every thing had a sufficient perfection given to it and is content with it thence we see his goodnesse They are all from God and they tend unto God thence is glory Article 2. Of the Parts of the World and the disposing of them WEe need not be over-curious for the matter of it It contains the Heaven with the Stars the Elements Meteors in the Ayr Fishes in the Waters Minerals in the secrets of the Earth Plants Animals and Man are in the upper surface They are all materiall and corporeal things which wise men include in it and they are all realities Heaven is thought to be uncompounded the Elements serve for composition Meteors are imperfectly mixt Minerals perfectly but without life Plants with life but without sense Beasts with life and sense but without reason Man with life sense and reason is the compendium of all a little world in the great world The perfection is as great as the matter could bear the Workmaster could give more but the Matter was not capable of it Scalig. Exerc. 243. s. 3. The goodnesse is confirmed by the decree of God Gen. 1. vers ult He saw and behold all things were good The manner of ordering them in this great Engine Zeno in Laertius amongst the Philosophers hath declared That God at first whilest he was alone changed all essence by Ayr into Water and as in the birth the seed is contain'd so God who is the seminal cause of the World left such a seed in the moysture that should afford an easie and fit matter for this work for the generation of things afterwards Then he first produced the four Elements Fire Water Ayr Earth c. Trismegistus in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks true There was saith he infinite darknesse in the deep and the water and an intelligible spirit were by Divine vertue existing in the Chaos wherefore the holy light was taken away and the Elements were congealed and fastned beneath of a moyst substance and all these embraced and were in love with a seminall nature And when all things were undivided and not set in order they were parted and things that were leight chose the uppermost place heavy the lowest moyst the dry Land all of them being divided by the Fire and hanging in the Ayr and carried by it And the Heaven appeared in 7. circles and the gods appearing in the Aspects of the Stars with all their signs and the whole circumference was distinguished and with the gods that are in it was circumscribed with the circumambient Ayr and carried by a moving Divine spirit And every God by his own vertue produced what he was commanded and there were brought forth four-footed beasts creeping things Fishes Birds and every seminall plant and grasse and flowers and every herb contain'd in themselves seeds of regeneration and the Generations of men were for the knowledge of Divine things c. But Moses sets it down most truly Gen. Chap. 1. Heaven and Earth and Light the first day are The Firmament dividing Waters second were The third the waters parted Plants the Earth The fourth to Sun and Moon and Stars gives birth The fifth gives Fishes and all kind of Birds The sixth brought Cattell all made by Gods Words Then Man was made the seventh rest affords Danaeus in Phys. Christiana Artic. 3. Of Unity Figure and Soul of the World DEmocritus and Empedocles supposed that other worlds were made successively of some indivisible small seeds Hence Alexander complain'd that he had not yet conquered one Origines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said they were infinite successively that the Elementary world was made every 7 thousand years and the heavenly once in 4900 years For the Sabbath for the earth and the yeare of Jubilee was wont to return every 7th year and every 49 yeares Leo Hebraeus toucheth upon this opinion Dialog de Amore where he saith The inferior world by the opinion of the old divines is generated corrupted and renewd once in 7000 years But because we see nothing moved in it confusedly nor any thing set without it whither shall we go out of it Our desire is answered For in the end of our cogitations the same question alwaies returns Wherefore we say that there is but one world and the figure of it is plain like to a skin stretched forth very large saith Basilius But Plato held that it was like a Circumvex pointed with many Angles Sanchumates Berytius the most ancient writer of the affaires of Phoenicia said it was like to an Egge wherefore at the feasts of Bacchus they religiously adored an egg as the emblem of the world Some compare it to the greek letter Ω in which the outward lineament represents the Ocean Dalecham P. ad l. 2. Plin. hist. c. 3. But that it is made like a Globe not only the name and consent amongst men that call it so but every mans eyes can tell him for it is convex and one half look upon it which way we will Plato Of which living creatures he would have all other living creatures contain'd he framed that of such a forme that in that one all the rest might be contain'd The Stoâ—cks would have it to be a living creature endued with sense and reason Hence grew that description by its parts The Starr saith Plutarch of the face of the Moon are shining eyes in the face of the world they run their race the Sun is in place of the Heart as this affords blood and spirit so that sends forth heat and light the world useth the Earth and the Sea as a living creature doth its belly and bladder The Moon between the Sun and the Earth is as the Liver between the heart and belly or some soft bowel and attenuating its respirations by some concoction and purgation scatters them about Elegantly but not true For the world hath no known soul if we ascribe any thing to it all will be but a diffused force common to all and in proportion we may call it a soul. For what the soul is in bodies the same is force diffused in the universe Combach in Phys. cap. de Mundo Artic. 4. Of the Duration of the World past and to come THe duration of the World both past and to come is sought out by many but no certainty is proved The Aegyptians formerly boasted of 48000 years past in their History the Chaldaeans 470000 The East-Indies 700000. The Aegyptians are disproved by their disagreement one of them reported 20000 to Solon that asked him another 1300 to Herodotus The Chaldaeans alleage that in 48863 there have been only 832 luminaries But the doctrine of Astronomy shewes these to be trifles If this were not it might be yet Diodorus in Augustus his time searched for the greatest antiquity of the Aegyptians and found scarce 4000. Calisthenes Nephew to Aristotle by his sister found the Chaldaeans not to be 2000 Simplicius reports it Amongst our Chronologers the Christian Epoche is uncertain nor is there any beam so
heat the Sun the great light of the World is the Father of it which it sends upon all earthly creatures enlightning and enlivening them Hence men say that the Sun and Man beget a man namely by the intermediate seed Otherwise it proceeds of another fashion when without those mediums in things are bred of putrefaction as we said before For when the solar or elemental heat incloseth any mixt body wherein natural heat is included this is raised up by that is moved and stirred to perform its operations as appears in the hatching of eggs by artificiall heat of Furnaces or natural heat of the hens For in the yolks there is a hidden naturall heat that is stirred by the external heat so that by circulation of the Elements Water is turn'd to Ayr Ayr into Fire Fire into Earth Earth into Water and the Chickens limbs and entrals are formed and made by natural heat which is the principal internal Agent The Material cause in the generation of this Tree-Goose is that clammy matter of the wood of Firre or the Rosin and Pitchy substance of it upon which the outward Suns heat doth work and the internal heat increased in the corrupt matter This matter though it be small yet may well afford the first rudiments to this Embryo which is afterwards nourished by the clammy substance of the Ocean as Oysters and other shell-fish grow and increase for neither the hard substance of the wood nor yet the weeds affords any matter for it for the one is observed to be the container and the other the conveyer of the true matter For as in the generation of Man neither the Matrix nor the umbilical vein do afford any matter but are required as necessary instruments so must we judge here of the wood and the Sea-weeds Some will have it that from the worm bred in the rotten wood there should be made some transmutation and that the worm doth afford the first matter for this generation yet that opinion is false for that Worm cannot come â—orth to the end of the weeds nor can it make shell-fish but that must breed at the end of the weeds nor doth it come thither from any other place that it can go from place to place by an animall motion before it receive its essential form Pliny writes that the Fish Pinnotheâ— is so cunning that he will hide himself in the Oyster and as he growes he will go into such as are greater but to imagine any such thing of that Worm that eats into the wood is against the nature of it But it is no doubt but that the rosinous and pitchy matter may communicate something to the end of the weeds which yet nature must do by a way we cannot perceive as nature useth in all other generations such wayes and means that we can better think and judge of by reason than see with our eyes For who can see how the heart in the generation of living Creatures is first formed What fibres and veins nature useth there for her Instruments how and by what means this is done and when it is done how she disposeth of the other bowels and makes them of a seminall and menstruall matter There was never man yet found so quick-sighted that he could see these things whilest they were doing but when they are done reason can discern them So no man could yet say how this matter that was first radical moysture in the wood could passe to the ends of those Sea weeds and should be formed there yet it is plain afterwards that so it was made Nor will that be so hard for the matter to passe through the grasse to the end of them as to passe without any medium But the greater difficulty is and most worthy to know the Formal or seminall cause of this wonderfull birth which since it is nor contain'd in seeds for here are none to be found it must needs enter into the matter otherwise than in other kinds of generations For the seeds of both Sexes in living Creatures which are mixt together in copulation are as it were the sheaths and cases of the forming spermaticall faculty which forms the prae-existent matter of the seed or blood into an essentiall form fit for that kind that the seeds belong unto howsoever they are mingled or drawn forth into act That force of nature is a blessing given to her in the creation in the word increase which word was never idle nor shall be whilest the world endures God spake and all that God said were made very good containing in themselves principles to multiply their own kinds by because individualls must perish The Heaven with its Stars shall last from the beginning to the end and the entire Elements Ayr Water and Earth But things compounded of them as they â—y so they are restored again by multiplication of seed not the same in number but in kind not by external form but by that form which is internall and essential But since that God gave this Commission for propagation to the sublunary World and this alwaies proceeds by mediums though in the production of these Barnacles there are no visible seeds whereby the matter may receive its form wherefore it is consonant to Reason and to Nature that the form must come from some other place into the matter lest any thing should seem since the Creation to be made of nothing contrary to Gods will For nothing is the cause of it selfe or forms it self but only the eternal and infinite God All other things indeed were made by him of nothing but not by themselves nor are they propagated of nothing nor from themselves but from means appointed by Nature Plato sets universal Ideas of every species of things subject to generation fixed in a certain place from whence a formative force descends to beget and make all individualls to be made This opinion is pleasant but not true For there can be no universal substances save in the conceptions of Mens minds but only individuals that cannot give what they have not and what they do give they cannot alwaies hold themselves Nature is in all things as in individuals dispersed all over which yet operates in each individual according to the condition that every one of them requires which is true in all things that have seeds for those are the very subjects and vessells that nature works upon But the question now is how that faculty is imprinted on the seeds and from whence whether from nature If this be true then of every matter she makes what she will when as she can imprint what forme she please on any matter And then how can nature in this Barnacle that hath no seed visible presupposed proceed to generation and in other such like things bred of meer putrefaction As in man there is an imagination and cogitative force which is performed by a subtile Artifice of Images conceived in the braiâ— arising first from the outward senses and so proceeding to the
illustrious Princes and Lords when as the manner is I sought for a Patron I thought this work did of duty belong unto your Name For If it be considered the examples of Solomon Alexander Mithridates Diocletian Francis the first King of France and others will teach you that the knowledge of natural Philosophy belongs also to Princes and to great men If you I confesse the hope of Poland now and in time may be the Starrs of that Country that with the beams of their light will vouchsafe to illuminate the Church the Common-wealth and schooles of learning If I I have drawn these things forth chiefly for the good of my Nation and I study other things if God please to lend me space to perfect my intentions Yet I deny not but it may be I owe more to you already than I can pay For most Illustriuos Prince Janusius you were pleased at Lipsia to invite me to your Table and to discourse with me And the most illustrious Lord Alexander Przybkowic Przybkowsky your high treasurer thought me worthy to have the offer of a place in your illustrious family if occasion were Most illustrious Lord how great your Noblenesse was to me my conversation at Lesna with the most learned Lord Michael Henry a most excellent Chymist and your hof-master and with the reverend Mr. David Ursin a man of singular fidelity and prudence who sojourns with you may sufficiently witnesse Also most Illustrious Lord Boguslaus your letters are sufficient testimonies whereby you often spake to me when I lived in Holland and the good words you spake of me being absent most lovingly when you departed from Lesna Wherefore most illustrious Lords whatsoever this small work is I lay it down at your feet and you I hope will receive a small gift of a thankfull mind with that Heroick humanity that is bred in you and think that I owe you much more but I cannot give you more than I do God grant that the Majesty of Arts buried in our minds may be recall'd and brought to life again by your promoting voyce and be restored to its former luster As for me if I find that you accept of these things and that they are usefull for our students I shall indeavour to handle these things more accurately and to frame a compleat Circle of Arts and Sciences in a small history that young students may have the fruit of it and may more happily be promoted in the course of their studies I wish it In the mean while that you most Illustrious Lords may live long for the glory of God and good of your Country Given at London May 15 old style Anno 1631. Your most Illustrious Highnesse and Greatnesse most bounden Servant John Jonston The Contents of all the Chapters and Articles contained in this Book The Contents of the First Classis Chapter 1. OF the World Page 1 Artic. 1. Of the Creation of the World Page 1 Artic. 2. Of the parts of the world and disposing of them Page 3 Artic. 3. Of unity figure and soul of the World Page 4 Artic. 4. Of the Duration of the World past and to come Page 5 Artic. 5. Of the hidden qualities of natural bodies Page 6 Artic. 6. Of Gods Providence in the World Page 7 Chap. 2. Of Heaven Page 8 Chap. 3. Of the Stars Page 8 Article 1. Of the Force and Nutriment of the Stars Page 8 Artic. 2. Of the Light of the fixt Stars their magnitude and motion Page 10 Chap. 4. Of the Five lesser Planets Page 17 Chap. 5. Of the Sun Page 18 Artic. 1. Of the Magnitude and Unity of the Sun Page 18 Artic. 2. Of the Suns light and Eclipse Page 19 Artic 3. Of the Suns Motion Page 20 Artic. 4. Of the Inequality of Days and Nights Page 21 Artic. 5. Of the Four Parts of the Year Page 22 Artic. 6. Of the Sun's shadow Page 23 Art 7. Of the Suns Influence on Inferiour things Page 24 Chap. 6. Of the Moon Page 24 Artic. 1. Of the Figures and light of the Moon Page 24 Artic. 2. Of the Spots and Eclipse of the Moon Page 25 Artic. 3. Of the Moon 's Influence on these sublunary things Page 26 Chap. 7. Of New Stars Page 27 Chap. 8. Of Astrologicall Praedictions Page 29 The Contents of the Second Classis Chap. 1. Of Fire Page 33 Artic. 1. Of the Wonderful begining of Fires Page 33 Artic. 2. Of Fires in the Waters Page 34 Artic. 3. Of Fires under the Earth Page 35 Artic. 4· Of the beginning or subterraneall Fire Page 36 Artic. 5. Of the Miracles of Fires in duration burning and quenching Page 37 Chap. 2. Of the Ayr. Page 39 Artic. 1. Of the three Regions of the Ayr. Page 39 Artic. 2. Of the Infection of the Ayr Page 40 Artic. 3. Of the Putrefaction of the Ayr. Page 41 Artic. 4. Of Attraction cooling and penetrating of the Ayr. Page 42 Chap. 3. Of the Water Page 43 Artic. 1. Of the quantity and colour of Waters Page 43 Artic. 2. Of the Taste of the Water Page 43 Artic. 3. Of the Smell of the Water the first and second qualities Page 44 Artic. 4. Of the Diverse running of the Water Page 44 Artic. 5. Of the change of quantity and of qualities in Waters Page 45 Artic. 6. Of some other things admirable in Waters Page 46 Artic. 7. Of some Floods or Waters and of the Universall Deluge Page 48 Chap. 4. Of the Originall of Fountains Page 50 Chap. 5. Of Minerall Baths Page 53 Chap. 6. Of the Sea Page 55 Artic. 2. Of Navigation in the Sea Page 55 Artic. 3. Of the depth freesing and colours of the Sea Page 57 Artic. 4. Of the Salt of the Sea Page 58 Artic. 5. Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea Page 59 Chap. 7. Of the Earth Page 64 Artic. 1. Of the New World Page 64 Artic. 2. Of the Miracles of some Countries Page 66 Chap. 8. Of Islands Page 67 Artic. 1. Of the Originall and destruction of Islands Page 67 Artic. 2. Of the Miracles of some Islands Page 68 Chap. 9. Of Mountains Page 69 Artic. 1. Of the Qualities and Quantities of Mountains Page 69 Artic. 2. Of Aetna and Hecla Mountains Page 70 The Contents of the Third Classis Chapter OF Subterraneall Exhalations Page 73 Chap. 2. Of Comets Page 74 Artic. 1. Of the Nature and quantity of Comets Page 74 Artic. 2. What Comets are a sign Page 75 Chap. 3. Of an Ignis Fatuus Helena Castor and Pollux Page 76 Chap. 4. Of an Ignis Lambens Page 76 Chap. 5. Of Lightning Thunder and Thunder-bolts Page 78 Chap. 6. Of Winds Page 80 Artic. 1. Of the Originall of Winds Page 80 Artic. 2. Of the kinds and effects of winds Page 81 Chap. 7. Of Earth-quakes Page 82 Artic. 1. Of the Cause of Earth-quakes Page 82 Artic. 2. Of the place time and effects of Earth-quakes Page 83 Chap. 8. Of Rain Page 85 Chap. 9 Of Snow and Hail Page 86 Chap. 10.
