and the hole stopt with flax to fourty Sextarii you must pour on three gallons of water and if you will not have the wine so sweet pour on five gallons and it will do After ten dayes the liquor is taken and again the third time also the same measure of water wherein the figs were infused is poured on and in the like manner after four or five dayes it is drawn off Some to six Amphorae thereof adde ten Sextarii of salt that it may not early corrupt others put Fennel and Thyme in the bottom and the Caricae on the top and so in order till the vessel be full also men make Wine of Pears which from the Greek word for Pears is called Apyres and from the Latin Piery Palladius saith it was thus They are bruised and put in a very course bag of Canvas and pressed with weights or in a Press It lasts in the Winter but in Summer comes it sowrer Dioscorides will not have the Pears too ripe the same way is made Wine of Pomegranates Sotion makes wine of the grains of the Pomegranate taking away what is in the middle of the grains Palladius put the ripe grains well purged into a Date pail and press them out with a scrue press then boil them gently to half when it is cold put it into vessels that are pitched or plaistered with Gipsum Some do not boil the juice but to every Sextarius they mingle one pound of honey and put all in the said vessels and keep it There is made Wine of the Lote-tree fruit There is a kind of Lote without any inward kernel which is as hard as a bone in the other kind wine is pressed also out of it like Mead that will not last above ten dayes Nepos saith the same from Pliny Athenaus from Polybius Wine is made of the Lote steeped in water and bruised very pleasant to the taste as the best Mead is it is drunk pure without water also but it will not last above ten dayes wherefore they make but little for use to last onely so long Vineger is made also of it And yet not much or good enough yet there is made Wine of Myrtles berries and Cornels Out of Sotion who of the berries of Myrtles and Cornels when they are fresh pounded and pressed our made wine Now I shall shew how we may make Wine of Corn. Drink is made of Corn. Dioscorides teacheth to make Beer of Barley also a drink is made of Barley called Curmi they use that drink oft-times for wine the like drinks are wont to be made of Wheat In Hiberia toward the west and in Britany whence Pliny of Corn drink is made Beer in Egypt called Zythum in Spain Caelia and Ceria Beer in France and other Provinces In Aristotles book of drunkenness those that drink wine made of Barley till they be drunk fall upon their backs they call that wine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but those that are drunk with any other kind of drinks fall any way on the right or left hand forward or backward but those that drink Pinum fall onely upon their backs Wine made of Barley they call Brytum Sophocles in Triptolemo and Aeschylus in Lycurgo But Hellanicus saith that Brytum is made in Farms out of roots Hecateus saith that the Egyptians grinde Barley to make drink and that the Macedonians drink Brytum made of Barley and Parabia made of Millet and Rice saith Athenaeus Also wine is made of Rice for saith Aelianus when an Elephant fights in war they give him not onely wine of grapes but of Rice also Now the same drink is made in the Northern Climates of Corn and they call it Biera but they put hops to it for it cannot be made without Barley and Wheat are infused in the decoction of it We see that of Barley and Wheat steeped in water a drink is made that tastes like wine and of them I have made the best aqua vitae But these drinks of old were Physical rather then to use as wine But I shall shew how some drinks that are so like wine in taste that you would think they were wine indeed And first Wine of Honey To nine vessels of water put eighteen pounds of Honey into brass Caldrons covered with Tin and let them boil a long time stirring all with wooden ladles and wiping away the froth that riseth with little brushes pour it out put it into a wine vessel then take two pounds of red wine Tartar and boil them in water till they be dissolved to which add an eighth part of a vessel of vineger that the loathsome and unpleasing taste of the sweetnesse of Honey may be lost let these be mingled then pour on two vessels of the best wine then let it settle after some days strain it through a hair-cloth strainer or one of cloth to cleanse it from the filth and excrements A liquor will run from this that will serve for sparing and to abate charge in a family and it is good to drink in health and sickness cover it close and drink it I shall shew you another way to make Wine of Raisins Pour into a brass Caldron seven vessels of water put in two pounds of Raisins let them boil till they be wasted in the water and the water be sweet as Mead if your kettle be too small do it at several times then take your kettle from the fire and when the liquor grows cold strain it gently forth put up the strained liquor in a wine vessel and pour into it a measure of the sharpest red wine vineger to abate the sweetnesse of the Raisins then add nine pound of Tartar finely powdered unto it and pouring on a fourth part of the best wine stop the vessel close when it is full after one week use it Another Wine of Quinces Put into brass Caldrons glazed with Tin a vessel of new wine and put thereto about fifty wild Quinces namely such as are full of streeks and wrinkled take out their kernels cut the Quinces in peices like as you do Rape Roots boil all at a gentle fire when they have boild a while take them off and let them cool pound the Quinces in a morter with a wooden pestle press them out with a press put the juice pressed forth of them the new wine and set it up in a glazed earthen vessel for a whole year When wine is scarce and you have occasion to use this put â—nto a vessel four parts of water two of new wine and one fourth part of the aforesaid mixture cover the vessel and let it boil and when it is clear use it Of all these an amphora of vineger a pound of honey as much Tartar in powder let them boil a while in a pot glazed with Nitre and mingle them and for every vessel of water pour on an Amphora of wine and cover all and after twenty dayes use it or take honey one pound as much red wine Tartar half
a pound of Raisins two Amphoras of Vineger let them boil in a pot adde wine also to them and it will be for drink I shall adde the Northern drink Wine called Metheglin The drink in Pannonia Poland and England is more pleasant and wholesome then many wines are it is made of twenty pound of good honey and of water one hundred and twenty pound skimming it till all comes to eighty pound which being cold and tunned up into a wine vessel put in leaven of bread six ounces or as much as will serve to make it work and purifie it self and withal put into a bag that hangs and may be put into the liquor and not touch the bottom of Cinnamon granes of Paradise Pepper Ginger Cloves two drams one hand full of Elder flowers let them stand in a wine Cellar all the Winter in Summer set them fourty dayes in the Sun till they taste like wine and the unpleasant taste of the honey be gone But it will be more pleasant if you add a third part of wine CHAP. XXII How vineger may be made divers wayes and of what AFter wine it follows to speak of vineger First how our forefathers made it then how of late years that it may be made extream sowre which is not only good for a family but is necessary for many Arts. Also there are some Countries where wine and so vineger is scarce Therefore in those places divers men have used their wits to make it wherefore to begin we say that Vineger may be made of the Fig-tree Out of Columella A green fig must be taken very betimes and also if it have rained and the figs fall to the earth beaten down with showres gather those figs and put them up in Hogs-heads or Amphora and let them ferment there then when it grows sharp and hath sent out some liquor what vineger there is strain it out diligently and pour it into a sweet pitched vessel This yields the best sharp vineger and it will never grow musty or hoary if it be not set in too moist a place Some to make more quantity mingle water with the figs and then they adde to them the ripest new figs and they â—et them consume in that liquor until it tast sharp enough like vineger then they strain all through rushy baskets or withie bags and they boil this vineger till they have taken off all the froth and filth from it Then they adde some terrefied salt and that hinders worms and other vermine to breed in it Cassianus makes it thus Put into a vessel old figs terresied Barley and the internal parts of Citrons Stir it often and diligently and when they are putrified and soaked strain them out and use them Apuleius They make vineger of figs wet upon the Trees and cast into water to putrifie Dioscorides The liquor of figs steeped grows sharp as vineger and is used for it There is made also Vineger of Dates To Date wine we speak of some adde water and receive it again and they do this three four five or six times and at last it grows sowre From the same Pliny teacheth to make Vineger of honey You must wash your honey vessels or hives in water with this decoction is made the most wholesome vineger Palladius teacheth the way to make Vineger of Pears wild Pears are such as are sharp and ripe are kept three dayes in a heap then they are put into a vessel and fountain or river water is put to them the vessel is left covered thirty dayes then as much vineger as is taken out for use so much water is put in to repair it Cassianus makes Vineger of Peaches Put soft delicate Peaches into a vessel and adde parched Barley to them let them putrifie for one day then strain them out and use it We may from Cassianus make Vineger without wine If you boil Gypsum and sea-sea-water and then mingle it with River water and use it being strained But if you will Turn wine into vineger and contrarily vineger into wine Cassianus hath it He puts Beet roots bruised into wine it will be vineger when three hours are over But if he would restore it again as it was he puts in Cabbage roots So also To make the same We may do it another way and quickly Cast into wine Salt Pepper and sowre leaven mingle them and they will soon make it vineger But to do it more quickly quench in it often a red hot brick or piece of steel also provide for that unripe Medlars Cornels Mulberries and Plums But Sotion shews to make Sharp vineger of new wine Dry the mother of wine of grapes at the Sun and put them into new wine adding a few sowre grapes thereto and it will make sharp vineger that will be for use after seven dayes or put in pellitory of Spain and it will be sharp Moreover if you boil a fourth or fifth part of vineger at the fire put that to the rest and set all eight days in the Sun you shall have most sharp and pleasant wine The roots of old grass and Raisins and the leaves of a wild Pear-tree bruised and the root of the bramble and whey of milk burnt Acorns Prunes rosted and the decoctions of Chiches and pot-sheards red hot all of these put severally into vineger will make it tart Apuleius teacheth To double the quantity of vineger Take a good measure of Vineger about a Metreta and to that adde one Metreta of Sea-water boiled to half mingle them and set them aside in a vessel Some steep Barley and strain it and of that juice they mingle one Metreta and they stir them together and they cast in torrefied salt when it is yet hot a good quantity then they cover the vessel and let it stand eight dayes But I use to make it thus Vineger of clusters of grapes pressed forth After the Vintage we cast in the clusters when the wine is pressed forth into a wooden vessel and we pour upon them a quantity of water and it will be vineger when a week is over Moreover we cut the tendrels from Vines and bruise them and put water to them and it will be vineger Also thus Ill wine is turned to vineger When the bunches of grapes are pressed forth lay them between two wooden bowls not very thick together let them grow hot for four days then pour on them so much naughty wine as may cover them let them alone 24 hours then strain them into another wooden bowl and after so many hours put them into another bowl and do so til it be turned into most sharp white vineger and if you would make more of the same clusters pour on upon them some sharp vineger and let them alone till they be extream sharp and sowre then take that out and pour on ill wine and do as you did Lastly press those clusters out in a press and you shall recover as great quantity as of the wine that was spent CHAP. XXIII
the Plane-Tree Pliny For want sometimes they are forced to make Oyl for candles of the Plane-tree berries soaked in water and salt but it is very little as I proved Pliny saith the Indians make Oyl of Ches-nuts which I think very difficult for but a little will come from them as you shall find if you try He said also That Gallia Cisalpina made Oyl of Acorns of the Oak to serve for lights but we can make very little Also the Ancients used to make Oyl of Wallnuts that they pressed from the Wallnuts unsavoury and of a heavy taste for if there be any rottenness in the kernel the whole manner is spoil'd Now Gallia Cisalpina makes it for to eat and for lights also For lights by parting the naughty Nuts from the sound but the best serves for to eat at second courses These therefore are to eat and those for lights they burn cleer and there is nothing that yields more Oyl For it turns almost all to Oyl for one pound of cleansed Nuts will yield almost ten ounces of Oyl Now follows Oyl of sweet Almonds Oyl of sweet Almonds is best for food and of bitter for Physick and of old it was made with great diligence Dioscorides shews the way how half a bushel of bitter Nuts cleansed and dried are pounded in a morter with a wooden pestle into lumpâ— then a sextarius of seething water is poured on and when for half an hour the moisture is drunk in they are beaten more violently then before then is it pressed between boards and what sticks to the fingers is collected with shells The Nuts being pressed again a Hemina of water is sprinkled on them and when they have drank that up they do as before every bushel yields an Hemina With us it is commonly drawn out the same way These are the Oyls of the Antients Now we shall proceed with our Oyls Next follows Oyl of small Nuts They yield abundance of sweet sented excellent Oyl which all may use also for meats one pound of the cleansed Nuts will yield eight ounces of Oyl which former times were ignorant of Oyl of Pistaches serve for Meat and Physicks Out of Pine kirnels Oyl is made They are cull'd and the naughty ones serve for lights but the Oyl that comes from the best is for to eat and for Physick very much is extracted I saw it at Ravenna But Oyl of Beech The best of all is pressed out in abundance for meats and for lights It burns very cleer and tastes as sweet Almonds and the whole Nut almost goes into Oyl as the Wallnut doth The elder the Mast is the more Oyl it yields and the Lees of the Oyl is excellent to far Oxen and Hogs They are soon gathered cleansed bruised and pressed We pressed also Oyl from the bastard Sycomore as they call it for it is abundant in seed and in winter the boughs of it are seen loaded with seed onely In February we collected it and crumbled it the shell is broken into six or seven parts the kernels are like a Pear they are bruised and heated in a pan then put into a press and they yield their Oyl They make clear light in lamps and the seed yields a fourth part of Oyl There is drawn Oyl out of the Sanguine-Tree for lights About the middle of September the ripe berries are taken forth of the clusters let them dry a few days bruise them and let them boyl in water in a brass kettle for one hour then put them into the press you shall have green coloured Oyl about a seventh part of the seed The Mountainous people use it There is pressed Oyl out of the Grapes or Raisins The Greeks call'd these Gigarta Cisalpina Gallia makes oyl of them bruised heat and pressed in a press but it is very little fit for lights because it burns exceeding cleer There is much in Egypt Oyl of Radish-seed made they use it to season their meats and boil it with them But Cisalpina Gallia presseth Oyl out of Radish-seed and Rape-seed Rapes are pulled up onely in Novembâ—r but they are covered with sand together with their leaves They are planten in March that they may seed in May. For unless they be pulled up they freeze with winter cold But there is another kind of Rape that is sowed in July it is weeded it comes forth in the spring in May it yields seed out of a quarter of a bushel of it eighteen pounds of Oyl are drawn it is good for lights and for common people to eat If you sow a whole Acre with this seed you shall have five load of seed and of every load you may make two hundred pounds of Oyl it is onely plow'd and weeded Also Oyl is made of the seed of Cameline It is made for lights but those of Lombardy make great plenty of a golden-coloured Oyl of a seed like to this called Dradella It hath plaited leaves as wild Rochet which they sowe amongst Pulse The same may be said of the seeds of Nettles Mustard Flax Rice CHAP. XXV How a Housholder may provide himself with many sorts of Thread NOw shall I speak of many sorts of Yarn because this may much help the Household for the Houswife hath always need thereof Our Ancestors used Hemp and Flax for thus they made Yarn of Flax yet there needs no example the Thread is so common I will speak of those that follow and of other inventions Pliny Flax is known to be ripe two ways when the seed smells or looks yellow then it is pulled up and bound in handfuls and dried in the Sun letting it hang with the roots upwards for one day Then five of these bundles standing with their tops one against another that the seed may fall in the middle Then after Wheat-harvest the branches are laid in the water that is warm with the Sun they are kept down by some weight and soaked there and again as before turn'd up-side down they are dried in the Sun Then being dried they are bruised on with a flax-hammer that which was next the rind is call'd hard or the worst flax and it is fit for to make weiks for Candles yet that is kemmed with hackes till all the membrans be pilled clean The art of kembing and making of it is out of fifty pound of Flax-bundles to make fifteen pound of Flax. Then again it is polished in Thread it is often beat upon a hard stone with water and when it is woven it is bruised again with Beetles and the more you beat it the better it is Also there is made Thread of Hemp Hemp is excellent for ropes Hemp is plucked up after the Vintage but it is cleansed and pill'd with great labour There are three sorts of it that next the rind is the worst and that next the pith the middlemost is the best which is called Mesa Another To make Thread of Broom It is broken and pull'd from the Ides of May until the Ides in June
of brass you may make Iron to become white If you put amongst it some silver though it be not much it will soon resemble the colour of silver for Iron doth easily suffer it self to be medled with gold or silver and they may be so thoroughly incorporated into each other that by all the rules of separation that can be used you cannot without great labour and very much ado separate the one of them from the other CHAP. V. Of Quick-silver and of the effects and operations thereof IN the next place it is meet that we speak something concerning Quick-silver and the manifold operations thereof wherein we will first set down certain vulgar and common congelations that it makes with other things because many men do desire to know them and secondly we will shew how it may be dissolved into water that they which are desirous of such experiments may be satisfied herein First therefore we will shew How Quick-silver may be congealed and curdled as it were with Iron Put the quick-silver into a casting vessel and put together with it that water which the Blacksmith hath used to quench his hot Iron in and put in also among them Ammoniack Salt and Vitriol and Verdegrease twice so much of every one of these as there was quick-silver let all these boil together in an exceeding great fire and still turn them up and down with an Iron slice or ladle and if at any time the water boil away you must be sure that you have in a readiness some of the same water through hot to cast into it that it may supply the waste which the fire hath made and yet not hinder the boiling thus will they be congealed all together within the space of six hours After this you must take the congealed stuff when it is cold and binde it up hard with your hands in leather thongs or linnen cloth or osiers that all the juice and moisture that is in it may be squeesed out of it then let that which is squeesed and drained out settle it self and be congealed once again till the whole confection be made then put it into an earthen vessel well washed and amongst it some spring-water and take off as neer as you can all the filth and scum that is upon it and is gone to waste and in that vessel you must temper and diligently mix together your congealed matter with spring-water till the whole matter be pure and clear then lay it abroad in the open air three days and three nights and the subject which you have wrought upon will wax thick and hard like a shell or a tile-sheard There is also another congelation to be made with quick-silver Congeailng of Quick-silver with balls of Brass thus make two Brass half circles that that may fasten one within the other that nothing may exhale put into them quick-silver with an equal part of white Arsenick and Tartar well powdred and searced lute the joynts well without that nothing may breathe forth so let them dry and cover them with coles all over for six hours then make all red hot then take it out and open it and you shall see it all coagulated and to stick in the hollow of the Brass ball strike it with a hammer and it will fall off melt it and project it and it will give an excellent colour like to Silver and it is hard to discern it from Silver If you will you may mingle it with three parts of melted Brass and without Silver it will be exceeding white soft and malleable It is also made another way Make a great Cup of Silver red Arsenick and Latin with a cover that sits close that nothing may exhale fill this with quick-silver and lute the joynts with the white of an Egg or some Pine-tree-rosin as it is commonly done hang this into a pot full of Linseed Oyl and let it boil twelve hours take it out and strain it through a skin or straw and if any part be not coagulated do the work again and make it coagulate If the vessel do coagulate it slowly so much as you find it hath lost of its weight of the silver Arsenick and Alchymy make that good again for we cannot know by the weight use it it is wonderful that the quick-silver will draw to it self out of the vessel and quick-silver will enter in Now I shall shew what may be sometimes useful To draw water out of Quick-silver Make a vessel of potters earth that will endure the fire of which crucibles are made six foot long and of a foot Diameter glassed within with glass about a foot broad at the bottom a finger thick narrower at the top bigger at bottom About the neck let there be a hole as big as ones finger and a little pipe coming forth by which you may fitly put in the quick-silver on the top of the mouth let there be a glass cap fitted with the pipe and let it be smeered with clammy clay and bind it above that it breathe not forth For this work make a furnace let it be so large at the top that it may be fit to receive the bottom of the vessel a foot broad and deep You must make the grate the fire is made upon with that art that when need is you may draw it back on one side and the fire may fall beneath Set therefore the empty vessel into the furnace and by degrees kindle the fire Lastly make the bottom red hot when you see it to be so which you may know by the top you must look through the glass cap presently by the hole prepared pour in ten or fifteen pounds of quick-silver and presently with clay cast upon it stop that hole and take away the grate that the fire may fall to the lower parts and forthwith quench it with water Then you shall see that the water of quick-silver will run forth at the nose of the cap into the receiver under it about an ounce in quantity take the vessel from the fire and pour forth the quick-silver and do as before and always one ounce of water will distil forth keep this for Chymical operation I found this the best for to smug up women with This artifice was found to purifie quick-silver I shall not pass over another art no less wonderful than profitable for use To make quick-silver grow to be a Tree Dissolve silver in aqua fortis what is dissolved evaporate into thin air at the fire that there may remain at the bottom a thick unctious substance Then distil fountain-water twice or thrice and pour it on that thick matter shaking it well then let it stand a little and pour into another glass vessel the most pure water in which the silver is adde to the water a pound of quick-silver in a most transparent crystalline glass that will attract to it that silver and in the space of a day will there spring up a most beautiful tree from the bottom and hairy as
made of most fine beards of corn and it will fill the whole vessel that the eye can behold nothing more pleasant The same is made of gold with aqua regia CHAP. VI. Of Silver I Shall teach how to give silver a tincture that it may shew like to pure gold and after that how it may be turned to true gold To give Silver a Gold-colour Burn burnt brass with stibium and melted with half silver it will have the perfect colour of gold and mingle it with gold it will be the better colour We boil brass thus I know not any one that hath taught it you shall do it after this manner melt brass in a crucible with as much stibium when they are both melted put in as muâ—h stibium as before and pour it out on a plain Marble-stone that it may cool there and be fit to beat into plates Then shall you make two bricks hollow that the plates may be fitly laid in there when you have fitted them let them be closed fast together and bound with iron bands and well luted when they are dried put them in a glass fornace and let them stand therein a week to burn exactly take them out and use them And To tincture Silver into gold you must do thus Make first such a tart lye put quick lime into a pot whose bottom is full of many small holes put a piece of wood or tilesheard upon it then by degrees pour in the powder and hot water and by the narrow holes at the bottom let it drain into a clean earthen vessel under it do this again to make it exceeding tart Powder stibium and put into this that it may evaporate into the thin air let it boil at an easie fire for when it boils the water will be of a purple colour then strain it into a clean vessel through a linnen cloth again pour on the lye on the powders that remain and let it boil so long at the fire till the water seems of a bloody colour no more Then boil the lye that is colour'd putting fire under till the water be all exhaled but the powder that remains being dry with the oyl of Tartar dried and dissolved must be cast again upon plates made of equal parts of gold and silver within an earthen crucible cover it so long with coles and renew your work till it be perfectly like to gold Also I can make the same Otherwise If I mingle the congealed quick-silver that I speak of with a cap with a third part of silver you shall find the silver to be of a golden colour you shall melt this with the same quantity of gold and put it into a pot pour on it very sharp vinegar and let it boil a quarter of a day and the colour will be augmented Put this to the utmost trial of gold that is with common salt and powder of bricks yet adding Vitriol and so shall you have refined gold We can also extract Gold out of Silver And not so little but it will pay your cost and afford you much gain The way is thiâ— Put the fine filings of Iron into a Crucible that will endure fire till it grow red hot and melt then take artificial Chrysocolla such as Goldsmiths use to soder with and red Arsenick and by degrees strew them in when you have done this cast in an equal part of Silver and let it be exquisitely purged by a strong vessel made of Ashes all the dregs of the Gold being now removed cast it into water of separation and the Gold will fall to the bottom of the vessel take it there is nothing of many things that I have found more true more gainful or more hard spare no labour and do it as you should lest you lose your labour or otherwise let the thin filings of Iron oak for a day in sea-water let it dry and let it be red hot in the fire so long in a â—rucible till it run then cast in an equal quantity of silver with half brass let it be projected into a hollow place then purge it exactly in an ash vessel for the Iron being excluded and its dregs put it into water of separation and gather what falls to the bottom and it will be excellent Gold May be it will be profitable to Fix Cinnaber He that desires it I think he must do thus break the Cinnaber into pieces as big as Wall-nuts and put them into a glass vessel that is of the same bigness and the pieces must be mingled with thrice the weight of silver and laid by courses and the vessel must be luted and suffer it to dry or set it in the Sun then cover it with ashes and let it boil so long on a gentle fire till it become of a lead colour and break not which will not be unless you tend it constantly till you come so far Then purge it with a double quantity of lead and when it is purged if it be put to all tryals it will stand the stronger and be more heavy and of more vertue the more easie fire you use the better will the business be effected but so shall we try to repair silver and revive it when it is spoil'd Let sublimate quick-silver boil in distil'd vinegar then mingle quick-silver and in a glass retort let the quick-silver evaporate in a hot fire and fall into the receiver keep it If you be skilful you shall find but little of the weight lost Others do it with the Regulus of Antimony But otherwise you shall do it sooner and more gainfully thus Put the broken pieces of Cinnaber as big as dice into a long linnen bag hanging equally from the pot sides then pour on the sharpest venegar with alom and tartar double as much quick lime four parts and as much of oaken ashes as it is usual to be made or you must make some Let it boil a whole day take it out and boil it in oyl be diligent about it and let it stay there twenty four hours take the pieces of Cinnaber out of the oyl and meer them with the white of an egge beaten and role it with a third part of the filings of silver put it into the bottom of a convenient vessel and lute it well with the best earth as I said set it to the fire three days and at last increase the fire that it may almost melt and run take it off and wash it from its faeces that are left at the last proof of silver and bring it to be true and natural Also it will be pleasant From fixt Cinnaber to draw out a silver beard If you put it into the same vessel and make a gentle fire under silver that is pure not mixed with lead will become hairy like a wood that there is nothing more pleasant to behold CHAP. VII Of Operations necessary for use I Thought fit to set down some Operations which are generally thought fit for our works and if you know them
not you will not easily obtain your deâ—â—re I have set them down here that you might not be put to seek them elswhere First To draw forth the life of Tinne The filings of Tinne must be put into a pot of earth with equal part of salt-peter you shall set on the top of this seven as many other earthen pots with holes bored in them and stop these holes well with clay set above this a glass vessel with the mouth downwards or with an open pipe with a vessel under it put fire to it and you shall hear it make a noise when it is hot the life flies away in the fâ—me and you shall find it in the hollow pots and in the bottom of the glased vessel compacted together If you bore an earthen vessel on the side you may do it something more easily by degrees and you shall stop it So also From Stibium we may extract it Stibium that Druggists call Antimony is grownd small in hand-mills then let a new crucible of earth be made red hot in a cole fire cast into it presently by degrees Stibium twice as muâ—h Tartar four parts of salt-peter finely powdred when the fume riseth cover it with a cover lest the fume rising evaporate then take it off and cast in more till all the powder be burnt then let it stand a little at the fire take it off and let it cool and skim off the dregs on the top and you shall find at the bottom what the Chymists call the Regulus it is like Lead and easily changed into it For saith Dioscorides should it burn a little more it turns to Lead Now I will shew how one may draw a more noble Metal To the out-side As foolish Chymists say for they think that by their impostures they do draw forth the parts lying in the middle and that the internal parts are the basest of all but they erre exceedingly For they eat onely the outward parts in the superficies that are the weakest and a little quick-silver is drawn forth which I approve not For they corrode all things that their Medicament enters the harder parts are left and are polished and whitened may be they are perswaded of this by the medals of the Antients that were within all brass but outwardly seemed like pure silver but those were sodered together and beaten with hammers and then stamp'd Yet it is very must to do it as they did and I think it cannot be done But the things that polish are these common Salt Alom Vitriol quick Brimstone Tartar and for Gold onely Verdigrease and Salt Ammoniack When you would go about it you must powder part of them and put them into a vessel with the metal The crucible must be luted with clay and covered there must be left but a very small hole for perspiration then set it in a gentle fire and let it burn and blow not lest the metal melt when the powders are burnt they will sink down which you shall know by the smoke then take off the cover and look into them But men make the Metal red hot and then when it is hot they drench it in or otherwise they put it in vinegar till it become well cleansed and when you have wrapt the work in linnenrags that was well luted cast it into an earthen vessel of vinegar and boil it long take it out and cast it into urine let it boil in salt and vinegar till no filth almost rise and the foul spots of the ingredients be gone and if you find it not exceeding white do the same again till you come to perfection Or else proceed otherwise by order Let your work boil in an earthen pot of water with salt alom and tartar when the whole superficies is grown white let it alone a while then let them boil three hours with equal parts of brimstone salt-peter and salt that it may hang in the middle of them and not touch the sides of the vessel take it out and rub it with sand till the fume of the sulphur be removed again let it boil again as at first and so it will wax white that it will endure the fire and not be rejected for counterfeit you shall find it profitable if you do it well and you will rejoyce if you do not abuse it to your own ruine CHAP. VIII How to make a Metal more weighty IT is a question amongst Chymists and such as are addicted to those studies how it might be that silver might equal gold in weight and every metal might exceed its own weight That may be also made gold without any detriment to the stamp or engraving and silver may increase and decreasâ— in its weight if so be it be made into some vessel I have undertaken here to teach how to do that easily that others do with great difficulty Take this rule to do it by that The weight of a Golden vessel may increase without hurting the mark if the magnitude do not equal the weight You shall rub gold with thin silver with your hands or fingers until it may dâ—ink it in and make up the weight you would have it sticking on the superficies Then prepare a strong lixivium of brimstone and quick lime and cast it with the gold into an earthen pot with a wide mouth put a small fire uâ—der and let them boil so long till you see that they have gain'd their colour then take it out and you shall have it Or else draw forth of the velks of eggs and the litharge of gold water with a strong fire and quench red hot gold in it and you have it Another that is excellent You shall bring silver to powder either with aqua fortis or calx the calx is afterwards washt with water to wash away the salt wet a golden vessel or plate with water or spittle that the quantity of the powder you need may stick on the outward superficies yet put it not on the edges for the fraud will be easily discovered by rubbing it on the touch stone Then powder finely salt one third part brick as much vitriol made red two parts take a brick and make a hole in it as big as the vessel is in the bottom whereof strew alâ—m de plume then again pour on the powder with your work till you have filled the hole then cover the hole with another brick and fasten it with an Iron pin and lute the joynts well with clay let this dry and let it stand in a reverberating fire about a quarter of a day and when it is cold open it and you shall find the gold all of a silver colour and more weighty without any hurt to the stamp Now to bring it to its former colour do thus Take Verdi rease four parts Salammoniack two parts salt-peter a half part as much brick alom a fourth part mingle these with the waters and wash the vessel with it then with iron tongs put it upon burning coles that it
may be red hot take it off and plunge it in urine and it will regain the colour If it shine too much and you would have it of a lower colour the remedy is to wet it in urine and let it stand on a plate red hot to cool But thus you shall make vitriol very red put it into a vessel covered with coles and boil it till it change to a most bright red take it out and lay it aside and do not use it for an ill purpose We may with the fragments of brass Do this business otherwise That shall supply the place of silver and it shall become too weighty Or otherwise melt two parts of brass with silver then make it into small thin plates in the mean while make a powder of the dregs of aqua fortis namely of salt-peter and vitriol and in a strong melting vessel put the plate and the powder to augment gold fill the vessel in a preposterous order Then lure the mouth of it and set it in a gentle fire half a day take it off always renewing the same till it come to the desired weight We have taught how to increase the weight and not hurt the fashion or stamp Now I shall shew how without loss in weight nor yet the stamp being hurâ— Gold and Silver may be diminished Some use to do it with aqua fortis but it makes the work rough with knots and holes you shall do it therefore thus Strew powder of brimstone upon the work and put a candle to it round about or burn it under your work by degrees it will consume by burning strike it with a hammer on the contrary side and the superficies will fall off as much in quantity as you please as you use the brimstone Now shall I shew how To separate gold from silver Cups that are gilded For it is oft-times a custome for Goldsmiths to melt the vessels and cast them away and to make new ones again not knowing how without great trouble to part the gold from the silver and therefore melt both together To part them do thus Take salt Ammoniack brimstone half a part powder them â—ne and anoint the gilded part of the vessel with oyl then strew on the powder and take the vessel in a pair of tongs and put it into the fire when it is very hot strike it with an iron and the powder shaken will fall into the water in a platter under it and the vessel will remain unaltered Also it is done Another way with quick-silver Put quick-silver into an earthen vessel with a very wide mouth and let it heat so long at the fire that you can endure the heat of it with your finger put into it put the gilt plate of silver into it and when the quick-silver sticks to the gold take it out and put it into a Charger into which the gold when it is cold will fall with the quick-silver Going over this work again until no more gold appears in the vessel Then put the gold with the quick-silver that was shaken into the Charger into a linnen clout and press it out with your hands and let the quick-silver fall into some other receiver the gold will stay behind in the rag take it and put it into a cole made with a hole in it blow till it melt make it into a lump and boil it in an earthen vessel with a little Stibium and pour it forth into another vessel that the gold may fall to the bottom and the Stibium stay atop But if you will Part Gold from a vessel of Brass wet the vessel in cold water and set it in the fire when it is red hot quench it in cold water then scrape off the gold with latin wire bound together CHAP. IX To part Metals without aqua fortis BEcause waters are drawn from salts with difficulty with loss of time and great charges I shall shew you how to part gold from silver and brass and silver from brass without aqua fortis but by some easie operations with little cost or loss of time And first I shall shew how To part Gold from Silver Cast a lump of gold mixt with silver into an earthen vessel that will hold fire with the same weight of Antimony thus when the vessel is red hot and the lump is melted and turned about with the force of the fire cast a little Stibium in and in a little time it will melt also and when you see it cast in the rest of the Stibium and cover the vessel with a cover let the mixture boil as long as one may repeat the Lords-prayer take away the vessel with a pair of tongs and cast it into another iron Pyramidal vessel red hot called a Crucible that hath in the bottom of it rams fat shaking it gently that the heavier part of gold separated from the silver may fall to the bottom when the vessel is cold it is shaken off and the part next the bottom will be gold the upper part silver and if it be not well parted refuse not to go over the same work again but take a less quantity of Stibium Let therefore the gold be purged again and let the Stibium be boiled and there will be always at the bottom a little piece of gold And as the dregs remain after the same manner purge them again in the copple and you shall have your silver without any loss of the weight because they are both perfect bodies but the silver onely will lose a little But would you have your silver to lose less do thus adde to two pound and half of Stibium wine-lees two pounds and boil them together in an earthen vessel and the mass will remain in the bottom which must be also boil'd in a copple then adding pieces of lead to it purge it in a copple wherein the other things being consumed by the fire the silver onely will remain but if you do not boil your Stibium in wine-lees as I said part of the silver will be lost and the copple will draw the silver to it The same may be done Another way Take three ounces of brimstone powder them and mingle them with one ounce of common oyl and set them to the fire in a glazed dish of earth let the fire be first gentle then augment it till it run and seem to run over take it from the fire and let it cool then cast it into sharp vinegar so the oyl will swim above the vinegar the brimstone will fall down to the bottom cast away the vinegar and let the brimstone boil in strong vinegar and you shall see the vinegar coloured you shall strain the vinegar through a wisp into a glased vessel to which adde more brimstone boil it again and again strain out the lye into the vessel doing this so oft till the Lixivium comes forth muddy or of a black colour Let the Lixivium settle one night again strain it through a wisp and you shall
find the brimstone almost white at the bottom of the vessel adde that to what you had before and set it again to boil with three parts as much distilled vinegar till the vinegar all evaporate and dry the brimstone take heed it burn not when it is dry put it again into distilled vinegar working the same way so often until putting a little of it upon a red hot plate of iron it will melt without flame or smoke Then cast it on a lump of gold and silver and the gold will sink to the bottom presently but the silver will remain on the top For if brimstone be boil'd in a Lixivium so strong that it will bear an egg until it will not smoke and will melt on a fire-cole if it be projected on a mass of gold and silver mingled when they are melted it will part the gold from the silver Also there is an ingenious and admirable way To part silver from brass with certain powders The best are those are made of powdred lead half so much quick brimstone and arsenick and common salt double as much salt-peter one half powder those fine each by themselves then mingle them Take the mixt metal with half so much more of the powder and in a vessel that will endure fire strew it in by turns and set the vessel fil'd at a strong fire till all melt take it out and cast it into another vessel that is broad atop narrow at bottom and hot as we said and smeered with ram or sowes grease clarified let it cool for you shall find the silver at the bottom and the brass on the top part one from the other with an iron rasp or file if you will you may purge your silver again in a copple But the silver must be made into thin plates that when it is strewed interchangeably with the powders they may come at it on all sides then cover the vessel with its cover and lute it well But the salt must be decrepitated that it leap not out and the brimstone prepared and fixed But we may thus Part gold from brass Make salt of these things that follow namely Vitriol Alom Salt-peter quick Brimstone of each a pound Salt-ammoniack half a pound Powder them all and boil them in a lye made of ashes one part as much quick lime four parts of beech-ashes melt them at the fire and decant them and boil them till the Lixivium be gone then dry it and keep it in a place not moist lest it melt and mingle with it one pound of powder of lead and strew on of this powder six ounces for every pound of brass made not in a melting vessel and let them be shaken and stirred vehemently with an iron thing to stir it with when the vessel is cold break it you shall find a lump of gold in the bottom Do the rest as I said CHAP. X. A compendious way to part gold or silver from other Metals with aqua fortis WE shall teach thus compendiously to part gold from silver and silver from other metals and it is no small gain to be got by it if a man well understood what I write for I have known some by this art that have got great wealth For example take a mixture of brass and silver dissolve it in common aqua fortis when it is consumed cast fountain-fountain-water into it to remove the sharpness of the water and that it can no more corrode the metal Put the water into a great mouthed earthen vessel and plunge plates of brass therein for the silver will stick to them like a cloud the brass is best in the water put the water into a glass retort with a large belly and make a soft fire under and the fountain-fountain-water will distil forth by degrees When you know that the whole quantity of fountain-fountain-water is distilled out or the belly of the retort looks of a yellow colour and the sent of the salts pierceth your nostrils take away the receiver and put another that is empty to it and lure it well that nothing break forth Augment the fire and you shall draw off your aqua fortis as strong as before and the brass will be at the bottom of the retort The aqua fortis will be as good as it was and you may use it oft-times THE SIXTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of counterfeiting Precious Sones THE PROEME FRom the adulterating of Metals we shall pass to the counterfeiting of Jewels They are by the same reason both Arts are of kin and done by the fire And it is no fraud saith Pliny to get gain to live by and the desire of money hath so kindled the firebrand of luxury that the most cunning artists are sometimes cheated They are counterfeited by divers ways either by cutting Jewels in the middle and putting in the colours and joyning them together or else by giving a tincture to Crystal that is all one piece or counterfeiting Crystal by many ingredients or we shall attempt to make true Jewels to depart from their proper colour and all of them to be so handsomly coloured that they may shew like natural Jewels Lastly I shall shew how to make Smalt of divers colours CHAP. I. Of certain Salts used in the composition of Gems WE wil first set down certain operations which are very necessary in the making of Gems lest we be forced to repeat the same thing over again And first How to make Sal Soda The herb Kali or Saltwort is commonly called Soda grinde this Soda very small and sift it into powder put it into a brass Cauldron and boil it pouring in for every pound of Soda a firkin of water Let it boil for four hours till the water be consumed to a third part Then take it from the fire and let it stand twelve hours while the dregs settle to the bottom and the water becomes clear then drain out the water with a linnen cloth into another vessel and pour fresh water into the Cauldron Boil it again and when it is cold as before and all the dross setled filtrate the clear water out again Do as much the third time still having a care to try with your tongue whether it be still salt At last strain the water and set it in an earthen vessel over the fire keeping a constant fire under it until the moisture being almost consumed the water grow more thick and be condensed into salt which must presently be taken out with an iron ladle and of five pound of Soda you will have one pound of salt How to make Salt of Tartar Take the lees of old wine and dry it carefully it is commonly called Tartar put it into an Alimbeck made in such sort that the flame may be retorted from the top and so augment the heat There let it burn you will see it grow white then turn it with your iron tongs so that the upper part which is white may be at bottom and turn the back up to the
