his shoulders frisking about him for very joy and sometimes staying behind him and then when he was gone a great way before she would in all haste flie away after to overtake him and she was also his continual bed-fellow and yet to this day he hath her and enjoyeth her familiar company But concerning the general transmutation and change of living creatures let these things be sufficient which we have already spoken THE THIRD BOOK OF Natural Magick Which delivereth certain precepts of Husbandry and sheweth how to intermingle sundry kinds of Plants and how to produce new kinds The PROEME WE have rehearsed concerning divers kinds of new living Creatures now shall I speak of Plants which ravish with admiration the eyes and minds of those that contemplate on them with their abundant pleasantnesse and wonderful Elegancy These bring more profit and by these a natural Philosopher may seem more admirable For use made with the earth is more honest and honourable then with other things and the
allured with the Lungs of a Bull rosted hung upon a line with a hook cast into the sea the Sturgeon presently smels it and being greedy of it presently swallows it down and is caught with the hook Oxen draw him to the shore Aelian A bait for a Sargus The Sargus loves Goats exceedingly as we shall shew and hunts after the smell of them Wherefore the Fisher-man wets his paste in Goats blood and casts it into that part of the sea where they haunt and they are drawn thither by the sent of it as by a charm and are catched with the hook Moreover if men fasten to the hook the bait that is made of a Moâ—se-fish salted and move this gently in the sea the Sargi will come to it exceedingly and gather about the hook for the love of it and are easily caught by their greediness after the meat A bait for Thymalus Ticiâ—us a River in Italy produceth a fish called Thymalus that is not taken with the dainty baits that other fish are but onely with the Gnat an enemy to man and she delights in no other bait The bait for an Aulopius Coracini blackfish whose heads shine like Gold allure the Aulopii when they observe some such dainty food and they come to it rejoycing A Bait for Summer-whitings The Bait is made of the Purple fish for this is bound fast to the line and this makes them swim to the Bait because they love it and when any one of them by greediness lays hold of the Bait the rest will run after and catch hold of the hooks that for number you shall hardly draw them to you so many will be hanged together by several hooks Bait for an Eel Eels lie in their holes and the mouthes of their holes being smeered in the ponds with some odoriferous thing they are called forth as other Fish are Aristotle Yet Pliny saith false that they are not allured but driven away by the sent of dead Eels Opianus wittily saith they are allured with garbage Would you know A Bait for Mullets Because the Julides are a Bait almost for all Fish or your groundlings or little Sea-squils therefore they are a part of all Baits Or take of the Liver of the Tâ—nny Fish four drachms Sea-squils eight drachms Sesamum-seed four drachms Beans ground eight drachms of raw Dog-fish two drachms pown all these and make them up with new Wine distilled into balls for good Baits This is A Bait for all Fish Tarentinus teacheth us this for all Fish Take of the strong Whale eight drachms yellow Butterflies Anniseed Cheese of Goats Milk of each four drachms of Opoponax two drachms Hogs blood four as much Galbanum pown them all and pour on sowre Wine make cakes and dry them in the Sun CHAP. II. How living Creatures are drawn on with the baits of love THere are two Tyrants that rule over brute Beasts meat and pleasure or love not smell nor sound nor fumes nor do other things allure their minds besides love that we may say of wilde Beasts as well as of man Want on love can do any thing with mortal Creatures If we will Take Cuttles with the bait of love To take Cuttles there needs neither wheels nor nets but you may catch them thuâ— with baits of love to trail the Female Cuttle and the Male seeing it never so far off swims presently after and fasteneth close about her and whilst they thus embrace the Fishers cunningly take them up To catch a Pollard or Cupito Aelian saith that in the Grecian Gulph the sharp-sighted Cupito is but I have seen them taken in the Adriatick Sea by the fury of love The Fisher bindes the Female either to a long fish-pole or to a long rope but she must be fair and fat for the Male cares not for one that is lean so is he drawn to the shore or he follows the net and you must observe how to lay hold of him for when the Female is drawn the Males swim after her being furiously in love the Fisherman casts in his net and takes them To catch a Scarus or Gilthead The Scarus of all Fish is the most lascivious his unsatiable desire of the Female is the cause that he is taken cunning Fishermen that know this lay snares for him thus They catch the Female and tie the top of her mouth to a rope and they draw her alive through the Sea in such places as they haunt the Males are mad with lust when they see her and strive to come at her and use all such means as lovers do but when they come neer the net the Fisher draws in the Female and the Males swimming in after her are catcht Opianns To catch Elephants There is a Pit made to catch Elephants and four Females are put in to allure the Males the Males come and enter into the Pit but those that lie in wait pull away the Bridge and so they have the Elephants fast Aelian To catch a Nightingale The Female Nightingale is shut in a Cage the Fowler counterfeits their note the Males come when they hear it and seeing the Female the Male flies about till he fall into the net CHAP. III. Also other Animals are called together by things they like ALso some Animals by Sympathy are drawn by the love of some things or of some other Creatures which he that lays snares observing useth such meats for them that whilst they follow what they love they may fall into the snares If you would know how To catch a Sargus It is a mad way to catch them The Sargi love Goats unmeasurably and they are so mad after them that when so much as the shadow of a Goat that feeds neer the shore shall appear neer unto them they presently leap for joy and swim to it in haste and they imitate the Goats though they are not fit to leap and thus they delight to come unto them They are therefore catch'd by those things they so much desire Where upon the Fisher putting on a Goats skin with the horns lies in wait for them having the Sun behinde his back and paste made wet with the decoction of Goats flesh this he casts into the Sea where the Sargi use to come and they as if they were charmed run to it and are much delighted with the sight of the Goats skin and feed on the paste Thus the Fisherman catcheth abundance of them Aelian Opian doth elegantly describe it thus The Sargi doth run mad for love of Gâ—â—ts And a little after The cunning Fisher hid in a Goats skin Makes two Goats horns unto his temples fast His bait mix'd with Goats blood â—e doth within The Sea let loose The Sargus comes in haste For of the bait he deerly loves the smell And the Goats skin doth tole him on as well How to catch Partridge Partridge love Deer exceedingly and are cosened by their skin Thus If a man put on a Deer's skin and the horns upon his head and come closely