that fresh ayr may come if Snow and water be set about the bed if the walls be compassed about with Willow leaves or with linnen cloaths dipt in vinegar and Rose-water if the floor be sprinkled and fountains made to run in the chamber if beds saith Avicenna be made over a pit of water If beds be made of Camels hair or of linnen laying the skin under them If the Bed be strewed with herbs and lastly if fragrant fruits be placed near the bed Heurn lib 2. Medic. c. 18. CHAP. III. Of the Water Artic. 1. Of the quantity and colour of Waters SO much for Ayr Now followes the Element of Water And first we shall consider the quantity and the colour of it In the Country of the great Cham near the City Simqui there is the River Quian which is 10 miles broad and waters 200 Cities and it is so long that it cannot be sailed in 100 dayes Polus writes That he told in the Haven of it 50000 Ships Also in Moscovia the Duina is so great by the melting of the Snow that it cannot be passed over in a whole day with a well sayling Ship it is at least 50 miles broad Jovius a Lake of Genebar the Portingalâ—s call it January Thuan. histor l. 16. is so large under Capricorn that men write who have sailed thither That all the Ships in the World may well harbour there As for Colours they are different in many waters Danubius is white as milk and water which divides Noricum and Windelicia from Germany Agricol de Natur. effluent The Waters of the Mayn especially where it hath passed the Francks and is fallen into the Rheyn are yellowish The Fountain Telephus is muddy near Patâ—ra and mingled with blood In Ethiopia there are red Waters that make one mad that drinks them At Neusola in the Mountain Carpathâ—s waters runing out of an old passage under ground are green At Ilza that which comes forth of the Mountains of Bohemia and runs into Danubius is black Artic. 2. Of the Taste of Water THere is no lesse variety of Waters in their tastes Some are sweet some taste like wine you shall find every where salt Allom tasted sharp bitter waters every where The Waters of Eleus Chocops Rivers are sweet The Kings of Persia drank of them and transported them to far Countries The water of Cardia in a field called Albus is sweeter then warm milk Pausanias So is Vinosa near Paphlagonia whence so many strangers come thither to drink of it In the bosome of the Adriatick Sea where it turns to Aquileia there are 7. Fountains and all of them except one are salt Polyb. in Hist. At Malta there is one that the waters running above are very sweet but the lower waters are brackish Aristobul Cassand The small River Exampeus is so bitter that it taints the great River Hypanis in Pontus In the Lake Ascanium and some Fountains about Chalcis the upper waters are sweet and the lower taste of nitre Plin. in Hist. The Fountains are sowr about Culma and because the water though it be cold boyls they seem to be mad Agricol lib. cit In the same place there is a Mineral water which they call Furious because it boyls and roars like thunder In Cepusium at Smolâ—icium it not onely eats iron but turns it into brasse But the water about Tempe in Thessaly of the River Styx can be contained in no vessel of silver brasse iron but it eats through them nothing but a hoof can hold it Artic. 3. Of the Smell of Water and of the first and second qualities THe hot Baths that are distant from Rhegium the Town of Lepidus Aemilius 26 miles smell of so gallant Bitumen that they seem to be mingled with Camphir There was a Pit in Peloponnesus near the Temple of Diana whose water mingled with Bitumen smelt as pleasant as the unguent Cyzicenum In Hildesham there are two Fountains the one flowes out of Marble that smells like stinck of rotten Eggs and taste sweet but if any man drinks of it fasting he will belch and smell like the Marble pownded The other is from Brimstone and smells like Gun-Powder The water of this brook covers with mud the stones that lie in the channel of it scrape it off and dry it and it is Brimstone Agric. lib. cit Arethusa a Fountain of Sicily is said to smoke at a certain time At Visebad there is a Spring in the Road-way the water whereof is so hot that you may not onely boyl Eggs in it but scall'd chicken and hoggs for it will fetch off feathers or hair if you dip them in or pour it upon them Ptolomy Comment lib. 7. affirms That at Corinth there is a Fountain of water which is colder than Snow Near the Sea-Banks at Cuba there is a River so continual that you may sayl in it yet it is so hot that you cannot touch it with your hands Martyr Sum. Ind. Near the Province Tapala it runneth so hot that one cannot passe over it Ramus tom 3. At Segesta in Sicily Halbesus suddenly growes hot in the middle of the River Pontus is a River that lyes between the Country of the Medes and the Scythians wherein hot burning stones are rolled yet the water it self is cold These if you move them up and down will presently cool and being sprinkled with water they shine the more bright Lastly near the City Ethama there is a River that is hot but it is good to cleanse the Lepers and such as are ulcerated Leonius Also some waters swim above others Arsanias swims above Tigris that is near unto it so often as they both swell and overflow their banks Peneres receiveth the River Eurôta yet it admits it not but carrieth it a top of it like oyl for a short space and then forsakes it Plin. hist. Natural Artic. 4. Of the Diverse running of the Water IT is said of Pyramus a River of Cappadocia which ariseth from Fountains that break forth in the very plain ground that it presently hides it self in a deep Cave and runs many miles under ground and afterwards riseth a Navigable River with so great violence that if any man put a sphear into the hole of the Earth where it breaks forth again the force of it will cast out the sphear Strabo l. 12. Not far from Pompeiopolis in the Town Coricos in the bottom of a Den of wonderfull depth a mighty River riseth with incredible force and when it hath ran with a great violence a short way it sinks into the Earth again Mela. l. 1. c. 6. The Water Marsia after it hath run along tract from the utmost Mountains of the Peligni passing through Marsius and the Lake Fucinus it disemboggs into a Cave then it opens it self again in Tiburtina and is brought 9 miles with Arches built up into Rome Plin. l. 31. c 3. The Sabbaticall River was wont to be empty every seventh day and was dry but all the six dayes it was
full of water But that ceased when the sacrifice ceased Joseph l. 7. c. 24. There is a certain River Bocatius speaks of every ten years it makes a mighty noyse by the stones striking together and this is suddenly in a moment and the stones ran downwards for 3. dayes and 3 or 4 times a day though it be fair weather and after three dayes all is quiet Strabo writes of the Rivers of Hircania l. 11. There are in the Sea high shores that are prominent and are cut forth of Rocks but when the Rivers run out of the Rocks into the Sea with great violence they passe over a great space as the fall betwixt the Sea and the Rocks that Armies may march under the fall of the waters as under Arches and receive no hurt Trochlotes in North Norway makes such a noyse when it runs that it is heard 20 miles Olaus l. 2. c. 28. Beca in Livonia runs forth of the Rocks with such a fall that it makes men deaf Ortel in Livon Tâ—nais by a very long passage from Scythia falling into the Lake Meotis it makes it so long and broad that those that are ignorant of it take it for a great Mountain Boccatius In Solomon's Temple there ran a Spring great in Summer small in Winter Euseb. praeparat Evangel l. 9. c. 4. If you ask the cause it is taken from the Time All things are wet in Winter then are the Channels full and for want of evaporation the waters are kept in But in Summer all things are dry and the Suns heat penetrates Hence it is that they are congregated in their Fountains and run out by the Ayr inforcing them Maeander is so full of windings and turnings that it is often thought to run back again c. He that seeks more concerning Nilus and other Waters let him read Geographerrs Artic. 5. Of the change of quantity and of qualities in Waters THis great variety in Waters that I have set down is a token of the wisdome and power of God and it is no lesse wonder that the same waters should be so diversly changed It is certain that they are changed A Fountain in the Island Tenedos alwayes from 3. at night till 6. after the Summer Solstice overflowes There is another in â—odon that hath its Name from Jupiter it fails always at Noon-day And the River Po in Summer as if it took its rest growes dry saith Pliny In Italy Tophanus a Fountain of Anagnania is dry when the Lake Fucinus is frozen at other times of the year it runs with great quantity of water Agricol l. cit passim The Waters of the Lake of Babylon are red in Summer Boristhenes at some times of the year seems to be died with Verdigrease The water of the Fountain of the Tungri is boyling hot with fire subterraneal and is red The Waters of the River Caria by Neptunâ—s Temple were sweet and are now salt But in Thrace when Georgius Despota ruled a sweet Fountain grew to be bitter intolerably and whole rivers were changed at Citheron in Beotia as Theophrastus writes Men report that of the Mineral Waters which run by the Pangaeus a Mountain of Thrace an Athenian cotyle weighs in Summer 64 grains and in Winter 96. In the Province of Cyrene the Fountain of the Sun is hot at midnight afterwards it cooles by degrees and at Sun-rising it is cold and the higher the the Sun riseth the colder it is so that it is frozen at mid day then again by degrees it growes warm it is hot at Sun-set and the more the Sun proceeds the hotter it becomes The same Fountain every day as it growes cold at mid-day so it is sweet as it growes hot at midnight so it growes bitter Artic. 6. Of some other things admirable in Waters THey were wonders that are passed but greater follow In those it is easy to assign a cause mixture or some such like if you rightly consider it but here it is difficult for though you may in some yet commonly we must fly to hidden qualities I will briefly rehearse them Some drops of a Fountain of the Goths powred upon the Earth cease to move and are thickned by the ayr The waters of Cepusia in Pitchers turn into a Stone those of Rhaetid make people foolish they pull out the teeth in two years and dissolve the ligaments of the sinews which Pliny writes to be in Germany by the Sea-side Those of Islandia change things that are hollow into stones Tybur covers Wood with stone covers Zamenfes in Africa makes clear voyces Soractes when the Sun riseth runs over as though it boyled birds that then drink of it die He growes temperate who drinks of the Lake Clitorius and he forgets who drinks of a well nere the River Orchomenus sacred to the God Trophonius Philarch. He proves dull of wit that drinks of a Fountain in the Island Cea Agricola de reb 〈…〉 terra effluent gives a cause for it as for the former by reason of the bitumen For saith he the seeds of wild Parsnips wrapt in a linnen clout and put into Wine as also the powder of the flowers of Hermodactylus which the Turks use being drunk with it are the cause that it will make a man sooner and more drunk so some kind of Bitumen mixt with water is wont to make men drunk The horses drinking Sebaris are troubled with sneesing whatsoever is sprinkled with it is couloured black Clitumnus of Umbria drank of makes white Oxen and Cesiphus of Beotia white sheep but a River in Cappadocia makes the hair whiter softer and longer In Pontus Astaces waters the fields in which Mares are fed that feed the whole Countrey with black milk The waters in Gadaris make men bald and deprive Cattle of hair hooffs and horns Cicero writes that in the Marshes of Reate the hoofs of beasts are hardned The hot baths at the Fort of New-house colour the Silver Rings of such as wash in them with a Golden colour and make Gold Rings more beautifull Aniger that runs out of Lapithum a Mountain of Arcadia will nourish no fish in it till it receive Acidan and those that go then out of it into Aniger are not edible but they in Acidan are Pausanias Agrigentinum a Lake of Sicily will beare those things that do not swim in the waters In Aethiopia there is one so thin that it will not carry up leaves that fall from the next Trees In the lake Asphaltiâ—es a man bound hand and foot cannot sink The cause is held to be the great quantity of Salt Hieronymus Florentinus saw a Bankrupt bound and cast headlong from the Tower into it and it bore him up all the night Posidonius observed that bricks in Spain made of Earth with which their Silver plate is rub'd did swim in the waters Cleon and Goon were two Fountains in Phrygia either of their waters made men cry There were two in the fortunate Island they that tasted of one laught till they died
the other was the remedy for them Anauros of Thessaly and Boristhenes send out no vapour nor exhalation many refer the cause of it to its mixture others seek it other-where Agricola l. 2. de effl ex terr c. 17. saith In what part of the Rivers the Channels in the Fords have no veins and fibres by that they can breath forth no exhalations In the snows of Mount Caucasus hollow Clods freez and contain good water in a membrane there are Beasts there that drink this water which is very good and runs forth when the membranes are broken Strab. in Geograph Nilus makes women so fruitfull that they will have 4 and 6 at one venter Pliny in Histor. There is a Well of water that makes the inhabitants of the Alps to have swollen throats Lang. l. 5. Epist. 43. But in field Rupert neer to Argentina there is a water said to be that makes the drinkers of it troubled with Bronchocele they seem to be infected with quicksilver for this is an enemy to the brain and nervs for it not only sends back flegme to the glandulous parts of the head and neck but that which is heaped up in the head it throws down upon the parts under it Sebizius de acidul s. 1. dict 6. Corol. 1. thes 12. Diana a River of Sicily that runs to Camerina unlesse a chast woman draw its water it will not mingle with Wine Solinus C. 10. Styx in Arcadia drank of kills presently it penetrates and breaks all yet it may be contained in the horns of one kind of Asse Seneca l. 3. natur c. 25. Two Rivers runs into Niger a River in Africa one is reddish the other whitish Barrens Histor. dec 1. l. 3. c. 8. If any man drink of both he will be forced to Vomit both up but if any man drink but of one he shall Vomit leasurely but when they are both run into Niger and a man drink them mingled he shall have no desire to Vomit Narvia is a River of Lithuania so soon as Serpents tast of the water they give a hiss and get away Cromer descript Polon l. 1. A Fountain of Sardinia in the Mediterranean keeps the length and shortnesse of dayes and runs accordingly In the Island of Ferrum one of the Canaries there is no water the Ayr is fiery the ground dry and man and beast are sad for want of water But there is a Tree the kind is unknown the leaves are long narrow and allways green A Clowd allwaies surrounds it whereby the leaves are so moystned that most pure liquour runs continually from it which the inhabitants fetch setting vessells round the Tree to take it in Bertius in descript Canariar Sea-waters if they be lukewarm they portend tempests before two days be over and violent Winds Lemnius de occult l. 2. c. 49. In England nere New-Castle there is a lake called Myrtous part whereof is frozen in Summer Thuan. in Histor. But I have done with these Authours have more if any man desire it especially Claudius Vendilinus whom I name for honour sake if he seek for the wonders of Nilus Artic. 7. Of some Floods or Waters and of the Universall Deluge THe Floods were signs of Gods anger and so much the more as that was greater and mens sins more grievous The greatest was that we call the generall Deluge which began about the end of the year of the World 1656. All the bars of the Channels were broken and for 40 dayes a vaste quantity of water was poured down Also the Fountains of the great Deep were cut asunder so that the Waters increased continually for 150 dayes and passed above the highest Mountains 15 Cubits At length they abated by degrees for after 70 dayes the tops began to appear The Inhabitants of the New World say they had it from their Ancestours Those of Peru say that all those Lands lay under waters and that men were drowned except a few who got into woodden Vessels like Ships and having provision sufficient they continued there till the waters were gone Which they knew by their dogs which they sent forth of doors and when the dogs came in wet they knew they were put to swim but when they returned dry that the waters were gone August Carat But they of Mexico say that five Suns did then shine and that the first of them perished in the waters and men with it and whatsoever was in the earth These things they have described in Pictures and Characters from their Ancestors giving credit to Plato's Flood which was said to have hapned in the Island Atlantis Lupus Gomara But Lydiat ascribes the cause of that universal Deluge to a subterraneal fire in a hotter degree increasing the magnitude by rarefaction so long as it could not gâ—t out of its hollow places Genesis seems to demonstrate it For the Fountains of the great Deep are said to be broken open and that a wind was sent forth after 40 dayes and the waters were quieted We must understand a wind from a dry Exhalation which a subterraneous fire much increased had most abundantly raised out of the deep of the Sea which was then thrust forth of them and did increase the motion of the ayr that it laid hold of together with the revolution of the Heavens and the vehemency of the Firmament But there were other miraculous Deluges besides this CHAP. IV. Of the Originall of Fountains Sea by passages under the Earth The Sea alone is sufficient to supply all Springs and when we see that it no wayes increaseth by the Rivers that run into it it is apparent that they run to their Fountains by secret channels But the question is of the manner how they ascend Socrates ascribes it to the Tossing of them Pliny to the wind l. 21. c. 65. Bodin l. 2. Theatr. to the weight of the Earth driving forth the water Scaliger to the Bulk of the Sea others to vapours redoubled into themselves It is a hard matter to define all things nor is it our purpose But because Thom Lydiat an English Man hath written most acutely of this Subject we will set down his opinion here contracted into a few Propositions I. The Rolling of the Water is not the cause of its ascending to the superficies of the Earth For there is no cause for its tossing and wherefore then should it not at length stand levell II. To be driven with the wind is not the cause 1. For it seems not to be raised in the Sea by a fixed Law of Nature but by way of Tempest 2. The Channels are winding and should carry it rather to the sides than to the superficies 3. If a contrary wind cannot do so much in any water what then can the wind do here Also if there were any receptacles for the waters forced upwards Miners those that dig in mines would have found them out as Vallesius saith III. The weight of the Earth squeesing out the water is not the Cause For the Earth
her Therefore they were wont to make the Emperours Tents of Sea Calfs Skins And Suetonius writes that Augustus was so fearfull of Thunder and Lightning that he allwaies carried the same with him Severus the Emperour had a litter made of the same matter for the same purpose yet Vicomercatus ad 3. Meteoror c. 10. relates that the Bay Tree is somtimes stricken from Heaven and Conimbricense thinks this freedome it hath to be but imaginary but only by an instinct of nature they foreshew Thunder I need not speak much of the Thunder-bolt kept in houses of hearb and Candles at the mâ—re solemn feasts purged with holy water and of the ringing of Bells who sees not but that these things are superstitious Some of them say Remig. l. 1. daemonol c. 26 that ringing of Bells is uneffectuall and uselesse if any one of them when it is purged beare the name of the Priests Concubine For if that sound do rarify the Ayre which yet spoken absolutely is false for it neither dissipates the Clouds that are neerer to us nor doth it fly right upwards but in many places it comes forth obliquely by the Windows nor doth it come to the Cloud it were better that only the great Guns should be shot off and only the greatest Bells Rung Constant observation shews that Dogs Cats and Goats are most obnoxious to be Thunder struck Hence it is that if a Dog be by a man in an open field he will be frighted and lye between his feet Cl. Bortholinus casts the cause of it upon the Vapours breathing forth of these Creatures bodys which as a known matter and nutriment the Vapours for thunder follow especially if these Creatures be abroad that they may be freely carried into the open Ayre Hence it is that Cats are often stricken in the entry and who knows not that the Dogs and Goats smell strong And Cats send out such Plenty of Vapours by their pores that some men have fainted at their being present and the more noble Horses if they be hid in the Coach will sweat extreamly as experience teacheth Thunder seldom hapneth in the Winter For but very few or allmost no hot exhalations are lifted up yet Curtius l. 8. de Alex mentioneth that in the time of Alexander There was saith he allmost a continuall Thunder and the Thunder bolts seemed to fall in divers places then suddenly a shore of hayle was poured forth like a Torrent and force of cold froze this showre into Ice Olaâ—s l. â— c. 6. thinke that they are more vehement in Northern Climates for they kill Men and in the Kingdom of Mongall in Tartary they fall mingled with Snow In Brasile Thunder bolts fall but seldome but such lightnings that they seem lighter than the Sun Joseph Ac. sta Anno 1560. In the time of Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher we read that the Enemy was stricken with Thunder at the prayers of the Christian Souldiers whence the Christian Legion was called the Thundring Legion presently saith the Emperour of them in Epist. as they lay upon their Faces and prayed to a God I know not a cold shower fell upon us but upon our Enemies hail mingled with thunder that we found immediately that the hand of the mighty God assisted us CHAP. VI. Of the Winds Artic. 1. Of the Originall of Winds ARistot 2. Meteor c. 4. saith That the Sun is the cause of the winds by drawing up the moysture that is upon the surface of the Earth and by heating doth dry the Earth it self Lydiat likes not this opinion For the Earth moystned being dryed affords but little matter for winds For the Earth drinks in no more rain than may quench its thirst and which it may change into a dry nature from whence comes no Exhalation of the same allowance much goes to rain which is no small part of it What then shall be left for the vast winds wherefore inward heat is pleaded for And truly in Winter the Earth sends forth a smoky exhalation In the Southern parts Winds arise from Snow A breath riseth from Lakes and standing Pools and storms from the Sea though it be calm whence is this but that the Earth breathes out vapours which break forth through the depth of waters The Chymical Instrument will shew this which they use for bellowes Sennert l. 4. Epitom c. 3. A Globe is made of Copper that it may be fill'd with water and then shut a pipe with a small hole is made of one side the Glob fill'd with water is set to the fire and the pipe for bellowes is set to another As the Globe growes hot and the water rarifies the Ayr continually breathes forth and serves for bellows till all the water be consumed Winds are then bred when heat burns the moyst Earth The Sun by drying openeth the pores and the Ayr helps by its motion If it rise from the Sea the Sea at firsâ— calm making a muttring noise signifies that an exhalation that is matter for wind is already then bred in the bowels of it some fishes sport some fasten themselves to rocks then the Sea swelling a little shewes that the exhalation newly bred seeks a passage forth then when it fails it shews it is come to the superficies but in small quantity then the blasts breaking forth with all their force lift up the waves before them and cause Winds and Tempests Artic. 2. Of the Kinds and Effects of Winds THere are many kinds of Winds which were chiefly found out by Navigation and the operations of them according to the difference of their blasts and properties The North-East wind drawes clowds to it Circeius a Southern wind hinders that the North wind be not mingled with the smell of plants and the force of it is so great that it will overthrow an armed man and lift ships up from the water into the Ayr and carry away Windmills with the stones house and men to some other place Pliny l. 2. c. 47. Gel. l. 2. c. 22. Olaus l. 1. c. 4. and 2. c. 3. There is a whirlwind that causeth such Tempests to those that sail out of the Country of China to Jupan that it is a miracle to escape shipwrack In the Country of St. Vincent it roots up Woods in Hispaniola it will take up men and carry them a furlong If they arise in the Island of Ormuth they kill those they meet with heat and they part the flesh of those that are killed from the bones as boyling water doth To avoid the danger they hide themselves in the water up to the head Ovetan l. 6. Polus l. 1. c. 5. Women are wonderfully prone to lust when their privities are obvious to the South wind but the North wind is said to be fit for generation whence it is that some believe it will raise men dying with its blast Rhodigin l. 54. c. 4. l. 15. c. 23. In Lesbos at Mytilene when the South wind blowes men are sick they cough when the