to which glass is very subject put into the crucible some white lead which presently groweth red then melts with the glass and becomes clear and perspicuous Make your tryal then with an iron hook for if it be clear of those bubbles it is perfected and so will be a perfect mass of Gems Now we will teach the several Colours Yellow Green or Blue wherein we will cast our Gems CHAP. IV. To make Colours WHile the Crystal is preparing in the fornace by the same fire the Colours may be also made And first How to make Crocus of Iron Take three or four pounds of the limature of Iron wash it well in a broad vessel for by putting it into water the weight of the iron will carry that to the bottom but the straws and chips and such kind of filth will swim on the top so you will have your filings clean and wash'd Then dry it well and put it into an earthen glazed pot with a large mouth and pour into it three or four gallons of the best and sharpest vinegar there let it macerate three or four weeks stirring it every day seven or eight times with an iron rod then giving it time to settle pour out the vinegar into another pot and put fresh vinegar into the iron and do this till the vinegar have consumed all the filings Then put all the vinegar into an earthen vessel and set it on the fire and let it boil quite away In the bottom there will remain a slimy durty mattter mixt with a kind of fatness of the iron which the fire by continuance will catch hold of let it burn and the remaining dust will be Crocus Others file your rusty nails and heating them red hot quench them in vinegar then strain them and dry the rust and set it again to the fire till it be red hot then quench it again with vinegar this they do three or four times at length they boil the vinegar away and take the remaining Crocus from the bottom Next remains to shew How to reduce Zaphara into Powder A litâ—le window is to be made out of the side of the fornace nigh to which must be built a little cell or oven so joyned to the mouth of the oven that the flame may be brought in through a little hole Let this cell have a little door without to admit the workmans hand upon occasion Let this cell be a foot in length and breadth Set the Saffron upon a Potters tile into the cell and shut the door let it be red hot and after six hours take it out and put it into water so will it cleave into pieces let it be dryed stamped and so finely seirced that it may scarce be felt But if it cannot be effected with a pestle and morter pour water upon the powder and stir it with your hands and let it settle for a while then strain it into another vessel and pour fresh water into the powder and reiterate this so often till that which setleth being beat and brayed do pass through with water then dry it and it will become very fine powder How to burn Copper Set the filings of Copper with an equal quantity of salt mixt in an earthen pot over the fire and turn it about three or four hours with an iron book that it may be burned on all sides There let it burn a whole natural day then take it out and divide it into two parts lay the one part aside and set the other with salt on the fire again for an artificial day do the same three or four times that it may be more perfectly calciâ—ed always having a care that it be as hot as may be but that it melt not Waen it is burnt it is black CHAP. V. How Gems are coloured ALl things being thus prepared there is nothing more I think remaineth to make an end of this work but to know how to colour them And we will begin with the way How to dye a Saphire Artificers begin with a Saphire for when it is coloured unless it be presently removed from the fire it loseth the tincture and the longer it remains in the fire the brighter it groweth Put a little Zaphara as they call it into a pot of glass two drachms to a pound of glass then stir it continually from top to bottom with an iron hook when it is very well mixed make tryal whether the colour please you or no by taking a little out of the pot If it be too faint adde some more Zaphara if too deep put in more glass and let it boil six hours Thus you may Colour Cyanus or sea-sea-water another kind of Saphire Beat your calcined brass into very fine powder that you may scarce feel it for otherwise it will mix with the Crystal and make it courser the quantity cannot be defined for there are lighter and deeper of that kind for the most part for one pound one drachm will be sufficient How to counterfeit the colour of the Amethist To a pound of Crystal put a dram of that they call Manganess and so the colour is made If the Gem be great make it the paler if small make it deeper for they use such for rings and other uses To counterfeit the Topaze To every pound of glass adde a quarter of an ounce of crocus of Iron and three ounces of red-lead to make it of a brighter red First put in the lead then the crocus The Chrysolite When you have made a Topaze and would have a Chrysolite adde a little more Copper that it may have a little verdure for the Chrysolite differeth from the Topaze in nothing but that it hath a greater lustre So we are wont To counterfeit an Emerald This shall be the last for we must let our work be as quick as possible because the copper being heavy when it is mixed with the Crystal doth presently sink down to the bottom of the pots and so the Gems well be of too pale a colour Therefore thus you must do when you give the tincture to a Cianus you may easily turn it into Smaragde by adding crocus of iron in half the quantity of the copper or brass viz. if at first you put in a fourth part of copper Now you must adde an eighth part of crocus and as much copper After the colours are cast in let it boil six hours that the material may grow clear again for the casting in the colours will make them contract a cloudiness Afterwards let the fire decrease by degrees until the fornace be cold then take out the pots and break them wherein you shall find your counterfeit precious Stones CHAP. VI. How Gems may otherwise be made THe manner which I have set down is peculiar and usual to our Artificers and by them is also accounted a secret But I will set down another way which I had determined always to keep secret to my self for by it are made with less charge less time and less
let it heat and melt then remove it with iron tongs into the hottest flames of the glass-makers fornace for three or four days Afterwards the pot being taken out and cold break it and in the top you will find glass of a saffron colour not clear but the longer it standeth in the fire the perfecter it will grow neither have I known better in this kind of those many that I have tryed It must be reduced into fine powder for the which not onely a morter and mills will be requite but also a Porphyrian stone If it be too florid you may make it of a more faint colour by adding glass to it Another way to make it This is onely for friends Take nine parts of burnt Tinne seven of Lead two of Cinnabaris of Spanish-soder and Tartar one part and a half of the Blood-stone one part of Painters red a fourth part And do with it as in the former CHAP. X. Of leaves of Metal to be put under Gems THere are certain leaves of Metal laid under Gems which being perspicuous are thereby made paler or deeper as you will for if you would have them of a fainter colour you must put under them leaves of a more clear brightness if of a deeper leaves of a darker hue Moreover Gems being transparent are seen quite through and discover the bottom of the ring which taketh much of their beauty off This is an invention of later times who by terminating the transparency of stones with leaves of a most bright and pleasant colour do fit and make up and mend the colour of the stones I have been very much delighted in this kind of work and therefore will deliver it particularly The leaves are to be made either of Copper alone or of Copper Gold and Silver mixt together I will speak of those which are made of Copper alone You must buy at the Brasiers-shops some thin plates of Copper of the thickness of strong paper that they may be the easier made thinner which you must cut into pieces of three fingers in length and two in breadth so that a sheet of two pound will be divided into a hundred and thirty parts these we must divide again into two parts that they may be hammered more easily Take fourty and heat them as Artificers do gold when they beat it out into thinne rays Let the anvile and hammer be smooth and polished lest the heavy stroaks should make dents in the Copper and break it Discontinue your work by turns so that you may hammer the Copper while it is hot and prepared by the fire and put it into the fire when it is cold for if you do otherwise it will break in pieces which you must presently remove from the rest for those that are broken will break others But that they may be the more easier prepared when they begin to be exâ—eruated I make use of this invention There must be prepared two plates of iron of a hand square and the thickness of paper Double one of them that it may receive the other within the folds of it so that they may receive the plates of Copper in the middle and enclose them on all sides that they can neither slip out nor any dust or ashes fall in so stick to them When you have thus enclosed the Copper plates put them into the fire and heat them then take them out with iron tongs and shaking off the ashes beat them with your hammer till they are cold and so they will become thin and fine rays But while you are beating one set others to heat and do this eight times over until you have hammer'd them very thin and made them fit for your purpose It will be worth your labor to look often upon them to see if any be broken in the working for they will break their fellows But because they are wont to grow black in the working and foul so that they oftentimes deceive the eye therefore it is fit that you have a pot of water ready with an equal quantity of Tartar and salt in it and let it boil over the fire Put into it your rays and stirre them about continually till they be boiled white Then take them out and wash them in a pot of clear water till they be very clean then dry them with a linnen cloth and then heat them and beat them on the anvile again as before until they spread into rays as thin as leaf-gold When this work is to be done the hammer and anvile must be as smooth and polished and bright as a looking-glass which you may effect in this manner First of all hold them to the grinde-stone wherewith they grinde knives until they be smoothed and planed then rub them with fine sand and Pumice-stone afterwards glaze them with a wheele and polish them with a plate of lead and powder of emerald if you use any other art you will but lose your labour Thus in two days your work will be finished that is by heating your plates eight or ten times and preparing them and by whiting them four times at least Finally examine them all whether they be whole and of a sufficient thinness so that if any remain too thick they may again be brought to the hammer and perfected But I must advertise you that the thinner they grow the less time they must lye in the fire because they will presently melt and so also in the water because the salt will eat into them At last cut them with sheares into square pieces that they may be more convenient for use CHAP. XI How leaves of Metals are to be polished THe plates being thus thinned and finished we will fall to polishing of them But first we must provide tools wherewith to perform it Take a plate of Copper of a foot in length and a hand in breadth most exquisitely burnished that it may be as smooth as a looking-glass bow it either with your hand or a hammer by little and little into the form of a semicylinder Then turn a piece of wood so that it may be equal and fit for it in every part and be received into the convexity of it where being fastned with four nails at the corners of the plate it may remain stedfast Fix this wood upon a little frame with two bars of a foot height fastned to the ends of it Now we will begin to burnish the plates which must be thus done provide chalk made into fine powder after this sort take some beaten clay wrap it in a clean and indifferently fine cloth and put it into a washing-bowl full of water stirre it about here and there in the water that the finest part may be washed through and the courser remain in the cloth then put the new chalk into the cloth again stirre it and strain it till it all pass through the cloth and then suffer the water to settle and seirce it through a strainer onely changing the water until no gross settlement
pure and good and become cool and allayed then pure and unmixed and pleasant visions appear Wherefore I thought it not irrational when a man is overwhelmed with drink that vapors should arise participating as well of the Nature of what he hath drank or eat as of the humours which abound in his body that in his sleep he should rejoyce or be much troubled that fires and darkness hail and putrefactions should proceed from Choler Melancholy coâ—d and puâ—rid humors So to dream of killing any one or being besmeared with Blood shews an abundance of Blood and Hippocrates and Galen say We may judge a man to be of a sanguine Complexion by it Hence those who eat windy meats by reason thereof have rough and monstrous dreams meats of thin and small vapours exhilarate the minde with pleasant phantasms So also the outward application of simples doth infect the species while they are a going to the Heart For the Arteries of the body saith Galen while they are dilated do attract into themselves any thing that is next them It will much help too to anoynt the Liver for the Blood passeth upward out of the Stomack by evaporation and runneth to the Liver from the Liver to the Heart Thus the circulating vapors are infected and represent species of the same colour That we may not please the Sleepers onely but also the Waking behold A way to cause merry dreams When you go to bed to eat Balm and you cannot desire more pleasant sights then will appear to you Fields Gardens Trees Flowers Meadows and all the Ground of a pleasant Green and covered with shady Bowers wheresoever you cast your eyes the whole World will appear pleasant and Green Bugloss will do the same and Bows of Poplar so also Oyl of Poplar But To make dark and troublesome dreams we eat Beans and therefore they are abhorred by the Pythagoreans because they cause such dream Phaseoli or French Beans cause the same Lentiles Onyons Garlick Leeks VVeedbine Dorycnium Picnocomum new red VVine these infuse dreames wherein the phantasms are broken crooked angry troubled the person dreaming will seem to be carried in the Air and to see the Rivers and Sea flow under him he shall dream of misfortunes falling death cruel tempests showers of Rain and cloudy dayes the Sun darkned and the Heavens frowning and nothing but fearful apparitions So by anointing the aforesaid places with Sooâ— or any adust matter and Oyl which I add onely to make the other enter the easier into the parts fires lightnings flashings and all things will appear in darkness These are sufficient for I have already shewed in my Book Phytognom how to procure true dreams CHAP. IV. Excellent Remedies for the Eyes HEretofore being much troubled with sore Eyes and become almost blinde when I was given over by Physitians of best account a certain Empyrick undertook me who putting this VVater into my Eye cured me the very same day I might almost say The same hour By Gifts Entreaties Cunning and Money I gained the Secret which I will not think much to set down that every one may use it at their pleasure It is good for Inflammations Blearness Mists Fistula's and such-like and cureth them certainly the second day if not the first If I should set down all those whom I have cured by it I should be too tedious Take two Bottles of Greek-VVine half a Pint of White-Rose-Water of Celendine two Ounces of Fennel Rue Eye-bright as much of Tutty half an Ounce of Cloves as much Sugar-Candy of Roses one Drachm Camphire half a Drachm and as much Aloes Tutty is prepared after this manner Let it be heat and extinguished six times in rose-Rose-water mixed with Greek-Wine but let the water at last be left out powder what are to be powdered finely and mix them with the waters Aloes is incorporated with waters thus because it will not be powered let it be put into a Morâ—ar with a little of the forementioned waters and beat together until it turn to water and swim about in ropings and mix with the waters then put it to the rest Set them all in a Glass-Bottle close covered and waxed up that it do not exhale abroad in the Sun and Dew for forty dayes still shaking them four times in a day at last when it is well sunned set it up and reserve it for your use It must be applied thus In Inflammations Blood-shots and Fistula's let the Patient lie flat on his back and when a drop of this water is put upon his Eye let him open and shut his Eye-lids that the water may run through all the cavities of his Eve Do this twice or thrice in a day and he shall be cured But thus it must be used for A Pearl in the Eye If the Pearl be above or beneath the Cornea make a Powder of Sugar-Candy of Roses burnt Allome and the Bone of a Cuttle-Fish very finely beat and searched exactly and when the Patient goeth to Bed sprinkle a little of this Powder upon his eye and by and by drop some of this water into it and let him shut his Eyes and sleep for he will quickly be cured CHAP. V. To fasten the Teeth I Could finde not any thing in all this Physical Tract of greater value then this Remedy for the Teeth for the water gets in through the Gumms even to the very Nerves of the Teeth and strengthens and fasteneth them yea if they are eaten away it filleth them with Flesh and new cloaths them Moreover it maketh them clean and white and shining like Pearls I know a man who by this onely Receit gained great Riches Take therefore three handfuls of Sage Neâ—tles Rosemary Mallows and the rinde of the Roots of Wall-nut wash them well and beat them also as much of the Flowers of Sage Rosemary Olive and Plantaine Leaves two handfuls of Hypocistis Horehound and the tops of Bramble one pound of the Flower of Mirtle half a pound of the Seed two handfuls of Rose-Buds with their Stalks two drachms of Saunders Coriander prepared and Citron-Pill three drachms of Cinnamon in powder ten of Cypress Nuts five green Pine-Apples two drachms of Bole-Armenick and Mastick Powder them all and infuse them in sharp black Wine and let them macerate three dayes then slightly pressing the Wine out put them into an Alembick and still them with a gentle fire then boyl the distilled water with two ounces of Allome till it be dissolved in a Vâ—ssel close stopt When you would use it suck up some of the water and stir it up and down your mouth until it turn to Forth then spit it out and rub your Teeth with a Linen-cloth It will perform what I have promised for it fasteneth the Teeth and restoreth the Gums that are eroded Now we will deliver other Experiments To fasten the Teeth Macerate the Leaves of Mastick Rosemary Sage and Bramble in Greek-Wine then distil it with a gentle fire through a Retort take a mouthful
Ancients used the decoction of the Lote-Tree raspt which we call Melo Fiocco and so they made their Hair Red. Or else by burning me Foeces of the old Wine as I said they added Oyl of mastick thereto which they provided thus to the purpose They heaped up the ripe Berries of the Mastick-Tree for some dayes till they might wither the they poured on water and boyled them so long in Brazen Kettles until they brake they put them in Bags and pressed out the Oyl with a press With this Oyntment they kept their Head anoynted all the night and so made them Red. But how we may Dye the Hair Red I shall teach you There is a Powder brought to us from Africa they commonly call Alchena if we boyl it in a Lye till it be coloured and anoynt our Hair with it it will dye them red for many days that is indelible but whilst you handle it take heed you wet no your Nails therewith for they will be so died you cannot easily make them clean So also we dye the Tails and Mains of white Horses red But I can easily do it with Oyl of Honey for when the clear and Saffron-coloured waters are drawn off increase the fire and the Oyl will come forth the red This is exellent to make the Hairs red and it will dye white Hairs red for many dayes and when that tincture is worn off the Hairs will shine of a golden colour But when we anoynt our Heads with a Lye we take a wet sponge with nippers that we may not stain our Hands or skin of our Heads With Herbs a woman dy'd her hoary Head Arts Colours better'd Natures as 't is said CHAP. III. How the Hairs are dyed Black IT is worth the while to shew such as are ashamed to seem old how to dye their hoary Hairs black as if they might grow young again by it And if we provide for young women we must do as much for aged Matrons especially if it fall out that they grow hoary too soon Of old they made a decoction of Sage-Leaves the green Husks of Walnuts Sumacts Myrtle-berries Black-berries Cypress-nuts Rindes of the Roots of Halm-Tree and such-like for the Rinde of the Root of Halm-Tree boyled till it be sort and consumed and then smeered on all night blacks the Hair first made clean with Fullers Earth Learn therefore How Gray Hairs and dyed Black Anoynt your Hair in the Sun with Leeches that have lain to corrupt in the blackest Wine sixty daies and they will become very black Or else Let a sextary of Leeches stand in two sextaries of Vinegar in a Leaden Vessel to corrupt for sixty daies and as I said anoynt your Hair Pliny saith It will dye so strongly that unless they hold Ovl in their mouths when they dye the Hair it will make their Teeth black also But if you would have Long and Black Hair Take a green Lizard and cutting off the Head and Tail boyl it in common Oyl and anoynt your Head with it You shall have also Another Yet you may thus dye your Hair and Beard handsomely if they be grown Gray Froth of Silver burnt Brass must be mingled with four times the quantity of strong Lye and when it bubbles on an easie fire wash your Hair with it and when they are dry wash them with hot water I used this as the Ancients taught it and I made a Lye of Quick-Lime and Oak-Ashes that they commonly call the Capitel in that I boyled Litharge of Silver then I tried it on white Wool for if it be dyed black as I would have it then I took it from the fire or else I boyled it longer If it burnt the Wool I put water to it or else dyed with it Add Lytharge Wash your Hair or Beard with this and it will dye them with a shining black colour and it will not be discerned for the more you wash it the better it will shine CHAP. IV. To make Hairs part smooth BEcause sometimes a part is deformed with abundance of Hair or for lack of Hair I shall shew how to make a smooth part thick with Hair and a hairy part smooth by depilatories A common Depilatory which men use commonly in Baths It consists of Quick-Lime four parts made into Powder Orpiment one part boyl them Try with a Hens Feather when that is made bare with it it is boyl'd take heed you boyl it not too much or that it stay not too long upon your skin for it will burn but if it chance to burn your skin take Populeum and Oyl of Roses or Violets and anoynt the place and the pain will be gone This must be done in a Bath but if you cannot have one let the Woman be covered with cloths very well and let it be cast on burning Stones or Tiles that she may receive the fume of it and swear After she hath sweat let her wash her self with her water and wipe it off then let her anoynt her self all over for the parts anoynted thus will presently grow smooth And thus may all parts be kept free from Hair The Ancients used these as Saserna as Varro reports teacheth in his Book of Husbandry If saith he you would make any one smooth from Hair cast a pale Frog into water and boyl it to a third part and with that anoynt the Body But by pale Frog we must understand a Toad for a Frog hath no such faculty A Salamander soaked in Oyl will pull out the Hair Dioscorides But it will be stronger if you steep it long in Oyl and dissolve it The filthy matter that is white as Milk and is vomited up at the mouth by the Salamander if it touch any part of the Body all the Hair will fall off Dioscorides saith That the Sea-Scolopendra boyled in Oyl and smeered on the part will pluck off the Hair by the Roots But To make Hair grow slowly If you press Oyl out of Henbane-Seed with a Press or do often anoynt the places with the juice of it they will grow again very slowly The same is done with the juice of Hemlock Or to take off the Hairs men added to Ants Eggs red Orpiment and Ivy-Gum with Vinegar and they rubbed the place where the Hair was taken away In former times they rubbed the down-parts of children with the Roots of Hyacinthus and the Hair would never grow there And therefore it is well known in trimming Medicaments sold here and there that being smeered on with sweet Wine keeps back the Bread and will not let it break forth But if you would That Hair should never grow again In which business I have taken great pains and tried many things that I found to be false First foment the part with hot water and pull out the Hairs one by one with womens nippers then dissolve Salt-Peter in water and anonynt the holes where the Hairs grew It will be better done with Oyl of Brimstone or of Vitriol and so they will never
distilled water from the flowers will wonderfully make the Face whole Also with the decoction of Ivory one may make the Face like Ivory Melanthinm makes the Face beautiful Dioscorides But it shews its excellency when it is thus prepared Pown it and sift out the finest of it take the juice of Lemmons and let the Meal of Gith lie wet in it twenty four hours take it out and let it dry then break an Egg with the Shell and mingle it with it then dry it in the shade and sift it once more In the morning when the woman riseth out of her bed let her put this into a white Linen-clour that is not too fine and wet it with water or spittle and let her rub her Face with the clour that the moysture alone and not the Meal may come on the Face If you will have Your Face white it may be made as white as Milk many ways and chiefly with these that follow Let Litharge of Silver half an ounce boyl in a Glazed Earthen Pot with strong Vinegar until the thinner part be evaporated set it up for use Then in another Pot let half a pound of clear water boyl then mingle both these waters together and shake them and it will become like Milk and sink to the bottom when it is settled pour it off water being plentifully poured in and leaving it a while to settle pour it off again and pour on fresh shake it and leave it to settle a short time and so forbear That which is settled set in the Sun and when it is grown stiff as thick pap make small balls of it and lay them up You may use these with water to make the Face white Or else powder Lytharge of Silver eight ounces very fine pour on the Powder of the strongest Vinegar five pints distil them and keep them for your use Then take Allome de Plume Salt Gemma one drachm Frankincense one ounce and a half Camphire two drachms Oyl of Tartar six ounces Rose-water one pound powder what must be powdered and pour it in distil the water in Chymical Vessel and set it up When you would use them mingle a little of both waters in the palm of your hand and it will be like Milk rub your Face with it and it will be white Or else take off the Pills of about twenty Cirton Lemmons infuse the Pills in one pound of the best Wine and one pint and an half of Rose-water for six days then add one ounce of white Lilly and Mallow-Roots and let them stay as many days then add Rosin of Turpentine four ounces white Mercury sublimate two ounces Boxan half an ounce ten whites of Eggs made hard at the fire and mingle all these together let them stay one night The next day put a cap upon the Vessel and luting the joynts well that nothing may breath forth let the water drop into a Vessel to receive it set it aside for use I me this that is easie to make and doth the business completely Take the white of an Egg and stir it so long with an Iron that it froth well let it stand to turn to water then take half an ounce of the best Honey and beat with that water and â—ingle them until they unite add to them the quantity of two Corns of Wheat Mercury sublimate finely powdered when you go to bed take some of the water in the palm of your hand and wash your Face and so let it dry in that it may not slick to the Linen in the morning wash it off with Fountain-water and you shall have your Face cleer and white CHAP. X. How women shall make their Faces very clean to receive the Colour BEfore any thing be used to make the Face beautiful it must be made very clean and fit to receive it for oft-times women have excellent Waters and Remedies brought them but they have no operation wherefore the matter is that they must first prepare their Face This is the best Preparation of the Face Bind Barley-Meal-Bran in a Linen-cloth and let it down into a Pot full of water and let it boyl till a third part be remaining and press out the juice with this decoction wash your face and let it dry then bruise Myrrh and mingle it with the white of an Egg and burn it on hot Fire-sticks or red hot Tiles and receive the fume by a tunnel let the narrow part of it be toward the Face and the broad to the fire cover the head with a Napkin that the smoak flie not away and when you have received sufficient of the smoak rub your Face with a Linen-cloth then use your Remedy to anoynt your Face I shall shew you One that is stronger When the skin must be cleansed or made white you must cleanse some parts of your Face from skins that will not let your painting Oyntment stick Powder an ounce of Sublimate very finely put it into a Pot that is glazed and cast into it fix whites of Eggs so beaten that they are turned into water then boyl them on hot Embers till they grow thick put them into a Linnen-cloth that is loosly weaved and press the water out of them with your hands and wash your Face with it then mingle Honey whites of Eggs and the aforesaid water together equal parts put some in your palm and rub the place you would make white with the palms of your hands then boyl spelt and when it is boyl'd take the fume of it by a tunnel then rub your Face with a course Linnen-cloth Others wash their Face with water wherein fine flour is boyled CHAP. XI How the Face may be made very soft THe next Beauty of the Face and Hands is Tenderness which is procured by fat things and chiefly by Milk and principally of Asses for it takes off wrinkle and makes the skin white and soft And therefore it was not for nothing that Nero's wife had always five hundred Asses with her and in a Bath with a â—ear she soaked all her body with that Milk Wherefore if you would have Tour Face made soft and white Steep crums of Bread in Whey or in Milk then press it out and with that water wash your Face for it will wonderfully white your Face and make the skin fair Or take six Glasses of Milk steep crumbs of Bread in it five hours take ten Lemmons make clean the Pills and cut the Body of them into thin slices then shake ten whites of Eggs bruise an ounce of Camphire Allom Sauharinum two ounces mingle them all and distil them and set it in a glazed Vessel close covered in the Sun and then set it up for your use Here is one stronger For the same purpose Boyl two Calfs Feet in water first make them clean then boyl the water till half be consumed put it in Rice one pound and boyl it well let crums of Bread steep in Asses Milk or Goats Milk with ten whites of Eggs bruised with
their Shells distil all at a gentle fire add to the water a little Camphire and Borax put into a glazed vessel two yong naked Pigeons with their guts taken forth and put in as much Milk as will cover them and add one ounce of Borax Turpentine three ounces Caâ—phire one ounce five whites of Eggs put on the cover and distil them for it is fat things that make the Face soft I shall say more when I come to speak of making the hands white and soft the reason is the same for both CHAP. XII How to make the face clear and shining like silver THe face is not onely made clear but white as silver by those things that I said were white as silver yet not exactly as silver but they shine as clear as silver There is an herb commonly called Argentaria or Argentina or wilde Tansey whose leaves are green above but on the backside they shine of a silver colour the distilled water of it is drank by women against spots in their faces and to make them white as silver The snails that are found in moist places and leave behind them as they creep a silver cord Dioscorides saith will cure the spots in the face women much desire them for they put them in a still and draw out water from them that polisheth the skin exceedingly and makes it contract a silver gloss And the seashell-fish like an ear whose shell is of a silver colour within or pearl colour and many kinds of shells that being steeped in vinegar will grow pure casting off the outward crust as the Oystershel doth that brings forth pearl There are also shells we call the Mothers of pearl that inwardly are shining and of a silver colour like pearls all which women use for their art of beautifying themselves for they make the face smooth and to shine as white as silver But pearls do it best of all things when they are dissolved in sharp juyces and soaked in rotten dung till they send forth a clear oyl that is the best thing to beautifie the face as I shall shew elsewhere For the same use is a glass-stone used that shines like silver But no better water is prepared then from Talk or Quick-silver as I shall shew in that which follows CHAP. XIII How to dissolve Talk for to beautifie women THough I shall speak in a work on purpose more at large how Talk may be dissolved into water or oyl We shall here onely set down how it may be fitted for womens use Of all such ways as are used I shall set forth such as I have tried to be good Beat Talk in a mortar of metal then put it into a pot of the strongest clay and cover it and bind it in with strong iron wyer lute it well all cover and stop the joynts that nothing breathe out and set it in the Sun to dry Then put this stone in an oven that flames strongly or in some other place where the fire is most vehement When the fire of the oven is out take it forth and break the vessel and if it be well calcined it is enough Otherwise do the same again until the calx of it be as white as it ought to be When the calcined body of it is white as it must be grind it on a porphyry-stone and put it into a little bag or upon a marble in a very moist place or deep well or cistern and let it lie there long and with much moisture it will drop forth at last It will more easily and perfectly dissolve into water if it were burnt long enough and turned into a calx For the parts being turn'd to lime and made exceeding dry by force of fire they attract moisture It is also done Another way that is good Calcine the Talk and put it in an earthen pot and set it in the hottest part of a potters oven to stay there six days When the Talk is thus turn'd to a calx put it into a gourd-glass which you shall first make clean and make a hole at the bottom of it and setting a vessel under it you shall have the moisture of it drop forth and the calx will resolve into water put this into a glass vial and let the water evaporate in Balâ—eo take the sediment out for your use I use also Another way Put snails in an earthen vessel in the open air that they may be kept hungry three days and pine for want of meat and be purged then take a silver Loadstone or Talk most finely powdred mingle it with the white of an egge and make an ointment anoint the earthen vessel with it and put the snails into it for they will eat up all the Talk When they have eaten all and voided their excrements bruise the snails with their shells and putting them into a retott draw out their moisture with a gentle fire the humour that drops forth will exceedingly adorn the face CHAP. XIV The preparation of Sublimate I Said that there was nothing better than quick-silver for womens paints and to cleanse their faces and make them shine Wherefore I shall set down many ways to Prepare it that you may have the use of it to your desire Take one ounce and half of pure quick-silver not falsified with lead for if there be lead mingled with it all your labour is lost How it must be purged and known I taught elsewhere Mingle this with half a pound of Mercury sublimate and put it into a marble mortar and with a new wooden pestle stir it well turning it round about First it will be black in six hours it will grow white if you cease not to beat it Then adde one ounce and half of white salt always turning it about with the pâ—stle for the more you grind it the perfecter it will be When it is very well ground it must be washt Sprinkle boiling clear water into the mortar and stir it and then stay a while until the muddy part may sink down and the filth that was lighter and swims on the top laying the vessel on one side pour out the water gently and pour in fresh do this five or six times in the same manner until the pure and onely powder remain without dregs make little cakes of it and dry it in the sun Some whilst they bruise it sprinkle water on lest the powder by grinding should be made so small that it should fly away into the air The chief business is to purge it and grind it well that it be not troubled when it is strain'd forth that which is gone to the bottom and so part of it be lost some open a hole in the belly of a pot that when it is settled the hole being opened the water with the dregs may run forth Others to sublimate adde a third part of quick-silver and grind it in a wooden mortar and in the â—â—an while they chew four grains of mastick in their mouths and they spit the clammy spittle
out of their mouths into the mortar until it be white as I said then they boil it in one pound of the distilled water of Bryony-root till it be consumed then they put a linnen cloth to receive it at the mouth of the vessel and so they strain it forth and set it in the sun they make â—roches of it with gum Traganth others to sublimate add a sixth part of quick-silver bruising it round about then they adde camphir borax and ceruss half as much and mingle all together The principal matter is it is the best way to sprinkle it with water whilst you grind it lest by grinding it the powder become so light that it fly away also when the water is poured on all the filth will come on the top and more easily be poured off then when the sublimate is washed it is left to settle down then again pouring off the former water they pour on fresh and they wash it oft till they see it is enough and no black swims on the top But there is no better as we said than Water of quick-silver But some will not away with quick-silver by reason of the hurt it commonly doth to the teeth but they use other water Yet there is no better water then that which is extracted from quick-silver it is so clear and transparent and the face anointed with it shines like silver it draws the skin handsome and makes it soft by and by and I never saw a better the manner was shewed before CHAP. XV. How white-lead is prepared for the face BEcause sublimate is so dangerous there is a private way to do it with ceruss but not the usual way that women may have their desire without hurting their skin or their teeth I am now come to the business of ceruss Take of swines grease well washed and cleansed in common water at least ten times put it in to a lye of sweet water and after fifteen days into a pot or earthen vessel with a broad mouth pouring in the sharpest vinegar put in your swines grease that the vinegar may swim three fingers above it then fasten a plate of lead on the mouth of the pot well luting the joynts with linnen cloths that the vinegar may not evaporate Every fifteen days take off the cover and see how it is if the lead be dissolved and scrape the cover of all that hangs upon it and put in the cover anoint it all about and let it stand so long till all the rest be performed as I said before and the whole lead be turned to ceruss Ceruss must be washt thus Pour water into a vessel put the ceruss into it stir it up and down that what dregs there is may swim on the top the ceruss is heavy and will sink to the bottom Pour forth what swims above in the vessel and pour on fresh water and do this so often until the pure ceruss be found without dregs dry it and lay it up If you will do it Another way Take two handfuls of cleansed barley let it steep all night in fair water then dry it on a linnen cloth spread abroad in the sun When it is dried poun it in a marble mortar when it is bruised put it into a glazed vessel which is full of vinegar and cast upon this four whole eggs with their shells then stop the vessel with a plate of lead that is arched or not very even and let there be no place that gives vent Set it half in the sand and let it stand in the open sun after ten days take off the covering of the vessel that you stopt it with strike down the ceruss that is in it with a feather and scrape it off then take the eggs out and put in new and do as you did and after so many days scrape it off until the whole plate be consumed Let down the ceruss you have stricken off into a vessel full of water bound up in a linnen cloth that is clean and moderately fine and stir it in the water carrying it about here and there until the muddy part of it run forth and the sediment remain in the cloth let the water settle and strain it and pour it forth changing the water so long until no dregs remain Lastly strain forth the water and lay up the powder when it is dry This alone with fountain water will make the face white mingled with the white of an egge and will make it shine Some Another way wash ceruss and make it pure Mingle hards of hemp with whites of eggs well stirr'd role up the ceruss in the middle of it and wrapping a cloth about it boil it one hour in a new earthen pot putting water to it as it boils take off the skum then take it from the fire and if any Lead be sunk down cast it forth afterwards make Troches of it with Gum-Traganth that it may keep the better Some bid boyl in water of white Lillies Ceruss very finely powdered tied up in a skin and fastned in a Linen-cloth over it to the handle of the Vessel The manner of boyling is the same as I first shewed Then pour it forth into an earthen dish and strain it gently from all its moysture dry it fifteen days in the Sun and keep it CHAP. XVI The best Sopes for women I Shewed in particulars how you might procure whiteness lustre and softness to the Face now shall I speak of waters made of these that will at the same time make if it be first rub'd clean The Face white clear ruddy and soft These I speak of can do it being composed together and distilled Take Ceruss ready washed one ounce half as much Mercury sublimate Gum-Traganth as much Tartar one ounce powder all these and put them into a young Pigeon washed and unbowelled and sow them in put it into a new Earthen Pot full of water distilled by a Retort boyl it till the flesh part from the bones then distil it when you go to bed wash you Face and in the morning wash it with fountain-Fountain-water so you shall have it white clear soft and well-coloured Also you may do it Another way Bruise three pound of Bean-Cods the shells add two pounds of Honey and one of Rosin of Turpentine put them into a Vessel and close it that nothing vent forth and let it ferment eight days in dung then add four pound of Asses milk and in the Vessel draw forth Oyl at the fire use this water morning and evening If you will have Another way do it thus Distil all these severally Elder-flowers and Flowers of wilde Roses Broom Honey-snâ—kles Solomons-seal and Briony-Roots sowre Grapes and Sarcocolla mingle equal parts of each or distil them again and set them in the Sun This will be the best I shall shew Another for the same Pull of a Hens Feathers without water take out her Entrals cut her in pieces let infuse one night in white-Wine in the morning wash her in