nourished is very great at the place he comes forth of his shell This is very brittle milk white shining polished altogether representing the form of a round ship for it swims on the top of the Sea arising from the bottom and the shell comes the bottom upwards that it may ascend the better and sail with an empty Boat and when she is come above the water then she turns her shell Moreover there is a membrane that lyes between the fore-legs of the Boat-fish as there is between the toes of water-fowl but this is more thin like a cobweb but strong and by that she sails when the wind blowes the many tufts she hath on both sides she useth for rudders and when she is afraid then she presently sinks her shell full of Sea water Farther she hath a Parrots bill and she goes with her tufts as the Polypus doth and after the same manner she conceives in hollow partitions CHAP. XVIII Of Oysters and Muscles THough Oysters love sweet waters yet Pliny reports that they are found in stony places but Aristotle saith that though they live in water and cannot live without it yet they take in no moysture nor Ayre When in the time of the Warr with Mithridates the earth parted at Apumaea a City of Phrygia Rivers did suddenly appeare and not only sweet but salt waters brake out of the bowels of the earth though the Sea were farr distant so that they filled all that Coast with Oysters Athen. l. 8. The Oysters are of divers colours In Spain they are red in Sclavonie brown in the red Sea they are so distinguished with flaming Circles that by mixture of divers colours it is like the Rainbow Aelian l. 10. c. 13. At the beginning of Summer they are great and full of milk At Constantinople they cast this wheish matter into the water which cleaving to stones will beget Oysters Gillius writes it and it is very probable For of the decoction of Mushroms powred on the ground it is certain that Mushroms will grow the Crabfish doth wonderfully desire the meat of them but he comes hardly by them because they have a strong shell by nature wherefore he useth his cunning For when in places where the wind blows not he sees them taking pleasure in the Sun and to open their shells against the Suns beams he privately casts in a stone that they cannot shut again and so he conquers them CHAP. XIX Of the Butterflye and the Polypus THe Butterflies couple after August the male dying after copulation the female lays egs and dieth also How they are preserved in winter is hardly discovered by any man except by Aldrovandus de Insectis But he enquired of Country people and they hold him that the leaves were great with the Butterflies seed at what time they plowed the ground they were hid in the bowells of it and fostered by its heat yet he thinks that they only are preserved that lye hid in the hollow barks of Trees but what lyes on leaves is quickned the same yeare And Aldrovandus adds I saw eggs layd under the leaves of Chamaeficus out of which about the end of August little Catterpillars naturally came forth They were wrapped in a thin down that the ayre might not hurt them and these little Catterpillars falling did not fall to the ground but hung by a small thred like Spiders in the Ayre When they lay under leaves they fold them so that the rain cannot hurt them and lay them up as under a penthouse I twice observed one Catterpillar that I took amongst the Coleworts first to lay yellow eggs wrapt up also in fine down and when they were laid she turned into a Chrysalis of the same colours that she was that is yellow green and black and that which seemed strange to me out of those eggs little flying creatures came forth that I could hardly see them such as are wont to be found in the bladders of Elms when they are in great abundance they shew contagion of the Ayre Anno 1562 they flew at Bannais neere the waters in such multitudes that they darkned the course of the River especially after Sun set then coming hither about night they wandred through the Villages as in Battel aray little differing from Moths Cornelius Gemma testifieth that that was a tempestuous yeare The Polypus in time grows so great that it is taken for a kind of Whale In the bowells of them there is a strange thing like a Turbane that you would say it had the nature of the Heart or of the Liver but it suddenly dissolves and runs away They exceedingly love the Olive-Tree For if a bough on which Olives hang be let down into the Sea and held there you may catch abundance of them hanging about the bough Somtimes they are taken sticking to Figg-Trees growing by the Seaside and they eat the fruit of them They also delight wonderfully in Locusts of which you shall find a cleare Testimony in Petrus Berchorius I have heard saith he that some Fishermen in the Sea of Province had set Locusts on the shore to boyle over burning coles and a Polypus smelling the Locust came forth of the Sea and coming to the fire would with his foot have taken a Locust forth but he feared the heat of the fire and so went back to the Sea and filâ—'d a coat which he had on his head like a Friers cowle with water and went and came so often with it and cast it on the fire that he put the fire out and so taking the Locust he had carryed it to the Sea unlesse one of the Fishermen that saw him had caught him and broyl'd him to eat instead of the Locust CHAP. XX. Of a Lowse and a Flea SOme think that Lice are bred of flesh others of blood but both opinions are false For first they breed in the skin of the head and we know they abound in the second and third kind of hectick feavers when as there is little flesh and here they are almost consumed Again in putrid Feavers they breed not and things bred do confirm their principles Their colour shews they proceed not from blood Wherefore some think they breed from putrid matter that is cold and moyst which abounds in the skin in places where they cannot be blown away Experience teacheth that they will leave those that are dead either because the blood is cold in the body when the heat is gone or because the dead body is cold and they fly from the cold Nolanus Problem 225. They that eat figs often are thought to be troubled with them Nolanus makes the juice of them to be the cause For this increasing in the veins heats the blood and makes it moyst and frothy which because it naturally tends to the skin and retain'd under that it putrefies it turns to lice Truly they that feed on figs have little knots and warts on their skins A Flea is a small Creature yet Africanus a cunning
fountain of good vapours is compared to beneficiall Jupiter the bladder of the Gall contains the fiery fury of Mars and the loose spungy flesh of the Milt which is the receptacle of melancholique humours doth perfectly represent the cold Planet of Saturn And if you please to proceed farther I can say boldly that the Elements Seas Winds are here shadowed forth The spirits of Mans body do set forth Heaven the quintessence of all things The four humours expresse the four Elements Hot dry choler represents the Fire blood-hot and moyst the Ayr flegme cold and moyst the Water melancholy cold and dry the Earth So the belly of Man is the Earth fruitful of all fruits The hollow vein is the Mediterranean Sea the Bladder the Western Sea into which all the Rivers discharge themselves and the superfluous salt which is resolved is collected He hath the East in his Mouth the West in his Fundament the South in his Navel the North in his Back Europe Asia Africa and America may summarily be described in Man Wherefore Abdalas the Barbarian said well that the body of Man is an admirable thing and Protagoras call'd Man The measure of all things Theophrastus The pattern of the Universe and Epitome of the World Synesius The horizon of corporeall and incorporeall things And lastly we may truly cry out with Zoroastres O Man the Workmanship of most powerfull Nature for it is the most artificiall Master-piece of Gods hands CHAP. II. Of Nutrition Article 1. Of the harmlesse feeding on venomous things IF we regard Histories we can hardly doubt but that venomous things may by custome become nutrimental For many learned men having written thus they ought to be of credit Avicenna Rufus and Gentilis speak of a young Maid who was fed with poysonous creatures from her tender age and her breath was venom to those that stood by her Albertus writes That at Colonia Agrippina there was a man that held Spiders for his daintiest meat One Porus a King of the Indies used poyson every day that he might kill other men There was one who killed venomous creatures that bit him Avicenna l. 8. de anim c. 2. It is a known History of a young Maid fed with poyson with which the Persian Kings kill'd other men In Hellespont the Ophyogenes feed on Serpents One that was delighted with the same food when he was cast into a vessell fill'd with Serpents received no harm Pliny and Athenagoras of Greece could never be hurt by Scorpions and the Aethiopians that are Inhabitants by the River Hyaspis made brave cheer of Serpents and Vipers Galen saith That an old Woman of Athens eat a great quantity of Hemlock which did her no hurt Hypoth the Empirick writes that another took 30 drams of it and received no harm and he saith further That one Lysis eat 4 drams of Opium The Thracian Dame made gallant victualls of handfulls of Hellebor Lastly King Mithridates could not poyson'd bee He drinking poyson oft grew poyson-free If you search the cause of it you shall find divers First is every mans natural property by reason of which Stares feed on Hemlock Sows on Henbane with delight Then there is a certain proportion of poyson for this changeth the power of the poyson and the disposition of the subject Again the strength or weaknesse of the body Conciliator saith he saw four men feeding on venomous meats one dyed suddenly two were dangerously sick and the fourth escaped To this adde the force of the composition and the quantity the variety of the time and place wherein they are collected So Trassius Mantinensis gathered his Hemlock in the coldest places that he might sooner kill men Theophrastus shews l. 9. hist. Plant. that at Chios there was a certain way to compound it to make it effectuall One stung by a Scorpion may live many dayes and one stung by Ammodites may live 7 dayes Chersydrus kills in 3. days a Viper in 3. hours a Basilisk suddenly Lastly the history of a woman that sought to poyson her husband proves that poyson growes more effectuall by being mingled with poysons of the same kind and lesse by being mingled with poysons of a contrary kind Also it is certain that hot poysons cannot be conquer'd for Sublimate by its extream corroding cannot be concocted by nature and Napellus kills by its extremity of heat Article 2. Of the eating of other unusuall Meats NAncelius l. 3. Analog writes of a Maid delighted to feed on dung and he relates that a certain Noble-man did greedily sup up the liquid dung of Maids Fernelius l. 6. Pathol. c. 3. tells of a Maid that eat quicklime as great as a mans Fist. Trincavellus tells of one l. 7. c. 5. that eat threds out of Garments Lusitanus c. 3. cur 86 of one that eat Bombasse and Wooll Marcellus Histor. mirab l. 4. c. 1. of one that eat Lizards A woman that was fifty years old eat Tartar Nicolaus serm 5. tract 4. c. 36. Camerarius speaks of another eat hair This may happen in a particular disease which in women with Child is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Virgins and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the cause is a vicious naughty humour impacted in the coats of the stomack or bred in the same by ill diet or coming thither from the matrix Hence for the three first months especially it happens to women great with Child when they vomit and the Child consumes not much It troubles maids when their courses are stopt But it is hard to say how such an appetite should proceed from this cause and it is better to ascribe it to a hidden quality than to commit an absurdity in what is manifest But what is reported of one Lazarus that he would eat glasse stones Wood Living creatures and Live-fish and we were told by the famous Winsemius in praelection anatomic that a Country man in Frisland would do the same for money that seems to proceed from the fault of the nerves For in him when he was dissected the fourth conjugation of nervs that is produced in other men for the benefit of their tast neither came to his tongue nor palate but was turned back to the hinder part of his head as Columbus observed Anatom l. 15. Some also think a man may be nourished by smells and some Histories say it hath been done Rondeletius de piscib saith that one at Rome lived 40 yeares only by the Ayre and Laertius reports that Democritus the Abderite a Philosopher lived four days by smelling of bread steeped in Wine that he might not profane the feasts of Ceres Cardanus l. 8. de varietate rerum c. 41 saith that men may live longer only by contemplation Lastly Megasthenes writes that at the farthermost part of the Indies from the East about the River Ganges there is a Nation call'd Astomores people that have no mouth their body is all hairy and they are clothed with the mosse of boughs they live only by the
cleare to discusse these Clowds Abraham Bucholzerus with Mirandula and Reusnerus saith it was created before the said Epoche 3970 yeares Buntingius 3968 Mercator 3967 Scaliger 3947 Beroaldus 3929 Broughtonus 3928 Pareus 3927 Pavellus 4022. Hitherto Scaliger hath been preferr'd yet it is thought that Pavellus hath discovered his imperfection The uncertainty concerning its end is greater Macrobius defines it by 15000 years Orpheus by 12000 Cassander counts 30 times 6000000. Berâ—sus as Seneca saith contends that the earth shall be burnt when all the Starrs meet in Cancer and a flood should be in Capricorn Amongst Christians Liborovius will have it to be 1666 Rossinus 1656. Libavius in declam de comet anni 1604 Cusanus 1700 or else the space that goes before 1734. That as after the first Adam they are Cusanus hiâ— words the consumption of sin came in the 34th Jubile by the waters of the flood in the days of Noah according to Philo so we conjecture that after the second Adam in the 34th Jubile shall come the consumption of sin by fire Nancelius cites it in analog Microcosm cum Macrocosmo l. ult Augustinus and Lactantius define it by 6000 yeares Alstedius holds the term to be uncertain but it is certain it shall not be before the yeare of Christ 2694 in Thesauro Chronolog c. 6. et diatrib de mille annis A certain friend dreams of some thousands Napeirus is of one mind Copernicus of another What shall we say to this It is not in man to declare these things or to know them the Angells know them not nor yet the Son of man God hath kept these times in his own power Thomas speaks true All those that undertook to determine the time of the end of the world have been found false and so shall all that shall undertake the same hereafter Be the time never so uncertain yet certain it is it shall have an end The word of God saith it The Heavens and the Earth shall passe away Luc. 21.23 Christ in Mathew 23 foreshews the forerunning signs The Stoicks set down the manner in the flood and in the consuming by fire and the Hebrews seem to consent For they affirm that the Sea should ascend above the Mountains tops 40 cubits Petrus Comestor in Nancelius Aristotle and Plato universally deny it It is known by the word of God to Christians that the world perished by the flood and the burning of it is expected For St. Peter saith c. 2. and 3. but the Heavens that now are and the earth are reserved for the fire at the day of Judgment But whether there shall be another world differing essentially from this or this shall be renewd wherein we live is a question The Apostle saith The fashion of this world passeth away the holy Fathers Basil Eusebius do imply an alteration and Seneca in his disputes Every creature shall be generated anew and a Man shall be given to the earth that knows no wickednesse and bred from better principles yet he adds Their innocence shall not last longer then while they are first bred for wickednesse will soon break in He differs from us because he makes eternal innovations which we admit not The censure of Tatianus against the Gentiles Doth any man determin God to be a Body I think He is without a Body Do's he think the world incorruptible I think It is corruptible That it shall be burnt by degrees I think it shall be but once for ever Artic. 5. Of the hidden qualities of natural bodies I Said that natural bodies were containd in the world now I say that they are so ordered that they have their peculiar vertues and in some things they are partakers Every one hath its nature they are containd in place measur'd by time defined by number they begin they perish they move augment diminish they act and suffer Amongst the rest hidden qualities are admirable according to which there is either consent in things or jarring and discord Philosophers call this sympathy and antipathy The first and second qualities are no causes of these things examples of them are spred through the whole field of Nature The raging Elephant growes calme if he see a Ram and if he see a Rhinoreros he is angry The tender flesh of sheep bitten by a Wolfe and the wooll woven also will breed Worms Cattel almost dead and men faint are revived by the smell of bread Pencerus de divin sect de Astrolog Porphyrio a bird will dye if it look on a Whore Woodpeckers will with grasse drive out wedges A Stag draws out Arrows with dittany The venome of the Tarantula is driven away by the sound of Musick and dancing by measure Alexander ab Alexan. l. 2. genial dier Many will sweat if a Cat be present Quercetan in diaetetica and make water at the sound of the harp Scalig. excerc 344. s. 6. One was driven from a feast at the sight of Apples if we credit Quercetan A boy's lips swelled by eating of eggs and his face was spotted with black spots Marcel A Monk saith Lusitanus swounded at the smell of a Rose Another hated bread and flesh and lived only upon eggs One espied an old woman at a feast and could not endure her and when he was forced to stay he was carried forth dead One swounded with the combing of his hair Demohon the builder of Alexandria was cold in the Sun or a hot Bath and hot in the shade The same is said of a certain Idiot that clothed himself with skins in Summer but went naked in Winter Pontanus his dog would eat no Cocks flesh but Scholtzius his would houl lamentably when the strings of a Lute were wound higher But when they were tuned as they should be and sounded harmoniously he was quiet I say no more Libavius de Antipathia rerum The cause of all these things is hid But it is certain that the most eminent of them arise from those qualities that both agree with their forms and are moved by the force of them The knowledg of secret forces appertaine to natural magick wherein we had need of a wonderfull caution Alvernius lib. de universo writes that Turnsoil will make men invisible and that quicksilver put between two reeds will hinder witchcraft That Rue taken away by stealth Basil planted with a feast will grow the more abundantly saith Trievius de Daemon decep and he adds that 7 grains of a certain hearb cast amongst the guests at a drinking feast will make them fight up to the eares in Blood These are fooleries and confuted by propounding them Delrius l. 1. disquis Magic c. 3. Artic. 6. Of Gods Providence in the World GOd was not pleased onely to make all these things but he would have them all under his Government and Providence Hence comes the preservation of the beings and vertues of things and the disposing of them all after the freedom of his will the wise ordering of all things In this are the ends set orderly
made a day of 36 houres Justin Martyr in Dialog cum Tryphon Some think the Sun danceth when it riseth on Easter-day and honours our Saviours Resurrection in Triumph If that be so it is necessary for it to dance a whole day because it riseth the whole day What ever this is it must be ascribed to the Ayre interposed betwixt which about the Sun rising abounds with Vapours and if at any time most in the Spring because the pores are open and it sends forth more Vapours Camer Cent. 2. Memorab p. 39. Artic. 4. Of the inequality of Dayes and Nights WHen the Sun comes to the Horizon the Day riseth with us Night comes when the Sun departs But because it moves obliquely and is girt within the bounds of both Tropicks it keeps equality under the Equinoctiall it varies which side soever it declines yet the greater it is the farther the Countries are distant from the aequator In Arabia a Province of the new World the Dayes and Nights are alwaies equall Geographers have written the same of Peru Ovetan in Summa In a Country of Africa called Gambra in the moneth of July the Night is no shorter than 11. hours The Sun riseth suddenly without dawning The Troglodites and men of Africa have but 13. hours to their longest day Strabo l. 1. They that live under the Pole of the Stars in the spring-Equinox see the Sun rising but in the Autumnall setting Mela. l. 3. c. 2. Hence it is that they have half a year day and then half a year night The Hollanders at the Straights Vaigats from the 4th day of November to the 24. day of January have found but one continual Night under the degree of 71. Boetius in the description of the Narrow Sea Vaigats In Laponia one Night lasts 3. moneths and there is in that time no more light than the Moon-shine or clear twilights afford Zigler in Laponia In the farthest part of Norway the Sun is not hid in the night In another Northern Climate the Nights are very bright at the Summer Solstice Saxo Grammaticus The Day and Night with us are equall when the Sun enters Aries and Libra they are longer when he is in the Tropick of Cancer shorter in Capricorn The moneth of June is said to contain the longest day the shortest is assigned to the 25. of December The more superstitious are perswaded that strange things are seen the night before The Olive Tree and the white Poplar and the leaves of Willowes are said to be driven about Macrob. l. 9. c. 7. The moisture in Trees ascends upwards from out of the root The Apple-tree brings forth blossoms and unripe fruit Some strings of Instruments are strook with the fingers and the other strings sound Suetonius l. 1. Ludicra Historia The small livers of Mice are increased The kernells that are shut up in Apples are turned the contrary way Cicero lib. 2. de Divinat Artic. 5. Of the Four Parts of the Year THe motion of the Sun through the Zodiack makes a Year Mathematicians make this to be twofold The one is the space in which the Sun goes from the Spring Equinox and returns to the same again and it consists of 365 dayes five hours 49 first minutes 10 seconds The other is from the time the Sun departs from the first Star in Aries and returns to the same again and it consists of 365 6 hours 9 first minutes seconds 23. Copernicus appointed this and he deserved great thanks for it Of the former there are four parts Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring and Autumn make the Equinoxes this the Winter Equinox that the Summer They both happen when the Sun passeth the Line The most certain sign of the Springs approach is the Butterfly being a weak creature Pliny in histor Natural Cancer makes the Summer when the Sun-beams are verticall with us It is inflamed by the rising of the Dog-star saith Pliny l. 2. c. 40. yet it were more Philosophicall to say that when the Sun repeats his Journey he raiseth hot blasts and wind whence our bodies partake of great heat Truly sometimes it is extream if we credit Histories I read in Livy l. 4. Histor. That in the year of Rome 322. not onely rain from Heaven was wanting but the Earth also wanted its inbred moysture that the Rivers that run continually were almost dry that many Fountains and Rivers wanted water that the Cattel dyed for thirst In the year 1153 the Woods were fired with over-great heat the fat Earth took fire and could be extinguished with no rain Mergerius The German Records report That in 1228 the heat was so great that the Harvest was ended I will use their own words before the Feast of St. John Baptist. Lipsius cites it in his Epistles In the year 1573. the Wood of Bohemia burnt 18. Weeks The Danube was so dryed up that in many places one might foord it And what is wonderfull there was no losse in the Corn. But in 994. in the end of July the Lakes and Waters were so hard frozen that all the Fishes dyed and there was great scarsity of water Cardan thinks it is a mark of an over-hot Summer de varietat rer l. 15. c. 38. if old sheep are very much given to lust in the Spring Men write that there was so pleasant an Autumn in the year 1584. that the Roses and young branches flourished It is our Winter when the Sun enters Capricorn then all things quake are covered with Snow and bound up with Ice The Sun foreshews a most bitter Winter in the Northern parts when he hides himself in a red clowd as a pillar of fire and casts out his beams like fiery darts That descending it is turned into black Cardan l. 1. Or when things that use to be moist seem dryer or drops dripping from houses fall more slowly And sometimes the winter hath been excessive Chronicles say that in 1234. the winter was most fierce so that in the Adriatick Sea the Venetian Factors passed over the Ice with their charge of moneys Zonaras reports the like to have happened under Constantine Copronymus so in the Pontick Sea and the Straights adjoyning Marianus Scotus In the year 32. of Charles the Great there was a great and most bitter Frost so that the Pontick Sea was frozen 100 miles in the East where it was 50 cubits from top to bottom In the year 1525. the winter was so cruel that in Brabant an infinite company of Eâ—lâ—s by reason of the Ice went forth of the Lakes which is a wonderfull thing and hid themselves in Hay-ricks and perished there with extremity of cold Robertus de Monte. The Trees had hardly any leafs afterwards in May. Sometimes the winters are so calm too In the year 1225. in December the Peach Tree budded In 1186. in December and January Crowes and other birds hatched their Eggs with young But these divers parts of the year for length and duration comes from a divers position They