softness remains which is onely given to fat Hands To make the Hands as white as Milk Take things that are Milk-White as Almonds Pine-Kernels Melon and Gourd-Seeds and the like Therefore bruise bitter Almonds Pine-Kernels and Crums of Bread then make Cakes of them with Barley-water wherein Gum Traganth hath been soaked You may use this for Sope when you wash your Hands for they scowre them and make them white I For the same use oft-times bitter Almonds half a pound put them in hot water to blanch them then beat them in a Marble-Morter Afterwards take the lesser Dragons two ounces Deers Suet and Honey of each as much mingle them all in an earthen Pot with a large mouth set them at the fire and let them be stirred gently with a wooden-stick that they mingle well put it up in Boxes for your use If you will have Your hands white wash fresh Butter nine times in sweet water and last of all in sweet-sented rose-Rose-water to take off the ill smell and that it may look as white as Snow then mingle white wax with it and a good quantity of Oyl of sweet Almonds Then wash your gloves in Greek-Wine as the manner is and smeer on the foresaid mixture put on these when you go to bed that all night they may grow soft by the help of fat things Then take Peach-Kernels with the skins picked off Seeds of Gourds Melons white Poppy Barley-meal of each one ounce and half the juice of two Lemmons rosted in the Embers mingle these with as much Honey as will make them thick as an Oyntment and to make them smell well you may add a little Musk or Civet when you go to bed but in the morning wash them with Fountain-water and for Sope use the Lees of Oyl of Nuts well pressed forth or Lees of Oyl-Olive Others use this Liniment onely Press the Cream out of Lemmon-Seeds with two ounces of it mingle one ounce of Oyl of Tartar and as much Oyl of Almonds When at night you go to bed wash your Hands in fountain-Fountain-water dry them and anoynt them with this Liniment and put on your Gloves Take Another For one weeks-time infuse the Marrow of Ox-bones in cold water but change the water four or five times a day and for every pound of Marrow take six excellent Apples and cut them in the middle and cast forth the Seeds and Core then beat them small in a Marble-Morter and put them into a new Morter that they may smell the sweeter adding a few Cloves Cinnamon Spikenard let them boyl in rose-Rose-water When they are all very soft take them forth and strain them and again add a sharp Lixivium and let them boyl at a gentle fire until all the water be washed Then set them up in a Glass-Vessel for your use or make them into morsels That which follows is good For the same Make a hole in a Lemmon and put into it Sugar-Candy and Butter and cover it with the Cover wet Hards of Hemp and wrap it up in and boyl it in hot Embers and that it grow soft by rosting when you go to Bed anoynt your hands with it and put on your Gloves CHAP. XXVIII How to correct the ill sent of the Arm-pits THe stink of the Arm-holes makes some women very hateful especially those that are sat and fleshy To cure this we may use such kinde of Experiments The Ancients against the stink of the Arm-pits used liquid Allome with Myrrh to anoynt them or the Secrets and Arm-holes were strewed with the dry Leaves of Myttles in powder The Roots of Artichoaks smeered on doth not onely cure the ill sent of the Arm-pits but of the whole Body also But Zenocrates promiseth by Experiment That the faultiness of the Arm-pits will pass forth by urine if you take one ounce of the pith of the Root boyled in three Lemina's of Muskadel to thirds and after bathing fasting or after meat drink a cup thereof But I am content with this I dissolve Allome in waters and I wash the Feet and Arm-pits with it and let them dry so in some days we shall correct the strong smell of those parts But it will be done more effectually thus Pown Lytharge of Gold or Silver and boyl it in Vinegar and if you wash those parts well with it you shall keep them a long time sweet and it is a Remedy that there is none better CHAP. XXIX How the Matrix ovar-widened in Child-birth may be made narrower TRotula saith we may honestly speak of this because Conception is sometimes hindred by it if the Matrix be too open and therefore it is fit to lend help for such an impedient For some women have it stand wide-open by reason of their hard labour in Child-birth and if their Husbands be not content with it that the men may not abhor the women it is thus remedied Take Dragons-Blood Bole-Armeniac Pomegranate-shells white of an Egg Mastick Galls of each one ounce powder them and make them all up with hot water Put some of this Confection into the hole that goes into the Matrix Or Galls Sumach Plantain great Comfrey Allome Chamaelaea take equal parts of them all and boyl them in rain-Rain-water and foment the Privities Or beat sowre Galls very finely mingle a little of the Powder of Cloves with them Let them boyl in sharp red Wine wet a woollen cloth in it and apply to the part Or thus may you restrain that part of common whores with Galls Gums whites of Eggs Dragons Blood Acacia Plantain Hypocistis Balanstia Mastick Cypress-nuts Grape-skins Akorn-cups Or in that hollow part where the Glans breaks forth and gaping shews the Nucleus with Mastick and Terra Lemnia If all these be boyled in red Wine or Vinegar and the Matrix be often wet therewith it will come very close and be much straighter Or else powder all these and cast them in through a Reed or make a fume under them Great Comfrey will be excellent for this purpose for flesh boyl'd with it will grow together And the other also if it be boyl'd will very well glew together fresh Wounds The Decoction of Ladies Mantle or the juice or distilled water of it cast into the Matrix will so contract it that Whores can scarce be known from Maids or if they sit in the Decoction of it especially if we mingle other astringent things with it and wet the Secrets therewith The distilled water of Starwort being often injected into the Matrix will make one scarce know which is corrupted and which is not But if you will have A woman deflowred made a virgin again Make little Pills thus Of burnt Allome Mastick with a little Vitriol and Orpiment make them into very fine Powder that you can scarce feel them when you have made them Pills with Rain-water press them close with your fingers and let them dry being pressed thin and lay them on the Mouth of the Matrix where it was first broken open change it every
the Wine for the life and tenuous part is taken out Then distil the same again an the third time alwayes drawing off but a third part Then prepare a Vessel with a longer and straighter neck of three cubits and distil it again in this at last put it into the mouth of the Vessel cover it with Parchment and set on the Cap of the Stillatory and kindle the fire the thin spirits of the Wine will pass through all and fall down into the Receiver and the phlegm which cannot get passage will settle to the bottom The note of perfect deputation from phlegm will be if a rag being dipt in it and set on fire do burn quite away or if some of it being dropt on a plain boaâ—â— be kindled into flame doth leave no moysture or mark of it But all the work dependeth on this that the mouth of the Vessel be exactly stopped and closed so that the least Spirit may not finde vent and flie into Air. The fittest thing to stop them with is an Ox's Bladder or some other Beasts for being cut into broad fiâ—â—ets and while they be wet rolled and tied about where the mouths of the Vessels meet it will alone keep in the expiring vapors You may observe this in the Distillation of it The Coals being hot the Vessel boyleth and a most burning Spirit of the Wine ascendeth through the neck of the Vessel it is hot below and cold on the top till it getteth up into the Cap then encountring with cold it turneth into water and runneth down by the nose into the Receiver and what was a long time ascending then in a small interval of time flows down again to the under-placed Glass Then the Cap being cold sendeth down that quality through the neck into the very belly of the Stillatory until the Spirit being separated from the phlegm worketh the same effâ—ct again I use to suffer the Wine to ascend so long as the Spirit runneth invisible into the Receiver for when the phlegm ascendeth there will appear bubbles in the Cap and streams which will run into the water through the nose Then I take away that dead carcase of the Wine and pour in fresh VVine and extract the Spirit out of the same way To do the same a more compendious way Those who desire to do this in a shorter time must make a Brass Vessel of the bigness of an ordinary Barrel in the form of a Gourd but the nose of the Cap must be made of Glass or Brass of fifteen or twenty foot winding about with circling Revolutions or mutual crossings or as it were with the circling of Snakes which they must set in wooden Vessels full of cold water that passing through it may be received into the Receiver For when it hath distilled the third part of the VVine in three hours they must cast out the residue and put that which is distilled into the Stillatory again and the second time diâ—â—ill out a third part so also the third time in the same day At length they put it into a Stillatory with a longer neck and separate the phlegm from it Some make the Cap with three or four heads setting one upon another all being pervious but the uppermost and every one having his nose and his particular Receiver They fit them to the Vessel with a long neck set them on binde them and lute them that they have no vent the water which distilleth out of the uppermost head is cleerest and most perfect that out of the lowest more imperfect and must be reserved asunder for they will be of different estimation the highest will be cleere from all phlegm the lower full of it the middle in a mean between both How to make Aqua Vitae of new Wine It may be done without the charge of Coals and VVood for it may worthily be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither doth it require the attendance of a learned Artist but of an ignorant Clown or a woman for this Spirit is drawn out meerly by the vehement working of Nature to free her self without any other help whatever When the VVine is run out of the press into the Ho shead and other Vessels and beginneth to purge place an earthen neck or one of wood being two cubits in length upon the bung-hole of the Vessel set the Cap upon the neck and lute the joynts very close that there may be no vent set the Receiver under the nose to take the Water which floweth down Thus thine exhaltations being elevated by the working Spirits of the Wine are converted into Water meerly for the work of Nature without the help of fire which therefore hath his particular vertues which we will pass over now and mention them in another place CHAP IV. How to distil with the heat of the Sun WE may distil not onely with fire but with the Sun and Dung But the last tainteth the distilled Waters with a scurvy sent The Sun extracteth the best Water and very useful for many Medicines The heat of the fire changeth the Nature of things and causeth hot and fiery qualities in them Wherefore in all Medicines for the eyes we must use Waters extracted from the Sun for others do fret and corrode the eye these are more gentle and soft The Sun extracteth more Water then the fire because the vapours do presently condense and drop down which they do not over the fire because they are driven up with a force and stick to the sides of the Stillatory and fall down again into the bottom There are other advantages which shall be explicated in their proper places Besides it is good Husbandry for the work is done without wood or coals or labour It is but filling the Vessels with the Ingredients and setting them in the Sun and all the pains is past Therefore to explain the manner in a few words Prepare a Form of three foot in height two in breadth and of a length proportionable to the number of the Vessels you intend to set to Work if many make it longer if a few let it be shorter Board up that side of the Form next the Sun lest the heat do warm the Receivers and make the Water ascend again In the middle of the upper plank of the Form make several holes for the necks of the Glasses to pass down through When the Sun hath passed Gemini for this must be performed in the heat of Summer only set your form abroad in the Sun Gather your Herbs before Sun-rise pick them and cleanse them from dust and durt of mens feet from the urine and ordure of Worms and other Creatures and such kind of fiâ—th and pollutions Then lest they should foul and soil the Water shake them and wipe them with clothes and lastly wash your hands and then them and dry them in the shade when they are dried put them into the Glasses take some wire-Cittern strings and winde them into round clues so that being let go they may
the whole work depended on it let it circulate in Balneo a whole month take off the yellow Oyl or Quintessence of all with a Silver-Spoon and add to it a drachm of Musk and Amber and set it by for your use in a Glass-bottle close stopt Distil the remainder and it will afford a yellow cleer water but you cannot extract the Oyl without a stink of burning I have very exactly extracted Oyl of Gums Roots and Seeds of the forementioned and mixing them together have effected strange things with them Most of their operations are against Poysons and Pestilential Contagions especially those that are apt to seize on the Spirits for a drop of it being anoynted on the Lips or Nostrils reviveth the Soul and keepeth it in perfect Senses at least six hours CHAP. XVIII Of a Clyssus and how it is made THat there may nothing be omitted I will now shew what a Clyssus is and how it may be made A Clyssus is the Extraction of the Spirits of every part of a Plant united in one common entity There are in a Plant the Root Leaf Flower Fruit and Seed and in every one of these parts there is a peculiar Nature The Operation is thus Dig the Roots when they are full of juice the Leaves when they are fresh and green the Flowers when they are blown the Fruit and Seeds in their due time Extract the Spirits or Essences out of all these by Distillation Maceration or Calcination or any other of the former wayes But when they are all extracted severally one in the form of Oyl another of Salt or Liquor then mix them all together so that the may be conjoyned and united in one body which is called a Clyssus Some mix them in Distillation in Vessels made for the purpose in this manner They put the Water Salt and Oyl in three several Curbicles of equal height and bigness and tying their three necks together and put them into one common Head which may be fit to receive them all close them lute them and kindle the fire under The heat will elevate the thinnest substance in all of them which will meet and mix in the Head and run down by the Nose or Spout into the Receiver so set them by for use This Congregation of Essences doth penetrate and search all the remote passages of the Body and is very useful in Physick CHAP. XIX How to get Oyl out of Salts I Have declared many ways of extracting Oyl now I will shew how to draw it out of Salts that they may be more penetrative and work more powerfully which can be done no other way They seem to have some kinde of fat in them yet will not burn so that it cannot be called a perfect Oyl How to extract Oyl of Tartar Burn the Tartar and reduce it into a Salt as I shewed before then lay it on a Marble in a moyst place and in a few days it will turn to Oyl and run down into a dish which you must set underneath to receive it Thus you may easily make it into Salt Beat the Tartar into Powder and mix an equal quantity of Salt-Peter with it when they are mixt in Iron Mortar set them in the fire until they be quite burned grind the remaining Foeces and dissolve them in a Lye strain it and let the Lye evaporate away and the Salt will settle to the bottom then boyl some Eggs hard take ouâ— the yelks and fill up their place with Salt and in a little time it will dissolve into Oyl Oyl of Sal Sodae Dissolve the Salt in Water and strain it through a cloth then dry it lay it on a Marble and set it in a moyst place and it will run down in an Oyl So The famous Oyl of Talk is extracted onely by the vehement heat of fire yet I knew not at first what it was useful for But I perceive it is much accounted of by women in their Fâ—cus Beat it into fine Powder in an Iron-Morter and put it into a very strong thick Pot fasten the cover on with wire plaiâ—â—er it with Potters Clay and set it in the Sun for three days then thrust it into a Potters Furnace where the flames are most violent After three or four days take it out break open the Pot and if you finde it not sufficiently calcined make it up and set it in again When it is burned perfectly white lay it on a Marble and place it in a moyst room or in a hole dug in the earth and there let it stand for a good while until it dissolve into Oyl then reserve it in a Glass-bottle So also is made Red Oyl of Sulphur Grinde live Sulphur into a small Powder and mix it with an equal quantity of the former Oyl of Tartar boyl it three hours in a Glass-bottle and when it is dissolved strain it through a Linnen-cloth into another Glass and set it over a Gentle fire till it thicken like clotted blood and so dry Then powder it and lay it on a Marble in a moist Cellar there it will dissolve and run down into the under-placed dish Set this Liquor being first strained thorow a cloth in a Glass-bottle over warm Ashes until the moysture be consumed and there will remain a red Oyl of Sulphur Oyl of Myrrh Boyl some Eggs hard cut them in the middle take out the yelks and fill their places with Myrrh powdered and seirced lay them in an earthen Pan upon long cross-sticks that the Eggs may not imbibe the Oyl again and shut them in a moist Cellar so the Oyl will drop down into the Pan. CHAP. XX. Of Aqua Fortis NOw I will recite those Distillations which draw out neither Water nor Oyl but a middle between both for the terrene parts are forced up turned into Water by the vehemency of the fire from whence they do acquire so great a heat that corrode and burn most violently They are extracted onely in igne reverberationis and with great care and labour How to draw Aqua Fortis or Oyl out of Salt It is a piece of Art discovered to very few Take Pit-Salt put into a Glass-Retort treble luted over and dried set it in igne reverberationis where the flames do struggle most violently the first time you will get but little moysture Break the Retort and remove the Foeces into another and pour the extracted Water into them and distill them again the second time thou wilt get more Do the same a third time and so to the tenth until the Salt be all turned into Liquor which is a most precious Jewel and worth thy labor Some quench hot Bricks in the liquified Salt and then distil them with a most intense fire as in Oyl of Bricks A Water for the Separation of Silver Take Salt-Peter and Alom in equal quantity beat them in a Morter and put them into a Glass-Retort luted over three double when it is well dried set it in the circulating-fire that is which
them and they will yield a most sweet Oyl and yet perhaps not make the Musk much worse CHAP. IV. How to extract Water and Oyl out of sweet Gums by Infusion VVE may extract sweet VVaters by another Art that we spoke of before out of Gums by Infusion and Expression as for example A sweet Water of Storax Benjamin and Labdanum which affordeth a most sweet savour and is thus extracted Infuse Storax or Benjamin being bruised in as much Rose-water as will cover them two fingers over set them in Balneo or a warm place for a week then distil them in Balneo and you will have a very pleasant Water from them which you must expose to the hot Sun that if there should remain any stink of the smoak in it it may be taken away We may also put Gums into Glass-Vessels and make a slow fire under it there will sweet out a very little water but of sweet savour and the Gum will settle to the bottom which will be useful for other things To extract Oyl of Benjamin Storax and other things We may do this by beating and mixing these Gums with Oyl of Almonds or of Ben and macerating them in Balneo for a month then draw out the Oyl either by a Retort or by Expression which is better it will yield a most fragrant odour that you can hardly perceive whether it were drawn out of the Gums themselves by a Retort Ben called in Latine Glans Unguentaria is used in precious Oyntments in stead of Oyl Pliny calleth it Morobolane So also Martial What not in Virgil nor in Homer's found Is of sweet Oyl and Acorn the compound It is without any sent and therefore fitter to receive them and when it doth receive them to reserve them for it never groweth rank CHAP. V. How to perfume Skins NOw we will discourse of the perfuming of Skins which is performed several ways either by sweet Waters or rubbing them with Oyls or laying them in Flowers so that they may attract their odor And first How to wash Skins that they may lose the sent of the Beasts and of Flesh. The manner is this First wash them in Greek-Wine and let them lie wet for some hours then dry them and if the sent continueth in them still wash them again that being taken away wash them in sweet Waters Take four parts of rose-Rose-water three of Myrtle or Orange-Flowers two of sweet Trifoli one of Lavender half one mix them and put them into a wide mouthed earthen Vessel and steep the Skins in them for a day Then take them out and hang them up in the shade to dry but when they are almost dry stretch and smooth them with your hands that they may not be wrinkled Do this thrice over till they savour of the sweet Waters and lose their own stink Next How to perfume Skins with Flowers They must first be rub'd over with Oyl for as I have told you that is the foundation of all sents both to attract them and retain them in a greasie body It may be done with common Oyl but better with Oyl of Ben because it is without any sent of his own best of all with the Oyl of Eggs which I have taught before how to make The manner is thus Anoynt your Gloves or Skins with a Spunge on the inward side and especially in the Seams when that is done you may thus make them attract the sent of any Flowers Violets and Gilliflowers blow first in the Spring gather them in the morning and lay them on both sides of your Skins for a day When they grow dry sooner or later fling them away and lay on new stirring or moving them thrice or four times in a day lest they make the Skins damp and grow musty When these Flowers are past lay on Orange-flowers and Roses in the same manner and last of all Jasmine which will continue until Winter I mean Garden-Jasmine for it flourisheth two or three months Thus your Skins or Gloves will become very sweet in a yeers space The odour will quickly fade and die but if you do the same the second time it will continue much longer and preserve their pleasantness It very much preserveth their fragrancy to keep them in a close place in either a Wooden or Leaden Box but if you lay them among Linen it will suck out their odour and dull their sent How to perfume Skins If you add Musk Amber and Civet to the aforesaid Skins they will smell much more sweet and gratefully Or take four parts of Western Balsam one of Musk as much Amber and rub it on your Gloves with a Spunge and they will smell very sweet I will add one more excellent Composition Take eight parts of Iris one of Sander two of Benjamin four of Rose-Powder one and a half of Lignum Aloes half a one of Cinnamon or rather less soften them all with Rose-water and Gum-Tragacanth and grinde them on a Porphyretick Marble then anoynt your Gloves with it in a Spunge and take three Grains of Musk two of Amber one of Civet mingle them and rub them also on How to take the sent out of Gloves If you repent your self of perfuming them or would make sport with any one boyl a little rose-Rose-water or â—qua Vitae and while they be hot put the Gloves in and let them remain there awhile This will take away their sent and if you steep other Gloves in it and dry them they will imbibe it CHAP. VI. How to make sweet Powders NOw we come to making sweet Powders which are either Simple or Compound they are used in stuffing sweet Bags in perfuming Skins and Compositions Learn therefore How to make Cyprian Powder Take Moss of the Oak which smelleth like Musk gather it clean in December January or February wash it five or six times in sweet Water that it may be very clean then lay it in the Sun and dry it Afterwards Steep it in rose-Rose-water for two dayes and dry it in the Sun again This you must iterate oftentimes for the more you wash it the sweeter it will smell When it is dried grinde it into Powder in a Brass-Morter and seirce it then put it into the ceive and cover it make a fire and set some sweet waters to boyl over it or cast on some perfumed Cakes and let the fume arise up into the ceive The more often you do this the stronger and more lasting sent will be imbibed by the Powder When you perceive it to have attained a sufficient odour take one pound of the Powder a little Musk and Civet powdered and a sufficient quantity of Sanders and Roses beat them in a Brass-Morter first putting in the Musk and then by degrees casting in the Powder so mingle them well At last put the Powders into a Glass close stopt that the sent may not transpire and grow dull There are several Compositions of this Powder which would be too tedioâ— to recount It may be made
either white or black or brown The white is made of Crude Parâ—er washed in Rose-water or other sweet Water and adding Musk Amber Civet and such-like it will smell at a good distance CHAP. VII How to make sweet Compounds THere may be made divers kindes of sweet Compounds of which are made Beads which some use to reckon their Prayers by and others to trim their clothes with also wash-Balls to cleanse and sweeten the hands And first How to make sweet Balls with small charge which yet shall seem to be very costly and sweet Take one ounce of Cyprian Powder and Benjamin of the best mixture which is brought out of Turky half an ounce of Cloves a sufficient quantity of Illyrian Iris. First melt some Gum Tragacantha in Rose-water then with the former powder make it into a Mass and rowl it up in little Balls bore them thorow and fix every one on a several tent upon the Table then take four Grains of Musk dissolve it in Rose-water and wash the outside of the Balls with it then let them dry afterwards wet them again for three or four times so will they cast forth a most pleasant sent round about which they will not quickly lose But if you would bestow more cost and have a greater sent I will shew How to make them another way Take one ounce of Storax of Amber half one a fourth part of Labdanum cleansed one drachm of Lignum aloes and Cinnamon an eighth part of Musk. Beat the Gum Storax and Amber in a Brass Morter with an Iron Pestle being both hot when these are well mixed cast in the other powders and mix them all together at last add the Musk and before they grow cold from what you please of them I will add also Another Compound very necessary in a time of Plague which will not onely refresh the Brains with its sweet odour but will preserve it against infection Take three ounces of Labdanum as much Storax one of Bejamin an ounce and a half of Cloves an ounce of Sanders three of Champhire one of Lignum Aloes Calamus Aromaticus and juice of Valerian a drachm of Amber mix all these in the juice of Balm Rose-water and Storax dissolved But to wash the Face and Hands I will set down a most Noble Composition Of washing Balls or Musk-Balls Take the fat of a Goat and purifie it in this manner Boyl a Lye with the Pills of Citron in a Brass Kettle let the fat remain in it for an hour then strain it thorow a Linen-cloth into cold water and it will be purified Make the Lye of two parts of the Ashes of the Ceruss-Tree one of Lime and half a Porringer of Alom mingle them and put them in a wooden Bowl with two holes in the bottom stopt with Straw then pour in water that it may cover them three fingers over and strain it out thorow the holes when the first is run out add another quantity of water and so the third time whilst the water doth receive any saltness Keep these several runnings asunder and add some of the second third unto the first while a new Egg will swim in it for if it sink and go to the bottom it will be too weak therefore add some of the first running If it swim on the top and lie upon the surface of the Water put in some of the second and third running until it descend so that scarce any part of it be seen above the Water Heat twenty pound of this Water in a Brass Kettle and put into it two of the fat then strain it out into broad Platters and expose it to the hot Sun mixing it often every day When it is grown hard make Pomanders of it and reserve them You may thus perfume them Put two pound of the Pomanders into a Bowl and with a VVooden Spoon mix it with Rose-water till it be very soft when it hath stood still a while and is grown hard add more water and set it in the Sun do this for ten days Then take half a drachm of Musk somewhat less Civet and as much of Cinnamon well beaten mix them and if you add a little Rose-powder it will smell much sweeter then judge of it by your nose If the sent be too weak add more of the Perfumes if too strong more of the Soap How to make Soap and multiply it Since we are fallen upon the discourse of Soap we will not pass it over this Take Soap Geta and reduce it into a small Powder set it on the fire in a Brass Kettle full of Lye of a moderate strength so that in three hundred pound of Lye you may put fourscore of Soap When the Water beginneth to boyl up in bubbles stir it with a wooden Ladle and if the Lye do fail in the boyling add new When the Water is evaporated take the Kettle from the fire and cast in six pound of ordinary Salt well beaten and with an Iron Ladle empty it out and let it cool all night In the mean time prepare a brine so sharp that it will bear an Egg. In the morning cut the Soap into slices and put it into a broad Vessel and pour the brine on it there let it stand one quarter of a day and it will become very hard If you put some Sal Alchali into the brine it will make it much harder CHAP. VIII How to make sweet Perfumes IT remaineth that we speak of Perfumes for they are very necessary for the senting of Skins Clothes and Powders and to enrich Noble mens Chambers with sweet odors in Winter they are made either of Waters or Powders How to make Perfumes of Waters Take four parts of Storax three of Benjamin of Labdanum Lignum Aloes and Cinnamon one an eighth part of Cloves a little Musk and Amber Beat them all grossly and put them in a Brass Pot with an ounce and a half of rose-Rose-water Set the Pot over the fire or hot Ashes that it may be hot but not boyl it will cast forth a pleasant odor when the Water is consumed put in more You may also add what you have reserved in the making Aqua Nanfa for it will send out a very sweet fume Another way Take three parts of Cloves two of Benjamin one of Lignum Aloes as much Cinnamon Orange-Pill and Sanders an eight part of Nutmeg Beat them and put them into a pot and pour into them some orange-flower-Orange-flower-water Lavender and myrtle-Myrtle-water and so heat it Another way Express and strain the juice of Lemmon into which put Storax Camphire Lignum Aloes and empty Musk-Cods macerate them all in Balneo for a week in a Glass-Bottle close stopt When you would perfume your Chamber cast a drop of this Liquor into a Brass Pot full of Rose-water and let it heat over warm Ashes it will smell most pleasantly Excellent Pomanders for perfuming Take out of the Decoction for Aqua Nanfa Lignum Aloes Sanders Cinnamon and Cloves and of the
with the best Gunpowder onely but the pipe with that mixture that burns more gently that when fire is put to it you may hold it so long in your hand until that slow composition may come to the centre and then throw it amongst the enemies for it will break in a thousand pieces and the iron wires and pieces of iron and parts of the Ball will fly far and strike so violently that they will go into planks or a wall a hand depth These are cast in by Souldiers when Cities are besiged for one may wound two hundred men and then it is worse to wound then to kill them as experience in wars shews But when you will fill the pipes hold one in your hand without a Ball full of the composition and try it how long it will burn that you may learn to know the time to cast them lest you kill your self and your friends I shall teach you how with the same Balls Troops of Horsemen may be put into confusion There are made some of these sorts of Balls that are greater about a foot in bigness bound with the same wire but fuller of iron piles namely with a thousand of them These are cast amongst Troops of Horsemen or into Cities besieged or into ships with slings or iron guns which they call Petrels and divers ways for if they be armed with iron pieces when they break they are cast forth so with the violence of the fire that they will strike through armed men and horses and so fright the horses with a huge noise that they cannot be ruled by bridle nor spurs but will break their ranks They have four holes made through them and they are filled with this said mixture that being fired they may be cast amongst Troops of Horsemen and they will cast their flames so far with a noise and cracking that the flames will seem like to thunder and lightning CHAP. VIII How in plain ground and under waters mines may be presently digged TO dig Mines to overthrow Cities and Forts there is required great cost time and pains and they can hardly be made but the enemy will discover it I shall shew how to make them in that champion ground where both armies are to meet with little labour and in short time To make Mines in plain grounds where the Armies are to meet If you would do this in sight of the enemy for they know not what you do I shall first teach how A little before night or in the twilight where the meeting shall be or passage or standing there may pits be made of three foot depth and the one pit may be distant from the other about ten foot There fit your Balls about a foot in bigness that you may fill the whole plain with them then dig trenches from one to the other that through them cotton matches may pass well through earthen pipes or hollow caâ—es but fire the Balls at three or four places then bury them and make the ground even leaving a space to give fire to them all at once Then at the time of war when the enemy stands upon the ground then remove at your pleasure or counterfeit that you fly from them and cast in fire at the open place and the whole ground will presently burn with fire and make a cruel and terrible slaughter amongst them for you shall see their limbs fly into the air and others fall dead pierced through burnt with the horrible flames thereof that scarce one man shall scape You shall make your Match thus In a new Test let the best Aqua vitae boyl with gunpowder till it grow thick and be like pap put your matches into it and role them in the mixture take the Test from the fire and strew on as much gunpowder as they will receive and set them to dry in the Sun put this into a hollow cane and fill it full of gunpowder or take one part refined salt-peter brimstone half as much and let it boyl in a new earthen pot with oyl of linseed put in your Match and wet them well all over with that liquor take them away and dry them in the Sun But if you will make Mines under the Water use this rare invention You shall make your Mines where the enemies Galleys or Ships come to ride you shall upon a plain place fit many beams or pieces of timber fastned cross-wise and thrust through or like nets according to the quantity in the divisions you shall make fit circles of wood and fasten them and fill them with gunpowder the beams must be made hollow and be filled with match and powder that you may set fire to the round circles with great diligence and cunning smeer over the circles and the beams with pitch and cover them well with it that the water may not enter and the powder take wet for so your labour will be lost and you must leave a place to put fire in then sink your engine with weights to the bottom of the water and cover it with stones mud and weeds a little before the enemy come Let a Scout keep watch that when their Ships or Galleys ride over the place that the snare is laid for fire being put to it the sea will part and be cast up into the air and drown'd the Ships or will tear them in a thousand pieces that there is nothing more wonderful to be seen or done I have tried this in waters and ponds and it performed more then I imagined it would CHAP. IX What things are good to extinguish the fire I Have spoken of kindling fires but now I shall shew how to quench them and by the way what things obnoxious to the fire will endure it and remain But first I will relate what our Ancestours have left concerning this business Vitruvious saith That the Larch-tree-wood will not burn or kindle by it self but like a stone in the furnace will make no coles but burn very slowly He saith the reason is That there is in it very little air or fire but much water and earth and that it is very solid and hath no pores that the fire can enter at He relates how this is known When Caesar commanded the Citizens about the Alps to bring him in provision those that were secure in a Castle of wood refused to obey his commands Caesar bade make bundles of wood and to light torches and lay these to the Castle when the matter took fire the flame flew exceeding high and he supposed the Castle would have fallen down but when all was burnt the Castle was not touched Whence Pliny writes The Larch-tree will neither burn to coles nor is otherwise consumed by fire then stones are But this is most false For seeing it is rosiny and oyly it presently takes fire and burns and being one fired is hard to put out Wherefore I admire that this error should spread so far and that the Town Larignum so called from the abundance of
and they will forcibly resist all things Or thus Boil wicks of Hemp or Cotton in water with Salt-peter take them out and dry them then melt in a brass pot equal parts of brimstone gunpowder and wax when they are melted put in your wicks to drink up part of the mixture take them out and to what is left in the kettle add Gunpowder Brimstone and Turpentine of each a like quantity of which mixture make your Torches and joyn them together Also there is made A cord that set on fire shall neither smoke nor smell When Souldiers or Hunters go secretly by day or night they use sometimes to make a Match that being lighted will neither smell near hand nor far off nor make any smoke for wild Beasts if the Match smell will sent it and run to the tops of the Mountains Take a new earthen pot and put into it a new cord so handsomely that the whole pot may be filled so laid in rounds that no more can go in cover it and lute it well three or four times that it may have no vent for the whole business depends on this Then make a fire round about it by degrees that first it may grow hot then very hot and lastly red hot and if sometimes the smoke come forth stop the chinks with clay still then heaped up under the coles let it grew cold of it self and opening the Pot you shall finde the Cord black like a cole Light this Cord and it will neither smoke nor smell CHAP. XI Fire-compositions for Festival days I Have shewed you Terrible and Monstrous fire-works it is fit to shew you some to use at Solemn Times not so much for use as to give you occasion to find out higher matters I shall shew then how to make one That when a man comes into his Chamber the whole Air way take fire Take a great quantity of the best refined Aqua vitae and put Camphire into it cut small for it will soon dissolve in it when it is dissolved shut the Windows and Chamber-doors that the vapour that exhales may not get forth when the vessel is full with water let it boil with coles put under without any flame that all the water may resolve into smoke and fill the Chamber and it will be so thin that you can scarce perceive it Let some man enter into the Chamber with a lighted Candle in his hand and the Air by the Candle light will take fire all about and the whole Chamber will be in a flame like an Oven and will much terrifie one that goes in If you dissolve in the water a little Musk or Amber-greese after the flame you shall smell a curious sent Also there is made Exceeding burning water Thus Take old strong black Wine put into it quick Lime Tartar Salt and quick-Brimstone draw out the water of them with a glass retort This will burn exceedingly and never cease till it be all consumed If you put it into a vessel with a very large mouth and put flame neer it it will presently take fire if when it is on fire you cast it against a wall or by night out at the window you shall see the Air full of sparks and kindled with fires It will burn held in your hands and yet will not scald you Distil it once again and it will burn the less But if you take equal parts of quick Lime and Salt and shall mingle them with common Oyl and make little Balls and cast them into the belly of the retort at the neck and then shall draw forth the Oyl by a vehement fire and mingling this Oyl again with Salt and quick Lime shall distill them again and shall do the same four times an Oyl will come forth that will burn wonderfully that some deservedly call it infernal Oyl A Solemn Pleasant fire is made for the Theater If Camphire be dissolved in Aqua vitae and with that Fillets Papers or Parchments be smeered and being dried again be lighted and shall fall from a loft as they fall lighted through the Air you shall see Serpents with great delight But if you dessire To cast flame a great way Do thus Beat Colophonia Frankincense or Amber finely and hold them in the palm of your hand and put a lighted Candle between your fingers and as you throw the Powder into the Air let it pass through the flame of the Candle for the flame will fly up high If you will have that Many Candles shall be lighted presently on Festival Days as I hear they are wont to do amongst the Turks You shall boil Brimstone and Orpiment with Oyl and in them let thred boil when it is dry bind it to the wicks of Candles and let them pass through for when one head is lighted the flame will run to them all and set them on fire Some call it Hermes his Oyntment Any man may Eating in the dark cast sparkles out of his mouth It is pleasant for the Spectators and it is thus Let a man eat Sugar-candy for as he breaks it with his teeth sparkles will seem to fly out of his mouth as if one should rub a fire-brand CHAP. XII Of some Experiments of Fires I Will set down some Experiments that are without the ranks of the rest I held it better to conceal them but they may give you occasion to think on greater matters by them If you will That Bullets from Brass Guns may enter deeper you may easily try this against a wall or plank set up Let the Ball rather go into the hollow of it streight then wide but wet it in Oyl before you put it in and so cast it in this Bullet shot off by force of fire will go in twice as far as otherwise The reason is easie for the Oyl takes away the occasion of the Airs breathing forth for all vents being stopt the flames striving within cast forth the Bullet with more violence as we shall shew more at large So also will the Bullets of Brass Guns penetrate with more force and if you lard the Bullets they will penetrate through Arms of proof I can also by a cunning Artifice Shoot a man through with a Bullet and no place shall be seen where it went in or came forth The minde of man is so cunning that it hath invented a way to shoot a man quite through with a Bullet and yet no mark of the Bullet shall appear though all the inward parts be bruised and beaten through Consider that what things are heavy are solid and so subtile that they will penetrate and leave no marks where they entred or came out and they will do the same though they be united as if they were disjoynted and every part will act by it self alone as it would do being united I have said thus to take away all occasions from ignorant and wicked people to do mischief I saw A Gun discharge often and yet no more powder was put in Famous Souldiers use
much because these Cattle feed on binding meats as on the Oak Mastick Olive-boughs and Turpentine-tree But in such places where Cattle eat Scammony black Hellebore Perwincle or Mercury all their milk subverts the belly and stomack such as is reported to be in the mountains of Justinâ—â— for Goats that eat black Hellebore that is given them when the yong leaves come first out their milk drank will make one vomit and causeth loathing and nauseating of the stomack Dioscorides Also there is found Honey that is venemous That which is made in Sardinia for there the Bees feed on Wormwood At Heraclia in Pontus some times of the year by a property of the flowers there Honey is made that they which eat it grow mad and sweat exceedingly Dioscorides There are Eggs laid that stink When there are no fruits nor herbs to be seen then Hens feed on dung and so do other Birds that lay Eggs. But then those raste best that feed on fat things and eat Wheat Millet and Panick but such as eat Wormwood their Eggs are bitter CHAP. VIII How Animals may be boiled rosted and baked all at once I Have thus far spoken to please the palate Now I shall represent some merry conceits to delight the guests Namely How a Hog may be rosted and boiled all at once Athenaeus in his ninth Book of Dipnosophistae Dalachampius translates it more elegantly saying There was a Hog brought to us that was half of it well rosted and half of it was soft boil'd in water and the Cook had used great industry to provide it that it should not be seen in what part he was stuck for he was killed with a small wound under his shoulder and the blood was so let out all his intestines were well washed with wine and hanging him by the heels he again poured wine on him and rosted him with much Pepper He filled half the Hog with much Barley-flouer kneaded together with Wine and Barley and he put him into an Oven setting a brass platter under him and he took care to rost him so leasurely that he should neither burn nor be taken up raw for when his skin seemed somewhat dry he conjectured the rest was rosted He took away the Barley-meal and set him on the Table So A Capon may be boil'd and rosted Put a Capon well pulled and his guts taken out into a silver dish and fill the one half of him with broth and put him into an Oven for the upper part will be rosted by the heat of the Oven and the under part will be boiled Nor will it be less pleasant to behold A Lamprey fried boilâ—d and rosted all at once Before you boil your Lamprey take out his bones to make it more graceful for his flesh is full of bones which you shall do with two little sticks held in both hands and fastning the Lamprey in the middle you shall cut his back-bone in the middle then his head and end of his tail about which the bones are heaped by reason of the bones pulled out being cut off and his entrails taken forth put him on a spit and wrap about three or four times with fillets all the parts that are to be rosted and fried strewing upon the one Pepper and the fillets must be made wet in Parsley Saffron Mint Fennel and sweet wine or with water and salt or broth for the rosted parts for the fried parts with Oyl and so let him be turned always moystning the fillets with strewing on the decoction of Origanum When part of it is rosted take it from the fire and it will be gallant meat set it before your guests CHAP. IX Of divers ways to dress Pullets I Shall here set down divers ways to dress Chickens that will be very pleasant for the guests So that A boiled Peacock may seem to be alive Kill a Peacock either by thrusting a quill into his brain from above or else cut his throat as you do for yong kids that the blood may come forth then cut his skin gently from his throat unto his tail and being cut pull it off with his feathers from his whole body to his head cut off that with the skin and legs and keep it Rost the Peacock on a spit his body being strffed with spices and sweet herbs sticking first on his brest cloves and wrapping his neck in a white linnen cloth wet it always with water that it may never dry when the Peacock is rosted and taken from the spit put him into his own skin again and that he may seem to stand upon his feet you shall thrust small iron wires made on purpose through his legs and set fast on a board that they may rot be discerned and through his body to his head and tail Some put Camphire in his mouth and when he is set on the table they cast in fire Platira shews that the same may be done with Pheasants Geese Capons and other Birds and we observe these things amongst our Guests But it will be a more rare sight to see A Goose rosted alive A little before our times a Goose was wont to be brought to the Table of the King of Arragon that was rosted alive as I have heard by old men of credit And when I went to try it my company were so hasty that we eat him up before he was quite rosted He was alive and the upper part of him on the outside was excellent well rosted The rule to do it is thus Take a Duck or a Goose or some such luâ—â—y creature but the Goose is best for this purpose pull all the feathers from his body leaving his head and his neck Then make a fire round about him not too narrow left the smoke choke him or the fire should rost him too soon not too wide lest he escape unrosted Within-side set everywhere little pots full of water and put Salt and Meum to them Let the goose be smeered all over with Suet and well larded that he may be the better meat and rost the better put fire about but make no too much hast when he begins to rost he will walk about and cannot get forth for the fire stops him when he is weary he quencheth his thirst by drinking the water by cooling his heart and the rest of his internal parts The force of the Medicament loosneth and cleanseth his belly so that he grows empty and when he is very hot it rosts his inward parts Continually moysten his head and heart with a spunge But when you see him run mad up and down and to stumble his heart then wants moysture wherefore take him away and set him on the Table to your Guests who will cry as you pull off his parts and you shall almost eat him up before he is dead If you would set on the Table A yong Pigeon with his bones pulled out you shall take out his bones thus Put a yong Pigeon his entrails taken forth and well wash'd for