their bosomes Fire is not unknown to us So great is the variety of it and it is so manifold that I know not what order to deliver it in Pliny saith it is from it self steel rubb'd against steel causeth fire Also the stones we call fire-stones stricken against steel or other stones send forth sparkles Therefore the Laplanders begin their Contracts of Marriage with the fire and flint Scalig. Exerc. 16. s. 1. For fire with them is the Authour of life and the flint is eternal wherein the treasure never fails It is in vain to try that in a brittle stone for the piece falling away that which should draw forth the Ayr is lost The rubbing of sticks one against another will fetch fire The Indians do so They make two sticks fast together and put another stick between them turning it swift like a wimble and so they make them take fire Ovetan l. 6. c. 5. In Apulia they wrap a Caâ—â—â— iâ— cords and draw them as fast as they can forward and backward till they fire it by motion Mayolus Colloq 2â— The Vestal Nuns did the same when their eternall fire went out if we credit Festus In Nympheus a flame goes out of a Rock which is kindled by rain Aristotle saith in Admirand it is not perceived untill you cast oyl upon it and then the flame flyes upward We find also in Authours that in the Country of the Sabins and Apulia there is a stone that will fire if you annoint it Plin. l. 2. c. 207. In Aricia if a live cole fall on arable ground the ground will burn In a Town of Picenum Egnatia if wood be laid on a certain stone that they account holy there it will flame presently Also a flame goes forth at the waters of Scantia but it is very weak at the going forth and will not last long in any other matter Also at Gratianopolis in Dauphin flame shines out when you stir the burning Fountain with a staff so that straw may be kindled by it Dalechamp ad l. c. The fire of the Mountain Chimerâ— is kindled by water Plin. l. 2. c. 106. If you hold a glasse Globe full of water in the Sun fire will rise from the repercussion of the light from the water in the coldest frost Lactan. de ira Dei c. 10. Sometimes also fire ariseth so suddenly in houses that it may be thought wonderful Cardan l. 10. de varietate c. 49. ascribes the cause to the salt and Salt-Peter that sticks to the walls of the houses Which Valerius reports concerning the Schollar of the vestall Nun Maxima Aemilia l. 1. c. 1. that she adoring Vesta when she had laid her fine linnen veil upon the hearth the fire that was out shined forth again an old wall being scraped down he writes that it might take fire onely by hot Ashes If you look in the Bible you shall find a wonderfull originall of fire in it 1 King c. 18. Elias when he offered sacrifice brought fire down from heaven which consumed the sacrifice wood stones dust and water In the Book of Judges Ch. 6. when Gideon at the command of the Angel had laid flesh and bread upon a stone and poured Frankincense upon them fire came forth of the stone and consumed them Artic. 2. Of Fires in the Waters IF we will credit Histories it is most certain that fires have been seen in the waters Pliny saith lib. 2. c. 107. That the whole Lake Thrasimenus was on fire That the Sea did burn Liv. lib. 33. when Alaricus wasted Italy and John Chrysostome was driven from his Bishoprick the Earth quaked fire fell from Heaven and a wind took it and cast it into the Sea which took fire by it and at last went out again Niceph. l. 13. c. 36. In the fields of Babylon there is a Fish-pond that burns which is about an Acre of ground Plin. lib. 2. c. 106. A stone cast into a Lake near to Denstadium of Thuringia when it sinks to the bottom it hath the form of a burning arrow Agricol lib. 4. de nat affluent c. 22. In a City of Comagena called Samosata there is a Lake that sends forth burning mud Plin. l. 2. c. 104. Posidonius saith that in his time about the Summer Solstice in the morning that between Suda and the Sea of Evonymus fire was seen lifted up to a wonderfull height and to have continued so a pretty while carried up with a continued blast and at length it sunk down Many dayes after Slime appeared that it swam on the top of the waters and that flames brake forth in many places and smoaks and soot and at length that Slime grew hard and that the lumps grown hard were like unto Milstones Julius Obsequens adds that it dispersed a great multitude of fish which the Liparenses much feeding on were spoiled by them so that the Islands were made wast with a new plague Strabo l. 6. Between Ther and Therasia which are in the Cyclades flames went out of the Sea in such abundance that is was extreme hot and seemed to burn and when it had swelled by degrees of the peices cast out that were like to Iron an Island was made which was called Hiera and Automate now it is called Vulcanellus by a very small arme of the Sea it is parted from Vulcanellus Plin. l. 2. c. 87. Artic. 3. Of Fire under the Earth I Said that fire was also in the waters now I will shew that in the bowells of the earth fire is generated When Claudius Nero was Emperour fire was seen to come forth of the Earth in the land of the Town of Colein and it burnt the Fields Villages Houses now because the matter of it was bituminous and could be quenched neither by raine nor River waters nor by any other moisture it was extinguished by Stones and old Garments In Misena a Country of Germany a Mountain of Coles burns continually the trenches falling down by degrees in the superficies which if any man behold they appear to be burning Furnaces The fire kindles any thing neere to it at four foot distance but not put close to it Agricol de natur effluent ex terr Vesuvius also a Mountain in Campania burned when Titus Vespasianus and Flavius Domitianus the seventh were Consuls First it cast out Stones from the top broken open after that it cast forth such Flames that two Towns Herculaneum and Pompeti were set on fire and it sent forth such thick smoak that it obscured the Sun and lastly it blew forth such a quantity of Ashes that like snow it covered the Neighbour Country which by force of winds was carryed into Africa Aegypt Syria Dion Cass. in Histor. When the Elder Pliny beheld this Fire the Younger in Epistol ad Tacitum the smoak so stopped his sharp artery that his breath being intercepted he was choaked There is also a mountain of late in Campania full of rises from the time the fire was bred there which burns and rores
within and sends forth smoak in many places and very hot brooks the shore smoaks at the foot of the Mountain the sand is hot the Sea boyles Agricol l. c. In the same place there are many ditches covered with sand into which some that have viewed these things carelesly have sunk in and were stifled This is in Europe In India there are no lesse burnings by fire In Ciapotulan a Province of the Kingdome of Mexico a Mountain casts forth stones as big as houses and those stones cast forth have flames of fire in them and seem to burn and are broke in pieces with a great noise Petrus Alvarad ad Cortesium In the province Quahutemallan of the same Country two Mountaines within two Leagues one of the other vomit out fire and tremble Petrus Hispalens p. 5. C. 23. In Peruacum also out of the Mountain Nanavata the Fire flies out at many holes and out of one boyling water runs of which salt is made In the same Peruacum in the Town Molahaâ—o fire is vomited forth and ashes is cast out for many dayes and covers many Towns There is an Island next to great Java in the middle of which land there burns a perpetuall fire Odoard Barbosa In the Island Del Moro there is a Fire cast forth with such a noise that it is equall to the loudest Cannon and the darknesse is like Night The Ashes so abound that houses have sunk down under them and Trees have been barren for three yeres their boughs being lopt off all places are fild with Ashes and living Creatures destroyed with hunger and pestilence also sweet waters have been changed into bitter Diat Jesuita Also there are concealed Fires namely there where the waters run forth hot warm or sower or where exhalations break forth good or bad and where places seem adust Strab. in Geograph There is a Country in Asia which is called Adust which is 500 furlongs long and 50 broad whether it should be called Misia or Meonia saith Strabo In this there grows no Tree but the Vine that brings forth burnt Wine so excellent that none exceeds it You may not think that those Fires stay only in one straight place for they pass many miles under ground Agricol l. 4. de nat Effl. c. 24. in Campania from Cunae thorough Baianum Puteoli and Naples Also out of Campania they seem to come as far as the Islands Aenaria Vulcania c. Hence Pindarus elegantly faigned that the Gigant Typâ—o being stricken with a Thunder-Bolt lay buried under these places Artic. 4. Of the Original of Subterraneall Fire WEe will now search out the original of these Fires and what it is that kindles and nourisheth them The Poets speak Fables concerning Aetna but of this more in the 4th Chapter Hyginius Mytholog cap. 152. Hell of the Earth begat Typhon of a vast magnitude and a wonderfull shape who had 100 Dragons heads that sprang from his shoulders He challenged Jupiter to strive for his Kingdome Jupiter hit him on the breast with a burning Thunder-bolt and having fired him he cast Mount Aetna upon him which is in Sicilia and from that time it is said to burn yet Isidor l. 14. c. 8. ascribes it to Brimstone that is kindled by the blasts of winds Justinus affirms that it is nourished by water Bleskenius relates of Hecla that no man knowes by what fire or what matter it burneth but since that brimstone is dug forth of all Islandia it should appear that a brimstony matter was sometimes kindled there Not far from Hecla are Pits of brimstone saith Bertius in Islandia That is certain that brimstone affords nourishment for this fire under ground and it is such as will burn in water For in these Mountains Writers make mention of waters and we have shew'd that it hath sometimes burned in the Sea But Lydiat L. de orig font thinks That in the gulfs of the Sea a most violent fire is contained and he demonstrates this by Earth-quakes Therefore the food of it cannot be dry and like to the Earth which we call Dorfa for that is quickly consumed by fire and is quenched by water Nor is it Marle for that will not burn unlesse it be sulphureous and bituminous Brimstone burns indeed but it is soon put out with water therefore it is Bitumen and this seems to be the subject of it Strabo writes That there are under this Cave Fountains of water and Pliny addes l. 2. c. 106. that it burns with water running from Bitumen Burning Bitumen sends forth fire in Hecla a Mountain in Islandia which consumes water The stones of Rivers and the sand burn at Hephestios a Mountain of Lycia and they are bituminous Naphta is very near akin to fire and it presently flames Pliny l. c. Wherefore we think Bitumen to be the food for these fires and they are kindled by a fiery vapour that takes fire if but cold thrust it forth as the Clowds thrust ouâ— lightnings or drives it into some narrow places where rolling it self up and down and seeking to come forth it burns in the conflict and flames Agricol lib. cit Artic. 5. Of the Miracles of Fire in duration burning and in being Extinguished SOme Fires are perpetuall The stone Asbestos once lighted can never be extinguished therefore Writers say it was placed in Idol Temples and the Sepulchres of the dead Solinus c. 12. There was a Monument once dug up wherein was a Candle that had burned above 1500 years when it was touched with the hands it went to fine ashes Vives ad lib. 21. de Civitat Dei Vives saw wicks at Paris which once lighted were never consumed In Britany the Temple of Minerva had a perpetual fire when it consumed it was turned into balls of stone Solinus c. 24. Polyhist The same thing is written of a certain Wood near to Urabia in the New-found World There are some fires that burn not either not at all or in some certain matter or else miraculously In Pythecusis saith Aristotle admirand c. 35. there is a fervent and hot fire that burns not An Ash that shadowes the Waters called Scantiae is alwayes green Plin. lib. 2. c. 107. In the Mountain of Puteoli consisting of Brimstone there is a fire comes forth that is neither kindled nor augmented by oyl nor wax or any fat matter nor is it quenched with water or kindled and it will not burn towe cast into it nor can any Candle be lighted by it Mayolus Colloq 22. he conceives it is not fire but fiery water Near Patara in Lycia flame is cast forth of a field you shall feel the heat if you put your hands to it but it will never burn The parts of the ambient ayr that are cold and moist are said to be the cause of it that by their thinnesse entring into the fire do hinder the burning of it Some napkins made of a kind of Flax will not burn and being durty they are never washed but being cast
into the fire they are made clean Lemnius in l. 2. de occult That kind growes in the deserts of India where such is the condition of the Ayr and the quality of the Earth which causeth such a temper of the Plants that they may be spun and woven into linnen Cloth Wood and Planks if they be anointed with Allum I add and smeared with Eggs they will not burn Plin. l. 29. c. 3. Nor will posts painted with a green colour so you do it thick and Allom with the ashes of white lead be plentifully mingled with the paint Because the wood is thickned and hardened the fire cannot enter Hence it was that Sylla could not fire a Tower that was smeered with Allom. C. Caesar set fire to a Castle near to Po that was built of Larch-tree and it would not burn Vitruv. l. 2. c. 9. for the Larch tree is not onely free from rottennesse nor will it resolve into coles The cause is the compacted matter Lemnius l. c. What shall we say of Pyrrhus on whose great joynt of his right foot fire could not prevail What of Zwinglius whose heart was not touched after his body was consumed by fire Thuan. l. 5. Histor. The Salamander lives safe in the midst of the flames if we credit Pliny And the bottom of the Cauldron is cold when it stands in the midst of the fire and the water boyles the sides are red hot Yet Dioscorid writes l. 2. c. 52. That the Cauldron being cold by nature doth for a while keep off the fire by being so near to it but at last it burns and wastes The reason of this is from the Pyramidall figure of the fire which ascends in a point and the thin parts rise up first the thicker are cast to the sides Keckerm Disp 4. Phys coral 10. In the Scriptures we have examples God appeared to Moses in a flaming bush the bush did not burn Exod. Ch. 3. Elias was taken up into Heaven with a fiery Chariot and horses The three Children cast into the fiery furnace in Babylon had not a hair touched and they were consumed that came but near in the Apocryph ad c. 3. Daniel is Eugenius relates what befell an Hebrew Boy at Constantinople So much for Burning Now for putting it out A certain fire came forth of Mount Hecla which is extinguished with Towe that which comes forth of the Mount Chimaera is put out with Hay or Earth At Cullen of the Ubii with stones or cloathes But when Charles Duke of Burgundy had taken the City of Geldria the ground was burnt the grasse and roots burned the fire could be extinguished by no art of man it penetrated into Burgundy Fulgosius l. 1. To these I shall adde those Chymicall devices of Tritenhemius whereby he procured everlasting fires as an Anonymus reports in Aureo vellere in the name of Bartholmaeus Korndorferus Now there are two Eternal Lights The first of them is made by mingling brimstone and calcined Allum 4. ounces and by subliming them they are made flowrs He joyned 2 ounces and a half to 1 ounce of 〈…〉 Vedetus like Crystall and to these 〈…〉 bruised and put into a hâ—llow glasse he poured on the spirit of wiâ—â— four times distilled and making digestion and drawing that off he poured on new and he did this twice thrice or four times untill the brimstone made hot upon plates of brasse would run like wax without smoke This is the food of it Afterwards the Wick must be thus ordered The small shords of the stone Asbestos about the length of the little finger and about half so thick must be tyed together with white silk The Wick thus made is sprinkled with brimstone of the foresaid matter in a Venice-glasse and it is put under ground and is boyled in hot sand 24 hours the brimstone alwaies boyling up The wick so anointed and wet is put into a hollow glasse that it may a little come forth the prepared Brimstone is heap'd on the glasse is set into hot sand that the Brimstone may melt and hold fast to the wick then will this set on fire burn with a continual flame you may see the Lamp in any place This is the first eternal Fire The latter is made thus To a pound of decrepit Salt pour on strong Wine Vinegar Draw it off to the consistence of oyl put on new let it steep distill it as before and do this four times Infuse in this Vinegar glasse of Antimony finely powdered one pound set the infusion in hot ashes 6 hours in a close vessel and draw out a red tincture Pour off that vinegar and pour on more and draw it off again repeating the labour untill all the colour be resolved and drawn forth Coagulate the extractions to the consistence of oyl and rectifie it in Balneo till it be pure Then take the powder of Antimony out of which the rednesse was drawn and make fine flower of it put it into a glasse and pour on the rectified oyl draw it off and pour it on 7 times untill the body have drank in all its oyl and become dry Draw out this by the spirit of wine changed so often untill all the substance be drawn forth distill the Menstruums collected in a Venice Viol covering it with a five doubled paper that the spirit coming forth the incombustible ayr may remain in the bottom which must be used with a Wick as that of Brimstone before CHAP. II. Of the Ayr. Artic. 1. Of the three Regions of the Ayr. PHilosophers make 3. Regions The Region in the middle is so cold that it is almost ready to freeze the Kite which is wont to live there in the dog dayes from Noon till Night or his limbs should grow stiff by staying there too long And in the Alps there is alwaies so much snow that in Summer the passage is dangerous They that have crept up to the tops of the Mountaines of Baldus in the Country of Verona feel no lesse cold in July and August than in the coldest Winter Aldrovâ—â—â—â— Ornith l. â— c. 15. Some think the aire to be so thin there that a man can hardly live Augustin de Genes ad liter l. 13. c. 2. reports from other men that such as go to the top of Olympus either to sacrifice or to view the Starrs carry sponges with them wet in water to breathe with But from the History of the flood and others we may observe that some Mountaines are so high that they are above the Clouds and yet a man may live in that ayre Libav de orig rer l. 6. There is in the Island Zelainum a very high Mountain and most pleasant on the top In Arabia Faelix there is an extreame high Mountain and there is a Town on the top of it If we observe the force of the aire it is notable Philosophers speak much of it Cardan saith that if it be shut up it corrupts living Creatures and preserves dead things but the open
Ayre is contrary But examples will hardly make that good In the Navigations of the Portugalls some Marriners under the Equinoctiall had allmost breathed their last though it were in the middle of the Sea and a in a most open ayre And when we were present saith Scaliger Exercit 31. some Italians of Lipsia in the Stoves were like to swound and you may remember from Histories concerning the death of King Cocal Wheat in Syria laid close in Mows corrupts not but is spoild shut up in Barnes if the Windows be open it takes no harme Artic. 2. Of the Infection of the Ayre The Ayre doth not allwaies retain its own qualities it is infected somtimes with hurtful things They that go out of the Province of Peru into Chila thorow the Mountains meet with a deadly ayr and before the passengers perceive it their limbs fall from their bodies as Apples fall from Trees without any corruptions Liburius de Origine rerum In the Mount of Peru Pariacacca the ayr being singular brings them that go up in despair of their lives It causeth vomit so violent that the blood follows it afflicts them most that ascend from the Sea and not only Man but Beasts are exposed to the danger It is held to be the highest and most full of Snow in the World and in three or four houres a man may passe over it In the Mountains of Chilium a Boy sustained himself three dayes lying behind a multitude of Carcases so that at last he escaped safe from the Venomous blasts In a Book concerning the proper causes of the Elements it is written that a wind killed the people in Hadramot The same Authour reports that the same thing hapned in the time of King Philip of Macedo that in a certain way between two Mountaines at a set hour what horseman soever past he fell down ready to die The cause was not known The foot were in the same condition untill one Socrates by setting on high a steel Looking-Glasse beheld in both Mountains two Dragons casting their venomous breath one at the other and whatsoever this hit upon died Liban l. cit But the true cause of this mischief was a mineral ayr stuft with nitrous and other metallick Spirits Such a one is found in some Caves of Hungary and Sweden and we know that the Common Saltpeter is full of Spirits it is moved dangerously and forcibly if fire be put to it and cast into water it cools them much But that bodies corrupt not that we ascribe to cold but it may be attributed to the Spirits of cold by mixture such as are in some Thunder-bolts for the bodies of living Creatures killed by them do not easily corrupt and they last long unlesse some more powerfull cause coming drive it out Artic. 3. Of the Putrefaction of the Ayr. THe Pestilence comes from putrefaction of the ayr which in respect of divers constitutions is divers It is observed that there never was any at Locris or Croto Plin. l. 2.99 So in that part of Ethiopia which is by the black Sea In Mauritania it ruins all It lasted so long somtimes at Tholouse and in that Province that it continued seven years It perseveres so long and oftimes amongst the Northern people and rageth so cruelly that it depopulates whole Countries Scaliger exercit 32. It is observed in the Southern parts that it goes toward the Sun setting and scarse ever but in winter and lasts but three months at most In the year 1524 it so raged at Millan that new baked bread set into the ayr but one night was not only musty but was full of Worms those that were well died in 6 or 8 hours Cardan de rer varietat l. 8. c. 45. In the year 1500 it destroyed 30000 at London somtimes 300000 at Constantinople and as many in the Cities of the Vandalls all the autumne thorow In Petrarchs dayes it was so strong in Italy that of 1000 Men scarse ten remained Alsted in Chronolog But that in divers Countries it works so variously on some men and severall Creatures that proceeds from the force of the active causes and the disposition of the passive Forest. l. 6. observ de Febre If the active cause from the uncleanness of the Earth or water be not strong it only affects those beasts that are disposed for such a venome but if it be violent it ceazeth on Mankind yet so that of its own nature it would leave neither Countrey not Cittie nor Village nor Town free This layes hold on men in one place only But if the active force be from a superiour cause or be from the ayr corrupted below Mankind alone are endangered by it But if both a superiour and an inferiour cause concur then may all living Creatures be infected with the Plague yet it must be according to the disposition of their bodies Artic. 4. Of Attraction cooling and penetrating of the Ayr. NO man almost is ignorant but that the Ayr serves for the Life of man for the branches of arteria venosa drink in blood from the whole Lungs brought to them by the arteria venosa and it is made more pure in them The Ayr drawn in at the mouth is mingled with the blood and this mixture is carried to the left ventricle of the heart to be made spirituous blood Ludovi du Gardin Anatom c. 40. But being drawn in heaps it strangles Zwinger Physiol l. 2. c. 23. For if you compasse a burning Candle in the open ayr with wine from above you put it out because it cannot attract the Ayr prepared on each side by reason the wine is betwixt and it cannot from below draw the crude and unprepared Ayr. The desaphoretick force of it will appear in an Egg when that is new a pure spirit sweats through its shell whilest it rosts like unto dew What will this do in the body of man It will make that full of chinks if it be touched by a small heat otherwise it fills and penetrates all things It pierceth thorow a brick and there it inflates the concocted lime so that the quantity of it is increased till it break it We see that the Ayr entring by the pores of a baked brick doth swell a stone that was left there for want of diligence and is turned into Lime and so puts it up till the brick breaks Zwinger Phys. l. 2. c. 25. Farther it is concluded by certain observation That a wound is easie or hard to cure by reason of the Ayr. In Fenny grounds wounds of the head are soon cured but Ulcers of the Legs are long Hence it is that wounds of the head are light at Bonnonia and Paris but wounds of the Legs are deadly at Avignon and Rome There the Ayr is of a cold constitution and is an enemy to the brain here it is more hot whereby the humours being melted run more downwards Paâ—aeâ—s l. 10. Chirurg c. 8. It may be cooled 9 wayes by frequent ventilating of it with a fan