to lye a night and a day in strong Vinegar then wash him well and fill him with Spices and Herbs and rost him or boil him as you please either way you shall find him without bones Of old they brought to the Table The Trojan Hog The Antient Gluttons invented how a whole Ox or Camel should be set on the Table and divers other creatures Hence the people had a Tale concerning the Trojan Hog so called because he covered in his belly many kinds of living creatures as the Trojan Horse concealed many armed men Macrobius reports 3. Lib. Satur. That Cincius in his Oration where he perswades to put in practise Fannius his Law concerning Moderation of Expence did Object to the men of his age that they brought the Trojan Hog to their Tables Collers of Brawn and the Trojan Hog were forbidden by the Law of regulating expence The Hog was killed as Dalachampas translates it with a small wound under his shoulder When much blood was run forth all his entrails were taken out and cut off where they began and after that he was often and well washed with wine and hang'd up by the heels and again wash'd with wine he is rosted with Musk Pepper then the foresaid dainties namely Thrushes Udders Gâ—at-snappers and many Eggs poured unto them Oysters Scallops were thrust into his belly at his mouth he is washed with plenty of excellent liquor and half the Hog is filled with Polenta that is with Barley and Barley-Meal Wine and Oyl kneaded together and so is he put into the Oven with a brass pan set under and care must be had to rost him so leasurely that he neither burn nor continue raw for when the skin seems crup it is a sign all is rosted and the Polenta is taken away Then a silver platter is brought in onely gilded but not very thick big enough to contain the rosted Hog that must lye on his back in it and his belly sticking forth that is stuft with diversity of goods and so is he set on the Table Athenaeus Lib. 9. Dipnosophist But That an Egge may grow bigger than a mans head If you would have an Egge so big there is an Art how it may cover other Eggs in it and not be known from a natural Egge You shall part fifty or more yelks of Eggs and whites one from the other mingle the yelks gently and put them into a bladder and bind it as round as you can put it into a pot full of water and when you see it bubble or when they are grown hard take them out and add the whites to them so fitting the velks that they may stand in the middle and boil them again so shall you have an Egge made without a shell which you shall frame thus Powder the white Egge-shells clean washed that they may fly into fine dust steep this in strong or distilled Vinegar till they grow soft for if an Egge ly long in Vinegar the shell will dislove and grow tender that it may easily be thrust through the small mouth of a glass when it is thrust in with fair water it will come to its former hardness that you will wonder at it when the shells dissolved are like to an unguent with a Pencil make a shell about your Egge that is boiled and let it harden in clear water so shall you have a true natural Egge CHAP. X. How Meats may be prepared in places where there is nothing to rost them with SOmetimes it falls out that Men are in places where there want many things fit to provide supper but where convenience wants wit may do it if you want a frying pan you shall know How to fry fish on a paper Make a frying pan with plain paper put in oyl and fishes then set this on burning coles without flame and it will be done the sooner and better But if you will Rost a Chickin without a fire That Chickins may rost whilst we are in our Voyage Put a piece of steel into the fire put this into a Chicken that is pulled and his guts taken forth and cover him well with clothes that the heat breathe not out and if he do smell ill yet the meat is good If you want Servants to turn the spit and you would have A Bird to rost himself do thus For the Bird will turn himself Albertus writes That a Bird called a Ren that is the smallest of all Birds if you put him on a spit made of Hazel-wood and put fire under he will turn as if he turned himself Which comes from the property of the wood not from the Bird and that is false the Philosopher said for if you put fire under a Hazel-rod it will twist and seem to turn it self and what flesh you put on it if it be not too weighty will turn about with it So Eggs are rosted without fire Eggs laid in quick Lime and sprinkled with water are rosted for the Lime will grow as hot as fire The Babylonians have their invention when they are in the Wilderness and cannot have an opportunity to boil Eggs they put raw Eggs into a sling and turn them about till they be rosted But if you Want Salt for your meats the seed of Sumach strewed in with Benjamin will season any thing Pliny If you want Salt and would Keep flesh without Salt Cover what flesh you will with honey when they are fresh but hang up the vessel you put it into longer in winter a less time in summer If you would have That Salt-flesh should be made fresh First boil your Salted flesh in milk and then in water and it will be fresh Apicius You shall learn thus To wash spots from linnen clothes If you want Sope for red wine will so stain them that you can hardly wash them out without it But when it doth fall down and stain them cast Salt upon them and it will take out the spots If there want Groundlings how to make them Suidas saith That when Nicomedes King of Bithynia longed for some of these Fish and living far from the Sea could get none Apicius the glutton made the Pictures of these Fish and set them on the Table so like as if they had been the same They were prepared thus He cut the female Rape-root into long thin pieces like to these Fish which he boil'd in Oyl and strewed with Salt and Pepper and so he freed him from his longing As Aethenaeus saith in Cuphron Comic If there want fire I have shewed already how to make divers sorts of Artificial fires CHAP. XI Of divers Confections of Wines NOw I come to drink for I have spoken of meat sufficiently And I will teach you to make many sorts of wines and that they may be pleasant and odorifetous for I have said already what ways it may be made without pains If you will That you Wine shall smell of Musk Take a glass Vial and wash it and fill it with Aqua vita and
Aqua fortis that eats the paper or some decaying liquors that will vanish with any light touch and leave the place where they were without any spot I shall teach How letters are made that eat the paper If you mingle oyl of Vitriol with common ink or any other black colour in few days by corroding the paper or the ink it self the letters will vanish or in a moneth as you put in more or less of the oyl and this you may try before you send away your letter If you would have it work more slowly add but a little oyl if faster put in more you may when it is too strong put some water to it The same is performed if you mix a strong lye they call it the Capital with your ink for first they will be yellow and then they will vanish The same is done by oyl of Tartar or Salt Alkali or Soda and strong water of separation of Gold for these corrode the letters and the paper that nothing of the letters will appear If you desire to know How letters may be made that will soon vanish Make them with the strongest Aqua vitae or use Camphir and burnt straws for the letters in time will decay and vanish the tincture will fall off when the glutinous matter is gone Make a powder of a very fine touch-stone for the Sandy-stone will sooner decay that no letter shall be seen Also it is done Another way Infuse the small filings of steel in water of separation take a treble quantity of this and add thereto liquid Pitch or Soot of Turpentine to make it the blacker and cover the vessel grind this on a Porphyre-stone write and they will vanish and fall away This secret I thought not fit to overpass because it is the principal thing to be considered to make tryal oft-times for if it stay long on the paper add more strong water to it and if you be careful no mark of the writing will remain You shall do it like to this another way If it be good so to counterfeit Take Chrysocolla Salt Ammoniac and Alom all alike powder them all and put them into a Crucible and make a strong lye of quick-lime and laying a linnen cloth over the mouth of the vessel that must receive it strain it boil it a little mingle this with your ink they will remain a while but in short time the letters will vanish away Set it up for you use But contrarily if you will That invisible letters after some time shall become visible and shew themselves I will give you some examples that you may invent more thereby your self If you write with juice of Citrons or Oranges on Copper or Brass and leave this so for twenty days the letters will appear green upon the place the same may be done many other ways namely by dissolving salt Ammoniac in water and writing with it upon Brass the place will sooner appear of verdigreese-colour CHAP. X. How we may take off letters that are written upon the paper IF we would take letters from off the paper or that such as are blotted out might appear again we must use this art As if we would Take letters off the paper or from parchment Take Aqua fortis that is it that parts gold from silver with a pensil wipe some of this upon the letters it will presently wipe off letters written with Gall and Copras If you use Aqua fortis wherein salt Ammoniac is dissolved it will be sooner done But printed letters are harder taken out because that ink hath neither Galls nor Copras Or rub it with salt Alkali and Sulphur making little balls of them and that will eat them out that nothing shall be seen But if you desire to write any thing in the place you have made clean first wet the place with water wherein Alom is dissolved for the ink will not run about If you desire To renew letters decayed or to read such as are vanished Boil Galls in wine and with a spunge wipe over the letters the letters will presently be seen when they are once wet thus and be well coloured as they were at first CHAP. XI How to counterfeit a seal and writing IT may be of great use when places are besieged and in Armies and affairs of great men to know how to open letters that are sealed with the Generals Seal and signed with his Name to know what is contained within and to seal them again writing others that are contrary to them and the like I will shew how To counterfeit the Seal Melt Sulphur and cast it into powder of Ceruss while it is melted put this mixture upon the Seal but sence it about with paper or wax or chalk and press it down when it is cold take it off and in that shall you have the print of the Seal I will do it another way Fill an earthen pot with Vinegar cast Vitriol into it and a good deal of Verdigreese let it bubble on the fire put plates of iron into it after a short time take them out and from the out-side with your knife scrape off a kind of rust it hath contracted that is durty as it were and put this into a dish under it again put them into the earthen pot and scrape more off when you take them out do this so often till you have some quantity of this durty substance cast quick-silver into this and make a mixture and while it is soft and tender lay it on the Seal and press it down and let it remain in the open Air for it will grow so hard that you may almost seal with it for it will become even like to a Metal It may be also done another way Take the filings of steel and put them in an earthen Crucible at a strong fire put such things to it as will hasten the melting of it when it is melted cast it into some hollow place pownd it in a brass Mortar for it will be easily done do it so three or four times then powder it and mingle quick-silver with it and let it boil in a glazed vessel six hours till it be well mingled then press the seal upon it and let it cool and it will become exceeding hard It is possible To make a great Seal less if it should happen that we want a lesser seal we must do thus Take Isinglass and dissolve it in water anoynt the figure with oyl that it may not stick to the glew compass the seal about with wax that the matter run not about put the Isinglass to the fire and melt it pour it upon the seal after three hours when it is cold take it away and let it dry for the seal when it is dry will be drawn less equally If you will Imitate the form of a writing do thus Open the letter upon a looking-glass that wants the foyl upon the letter lay white paper and a light under the glass temper your ink as the writing is
brass Cauldron that will hold much water fill it with salt water after that the Urinals and putting on their caps when fire is put under both the Urinals will drop and the cap that contains others by its pipe will drop out water also for the vapors rising from the Cauldron of hot water will make the Urinals drop and the cap will drop withal But if at Sea the commodity of such a vessel cannot be had We may Distil salt water otherwise though but little Dioscorides shews the old way of distillation we may that way distil sea water in ships which Pliny shews also Fleeces of wool extended about the ship are made wet by the vapors rising from the Sea and sweet water is pressed out of them But let us see whiter Salt water may be made fresh another way Aristotle saith it and Solomon before him That all Rivers came from the Sea and return to the Sea for by the secret passages under ground the waters that are sent forth leave their earthly and dry parts mixed with the earth and they come forth pure and sweet He saith The cause why the salt water comes not forth is because it is ponderous and settles and therefore onely hot-waters of salt-waters can run forth for they have a lightness that oversways the weight of the salt for what is hot is lightest Adde that waters running through the earth are much strained and therefore the heavior and thicker they are the more do they continually sink down and are left behind and the lighter they are the more pure do they come forth and are severed For as Salt is heavy so sweet water is light and so it comes that they are sweet waters that run forth This is the very cause why salt-water when it moves and is changed is made the sweeter for motion makes it lighter and purer Let us see now if we can imitate Nature Fill then great vessels with earth and set them so one above another that one may drean into another and thus salt-water dreaning through many vessels may leave the salt behinde I tried it through ten vessels and it remain'd still salt My friend said that he made it sweet through twenty vessels Yet thus I thought to warn you of that all earth is not fit for this use Solinus saith That sea-water strain'd through clay will grow sweet and it is proved that the salt is taken away if you strain it often through thin sand of a River Earth that lies in covered places and under roots is naught for that is commonly salt as also where Cattle are sâ—alled which Columella saith is naught for Trees for that it makes salt-water what is strain'd from it Black earth is naught for it makes the waters sharp but clay grounds make sweet waters Paxamus Anaxagoras said That the saltness of the sea came from the Rivers running through salt places and communicating that quality to the sea Some approve River-gravel for this use and their reason is because always sweet waters are found by the shores and they say this happens because they are strain'd through the sand and so grow fresh coming from the salt-sea for the sweet water that is found neer the sea is not of the sea but such water as comes from the tops of hills through the secret channels of the earth thither For waters that drean forth sweet are sweet though they lye even with the sea and in plain places as Apuila where the waters drean not from the hills they are salt So on the shores of Africa But Aristotle brings an experiment from a vessel of wax for if one make a Ball of wax that is hollow and shall dip it into the sea it being of a sufficient thickness to contain he shall finde it full of fresh water because the corpulent saltness cannot get in through the pores of the wax And Pliny by letting down little nets into the sea and hollow balls of wax or empty vessels stopt saith they will draw in fresh water for sea-water strain'd through clay will grow fresh But I have found this to be false For I have made pots of clay as fine and well as I could and let them down into salt-water and after some days I found salt-water in them Also if it were true it is of no use when as to sweeten one pound of water a thousand Balls of wax a day were not sufficient But for this many vessels might be invented of porous wood and stones A vessel of Ivy that parts as I said wine from water will not part salt from water if it drean through it But stones are brought from Portingal made into vessels into which sea water put will drean forth sweet if not the first yet the second time they use it to break the stone also for that many pumex and porous stones may be tried Leo Baptista Albertus saith That an earthen pot well stopt and put into the sea will fill with potable water But I have tried all earthen vessels and I always found salt-water Aristotle in his Problems saith It may be done Another way If salt-water cannot be drank cold yet hot and cool again it is better to drink It is because a thing useth to change from contrary to contrary and salt-water is contrary to fresh and when it is boil'd the salt part is boil'd off and when it is cold stays at the bottom This I tried and found it false and more salt for by heat the thin vapors of the water that are sweet exhale and the salt stay behinde and in lesser water the same quantity of salt makes it salter as I said in my distillations I wonder such a wise man would relate such falsities Florentinus borrowing it from him saith If water be not good nor poâ—able but ill let it be boiled till a tenth part of it be consumed then purge it and it will be good For sea-sea-water so boil'd will grow sweet Let me see whether it can be made so Another way and that in great quantity There is a thing that being cast into large vessels filled with sea-sea-water by fastning the salt will make it fall to the bottom or by curdling it and so it frees the water from it Wherefore we must think on things that have a stiptick quality the Antients tried this the Moderns have effected it Pliny Nitrous of bitter waters if you put Barley-flower dried to them they are tempered that you may drink of them in two hours therefore is Barley-flower put into wine sacks and elswhere Those that go to the Red-sea through the Desarts make nitrous and salt and bitter waters fit to drink in two hours by putting in of Barley-meal and they eat Barley-meal The like force hath the Chalk of the Rhodes and our Clay Also Cooks with Catlings and Meal of Wheat will take salt out of very salt meaâ— I tried this oft but found it false yet some of the saltness was taken away Pliny If you must drink ill
him but if he let his ears down he is easily slain Aristotle and Pliny from him When they raise their ears they hear quickly when they let them fall they are afraid and not to go over all Creatures that have large right up open ears I say those that have such ears they raise them and direct them forward when they would hear afar off and they are of most perfect hearing I shall shew now by the contrary that such Creatures which have short small ears and not so visible are of dull hearing Great part of Fishes want ears and such as have onely holes and no ears must needs hear more deafly for the outward ears are made by Nature that the sounds might be conveyed to the ears by them Adrianus Consul of Rome is a most clear witness of this who having this sense hurt made hollow catches to hear better by and these he fastned to his ears looking forward And Aristotle saith That Horses Asses Dogs and other Creatures that have great ears do always stir them about and turn them to hear noise Nature teaching them the use of those parts and we finde that they hear less that have their ears cut off wherefore it is fit that the Form of the Instrument for hearing be large hollow and open and with screws inwardly For the first if the sound should come in directly it would hurt the sence for the second the voice coming in by windings is beaten by the turnings in the ears and is thereby multiplied as we see in an Eccho The sea-Periwinkle is an argument to prove it which being held to the eare makes a light noise Now it remains to speak of what matter it must be made I think of porous Wood for the holes and pores are passable every way and being filled with air they sound with every small stroke and amongst the porous Wood is the Ivy and especially the tree called Smilax or Woodbind for a Dish made with Ivy will let out the water as I said Wherefore Pliny speaking of the Woodbind saith It is proper to this matter that being set to the ears it will make a small noise And in another place I said that the Woodbind-Ivy would sound if set to the ear Therefore fit your Instrument to put into your ear as Spectacles are fitted to the eyes CHAP. VI. How by some Impostures we may augment weight I Have set down some Impostures here that such as handle with wicked men may take heed that they be not deceived As To augment the weight of Oyl water is mingled with the Oyl that the fraud may not be known let it be done with troubled waters as with the decoction of Wood Rapes Asphodills that it may the harder be discerned from it Or else they put the choisest Gumtragant into water for two days then they bray it in a Mortar always putting water to it to melt the Gum adde these to the Oyl dropping forth and they will be turn'd to Oyl By the like fraud almost Silk is made to weigh more They put it upon the vapour that riseth from boiling water and this makes it swell with moisture and grow heavier Others bray one ounce of Gum Arabick and being well passed through a sieve they mingle it with the decoction of Honey they dissolve this mixture into water and wet the Silk with it and then let it dry Others keep it in the green leaves of Walnut-tree If you will Increase the quantity of Honey Adde to it the Meal of Chestnuts of Millet and that augments it and it cannot be known So you may Increase the weight of Wax Adde to the Wax Bean-meal excellent well beaten and this will burn in Candles without any excrement for it increaseth the weight and bigness and the fraâ—d is scarce discerned So you may Augment Sope. If you mingle the Ashes of Oxens shank-bones well burnt it Potters ovens or white Brimstone For you shall augment the weight and quantity without and distinction of it If you would Counterfeit Pepper You may gather green Juniper-berries and let them dry till they shrivel then mix them with grains of Pepper Others gather great black Vetches and first they boil them with wilde Pepper for swelling in the water when they come to be dried they become wrinkled I did sophisticate them so that I deceived in sport the best Apothecaries and afterwards I did in mirth discover the fraud Take the Berries of the ripe red Sanguinaria these when they are dried will be so shriveled and like to Pepper that any man almost may be deceived by it unless he tasts of it So we may Increase the weight of Wheat By setting a vessel of Wood within it full of water or vinegar For as Pliny saith It will drink it in CHAP. VII Of the Harp and many wonderful properties thereof THe Harp hath some properties in it and things worthy to be observed which I shall propound here First I shall mention some wonderful effects that the Antients speak of then how they may be done or how the Antients did then Since Musick is now more Adorned and Noble than it was amongst the Antients for then it was more rude and imperfect and yet in our days it doth not perform those operations It is certain that Musical Tunes can do much with men and there is no heart so hard and cruel but convenient and sweet harmony will make it yield and on the otherside harsh Musick will vex and harden a mans minde Musaeus discovers that Verse and Songs are a most delightful thing to Mortal man and the Platonists say That all things living are charmed by Musick and there are many effects observed of it Drums sound in the wars to provoke those that are slow to fight and we read that the Antients did such like things One Timotheus a Musician as oft he he pleased would play a Phrygian Tune and so enrage the mind of Alexander that he râ—n presently to the wars and when he would do otherwise he changed his tune and took off all his courage making him lasie and would then draw him being grown effeminate to Banquets and Feasts And Plutarch saith That when he heard Antigenida playing Melodies with a Pipe that they called Harmatii he was so inflamed that he rose in his Arms and laid hold of him that sat next to him Cicero reports That Pythagoras made a yong man more calm by a slower tune who was a Tancomonite and was whitled with wine and mad for a whore and spurred forward by a Phrygian tune for being a corrival he sought to set the house on fire where the whore was And the same Author saith If yong men are provoked by the sound of Flutes to commit any wickedness if the Piper play but a slower tune they are called off again for by the gravity of the Musick their petulant fury is alayed Empedocles when one set upon his Host that provoked him with reproaches and ill language turned the burden of his
the very first cause to these inferiours deriving her force into them like as it were a cord platted together and stretched along from heaven to earth in such sort as if either end of this cord be touched it will wag the whole therefore we may rightly call this knitting together of things a chain or link and rings for it agrees fitly with the rings of Plato and with Homers golden chain which he being the first author of all divine inventions hath signified to the wise under the shadow of a fable wherein he feigneth that all the gods and goddesses have made a golden chain which they hanged above in heaven and it reacheth down to the very earth But the truth of Christianity holdeth that the Souls do not proceed from the Spirit but even immediately from God himself These things a Magician being well acquainted withal doth match heaven and earth together as the Husband-man plants Elmes by his Vines or to speak more plainly he marries and couples together these inferiour things by their wonderful gifts and powers which they have received from their superiours and by this means he being as it were the servant of Nature doth bewray her hidden secrets and bring them to light so far as he hath found them true by his own daily experience that so all men may love and praise and honour the Almighty power of God who hath thus wonderfully framed and disposed all things CHAP. VII Of Sympathy and Antipathy and that by them we may know and find out the vertues of things BY reason of the hidden and secret properties of things there is in all kinds of creatures a certain compassion as I may call it which the Greeks call Sympathy and Antipathy but we term it more familiarly their consent and their disagreement For some things are joyned together as it were in a mutual league and some other things are at variance and discord among themselves or they have something in them which is a terror and destruction to each other whereof there can be rendred no probable reason neither will any wise man seek after any other cause hereof but only this That it is the pleasure of Nature to see it should be so that she would have nothing to be without his like and that amongst all the secrets of Nature there is nothing but hath some hidden and special property and moreover that by this their Consent and Disagreement we might gather many helps for the uses and necessities of men for when once we find one thing at variance with another presently we may conjecture and in trial so it will prove that one of them may be used as a fit remedy against the harms of the other and surely many things which former ages have by this means found out they have commended to their posterity as by their writings may appear There is deadly hatred and open enmity betwixt Coleworts and the Vine for whereas the Vine windes it self with her tendrels about every thing else she shuns Coleworts only if once she come neer them she turns her self another way as if she were told that her enemy were at hand and when Coleworts is seething if you put never so little wine unto it it will neither boil nor keep the colour By the example of which experiment Aâ—drocides found out a remedy against wine namely that Coleworts are good against drunkennesse as Theophrastus saith in as much as the Vine cannot away with the savour of Coleworts And this herbe is at enmity with Cyclamine or Sow-bread for when they are put together if either of them be green it will dry up the other now this Sow-bread being put into wine doth encrease drunkennesse whereas Coleworts is a remedy against drunkennesse as we said before Ivy as it is the bane of all Trees so it is most hurtful and the greatest enemy to the Vine and therefore Ivy also is good against drunkennesse There is likewise a wonderful enmity betwixt Cane and Fern so that one of them destroyes the other Hence it is that a Fern root powned doth loose and shake out the darts from a wounded body that were shot or cast out of Canes and if you would not have Cane grow in a place do but plow up the ground with a little Fern upon the Plough-shear and Cane will never grow there Strangle-tare or Choke-weed desires to grow amongst Pulse and especially among Beans and Fetches but it choaks them all and thence Dioscorides gathers That if it be put amongst Pulse set to seethe it will make them seethe quickly Hemlock and Rue are at enmity they strive each against other Rue must not be handled or gathered with a bare hand for then it will cause Ulcers to arise but if you do chance to touch it with your bare hand and so cause it to swell or itch anoint it with the juice of Hemlock Much Rue being eaten becometh poison but the juice of Hemlock expels it so that one poison poisoneth another and likewise Rue is good against Hemlock being drunken as Dioscorides saith A wilde Bull being tyed to a Fig-tree waxeth tame and gentle as Zoroaster saith who compiled a book called Geoponica out of the choice writings of the Antients Hence it was found out that the stalks of a wilde Fig-tree if they be put to Beef as it is boiling make it boil very quickly as Pliny writeth and Dioscorides ministreth young figs that are full of milky juice together with a portion of water and vinegar as a remedy against a draught of Bulls blood The Elephant is afraid of a Ram or an engine of war so called for as soon as ever he seeth it he waxeth meek and his fury ceaseth hence the Romans by these engines put to flight the Elephants of Pyrrhus King of the Epyrotes and so got a great victory Such a contrariety is there betwixt the Elephants members and that kind of Lepry which makes the skin of a man like the skin of an Elephant and they are a present remedy against that disease The Ape of all other things cannot abide a Snail now the Ape is a drunken beast for they are wont to take an Ape by making him drunk and a Snail well washed is a remedy against drunkennesse A man is at deadly hatred with a Serpent for if he do but see a Serpent presently he is sore dismaid and if a woman with child meet a Serpent her fruit becometh abortive hence it is that when a woman is in very sore travel if she do but smell the fume of an Adders hackle it will presently either drive out or destroy her child but it is better to anoint the mouth of the womb in such a case with the fat of an Adder The sight of a Wolfe is so hurtful to a man that if he spie a man first he takes his voice from him and though he would fain cry out yet he cannot speak but if he perceive that the man hath first espied him he
carefully closed up must needs last unputrified even for a whole age nay for all eternity At Rome I saw a fish that was drenched in the water that had been distilled out of the Vine and she was preserved five and twenty years as fresh as while she was alive and at Florence I saw the like of fourty years continuance the vessel was made of glass and made up with the seal of Hermes And I make no question but that all things that are sowced in this kind of liquor will last sound and good for many ages How many sorts of things I have preserved by this one means it were too long here to rehearse CHAP. XI That fruits may be very well preserved in salt-waters NExt after wine salt-water is of special use for preserving from putrefaction for such things as have been drenched therein have lasted long very sound and good The Ancients saw that whatsoever was preserved in salt was kept thereby from putrifying wherefore that they might preserve fruits from corruption they have used to drench them in salt-waters Homer calls salt a divine thing because it hath a special vertue against putrefaction and by it bodies are preserved to all eternity Plato calls it the friend of God because no sacrifices were welcome to him without salt Plutark saith that the Antients were wont to call it a divine influence because the bodies of creatures that were seasoned with salt from above were thereby acquitted from corruption Salt binds and dries and knits together and doth priviledge bodies from putrefaction that in their own nature must needs putrifie as the Aegyptians custome manifestly sheweth who were wont to season their dead bodies with salt as Herodotus writeth But let us come to examples Beritius saith that Pomegranates are preserved in salt-salt-waters You must take sea-sea-water or else brine and make it boil and so put your Pomegranates into it and afterward when they are thorough cold dry them and hang them up in the Sun and whensoever you would use them you must steep them in fresh-water two dayes before Columella rehearses the opinion of a certain Carthaginian touching this matter Mago would have saith he that Sea-water should be made very hot and Pomegranates being tied together with thread or broom-twigs to be drenched in it till they change their colour and then to be taken forth and dried in the Sun for three dayes and afterward to be hanged up and when you would use them you must steep them in fresh and sweet water for the space of four and twenty hours before and so they will be fit for your use Pliny also reports out of the same Author that Pomegranates are first to be hardened in hot Sea-water and then to be dried in the Sun three dayes and so to be hung up that the evening dew come not at them and when you would use them to steep them first in fresh-water Palladius writes the same out of Pliny and he sheweth also that Damosins may be preserved in salt-waters They must be fresh gathered and then drenched either in brine or else in sea-water scalding hot and then taken forth and dried either in the Sun or else in a warm Oven Columella would have them drenched in new wine sodden wine and vineger but he gives a special charge also to cast some salt amongst them lest the worm or any other hurtful vermine do grow in them Palladius likewise sheweth that Pears will last long in salt-salt-water first the water is to be boiled and when it begins to rise in surges you must skim it and after it is cold put into it your Pears which you would preserve then after a while take them forth and put them up in a pitcher and so make up the mouth of it close and by this means they will be well preserved Others let them lie one whole day and night in cold salt-salt-water and afterward steep them two dayes in fresh-water and then drench them in new wine or in sodden wine or in sweet wine to be preserved Others put them in a new earthen pitcher filled with new wine having a little salt in it and so cover the vessel close to preserve them Likewise Modlars may be preserved in salt-water They must be gathered when they are but half ripe with their stalks upon them and steeped in salt-salt-water for five dayes and afterward more salt-salt-water poured in upon them that they may swim in it Didymus sheweth also that Grapes may be preserved long in salt-salt-water You must take some sea-sea-water and make it hot or if you cannot come at that take some brine and put wine amongst it and therein drench your clusters of grapes and then lay them amongst Barley straw Some do boil the ashes of a Fig-tree or of a Vine in water and drench their clusters therein and then take them out to be cooled and so lay them in Barley straw The grape will last a whole year together if you gather them before they be thorough ripe and drench them in hot water that hath Allome boiled in it and then draw them forth again The Antients were wont To put salt to Wine to make it last the longer as Columella sheweth They took new wine and boiled it till the third part was wasted away then they put it into vessels there to preserve it for their use the year following they put a pinte and a half of this liquor thus boiled into nine gallons of new wine unboiled and after two dayes when these liquors are incorporated together they wax hot and begin to spurge then they cast into them half an ounce of salt beaten small and that made the wine last till the next year Theophrastus and Pliny write that The fruits of those Palm-trees which grow in salt places are fittest to be preserved as those which grow in Judaea and Cyrenian Africk because those Countries especially do afford salt and sandy grounds for salt is a great nourisher of these kinds of fruits and they are preserved long even by their own saltnesse so that the salter the places are where they grow the better will the fruit be preserved So likewise that kind of Pulse which is called Cicer is preserved by its own saltness without any other dressing for the nature thereof is to have a saltish juice within it whereby it cometh to pass that whereas all other Pulse are subject to corruption and have some vermine or other breeding in them onely this kind doth not engender any at all because of the bitter and sharp saltish juice that is in it as Theophrastus writeth Didymus likewise writeth that Beans will last long in salt-water for if they be sowced in sea-water they will continue long without any blemish Pliny also sheweth that Garlick may be preserved in salt-water for if you would have Garlick or Onions to last long you must dip the heads thereof in warm salt-water so will they be of longer continuance and of a better taste So Cucumbers are preserved in
throw these at them that they might deceive their expectation And a little after the Army used this and were very healthful And in Dioscorides in the false names of simples Cuckow-pint was of old called Chara with us it is so acrimonious that we scarce can endure to touch it with our tongues But I shall open the reason how excellent bread may be made of it and if I may say so better then Wheat-bread The great Roots are made clean and they are cut into small thin plates for the thinner they are cut the sooner will they become pleasant and they must boil in vessels of hot water until you perceive the water grow sharp and the Roots somewhat sweet pour out the former water and pour in fresh then boil them again till the water become sweet and the root when it is cheweded hath no acrimony left Then take them out of the water and put them upon linnen cloths extended and hanging up until they be dry then grind them in hand-mils and the meal will be exceeding white which by it self a with a third part of wheat-meal added to it will make most pure bread and well rasted There are other ways to make it sooner when you have obtained this art you will be exceeding glad I am very certain of it For with great pleasure Bread of Asphodils is eaten This is so fruitful of round-heads with us that no Plant hath more for oftimes 80 heads will be heaped together Moreover Mountains and Sea-shores are full of them that it may be truly thought to be made for mans meat Pliny The Daffodil is eaten with the seed and head terrified But this rosted in the embers as Hesiod affirms is eaten with oyle also braied with figs it is eaten with great pleasure These Round-heads are like to Navews of moderate bigness So saith Galen also But with us they are so unpleasant and acrimonious in tast that a man cannot eat them and Sowes digging them up with their snowts will hardly feed on them no not when we want corn can we eat this in our greatest hunger it was the poor fair of frugal antiquity But by boiling the sharpness of it becomes more mild and the heat of it more tolerable as we said of Cuckow-pint It will be sufficient to satisfie a mans hunger as of old it was used As Pliny saith We have made most wholesom bread of these mingled with meal especially for men wasted and in consumptions also Bread is made of Rape-roots Turneps and Skirworts For of those boil'd and cooked first cleansed from all excrements a most commendable bread may be made as I have tried But meal must be mingled with them to a third part or else half as much of one and the other as we shall shew a little after And not to be tedious the same way-bread to eat may be made of all Navews Roots or Bulbous-heads Also there is made Excellent bread of Gourds For Gourds may be had very cheap and they make savoury bread with meal and so the bread is greater for this is the greatest of all fruits for with a very little meal in time of Famine we may feed many men and not onely use it for need but for dainties also for seasoned with Sugar and prepared for mens pallats and to quench feaverish heats they are carried about every where to be sold. The way to make them up is this Take great round Gourds and fully ripe and cut into many pieces the dry skin and the pith must be taken from them with a knife put them into a kettle of boiling water and boil them for by long boiling the grassy greenness and the rank smell and loathsom taste are taken away and they will smell better and taste and nourish better and will last as long as bread Being now brought to the form of an ointment press it through a linnen strainer with your hands that if any parts of it be not well boiled or any woddy pieces be there they may be kept back by the narrowness of the strainer To this Mass adde a third part of meal and make them into bread together which will be pleasant to eat daily I will not have you to eat your fill of it but if you eat it moderately it will profit much When it is new it is excellent but stale it is not so sightly nor dainty I have shew'd you the way how you must use such things of superfluous moisture now do you learn wisely to do it CHAP. XVIII Divers ways to make bread of all sorts of Corn and Pulse ANtiently they made Bread of divers kinds of Corn and Pulse it would be needless to repeat them for you may find them in the Books of the Antients and there can be no error in making them In Campania very sweet bread is made of Millet Also the people of Sarmatia are chiefly fed with this bread and with the raw meal tempered with Mares-milk or blood drawn out of the veins of their legs The Ethiopians know no other Corn then Millet and Barley Some parts of France use Panick but chiefly Aquitane But Italy about Po adde Beans to it without which they make nothing The people of Pontus prefer no meat before Panick Panick meal now adays is neglected by us and out of use for it is dry and of small nourishment of Millet bread and cakes are made but they are heavy and hard of digestion and clammy to eat Unless they be eaten presently when they are newly baked or not else they become heavy and compact together Of the Indian Mais heavy bread is made and not pleasant at all very dry and earthly next to Millet like to this is bread called Exsergo that is also void of nutrimental juice There was also of old bread called Ornidos made of a certain seed of Ethiopia so like Sesamum that it is hard to know them asunder Also Bread is made of Lupins The best kind was known also to the Antients For Didymus teacheth how Lupins will grow sweet being three days infused in River or Sea-water and when they grow mild they must be dried and laid aside and then the meal of them mingled with Barley-meal or Wheat-meal is fit to make bread But we make it thus First the Lupins are ground in mills and are made into flower fifty pound of these are put into a wooden vessel and fair water is cast upon them that it may swim four fingers breadth above them and it must be often stirred with a woodden stick then let it settle till the water grow clear and the meal sink down then strain the water well that no meal be lost and pour on water the second time and stir it as before do so the third time till the meal and water be come sweet which will be done in one day if the water be often changed As that is done put the meal into a linnen cloth laid abroad that the meal may be seperated with a wooden slice
How the defects of wine may be managed and restored OUr forefathers found out many remedies to preserve wine and in our dayes we have taken no less pains For wine is easily corrupted and takes to it self many strange qualities Paxamus saith wine either grows sowre or dead about the Solstices and when the seven stars set or when the dog star causeth heat and when it is extream cold or hot or rainy or windy or when it thunders We shall shew remedies for all these First we shall lay down out of Africanus the signs to know wines that will last or will corrupt When you have put your wine into a vessel after some time change the vessel and look well on the Lees for thence shall you know what the wine is proving it by smelling to it whether it corrupt or weevils breed in it these are signs it putrifies Others take wine out of the middle of the vessel they heat it and when it is cold they taste of it and they judge of the wine by the favour some by the smell of the cover a strong taste is the best sign a watry the worst sharpness of duration weakness of corrupting The signs must be taken at the times to be feared we mentioned But to come to the remedies we shall shew how To mend weak wine The wine will be weak when it begins to breath forth that force of heat fot when the soul of it is breathed forth the wine grows immediately sowre vineger is the carcasse of wine Then we may presently prevent it by adding aqua vitae to it for by that it may put on a new soul the measure will be the fourth part of a pound for a vessel Another remedy will be That wine may not grow hot In the Summer Solstice wine grows hot by the hot weather and is spoiled then put quick-silver into a glass-viol well stopt and hang it in the middle of the vessel and the coldness of it will keep the wine from heating The quantity is two pound for great vessels for when the air is hot the external heat draws forth the inward heat and when that is gone it is spoiled We That wine may not exhale use this remedy The vessel being full we pour oyle upon it and cover it for oyle keeps the spirits from evaporating which I see is now used for all liquors that they may not be perverted Wines sometimes are troubled But To clear wines Fronto bids us do thus Cast three whites of egges into a large earthen dish and beat them that they may froth put some white salt to them that they may be exceeding white and pour them into a vessel full of wine for salt and the white of an egge will make all thick liquors clear but as many Dolia or such measures as there are in the vessel so many whites of egges must you have to be mingled again with so many ounces of salt but you must stir the mixture with a stick and in four dayes it will grow clear Also it is done That wines may not corrupt I said that salt keeps all things from corrupting wherefore for every Dolium powder one ounce of Allome and put it into the wine vessel with the wine for it will keep it from corrupting The same is done if you put in one ounce of common salt or half one half the other Also brimstone hinders putrefaction Wherefore if you shall adde to eight ounces of Allome or of Salt four ounces of brimstone you shall do well The Antients were wont to peserve wine by adding Salt or sea-water to it and it would continue along time Columella teacheth thus when the winds are quiet you must take water out of the deep sea when it is very calm and boyl it to thirds adding to it if you please some spices There are many ordinary things but we let them pass CHAP. XXIV How Oyl may be made of divers things IT is an excellent thing to shew the diversity of ways to make Oyl That if Olives should ever be scarce yet we might know how to draw Oyl from many kinds of fruits and seeds And some of these ways that came from the Antients yet onely the best and such as are our inventions Wherefore to begin We say that Oyl may be made of Ricinus call'd Cicinum Dioscorides makes it thus Let ripe Ricini as many as you please wither in the hot Sun and be laid upon hurdles let them be so long in the Sun till the outward shell break and fall off Take the flesh of them and bruise it in a morter diligently then put it into a Caldron glazed with Tin that is full of water put fire under and boil them and when they have yielded their inbred juyce take the vessel from the fire and with a shell skim off the Oyl on the top and keep it But in Egypt where the custom of it is more common for they cleanse the Ricini and put them into a Mill and being well grownd they press them in a press through a basket Pliny saith They must be boiled in water and the Oyl that swims on the top must be taken off But in Egypt where there is plenty of it without fire and water sprinkled with Salt it is ill for to eat but good for Candles But we collected them in September for then is the time to gather them with it parts from a prickly cover and a coat that holds the seed in it it is easily cleansed in a hot Caldron The weight of Oyl is half as much as the seed but it must be twice knocked and twice pressed Palladius shews how Oyl of Mastick is made gather many Grains of the Mastick-tree and let them lye in a heap for a day and a night Then put a basket full of those Berries into any vessel and pouring hot water thereto tread them and press them forth Then from that humour that runs forth of them the Oyl of Mastick that swims on the top is poured off But remember lest the cold might hold it there to pour hot water often on For thus we see it made with us and all the Country of Surrentum also so is made Oyl of Turpentine as Damageron teacheth The fruit of Turpentine is grownd in a Mill as the Olives are and is pressed out and so it sends forth Oyl The kernels serve to feed hogs and to burn Likewise Oyl of Bays Boil Bay-berries in water the shels yield a certain fat it is forced out by crushing them in the hands then gather the Oyl into horns Palladius almost as Dioscorides in January boil many Bay-berries that are ripe and full in hot water and when they have boy'ld long the watry oyl that swims on the top that comes from them you shall gently pour off into vessels driving it easily with feathers The Indians make as it is said Oyl of Sesamon It is made as we said before it sends forth excellent Oyl abundantly There is made Oyl of