doth not lye upon the waters but contrarily where the Conduits are not full the lower part is not empty but the upper part IV. Nor the Bulk of the Sea Scaliger thinks that the Waters being pressed in the channels by the Sea lying upon them do seek to get forth His Example is of a stone in a vessel But two things are here assumed 1. That the gravity is every where the same as in the weight of a stone 2. That a great part of the Sea water is out of its place V. Nor yet vapours redoubled into themselves and so drawing nor the spungy Nature of the Earth nor the veins of the Earth whereby the moysture of the water may be drawn forth For 1. attracting forces would be more fit for Champion ground than for Mountains 2. If they should attract it were for that purpose that they might have the fruition of it but from whence are there such Rivers 3 The veins of waters are no where found so full as that reason requireth whether it be for blood in living creatures or for squirts VI. The water is raised out of the Caves of the Earth to the Tops of Mountains as the Sea is raised above the middle Region of the Ayr. VII But this Elevation is made by the force of heat resolving the water into vapours Aristotle himself intimates that heat is required but that water may be made of a vapour there needs no cold but a more remisse heat VIII The heat of the Earth proceeds not from the heat of the Sun namely of the Earth in its Intralls For first it can penetrate but two yards deep and therefore the Troglodites make their Caves no deeper 2. In the hottest Summer a woodden post that is but one or two Inches thick is not penetrated 3. The entralls of the Earth about 8 or 10 yards deep are found colder in Summer then in Winter IX The Antiperistasis of the cold Ayr in the superficies of the Earth is nothing to the purpose 1. It is more weak than the cold of the firm Earth 2. What ever of the Suns heat is bred within passeth out by the pores and vanisheth 3. It perisheth being besieged by both colds to which it bears no proportion X. The heat that is in the bowells of the Earth is from a double cause For in the parts nearest the superficies it proceeds from the Sun beams but in the bowels of the Earth from other causes That passeth out by the pores of the Earth in Summer being opened by the Sun and therefore it vanisheth when as being removed from its original it is weaker but in winter it is bound in by the cold XI The heat in the bowels of the Earth is known by the heat of the Waters but these are neither hot by the Sun nor from brimstone or quicklime in the conduits but only from a subterraneal fire Not from the Sun For. 1. That cannot penetrate so far 2. If it were from thence it would be most in Summer Not from brimstone or quick lime for brimstone heats not unlesse it be actually heated and quick-lime only then when it is resolved by Water Also the vast quantity of it would be resolved in a short time and would make a change in the Channels But it may be understood some ways how it may be heated by a subterraneal fire 1. As it is actuall and so the Channels being solid stone cannot derive it 2. As it is more remote but sends forth Vapours by pipes as in Baths so also not for Vapours cannot have so great force as to make it boil 3. That the Water may run amongst the burning fire as in bituminous Channels But here the question may be why it doth not cast out the Bitumen as in Samosata a City of Comagenes Pliny saith l. 2. c. 104. and 107 that a certain lake cast forth flaming mud and fire came out at the Waters of Scantium 4. The fourth way is the truth Art doth some wayes imitate Nature but in Stills the water by the force of heat is resolved into Vapours and the Vapours fly upwards to the heads where they stick and being removed from the violent heat they return to Water again so also in the bowells of the Earth XII But Fountains that boyl seem not to be of those Waters that run but that stand still Namely Wells that have formerly been opened by the quakings of the Earth which it is no wonder that they are joyned to the Sea In a small Island against the River Timevuâ— Pliny l. 2. c. 103. writes that there is a hot spring that ebs and flows with the Sea In the Gades it is contrary Pliny l. 2. c. â—2 But if any of these hot springs do runâ— we must observe of them that their Channels are so scituated that when the Sea flowes it comes unto them or if it were come into them before it powreth forth the more And so the heat of the fire will be either proportionable and the exhalation greater or not and so lesse XIII But what Agricola writes of bituminous Waters and that yeeld a smell must be ascribed to their neernesse but it vanisheth at a farther distance The same is observed in artificiall distilled waters that in time the burntness of them will vanish away XIV But because this fire by the shaking of the Earth can do much in the superficies it can then do more in the place it is It can therefore stop up old Channels open new ones in divers caves of the Earth without sending forth of the matter combustible or propagation of fire or conflict of Vapours it can rayse new fires from whence new Rivers may be produced yet somtimes also it useeth to be extinguished or sunk so deep that it cannot send its force to the superficies This is the opinion of Lydiat which we have set down more amply that being better known it might be more exactly weighed CHAP. V. Of hot Baths THe heat of hot Baths is diversly spoken of by Authours Aristotle thought it proceeded from Thunder which is false for the force of Thunder is pestilentiall any man may know it that beholds Wine corrupt by Thunder It makes men mad or dead but these are healthfull as experience daily shews Also there are many places that were never touched with Thunder for that never descends above five foot Sennert Scient natural l. 4. c. 10. thinks it comes from two waters that are cold to be felt but grow hot in their meeting from repugnancy of the Spirits as we see in oyle of Tartar and Spirit of Vitrial and in Aquafortis and Tartar and of the butter of Antimony and Spirit of Nitre all which though they are cold to the touch yet if you mingle them they grow hot and so that if you suddenly powre oyle of Tartar into Aquafortis wherein Iron is dissolved it will not only boyle but the mixture will flame which also happeneth if you pour fast the spirit of Nitre into the
butter of Antimony Some impute it to the native heat of the earth or to a certain hot spirit so that these natural spirits of exhalations heating not violently but naturally in some places the secret channels of the Earth grow hot that this heat is communicated to the Walls of those concavities by reason whereof a sufficient and continuall heat may be communicated to the Baths even as in an Oven heated when all the flame is gone the bread is sufficiently baked Horstius de natur Thermar Others ascribe it to subterraneall fire but whether it be so may be known by what proceeded Bartholin de aquis Farther it may be shewed by an Example Mingle salt-salt-water with Clay make of this clay or mud a ball and hollow it within then stop the orifice with the clay and put in a narrow pipe into it and put this ball to the fire the pipe being from the fire when the ball waxeth hot out of the ball by the pipe hot water will run Sennert l. 4. scient natural c. 10. Baths have a taste by the mixture of Earths and so have things in the Earth Hippocrates l. de natur human saith That there is in the Earth sweet sowr and bitter and in the bowels of it there are divers faculties and many humours l. 4. de Morbis Every thing drawes its nourishment from the Earth in which it is Hence in Ionia and Peloponnesus though the heat of the Sun be very sufficient yet Silphium growes not though it be sowed namely for want of such a humour as might nourish it Yet there are in that earth juices not onely for the vaporous but also for the moyst and solid substance Juices condensed are dissolved by waters the moyst are mingled Earths are dissolved and scrapings of mettals are found The goodnesse of them differs sometimes because those that in Summer are beray'd with the Suns heat and attenuated are the best In Autumn they are lesse beat upon by its beams because he is nearer to them so in the spring For the Earth is opened the waters are purified the healthfull light of the Sun approaches but in the Winter they are worst for they are heavier thicker and more defiled with earthly exhalations That they suffer changes we may learn by divers examples Fallop de Therm c. 11. Savanarola saith That the Bath waters in the Country of Pisa cause great diseases in those that drink them and the Inhabitants are warn'd of it For in March April and May when they see the waters look yellow and to be troubled they foresee they are dangerous Alcardus of Veroneus a Physitian who writ of the Calâ—erian Baths saith That the water of Apponus is sometimes deadly by the example of one Galeatius a Noble man who with his Son in Law drank of it and dyed The sharp waters of Alsatia are sometimes so sharp that they cause the dysentery and sometimes they are feeble and are deprived of their wonted vigour Sebizius de acidulis diss 50. s. 1. The causes are divers amongst the ordinary a rainy cloudy dark Southern constitution of the Ayr too violent flowing of the Sea inundations Earthquakes It is wonderfull that is written concerning some hot Baths in Germany that they grew dry when there was a tax set upon them Camerar horis subcis cent 2. c. 69. Something like this fell out in shell-fish at the Sluce for when a kind of tribute was laid upon the collecting of them they were no more found there they returned when the Tax was taken off Jacob Mayer in Annal. Flandriae CHAP. VI. Of the Sea Artic. 1. 〈…〉 Artic. 2. 〈…〉 and Hercules Pillars about Spain and France in his dayes But the North Sea for the greatest part was passed over by the happy successe of the famous Augustus We find in Velleius that Germany was surrounded by sailing so far as the Promontory of the Cimbri and from thence the vast Ocean was discovered or known by relation as far as Scythia and the parts that were frozen by the command of Tiberius The same Pliny tells us that Alexander the Great extended his Victories over the greatest part of the East and Southern Seas unto the Arabian shores whereby afterwards when C. Caesar the Son of Augustus managed the businesse the ensigns of ships were known to belong to the Spaniards that had suffered shipwrack there But when Carthage flourished 〈…〉 from the Gades to the furthermost parts of Arabia and 〈…〉 writing that Voyage and Hamilco at the same time was sent to discover the outward parts of Europe Moreover Cornelius Nepos is the Author of it in Pliny that one Eudoxus in his time when he fled from Lathyrus King of Aegypt came from the Arabian Coasts as far as Gades and Caelius Antipater long before him affirms the same that he saw him who sailed out of Spain into Aethiopia 〈…〉 Merchandize The same Author writes that the King of Sweden gave freely to Quint. Metellus Celer Pro Consul of France those Indians who sailed out of India for Traffiquâ— and were by Tempests carried into Germany That Voyage hath been attempted of late but with extream danger of life men being hindred continually by Ice and extream darknesse If these things be so then was all our World sailed about It is further questioned whether there be any passage through the North Sea to the Kingdom of Sina and to the Moluccos Jovius reportâ— that he heard it of Demetrius Moschus that Duidna with many Rivers entring into it ran into the North a wonderfull way and that the Sea was there open so that stearing the course toward the right hand shore unlesse the land be betwixt men might saile to Cathay Those of Cathay belong to the furthest parts of the East and the parallel of Thracia and are known to the Portingalls in India when they to buy spices sayled to the Golden Chersonesus through the Countries of Sina and Molucco and brought with them garments of Sabell skins Petruâ— Bertius a man that deserved well for his learning but ill for divinity reports in descrip noâ— Zembliae that he saw a Table described 〈…〉 the Russes wherein the shores of the Russes Samogetans and Tingâ—â—eri with the North Sea nere unto them and some Islands were â—â—â—ely set forth In that the Duina River was farthest West but others Rivers followed towards the East and in the first place Peisa Petchoâ—a Obiâ— Jeneseia and Peisida Therefore the passage must be open from the River Obii to Peisida The Histories of â—â—e Russes reportâ— that when the Moscovites and the Tingesi were curious to search out Countries farther toward the East they sent out discoveries over Land who passed beyond the River Obii and Jeneseia so far as Peisida ouâ— foot and there they fell amongst people that in their habit manners and speech were farr different from them There they heard the found of Bells from the East the noyse of Men the neighing of Hortes they saw say is foure square such as
In Cappadocia it is digged out of the earth the humour being condensed there it is cut out like Talâ—um glasse King Ptolomy found some about Pelusium when he pitched his Tents By this example afterwards between Egypt and Arabia it began to be found under the sands as in the desarts of Africa so far as the Oracle of Ammon It increaseth with Moon-nights Pliny A thin salt is bred by the Sea for when the Sea flowes it froths and drives that froth against the shores and Rocks These are cut off and laid upon them to dry and in some places are turned into salt Dioscor There is a Lake of Salt in Sicily so bright that as Pliny writes you may see your face in it That of Colomeum tastes like rosted eggs when it is hard it cracks in the fire and leaps out but melted it doth not so nor yet that which breeds in Lakes that is dryed by the heat of the Sun Salt of Agrigentum will leap out of water saith Pliny torrified it loseth little or nothing of its magnitude but moystned it loseth Heaps of Salt that in Africa are made by Utica and like hills for height they grow so hard by the Suns heat that no rain will melt them and they can hardly be cut with Iron It is observed that such who are much disposed to putrid Feavers are preserved from them by eating of salt freely with their meat Math. de sebrâ— pestil Also fields where it is sprinkled become fruitful by it as experience makes good Fat women by the moderate use of it for to season their meats grow fruitful for it wipes away the moysture and dryes the Matrix that is over-moyst that the seed may stick Also it stirs up the loins in men and causeth Erection Lemnius de occult l. 2. c. 36. Hence the Aegyptians used no salt That it helps to fruitfulnesse Mice abounding in ships and the continual lusting of women that use much salt is a sufficient argument Libavius tom 3. singul l. 5. thinks it nourisheth and is changed into ones substance with other things for we see that there is no body but that Salt may be extracted from it The generating of the most precious Pearls in the Sea and of Coral that comes forth of Rocks with boughes and branches like a Tree divided is ascribed to salt Quercetan de medic Prisc. Phil. 2. Farther being put to the mouths of such as are Epileptick it raiseth them In swoonings either by resolution of the spirits or by oppression of them do but rub the Lips with it and it is a present remedy Held in the mouth or swallowed it hinders Worms from ascending into the stomach Lastly that it is an Antidote both for hunger and thirst the Army of Charles the Fifth made good at the siege of Tunetum They had dyed had noâ— every one of them held a grain or two under their Tongues Bicker in Praes lib. de fâ—nit const CHAP. V. Of Allum and Nitre THere are many figures of congealed Allum Allum called Seissum is the flowr of Allum in clods and is pressed together like planks or it flourisheth severally like grey hairs round Allum swells like bubbles or is like a spunge by reason of the holes in it The liquid Allum sends out of it self such a vapour that smells like fire as stones do when they are rubb'd together to cause fire When it is put upon burning coles or else put into a pot and is torrified with fire burning under it it swells into bubbles and loseth something of its substance Plin. l. 31. c. 10. Nitre in the Clytae of Macedonia is the best they call it Calastricum it is white and next to Salt There is a nitrous Lake where a sweet little Fountain comes forth of the middle of it there Nitre is made about the rising of the Dog star for 9. dayes and then it ceaseth as long then it swims upon it again and then ceaseth This is the wonder that the Spring of water always running the Lake doth neither increase nor run over Those dayes wherein it is made if there fall any rain they make the salter Nitre The Northern showers make the worst because they stir the mud too violently It is made also of the urine of living Creatures that falls alwayes upon good and shadowy ground Ang Salic Vinc S. 1. aph 28. It looks white feels cold it hath in it self a most red spirit most hot and taking fire Sennert l. 5. Epitom Scient natur c. 2. When it is burnt it sends out alone no savour that sense can perceive but mingled with quick lime it hath a most vehement smell The Egyptians strewed their Radishes with their Nitre as we do with Salt The Macedonians adde some of the Calastraeum to their Meal and mould them together to make bread The fine sands of Nilus which as it seems were nitrous were carried by Patrobius a Freeman of Neson to white their bodies with Also Nitre of which is made Halinitre is at Servesta and Bernbergum Georg. Agricola That Land will receive no Rain above a cubit Like unto this is that where stone Walls both in Wine-Cellars and shady places that are free from showers that use to wash it off do so sweat as if they were sprinkled with flowr CHAP. VI. Of Calcanthum or Vitriol THe best is the Roman and Hungarian the goodnesse is tryed by rubbing your knife against it for if it make it look like Copper it is the best Quercetan de capit affect c. 30. It is apparent that in its secret qualities it contains Copper The Ancients took one dram inwardly and kill'd their Worms and cured the venom of Mushromes Sennert l. 5. Epit. Scient natural c. 2. A little piece of the white dissolved in water is happily used for the itching and rednesse of the eyes Platerus de dol p. 313. Riolanus saith That the spirit of it is a caustick that it will eat glasse wherein it is made It hath Antipathy with the oyl of Tartar they are both most acute and sharp If you mingle them the acrimony of both is lost and the liquor becomes insipid Boethius l. 2. de lapid Joyned with Nitre it makes water sit to dissolve silver Minder de Vitriol c. 9. CHAP. VII Of Naphtha Petroleum and Maltha NAphtha is the percolation of Bitumen of Babylon so near akin to fire that it will take fire at a distance and easily be inflamed by the Sun-beams Plutarch relates That in the hollow Caves of Echatana by the heat of fire that it â—low'd as it were into a pond so ready to take fire that before it came at it it would take fire with the light of a Torch and fire the Ayr that was between The Barbarians to shew this to Alexander strew'd a Village with it that was in the way to the Kings Lodging and at last putting a fire-brand near it it flamed as if it had been all on fire Hence he addes that Naptha by some was called Medea's