flame when it hath ceas'd smoaking take it out and break part of it to see whether it be white quite through for that is an argument of the sufficient burning because it oftentimes happens that the outside onely is burned and the rest of it remaineth crude Therefore when it hath gained the colour of chalk it must be taken out and when it is cold grinde it and lay it in water in some wide-mouth'd vessel a quarter of a day When the water is grown clear filtrate it and strain it into another vessel and then pour water again unto the settlement observing the same things we spoke before until the water have taken out all the salt which will come to pass in the third or forth time Pour your waters which you saved into a vessel of glass and all things being ready put live coles under it and attend the work until the water be consumed by the force of the fire which being done the salt will stick to the bottom it being thus made preserve it in a dry place lest it turn to oyl CHAP. II. How Flint or Crystal is to be prepared and how Pastils are boiled THe matter of which Gems are made is either Crystal or Flint from whence we strike fire or round pebbles found by river sides those are the best which are taken up by the river Thames white clear and of the bigness of an egge for of those are made best counterfeit Gemms though all will serve in some sort Some think that Crystal is the best for this purpose because of the brightness and transparency of it but they are deceived The way of making Gems is this Take riverpebbles and put them into a fornace in that place where the retorted flame is most intense when they are red hot take them out and fling them into water then dry them and powder them in a mortar or a hand-mill until they are very fine put them into a wide-mouthed vessel full of rain water and shake it well in your hands for so the finest part will rise to the top and the grossest will settle to the bottom to that which swims at top pour fresh water and stir the dust again and do this oftentimes until the gross part be quite separated and sunk down Then take out the water and let it settle and in the bottom there will lie a certain slimy matter gather together and reserve the refined powder But whil'st the stone is ground both the morter and the mill will lose somewhat of themselves which being mixt with the powder will foul the Gem wherefore it will be worth the labâ—r to wash that away to which end let water be often poured into the lavel and stirred about the dust of the morter will rise to the top by reason of its levity and the powder of the pebbles will retire to the bottom by reason of its weight skim the lavel and separate them with a spoon till all that sandy and black dust be taken off then strain out the water and reserve the powder dry These being done we must teach How Pastils are boiled Artificers call those pellets which are made of the salts and the forenamed powder and water Pastils Take five parts of salt of Tartar as many of salt of Soda double the quantity of these of the forespoken powder of pebbles and mix them very well in a stone morter sprinkle them with water wet them so that they may grow into a past and make Pastils of them in bigness of your fist set them in the sun and dry them well Then put them into a fornace of reverbaration the space of six hours encreasing the fire by degrees that at last they may become red hot but not melt wherefore use no bellows when they are baked enough let them cool and they will become so hard that they will endure almost the hammer CHAP. III. Of the Fornace and the Parts thereof NOw the Fornace is to be built which is like to that of glass-makers but less according to the proportion of the work Let your fornace be eight foot high and consist of two vaults the roof of the lower must be a handful and a half thick the vault it self must have a little door by which you may cast in wood to feed the fire there Let it also have on the top and in the middle of its roof a hole about a foot in breadth by which the flame may penetrate into the second vault and reach to the upper roof whence the flame being reverberated doth cause a vehement heat In this upper vault there must be cut out in the wall small holes of a handful in breadth which must open and shut to set the pots and pans in on the floor and to take them out again Artificers call these pots Crucibles they are made of clay which is brought from Valencia and doth very strongly endure fire They must be a finger thick and a foot and a half deep their bottom somewhat thicker lest they should break with the force of the fire All things being thus provided cast in your wood and fire and let the fornace heat by degrees so that it may be perfectly hot in a quarter of a day Your workmen must be diligent to perform their duty then let the Pastils being broken into pieces about the bigness of a wall-nut be put into crucibles and set in the holes of the fornace built for that purpose with a pair of iron tongs to every pot When they melt they will rise up in bubbles and growing greater and greater must be pricked with sharp wires that the vapor passing out the bubbles may sink down again and not run over the mouth of the crucibles Then let other pieces be put in and do as before until the pots be filled to the top and continue the fire for a whole day until the matter be concocted Then put an iron hook into the pots and try whether the matter have obtained a perfect transparency which if it have take it out of the pots with iron instruments for that purpose and cast it into clear water to wash off the filth and stains and to purge out the salt for when the Gems are made on a suddain the salt breaks forth as it were spued out and overcast them like a cloud Yet there must be a great deal of diligence used whilâ—st you draw out this vitrified matter lest it touch the sides of the fornace for it will cleave thereto like birdâ—ime hardly to be pulled off without part of the wall as also lest it fall into the vessels for it is very difficult to separate it and it prejudices the clearness of the glasâ— When it is cold put it again into the crucibles and let it glow for two days until it be concocted into perfect glass When this vitrified matter hath stood so for two days some to make it more fine and bright lest it should be specked with certain little bubbles
Loadstone that therein her Image of iron might seem to hang in the air both he and Ptolomy died who commanded this to be made for his sister so that what he began he did not finish The Greeks say that in the Temple of Serapis that is vaulted at Alexandria there was a Load-stone set that held a statue of brass in the air for it had a piece of iron in the head of it But that is false that Mahomets chest hangs by the roof of the Temple Petrus Pellegrinus saith he shewed in another work how that might be done but that work is not to be found Why I think it extream hard I shall say afterwards But I say it may be done because I have now done it to hold it fast by an invisible band to hang in the air onely so that it be bound with a small thread beneath that it may not rise higher and then striving to catch hold of the stone above it will hang in the air and tremble and wag it self CHAP. XXVIII The forces of the Loadstone cannot be hindred by a wall or table coming between AS I said before of the Loadstone the vertue of that and iron can be hindred by no body coming between but it will do its office For whilst the Loadstone is moved under a Table of wood stone or any metal except iron the needle in the Mariners Compass will move above as if there were no body between them St. Augustine Lib. de civitate Dei knew this experiment But that is much more wonderful that I have heard that if one hold a Loadstone under a piece of silver and put a piece of iron above the silver as he moves his hand underneath that holds the stone so will the iron move above and the silver being in the middle and suffering nothing running so swiftly up and down that the stone was pull'd from the hand of the man and took hold of the iron CHAP. XXIX How a man of wood may row a little Boat and some other merry conceits THe fraud here is notable for women shall see a man of wood rowing a little boat well waxed in a large vessel full of water and they can counterfeit hereby as impostors do divination by water The fraud is thus began the vessel is filled with water a little ship of Wax is put into it or else of wood in the middle sits a little man of wood fastned through the middle with a hogs-bristle so equall balanced that with every light motion he may easily stir himself let him have oars in his hands and under his feet a piece of iron Let the Alphabet be made on the brim of the vessel round about wherefore a woman coming to enquire of some doubtful matter the little man of wood as if he would give a true answer will row to those letters that may signifie the answer for he that holds the Loadstone in his hand under the Table can draw the boat which way he will and so will answer by joyning these letters together Or put a boy of cork into a glass viol with a broad mouth that turns himself about the needle equally balanced and about the glass vessel make the Alphabet that the man turning round about may give answers But I made my friends wonder exceedingly to see A paper go up a wall and come down of it self For I glew'd a piece of iron on the backside of the paper and I gave it my friends to hold to the wall but behinde stood a boy with a Loadstone and the paper that was left there stood still my friend commanded it to go up two foot the boy that heard what was commanded moved the Loadstone against it to that place and the paper moved thither also and so downwards or side-ways they that knew not the reason were astonished at it But which exceeds all when he moved the Loadstone over his head by an arch of wood it drew the paper after it whereupon the paper hung over our heads and moved but all that saw it believed the Divel was the cause of it CHAP. XXX A Loadstone on a plate of iron will not stir iron WE said that there is nothing coming between can hinder the force of iron but iron onely so that if you lay a needle on a plate of iron and shall bring your Loadstone to it above or beneath it hath no vertue to attract it or do its office and the reason is easie For it stands by reason that if iron lye upon iron they are the same body as a part is of the whole and when the plate of iron or piece is bigger and too heavy for the Loadstone to draw it moves not So that if you put the filings of iron upon a plate of iron and with your hand underneath you carry the Loadstone the filings will not stir but stand still upon the plate Nor if iron or a Loadstone be upon a Table of iron will they come to the stone that is put to them but will lye as if they were asleep and void of all vertue or changed in their Natures Also if you put flat iron to a Load stone if on the other side iron be equally balanced it will not stir nor move to meet it as if all the force of the Loadstone were hindred by it Lucretius saith that it will happen so not when iron but brass is between them but I rather think he writ so by hear-say then by his sight if we understand his meaning Pieces of iron I have seen When onely brass was put between Them and the Loadstone to recoil Brass in the middle made this broil CHAP. XXXI The position of the Iron will change the forces VVHat the Loadstone can do the iron touched by the Loadstone will do the same I said that the Loadstone equally balanced by putting the south part of the Loadstone above it will draw the north part and the north part will drive off the north part but on the lower part the Nature being changed that which drew before drives off now and that which drove off draws to it The same I judge of iron touched with the Loadstone For iron in the Mariners Compass touched with the Loadstone that part of the Loadstone that draws and drives off in the upper part being put under expels what it drew before and draws what it expelled I would not omit that amongst its admirable properties the position should cause such alteration Whence we may conjecture that as the stone hath a pole-arctick and antarctick so it hath an east and west part and its upper and nether part as the heavens have and therefore it is reasonable that whereas the north and inferiour part from above drew the south and inferiour part of the iron now the position being changed the upper part of the stone will draw the nether part of the iron CHAP. XXXII That the iron rubbed with the northern point of the Loadstone will turn to the south and
the west-Indies is excellent against them for when I anointed their mouth and jaws with it they died in half an hour Balsame of the east is a present remedy against poyson by oyntments or the biting of a serpent saith Aetius In Arabia where it groweth there is no fear of poyson neither doth any one dye of their bitings for the fury of this deadly poyson is allayed by the feeding of the serpents upon this pretious Balsame But I have found nothing more excellent than the earth which is brought from the Isle of Malta for the least dust of it put into their mouths kills them presently I have tried the same vertue in Lithoxylon which Physitians use for the worms in children There is a stone called Chelonites the French name it Crapodina which they report to be found in the head of a great old Toad and if it can be gotten from him while he is alive it is soveraign against poyson they say it is taken from living Toads in a red cloth in which colour they are much delighted for whilst they sport and open themselves upon the scarlet the stone droppeth out of their head and falleth through a hole made in the middle into a box set under for the purpose else they will suck it up again But I never met with a faithful person who said that he found it nor could I ever find one though I have cut up many Nevertheless I will affirm this for truth that those stones which are pretended to be taken out of Toads are minerals for I remember at Rome I saw a broken piece of stone which was compacted of many of those stones some bigger some less which stuck on the back of it like limps on a rock But the vertue is certain if any swallow it down with poyson it will preserve him from the malignity of it for it runneth about with the poyson and assawageth the power of it that it becometh vain and of no force A most perfect oyl against poyson often tryed in repressing the violence of it Take three pound of old oyl put into it two handfulls of the flower of St Johns wort and let them macerate in it for two months in the sun Then strain out the flowers and put into the oyl two ounces of the flowers of the same herb and set it to boil in Balneo Mariae a quarter of a day Stop the bottle close that it may have no vent and set it a sunning for fifteen days In the moneth of July take three ounces of the seed stamp it gently and steep it in two glasses of the best white-wine with gentian tormentil white dittany zedoary and carline gathered in August red sanders long aristolochie of each two drams Let all these mecerate in the wine for three days then take them out and put them in the oyl and boil them gently in Balneo for six hours then strain them in a press Adde to the expression an ounce of saffron myrrhe aloes spikenard and rubarb all bruised and let them boil in it for a day in B. M. at last treacle and mithridate of each two ounces and let them also boil in it six hours as before then set it forty days in the sun It must be used thus In the plague-time or upon suspition of poyson anoint the stomach and wrists and the place about the heart and drink three drops of it in wine It will work wonders CHAP. X. Antidotes and preservatives against the Plague I Have spoken of poysons now I will of the plague being of the same nature and cured almost by the same Medicines I will set down onely them which in our time have been experimented by the Neapolitanes Sicilians and Venetians whilst the plague was spread amongst them to resist the contagion of that epidemical plague and preserve their bodies from infection A confection of Gillyflowers against the plague of wonderful operation Gather some clove-gilliflowers in the moneth of May of a red and lively colour because they are of the greater vertue pull them out of their husks and clip off the green â—nd then beat them in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle until they become so fine as they may hardly be felt In the mean while take three pound of sugar for one of the flowers melt it in a brass skillet and boil it with a little orange-flower water that may quickly be consumed When it is boiled sufficiently put in some whites of egges beaten enough to froth and clarifie it still stirring it and skimming off the froth with a spoon until all the dregs be taken out Then put in the due weight of flowers and stir it with a wooden slice till iâ— turn red when it is almost boiled adde thereunto two drachms of cloves beaten with a little musk the mixture of which will both add excite a sweet sent and plâ—asantness in the flowers Then put it into earthen pots and set it up if you add a little juyce of lemon it will make it of a more lively blood-colour We may also make Lozenges and round Cakes of it by pouring it on a cold marble If any would do iâ— after the best manner they must extract the colour of the flowers and boil their sugar in that infusion for so it will smell sweeter Some never bruise the flowers but cut them very small with sizers and candy them with sugar but they are not very pleasant to eat This confection is most grateful to the taste and by reason of the sent of the cloves very pleasant The vertues of it are these as I have found by experience it iâ— good for all diseases of the heart as fainting and trembling thereof for the megrum and poyson and the bitings of venimous creatures and especially against the infection of the plague There may be made a vinegar or infusion of it which being rub'd about the nostrils is good against contagious air and night-dews and all effects of melancholy Against the Plague Gather Ivy-berries in May and wilde Poppies before the sun rise lest they open In April gather goats rue dry them in the shade and make them into powder One drachm of it being drank in wine is excellent against infectious diseases The Bezoar stone brought from the west-Indies being hung about the neck nigh to the heart or four grains of it in powder being taken in wine is good against the plague and the infection of all pestilential feavors as I can testifie And taketh away soundings and exhilarateth the heart The water or oyl extracted from the seeds of Citron is a very strong Antidote against the plague Apparitius Hispanus his oyl is also approved against the same CHAP. XI Remedies for wounds and blows THere are some remedies for wounds and blows which shall not be omitted for I have found some of them to be of wonderful vertue The oyl of Hispanus for wounds and other things Take two pound of new wax four ounces of wax as many of linseed
until this day and observed by our women to smoke their children and rowl them about in frankincense Keep him in an open air and hang Carbuncles Jacinthes or Saphires about his neck Dioscorides accounteth Christs Thorn wilde Hemp and Valerian hung up in the house an amulet against witchcraft Smell to Hyssope and the sweet Lilly wear a ring made of the hoof of a tame or wilde Ass also Saâ—vâ—ion the male and female are thought the like Aristotle commendeth Rue being smelt to All these do abate the power of witchcraft THE NINTH BOOK OF Natural Magick How to adorn Women and make them Beautiful THE PROEME SInce next to the Art of Physick follows the Art of Adorning our selves we shall set down the Art of Painting and how to beautifie Women from Head to Foot in many Experiments yet lest any man should think it superfluous to interpose those things that belong to the Ornaments of Women I would have them consider that I did not write these things for to give occasion to augment Luxury and for to make people voluptuous But when God the Author of all things would have the Natures of all things to continue he created Male and Female that by fruitful Procreation they might never want Children and to make Man in love with his Wife he made her soft delicate and fair to entice man to embrace her We therefore that Women might be pleasing to their Husbands and that their Husbands might not be offended at their deformities and turn into other womens-chambers have taught Women how by the Art of Decking themselves and Painting if they be ashamed of their foul and swart Complexions they may make themselves Fair and Beautiful Something 's that seemed best to me in the Writings of the antients I have tried and set down here but those that are the best which I and others have of late invented and were never before in Print I shall set down last And first I shall begin with the Hairs CHAP. I. How the Hair may be dyed Yellow or Gold-colour SInce it is the singular care of Women to adorn their Hair and next their Faces First I will shew you to adorn the Hair and next the Countenance For Women hold the Hair to be the greatest Ornament of the Body that if that be taken away all the Beauty is gone and they think it the more beautiful the more yellow shining and radiant it is We shall consider what things are fit for that purpose what are the most yellow things and will not hurt the Head as there are many that will but we shall chuse such things as will do it good But before you dye them Preparing of the Hair must be used to make them fit to receive a tincture Add to the Lees of White-wine as much Honey that they may be soft and like some thin matter smeer your Hair with this let it be wet all night then bruise the Roots of Celandine and of the greater Clivers Madder of each a like quality mingle them being bruised very well with Oyl wherein Cummin-Seed Shavings of Box and a little Saffron are mingled anoynt your Head and let it abide so twenty four hours then wash it with Lye made of Cabbage-Stalks Ashes and Barley-Straw but Rye-Straw is the best for this as Women have often proved will make the Hair a bright yellow But you shall make A Lye to dye the Hair thus Put Barley-Straw into an Earthen-pot with a great mouth Feny-Graec and wilde Cummin mingle between them Quick-lime and Tobacco made into Powder then put them upon the Straw beforementioned and pour on the Powders again I mean by course one under the other over till the whole Vessel be full and when they are thrust close pour on cold water and let them so stand a whole day then open a hole at the bottom and let the Lye run forth and with Sope use it for your Hair I shall teach you Another To five Glasses of Fountain-water add Alume-Foeces one Ounce Sope three Ounces Barley-Straw one Handful let them boyl in Earthen-pots till two thirds be boyled away then let it settle strain the Water with the Ashes adding to every Glass of Water pure Honey one Ounce Set it up for your use You shall prepare for your Hair An Oyntment thus Burn the Foeces of Wine heaped up in a Pit as the manner is so that the fire may go round the Pit when it is burnt pown it and seirce it mingle it well with Oyl let the Woman anoynt her Head with it when she goes to Bed and in the morning let her wash it off with a Lye wherein the most bitter Lupines were boyled Other Women endeavour To make their Hair yellow thus They put into a common Lye the Pills of Citrons Oranges Quinces Barley-Straw dried Lupines Foeny-Graec Broom-Flowers and Tartat coloured a good quantity and they let them there lie and steep to wash their Hair with Others mingle two parts Sope to one part Honey adding Ox-Gall one half part to which they mingle a twelfth part of Garden-Cummin and wilde Saffron and setting them in the Sun for six weeks they stir it daily with a wooden-staff and this they use Also of Vinegar and Gold Litharge there is made a decoction very good to dye the Hair yellow as Gold Some there are that draw out a strong VVater with fire out of Salt-Peter Vitriol Salt-Ammoniac and Cinaber wherewith the Hairs dyed will be presently yellow but this as wont to burn the Hair those that know how to mingle it will have good effects of it But these are but ordinary the most famous way is To make the Hairs yellow draw Oyl from Honey by the Art of Distillation as we shall shew First there will come forth a clear VVater then a Saffron-colour then a Gold-colour use this to anoynt the Hair with a Spunge but let it touch the Skin for it will dye it Saffron-colour and it is not easily washed off This is the principal above others because the Tincture will last many dayes and it will dye Gray-Hairs which few others will Or make a Lye of Oak-Ashes put in the quantity of a Bean of Rheubarb as much Tobacco a handful of Barley-Straw and Foeny-Graec Shells of Oranges the Raspings of Guaiacum a good deal of wilde Saffron and Liquorish put all these in an Earthen-pot and boyl them till the water sink three fingers the Hairs will be washt excellently with this Hold them in the Sun then cast Brimstone on the Coals and fume the Hairs and whilst it burns receive the smoke with a little Tunnel at the bottom and cover your Head all over with a cloth that the smoke flie not away CHAP. II. How to dye the Hair bed BEcause there are many men and women that are ruddy Complexions and have the Hair of their Heads and Bearbs Red which should they make yellow-coloured they would not agree with their Complexions To help those also I set down these Remedies The
it and press her between your hands that no Wine remain and then adding two Cups of white-Wine distil her in a Chymical Vessel then distil the Flowers of Bindeweed Citrons Oranges together and keep this water by it self Then open Lemmons and press out the juice And also take water of Bean-flowers then distil six cups of Asseâ— milk and as many of Cows-milk You shall do the same with water of Gourds and of Milk well boyled and of water of Bean-flowers and of Rosin of Turpentine Then provide a glazed Vessel put into it Camphire two drachms four ounces of Ceruss finely powdered mingle them with the aforesaid waters and set it in a soft Vessel in the open Air fifteen days and nights When you would use it wet a Linen-rag in it and wash your Face CHAP. XVII How to make the Face Rose-coloured I Have made the Face white now I will make it red that the wise may be made wholly Beautiful for her husband And first To make a pale Face purple-coloured And to adorn one that wants colour use this Remedy Take Vinegar twice distilled and cast into it the raspings of red Sanders as much as you please boyl it at a gentle fire adding a little Allom and you shall have a red colour most perfect to dye the Face If you would have it sweet-smelling add a little Musk Civet Cloves or any Spices Now Another Take Flowers of Clove-Gilliflowers bruise the ends of the sprigs and draw forth the juice if they be so ripe that they are black add juice of Lemmons that they may shine with a more clear red With this paint your Face and you shall have a pleasant red colour without any stinking smell or wet the sprigs of Clove-gilliflowers in juice of Lemmons and set them in the Sun Take away the old and put in fresh until it be as red as you would have it let the juice dry and the color will be most glorious But I draw a quintessence from Clovegill flowers Roses Flower-gentle with Spirit of Wine then I add Allom and the juice of a Citron and I made an excellent colour to beautifie the Face Take Another If you add to the best Wine one tenth part of Honey and one ounce of Frankinsenceâ— and then distil it and steep in it the raspings of red Saunders until it is coloured to your minde and then wash your Face with it it will make your Face white and well-coloured Also A Fucus that cannot be detected And it is so cunningly made that it will delude all men for a cleer water makes the Cheeks purple-coloured and it will last long and the cleerer the part will be the more your wash it with it and rub it with a cloth of Woolen You shall draw out a water from the Seeds of Cardamom which the Apothecaries call Grains of Paradise Cubebs Indian Cloves raspings of Brasil and Spirit of Wine distilled when they have been infused some time draw forth the water with a gentle fire or corrupt Dung and wet your Face often with this There are also Experiments To colour the Body If you boyl Nettles in water and wash your Body with it it will make it red-colored if you continue it long If you distil Straw-berries and wash your self with the water you shall make your Face red as a Rose But the Ancients dyed their bodies of divers colours partly for ornament partly for terrour as Caesar writes of the Britans going to war for they painted themselves with wood Theophrastus calls it Isatis and we call it Guado The Grecian-women painted themselves with wood as Zenophon writes And in our days the West-Indians crush out in Harvest-time a blood-red juice from the Roots of wilde Bugloss which the women know well enough whereby they cover their pale colour with a pleasant red and so change their over-white colour with this Experiment CHAP. XVIII To wash away the over-much redness of the Face I Have shewed you how to colour the Face now I shall shew how to uncolour it when the Face is too red and women that are very red desire this The way is To wash away the too-much redness of the Face Take four ounces of Peach-Kernels and Gourd-Seed two ounces pown them and crush them out strongly that you may draw forth an oyly Liquor with this morning and evening anoynt the red Carbuncles of your face and by degrees they will vanish and be gone Another Take Purple-Violets Egg-shells Saunders Camphire mingled with water set the water in the open Air and wash the redness therewith Also I know that the distilled water of white Lillies will take away the redness CHAP. XIX How to make a Sun-burnt Face white WHen women travel in the open Air and take journeys in Summer the Sun in one day will burn them so black that it is hard to take it off I found out this Experiment Beat about ten whites of Eggs till they come to water put them in a glazed Vessel adding one ounce of Sugar-Candy to them and when you go to bed anoynt your Face and in the morning wash it off with Foutain-water Pliny also saith thus Another If the Face be smeered with the white of an Egg it will not be Sun-burnt With us women that have to do in the Sun to defend their Faces from the heat of it that they may not be black they defend it with the white of an Egg beaten with a little Starch and mingled and when the Voyage is done they wash off this covering with Barley-water Some do it Another way rubbing their foul Skin with Melon-Rindes and so they easily rub off Sun-burnings and all other spots outwardly on the Skin The Seed also bruised and rubbed on will do it better Also a Liquor found in little bladders of the Elm-Tree when the Buds first come forth makes the Face clear and shining and takes away Sun-burnings CHAP. XX. How Spots may be taken from the Face OFt-times fair women are disgraced by spots in their Faces but the Remedy for it is this to use Abstergents and Detergents in whiting of their Faces Therefore To take off spots from the Face anoynt the Face with Oyl of Tartar and let it dry on and wash it not at all do this for ten days then wash it with a Lixivium and you shall see the spots no more If the part be not yet clean enough do it once more If this please you not take Another Put Quick-Lime into hot water mingle them and stir them for ten days After two days pour forth the clear water into a Brazen Vessel then take Salt-Ammoniac between your Finger-tops and rub it so long at the bottom of the Vessel until you see the water become of a blew-colour and the more you rub it the better colour it will have and it will turn into a Skie-colour or Purple-colour very pleasant to behold Wet Linen-cloths in this water and lay them on the spots till they be dry and wet them again till
the spots be gone See Another Take two ounces of Turpentine-Rosin Ceruss as much mingle them with the white of an Egg and stirring them well besmeer Linen-cloths with them And when you go to bed let them stick to the spots in the morning wash the place and do the same again till all the spots be gone If you please here is Another The distilled water of Pimpernel mingled with Camphire and laid to the Face will make women that desire to be beautiful have a cleer Skin very sightly to behold and will take off the spots Distil the Mulberry-Leaves let the water stand ten dayes in the Sun add to this Mercury sublimate Verdigrease artificial Chrysocolla called Borax and a good quantity of the Powder of Sea-Cockle-shells finely beaten Set it so many dayes in the Sun and then use it If you will rub off the wan colour of your cheeks do thus especially for women when they are in their courses Anoynt the place with Ceruss and Bean-flower mingled with Vinegar or yelks of Eggs mingled with Honey The same may be done with Bean-meal and Feny-Greek smeered on with Honey But we wipe away Black and blew marks thus If you wash the black and blew places with the juice of the Leaves and Roots of Thapsia made into Cakes in the Sun but one night they will be taken away Nero Caesar made his Face white from the strokes he had received in his Night-walks with Wax and Frankincense and the next day his Face was clear against all reports Or Oyl pressed from the Seeds of Flowers when it is thick will do it rarely Or the Root mingled with equal quantities of Frankincense and Wax but let it â—ay on but two hours at most then foment the place with Sea-water hot Also Wal-nuts bruised or smeered on will take away black and blew spots Vinegar or Honey anoynted will take away the same So doth Garlick rubbed on and brings black and blew to the right colour Or the Ashes of it burnt smeered on with Honey The juice of Mustard-Seed anoynted on but one night is good for the same or it is anoynted on with Honey or Suet or a Cerate If a Briony-root be made hollow and Oyl put into it and it be boyled in hot Embers if that be anoynted on it will blot out black and blew spots Marks that are noted upon Children by Women great with-child when they long exceedingly are taken away thus Let her first eat of that Flesh or Fruit her belly full then let her binde on that Flesh alive or the green Fruit to the part till it die or corrupt and they will be gone Or else let her wash the place with Aqua Fortis or Regia and the Skin grows very black so it will take the marks away Do it again For spots and beauty I will not omit Aelian's Experiment of a Lion which is a kinde of Locust For in some Membranes where the Testes are bound together under which there are some soft Carbuncles and tender that are called the Lions fat This will help people to make ill Faces look comely mingled with Oyl of Roses and made into an Oyntment it will make the Face look fair and shining CHAP. XXI How we may take off red Pimples BEcause red Pimples use to deform the Face and specially the whitest therefore to take them off use these Remedies I often to take off Pimples used Oyl of Paper namely extracting it from burnt Paper I shall shew the way elsewhere because I will not disturb the Order where I shall speak of the Extraction of Oyls and Waters Wherefore anoynting that on the red spots will soon blot them out For the same Rear Eggs are good twenty of them boyled hard cut in the middle and the yelks taken forth fill up the hollow places in the whites with Oyl of sweet Almonds and Turpentine-Rosin extract the Liquor in a Glass Vessel use it Another Beat two Eggs well together add as much juice of Lemmons and as much Mercury sublimate set it in the Sun and use it Another to polish the Face Take Sow-bread-Roots three parts cleansed Barley six parts Tartar calcined one part Roots of wilde Cucumers powdered two parts Wheat-Bran two handfuls let them all boyl in Water till a third part be consumed then wash your Face with it CHAP. XXII How Tetters may be taken from the Face or any other part of the Body RIng-worms will so deform the Face that nothing can do it more sometimes they run upon other parts of the Body as the Arm-pits and Thighs there drops forth of them a stinking water that will foul the cloths I found these Remedies Against Tetters Distil water from the Roots of Sowredock and add to every pound of these of Pompions and Salt-Peter half an ounce Tartar of white-Wine two ounces let them soak for some days then distil them and wash your Face in the morning therewith and at night smeer it with Oyl of Tartar and of Almonds mingled Oyl of Eggs is good also to anoynt them with Yet sometimes these Tetters are so fierce that no Remedies can cure them I shall set down Another that I have used with admirable success when they were inveterate In a Glass of sharp red-Wine boyl a drachm of Mercury sublimate then wash the place with it morning and evening let it dry of it self Do this three or four times and the Tetters will away and never come again Another Take Salt-Peter three ounces Oyl of bitter Almonds two pound of Squils half a pound one Lemmon without the Pills mingle them and let them ferment three days then with Chymical Instruments extract the Oyl and anoynt your Tetters therewith and they will be gone though they seem to turn to a Leprosie CHAP. XXIII How Warts may be taken away WArts use to possess the Fore-head Nose Hands and other open places so doth hard Flesh and other foulness of the skin women cannot endure them I found out Remedies against these deformities of the skin Against Warts The Ancients used the greater Spurge whose juice anoynted on with Salt takes them away and therefore they called it Warts-Herb There is also a kinde of Succory called Verrucaria from the effect for if one eat it but once in Sallets all the Warts will be gone from any part of the Body or if you swallow one drachm of the Seeds Another This one and so no more There is a kinde of Beetle that is Oyly in Summer you shall finde it in Dust and Sand in the way if you rub that on the Warts they will be presently gone and not be seen You may finde these and keep them for your use CHAP. XXIV To take away wrinkles from the Body MAny parts of the Body use to be wrinckled as the Hands Face Belly after Child-bearing and the like To contract the Skin therefore do thus For a wrinckled Forehead the Dregs of Linseed-Oyl is good or Lees of Oyl of Olives putting unto it a little Gum-Arabick
it self straitned in the narrow cavities it will seek some other vent and so tear the Vessels in pieces which will flie about with a great bounce and crack not without endamaging the standers by and being at liberty will save it self from further harm But if the things be hot and thin you must have Vessels with a long and small neck Things of a middle temper require Vessels of a middle size All which the industrious Artificer may easily learn by the imitation of Nature who hath given angry and furious Creatures as the Lion and Bear thick bodies but short necks to shew that flatulent humours would pass out of Vessels of a larger bulk and the thicker part settle to the bottom but then the Stag the Estrich the Camil-Panther gentle Creatures and of thin Spirits have slender bodies and long necks to shew that thin subtile Spirits must be drawn through a much longer and narrower passage and be elevated higher to purifie them There is one thing which I must especially inform you of which is that there may be a threefold moysture extracted out of Plants The Nutritive whereby they live and all dried Herbs want it differeth little from Fountain or Ditch-water The Substantial whereby the parts are joyned together and this is of a more solid Nature And the third is the Radical humor fat and oyly wherein the strength and vertue lieth There is another thing which I cannot pass over in silence it being one of the Principles of the Art which I have observed in divers Experiments which is that some mixt bodies do exhale thin and hot vapors first and afterwards moyst and thick on the contrary others exhale earthy and phlegmatick parts first and then the hot and fiery which being fixed in the inmost parts are expelled at last by the force of the fire But because there can be no constant and certain Rule given for them some I will mark unto you others your own more quick ingenuity must take the pains to observe CHAP. II. Of the Extraction of Waters THe Extraction of Waters because it is common I will dispatch in a few words If you would extract sweet Waters out of hot Plants and such as are earthy and retain a sweet savour in their very substance these being cast into a Stillatory without any Art and a fire made under them yield their odors as you may draw sweet Waters out of Roses Orange-flowers Myrtle and Lavender and such-like either with Cinders or in Balneo Mariae but onely observe to kindle the fire by degrees lest they burn There are also in some Plants sweet Leaves as in Myrtle Lavender Citron and such-like which if you mix with the Flowers will no way hinder the savour of them but add a pleasantness to the Waters and in places where Flowers cannot be gotten I have seen very sweet Waters extracted out of the Tendrils of them especially when they have been set abroad a sunning in a close Vessel for some dayes before There is a Water of no contemptible sent drawn out of the Leaves of Basil gentle especially being aromatized with Citron or Cloves by the heat of a gentle Bath heightened by degrees and then exposing it to the Sun for some time There is an odoriserous Water extracted out of the Flowers of Azadaret or bastard Sicamore very thin and full of savor The way to finde out whether the odor be settled in the substance of a Plant or else in the superficies or outward parts is this Rub the Leaves of Flowers with your fingers if they retain the same sent or cast a more fragrant breath then the odour lieth in the whole substance But on the contrary if after your rubbing they do not onely lose their natural sent but begin to stink it sheweth that their odour resideth onely in their superficies which being mixed with other ill savoured parts are not onely abated but become imperceptible In distilling of these we must use another Art As for example To extract sweet Water out of Gillâ—flowers Musk Roses Violets and Jasmine and Lillies First draw the juice out of some wilde Musk Roses with a gentle heat in Balneo then remove them and add others for if you let them stand too long the sent which residâ—th in the superficies is not onely consumed but the dull stinking vapour which lieth in the inward parts is drawn forth In this water let other Roses be infused for some hours and then taken out and fresh put in which the oftner you do the sweeter it will smell but stop the Vessel close lest the thin sent flie out and be dispersed in the Air and so you will have a most odoriferous Water of Musk-Roses The same I advise to be done with Jasmine Gilliflowers Lillies and Violets and Crows-toes and the like But if you are not willing to macerate them in their own waters the same may be done in Rose-water By this Art I have made Waters out of Flowers of a most fragrant smell to the admiration of Artists of no small account But because it happeneth sometimes by the negligence of the Operator that it is infected with a stink of burning I will teach you How to correct the stink of burning Because that part which lieth at the bottom fâ—eleth more heat then the top whence it cometh to pass that before the one be warm the other is burnt and oftentimes stinketh of the fire and offendeth the nose Therefore distil your Waters in Balneo with a gentle fire that the pure clear Water may ascend and the dregs settle in the bottom with the Oyl a great cause of the ill savour How to draw a great quantity of Water by Distillation Fasten some Plates of Iron or Tin round the top of the Stillatory set them upright and let them be of the same height with it and in the bottom fasten a Spigget When the Stillatory waxeth hot and the elevated vapors are gathered into the Cap if that be hot they fall down again into the bottom and are hardly condensed into drops but if it be cold it presently turneth them into Water Therefore pour cold Water between those plates which by condensing the vapours may drive down larger currents into the Receiver When the Cap and the Water upon it begin to be hot pull out the Spigget that the hot Water may run out and fresh cold Water be put in Thus the Water being often changed that it may always be cold and the warm drawn out by the Spigget you will much augment the quantity of your Water CHAP. III. Of extracting Aqua Vitae IT is thus done Take strong rich Wine growing in dry places as on Viseuvius commonly called Greek-wine or the tears or first running of the Grape Distil this in a Glass-Retort with Cinders or in Balneo or else in a long necked Still Draw out the third part of it and reserve the rest for it is turned into a perfect sharp Vinegar there remaining onely the carcase of
Retort or Alembick First a Milky water will flow out with Oyl next cleer Water cast the Water in over the Oyl and separate them as we shall teach you Of a pound of Cinnamon you will scarce receive a drachm of Oyl How to draw a greater quantity of Oyl out of Cinnamon I do use to do it in this manner to the wonder of the best and subtillest Artists Provide a Descendatory out of the Bath the making of which I will shew hereafter and put your Cinnamon being grossly beaten into a Glass-Retort set it in its proper place and put water into the Bath the heat of the fire by degrees will draw a little water in many days receive it careful and pour it again into the Cinnamon that it may re-imbibe its own water so let it remain a while afterwards kindle the fire and you shall receive a little Water and Oyl Do this third and fourth time and you will gain an incredible quanity You may try the same in other things Oyl of Cloves may be extracted in the same manner To every pound of Cloves you must add ten of Water distil them as before so shall you have both Water and Oyl It will yield a twelfth part The Oyl is good for Medicines and the VVater for Sawces So also is made Liquid Oyl of Nutmegs If you bruise them and put them with the VVater into a Vessel and distil them as before they will yield a sixth part Oyl of Mace and Pepper is drawn in the same manner much stronger but in less quantity Oyl of Aniseed may be thus extracted an ounce out of a pound It congealeth in VVinter like Camphire or Snow in the Summer it dissolveth Let the Seeds be macerated in the VVater for ten days at least for the longer they lie there the more Oyl they will yield Oyl of Fennel is extracted in the same quantity when the Seeds are ripe and fresh they have most Oyl for they yield as much more Oyl of Coriander yieldeth but a small quantity and is of very hard extraction there is scarce one drachm drawn out of a pound new Seeds yield most And to be short in the same manner are extracted the Oyls out of the Seeds of Carrot Angelica Marjoram Rue Rosemary Parsely Smallage and Dill and such-like Oyl of Rosemary and Lavender-flowers and such-others which being dried afford no Oyl may be thus extracted Put the Flowers into a Receiver and set it close stopt in the hot Sun for a month there will they dissolve into Liquor and flie up to the sides of the Glass then being condensed again fall down and macerate in themselves at a fit time add VVater to them and distil them as the former so shall you draw forth with the VVater a most excellent sweet Oyl Oyl of Juniper and Cypress-Wood may de drawn out by the same Art if you macerate the dust of them in their own or in Fountain-water for a month and distil them in the same manner the Oyl will come out by drops with the water of a strong sent and excellent vertue These I have tried the rest I leave to thee CHAP. VII How to separate Oyl from Water VVHen we extract Oyls they run down into the Receiver together with the VVater wherefore they must be separated left the flegm being mixed with the Oyl do weaken the vertue of it that it may obtain its full vigour it must be purified by Distillation and Separation for being put into a Retort or broad Still over a gentle fire the VVater will run out the remaining Liquor will be clear Oyl This work of Separation is very laborious yet there are very artificial Vessels invented by the help of which all the VVater may be drawn off and the flegm onely pure Oyl will remain Prepare a Glass-Vessel let it be broad and grow narrower by degrees downwards until it come to a point like unto a Tunnel Put the distilled VVater which consisteth of the flegmatick VVater and Oyl into this Vessel let it stand a while the Oyl will swim on the top and the VVater will sink down to the bottom But stop the mouth of it with your finger so that removing it away the VVater may first run out and the Oyl sink down by degrees VVhen it is descended into the narrow part so that the Oyl becometh next to your finger stop the hole and let the Orifice be but half open for the VVater to pass out when it is all run out empty the Oyl into another small Vessel There is another very ingenious Instrument found out for to separate Oyl with a great belly and a narrow neck which a little nose in the middle Pour the Oyl mixed with Water into the Vessel the Water will possess the bottom the Oyl the neck Drop Water gently into it until the Oyl ascend up unto the nose then encline the Vessel downward and the Oyl will run out pure and unmix'd When you have emptied out some drop in more Water until the Oyl be raised again unto the nose then stop it down and pour out the rest of the Oyl But if the Oyl settle to the bottom and the Water swim on the top as it often hapneth filtrate it into a broad dish or any other Vessel with a cotten-cloth the Water will run out and the Oyl will remain in the bottom very pure CHAP. VIII How to make an Instrument to extract Oyl in a greater quantity and without danger of burning VVE may with several sorts of Instruments use several kindes of Extractions among the rest I found out one whereby you may draw Oyl with any the most vehement fire without any danger of burning and a greater quantity then by any other and it is fit for many other uses also Prepare a Vessel in the form of an Egg of the capacity of half an ordinary Barrel let the mouth of it be of a convenient bigness to receive in your arm when there shall occasion to wash it or to fill it with several sorts and degrees of things to be distilled Let it be tinned within then set a brass head upon it of a foot high with a hole in the bottom fit to receive the neck of the lower Vessel and stop the mouth of it exactly Out of the top of the head there must arise a pipe of Brass fifteen or twenty foot long bended into several angles that it may take up less room and be more convenient to be carried The other end of this Pipe must be fastened into the belly of another Vessel which must be of less capacity then the former but of the same figure Fix a head upon this also with a Pipe of the same length and bended like the former whose lower end shall be received into another straight Pipe which passing through the middle of a Barrel at last falls into the Receiver The manner of using it is this Put your Leaves Stalks or Seeds being beaten small into the Brass-pot and
pour as much fountain-Fountain-water on as will cover them a handful or five large fingers over then set on the head and stop the joynts very close Put the other end of the Pipe into the other Pot and joynt them exactly then set on the other head and fasten the lower end of its crooked Pipe into that straight one which passing through the Barrel runneth into the Receiver If the joynts be anywhere faulty stop them with Flax and paste them with Wheat-flour and the white of an Egg then rowl them about and tie them close with Fillets cut out of a Bladder for when the vapors are forced by the heat of the fire they are so attenuated that they will break forth through the least rime or chink in spite of all your endeavors Fill the Barrel with cold water and when it beginneth to grow hot draw it out through a Cock at bottom and supply fresh water that the Pipe may always be kept cool At length make the Pot boyl at first with a gentle fire then encrease it by degrees until the vehemency of the heat doth make the vapors hiss as it were ready to break the Pipes as they run thorow them so they will be elevated thorow the retorted Pipes and leave the phlegmatick water in the lower Vessel till passing through the cold Pipe they be condensed into Liquor and fall down into the Receiver If the water do consume away in the boyling pour in more being first warmed thorow a little Pipe which the Pot must have on one side with a Spigget to it for this purpose but be sure to stop the Spigger in very close that there may be no vent Afterwards separate the Oyl from the Water sublime and purifie it in another Vessel Of all the Instruments that ever I saw not any one extracteth a greater quantity of Oyl and with less labour and industry then this Thus you may without any fear of burning draw Oyl out of Flowers Leaves Spices Gums and VVood with the vehementest fires as also out of Juniper and Laurel-Berries CHAP. IX The Description of a Descendatory whereby Oyl is extracted by Descent I Cannot refrain from discovering here an Instrument found out by my own private experience which I hope will be of no small profit to the Ingenious by which they may draw Oyl out of any the least things without any fear of burning For there are many tenuous oyly Flowers as of Rosemary and Juniper and other things as Musk Amber Civet Gum and such-like out of which may be drawn Oyls very sweet and medicinable but they are of so thin a substance that there is a great hazard of burning them when they are forced by the heat of the fire without which neither fat things will be elevated nor Oyl extracted Therefore to remedy these inconveniences I have invented an Instrument by which Oyl shall descend without any labour or danger of burning Let a Vessel be made of Brass in the form of an Egg two foot high and of the same breadth let it be divided towards the top of which the upper part must serve for a cover and be so fitted to be received into the lower part that the joynts may closely fall in one another and be exactly stopt In the lower part towards the middle about half a foot from the mouth let there be a Copper-plate fitted as it were the midriff so that it may easily be put and taken out in which must be made three hollow places to receive the bottom of three retorted Vessels the rest of the plate must be pervious that the boyling VVater and hot Spirits may have passage to rise upwards Out of the sides of the Vessel there must be three holes through the which the necks of the Retorts may pass being glued and fastned to their Pipes with Flax and tied with Fillets of Bladders so that not the least Air much less any VVater may flie out VVhen you prepare to work fill the Glass-Retorts with the things you intend to still thrust the necks thorow the holes outward and lay their bodies in the prepared hollowness of the cross-plate somewhat elevated If there remain any void space between the necks and the sides of the holes they pass through stop it with Flax and tie it about with Fillets of Bladder and fill the Vessel with with water within three fingers up to the cross-plate The Vessel being covered and the joynts well stopt and glued and bound about so that the force of the vapours arising may not burst it open and scald the Faces of the by-standers kindle the fire by degrees until it become very vehement then wil the vapors make a great nose almost sufficient to terrifie one and first VVater then VVater and Oyl will distil out I cannot contain my self from relating also another Instrument invented for the same purpose Make an oval Brass-Vessel as I advised before with a hole bored thorow the bottom to which fasten a pipe that may arise up to the mouth of the Vessel let the mouth of it be wide like a trumpet or tunnel so that the long neck of a Gourd-Glass may pass through the Pipe of it and the wide mouth of the Vessel under may by degrees receive the swelling parts of the neck Adapt a cover to this Vessel that it may be close stopt and luted as we said before You must make a Furnace on purpose for this use for the fire must not be made in the bottom but about the Vessel The use is this Fill the Glass with Flowers or other things put in some wire Lute-strings after them that they may not fall out again when the Glass is inversed Thrust the neck thorow the Brass-Pipe set the Vessel on the Furnace and fill it with Water round about the arising Pipe put on the Cover and plaister it about set the Receiver under the Furnace that it may catch the dropping Water and Oyl then kindle the fire about the sides of the Pot the violence of which will elevate vapors of burning water which beating against the concave part of the Cover will be reverberate upon the bottom of the Gourd-Glass whose fervent heat will turn the Water and Oyl into vapor and drive it down into the Receiver I will set down some examples of those things which I made trial of my self As How to extract Oyl out of Rosemary Flowers Fill the Retorts with the Leaves and Flowers of Rosmary and set them in the Brass-Furnace the fire being kindled will force out first a Water and afterward a yellow Oyl of a very strong and fervent odor a few drops of which I have made use of in great sicknesses and driving away cruel pains You may extract it easier if you macerate the Flowers or Leaves in their own or fountain-Fountain-water for a week In the same manner Oyl of Citron-Pill is extracted When Citrons are come to perfect ripeness shave off the peal with a gross Steal-File put the Filings into a Pot
let it evaporate it will leave behinde it a Tincture enriched with the sent and vertues of the Flowers Tincture of Coral Beat the Coral to Powder and with a vehement fire turn it into Salt add an equal quantity of Salt-Peter to it then extract the Salt with Aqua Vitae and it will bring out with it the Tincture of a wonderful vertue CHAP. XVI How to extract Salts SAlts do retain the greatest part of the Vertue of those things from whence they are extracted and therefore are used to season the sick persons meat and otherways because they have a penetrative quality It was a great Question among the Ancients Whether Salts retained the vertue of the things or whether they lost some in the fire and acquired others but it is row manifested by a thousand Experiments that the vertues do not onely remain in them but are made quicker and more efficacious Salt of Lemmons Distill the Lemmons with their Peels and Juice reserve the Water and dry the rest in the Sun if the season permit it or in an Oven Put them in a Pot close luted and calcine it in igne reverberationis Then dissolve the Powder in the Water and boyl them in a perfect Lye cleanse it with a Feather that the Dregs may settle to the bottom purifie it and let the Liquor evaporate so the Salt will remain in the bottom which is most excellent to break the Stone in the Bladder Salt of Pellitory of Spain Dry the Roots and burn it in a close luted pot for three dayes until it be reduced into white Ashes pour on its own Menstruum distil it and calcine iâ— again so the third time then cleanse it with a Feather boyl it in an earthen vernished Pipkin with the white of an Egg to clarifie the Salt at length a white grained Salt will appear Salt of Cumine Put the Roots Leave and Flowers in a close luted Vessel and dry them and put them into a Potters Furnace till they be burned to Ashes In the mean while distil the Roots Leaves and Flowers or if you please make a decoction of them and of that decoction a sharp Lye which being strained very clean through a Linen-cloth three or four times must be boyled to a Salt in a Glass-Vessel If you desire it very fine and white strow the Salt upon a Marble and set it in a moist place with a pan underneath to receive it as it dissolveth cleanse the filth still away and do this three times until it become of a Chrystal colour so reserve In this manner Sal Alchali is made Of Saxifrage It is made like the former if you season your meat with it it protecteth from all danger of poysoned bread or meat conserveth from the contagion of pestilential and infections Air. The same may be extracted out of other Alexiphatmacal Bodies which Princes may use at meals instead of ordinary Salt for they scarce differ in taste A Salt may be made of Thapsia very good to remove the Stone in the Bladder or Kidneys and to dissolve the Tartar or viscous Concrescency to kill the Worms and purge the Blood to provoke sweat by being often taken and is admirable in Venereal Diseases The Salt of Pimpernel being taken three days and the third month for a mans whole life-time secureth him from the Dropsie Pâ—hisick and Apoplexy It also preserveth from infection and pestiferous Air and helpeth digestion in a weak Stomack But it is to be observed That these Salts must not be eaten every day left they become too familiar to the Stomack and be taken for food There may be a Salt also extracted out of the filings of Lignum Guaiacum which is excellent in the French Pox being taken as the former By these you may learn to make other Salts CHAP. XVII Of Elixirs ELixirs are the Conservators of Bodies in the same condition wherein they finde them for their Vertue is to preserve from corruption not by meliorating their state but by continuing it and if by accident they cure any Diseases it is by reason of their tenuity They have a double Vertue to preserve from sickness and continue health not onely in Men but to preserve Plants also They imitate the qualities of Balsam and resort chiefly to the Heart Brain and principal Parts where the Spirits reside There are three kinds of Elixirs of Metals of Gems and of Plants as of Roots Herbs Flowers Seeds Woods Gums and such-like An Elixir differeth from Essences Tinctures and the rest because it is compounded of many things void of fatness therefore it cannot be an Oyl because it wanteth perspicuity and clearness not an Essence because it is a Compound not a Tincture but a mean between all and of a consistence most like to Water whence it had its name ab eliquesco to be dissolved or liquified To make Elixir of Pimpernel Dig up the Roots in a convenient time and macerate them in their Water putting some weight on them to depress them under Water when the Flowers are blown gather them and macerate them in the same manner in a peculiar Vessel the same must be done with the Seeds Then put them in an Alimbeck and draw out the Water and Oyl until the Foeces remain dry then separate the Oyl from the Water and circulate it in a Pelican for two months then take it out and reserve it for your use An Elixir of many things Many Compositions of Elixir are carried about which are erroneous and false to my knowledge and of so hard a work to extract the Oyl and Water that you will more probably lose your time and cost then gain any good by them for they are made for pomp and magnificence rather then for the benefit of man Besides I have found them often fail in the performance of what was promised from them and cannot be made according to those descriptions But here I will deliver one to you which will perform far more then is promised Take the Flowers of Sage Origanum Mugwort Savory Elder Sage-Leaves white Mint Rosemary Basil Marjoram Peniroyal Rose-buds the Roots of Betony Pellitory Snake-weed white Thistle Aristolochy Elder Cretan-Ditany Currants Pine-Apples Dates Citron-Pill of each an ounce and a half Ginger Cloves Nutmegs Zedoary Galangal white and long Pepper Juniper-berries Spikenard Mace Cubebs Parsley-seed Cardomoms Cinnamon Staechados Germander Granes Rose of Jerusalem Doronicum Ammoniac Opoponax Spodium Schaeinanthus Bdellium Mummy Sagapenum Champhire Mastick Frankincense Aloes Powder of Ebony Bole-Armenick Treacle Musk Galls Mithridate Lignum Aloes and Saffron of each three drachms of clarified Sugar thirteen pounds of Honey two I exclude Pearl Rubies Jacinths Saphires Emeraulds and Leaf-Gold from the Composition because as I have proved before they have no operation especially thus exhibited and therefore are used in Medicines by none but ignorant Physitians Reduce all these into Powder and put them into a Pelican or blinde Alimbeck with twelve pound of Aqua Vitae very well clarified as though
is reverberated on the top and below too Stop it close and set a large Receiver under it for if it be too narrow the strong Spirits will break out with a great bounce crack the Vessel and frustrate your labour Distil it six hours if you calcine the Alome-fire the VVater will be stronger A Water for Separation of Gold Mix with the equal parts of Salt-Peter and Alom as much Vitriol and distil it as before there will proceed a VVater so strong that it will even corrode the â—iâ—cture of Gold Wherefore if this seem too violent take nine pounds of the former Salts being dissolved in VVater and two ounces of Sal Ammoniacum when they are melted set them two days in Fimo and with hot Ashes you may distil a VVater that will corrode Gold If you refund the VVater upon the Foeces let them macerate and distil it again the VVater will be much stronger How to purge the phlegm from these Waters without which they are of no force cast a little Silver into a litle of this VVater which being overcharged with phlegm will not corrode it But set it to heat over the fire and it will presently do it pour all this VVater into another Pot and leave the Foeces behinde in the former so the VVater will be clarified Oyl of Vitriol Dissolve Vitriol in an earthen Pan with a wide mouth let the phlegm evaporate then encrease the fire and burn it till it be all red and the fourth part be consumed Put it into a Glass-Retort luted all over thrice double and well dried and set in igne reverberationis continually augmenting the fire and continning it for three days until the Vessel melt and an Oyl drop out without any VVater Every three pounds will â—ield one ounce of Oyl Put it into a Glass-bottle and set it in hot Embeâ—s that the VVater if any be in the Oyl may evaporate for so it will be of greater strengh The sign of a perfect extraction is if it make a piece of VVood being cast into it smoak as if it burned it Oyl of Sulphur This is the proper way to extract Oyl of Sulphur Take a Glass with a large mouth in the form of a Bell and hang it up by a wire place a large Receiver under it that it may catch the Oyl as it droppeth out of the Bell. In the middle between these hang an earthen Vessel full of Sulphur kindle the fire and make the Sulphur burn the smoak of which ascendeth up into the Bell condenseth it self and falls down in an oyly substance When the Sulphur is consumed put in more until you have the quantity of Oyl which you desire There is also another way to extract it in a greater quantity Prepare a great Glass-Receiver such as I described in the Extraction of Oyl of Tartar and Aqua Fortis cut a hole thorow it with an Emerauld and indent the edges of it that the smoak may pass out set this upon an earthen Pan in which you burn the Sulphur Above this set another Vessel of a larger size so that it may be about a handful distant from the first cut the edges of the hole in deeper notches that the vapor ascending thorow the first and circulating about the second may distil out of both so you may add a third and fourth Pour this Oyl into another Glass and let the phlegm evaporate over hot Embers it will become of that strength that it will dissolve Silver and I may say Gold also if it be rightly made The fume of Sulphur is congealed in Sal Ammoniacum for I have gathered it in the Mountains of Campania and condensed it into Salt nothing at all differing from that which is brought out of the Eastern Countries Thus Sal Ammoniacus which hath so long lain unknown is discovered in our own Country and is nothing but Salt of Sulphur and this Oyl is the Water of Sal Ammoniac or Salt of Sulphur I would fain know how Learned Men do approve this my Invention I take the Earth thorow which the smoak of Sulphur hath arisen and dissole it in warm Waters and purge it thorow a hanging Receptacle described before then I make the Water evaporate and so finde a Salt nothing different as I hope from Ammoniacum CHAP. XXI Of the Separation of the Elements IN every Compound there are four Elements but for the most part one is predominant the rest are dull and unprofitable Hence when we speak of separating the Elements of a Compound we mean the separating that predominant one In the Water-Lilly the Element of Water is chief Air Earth and Fire are in it but in a small proportion Hence there is but a small quantity of heat and driness in it because VVater overwhelms them all The same must be understood in other things also But do not think that we intend by the separation of the Elements to divide them absolutely the Air from the VVater and the VVater from the Fire and Earth but onely by a certain similitude as what is hotter then the rest we call Fire the moister VVater Stones participate more of Earth VVoods of Fire Herbs of VVater VVe account those Airy which fill the Vessels and Receivers and easily burst them and so flie out VVhen the Elements are thus separated they may afterwards be purified and attenuated The manner of extracting them is various according to the diversity of natural things for some must be calcined some sublimated others distilled I will set down some examples How to separate the Elements of Metals Lay your Metal in Aqua Fortis as I shewed before till it be dissolved then draw out the Aqua Fortis by a Bath and pour it on again and so again until it be turned into an Oyl of a light Red or Ruby-colour Pour two parts of Aqua Fortis unto the Oyl and macerate them in a Glass in Fimo for a month then distil them on Embers till the VVater be all drawn out which you must take and still again in Balneo until it ascend so will you have two Elements By the Bath the Air is elevated the VVater and Earth remain in the bottom the Fire continueth in the bottom of the former Vessel for it is of a fiery substance this Nature and the Affusion of Water and the Distillation in Balneo will reduce into an Oyl again in which you must correct the Fire and it will be perfect You may lay Metal in Embers then by degrees encrease the fire the VVater will first gently ascend next the Earth In Silver the first Oyl is blewish and in perfect separation settleth to the bottom and the VVater ascendeth but in Balneo the Elements of Fire and Earth for the substance of it is cold and moist in Balneo the Elements of Fire and Earth remain first the Earth will come out afterwards the Fire So of Tin the first Oyl is yellow in Balneo the Air will remain in the bottom the Fire Earth and
Sanders and Lignum Aloes an ounce of Spikenard let these all be grossly beaten and boyled in a vernished earthen Pipkin over a gentle fire for the space of an hour then let them cool Strain them through a Linen-cloth and set it up in a Glass close stopt But tye up the Cinnamon Cloves Lignum Aloes and Sanders in a thin Linen-cloth and so put them into the pot and boyl them as I said before and afterwards take out the bundle for after the boyling of the water the remaining dust may be formed into Pills and made into Cakes which may be used in perfuming as I shall teach hereafter This Water is made divers ways but I have set down the best yet in the boyling it will turn coloured and become red so that Hankerchiefs or white Linen if they be wetted in it are stained although they are made wonderfully sweet which maketh many forbear the use of it Wherefore if we would have Aqua Nansa clarified Take the former Water and put it into a Glass-Retort and set it in Balneo over a gentle fire the VVater will become clear and almost of the same sent onely a little weaker keep the Water and lay aside the rest of the Foeces for sweet Cakes CHAP. II. To make sweet Water by Infusion NOw I will teach how to make perfumed Liquors and what Liquors they are which will receive odors best for VVater is unapt to keep sent Oyl is better and VVine we may assign the reason out of Theophrastus for VVater is thin â—oid of taste or sent and so fine that it can gather no sent and those Liquors which are thick savory and have a strong sent VVine although it be not sweet of it self yet being placed nigh any odour it will draw it because it is full of heat which doth attract VVater being cold by Nature can neither attract nor receive nor keep any sent for it is so fine slender and thin that the odour flieth out again and vanisheth away as if there were no foundation whereon it could fix and settle as there is in VVine and Oyl who are more tenacious of sent because they are of a denser and callous Body Oyl is the best preserver and keeper of sent because it is not changeable wherefore Perfumers steep their perfumes in Oyl that it may suck out their sweetness We use Wine to extract the sent of Flowers and especially Aqua Vitae for Wine unless distilled infecteth the Water too much with his own senâ— Musk Water This VVater setteth off all others and maketh them richer wherefore it is first to be made Take the best Aqua Vitae and put into it some Grains of Musk Amber and Civet and set them in the hot Sun for some dayes but stop the Vessel very close and lute it for that will very much add to the frangrancy of it A drop of this put into any other water will presently make it smell most pleasantly of Musk. You may do the same with Rose-water and Fountain-water often distilled that it may obtain a thinness and heat which is very necessary for the extraction of Essences Water of Jasmine Musk-Roses Gilliflowers Violets and Lillies is extracted the same way for these Flowers send forth but a thin odour which dwelleth not in the substance of them but onely lieth scattered on the superficies so that if they remain too long on the fire or in their Menstruum their sweetness degenerateth from its former pleasantness and is washed off by the mixture of the stinking ill-savoured part of their substance VVherefore we must lay their Leaves onely in the best Aqua Vitae that is the Leaves of Lillies Jasmine Musk-Roses and the rest hanging them on a threed that when the VVater hath sucked out their odour we may pluck them out because their odour lieth onely on their superficies so that if they should remain long in the Aqua Vitae it would penetrate too deep into them and draw out a sent which would not onely destroy their former sweetness but taint them with an ill savour which accompanieth those inward parts After these Leaves are taken out supply them with fresh until you perceive their sent is also extracted But take out the Violets and the Gilliflowers sooner then the rest lest they colour the VVater This VVater being mixt with others taketh away the scurvy sent of the VVine A sweet compounded Water Take a great Glass-Receiver and fill the third part almost of it with Aqua Vitae put into it Lavender-Flowers Jasmine Roses Orange and Lemmon-Flowers Then add Roots of Iris Cypress Sanders Cinnamon Storax Labdanum Cloves Nutmegs Calamus Aromaticus with a little Musk Amber and Civet Fill the Glass and stop it well But after you have filled the Glass with the Flowers they will wither and sink down wherefore fill it up with more Set it in a very hot Sun or in Balneo until their sweetness be all extracted Then strain out the Water and one drop of it in Rose-water or of Myrtle-Flowers will perfume it all with a most fragrant smell CHAP. III. How to make sweet Oyls HOw to extract Oyl out of Spices and sweet things is declared before now I will shew how to draw sents out of other things with Oyl or as I said before to make Oyl the ground in which odours may be kept and preserved a long time which is done either by imbibing the Oyl with odors or the Almonds out of which we afterwards express the Oyl How to make Oyl of Ben which is the sweetest Oyl of all used by the Genois take an ounce of Ben a drachm of Amber as much Musk half a drachm of Civet put them in a Glass-bottle well stopt and set it in the Sun for twenty days then you may use it But be sure that it be close stopt for the Nature of odors being volatile and fugitive it quickly decayeth loseth his fragrancy and smelleth dully A way to make odoriferous Oyl of Flowers it is a common thing but very commodious for Perfumers and may be used for other things he that knoweth how to use it rightly and properly will finde it an Oyl very profitable to him Blanch your Almonds and bruise them and lay them between two rows of Flowers When the Flowers have lost their sent and fade remove them and add fresh ones Do this so long as the Flowers are in season when they are past squeeze out the Oyl with a press and it will be most odoriferous You may draw a sent with this way out of those Flowers from whom you cannot draw sweet Water Oyl of Jasmine Violets Musk-Roses Lillies Crows-foot Gilliflowers Roses and Orange-Flowers and of others being made this way smelleth most fragrantly Oyl of Amber Musk and Civet may be thus made also Cut the Almonds being blanched from the top to the bottom into seven or eight slices and enclose them in a Leaden Box with these perfumes for six days until they have imbibed the sent then press
Larch-wood compassed about with fire should suffer no hurt Moreover I read that liquid Alom as the Ancients report will stand out against fire For wood smeered with Alom and Verdignease whether they be posts or beams so they have a crust made about them will not burn with fire Aâ—â—â—â—laus the General for Mithridates made trial of it in a wooden Tower against 〈◊〉 which he attempted in vain to set on fire which I find observed by 〈◊〉 in his Annals But this liquid Alom is yet unknown to many learned men our Alum wants this property But many say that vinegar prevails against fire Plutarch saith That nothing will sooner quench fire them vinegar for of all things it most puts out the flame by its extreamity of cold Poliâ—â—â—â— reports 〈◊〉 when he was besieged by his enemies poured out of brazen vessels melted lead upon the engines that were set to scale the place and by this were the engines dissolved but the enemies poured vinegar upon it and by that they quenched the lead and all things else that fell from the walls and so they found vinegar to be the fittest to quench fire and an excellent experiment if things be wet with it Pliny prayseth the white of an egge to quench it saying that the white of an egge is so strong that if wood be wet with it it will not burn nor yet any garment Hieron to cover scaling engines used the raw hides of beasts new killed as having force to resist fire and the joynts of wood they fenced with chalk or with ashes tempered with blood or clay molded with hair or straw and with sea-weeds wet in vinegar for so they were safe from fire Carchedonius was the first that taught men to cover engins and rams with green hides I have heard by men of credit that when houses were on fire by a peculiar property the menstruons clothes of a woman that had her courses the first time cast over the planks would presently put out the fire Thick and muscilaginous juyces are good against fire as of Marsh-mallows Therefore Albertus writ not very absurdly that if a man anoint his hands with juyce of Marsh-mallows the white of an egge and vinegar with alom He may handle fire without hurt And it is a thing that hath much truth in it But I think that quick-silver killed in vinegar and the white of an egge and smeered on can preserve any thing from fire CHAP. X. Of divers compositions for fire I Shall speak of divers compositions for fire to be used for divers uses But men say M. Gracchus was Author of this invention To make a fiery composition that the Sun may kindle It consists of these things Oyl of Rosinous Turpentine of Quick-silver otherwise then I shewed in distilling of Juniper of Naphtha Linseed Colophonia Camphire let there be Pitch Salt-peter and Ducks-grease double to them all Aqua vitae refined from all flegm Pound them all and mingle them put them up in a glazed vessel and let them ferment two moneths in horse-dung always renewing the dung and mingling them together After the set time put it into a retort and distil it thicken the liquor either with Pigeons-dung finely sifted or with gunpowder that it may be like pap Wood that is smeered over with this mixture and set in the summer Sun will fire of it self Pigeons-dung easily takes fire by the Sun beams Galen reports That in Mysia a part of Asia a house was so set on fire Pigeons-dung was cast forth and touched a window that was neer as it came to touch the wood that was newly smeered with rosin when it was corrupted and grew hot and vapoured at Midsummer by heat of the Sun it fired the rosin and the window then other places smeered with Rosin took fire and by degrees part of the house began to take hold and when once the covering of the house began to flame it soon laid hold of the whole house because it hath a mighty force to inflame all Ducks-grease is very prevalent in fire-works and Physitians praise it extremely that it is most subtile penetrating and hot it makes other things penetrate and as it is most subtile and hot so it takes fire vehemently and burns I shall shew how to distil A most scalding Oyl When I would prepare the most excellent compositions of burning oyl I distilled common oyl in a retort but with great labour yet what was distilled was thin combustible and ready to fire that once kindled it was not to be put out and it would draw the flame at a great distance and hardly let it go But oyl of Linseed is stronger than it for if you distil it often it will have such a wonderful force to take fire that it can hardly be shut up in a vessel but it will draw the fire to it and the glass being opened it is so thin that it will fly into the Air and if the light of a candle or of fire touch it the Air takes fire and the oyl fired by it will cast the flame afar off so vehemently that it is almost impossible to quench it It must be distilled with great cunning lest the vessel over-heat it should take fire within Moreover Fire that is quenched with oyl is kindled with water It is thus made I said that Naphtha will burn in water and that Camphire is a kind of it Wherefore if you mingle brimstone with it or other things that will retain fire if you cast in oyl or mud it will quench it but it revives and flames more if you cast in water Livy relates That some old women in their plays lighting Torches made of these things passed over Tyber that it seemed a miracle to the beholders I said it was the property of Bitumen to take fire from water and to be quenched with oyl Dioscorides saith That the Thracian stone is bred in a certain River of Scythia the name of it is Pontus it hath the Force of Jet they say it is enflamed by water and quenched with oyl like as Bitumen Nicander speaks of this stone thus If that the Thracian stone be burnt in fire And wet with water the flame will aspire But oyl will quench it Thracian shepherds bring This stone from th' River Pontus Poets sing Torches that will not be put out by the winds They are made with brimstone for that is hardly put out if once kindled Wherefore Torches made with wax and brimstone may be carried safely through winds and tempests These are good for Armies to march by or for other necessary things Others use such They boil the wick of the Torches in Salt-peter and water when it is dried they wet them with brimstone and Aqua vitae of this mixture then they make their Candles with brimstone and then with half Camphire and Turpentine two parts Colophonia three of Wax of this they make four Candles and put them together in the middle that is empty they cast in quick-brimstone
Oyl and the thick Oyl sticks to her and so she is catched without snares or nets How Quails are taken with a Locking-Glass Clearchus saith that Quails spend their seed not only when they see the Females but when they hear their cry also The cause is the impression in their mindes which you shall know when they couple if you set a Looking Glass against them and before that a Gin for running foolishly to their picture in the Glass they see they are catcht Athenaeus and Eustathius CHAP. VII How Animals are congregated by sweet smells THere are many odours or other hidden qualities that gather Animals together from the particular Nature of things or of living Creatures I shall speak of the smelling odours and other aliments that they much desire As The Unicorn is allured by sent Tretres writes that the Unicorn so hunts after young Virgins that he will grow tame with them and sometimes he will fall asleep by them and be taken and bound The Hunters clothe some young lusty Fellow in Maids clothes and strewing sweet odours on him they set him right against the place where the Unicorn is that the winde may carry away the smell to the wilde Beast the Hunters lie hid in the mean time The Beast enticed with the sweet smell comes to the young man he wraps the Beast's Head in long and large sleeves the Hunters come running and cut off his Horn. To make Wheezles come together The Gall of a Stellio beaten with water will make Wheezles come together saith Pliny Also the wise Plinianists write that with the Gall of a Chamaelion cast into water Wheezles will be called together To make Mice come together If you pour thick lees of Oyl into a Dish and set it right in the house they will stick to it Palladius But Anatolins saith if you pour Oyl-Lees into a Brazen Bason and set it in the middle of the house all the Mice at night will meet together To make Fleas come together The fat of a Hedge-hog boyl'd in water and taken off as it swims on the top if you anoynt a staff with it and set it in the house or under your bed all the Fleas will come to it Rhasis To bring Frogs together The Gall of a Goat set into the earth in some Vessel is said to bring all the Frogs together if they can finde any delight therein CHAP. VIII How Creatures made drunk may be catch'd with the hand I Have said what draws them now I shall say what will make them drunk There are many simples that will do it that you may take them with your hands whilst they sleep and because there are divers Animals that are made drunk with divers things I shall speak of them in order And first How Dogs are made drunk Athenaeus saith that Dogs and Crows are made drunk with an Herb called Aenutra but Theophrastus from whom he had it saith that the Root Aenothera given with Wine will make them more tame and gentle Whence Aenutra comes by corruption of the word Theophrastus his Aenothera is Rhododaphni as I said So Asses are made drunk And when they sleep they are not onely taken but if you pull off their skins they will scarce feel you nor awake which comes by Hemlock for when they have eaten that they fall so fast asleep that they seem stupid and sensless So Horses are made stupid by Henbane seed if you give it them with Barley and they will be so fast asleep that they will be half dead half a day A certain Cheat who wanted money on his way cast this seed to some of his company and when they lay almost dead asleep and they were all much troubled for them for a reward he promised to help them which received he put Vinegar to their Nostrils and so revived them Whereupon they went on their journey So Libards are made drunk Opian teacheth the way and how they are taken when they are drunk In Africa so soon as they come to a Fountain where the Libards use to drink every morning there the Hunters in the night bring many vessels of Wine and not far from thence they sit covered in blankets The Libards very thirsty come to the Fountain and so soon as they have drunk Wine that they delight in first they leap then they fall fast asleep on the ground and so they are easily taken If you desire to know how Apes are taken being drunk Athenaeus writes that Apes will drink Wine also and being drunk are catch'd And Pliny saith that four-footed Beasts with Toes will not encrease if they use to drink Wine So Sows run mad eating Henbane-seed Aelian saith that Boars eating this Herb fall sick of a lingring disease and are troubled it is of the Nature of Wine that disquiets the minde and head So Elephants are made drunk Athenaeus reports out of Aristotle's Book de Ebrietate that Elephants will be drunk with Wine Aelian writes that they give the Elephant that must go to war Wine of the Grapes and made Wine of Rice to make them bold Now I will shew bow Birds laid asleep may be catch'd with your hands If then you would know how Birds may be catch'd with hands Pliny writes A certain Garlick grows in the Fields they call it Alum which being boyled and cast to them is a remedy against the villany of Birds that eat up the Corn that it cannot grow again the Birds that eat it are presently stupid and are catch'd with ones hand if they have staid a little as if they were asleep But if you will Hunt Partridge that are drunk Boetius teacheth you thus You shall easily hunt such Partridge if you cast unto them meal wet in wine for every Bird is soon taken with it If you make it with water and wine mingled and put that which is stronger into the vessels so soon as they have but sipt a little they grow drowsie and stupid He sheweth How to take Ducks with your hand If any one observe the place where Ducks use to drink and putting away the water place black wine in the place when they have drunk they fall down and may be easily taken Also wine-lees is best Ducks and other Birds being drunk are soon taken With some meats as are the Bur Dock seed strewed here and there in places where Birds frequent they are so light-headed when they have eaten them that you may take them with your hands Another bait Tormentil boy'ld in good wine and boyl Wheat or Barley in the same cast to Birds is good to catch them for they will eat pieces of Tormentil with the seeds and be drunk that they cannot flie and so are they catc'd with your hands This is best when the weather is cold and the Snow deep Or else strew Barley-corns in places where many Birds come then make a composition like a pultis of Barley-meal Ox-gall and Henbane-seed set this on a plank for them when they have tasted it
himself Fishes 〈…〉 saith Pliny by the Root the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 called round Birth-wort called also the venome of the Earth This Root they bruise and mingle it with Lime and cast itin to the Sea the Fishes come to it with great delight and are presently killed and float on the waters Dioscorides saith that broad leaved Tiâ—hymal bruised and strewed in the waters kills Fish We use now 〈…〉 Roots of it and with a weight let them down to the bottom of the waters that will be infected by them and kill the Fish presently But in the Sea 〈◊〉 shall sooner kill them thus Mingle Oriental Galls two drâ—chms 〈◊〉 Cheese one ounce Bean-meal three ounces with Aqua Vitae make pelleâ—s of these as big as Chick-peason Cast them into the Sea in the morning before Sun rise after three hours come to the place again and you shall finde all those that tasted of it 〈◊〉 drunk or dead and to appear either on the top or bottom of the Sea which you shall take up with a pole and a hook fastened to it or Fish speer The Aqua Vitae is added because it soon flies to the head The Oriental Galls are poyson that astonisheth them the Bean-meal is not of great concernment This bait invites them and the Cheese smells so that they sent it at a distance CHAP. XI Of other Experiments for hunting NOw I will add some Experiments that seem to be requisite that you may use for necessity when you please To change a Dogs colour Since white Dogs are seldom fit for hunting because they are seen afar off a way is found to change his colour that will be done if you boyl quick Iâ—me with Litharge and paint 〈◊〉 Dog with it 〈…〉 him black That a Dog may not go from you Democrites saith a Dog will never 〈◊〉 from you if you smeer him with Butter from head to tail and give him Butter to â—ick Also 〈…〉 you if you have the secondine of a Bitch close in a 〈…〉 â—mell to it If you â—ould not have Your Dog to bark If you have a Bitches second Membrane or Hares hairs or Dung or Vervain about you In Nilus there is a black stone found that a Dog will not bark 〈◊〉 he see it you must also carry a Dogs Tongue undâ—â— your great 〈◊〉 within your shooe or the dry heart of a dog about you Sextus Or the hair of 〈◊〉 or the Dung Pliny Or cut off the tail of a yong 〈◊〉 and put it under 〈…〉 or 〈◊〉 the Dog a Frog to eat in a piece of meat All these things are to â—â—ep Dogs from barking Nigidius saith that Dogs will all day 〈◊〉 from him who pulls off a tâ—â—k from a Sow and carrieth it a while about him Opâ—an If of 〈…〉 you takes And wâ—â—r it 〈…〉 dogs will 〈◊〉 for sake As frighted they will flie and 〈…〉 Bark at you though they barked much before That a Dog may not run If you anoynt him with Oyl under the shoulders he cannot run To make a Hawke 〈…〉 You shall animate your Hawk against 〈◊〉 prey thaâ— he may assail and flee at great Birds When you hawk wet the Hawks meat with Wine If it be a Buzzard add a little Vinegar to it when you would have him 〈◊〉 a give him three bits of flesh wet in wine or pour Wine in at his mouth with a yong Pidgeon so let him flie To make Partridge more bold to fight Give then 〈…〉 with their meat Pliny That dung-hill 〈◊〉 fight the better Give them Garlick to eat soon before theâ— fight whence in the old Comedy a Cock ready and earnest to fight is wittily called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fed with Garlick 〈◊〉 a Bird may not the high Take out the Feathers of 〈…〉 that make him flie upwards so he will whirl about and flie downward If you will have That a Bird shall not flie cut the upper and lower nerves of his Wings and it will not hurt him yet he cannot flie out of your Bird-cages or places you keep them in THE SIXTEENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Wherein are handled secret and undiscovered Notes THE PROEME I Make two sorts of secret marks which they vulgarly call Syfers one of visible marks and is worthy of a treatise by it self another of secret marks whereof 〈…〉 tempted to say something in this present Volume 〈◊〉 what are the consequâ—â—â— thereof for the use of great Men and Princes that 〈…〉 than 〈…〉 man that knows the invention I shall set down plainly some examples 〈…〉 consequences of them must 〈◊〉 faithfully concealed lest by growing 〈◊〉 amongst ordinary people they be disrespecteâ—â— This is that I shall publish CHAP. I. How 〈…〉 in diver◠〈…〉 be reâ—â— THere are many anâ— almost infinit 〈◊〉 write things of necessity that the Charactâ—â— shall not 〈…〉 â—ou dip them into waters or put them neer the 〈…〉 them over 〈…〉 are read by dipping them into waters Therefore If you desire that letters not 〈…〉 are 〈◊〉 may be hiâ—â— Let Vitriol soak in boyling water when 〈…〉 strain it 〈◊〉 till the water grow clear with that liquor write 〈…〉 are dry they 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 Moreover grindâ— burnt straw 〈…〉 â—â—egar and 〈◊〉 will write 〈◊〉 the spaces between the foâ—â—er liâ—â—s describâ—â— large Then 〈…〉 Galls in white Wine wet a spunge in the liquor 〈◊〉 when you have need 〈…〉 and weâ— the letters so long until the native black 〈◊〉 disappear but the former colour that was not seen may 〈…〉 I will 〈◊〉 in what liquors paper must be soaked to make letters 〈◊〉 be see 〈…〉 said Dissolve Vitriol 〈…〉 then powder Galls finely and soak them inâ—â—ter let them stay there twenty four hours filtre them through 〈◊〉 cloth 〈…〉 that may make the water clear and make letters upon 〈…〉 to have concealed send it to your Friend absent when you would have 〈◊〉 appear dip them in the first liquor and the letters â—ill presenâ—â—y be seen That diâ—â—â—ng 〈◊〉 lineâ—â—â— water 〈◊〉 may appear Dissolve Alom in water and 〈…〉 linen 〈◊〉 napkins and the like for when they are dry they will 〈…〉 When you will have them visible 〈…〉 linen 〈…〉 to be darkned but only where the Alom 〈…〉 that you may read them 〈…〉 are dissolved those parts will admit water 〈◊〉 White 〈…〉 Litharge is first powdered and cast into an earthen pot that hath water and vinegar mix'd boyl it and strain it and keep it then write letters with Citron Lemons juce these are added to them when they begin to dry If you dip them in the liquor kept they will appear clearly and very white If womens brests or hands be wet in it and you sprinkle the said water upon them they will grow white as Milk Use it If at any time you want 〈◊〉 if you please A stone dipped in vinegar will shew the letters Make letters with Goats far upon a stone when they are dry they will not be seen If the stone be dipâ— into 〈◊〉 they presently