been so glew'd that they could not easily be parted Bodin Theatr. Natur. l. 2. It hath been seen to draw strawes when it hath been hot Garzias ab Horto l. 1. arom c. 47. It was hitherto believed that the powder of it drank would breed the Dysentery but that hath been disproved Slaves have swallowed down some to hide their theft they sent them forth by stool whole without any hurt to their health Cardan 2. Tract 5. Contrad 9. saith That one dram weight drank in powder did no more harm than a piece of bread The Turkish Emperour gave 50000 Crowns for one CHAP. XXI Of the Opalus Emerald Heliotrop and Topaz OPalus is a Jewel which when you hold it downward it hath the clear fire of the Carbuncle the shining purple of the Amethyst the green Sea of the Emrald and all things else shining with an incredible mixture An Emerald doth so change the ayr about it with its own tincture that it will yield neither to candles Sun light nor shade Hence in the water it seems greater Those that are not perfectly green of them are made better by wine and oyl They are seldom so great as that you may grave a seal upon them Yet there is one not very small at Lyons in a Monastery and that which was seen at Prague in the Chappel of St. Vencessius it is above 9 parts of 12 greater than that Bodin l. 2. Theatr. There is one longer at Magdeburg which is contained in part of the spire fashioned Cabinet wherein the Host is carried some say it was the handle of the knife of Otho the first There was a Jewel once found in Cyprus the one half of it was an Emerald and half a Jaspir The Emerald hath wonderful vertue It is an Enemy to poysons and bitings of venemous beasts and it breaks if they overcome it It is said to further womens labour tyed to the hips and to hinder it laid to the belly Sennert l. 5. Epitom Scient natural c. 5. Shut in a ring or hanged about the neck if it touch the naked flesh it preserves from the Apoplex Plat. l. 1. del f. It hath been known to break off from the fingers of the Master of it that wore it when he was dead It cannot endure venery for if it touch ones body in the act it will break Albertus the King of Hungary had one that brake at that time in 3. pieces Heliotropium is a Jewel marked with bloody veins cast into a vessel of water it changeth the Sun beams falling on it by reflexion into blood colour Out of the water it receives the Sun like a burning Glasse and you may perceive the Suns Eclipses by it how the Moon moves under A Topaz is not onely transparent but also shines wonderfully and the brightnesse goes forth like gold it is greater than other Jewels for thence it was that a Statue was made for Arsinoa Wife to Ptolomaeus Philadelphus of 4 cubits high and was consecrated in the Temple that was call'd the golden Temple CHAP. XXII Of the Amethyst Hyacinth the Sardonix and the Onychite IT is called an Amethyst because it comes near the colour of wine and before it comes to it it ends in a Violet colour Plin. l. 21. c. 8. Laid to the Navel first it drawes the vapours of Wine to it self and then it discusseth them wherefore it keeps him sober that wears it Aristotle The Hyacinth in clear weather shines the brighter in clowdy weather the darker By its fast cold it condenses and refreshes bodies and preserves one that wears it from the fierce pestilence Sardonix is a Jewel compounded of a Sardonius and an Onyx It shews inverted like a nayl of a mans hand the most generous roots are from a certain blackish ground and first represent Onyxes then they are compassed with a reddish circle from thence a round line goes about them then at a greater distance the circle growes larger lastly to all those girdles another kind of basis is placed under them The Graecians made great account of this Jewel Polycrates the King of Samos esteemed it so highly that when as fortune had alwaies favour'd him that he might try the contrary fortune he cast his ring into the Sea wherein this stone was set An Onychites at Colonia in the Temple of the 3. Kings is broader than ones hand Agricola The milky veins of it so run forth that they represent two young mens heads the black veins so that they represent a Serpent descending from the forehead of the lower head and a black-Moors head with a black beard But that was placed upon the mandible of the white head Two Onyxes rubbed under a Table will so burn that you cannot hold them in your hands CHAP. XXIII Of the Jasper Nephritick stone and an Agat A Jasper bound to the thigh will stop the menstrual flux of blood and all bleedings which admit of no help otherwise It stops bleeding at the Nose being hanged about the Neck Sennert l. 5. Epitom Scient natural Bound to the mouth of the stomach and so carried all day for the Falling-sicknesse if sweat follow it frees from the fit or else the sick fall Baccius de gem Pliny saith he saw one of eleven ounces and of that was made the picture of Nero in Armour Plin. l. 37. c. 9. There is found in Silis one of a blew colour that goes 9 foot deep and then comes a dark sandy stone about 12. foot long that hath no Jasper in it Agricola l. 6. de Fossil From the authority of Thaetilis the Jew There are found some strange kinds of it There was a man seen in one that had a Buckler on his neck a Spear in his hand a Serpent under his feet It had vertue against all enemies In another there was a man with a bundle on his neck It had vertue to discover all diseases and to stop blood Lemnius de gemmis Biblicis The report is that Galen wore it on his finger There is a green one found signed with the crosse good to keep one from drowning The Nephritick stone is referred to the Jasper it is found onely in Hispaniola Sennert l. 7. Inst. l. 5. p. 1. S. 1. c. 17. The superficies of it is alwayes fat as if it were anointed with oyl The Spaniards wear them cut in divers forms Many things confirm the wonderfull vertue of it Unzer de Nephritid l. 1. c. 7. Hanged about the neck it so breaks the stones that they will seek for passage out of the body at both the Eyes and where they can find way A certain Merchant of Lipsick testifieth this who had such things happened to him and both his eyes grew red by the salt and sharpnesse of the same It will cure all distillations that fall from the head on the Chest saith the same Merchants Wife For when she had carried one 3 weeks she was cured but the Physitians could not cure her It will cause one to make water that is
the Clods Diodor. Sicul. A Venemous frog is bred deep within the Earth where you can see no holes when as the futures of stones are broken with wedges Agricola Of the rayning of blood and flesh there are many Histories and that came not by the Sun drawing blood from Carkeises but by changing the humour so disposed In a ditch of the Town Beichelstein beneath out of a Willow stinking blood ran At Spira they say it came forth of bread At Suidnicium a bloody Fleece of Snow fell down like hail What shall I say more The Chymists say that of Satyrium great Comfrey Tutsan Bread and Wine a juyce may be made that is perfectly blood which by due digestions may be made into substantial flesh Of Brimstone boyled in Linseed Oyle they make a Masse like a Liver Lastly the fowls in the Orcades are said to be fruits of Trees You shall see it proved in the appendix of the sixth Classis Wherefore we conclude with Libavius that there may be Fossil Flesh and with this discourse we will shut up this Classis Setting aside those things that may be said concerning Devill in Mettalls which we shall speak of in our Thaumatographia Pneumatica which if God pleaseth we intend to publish I add one thing that I had forgot When Henry the 2. King of France was at Bononia there was brought to him from the East Indies by an unknown person but as it appeared by his gesture a Barbarous fellow a stone of a wonderfull shape and nature for it shone with light and clearnesse exceedingly and it seemed as if it were all on fire and turn it which way you would the lustre of it so enlightned the ayre with its beams that they could hardly endure to look upon it And this was strange in it that it could endure no earth upon it but if it were covered with it it would break forth with violence of its own accord no art of man could hold it in a narrow place for it delighted in the spacious Ayre it was exceedingly pure and bright no filth was upon it it had no certain figure but was inconstant and changed in a moment and being so beautifull to behold yet it was not safe to touch it and those that dealt roughly with it to hold it felt the inconvenience as many that stod by can testify If any part were broken off from it by contending with it for it was not very hard yet the vertue of it was very usefull for many things and the Stranger said it was needfull chiefly for Kings He boasted much of the miracle but refused to discover it unlesse he might first receive a mighty reward Thuan saith that he delivered these things as they were in Leters of John Pipin an eye witnesse of it who in the Family of A. Mamorantius M. E. professed Physick and sent his Leters to Antony Mizaldus a famous Physitian also to Bononia on the day before Ascension day and saith he leaves the matter to Philosophers to discusse farther For Pipinus in his Letters neither said that the Antient knew any such stone nor do I affirm it Thuan l. 5. Histor. The End of the Fourth Classis OF Naturall VVonders The Fifth Classis Wherein are the Wonders of Plants NAture daily breeds Flowers and Sents it is evident that men are much admonished thereby that those things that flourish most delightfully do soonest wither Plin. l. 21. histor Natural c. 1. CHAP. I. Of Plants in generall WEe have seen the Wonders of things without life Now let us see the Wonders of living Creatures Plants are first in order not that they are the chief but because they have that degree in common to all living Creatures They have a vegetative soul producing the nutritive augmenting and generative faculties with all things subordinate to them And besides each hath a specificall form of its own being works by it and is distinguished from others Nature hath made up their bodies of certain parts which Philosophers call the kernel the pith the bark of the root the stock the boughes the branches the flowers the fruit As these vary so is there very great difference in Plants The Earth is their Mother their faculty was given by creation and because qualities are different it is found very various in Plants also Moses speaks expresly Let the Earth bring forth grasse the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind whose seed is in it self upon the Earth But Porta l. 2. Phytogn c. 1. when he had heaped up much ground together which was cast forth from the foundations of houses and laid it open to the Ayr a few dayes after from the divers qualities of the Earth divers sorts of herbs sprang forth He saw these things familiarly in Naples climat and grounds some of them must needs marry The principles of Male and Female are mingled in them But that which Pliny writes is false that they are begot by the West wind They wither that fructifie most for their nourishment is consumed and beyond St. Thomas Island the South wind onely is said to blow elsewhere onely two winds by courses And it is certain that all kinds of Plants do not grow in all places For near Rome Chestnuts will hardly grow and about Cimmerian Bosphorus in the City Particapaeum King Mithridates and the rest of the Inhabitants wanted the Bay and Myrtill Tree in their solemnities Some new Plants are found in new-found places as Tobacco lately in America wild Tobacco was found in the Woods of Thuringia Libavius l. 4. de orig rerum Anaxagoras ascribes it to the ayr that hath in it the seeds of all things and sends them down in showrs and they become Plants Diogenes to the waters putrifying and mingled with the earth Others to the winds bringing them We ascribe them to Divine providence which did not produce each individual plant but disposed of the best in Paradise and left the rest without endowing some with virtues to come forth into the light at their set times As for their Life they live by heat in the earth and dye with cold Theophrastus l. 2. de Plant. c. 4. testifies that some of them will spring again if an Olive Tree be burned to the root it will grow again Some will live without the ground as Onions and Garlick which being many moneths from the Earth grow without any nutriment from thence being fortified by much grosse humour of their own Marcel l. 4. histor medic mir c. 12. The forces of Plants are wonderful It hath been observed that if men with wands travel where ill Plants grow the Ulcers will be inflamed and cured where the Plants are healthful Mathiol in Dioscor Praefat. By touching of Spleenwort Splenetick people have been helped and Jaundy-sick by putting Celandine to their naked feet in their shooes No man shall be troubled with blear-eyes so long as he keeps very clean by him the root of the wild sowr Dock He shall not
be troubled with the Strangury any more who quencheth in his urine the burning root of Tamarisk Physitians do diversly dispose them the Chymists teach us to know them by their signatures and Porta of Naples thinks that it is certain that what part of Man they resemble that they are good for Sennert de cons. Chym. c. 18. But of these more hereafter if God please Now let us see Nature prodigall in Plants and opening her Treasures let us admire with thanksgiving CHAP. II. Of Wormwood Woolfsbane and Snapdragon WOrmwood is in many things a wonderful Plant it is very bitter yet the distilled water of it is sweet Hence the Commentators on Mesues think that the intrinsecal parts are sweet but the matter must be ascribed to the thinnesse of the outward parts for these being soluble into a vapour being more attenuated by heat of the fire are easily resolved and abate of their bitternesse Mathiolus in Dioscor c. 24. The Lye out of which the salt of it is prepared will so benum the hands that they almost lose their feeling Mathiol de febrib pest It is credible that if Infants before they be 12 weeks old be anointed with the juice of Wormwood on their hands and feet that neither heat nor cold will ever trouble them during their life and if the whole body be anointed they shall never be scabby Guerth in Append. ad memorab Mizaldi Wolfsbane is the quickest of all venomous things for if it touch but the secrets of a woman it kills her the same day This was the poyson that Mar Coecilius objected that Calphurnius Bestia killed his Wives with when they were asleep hence it is that he so sharply declamed against him that they dyed by his hand Yet experience teacheth that this may be made use of for mans good and against the bitings of Scorpions given in hot wine the nature of it is to kill Man unlesse it find some venome in him to be destroyed Scorpions are stun'd by the touch of it and being astonished shew by their palenesse that they are subdued White Hellebore helps them by its resolving touch and Wolfsbane yields to two evils to that which is evil to it self and to all others Pliny But Snapdragon is so contrary to them that the sight of it stuns them but whilest some by this Amulet hope to procure Princes favours they are deceived Mathiol in l. 4. Dioscor c. 128. CHAP. III. Of Aloes Agallochum and Camomill SCaliger had found by above 40 years tryal that Aloes hurts the Liver Exerc. 160. Sect. 3. They whose veins swell or are opened if they take never so little of it it will certainly go thither for it will adde something of its own to open these vessels But Agalloâ—â—um is Aloes wood so excellent that cast into water it will not swim at all but sinks presently When it is cut from the Tree the Inhabitants bury it a whole year that the bark may wither under ground and the wood lose nothing and they think it will never be so sweet unlesse it first be worm-eaten Simeon Sethi citante Mathiâ—lo Camomil is so like to May-weed that you cannot know them asunder by sight but onely by smell This stinks and bound on will presently blister the skin The flowers of Camomil taken without the leaves and beat in a Mortar and made with oyl into balls if they be dissolved in the same oyl and those that have Feavers be anointed therewith from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet and be presently covered with blankets to sweat if they sweat plentifully it cures them of their Agues This is Nictessius Aegyptius his receipt Mathiol in Dioscorid l. 3. c. 1 37. CHAP. IV. Of Ammi Holly Ceterach and the Strawberry-Tree AMmi if it be the right seed that comes from Alexandria it cherisheth Womens fruitfulnesse if you drink of it a dram weight in the morning every other day 3. hours before meat Yet in those dayes they must not lie with their husbands as Mathiol in 3. Dioscor c. 61. With the flowers of Holly water congealeth and a stick made of it thrown at any living creature though it fell short by the weaknesse of him that threw it yet of it self it will fall nearer to him Plin. l. 22. Ceterach growes in Crete by the River Potereus that runs between two Cities Enosa and Cortina it destroyes the Spleen in Cattel that eat it thence it hath its name Spleenwort In a certain place that lyes toward Cortina this Spleenwort is found in great abundance but it is otherwise toward Enosa for there growes none In the wrong side of the leave of it there is found a precious powder which being given one dram weight with half a dram of the powder of white Amber in the juice of Purslane cures the Gonorrhaea The Strawberry Tree flowers in July the buds by a singular hanging together are joyned in clusters at the utmost end each of them like a long form'd Myrtil berry and as great without leaves hollow as an Egge made so with the mouth open when it fades what hindred is perforated Theophrast l. 3. c. 16. de Plantis CHAP. V. Of the Cane reed Asserall and Agnacath IN Zeilam the Reeds are so large that they make boats of them severally also they make Javelius of them As in the Kingdom of Pegu they make Masts and Oars of the Myoparones Certain it is that they are some of them 7 foot about Scaliger Exerc. 166. Mathiolus writes that in India they grow so great that between every knot they serve for Boats to sail in Lakes and Rivers for three Men to sit in them Mathiol in Dioscorid l. 1. c. 97. Between the Reed and the Fern there is a deadly feud and they say that a Reed tied to the Plough destroys all the Fern that growes there It agrees with Sparagus for if they be sowed in Reedy grounds they increase wonderfully Mathiol l. citat The Turks going to battle devoure Asseral and by that they grow merry and bold against dangers Juglers use this often on their Scaffolds They mingle a Medicament with Wine that will draw their mouths together and whom they would put a trick upon they bid him dip his finger in and suck it he putting this into his mouth cannot for pain suck it The Juglers as if they pittied him in this case annoint the arteries of his wrists and temples with some peculiar Oyntment When he is recovered like one that comes from Sea after Shipwrack he winds his hair and garments as if they were wet and wrings them out he wipes his Armes blows his Nose Scaliger Exerc. 159. Agnacath is a Tree like a Peare Tree and as great allwayes with green leaves and very clear in the outside It makes men so lusty that it is miraculous Kin to this is a root in the Western Hills of Allas the Inhabitants call that part Surnaga The eating of it gives wonderfull strength for Venus they say if
that Fig was taken from the Tree And when they all granted it was newly gathered he replied 3 dayes since was this pulled at Carthage so neere to our walls is the enemy They presently began the 3d Punick Warre wherein Carthage was rooted out In Hyrcania there are some that each of them will beare 260 Bushells Plin. l. 15. c. 18. CHAP. XX. Of the Ash Mushrooms and the Beech. THe Ash is an Enemy to Serpents none of them can â—ndure the shade of it though it be late at night Plin. l. 16. c. 13. Pliny saith he proved it that if a Serpent be compassed in with Ashwood and fire he will leap into the fire before he will passe over the Ash wood This is the great bounty of Nature that it flowers before the Serpents come forth nor do the leaves fall till the Serpents be gone to hide themselves Vessels made of the wood of it for use of meat and drink help the Splâ—â—â— and the Stone wonderfully Dom. Zean l. 1. pract At the waters 〈…〉 out of which fire breaks forth it did once prosper Pliny hist. l. 2. c. 107. Mushrooms groâ— so great in Namidia that they are thicker than Quindes In the Kingdome of Nanles the crust of the ground is thick and like Marble that being covered with earth a span deep and sprinkled with warm water in 4. dayes sends forth Mushromes Scalig. Exerc. 181. S. 1. It is of necessity that there be some seminary vertue out of whose bosome they may proceed for the water that is sprinkled on affords matter and nutriment and also a procatarctical cause Libav l. 1. Epist. Chym. 30. If they be boyled or the juice be pressed forth and poured at the roots of Trees especially Beech-Trees Mushroms will grow from thence in great abundance Sennert de cons. et disp Chym. c. 12. In the Northern parts under the Pole Beech-Trees are frequent of a magnetick vertue and the Mushroms that grow to them are changed into Loadstones saith Olaus l. 12. c. 1. CHAP. XXI Of Guaicum and Gentian GUaicum is of great vertue against the French-Pox In Italy at first they were fearful to drink it Bread and Raisins were prescribed with a moderate diet and to live 40 dayes in a dark Chamber and that so curiously that they admit not of the least Ayr Mathiol in l. 1. c. 3 The errour was observed afterwards and Hens flesh was allowed but not a drop of Wine Mathiolus was the first that tryed it with successe and others followed him Gentian called also Cruciata is the herb of S. Ladistaus a King The report is that the Tartars drove him out of Hungary and that he fled to Claudiopolis a City of Daâ—ia There he grew acquainted with a rich man and became his Godfather He helped him to drive out the Tartars They as they fled threw down moneys of Gold that they had plundered in the field of Aradium as a means to hinder those that pursued them The King pray'd unto God that they might be changed into stones and it was so Hence it is that there are so many stones there After this Hungary being afflicted with a grievous Plague He obtain'd of God that what plant an Arrow shot into the Ayr should fall down upon might be a remedy for that disease It fell upon Cruciata and by the use of that the Plague was driven out of that Country Camerar Centur. 3. Memorab s. 23. CHAP. XXII Of Broom Ginger and St. Johns-wort IN stony and sandy grounds 3. foot from Broom one moneth before and after the Calends of June there is a kind of Broomrape found that is a cubit high if this be bruised and the juice pressed forth which is like to clear wine and be kept in a glasse bottle stopt all the year it is an excellent remedy against the Plague Ginger is a root that creeps along with knots and joynts the leaves are like reed leaves that wax green anew twice or thrice a year Mathiol l. 2. c. 154. There is some difference in the taste when it is dug forth before its time to be ripe The fit time to gather it is when the root growes dry otherwise it is subject to Worms and rottennesse St. Johns-Wort both feed and flower is wonderful to heal all wounds besides those in the head Some write that the Devils hate it so much that the very smell of it drives them away I think this superstitious The same is reported of Pellitary especially for green wounds If it be bruised green and bound to a wound and taken off the third day there will need no other Medicament Mathiol in l. 4. c. 81. CHAP. XXIII Of Elecampane Turnsole and Hiuoa ELecampane is a yearly Plant that growes higher than a man Sometimes 24 foot in height it growes up in 6. moneths after the seed is sown on the top of the stalk there growes a head like an Artichoke but it is rounder and broader and it extends it self with a flower as big as a great Dish Bauhin ad lib. 4. Dioscor c. 182. Sometimes the diameter of the dish is more than a foot and half and it is compassed about with long leaves of a golden colour or as it were Sun-beams and the plain of it in the middle is purple colour The seed is disposed of in the holes of the dish it hath a black rind and sweet substance within so great is the abundance of it that sometimes you shall find above a thousand in one dish Some there are that take the tender stalks of the leaves and scraping away the Down they boyl them on a grid-iron and season them with Salt Oyl and Spices and they are better tasted than Artichokes It is a wonder that it turns with the Sun East and West for when the Sun riseth as if it did adore the Sun it bows down the head and it riseth with it alwaies pointing toward the Sun and opening it self very much at the root of it till the Sun sets Turnsole kills Pismires if you stop their holes with it If a Scorpions hole be compassed about with the juice of it he will never come forth but if you put in the herb he dies Mathiol ad l. 4. c. 186. Hiuca is as great as a mans thigh it goes about with the Sun though it be a clowdy day and at night it is contracted as sad for the Suns absence Plin. l. 22. c. 21. They break it into fine meal by rubbing it with Pumex stones or whetstones then they put it into an Hippocras bag and pour water to it and presse forth the juice The Liquor is deadly but the meal that is left is set in the Sun as they do Sugar-Candy when the meal is dry they temper it with water and make bread of it Scalig. Exâ—rc 153. l. 8. CHAP. XXIV Of Impia Juniper and Glasse-wort IMpia is thought to be a plant that no Creature will taste of and from thence it hath its name yet bruised
Chyrurgians expected he would dye in four days or seven at farthest he recovered by Rhubarb next under God One writes thus of it Camerar Cent. 8. in 51. Rhubarb is hot and dry the belly binds And opens Children Women great with Child May safely use it t is good for all kinds Opens Obstructions and gives purges mild Both Flegme and Choler 't is for 'th stomach good And helps the Liver serves to clense the blood Stops spitting blood and ruptures and we prise This root for weak folk and dysenteries From the small seed of Rhubarb in 3â— months so great a root grows that in some places it weighs 100 pound weight Mathiol in l. 2. c. 104. Mathiolus saw Turneps in the Country of Anamum that one of them weighed 30 pounds Those that are sowed in Summer are free from Worms mingling sutt with the seed when t is sowed or else steep the seed a night in the juyce of the greater housleek It hath been proved Columella By Harlem Anno 1585. there was one dug up like a Mans hand with nails and fingers exactly I saw the picture of it at Leyden with Cl. Bundarcius Ros solis or Sun dew which shines under the Sun like a Starr with his beams hath its name from its admirable nature for though the Sun in summer shine long and hot upon it yet the leaves of it are almost alwaies wet and the down of them is alwaies full of drops And which is admirable that moysture that is contain'd in the cups of the leaves so soon as you touch it with your fingers while it yet growes on the ground or else is pulled up presently and held in the Sun beames is drawn forth by and by into white threads like Silke which harden immediately and so continue ever after Camerar cent 8. memorab 98. CHAP. XXXVI Of Crow-foot Rue Rose-mary Rose-root and rose-Tree CRowfoot if Men eat it will cause Convulsions and draw their mouths awry They seem to laugh that dye with it Pausan. Also Salustius speaks of it In Sardinia saith he there grows an herb called Sardea like wild Smallage this contracts the Mouths and Jaws of Men with pain and kills them as it were laughing Rue resists Venome therefore a Weasel will carry it when he fights with a Serpent It is of a mighty greatnesse at Macheruntum Joseph l. 7. de bell Juddic c. 25. It was as high as any Fig-Tree and had remain'd from the time of Herod It is a singular remedy for the Epilepsy as a Country man found by accident Camerar Cent. 3. Memorab 36. He bruised it and with the smell of the Rue he stopt the nose of this Epileptick person fallen and presently he rose up Rosemary grows so plentifully in France that they burn it so thick that they make Tables of it It flowers both spring and fall Mathiol l. 3. c. 37. Barclay in his Icon animarum c. 4. writes thus of it in England Rosemary in many Countries is costly â—y the very paines is used about it to cherish it here it is common and somtimes serves to make hedges for Gardens Rhodium root is the most lively of all roots for dug out of the earth unlesse it be laid up in very dry places if it be planted again after many Months it will grow It grows on the highest Rocks where it hath scarse so much earth as to stick by Mathiol l. 4. c. 41. The Rosebush at Carthage in Spain is alwaies full of Roses in Winter and was alwaies honour'd by the Romans for they were wont to strew the leaves on their dishes of meat and to besmear their Citron Tables with the juyce of them that they might by reason of their bitternesse be free from Worms Heliogabalus commanded to throw Roses on his Banqueting guests from the top of the Room as if it rayned Roses Dalechamp in l. 21. c. 4. That is wonderfull that is related concerning revification There was a famous Physitian at Cracovia who could so curiously prepare the ashes of every part of a Plant that he would exactly preserve all the Spirits of them The ashes waxing a little hot by putting a Candle to the Glasse represented a Rose wide open which you might behold growing by degrees to augment and to be like a stalke with leaves flowers and at last a double Rose appeared in its full proportion when the Candle was taken away it fell againe to ashes Rosenberg Rhodolog c. ult The same thing allmost was done with a Nettle as Quercetan testifieth in his History of the Plague For when one would appoint a remedy against the stone at the end of Autumn he pull'd a great many Nettles up by the roots of these Nettles he made a lye the common way with hot water and by strayning and filtring he purified this lixivium that he might at last produce salt artificially as he intended but when he had set the lixivium all night to cool in an Earthen Vessel the next day when he thought to Evaporate to extract the Salt it hapned that night that the ayre was so cold that all the Lixivium was over frozen When therefore in the Morning he purposed to cast that Lixivium out at the Window besides his expectation he saw that all the water of the Lixivium was frozen and a thousand figures there of Nettles were in it so perfect with roots leaves and stocks and shewing so exactly that no Painter could paint them better CHAP. XXXVII Of Scorzonera Squills Sage and Scordium SCorzonera is no ancient Plant Mathiolus first described it l. â— c. 137. It was found in Catalonia by an African servant he that found it shew'd that it was a present remedy against the bitings of Adders he that will escape must drink the juice Of Squills vinegar is made of an admirable quality saith Mathiolus if one daily drink a little his jawes and Mouth will never be ill his stomach will be well he will breathe well see well he will be troubled with no wind in his belly and will be well coloured and long winded He that useth this vinegar will digest his meat well though he eat much There will be no crudities in his body not wind nor choler no drâ—gs nor will the urine or ordure passe away with over loosenesse Mathiol in l. 2. c. 168. Of Sage they say that it stops the flowing of the courses if one smell to it and eaten by one with Child it will retain the child and keep it lusty Mathiol in l. 3. c. 34. Hence it is that Agrippa calls it sacred If a woman drink a Hemina of the juice of it with a little salt the fourth day she hath abstain'd and layn alone and then lie with her husband she will conceive It is reported that in Coptus of Egypt after a great plague that the women drank it and did bear many children In many places of Asia they bear Apples In Calabria of Consentia Scaliger saith Exerc 168 that one did bring forth a gall of an
feed on it and there follows either a scowring or death Theophrastus l. 9. c. 22. It grew famous by Nero For he when he had his face bruised by his revellings in the night he annoynted it with Thapsia wax and Frankinsence and beyond expectation it was whole the next day For it wonderfully takes away bruised marks Plin. l. 13. c. 22. Thauzangent is a root in the Western Mauritania of so good smel that a smal quantity hanged about the roof of the house will make a gallant perfume Scalig. Exerc. 142. s. 6. CHAP. XLIV Of the Vine VInes are somtimes infinite great For in Campania those that grow neere the tall Poplar Trees run up by the boughs of them with their joynts till they come to the top so that he that is bound to gather their grapes is in danger of his life Plin. l. 4. c. 1. Pliny saith they will not easily corrupt For the Image of Jupiter in the City Populonia remain'd there many yeares uncorrupted and the Temple of Diana of Ephesus had staires to go up to the top made of one Vine of Cyprus Some of them do yeeld fruit thrice a yeare Dalechampius saw it in many places at Lyons especially in the Garden of Guilet Caulius They are called mad Vines Dalechamp ad c. 27. s. 16. Plin. At the end of the Spring they send forth smal flowers like Starrs set about with round scrapings like Silver of a subspiceous colour These being fallen off like to a little Starre presently appear the clusters of Grapes Lemnius in herb bibl c. 2 The smell of them drives away Venemous Beasts the water that runs from the Vine when it is pruned heals Scabs Some catch it in a glasse bottle and set it in the Sun a whole yeare in the open ayre free from rayn At last a honey substance congeles which is of as great vertue as balsome For it cleanseth fills with flesh conglutinates takes away spots Water distilled from the tender leaves of the Vine in May is good for women that long They suffer no harm though they want it Sennert l. 4. p. 2. c. 2. From Grapes Wine is pressed that we drink The vertues of it are divers as the Wines are Lemn de occult l. 1. c. 16. The Wines of Poictou make men peevish and froward for the Vapours of it prick the braine but your Rhenish Wines are more gentle In the Country of Goritium the Wine is highly commended and next to that is the Wine of Pucinum and Vipacum Mathiolus when he had a long time paines of the Stomach by experience found the force of it Livia Augusta owed her 82 yeares of her life to the Wine at Pucinum Plin. l. 14. c. 6. The Country people that inhabite Japidia because they drink Wines neere Pucinum are seldom sick Galen de Theriaca saith that the best never grows sowr and Pliny writes that some have lasted 200 yeares when it is corrupted it becomes Vinegar the natural heat being resolved It is of an excellent vertue For it hinders tempests and the ruine of Sailers and dissipates the â—aulâ—y ayre suffering no humours to corrupt Plin. l. 2. c. 48. Pearls are tuâ—â—'d into Powder by it as we have an example from Cleopatra who objected to Antony that she alone would spend at one supper a hundred thousand Sestertii and she took a Pearle out of her eare the like was not found in the East Indies and put it into a sawâ—â—r of Vinegar and when it was dissolved she drank it up Plin. l. 9. c. 35. Aqua vitae is also made of it which is otherwise called Elixir the Golden water the Heaven of the Philosophers the quintessence the Soul of Wine the Divine water and the Philosophers Key Canonher de admirand vini l. 1. c. 5. Physitians write wonders of it which are impossible for ignorant people It is thin and the best part of it will flye into the ayre that you would wonder at it For the heat of it kept inwardly by help of the motion of the Ayre resolves the thin substance into a Vapour Cardan de Aethere Things steeped in it in 24 hours lose their vertues Heurn l. 1. prax Medic. It is an Antidote for all things Mathiol in Dioscor l. 6. and not only drank but spurted out of ones mouth into anothers face it recalls Epileptick and hystericall persons restoring lost speech Antonius della Scarparia when he was 80 yeares old said O Aquavitae for 22 years I owe my life to thee Savanarola of the art of making Aquavitae simple and compound Francis the first Duke of Mantua was much delighted with it for having a cold Stomach he was troubled with wind His words are these That he had tried all remedies and found none so good as Aquavitae Canonher loc cit Quercetan shews an unusuall way of trying Wine in Diaetetica in these words All the Gascony Wines that must be transported by Sea are brought to Burdeaux there they are laid in Wine-Cellers for publick use that are wonderfull long and broad so that they may be truly called the Wine-Market without the City a little way and there they are set in close order only a place is left between the ranks to draw Wine at The Merchants that come to buy Wines and are cunning care not so much to taste the Wines that are good but they will go over all the Wine-Vessels and so they can tell by treading on them which are the most spiritful Wines and lightest and those they seal For they go lighter and nimbler on the best Wines than on the grosser and more earthly Wines for they make their passage more heavy There be wonders of it in Pliny l. 14. c. 18. In Arcadia it makes women barren and men mad Theophrast l. 6. c. 19. In Achaia it causeth abortion if Bitches eat Grapes they cast their whelps Victor l. 7. c. 23. They that drink Traezenium lose their generative faculty In Thasias one kind causeth sleep another makes men wake In Aegypt the Grape is sweet and purgeth the belly in Lycia it binds it CHAP. XLV Of Xaqua and Zuccarum or Sugar XAqua is a Tree in Hispaniola The fruit is like to Poppie and a clear white water runs forth of it and whatsoever is sprinkled with it grows like black so that no washing will make it clean In 20 dayes it parts from the rind of it self Ovetan Summ. c. 77. There are two kinds of Zuccarum one from Canes another from an hearb There is another kind from an Indian Tree called Haeoscer Scalig. Exerc. 164. But this is scarce Sugar but the thinner part of milk compacted by heat which falling forth of the buds and roots of the leaves thickneth into a gum They say the fruit is like to Camels Testicles Out of any part of the Tree cut Milk runs forth so hot that it is held for the best meanes to take off haire The Inhabitants make their skins smooth with this There are two kinds of the true
moveable and these birds are bred to allure and draw things to them For Birds are wont to pick and scratch at ones finger that is often moved about their bills or because the eyes are such perfect Looking-glasses that the pupill that is so small will represent their image standing over against it now when the Birds see their own shape in our eyes they it is likely peck at them as desirous to come to what they delight CHAP. XX. Of the Swallow SWallowes are found almost in all Countries Yet Pliny saith they will not fly right to Thebes because they are often taken there Nor are they found in Bizia in Thracia by reason of the wickednesse of Tereus They can endure no cold Hence Claudian writes As when cold Snow and Frost like feathers fall On Trees the Winter-Swallowes die withall Where they live in Winter is diversly described It is certain that in hollow Trees lying many close together they preserve themselves by mutual heat But Olaus Mag. Episcop Upsalensis saith That in the Northern parts where men dye of cold in winter the Swallowes live in the water Though saith he many Writers of Natural Histories affirm that Swallowes change their stations that is do go to hotter Countries in Winter yet in the Northern parts Swallowes are often drawn forth by Fishermen by accident like a congealed Mass and they have united themselves together bill to bill foot to foot wing to wing after the beginning of Autumn to go amongst the reeds c. When that masse is drawn forth and put into a hot-house the Swallowes are thawed by heat coming to them and so begin to fly but they last but a very short time because they are not made free but captives by being taken too soon In Egypt their wonderfull Industry is seen For in the mouth of Heraclia in Egypt they make such an impregnable Mount with their nests continued together against the overflowing of wandring Nilus for a furlong in length that it is thought no man could do as much Pliny In the same Egypt near the Town Coptus they say there is an Island consecrated to Isis which that the same River may not demolish they fence by labour in Spring-time making firm the mouth of it with straw and stubble for 3. nights together labouring so hard that many dye of it Their young ones are bred blind if we believe the Philosopher and Pliny when they receive their sight but slowly they hasten it by putting Celandine upon it Their copulation is wonderful For when the rest of Birds are trod by the old ones Swallowes couple a contrary way Gesner Jacobus Olivarius saith he heard from Hieronymus Montuus an excellent Physitian that Swallowes hearts being taken with Cinnamon and Species of Pills Elephanginae they will help memory Hence Johannes Ursinus writes with amomum eat their heart And wit and memory will gain their part CHAP. XXI Of the Osprey the Ibis and the Loxias OF Ospreys or Sea-Eagles some are said to have one foot like an Eagle and hooked the other plain like a Goose to swim withall that it hath also costly Fat in the tail and that he flies in the Ayr and hangs there as it were and le ts drop some of this fat into the water whereby the fish are astonished that they turn upon their backs and so he catcheth them as some say Ibis is a Bird so loving to Egypt that it will live no where else so soon as it is hatcht if it be weighed it weighs two drams Plutarch de avib l. 4. c. 9. The heart is greater than is proportionable to the body The Gut is 96 cubits long and that in the wain of the Moon is pressed together till the light of it increaseth again saith Gaudentius Merula The Lakes in Arabia send forth such multitudes of winged Serpents that are of so sudden a venomous nature that when they bite they kill before the wound can be perceived these birds by a kind of foresight are stirred up and fly forth in Troops and meet these pestilent multitudes in the Ayr before they wast their Coasts Marcel Loxias in respect of its bill it differs from all other Birds Whence Aristotle thinks it is not known It is wont to have a red breast neck and belly but in winter it changeth its colour It delights in Hemp-seed dead carcases and kernels of the Fir-Tree and it builds in such Trees in January and February In Winter when all things are frozen it sings but forbears in Summer CHAP. XXII Of the Kite KItes live almost every where but they change their quarters especially if they be neere For otherwhiles they are found in hollow Okes cherishing themselves with the rotten dust About Pontus neere the Sea Euxinum they are seen in such abundance in Winter that if for 15 days so many should fly thither as Bellonius saw in one day they would be more then all Mankind They bring the Cuckow with them on their backs because he cannot flye so far Isidore The scripture ascribes to them the knowledge of the change of times Jerem. c. 8. About the Dog-dayes she flyes up to the middle region of the Ayre because it is cold and sits there till the evening Herodot l. 2. Yet in Lybia and the Island of St. Dominick they are alwaies also at London because it is not lawfull to kill them Hence amongst multitudes of people they will catch up their prey any filth that the Inhabitants cast forth into the City or into the Thames Clus l. 2. c. 36. in observat Bellon They will take meat out of the Shambles bread out of Childrens hands and hats off of mens heads especially when they make their nests Aelian l. 2. c. 47. In the first yeare they persue great birds when they grow older little birds and in the third yeare gnats and flies Apâ—leius speaks much of their sight Aristophanes calls them all-eys They flye so high that somtimes they are out of sight so farr that they pass through the Ayre every where and they flye so swift that they will catch any garbage thrown forth before it touch the ground Bellonius l. 2. de Avib c. 26. Somtimes they will ballance themselves in the Ayre not stirring their wings in an hour for lifting up their wings a little in part where the Ayre goes under them they receive the Ayrs motion with their whole body and so they are held up It never sits on a Pomegranat Tree nor can it endure the sight of it and it delights to behold an Owle Burnt alive in a pot it is said to cure the falling sicknesse CHAP. XXIII Of Manucodiata and the Cormorant ALdrovandus observed five kinds of the Manucodiatae none of their bodies was much bigger than a Swallow and their heads were like to them They are said to live alwaies in the Ayre and to rest firme without any but a tonick motion for they want feet and never come to the ground but when they are dead This is a
fable for they could hardly sleep there when their senses are bound up For all their exercise is a tonick motion It is like to that That there is a hole in their back in the muscles where the Female that hath a hollow belly lays her eggs Aldrovandus who saw these Manucodiatae never found any such thing And that is like this that they feed on dew because they flye so high that they cannot alwaies meet with Dew But that must alwaies be restored that alwaies wasts Bellonius saith that the Janissari people of India deck themselves with their feathers They think that under their protection they shall be out of danger in the head of the battel The Mahumetans Marmin perswaded their Kings that they came from Paradise as tokens of the delights of that place The Cormorants are taken in the East to catch fish with In a certaine City saith Odoricus à Foro Julii scituate by the great River in the East we went to see our host fish I saw in his little ships Cormorants tied upon a perch and he had tied their throat with a string that they should not swallow the fish they took In every bark they set three great panniers one in the middle and at each end one then they let loose their Cormorants who presently caught abundance of fish which they put into the Panniers so that in a short time they fill'd them all Then mine â—ost took off the straps from their necks and let them fish for themselves when they were fulâ— they came back to their pearches and were tied up againe Scaliger writes that the same was done at Venice They put their heads deep into the water and perceive the change of the Ayre under the waves and when they perceive any tempest they flye to the land making a 〈…〉 Isidore l. 12. c. 7 Mizaldus saith that Vapours rise up from the waters that cause rainie Clowds and they cunningly observe it The liver of them boyld and eaten with Oyle and a little Salt is so present a remedy against the biting of a mad dog that the sick will presently desire water Aetius The same continued with Salt and drank with Hydromel two spoonfulls will drive forth the Second 〈…〉 Dioscorides CHAP. XXIV Of the Owl and Musket OWls were formerly plentifull in Athens in Gandie they neither breed nor will live brought thither Also in Mountain Countries of Helvetia there are none They sit close 60 dayes in Winter They are not hurt by fasting 9 dayes Plin. l. 10. c. 17. Eustatius says they see in the dark when the Moon is hid but hardly for want of a Medium Crescent l. 10. c. 16. yet they cannot see in the day by reason of too dry and thin substance of the humour which â—s dissipated by the fiery substance of the light He makes a double noise the one is Tou Tou the other noise they call Howling She is at great enmity vvith Crovvs Pausanias reports that the Crovvs snatcht avvay the picture of an Ovvl that vvas to be sold and earings of Gold out of ones hand that vvere made like Dates It is commonly observed that if the Ovvl forsake the Woods it signifies a barren yeare Ovvls egs given for three days in Wine to drunkards vvill make them loath it Plin. The Musket in Winter sits in Woods that use to be lopt and comes not to her place till Sun set When she looks upon any thing the black of the pupill of her eye grovvs greater then ordinary We read of this bird in the Salick lavvs that he vvho should steal ouâ— if he be taken must pay 120 denarii CHAP. XXV Of Onocrotalus and Rhinoceros ONocrotalus is from the tip of his bill to the bottom of his feet ten spans and more in magnitude Aldrovandus His vvings stretched forth make ten spans under his lower mandibule there is a receptacle like a bladder as long as it that hangs down at length And that is so great that a very great man thrust in his leg as far as his knee with a boot on into his Jaws and pull'd it out again without harme Perottus Sanctius reports that a little Blackmore was found in one At Mechlin there was one of 80 yeares old and for some yeares he went before the camp of the Emperour Maximilian as if he would determine the place for them Afterwards he was fed by an old woman at the Kings cost who was allowed for him 4 Stivers the day she fed him 56 yeares when he was young he would somtimes fly so high into the Ayre that he seemed no greater than a Swallow Gesner Also the cubit bones of his wings were covered with a membrane out of which there arose 24 Tendons that were so firmely set into them that there was no way to part them Gesner writes that he heard he was wont to come once a yeare about Lausanna by the Lake Lemannus Rhinoceros is a bird whereof one was kild in the Ayre flying at what time the Christians conquered the Turk in a Sea fight The head was about two spans adorned with black tufts of feathers very long and that hung downwards The Beack is almost a span long bent backward like a bow A horn grows out of its forehead and sticks to the upper part of his Bill of a great magnitude For about the forehead it was a hands breadth Aldrovandus thinks it is Pliny his Tragopanada CHAP. XXVI Of the Parrot THe Antients knew but one kind of Parrots but those that have seen the Indies have found above a hundred kinds different in colour and magnitude Vesputius writes that in a Country above the promontory of good hope that hath its name from Parrots they are so high that they are a cubit and halfe long Scalig. exerc 236 saith he saw one so great that he almost fill'd up the space of the lattice of a Window Some are no bigger than a Thrush or Pigeon or Sparrow No man could hitherto paint sufficiently all its colours they are so many In burning Aethiopia and the farthest Indies they are all white in Brasil red in Calecut they are all Leek green Watchet or Purple coloured Scalig. Exerc. 59. s. 2. The Antients esteemed the Green best The head and beck of it are extreme hard wherefore when they teach him to speak it feels not unlesse you strike iâ— with a wand of Iron woodden rods will do no good and it is dangerous to do it with Iron ones The Parrot alone with the Crocodile moves his upper mandible also his Beck which is common to no other where it is joyned to his neck is open beneath under his chops His tongue is broad like to a mans and represents the forme of a gourd seed the feet are like Woodpickers feet In the desertâ— of Presbyter John they are found with two Claws He puts his meat in his mouth like as men do He not only cuts in sunder the Almonds but by rowling them in the hollow of his Beck and