no place for the air to come in and that were against the second axiom wherefore by reason of vacuum and because the body is no heavior it falls not into the bowl beneath But should one make a hole in the bottom of the vessel A that the air might come in no doubt the water would not fall down into the bazon Also if the vessel A B were filled with any â—ight liquor and the broad bazon with one that is heavior they would not stir from their places Let therefore the vessel A B be filled with wine and the mouth of it turned downwards into a bazon full of water I say both liquors will keep their places and will not mingle for should the wine descend either vacuum must needs be in the body A or a heavy body must ascend out of the vessel C D which would be against the Nature of Gravity and the second axiom namely that heavy should ascend and light descend wherefore they will not remove from their places Hence comes that which is often done by great drinkers and gluttons who pour by drops into a cuphalf full of water so much wine as will fill the cup they come so close together that onely a line parts those liquors And those that would sooner cool their wine they dip a Vial full of wine into a vessel full of water with the mouth turned downward and hold it down under the water for when the water toucheth the superficies of the wine they cannot mingle and the wine grows sooner cool though it is necessary that the Vial should be lifted up to the superficies of the water and suddenly turned about poured forth and drank then fill them again and set in the bottle as before From this advantage I complain of those who first drink water then pour in wine for wine being the lighter and water the heavior they can hardly mingle wherefore some drink at first the strongest wine then mingled and last of all water At great mens Tables they first bring wine in a Glass then they pour in water that the water by its weight may mingle with the wine and get to the bottom and tast equally Theophrastus bids men first pour in wine then water CHAP. II. How we may by drinking make sport with those that fit at Table with us VVHen friends drink together if we would by such a merry deceit delude the guests that are ignorant of the cause hereof we may provoke them to drink with such a Cup Let there be a great Cup made like a tunnel let the mouth be broad above and beneath narrow Pyramidally and let it be joyn'd to a Glass-Ball by a narrow mouth First pour in water till the whole Ball be filled then put in wine by degrees which by reason of the narrowness of the mouth will not mingle and the water is heavy and the wine lighter He that drinks first shall drink the wine then give it your frind to drink for he shall drink nothing but water But if your friend shall challenge you to drink thus with him and will have you drink first fill the Ball of the Cup with wine and pour water upon it and stay awhile and hold him in discourse for the water will sink down by the narrow mouth and the wine by degrees will ascend as much and you shall see the wine come up through the middle of the water and the water descend through the middle of the wine and sink to the bottom so they change their places when you know that the water is gone down and the wine come up then drink for you shall drink the wine and your friend shall drink the water Hence it is that to great inconvenience of those that drink it when we plunge our wine into a well in vessels of earth or brass ill stopt to cool it the water being the heavior comes in at the least chink and forceth out the wine so in a little time the vessel is full of water and the wine is gone that there is not the least taste of wine in it wherefore stop the mouth very close CHAP. III. How to part wine from water it is mingled with FRom these I shall easily shew two things that a heavy body shut up in a Glass vessel having the mouth of it put within a lighter liquid body they will mutually give place the lighter will ascend the heavior will descend and that without any hindrance one of the other which I shall demonstrate from the former principals Let the Glass be turned downwards and full of water be A B the water is heavior than the wine Let the mouth of it B be put into the vessel C D that is full of wine These are bodies that will mutually yield one to the other as I shewed I say the water will descend into the vessel C D and the wine will ascend into the vessel A B where the water was before For the water because it was contain'd in the vessel A B it being heavy presseth the wine in the vessel C D that is lighter and because there is no body between them the water descends on one side into the vessel C D and the wine ascends on the other side into the vessel AB Now if the wine be red that you may see the difference or their colours you shall see the wine ascend through the middle of the water as far as he bottom of the upper vessel that is put downward into the other and the water to descend hastily to the bottom of the vessel C D and one descend as low as the other riseth high and if the liquors cannot be seen distinguished yet one goes without any hindrance of the other and without mingling into its own place and it will be a pleasant sight to behold the wine going up and the water falling down and when they rest they will be so well parted that not the least wine can remain with the water nor water with the wine Wherefore if you put into a Hogshead full of wine a long neck'd Glass full of water in a short time the vessel turned downwards will be full of wine and the water will go down into the Hogshhad By this any man may easily conjecture How to part water from wine because oft-time Country people and Vintagers use deceit and bring wine mingled with water to be sold to the Merchant we may easily prevent their craft by this Art Let there be underneath a vessel filled with wine that is mixed with water and we would separate the water from the wine But first there must be a vessel that can receive all the wine that is mingled in the other vessel and if we know not the quantity we must conjecture at it how much it may be of something less then fill the said vessel with water and set it with the mouth downwards on the other vessel that is full of wine and water mingled together and let the upper part of the
wherein if a man make a gutter with a staff he shall see Rivers of fire run therein The like things are reported of waters For seeing they passe under the earth through veins of allum pitch brimstone and such like hence it is that they are sometimes hurtful and sometimes wholsome for the body There are also many kinds of water and they have divers properties The River Himera in Sicily is divided into two parts that which runs against Aetna is very sweet that which runneth through the salt vein is very salt In Cappadocia betwixt the Cities Mazaca and Tuava there is a Lake whereinto if you put reeds or timber they become stones by little and little and are not changed from stones again neither can any thing in that water be ever changed In Hierapolis beyond the River Maeander there is a water that becomes gravel so that they which make water-courses raise up whole banks thereof The Rivers Cephises and Melas in Boeotia if cattel drink of them as they do continually to make them conceive though the dams be white yet their young shall be russet or dun or coal-black So the sheep that drink of the River Peneus in Thessaly and Astax in Pontus are thereby made black Some kinds of waters also are deadly which from the poisonous juice of the earth become poisonous as the Well of Terracina called Neptunius which kills as many as drink of it and therefore in old times it was stopt up And the Lake Cychros in Thracia kills all that drink of it and all that wash themselves with it In Nonacris a Country of Arcady there flow very cold waters out of a stone which are called the water of Styx which break to pieces all vessels of silver and brasse and nothing can hold them but a Mules hoof wherein it was brought from Antipater into the Country where Alexander was and there his Son Jolla killed the King with it In the Country about Flascon the way to Campania in the field Cornetum there is a Lake with a Well in it wherein seem to lie the bones of Snakes Lysards and other Serpents but when you would take them out there is no such thing So there are some sharp and sowre veins of water as Lyncesto and Theano in Italy which I sought out very diligently and found it by the way to Rome a mile from Theano and it is exceeding good against the Stone There is a Well in Paphlagonia whosoever drinks of it is presently drunken In Chios is a Well that makes all that drink of it sottish and senslesse In Susa is a Well whoso drinks of it loseth his teeth The water of Nilus is so fertile that it makes the clods of earth to become living creatures In Aethiopia is a Well which is so cold at noon that you cannot drink it and so not at midnight that you cannot touch it There are many other like Wells which Ovid speaks of Ammons Well is cold all day and warm both morning and evening the waters of Athamas set wood on fire at the small of the Moon there is a Well where the Cicones inhabit that turneth into stones all that toucheth it or drinks of it Crathis and Sybaris make hair shew like Amber and Gold the water of Salmax and the Aethiopian Lakes make them mad or in a trance that drink of it he that drinks of the Well Clitorius never cares for wine after the River Lyncestius makes men drunken the Lake Pheneus in Arcady is hurtful if you drink it by night if by day it is wholesome Other properties there are also of places and fountains which he that would know may learn out of Theophrastus Timaeus Possidonius Hegesias Herodotus Aristides Meirodorus and the like who have very diligently sought out and registred the properties of places and out of them Pliny Solinus and such Writers have gathered their books CHAP. XVIII That Compounds work more forcibly and how to compound and mix those Simples which we would use in our mixtures NOw we will shew how to mix and compound many Simples together that the mixture may cause them to be more operative Proclus in his book of Sacrifice and Magick saith That the antient Priests were wont to mix many things together because they saw that divers Simples had some property of a God in them but none of them by it self sufficient to resemble him Wherfore they did attract the heavenly influences by compounding many things into one whereby it might resemble that One which is above many They made images of sundry matters and many odors compounded artificially into one so to expresse the essence of a God who hath in himself very many powers This I thought good to alleadge that we may know the Ancients were wont to use mixtures that a compound might be the more operative And I my self have often compounded a preservative against poison of Dragon-herbs the Dragon-fish Vipers and the stone Ophites being led therein by the likenesse of things The herb Dragon-wort both the greater and smaller have a stalk full of sundry-coloured specks if any man eat their root or rub his hands with their leaves the Viper cannot hurt him The Dragon-fish being cut and opened and laid to the place which he hath stung is a present remedy against his sting as Aetius writes The Viper it self if you flay her and strip off her skin cut off her head and tail cast away all her intrails boil her like an Eele and give her to one that she hath bitten to eat it will cure him or if you cut off her head being alive and lay the part next the neck while it is hot upon the place which she hath bitten it will strangely draw out the poyson Many such compound medicines made of creatures living on the earth in the water in the air together with herbs and stones you may find most wittily devised in the books of Kirannides and Harprocration But now we will shew the way and manner how to compound Simples which the Physitians also do much observe Because we would not bring forth one effect only but sometimes have use of two or three therefore we must use mixtures that they may cause sundry effects Sometime things will not work forcibly enough therefore to make the action effectual we must take unto us many helps Again sometime they work too strongly and here we must have help to abate their force Oft-times we would practice upon some certain member as the head the heart or the bladder here we must mingle some things which are directly operative upon that part and upon none else whereby it falleth out that sometimes we must meddle contraries together But to proceed When you would do any work first consider what is the chief thing which your simple or compound should effect then take the ground or foundation of your mixture that which gives the name to your compound and let there be so much of it as may proportionably work your intent for
there is a just and due quantity required for their working then put in the other ingredients as sauce and seasoning to help the principal to work more easily and in due time So we mingle sweet things with unsavory and with bitter that it may smell and taste well for if we should mingle onely unsavoury and bitter receits they that we give it unto would loath it and their animal spirits would so abhor it that though they took it yet it could not work in them So we meddle soft and hard things together that they may go down more pleasantly Sometimes there is so little in a receit that the heat of the body wastes it before it can work here then is required a greater quantity for this doth not hinder the working but gives the natural heat somewhat to feed upon that in the mean space the receit may have fit time to work As for example If we would catch birds by bringing them to sleep here we must take the Nut Methella which is of that force as to cause sleep and heaviness of brain and let this be the ground of our mixtion then to make it more lively in working put thereto the juice of black Poppie and the dregs of wine If it be too hard and we would have it more liquid that so it may fill out the pulse or other baites which we lay for them put thereto the juice of Mandrakes and Hemlock and an Ox gall and that it may not be bitter or unsavoury put hony cheese or floure amongst it that so it may be fitter to be eaten and when once the birds have tasted of it they lie down to sleep on the ground and cannot flie but may be taken with hands The like must be observed in other things CHAP. XIX How to find out the just weight of a mixture WE must also have a special care to know the right ministring of a compound and how to find out the just proportion of weight therein for the goodness of the operation of things consists chiefly in the due proportion and measure of them And unless the mixtion be every way perfect it availeth little in working Wherefore the Antients were wont to observe not only in compounds but also in Simples due weight and measure and their experience hath left it unto us If then then bestowest thy pains in this faculty first thou must find out the weight of a simple Medicine how much of it would serve such a purpose as thou intendest and to that thou must proportionably frame thy compound observing a due proportion both in the whole and every part thereof Let thy chief Simple the ground of thy mixture be half the weight and the other ingredients altogether must be the other half but how much of each of these other ingredients that thou must gather by thy own conjecture So then thy whole compound must be but as much as if it were onely a simple receit for we do not compound things to make the receit greater either in quantity or in vertue but only because it should be more speedy in operation It must also be considered that the weights of mixtures and medicines must vary proportionably as the Countries and Climates vary for this alters their operation as we shewed before Thou must therefore work advisedly and as the operation of the Simples altereth so thou must alter their weight by putting to and taking from and wittily fitting all things that they may effect that which thou wouldest This is the reason why in our experiments which we have set down hereafter we have described the parts thereof by their several weights and lest the divers names of weights should hinder thy working we have used those weights and names which Cornèlius Celsus used before us for so it is fittest for all mens satisfaction CHAP. XX. How to prepare Simples HAving shewed the way how to compound and find out the just weight of our composition it now remains we teach how to prepare Simples which is a matter chiefly necessary for this work and greatest skill is seen in it For the operations of Simples do not so much corsist in themselves as in the preparing of them without which preparation they work little or nothing at all There be many wayes to prepare Simples to make them fitter for certain uses The most usual wayes are Steeping Boiling Burning Powning Resolving into ashes Distilling Drying and such like To macerate or steep any thing is to drench and to soak it in liquor that it may be throughly we both within and without so that the more subtil and intimate part of it may be drained and squeezed out and the grosser and earthly part be left behind to receive that humour in the very middle which we would have in it Boiling we then use when we cannot otherwise well get out the juice of any thing for by boiling we draw out of the centre into the circumference when we cannot do it by steeping though thereby the slighter vapours may be resolved So we use to burn to roste to pown things that we may take away all their moisture from them for by this means they may the more easily be resolved and the sooner converted into liquor and the better mingled with other things to be put to them So we roste or broil things when otherwise we cannot break them that they might become dust yet alwayes we must take heed that we do not so burn them as they may lose their strength nor so boil things but only as they may be fitter to receive that subtil humor and quality which we would convey into them Distillation of things is used as well to get out water that may be of greater strength therby to work more easily handsomly as also because the slighter and more subtile parts of Medicines are fittest for us the grosser parts must be cast away as being an hindrance to our purpose and the like we must conceive of other operations These things I thought fittest for this work He that would be instructed more at large herein let him look into the books of Physitians But let us now proceed to further matters THE SECOND BOOK OF Natural Magick Shewing how living Creatures of divers kinds may be mingled and coupled together that from them new and yet profitable kinds of living Creatures may be generated The PROEME HAving wandred beyond my bounds in the consideration of Causes and their Actions which I thought fit to make the Subject of my first book it will be time to speak of those Operations which we have often promised that we may not too long keep off from them those ingenious men that are very desirous to know them Since that we have said That Natural Magick is the top and the compleat faculty or Natural Science in handling it we will conclude within the compass of this Volume whatsoever is High Noble Choice and Notable that is discovered in the large field of Natural
making the Winter to be as the Summer and the Spring-time as the Winter Amongst other means engraffing is not a little helpful hereunto Wherefore let us see how we may by engraffing Produce Grapes in the Spring-time If we see a Cherry-tree bring forth her fruit in the Spring-time and we desire to have Grapes about that time there is fit oportunity of attaining our desire as Tarentinus writeth If you engraffe a black Vine into the Cherry-tree you shall have Grapes growing in the Spring-time for the Tree will bring forth Grapes the very same season wherein it would bring forth her own fruit But this engraffing cannot be without boring a hole into the stock as Didymus sheweth You must bore the Cherry-tree stock through with a wimble and your Vine growing by it you must take one of the next and goodliest branches thereof and put it into the aâ—ger-hole but you must not cut it off from the Vine but place it in as it grows for so the branch will live the better both as being nourished by his own mother the Vine and also as being made partaker of the juice of that Tree into which it is engraffed This sprig within the compasse of two years will grow and be incorporated into the Cherry-tree about which time after the skar is grown over again you must cut off the branch from the Vine and saw off the stock of the Cherry-tree wherein it is engraffed all above the boring place and let the Vine-branch grow up in the rest for so shall neither the Vine be idle but still bring forth her own fruit and that branch also which was engraffed doth grow up together with it being nothing hurt by that engraffing We may also by the help of engraffing procure A Rose to shew forth her buds before her time If we pluck off a Rose-bud from the mother and engraff by such an emplastering as we spake of before the same into the open bark of an Almond-tree at such time as the Almond-tree doth bud the Rose so engraffed will bring forth her own flowers out of the Almond bark But because it is a very hard matter to engraffe into an Herbe and therefore we can hardly produce flowers sooner then their time by that means we will shew another means hereof And namely How Cucumbers may hasten their fruits Columella found in Dolus Mendesius an Aegyptian an easie way whereby this may be done You must set in your Garden in some shadowy place well dunged a rank of Fenel and a rank of Brambles one within another and after the aequinoctial day cut them off a little within the ground and having first loosed the pith of either of them with a wooden puncheon to convey dung into them and withal to engraffe in them Cucumber-seeds which may grow up together with the Fenel and the Brambles for by this means the seeds will receive nourishment from the root of the stalk into which they are engraffed and so you shall have Cucumbers very soon But now let us shew how we may accomplish this thing by counterfeiting as it were the seasons of the year and first how we may procure that Cucumbers shall be ripe very timely The Quintiles say you must take panniers or earthen pots and put into them some fine â—â—â—ed earth mixed with dung that it may be somewhat liquid and preventing the ordinary season you must plant therein Cucumber-seeds about the beginning of the Spring and when the Sun shines or that there is any heat or rain they bring the panniers forth into the Air and about Sun-setting they bring them into a close house and this they do daily still watering them as occasion serveth But after that the cold and the frost is ceased and the Air is more temperate they take their panniers and digge a place for them in some well-tilled ground and there set them so that the brims thereof may be even with the earth and then look well to them and you shall have your desire The like may be done by Gourds Theophrastus sheweth that if a man sow Cucumber seeds in the Winter-time and water them with warm water and lay them in the Sunne or else by the fire and when seed-time cometh put whole panniers of them into the ground they will yield very timely Cucumbers long before their ordinary season is to grow Columella saith that Tiberius the Emperour took great delight in the Cucumbers that were thus ripened which he had at all times of the year for his Gardners every day drew forth their hanging Gardens into the Sun upon wheels and when any great cold or rain came they straightwayes carried them in again into their close hovels made for the same purpose Didymus sheweth Roses may bud forth even before Winter be past if they be used after the like manner namely if you set them in hampers or earthen vessels and carefully look unto them and use them as you would use Gourds and Cucumbers to make them ripe before their ordinary season Pliny sheweth How to make Figs that were of last years growth to be ripe very soon the next year after and this is by keeping them from the cold too but yet the device and practice is not all one with the former There are saith he in certain Countries as in Maesia Winter Fig-trees a small tree it is and such as is more beholding to Art then to Nature which they use on this manner After the Autumn or Fall they lay them in the earth and cover them all over with muck and the green Figs that grew upon them in the beginning of Winter are also buried upon the Tree with them Now when the Winter is past and the Air is somewhat calmer the year following they dig up the Trees again with the fruit upon them which presently do embrace the heat of a new Sun as it were and grow up by the temperature of another year as kindly as if they had then new sprung up whereby it cometh to passe that though the Country be very cold yet there they have ripe Figs of two years growth as it were even before other Fig-trees can so much as blossom But because we cannot so well practise these experiments in the broad and open fields either by hindering or by helping the temperature of the Air therefore we will assay to ripen fruit and flowers before their time by laying warm cherishers as lime or chalk and nitre and warm water to the roots of Trees and herbs If you would have A Cherry ripe before his time Pliny saith that you must lay chalk or lime to the root of the Tree before it begin to blossom or else you must oftentimes pour hot water upon the root and by either of these means you may procure the ripening of Cherries before their time howbeit afterward the Trees will be drie and wither away If you would procure the ripening Of a Rose before his time Dydimus saith you may effect it by covering the
better filled and the larger grown Likewise Florentinus sheweth how to make Pease of a bigger growth If saith he you take Pease and steep them in warm water the day before you sow them they will grow the greater Some men take more pains then needeth who because they would have a greater Pease growing they steep them shells and all and put Nitre into the water wherein they are steeped and sow them in their shells Vitches may be made bigger if they be set with a little pole to grow up thereby for this will cause them to thicken as Theophrastus saith So also Onions may be thickned as Sotion sheweth About some twenty days before you translate them from the place where they first grew you must dig away the earth about them and let them lie a drying that all moisture may be kept from them and then plant them again and they will grow much bigger But if withal you pill of the top-skin and so plant them they will be far greater Likewise we may cause Artichocks to bear a fuller fruit as Varro sheweth If you plant them in a well-soiled place and cover them with old dung and water them often in the summer-time you shall by this means have a fuller and a more tender Artichock We may also practise another Device whereby to make greater fruit which Theophrastus hath set down and he brings an Example how to make Pomegranates to grow greater then ordinary for Art may cause the greatness of Fruit. When the first buds be formed upon the boughs they must be put into an earthen vessel that is made with a hole quite thorow and the bough whereon they grow must be swayed downward without hurting it then cover the pot with earth and so you shall have exceeding great Pomegranates The reason whereof is this The pot preserves the fruit from the vapours that would otherwise annoy it and besides the earth ministreth some moisture unto it so that the bigness thereof is increased by the store of nourishment It receives no more help from the tree then if it were out of the earth and therefore the kernels are no greater then ordinary but the pill is much thicker the proper juice of it is somewhat wasted and consumed for which cause the taste of this fruit so handled is waterish and worse then others but the rine receives outward nourishment and spends none for which cause that is much thicker The like practise Palladius and Martial use thereby to procure A great Citron They take a Citron when it is young and shut it up fast in an earthen vessel for the Citron will increase continually till it come to be of the bigness and fashion of the vessel wherein it is put but there must be a hole made thorow the vessel whereby the air may get in unto it By the like device Theophrastus assays to produce Cucumbers and Gourds greater then ordinary by hiding them while they are young both from Sun and from Winde that nothing may come at them to hinder their growth Like to this Device is the setting of them in Fennel-stalks or in earthen Pipes whereby the natural Juyce and Nourishment is kept in to the increasing of their growth We will also shew out of Theophrastus a like Device whereby the Herb Alisander or Parsley may be made greater You must dig the Alisander round about the root and cover it with Cachryl and then heap earth upon it For the roots spend all the moisture themselves and suffer no nourishment to ascend into the buds This Cachryl is hot and thick and as by the thickness it draws nourishment to it so by vertue of the heat it doth concoct and digest that which it hath attracted and therefore seeing this doth both draw more nourishment to the Alisander and also concoct it there must needs be a greater augmentation of that herb This practice he borrowed of Aristotle This herb may also be made bigger by another means namely if when you plant it you make a hole for it in the ground with a great stake for the root will at length fill up the hole So there is a means to make A Radish-root grow bigger if it be planted in a cold ground as Pliny sheweth For Radishes are much cherished and delighted with cold as in some cold places of Germany there be Radishes growing as big as a little childe Some have reported that if you drive a stake into the ground six inches deep and put chaff into the pit which the stake hath made and then put in the Radish-seed covering it over with earth and muck the Radish will grow up to the bigness of the pit By a Device not much unlike to this Florentinus sheweth how to Make great Lettise You must remove them and water them well and when they are grown half a handful high you must dig round about them that the roots may be seen then wrap them in Ox-dung and cover them over again and water them still and when they are waxen bigger cut the leaves cross with a sharp knife and lay upon them a little barrel or tub that never was pitcâ—ed for Pitch will hurt the herb that so it may grow not in height but onely spread forth in breadth So the herb Beet may be made greater as Sotion sheweth To make Beet grow in bigness saith he thou must cover the roots over with some fresh Ox-dung and divide the leaves or buds and lay a broad stone or a tyle upon it to cause it to spread forth in bredth You may also make Leeks greater by removing them and laying a great stone or a broad tyle upon them but in no case must they be watered By the very same Device Anatolius sheweth how to make Garlick greater by laying tyles upon the roots thereof as upon Leeks Theophrastus sheweth another kinde of Device whereby to make Radishes greater and he saith that the Gardeners of his time were wont to practise it They took away the leaves in the Winter-time when they flourish most and cast the Radishes into the ground covering them over with earth and so they lasted and grew till Summer came again never shooting forth either into buds or leaves except it were where the earth was gone that they lay uncovered The like Experiment doth Palladius teach concerning the Rape-root whereby to make Rape-roots greater Assoon as you have plucked them up you must strip off all the leaves and cut off the stalk about half an inch above the root then make certain furrows for them in the ground for every one of them a several furrow and there bury them asunder about eight inches deep and when you have cast earth upon them tread it in and by that means you shall have great Rape-roots By the like means Theophrastus thinks we may procure The herb Wake-robbin to grow greater When it is most full of leaves and when the leaves be at the broadest we must bow them downward winding them round about the root
together in the oyle of Bayes or Spikenard or Balme-gum or the juice of Roses or of Mastick and afterward set them when they are dry that then the Artichocks that grow out of those seeds will yeeld the smell and savour of that which the seeds were before steeped in Florentinus makes Mellons of the fragrant smell of Roses after this manner by taking Mellon-seeds and laying them up amongst dry Roses and so planting them one amongst another I have procured Mellons to smell like Musk by opening that part whereby the seed sprouts out and steeping them in rose-Rose-water wherein some Musk was distilled also and so planting them after two dayes steeping So we have procured Odoriferous Lettice by taking the seed of Lettice and putting it into the seed of a Citron and so planting it After the same manner you may learn to make Flowers grow that shall smell of Cloves if you take the seeds of those flowers and lay them in Clove-powder or the oyle of Cloves or Clove-water distilled and so set them for by this means the flowers will entertain the smell and savour of the Cloves And this I take it was the cun-ning the cunning sleight whereby our ordinary Clove-gilliflowers were first produced for questionlesse Gilliflowers do grow everywhere of themselves without any such pleasant smell and besides they are of a smaller assize and of their own kinde somewhat wilde But it should seem that Gardeners did by their industry and trimming bestow the smell of Cloves upon them by steeping their seeds in Clove-water or by suppling them with the oyle of Cloves or else by sticking Cloves in the roots of them and so planting them We may adde to these sleights another device How to make Garlick grow that shall not smell rankly and unsavourily Sotion hath taught us the way If saith he you do set Garlick and pluck it up again both when the Moon is underneath the earth it will not have any bad savour And Theophrastus hath taught us a means How we may procure Roses to yield a more odoriferous smell namely if you take Garlick and plant it neer your Roses CHAP. XVII How to procure fruits to be sweeter and pleasanter for taste THere are some trees which cannot away with any scar but if you cut their stock never so little or make any other scar in them presently the Air and the extrinsecal heat get in and so the Trees perish for the corruption will fall downward to the root and so make the Trees presently to wither and fade away Now there are other Trees which will abide not only a scar but also to have their stock cleft and to be bored into yea and by this means too they will bear fruit more plentifully as doth the Pomegranate-tree the Almond-tree and the Apple-tree of all which there is very great use The reason hereof is this Their nature and kinde is to receive so much nourishment as is sufficient for them and to void away hurtful and superfluous humours for as those living creatures which sweat most or have some other issue in their bodies are most healthful and wont to live longest so when these Trees have a cut or a scar in them whereby they sweat out as it were their hurtful and superfluous moisture they do more easily digest that moisture which is left behind within them and the better that the moisture is digested the sweeter and pleasanter is their juice And besides they will live if the parts have any continuation at all though it be never so little only if they may but hang together and therefore they will easily defend themselves from any harm that may happen unto them by the cutting or mangling of any of their parts We will shew how to procure fruits that shall be sweter in taste then ordinarily their kind is wont to afford first by engraffing secondly by boring or cutting and last of all by other means And first by engraffing we may procure Cherries that shall have in them the relish of Bayes For as we have shewed before engraffing may amend those defects that are in plants and endue them with better qualities so that if you have any fruit that is loathsome because it is too sweet do but engraffe it into a bitter Tree and there will be such a medley that your fruit shall have a very savoury relish Pliny saith that if you engraffe a Cherry upon a Bay-tree you shall have Cherries thence growing that will have the smatch of the Bay Palladius saith the same engraffe a Cherry upon a Bay-tree and the fruit that grows thence will have the relish of the Bay In my time there have been seen certain Cherries in Naples which they called Bay-cherries somewhat bitter but yet pleasant withal a most excellent kinde of fruit far better then any other cherries of a very large assize full of juice of a very sanguine colour that have a bitter-sweet taste so that they are neither loathsome for their overmuch sweetnesse nor yet to be refused for their overmuch bitterness So likewise may be procured Sweeter Apples by engraffing them into a Quince For if you do engraffe an Apple into a Quince the Apple will have a relish like honey which kinde of fruit the Athenians do therefore call Melimela because they taste like honey as Diophanes sheweth Now we will shew also how by husbandry and skilful dressing fruits may be made sweeter in taste namely by piercing or boring the stock or scarrifying it round about or by some other chastisements as the Husband-men are wont to call them for by these means the trees may purge themselves of their superfluous moisture and so they will bear the sweeter fruit As for example If you would learn How to procure the Almond-tree to yield fruit without any bitterness Aristotle hath taught you the way You must knock a great nail into the body of the Almond-tree that the gum of the Tree which causeth the bitternesse of the fruit may drop out by that passage And this is such a sleight that hereby you may tame as it were wilde Trees and alter their nature into a milder kind Theophrastus saith that if you dig round about the stock of the Almond-tree and bore thorough it about nine inches above the ground the gum will thereby drop out and so the fruit will become the sweeter by that chastisement If you cut off a bough or an arm of it so that the gum may have egresse that way and if you wipe away the gum still as it cometh forth and observe this for two or three years together you may by this means alter a bitter Almond-tree into a sweet one For the bitternesse proceeds from no other cause but onely from the superfluity of nourishment and moisture which is abated by boring into the stock and when once that which is superfluous is evacuated then that which is left is more easily concocted and so the tree becomes fertile in bringing forth a sweeter and a better
the stronger boughes that the winde may not shake them But all these practises must be used when the weather is fair and there is neither rain nor dew stirring as Columella teacheth But Beritius useth this means to make them stay long on their Tree He takes the blossoms of the Tree when they begin to wither and wraps in them every Pomegranate by it self and then binds them about with bonds thereby preventing their putrefaction and their chawns and chops which otherwise would be in them Others put them in earthen pots every one by it self and cover them well and settle them fast that they may not be broken by knocking against the stock or arms of the Tree not by hitting one against the other for by this means you shall have them alwayes better grown then by any other Varro saith that if you take Pomegranates before they be ripe as they stick upon their stalks and put them into a bottomless pot and cover them boughs and all in the ground so that no winde may come at them you shall not only finde them whole when you take them out but they will be greater also then if they had hung still upon the Tree Palladius shews Citrons may be preserved upon the Tree even by shutting them up in certain earthen vessels fit for such a purpose for so you may keep them upon their Tree almost all the year long If you would have Grapes hang upon the Vine fresh and good even till the Spring of the year Beritius prescribes you this course You must dig a pit in a very shadowy place neer to the Vines about a yard deep and fill it up with sand and set up some props in it then you must loosen the joints of the Vine-branches and winde them in together with the clusters of grapes to be tied to the props and then cover them that no water may come at them You must take heed also that the grapes do not touch the ground A thing which I have oft-times put in practise but it fell not out to my expectation for still the grapes were half rotten and their colour quite faded Columella saith There is no surer way then to prepare certain earthen vessels which may hold each of them a cluster of grapes so that they may have scope enough and they must have every one four handles whereby they may be tied to the Vine and their lids or coverings must be so framed that the middle may be the place of closing where both sides of the cover may fall close together when the clusters are in and so meeting may hide the grapes But you must see that both the vessels themselves and also their coverings be well pitched both within and without for the pitch will do good service herein When you have thus covered and shut up your grapes then you must lay good store â—f morter with straw chopt in it upon the vessels But in any case look that the grapes be so placed in the vessels that they touch no part thereof Tarentinus gives this counsel The clusters that first grow you must pluck off and then others will come up in their steads if you look carefully to the Vine now these later clusters will be very backward and long ere they be ripe take some earthen vessels and let them be somewhat open below put into them your later clusters and let the upper part of them be very close covered and then bind your vessels fast unto the Vine that so the wind may not shake them Palladius saith If you be desirous to keep grapes upon the Vine till the Spring-time you must take this course Neer unto a Vine that is laden with grapes you must make a ditch about three foot deep and two foot broad in a very shadowy place and when you have cast sand into it stick up certain props and winde the bunches daily towards them and when you have wrought them to stand that way bind them to your props without hurting the grapes and then cover them to keep them from the rain The Graecians likewise counsel you to shut up your grapes into certain earthen vessels which are somewhat open beneath but very close and fast shut above and so you may preserve them long upon the Tree If you would preserve Grapes upon the Vine till new come again so that upon one and the same Vine-branch may be seen old and new grapes both together you may effect it by this device which I my self have used for all the former experiments are the inventions of Antiquity and because there is great difficulty in working them and small profit when they are wrought therefore I esteem them as toyes and matters of little worth But this I have experienced my self and preserved good grapes upon a Vine until May and June and so have seen both new grapes and grapes also of the former year together upon one and the same branch When Vintage time is past you must take the tops and pliant twigs of such Vines as grow by the house side and winde them in at the window into the house and binde them fast to the summers or beams with the sprigs of Broom as with strings or thongs that they may be surely stayed from wagging up and down but you must let them in handsomely that the windows may be opened and shut conveniently By this means you shall keep them safe from the injury both of the cold weather and also of the devouting birds When there is any frosts or winds abroad keep the windows close shut and open them again when the air is waxed any thing calm and warm and so deal by them till the Spring come And when the Vine begins to bear new buds and new leaves then let your twigs out of prison and bring them back again into the open air and there let them take the comfort of the warm Sun So shall there grow new grapes upon the same twigs where the old grapes are I have also effected the same By another means Because it was a great trouble and a very irksome piece of work to take that course every year I have thought of another device whereby the same effect may be attained both more prettily and miraculously About the time wherein they are wont to prune Vines make choice of two special branches upon the Vine such as are most likely to bear fruit Cut off the tops of either of them but leave the branches still growing upon the Vine and leave two or three buds upon either branch Then take a vessel made of chalk or white clay and let there be a hole bored quite thorough the bottom of it and so place it that it may stand fit for the branches to be drawn thorough it so that they may stand a little out above the brims thereof When your branches are so seated then fill up the vessel with earth and that you may work more surely and speedily too you must set over your earthen