treads them and ratifies as it were the seed eaten Those hens that he treads not do bring eggs that are windy Olaus Magnus writes that in the Winter in the North the lesser Urogalli will lye hard under the Snow two or three moneths But in Pontus they say in Winter some Birds are found that neither boult their feathers nor do they feel when their feathers are pluckt out nor when they are thrust through with a spit but onely then when they wax hot at the fire It is hardly true The greater Grygallus is so deaf that he cannot hear the noise of a great Gun CHAP. XXXVI Of the Batt PLato calls the Bat a bird and no bird Valla half a Mouse He loves Caves and holes in the earth In the hollow placeâ— of Apenniâ—uâ— there were some thousands that lodged It brings forth the young ones ready formed when they are bred they are first like young Mice smooth and naked as young children She suckles her young ones with her milk and she casts them especially between the hollow places in Tiles or roofs of houses They stick so fast to her Teats that they cannot be pull'd off when she is dead She the second day after she hath disburden'd her self of them flies to find food but in the mean time she devours the secondines Sometimes she is bred of putrid matter Frisius saith she proceeds from a sickly excretion of the Ayr she flyes with leather wings or as Isidore saith born up with the membranes of her arms flying winding up and down and not far from the earth When she is weary she hangs by her claws the rudiments whereof they have in the middle of their wings she will fly also with two young ones in her bosome They eat Gnats Flies Bacon They will so eat a flitch that hangs by a beam that they will lye in the hollow place In hot Countries they will fly at mens faces In Dariene a Province of the New World they troubled the Spaniards in the night One of them fell upon a Cock and Hen and bit the Cock dead Martyr Pompilius Azalius saith That in the East-Indies some are so great that they will strike men passing by down with their wings The Argument of this is their carcases that lie all over the Vale. The Storks eggs grow barren if a Bat touch them unlesse she take â—eed by laying Plane-tree leaves in her nest It is killed by the smell and smoke of Ivy Aelian de animal Locusts will not flye over the place where Bats are hang'd on the Trees that lie open The biting of it is cured with Sea-water or other hot water or with hot ashes as hot as one can suffer it Strabo saith That in Borsippa a City of Babylon where they are greater than in other places they are pickled up for food So in St. John's Island they are skinned with hot water and they are made like chickens with their feathers pull'd off with us for their flesh is very white The Inhabitants of the Isle of Catigan in the Sea del Zur do eat them They are as great as Eagles and as good meat as Hens Scalig. Exerc. 236. s. 3. CHAP. XXXVII Of the Vulter THe Vulter hath filthy and terrible eyes and a space under his throat as broad as ones hand set about with hairs like Calfs hairs Bellonius l. 2. observ c. 1. He hunts after Cattell in Chyla a Province of the West-Indies and that not from Sun-rising till Noon but from Noon till Night Monard de Arom Some say that the males are not bred but the females conceive by the wind which is false for they have been seen between Worms and Augusta of Trevirs â—o couple and to lay eggs Alb. Mag. They are so libidinous that when they are kindled if the male be absent they will tread one the other and conceive by a mutuall Imagination of lust or else drawing dust by force of desire they will lay eggs When he wants his prey he will draw blood from his thighs to feed on Simocatta writes that they are great with eggs 3. years He hath an excellent sight for he will see when the Sun riseth from East to West and when the Sun sets from West to East He will smell Carrion 500 miles Aldrovand Avicenna saith That he sees the carcases from aloft but Aldrovanduâ— writes That the wind carries the sent of them to him He hath an exquisite sense to perceive He lives a hundred years If you pick your teeth with his quill it will make your breath sowr A kernel of a Pomegranate will kill him Plin. l. 30. c. 4. Aelian l. 6. c. 46. The End of the Sixth Classis AN APPENDIX TO The Sixth Classis Wherein some things are taken out of a Treatise of Michael Maierus a most famous Physitian concerning the Bird that growes on Trees WHen one shall read that there is a place in the World where Geese grow on Trees like Apples perchance he will be doubtfull concerning the truth of it and question the Authour And if any man shall say that living Creatures are bred not onely of one but of divers kinds from Trees and vegetables that part will fly and part will not fly hâ— will have enough to do to make good what he sayes if he would not be accounted a Lyar. Yet I think it may be easily proved by what we have said already where we have asserted from experience that Gnats are bred in Okes and mosse of Okes and Worms are bred in other Trees and Vegetables which though they be small creatures yet are they reckoned in the number of living creatures because they feel and move Yet I should not affirm the first as the words sound For Birds make their nests sometimes in Trees hedges bryars and other vegetables but that they grow there like pears is incredible There is one of the Canary Islands called Ferro where is a Fountain of sweet water concealed and there is none besides in the whole Island in some Trees by a wonderfull Indulgence of Nature the leaves do draw abundantly water out of the Earth or Ayr which they drop down for the Inhabitants to drink For should they want this boon no men nor Cattell could live there for there are no Fountains but the Ocean or salt-salt-water runs round about it The great bounty of God hath afforded water to those to whom it is denyed in other considerations As in Egypt where there never falls any rain Nilus overflowes to supply that defect and other Countries have other gifts given them So also is this bird afforded to the Isles of the Orcades and other neighbouring places which is found no where else Yet should any man look to find him growing on the Trees he might wander all the Woods over and find none nor yet do Pyrats amongst the Ferrenses find water but are forced to leave the Country for want of it nor can they find it in the Trees Concerning this bird that is no Fable that
his own observation I thought fit to joyn his historicall observation as an Appendix to the end of this Classis for the benefit of those that search the Secrets of Nature CHAP. V. Of the Spanish Fly and the Glo-worm CAntharides are bred from a Worm in a spungy substance especially of the sweet-brier but most fruitfully in the Ash. If they breed in Fig-trees it is likely that the Tree will die Plin l. 29. Their venom is most tart A Physitian call'd out of Egypt kill'd Cossinus a Roman Knight whom Nero loved with Cantharides in drink when he was sick of a Tetter which was a peculiar disease in Egypt Plin l. 1. c. 4. The same thing happened to an Abbot from a whore Paraeus l. 20. c. 28. A Glo-worm hath a belly with roundles divided with many segments in the end whereof there are two spots very light like to fire tending toward a kind of sky-colour Then is she most conspicuous when her belly is pressed and that transparent humour goes to the end of her belly and her brest against the light shines like to fire Aldrovand de Insect l. 4. c. 8. There is something spoken of this in the Second Classis Adrianus Junius when he was in the Country of Bononia drew the liquor of them upon Papers that shined like Stars what is writ with that in the day may be read in the night Many have shewed the way to compound it Baptista Porta doth it thus We did cut their tails from their bodies taking care that nothing should mingle with the shining parts we ground it on a Porphyr stone and 15 dayes or longer we buried it in dung in a glasse vessel and it is best that these parts should not touch the sides but hang in it for these dayes being over the glasse being put into a hot oven or a bath of hot water and â—itted you may by degrees receive that clear distilled liquor in a receiver underneath and so putting it into a fine Crystall glasse you may hang this water that causeth light in your private Chamber and it will so enlighten the Ayr that you may read great letters Albertus de sensu et sensato shews why their light cannot be extinguished by water For their light cannot be said to be of a coelestiall body because a coelestiall nature comes not into composition of bodies generative and corruptible But the determination of this question and the like is fetched from what we determined in our second de Anima where we shew That the nature of perspicuity is not proper to any Element but it is common to many and is participated by them per prius et posterius which is the more pure the farther it is from darknesse and this is so by how much it is more like to the nature of superiour bodies and the proper act of this is light which hath to do in that nature Now this falls out in it as often as the parts of it are very noble and clear and therefore all such things do shine Now this composition sometime is in the whole body sometimes not in the whole but in some externall parts the cause whereof is that when such a nature is from the Elements that are light it proceeds more from the internall parts to the external because such things will swim And so it is found in the heads and sins and bones of some Fish and in the shells of some eggs because such parts are lesse rosted and heat hath wrought in them much nature of perspicuous bodies condensed Sometimes this heat acts in the externall parts of some things when it exhales from them and that which is subtile brings with it much perspicuity so the parts of Okes corrupted do shine But all those things that have but a weak light are hid when a clearer light appears CHAP. VI. Of the Grashopper ISidore writes that Grashoppers breed of Cuccow-spit Plutarch in Sympos saith Out of the Earth Baldangelus saith they breed out of the earth not tilled that looks Eastward toward the Sun-rising and that white ones were dug up under Okes but their form was as the rest were Aristotle l. 5. hist. c. 30. saith they breed by copulation Pliny sets down the manner First there is a Worm bred then of that Tettigometra or Mother of the Grashopper the shell of it being broken about the Solstices they fly forth alwaies in the night being first black and hard but when he strives to come forth of his Tettigometra You may observe that Grashoppers and Butterflies breed alike for what is in these at first a Caterpillar is in them first a little worm and that case call'd Chrysalis or Aurelia for the Catterpillar is call'd Tettigometra for the Grashopper Yet you shall know that they differ For a rude Chrysalis is a lump wherein no parts of the body are distinguished as we can discern but in the Tettigometra you may see the head eys feet breast and all the parts except the wings it is whitish in colour and sprinkled with small lines First he gets up a Tree and sticks to some branch of the Tree then at the upper end where a cleft is first seen he comes forth his whole body is then almost green shortly his upper part enclines to Chestnut colour and that in one day becomes of a black colour and because his legs and wings are weak at first he sits upon his cast skin till be can fly In Cephalenia there is a River where Grashoppers are on one side but none on the other Plin. l. 11. c. 27. And Antigonus writes that the same thing happeneth in Dulichium an Island of the Ionian Sea Ambrosius Nolanus writes the same of Nola and the hill Vesuvius In the Country of Rhegium they are all mute In Locris beyond the River they sing in Acanthus also they are mute Pliny l. 12. c. 27. If you ask the reason Strabo thinks that at Rhegium the Country is dark and shady at Locris the heat is great and therefore he thinks that the dewy skins of their wings are not there extended but here he thinks they have dry and as it were horny skins But because they do that when they fly and when they stand which the others are thought not to do the heat is the cause of it For being hotter by nature they need more cooling and move the Ayr the stronger The others do not need so much either because they are but of a weak heat they are not heard to do it therefore it may be thought they are said not to do it Nicolaus Leonicus CHAP. VII Of the Crabfish and the Shell-fish breeding Pearls CAmmarus is a River-Crab in his head are two little stones In the full Moon they are seen in figure of a Globe divided into two Agricola It is said to eat flesh It will eat the Pike in a net And Gesner writes That in Danubius when flesh is tyed to their ships and hang'd down into the water multitudes of
bigger than Turtles Eggs. Martyr writes he took an Oyster there that the meat of it weighed above 47 pounds The King of the Island Eubagna had one so big as a Wallnut it weighed 31. caracts and it was sold for 1200 pieces of Castile Gonzalvus Oviedus saith that one was sold at Panama that weighed 26 caracts it was round and as big as the knob of a Pillar It is said that neere the Island Borneo there was one as great a Goose egge and so round that lay'd on a Table it will hardly stay in one place Peter Martyr Decad 1. l. 8. saith That in his presence when he was invited to dine with the famous Duke of Medina Sidonia at Baetica they brought one to sell unto him that weighed above a hundred ounces Heaps are cast up of shells in Summer some of them have Pearls in them that are ready others not yet perfect out of a River that runs by the Village of Hussin in Bohemia These they give their bucks to devoure then they gather up purer being clensed in their Bellies Gesner Five or six are sound in one Vesputius saith he found 130 in some Indian Oysters Somtimes some small ones are found behind like to small kernells But the question is how these are bred Some think they are bred of the dewy ayre but this opinion seems to be false For some lye in the bottom of the deepest waters and some are black some yellow some green some blew Oviedus hist. Ind. l. 9. c. 8. But they say that the white ones are bred of pure dew the pale ones of that which is troubled Androstenes in Athenaeus saith that as kernells are bred in hogs so Pearls breed in shell-fish Juba as Pliny saith subscribes to this The Indians that inhabit the Island Cabagna say they breed as eggs do in them For the greater of them are next the orifice and are first thrust forth but in the more inward parts of the Matrix the lesser Pearls lye hid Rondeletius and Alexander Benedictus compare their originall to that of stones in some greater living creatures We saw saith he stones voided forth of ones bladder as big as a hens egge over which a clammy matter grew by degrees covering them like to a crust of divers colours somtimes and they were hardned by a fiery heat and so they are said to increase by little and little Pearls in shell-fish are reported to grow the same way and the Jewellers can discover by a turning instrument divers coats in them as we see in Onions And Rondeletius saith he thinks that Pearls grow the same manner in shell-fish as kernells do in hogs and the stone in the Reins and the Bladder The yeare wee writ this there was one died that had a Stone in his Reins that had so many partitions as there were branches of small Veins in his Reins The little stone with these partitions was like the outmost knob of a round white marble or like a great Pearl for its figure and brightnesse I think it was compacted of a vitreous flegme Therefore it is no wonder if in Oysters and shell-fish when they grow old Pearls are to be found They may also be dissolved the Chymists shew how Cardanus saith you must first wash them being entire and strain the juyce of Lemmons twice or thrice then put them in and set them in the Sun in five or six days they will dissolve CHAP. XVI Of Flyes IN Cyrene there are found many kinds of Flyes distinguished by their forms and colours Some have broad foreheads like to Weasils others are like to Vipers They say that in Sicilie and Italy they bite so sharply that they will kill whom they bite At Toledo in the shambles somtimes one Flye will appeare for a whole yeare that is notable for its whitenesse Rhodigin l. 17. lect antiq c. 11. In Hispaniola they are green and painted especially in the City of St. Domingo they are as great as Wasps and dig the earth with their feet to make themselves houses under ground Strabo saith the Spaniards have a flye peculiar to them in great numbers and it alwaies comes with the Plague that in Cantrabia the Romans appointed some to catch these Flyes and gave them a set reward for it by number In Carina a Mountain of Crete that is 9 miles about there are none Plin. l. 21. c. 14. Nor was there ever any seen at Rome in Hercules Temple nor yet in the Island Paphos in Venus Temple Apollonius Lasty Emma the wife of the Duke of lower Saxony promised a fruitfull pasture ground to the Church of Breine not far from the City that had this praerogative that no Flyes should molest the Cattel there Crantzius l. 4. Saxon. l. 29. The Hebrews saith Tostatus invent old wives tales concerning them for they say that David inquired of God why he made Fools Spiders Flyes with other things that seeme not only to be superfluous but dangerous and God promised to make it appeare to David that these three things were profitable for some things For foolishnesse it was manifest for unlesse he himself had counterfeited the fool's part before King Achis he had been taken captive and perhaps perished And the Flye was usefull when he descended from the hill Hacbilla into Sauls camp when all were a sleep and took away Sauls spear for then he set his feet between Abner his feet who lay about Saul and when he feared least he should be taken if he should violently draw out his foot God sent a Flye who bit Abners legs and so Abner gave way and yet did not wake Abner so David escaped Lastly the Spider did him good service because she hanged her Web on the mouth of the Cave wherein David hid himself when Saul searched after him To drive them away many men have invented divers means If a peice of an Onyon be laid upon flesh some think the Flyes will not come at it Miraldus cent 7. Aphor. 72. saith they will not come into a house if a Wolfs head be hanged up in it Dioscorid l. 4. c. 3. saith that the fume of Loostrife will drive them away Plin. l. 23. c. 8. saith that white Hellebour bruised with milk and sprinkled will drive them away Those Flyes that live on the branches of Napellus are good against any venemous bitings if we credit Scaliger Exerc. 85. CHAP. XVII Of the Boat-fish BEllonius gives an exact description of the Boat-fish The shell of it seems to consist of 3. pieces namely the Keel and the sides and yet it is but one entire piece the side-pieces whereof seem to be joyn'd on both sides as to the Keel It is commonly as great as we can clasp in both hands and as broad as the space between the thumb and the forefinger but they all in thicknesse do not exceed a piece of parchment and with ridges drawn to the borders they are plaited with indentures ending in a round form The hole by which the Boat-fish is
200 yeares in the water uncorrupted The Phrygians if we will credit Rhodiginus made their dainties of white fat Worms with black heads that bred from rotten Wood called Xylophagi Aelian writes that the King of the Indies used for his second course a certain Worm breeding in Plants and it was broiled at the fire Lastly in an Island call'd Talacha there are Worms like to those that breed in rotten Wood and are the chiefest dish of the Table Johannes Mandevil Tarantulae are a kind of Spiders from the City Tarentum They are harmlesse to look upon but when they bite they cause divers symptoms For those that are stung with the Tarantula some alwaies sing some laugh some cry some cry out for being infected with black Choler according as their temper is they have all these symptoms CHAP. XXIV Of Worms Article 1. Of Worms in Brute Beasts ROttennesse is the mother of Worms which whence it proceeds is known by the generall principles of naturall Philosophy Therefore because in Guiney there are great putrefactions by the continual distemper of the Ayr there are found abundance of worms Hence it appears that a hot and moyst distemper is fit to breed them that in Summer Moneths and when the blasts are warm Gardens commonly abound with Snails and flesh with Worms They are found in Cattel Plants and in men Anno 1562 There was a cruel murrain for Cattle worms breeding about the region of their Liver Cornelius Gemma A worm sticks to the forked hoofs of sheep and Rams which unlesse it be taken out when you eat the meat it causeth loathing and pain of the stomach The Mullet fish breeds but onely thrice in its life-time and is barren all the rest of the time For in the matrix of it little Worms breed that devour the seed In others some small ones breed that hinder procreation Artic. 2. Of Worms in Men. WOrms are found in Men. For sometimes the active cause is sufficient and there is matter enough in their bodies and many examples are found every where in Authors that confirm this Anno 1549 There were many men about the River Thaysa in whose bodies there were found Creatures call'd Lutrae and Lizzards Wierus saw a Country man that voided a Worm 8 foot long it had a mouth and head like to a Duck l. 3. c. 15. de praestig Daemon A Maid at Lovain saith Cornelius Gemma voided many prodigious creatures amongst the rest a living creature a foot and half long thicker than a mans thumb like to an Eagle but that the tail of it was hairy A Maid saith Dodonaeus cast forth some like to Caterpillars with many feet and they were alive Hollerius l. 1. saith he saw a Worm that bred in a mans brain Beniventus c. 100 exemp medic writes That he had a friend that was troubled with great pain in his head raving darknesse of sight and other ill symptomes at last he cast forth a Worm out of his right nostrill longer than his hand when that was gone all the pain presently ceased Theophrast hist. Plant. l. 9. c. ult writes thus of Worms in the belly Some people have belly worms naturally for the Egyptians Arabians Armenians Syrians Cilicians are in part troubled with them but the Thracians and Phrygians have none Amongst the Greeks we know that the Thebans that use to live in Schools and also the Baeotians have a worm bred in them but the Athenians have none A woman in Sclavonia cast out a very strange worm described by Amat Lusitan curat medic Cent. 6.74 It was four cubits long but not broad half so broad as ones nail of a white colour of the substance of the guts having something like an Adders skin The Head was warty and white out of which the body grew broad and grew still narrower toward the tail This Worm was but one body with many divisions the parts of this broad Worm were like to Gourd seeds that had nothing contain'd in them by reason of the compression of its broad body Artic. 3. Of Worms in Plants ALl Plants herbs shrubs and Trees have their worms a worm in the root is deadly For let the Tree be what it will and flourish yet this will make it wither saith Aldrovandus l. 6. de Insect c. 4. And there are sure witnesses that in the roots of Okes such venomous Worms will breed that if you should but tread on them with the sole of your foot it would fetch off the skin There are small white ones found in the sponge of the sweet bryer which is outwardly soft and hairy but inwardly so hard and so solid a substance that a sharp instrument will hardly peirce it In the white Daffodill some are bred which are changed into another flying and beautifull creature which when the herb begins to flourish presently eats through the cover and flyes away Pliny l. 20. c. 6. writes that some think that Basil chewed and laid in the Sun will breed Worms If you bruise the green shells of Wallnuts and put them into the water and then sprinkle them with earth Worms will breed in abundance that are good for Fishers Carol. Stephan Agricultur l. 3. c. 34. But Theophrastus 5 de caus Plant. saith that a Worm beed in one Tree and put into another will not live Joachimus Fortius reports that he saw some who affirmed that from a hazel nut that had a Worm in it there grew a Serpent for magnitude and forme For the nut being opened so farr as the Worm and the Worm not being hurt they put the nut into milk and set the vessel of milk in the Sun yet so that the Worm was not beaten upon by the Sun wherefore on that side the Sun shined they covered the Vessel and so nourished the Worm many days Afterward adding more Milk they set it to the Sun again The milk must be sheeps milk Also they report that a Worm is found in the leaves of Rue nourished the same way that lived 20 days Theophrastus writes of the cause of them plainly and fully His words are these Ill diseases happen to all seeds from nutriment and distemper of the Ayre namely when too much or too little nourishment is afforded or the Ayre is immoderately moyst or dry or else when it doth not rayne seasonably For so Worms breed in chiches vetches and pease and in rocket-seeds when as hot weather falls upon them before they be dried but in Chiches when the salt is taken from them and they become sweet For nature doth every where breed a living creature if there be heat and moysture in due proportion For matter comes from moysture for the heat to work on and concoct as we see it happens in Wheat Worms will breed in the root of it when after seed time Southern winds blow often Then the root growing moyst and the Ayre being hot the heat corrupting the root ingendreth Worms And the Worms bred eat the roots continually For nature hath appointed