scope to swim upon the top of the Wine for by this means shall you keep your fruit fresh and good for a long time and besides the wine wherein they float will have a very fragrant savour Likewise Apples being shut up close and then put into Cisterns will last long As Palladius sheweth You must put your apples saith he into earthen vessels well pitched and made up close and when you have so done drown those vessels in a Cistern or else in a pit Pliny putteth apples in earthen Basons and so lets them swim in wine for saith he the wine by this means will yield a more odoriferous smell Apuleius saith that Apples are to be put into a new pot and the pot to be put into a Hogs-head of wine that there it may swim and play on the top of the wine for so the Apples will be preserved by the wine and the wine will be the better for the Apples So Figs being shut up close may be drowned for their better preservation As Africanus affirmeth They take figs saith he that are not very ripe and put them into a new earthen vessel but they gather them with their tails or stalks upon them and lay them up every one in a several cell by it self and when they have so done they put the vessel into an Hogs-head of wine and so preserve their figs. I have also proved it by experience that Peaches being shut up in wooden Cisterns have been well preserved by drowning And I have proved 〈◊〉 also in other kinds of Apples that if they be shut up in a small vessel that is very well pitched on the utter side and so drowned in the bottom of a Cistern of water and kept down by some weights within the water that it may not float they may be preserved many moneths without any putrefaction By a sleight not much unlike to this Pomegranates may be preserved in a Pipe or But that is half full of water as Palladius sheweth You must hang up your Pomegranates within the But yet so that they must not touch the water and the But must be shut up close that the wind may not come in And as fruit may be thus preserved if the vessels be drowned in water or other liquor so there are some of opinion that if you hide those vessels underneath the ground you may by this means also eschew the danger of the alterations that are in the air Columella sheweth that Cervises being shut up close and so laid under ground will thereby last the longer When you have gathered your Cervises charily by hand you must put them into vessels that are well pitched and lay also pitched coverings upon them and plaister them over with morter then make certain ditches or trenches about two foot deep in some dry place within doors and in them so place your pitchers that the mouth may be downward then throw in the earth upon them and tread it in somewhat hard It is best to make many trenches that the vessels may stand asunder not above one or two in a trench for when you have use of them if you would take up any one of the vessels none of the rest must be stirred for if they be the Cervises will soon putrifie Pliny reports the like out of Cato that Cervises are put into earthen vessels well pitched the covering being plaistered over with morter and then put in certain ditches or pits about two foot deep the place being somewhat open and the vessels set with the mouth downward And Palladius writes out of those two Authors that Cervises must be gathered while they be somewhat hard and laid up even when they begin to be ripe they must be put in earthen pitchers so that the vessels be filled up to the top and covered over with morter and laid in a ditch two foot deep in a dry place where the Sun cometh and the mouths of the vessels must stand downward and the earth must be trodden in upon them The same Author writeth that Pears being shut up in vessels and so laid under the ground will last the longer You must take those pears which are hard both in skin and in skin and substance These you must lay upon an heap and when they begin to wax soft put them into an earthen vessel which is well pitched and lay a covering on it and plaister it over with morter Then the vessel must be buried in a small ditch in such a place as the sun doth daily shine upon Others as soon as the pears are gathered lay them up with their stalks upon them in pitcht vessels and close up the vessels with morter or else with pitch and then lay them abroad upon the ground covering them all over with sand Others make special choice of such pears as are very sound somewhat hard and green and these they shut up into a pitcht vessel and then cover it and set the mouth of it downward and bury it in a little ditch in such a place as the water runs round about it continually In like manner also Apples being shut up close may be hidden within the ground for their better preservation As Pliny sheweth You must dig a trench in the ground about two foot deep and lay sand in the bottom of it and there put in your apples then cover the pit first with an earthen lid and then with earth thrown upon it Some put their apples in earthen basons and then bury them Others put them into a ditch that hath sand cast into the bottom of it and cover it onely with dry earth The like device it is whereby Pomegranates are preserved in small Buts which have sand in them You must fill a small But up to the middle with sand and then take your pomegranates and put the stalk of them every one into a several cane or into the bough of an Elder-tree and let them be so placed asunder in the sand that the fruit may stand some four fingers above the sand but the vessel must be set within the ground in some open place This also may be done within doors in a ditch two foot deep Others fill up the But half full of water and hang the pomegranates within the But that they may not touch the water and shut up the But close that no air may come in Cato sheweth how Filberds may be preserved within the ground You must take them while they be new and put them into a pitcher and so lay them in the ground and they will be as fresh when you take them forth as when you put them in In like manner Palladius sheweth that Chestnuts may be preserved if you put them in new earthen vessels and bury them in some dry place within the ground He saith also that Roses being shut up may be buried in the ground for their better preservation if they be laid up in a pot and well closed and so buried in some open place But now we
will shew How all things that are shut up may be preserved for many years Fruits are to be laid up in vials of glass as we shewed before and when the pipe or neck of the glass is stopt close up then they are to be drowned in cisterns and they will last good for certain whole years Likewise flowers are to be closed up in a vessel that is somewhat long and the neck of it must be stopt up as we shewed before and then they must be cast into the water for by this means they may be kept fresh for a long time I have also put new wine into an earthen vessel that hath been glazed within and have laid it in the water with a waight upon it to keep it down and a year after I found it in the same taste and goodness as when I put it into the vessel By the like device as this is we may preserve Things that are shut up even for ever if we wrap them up in some commixtion with other things so that the air may not pierce them through but especially if the commixtion it self be such as is not subject to putrefaction I have made trial hereof in Amber first reducing it to a convenient softness and then wrapping up in it that which I desired to preserve For whereas the Amber may be seen thorow it doth therefore represent unto the eye the perfect semblance of that which is within it as if it were living and so sheweth it to be sound and without corruption After this manner I have lapped up Bees and Lyzards in Amber which I have shewed to many and they have been perswaded that they were the Bees and the Lyzards that Martial speaks of We see every where that the hairs of beasts and leaves and fruits being lapped up in this juice are kept for ever the Amber doth eternize them Martial speaks thus of the Bee A Bee doth lie hidden within the Amber and yet she shines in it too as though she were even closed up within her own honey A worthy reward she hath there for all her labours and if she might make choice of her own death it is likely she would have desired to die in Amber And the same Author speaks thus of the Viper being caught as it were in the same juice The Viper comes gliding to the dropping Pine-tree and presently the Amber juice doth overflow her and while she marvails at it how she should be so entangled with that liqour upon the sudden it closeth upon her and waxeth stiff with cold Then let not Cleopatra boast her self in her Princely Tomb seeing the Viper is interred in a Nobler Tomb then she But if you desire to know how to make Amber soft though there be divers ways whereby this may be effected yet let this way alone content you to cast it into hot boiling wax that is scummed and clarified for by this means it will become so soft and pliant that you may easily fashion it with your fingers and make it framable to any use Onely you must bee sure that it be very new CHAP. IX How Fruits may be drenched in Honey to make them last for a long time THe Antients finding by experience that the shutting up of fruits in vessels and the drenching of those vessels in water was a notable preservative against corruption did thence proceed farther and began to drench the fruits themselves in divers kinds of liqours supposing that they might be the longer preserved if they were sowsed in honey wine vineger brine and such like in as much as these liquors have an especial vertue against putrefaction For honey hath an excellent force to preserve not fruits onely but also even the bodies of living creatures from being putrefied as we have elsewhere shewed that Alexanders body and the carkass of the Hippocentaur were preserved in honey Meer water they did not use in this case because that being moist in it self might seem rather to cause putrefaction But of all other liquors honey was most in request for this purpose they supposing it to be a principal preserver against corruption Columella saith That Quinces may be preserved in honey without putrefaction We have nothing more certain by experience saith he then that Quinces are well preserved in honey You must take a new flagon that is very broad brimmed and put your Quuinces into it so that they may have scope within that one may not bruise another then when your pot is full to the neck take some withy twigs and plat them over the pots mouth that they may keep down the Quinces somewhat close least when they should swell with liquor they should float too high then fill up your vessel to the very brimme with excellent good liquefi'd honey so that the Quinces may be quite drowned in it By this means you shall not onely preserve the fruit very well but also you shall procure such a well relished liquor that it will be good to drink of But in any case take heed that your Quinces be through ripe which you would thus preserve for if they were gathered before they were ripe they will be so hard that they cannot be eaten And this is such an excellent way that though the worm have seized upon the Quinces before they were gathered yet this will preserve them from being corrupted any farther for such is the nature of honey that it will suppress any corruption and not suffer it to spread abroad for which cause it will preserve the dead carkass of a man for many years together without putrefaction Palladius saith that Quinces must be gathered when they are ripe and so put into honey whole as they are and thereby they will be long preserved Pliny would have them first to be smeared over with wax and then to be sowsed in honey Apitius saith Quinces must be gathered with their boughes and leaves and they must be without any blemish and so put into a vessel full of honey and new wine The Quinces that were thus dressed were called Melimela that is to say Apples preserved in honey as Martial witnesseth saying Quinces sowsed in pure honey that they have drunk themselves full are called Melimela Likewise Columella sheweth that Other kind of Apples may be so preserved Not onely the Melimela but also the Pome-paradise and the Sestian Apples and other such daiâ—ties may be preserved in honey but because they are made sweeter by the honey and so lose their own proper relish which their nature and kind doth afford therefore he was wont to preserve them by another kind of practise Palladius saith That Pears may be preserved in Honey if a hey be so laid up therein that one of them may not touch another So Africanus reporteth That Figgs may be long preserved in Honey if they be so disposed and placed in it that they neither touch each other nor yet the vessel wherein they be put and when you have so placed them you must make fast
brine as the Quintiles affirm for if you preserve either Gourds or Cucumbers in brine they will last long So Apples and Myrtles may be preserved by lapping them up in Sea-weed one by one so that they may be covered all over with it and not touch one another as Apuleius sheweth If you have no Sea-weed then you must lay them up close in Coffers Aristotle is of opinion that the fruits of the Myrtle-tree need not to be lapped up in Sea-weed thereby to keep them from falling off from the Tree because they will stick on of themselves till they be thoroughly ripe but the blades of them are preserved by wrapping Sea-weed about them and the vapour of the Sea-weed thus wrapped about the blades will keep the juice of the fruit from being changed to any further maturity and cause it to continue long at one stay and this is by reason of the saltness of the Sea-weed whereby it doth intercept and dry up that moisture which should be derived into the fruit to ripen it We may learn also to preserve Olives in brine to have them good a year after Marcus Cato saith that those kinds of Olives which are called Orchites may be well preserved if they be laid up in brine while they are green or else if they be powned with Mâ—stick Columella saith that the Olives which are called Orchites and those which are called Pansiae and the little round Olive called Radiolus are to be knocked and beaten and so cast into brine and then to be taken out of the brine and squeezed and so cast into a vessel together with the blanched seeds of Mastick and Fennel then take a good quantity of new wine and half so much strong brine or pickle and put it into the vessel and so the fruit will be preserved Or else you may cast your Olives whole into a vessel and put in strong brine amongst them till the vessel be brim-full and so take them out for your uses when occasion serveth There are a certain kind of black Olives called also Orchites which Cato saith are thus to be preserved When they be dry cast them into salt and there let them lie for the space of two dayes afterward take them forth and shake off the salt and set them in the Sun two dayes together and so they will be preserved Marcus Varro reports the very same experiment out of Cato Columella saith while Olives be yet black and unripe you must tuck them off the Tree with your hand in a fair Sun-shining day and cull out the sound ones from those that have any blemish and into every peck and and an half of Olives put a quart and somewhat more of whole salt then put them into wicker baskets and there let them lie in salt thirty dayes together that the Lees or dregs may be still dropping forth afterward put them into some trey or such like vessel that you may wipe away the salt with a spunge and when you have done so barrel them up into a Hogs-head full of new wine or else of sodden wine and by this means they will be long preserved Didymus teacheth to make condite or preserved Olives on this manner When Olives are almost ripe you must gather them with their stalks and all then wash or steep them a whole day in cold water and afterward lay them a drying upon wicker Lattises handling them very gently then put them in the bottom of a vessel and cast good store of salt amongst them and into five pecks of Olives you must put in four gallons and two quarts of brine and two pints and a half of vineger And when you have filled up the vessel shake them together that the liquor may swim on the pot Columella Palladius and divers others do cast the Olives into sea-Sea-water and there steep them seven dayes together and when they have taken them forth they condite them with brine and so put them up into some other vessel CHAP. XII That things may be specially well preserved in Oyl and Lees of Oyl OYl and especially Lees of Oyl do excellently conserve things defending them both from the injuries of the Air and of Animals Cato doth in short enumerate the faculties of Lees of Oyl he subacts the Barn-flores with Lees of Oyl that Mice may not eat his Corn. That also He may preserve his Grain in his Garner he dawbes the Pavement and Walls thereof with clay confected with Lees of Oyl That also Moths may not eat his clothes he be sprinkles them with Lees of Oyl as also that Seed Corn lying in the fields may be kept from erosion by Animals if it be steeped in Oyl lees as also Whetstones Shoes Brazen-vessels from rust all Woodden-houshold-stuff Potters-vessels and the like The same Cato also saith That Myrtle branches may be preserued with their Berries on in Lees of Oyl Bind these or any of the like Nature into bundles put them into a vessel of Oyl-lees so that the Oyl cover them then cover the vessel Didymus saith That roses may be kept in Oyl-lees fresh and vigorous if they be covered over with this liquor If you would preserve Figtree-branches with their fruits in Oyl-lees bundle them up with their leaves and all and put them in a vessel of Oyl-lees as we said of Myrtle but if you would keep dry Figs from corruption lay them up in a Potters vessel wet with Lees of Oyl decocted Olives may be preserved in Oyl for when they have lost their colour they may be gathered with their stalks preserved in Oyl and a year after they will represent their green colour and if you besprinkle them with common salt they will pass for new ones CHAP. XIII How Apples may belong conserved in Sawdust with leafs and Chaff or straw THe Ancients have invented many Trees whose fruits may be long preserved in their own saw dust because of its dryness Now every fruit is best kept in its own leaves dust and the like as we have said of Olives which are best kept in Oyl Grapes in wine c. Orenges may be kept in Cedar-dust As Palladius asserts who avers that many have experienced it in the like manner Quinces may be long kept in dust because as Democritus avers the dryness of the dust preserves them from putrefaction they may be also kept long in Wooll fine Tow or the like in Chests The fruits of the Fir-tree may be long kept in dust Many diffuse the saw-dust of the Poplar or Fir-tree amongst their fruits for their preservation Apuleius saith You may lay them involved in fine Tow into a vimineous basket and they will keep Pomegranates may be kept from putrefaction in Oak-dust Columella would have the dust first steeped in vinegar and then they laid in it Mago would have us first strew a new potters vessel with the dust then lay in the apples then strew another layer of dust and another of apples till the vessel be full which we must
shut and dawb close up Beritius would have the dust first infused in vinegar Grapes may be kept in dust Some keep green Grapes in dry poplar or firre-dust Didymus would have them reposed in boxes overlaid with pitch in the dry dust of the pitch or black poplar-tree some preserve fruits in chaff which by its innate frigidity either keeps the frosty rigor unmelted or by its genuine dryness keeps all things from putritude or by being void of all qualities keeps fruits in their proper quality And first Orenges may be kept in Chaff As Palladius avers or in small straw And the same saith That Quinces may be preserved in Chaff As also in small straw as Pliny attests who asserts also That Apples may be kept in Chaff or straw they being laid upon and in it Palladius saith That Pears will keep long in Chaff and Medlars also if they be gathered on a clear day half covered with chaff and not again touched Palladius saith That Pomegranates may be kept in Chaff if they be not moved or touched after their reposure Grapes may be kept in Chaff The clusters should be severally laid along the pavement so that they touch not each other with lupin-straw under them if possible for it is dryer and hardest and an enemy to Mice but if not then Bean-straw or such pulse but if none of these then dry hay cut small Palladius saith That Nuts will keep in straw if Almonds cannot be easily excoriated cover them with chaff and straw and you may effect it Sotion avers That Onyons may be kept from putrefaction in Barley-straw First put them into hot-water dry them in the Sun that done lay them so in straw that they touch not each other Palladius saith That Chesnuts may be preserved in small Barley-straw or in their own leafs As also Quinces in Fig-leaves Democritus would have them involved in leaves and dawbed up with clay Palladius saith Apples may be kept from putretude in fig-leaves who also avers That Orenges may be preserved in their own leaves if they be laid severally He also saith That Apples may be kept long in nut-leaves And Apuleius saith Their colour odour and grace will be hereby preserved and that best if they be layed in fresh not falling leaves As also That pears may be kept well in wallnut-leaves Democritus saith The leaves must be dry and the pears will be green at a years end Pliny saith Figs may be kept in the leaves of Vervine without putretude Palladius would have them put in an Oven and whil'st hot imposed in their own leaves and reconded in a pot Columella would have dry Figs cast into a pitched vessel with dry hay in it and upon them We may also Preserve Cherries in the leaves of Winter-savory if we first cast the leaves then the Cherries into a vessel and so by course or if we after the same manner lay Cherries in Reeds-leaves thus also May Jujubees be kept in their own leaves or else they may be cut of with their boughs and suspended Thus also May the Myrtle and its Berries be preserved either in a close vessel or in Lees of Oyl Thus also may Quince-pears be long kept in their own leaves and Nuts in their leaves but the leaves must be dry Wheat may be kept in herbs Tarentinus would have it imposed upon dry Wormwood and Semper-vive but dry Quince leaves and small sand are better which must be layed in layers among the Grain It is best to cover the flore with Coniza add after ten measures of Grain to lay another layer of Coniza till all be deposed for thus the whole will not be onely free from putretude for many years but keep its due weight Barley may be kept safe in dry Bay-leaves Dry Grass with Mint mixed with Bran preserve Barley special well Some bray cummin and salt together and make them into dry Masses for the preservation of Barley CHAP. XIV How fruits may be mixed with many things for their better preservation ANd now that we may not further protract our speech we shall from ancient Examples shew how fruits by immersion into several things may be long kept from putretude and first Orenges in Barley putrefie not But if you lay them on hot Barley-bread they putrefie quickly Palladius saith That Quinces laid in Millet-seed endure long for he thinks that Millet-seed corrupts not in many years and so what is reposed in it cannot speedily putrefie Democritus saith Barley is better being dry but always provided that they be not laid near tender and fugacious fruits for they will vitiate them by their acid sapour and putrefie grapes if they be near them Apples may be also kept in the same seed As Pliny is of mind But Apuleius saith a heap of Barley is better But you must always mind to repose each kind in its proper continent and place because if divers kinds be occluded together they vitiate sooner wherefore the wine that is expressed out of several kinds of grapes is not so firm as the simple and sincere Pears will keep amongst corn For as Palladius saith The Siccity thereof is notably preservative Mushrooms may be kept in Millet-seed The Vesuvians also keep them in dry sand till new ones come Pomegranates may be kept lay in Wheat if they be first dipped into hot waters then reconded in Wheat till they become rugous Varro and Catâ— would have them put in a heap of sand for preservation Dydimus saith That Grapes may be kept well and long if they be suspended in a Garner for the dust that rises up of the corn when moved causes long duration in grapes How Corn may be long preserved Tarentinus saith The ashes of Oaks others dry Beasts dung strewed on corn preserve it but small sand subâ—cted with Lees of Oyl is better for this corrupts all vermine and keeps the corn more dense and solid Perfrigerated Argil is best of all for it will keep corn thirty or forty years from corruption you may let it through a strait seive when you use it Pulse will keep long if they be sprinkled with vinegar mixed with the juice of Laser CHAP. XV. How other things may be preserved from putrefaction WE shall here recite what other things though vile may be preserved and so make way for further inquisitions Quick-silver will preserve all things from putretude As fruits and the like for we have often put fruits into a fit vessel and cast quick-silver upon them and so preserved them long and well Flesh hanged on a Brasen-nail will keep long For Brass is so styptical and exiccative that the flesh it passes throw putrefies not How a dead Carcase may be preserved First let â—he side of the Body be opened and the Carcase exenterated let the Skull be opened and the brains taken out let the papills be substracted as also the privities with the pith of the Back-bone then hang up the Body by the feet for three or four hours then wash it with
a spung dipped in vinegar and aqua vitae then let it dry which done strew it with unquenched Lime Alome and Salt let it hang so two days in the smoak of Myrrhe Bay Rosemary and Cypress in a dry and open place Then make a mixture of unquenched Lime five pound of burnt Alome one pound good Salt two pound of Aloes and Myrrhe half a pound of Aloes-wood half a pound of the Oyl of Spicknard three onces of the powder of Rosemary-flowers five of burnt Green-brass and Calcanthum two of the best Theriack four of the dust of Cypress half a pound of dryed Saffron one once of the seeds of Coloquintida three and a half of Antimony beaten to powder one and an half of the ashes of Wine-lees five and a half of Musk half a dragm of Amber two Let all be diligently brayed and mixed together and strewed upon the Body which must be for three days together strongly rubbed in an open and dry place This also we admonish that in fat Bodies the fat of the Abdomen Buttocks Hips Muscles of the Leggs thighs and all other places must be first abstracted Things may be also preserved by Balsom But seeing we can compass no true Balsom or if there be any it is exceeding dear we are glad to make artificial Balsoms as we shall shew in due place CHAP. XVI How divers sorts of Bread may be made WE have spoken of preserving fruits and other things It remains to shew how we may use those we have kept Amongst the rest we shall teach you concerning those things that are most necessary for dayly use as for many kinds of Bread Wine Vinegar and Oyls that not onely the Housholder may provide for his family with small cost but when provision is dear he may provide for himself with small pains in Mountains and Desarts of all those things almost we have spoken of But we will begin with Bread and see what our fore-fathers used in case of necessity I shall let pass those common things as Spilt and Bean-corn Amel-corn Typh-wheat Panick Sesamum being all well known But first To make Bread of Wall-nuts Dioscorides saith there is a kind of Thistle commonly found in the waters that onely in Rivers brings forth a certain seed as big as a Ches-nut with three points membranous full of white pith that tastes like Ches-nuts they call them water ches-nuts vulgarly and the Inhabitants use them in meats as they do Ches-nuts Pilgrims make Chapelets of them The Thracians that dwell by the River Strimon fat their horses with this Thistle when it is green and of the same seed they make Bread to eat Moreover in places where they grow amongst us the Inhabitants when provision is dear make Bread of them as at Ferrara they do of Ches-â—uts and the Brutii rost them in the embers and eat them for juncates Almost in the same manner To make Bread of the Lote tree Theophrastus teacheth it The Lote-tree grows in plain ground where the Countries are overflowed with water The fruit is like a Bean naturally but less and more slender That which grows on the head comes forth promiscuously as Beans do many and very thick together When the Sun sets it closeth and opens when he riseth and springs up above the water The head is as great as a Poppy-head where it grows in Euphrates The Egyptians lay those heads on heaps to putrefie and when the shells are putrefied they wash them in a River and part the fruit from them and dry it and break it and make bread of it and eat it Pliny There is also bread made of the seed of it like to Millet seed in Egypt by the Shepherds and they knead it with water especially or with milk They say that nothing is more wholesom then that bread or lighter whil'st it is hot but cold it is harder to digest and becomes heavy It is certain that those who live upon that are never troubled with Dysenteries Tenasmus or any diseases of the belly And therefore it is one of their remedies For it was of old a custom To make bread of Dates which Pliny writes of Dates that are very dry of Thebes and Arabia that are slender and very lean with a continual vapour they are terrified and are covered rather with a Shel then a Skin In Ethiopia it is crumbled so great is the draught and like meal it is made into bread Bread of the Mulberry-figtree In Caria and Rhodes there is a great Fig of Egypt or increase of the Sycamore-tree and in the neighbouring places where there is little wheat the people for want of corn use it for bread and for all bread corn So great and continual plenty is there of that Apple and abundance of bread is made of it pleasing to the stomach but it affords but little nutriment and we might make the same if we would We find it in Writers of husbandry How we may make bread without leaven Out of Didymus some adde Nitre for Nitre makes bread more crumbly as it doth flesh also Some the day before they make their bread cast Grapes into the water and the next day when they will make their bread they take them away for they swim above the water and they press them out and use the moisture pressed forth for leaven and so they make their bread more pleasing If you would have leaven last you all the year when the new wine hath boiled in the vessels Skim off the froth that boils on the top and mingle with it Millet-meal and work it well together and make morsels of it which dry in the Sun and lay up in a moist place and you may take a sufficient quantity and use it for leaven CHAP. XVII Divers sorts of Bread made of Roots and fruits NOw we shall proceed to other kinds of bread found out in our days that are no small profit to us when corn is dear How to make bread of the Roots of Cuckow-pint the root of Wake-Robin when it is not too acrimonious is eaten and desired in meats Dioscorides saith The decoction was drank as not being over sharp Galen That it was eaten as Rape-roots and in some Countries it grows more corroding To prepare it rightly pour out the water of the first boyling and presently cast it into other hot water In Cyrene those Roots are otherwise then amongst us for there it is no Physical root and is not acrimonious at all so that it is more profitable then a Rape-root Also our forefathers when Corn was dear used this Root in meats with great profit Caesar de bello civili Also there is a kind of Root found by them that were with Valerius which is called Chara which mingled with milk releived a Souldier that was hungry and it was made up like to bread There was great plenty of this Root and of it bread was made when those of Pompey his side objected to our Souldiers that they wanted food they would commonly
meal Do this thrice or four times and so you may increase it continually and this must be done in a stove that the dewy spirit may be fostered I thought good to tell you also before that you must not prick the lump lest the generative blast should breath forth and flie into the air for so you will lose your labour and there must not want presently a dewy vapour which being carried into the air and made to drop may moisten the lump so you will rejoice at the wonderful increase but you must be cunning in the manual application Pray do not destroy by your negligence what was invented by the careful ingenuity of those that tried it CHAP. XX. How we may long endure hunger and thirst THe Antients had some compositions to drive away hunger and thirst and they were very necessary both in times of Famine and in wars Pliny saith some things being but tasted will abate hunger and thirst and preserve our forces as Butter Licoris Hippace and elsewhere Scythia first produced that root which is called Scythia and about Baeotia it grows very sweet And another that is excellent against Convulsions also it is a high commendation of it that such as have it in their mouths fell nor hunger nor thirst Hippace amongst them doth the same which effects the same in horses also And they report that with these two herbs the Scythians will fast twelve dayes and live without drink also all which he translated out of Theophrastus first book The Scythian Hippace is sweet also and some call it Dulcis it grows by Maeotis Amongst other properties it quencheth thirst also if it be held in the mouth For which cause both with both with that and with the other called equestris men say the Scythians will endure hunger and thirst twelve dayes Hence it appears that Pliny translated all this out of Theophrastus But I think he erred for Hippace signifies Cheese made of Mares milk and is no herb Theodorus translated it Equestrem as it were a root like Licoris fit to drive away hunger and thirst For Hippocrates saith the Scythian shepherds eat Hippace but that is Mares Cheese and elsewhere The Scythians pour Mares milk into hollow vessels of wood and shake it and that froths with churming and the fat of it they call butter which swims on the top that which is heavy sinks to the bottom they separate this and dry it when it is dry they call it Hippace the reason is because Mares milk nourisheth exceedingly and is as good as Cows milk Dioscorides The west Indians use another composition also To endure hunger and thirst Of the herb called Tobacco namely of the juice thereof and the ashes of Cockle shells they make little balls and dry them in the shade and as they travel for three or four dayes they will hold one of them between their under lip and their teeth and this they suck continually and swallow down what they suck and so all the day they feel neither hunger thirst nor weariness but we will teach another composition which Heron mentions and it was called The Epimenidian composition to endure hunger and thirst For it was a medicament that nourished much and abated thirst and this was the food the besiegers of Cities and the besieged also lived on It was called the Epimenidian composition from the Sea-onion called Epimendium that is one of the ingredients of that composition it was made thus The squil was boiled and washt with water and dryed and then cut into very small pieces then mingle sesamum a fift part poppy a fifteenth part make all these up with honey as the best to make up the mass to mitigate it divide the whole as into great Olives and take one of these about two of the clock another about ten and they felt no hurt by hunger that used it There is another composition of the same that hath of Athenian sesamum half a Sextarius of honey a half part of oyle a Cotyle and a Chaenice of sweet Almonds mundified the sesamum and Almonds must be dried and ground and winowed then the squil must have the outsides taken off and the roots and leaves must be cut into small pieces and put into a morter and bruised till they be well mollified then you must make up the squils with the like quantity of honey and of oyle and put all into a pot and set them in cold and stir them well with a wooden ladle till they be well mingled when the lump is firm it is good to cut it into little morsels and he that eats one in the morning another at night hath meat enough This medicament is good for an Army for it is sweet and so fills a man and quencheth thirst we had this in an old Scholiast a Manuscript upon the book of Heron in the Vatican Library I saw the same composition in Philo in his fifth book of wars where he describes such like other things CHAP. XXI Of what fruits wines may be made NOw we shall speak of fruits of which wines may be made And first our Ancestors did do thus but they had two wayes for some were for Physicks which are found plentifully in Physick books others again were for ordinary use and they were divers and almost infinite according as the differences of places and Nations are for what is granted to one is denyed to another First Wine of Dates Pliny saith that in the East they make wine of Dates and he reckons up fifty kinds of Dates and as many different wines from them Cariotae are the chief full of juice of which are made the principal wines in the East they are naught for the head and thence they have their name The best are found in Judaea chiefly about Jericho yet those of Archelaiis are well esteemed and of Phaselis and of Libias valleyes of the same Country The chiefest property they have is this they are full of a white fat juice and very sweet tasting like wine with honey The wine will make one drunk and the fruit also eaten largely Dioscorides teacheth thus Put ripe Dates called Chydeae into a pitcher with a hole at bottom and stopt with a pitched reed shut the hole with linnen and to fourty Sextarii pour on three gallons of water If you would not have it so sweet five gallons will be sufficient to pour on after ten dayes take away the reed with the linnen take the thick sweet wine and set it up Also wine is made Of Figs. Sotion relates it thus Some make wine of green figs filling half the vessel with them and the other half to the brim they fill with fair water and they try still by tasting for when it tasts like wine they strain it and use it It is made faith Dioscorides of ripe figs and it is called Catorchites or Sycites Chelidonian or Phaenician figs called Caricae are steeped in a pot with a hole in the bottom with a pitched reed
silver But if you desire To make brass shew it self of a silver colour by rubbing it betwixt your hands as boyes and cozening companions are oftentimes wont to do that if they do but handle any vessels of brass they will make them straightways to glitter like Silver you may use this devise Take Ammoniack-salt and Alome and Salt-peeter of each of them an equal weight and mingle them together and put unto them a small quantity of Silver-dust that hath been filed off then set them all to the fire that they may be thoroughly hot and when the fume or vapour is exhaled from them that they have left reaking make a powder of them and whatsoever brass you cast that powder upon if you do withal either wet it with your own spittle or else by little and little rub it over with your fingers you shall find that they will seem to be of a silver colour But if you would whiten such brass more handsomely and neatly you must take another course You must dissolve a little silver with Aqua fortis and put unto it so much Lees of wine and as much Ammoniack-salt let them so lie together till they be about the thickness of the filth that is rubbed off from a mans body after his sweating then roul it up in some small round balls and so let them wax dry when they are dry if you rub them with your fingers upon any brass or other like metal and still as you rub them moisten them with a little spittle you shall make that which you rub upon to be very like unto silver The very like experiment may be wrought by Quick-silver for this hath a wonderful force in making any metal to become white Now whereas we promised before to teach you not onely how to endue brase or such other metal with a silver colour but also how to preserve and keep the bodies so coloured from returning to their former hiew again you must beware that these bodies which are endued with such a silver colour do not take hurt by any sharp or sowre liquor for either the urine or vineger or the juice of limons or any such tart and sowre liquor wâ—ll cause this colour soon to fade away and so discredit your work and declare the colour of those metals to be false and counterfeit CHAP. IV. Of Iron and how to transform it into a more worthy metal NOw the order of my proceedings requires that I should speak somewhat also concerning Iron for this is a metal which the Wizards of India did highly esteem as having in it self much goodness and being of such a temperature that it may easily be transformed into a more worthy and excellent metal then it self is Notwithstanding some there are which reject this metal as altogether unprofitable because it is so full of gross earthly substance and can hardly be melted in the fire by reason of that firm and setled brimstone which is found in it But if any man would Change Iron into Brass so that no part of the grosse and earthly substance shall remain in it he may easily obtain his purpose by Coppresse or Vitriol It is reported that in the mountain Carpatus an Hill of Pannonia at a certain Town called Smolinitium there is a Lake in which there are three channels full of water and whatsoever Iron is put into those channels it is converted into brass and if the Iron which you cast into them be in small pieces or little clamps presently they are converted into mud or dirt but if that mud be baked and hardened in the fire it will be turned into perfect good brass But there is an artificial means whereby this also may be affected and it is to be done on this wise Take Iron and put into a casting vessel and when it is red hot with the vehement heat of the fire and that it beginneth to melt you must cast upon it by little and little some sprinkling of quick brimstone then you must pour it forth and cast into small rods and beat it with hammers it is very brittle and will easily be broken then dissolve it with Aqua-fortis such as is compounded of vitriol and Alome tempered together set it upon hot cinders till it boil and be dissolved into vapours and so quite vanish away and the subsidence thereof or the rubbish that remains behind if it be reduced into one solid body again will become good brass If you would Make Iron to become white you may effect it by divers and sundry sleights yet let this onely device content you in this matter First you must cleanse and purge your Iron of that dross and refuse that is in it and of that poysoned corruption of rust that it is generally infected withal for it hath more earthly substance and parts in it then any other metal hath insomuch that if you boil it and purge it never so often it will still of it self yield some new excrements To cleanse and purge it this is the best way Take some small thin plates of Iron and make them red hot and then quench them in strong lye and vineger which have been boiled with ordinary Salt and Alome and this you must use to do with them oftentimes till they be somewhat whitened the fragments or scrapings also of Iron you must pown in a morâ—er after they have been steeped in salt and you must bray them together till the salt be quite changed so that there be no blackness left in the liquor of it and till the Iron be cleansed and purged from the dross that is in it When you have thus prepared your Iron you must whiten it on this manner Make a plaister as it were of quick-silver and lead tempered together then pown them into powder and put that powder into an earthen vessel amongst your plates of Iron that you have prepared to be whitened close up the vessel fast and plaister it all over with morter so that there may be no breathing place for any air either to get in or out then put it into the fire and there let it stay for one whole day together and at length encrease your fire that it may be so vehement hot as to melt the Iron for the plaister or confection which was made of lead and Quick-silver will work in the Iron two effects for first it will dispose it to melting that it shall soon be dissolved and secondly it will dispose it to whitening that it shall the sooner receive a glittering colour After all this draw forth your Iron into small thin plates again and proceed the second time in the same course as before till you find that it hath taken so much whitenesse as your purpose was to endue it withal In like manner if you melt it in a vessel that hath holes in the bottom of it and melt with it lead and the Marchasiâ—e or fire-stone and Arsnick and such other things as we spake of before in our experiments
north part For when it is equally balanced it will turn to these points in the heavens But that it may do it more forcibly and do its office more exactly I shall lay down some rules fit to instruct you If you strike both ends of the stone with the hammer that hairs may appear on both parts that you touch the needle at both ends for so the needle will sooner do its office Moreover you must observe very carefully that when the iron rub'd against the Loadstone hath received these hairs that you touch it with no other iron or Loadstone but keep it far distant from them and lock it up in a box for by touching of others the iron will grow dull and lose its vertue that it will never point out the parts of heaven perfectly For the iron coming within the Compass of the vertue of another Loadstone will receive that as we said So the needle must be proportionable to the stone For from a little Loadstone a great iron will not receive much vertue nor shew the pole also a little piece of iron cannot receive much vertue for it consumes by the great force of the Loadstone Moreover the point that shews the pole must not be sharp but fâ—at a little that it may receive those vertues of the Loadstone exactly and hold them for in a very sharp point scarce any vertue will abide Iron the purer it is the better will it hold the vertue For it will hardly take upon foul and rusty iron wherefore Mariners make it of pure steel for steel is made of the best iron If you observe this iron once rubbed will hold the vertue a hundred years and will certainly without failing point exactly at the poles in the heavens for so long time CHAP. XXXVII Of the divers uses of Mariners Compasses ANd the needle touched doth not onely shew the poles for the Mariners use but almost it serves for infinite uses as all men know that it is dayly spoken of every where I shall speak of some of the chief The use of the Loadstone upon the needle is well known in Sun-dials for when the needle stands still over the line that is made from north to south we are so directed by it to know the hours by the shadow falling from the Gnomon Also those that work in Mines use the needle to find the veins of the metals which way they run for in caves under ground in that posture the needle stands that is touched with the Loadstone they know the veins of the metals run on that side of the heavens Also it doth serve very much for those that describe platforms of buildings cities countries whilst the situation of the corners are taken and described upon the paper We use it also in making passages for to bring water under ground in digging pits in making Mines and Trenches wherewith they use with great skill to blow up Forts Castles Rocks and Walls by putting Gunpowder into them and stopping all places of vent the Compass guides them how to go on Lastly how to level the discharging of Canon both by night and day it is of singular vertue and for many other uses too tedicus to relate here CHAP. XXXVIII How the Longitude of the world may be found out by help of the Loadstone I Will not omit that amongst the principal uses of the Loadstone by the help of it the Longitude of the world may be found out Which notable work hath employed the wits of the most knowing men It hath been observed a long time by our men that the needle touched with the Loadstone will not always rest upon the Meridian line but sometimes will decline nine degrees from it to the east nor will it hold the same posture in all places but in divers places it hath divers declinations But this errour seems to follow this order that the neerer it is to the east the more it will decline from the Meridian line toward the east and the neerer it comes to the west the point of the needle will decline the more to the west For finding the Meridian line as Ptolomy and other Geometricians teach how and setting up a point thereon that the steel needle may turn freely upon the top of it in Italy it declines toward the east nine degrees of which there is ninety in a quadrant of a circle as it is observed in Sun-dials that are brought out of Germany and it is so described Moreover many famous travellers report that amongst the Fortunate Islands one is called the Azores where the needle set in the Compass will rest directly upon the Meridian line without any variation at all Also they that sail to the west-Indies observe that the point of the needle will decline to the west Therefore laying down these for true Maxims we may easily know the longitude of the world for if we make a very great Compass about five foot diameter and divide the degrees and minutes into seconds and thirds c. and sailing under the Equator we do observe the chief motions of the Needle and the declinations of it and shall accommodate the same to the proportion of our Voyages we shall easily know the Longitude of the World beginning from the Fortunate Islands Whence both Longitude and Latitude in dark nights and the greatest Tempests may be certainly discovered Wherefore it is false that Cardanus saith That the Needle in the Compass declines from the Meridian Line because it inclines to the Pole Star in the little Bears Tail whereas the Needle declines nine Degrees and the Polar Inclination is not so much CHAP. XXXIX If the Mariners Needle stand still and the Loadstone move or contralily they will move contrary ways IF the Loadstone lie on the Table and you put the North point of the Mariners Needle to the South point of the stone and shall carry it round about by the right hand the Needle will draw to the left but moving the Box to the left hand the Needle will run to the right and it will go so far until it stand in the middle between those two opposite points The same will be seen in a Sun-Dial if that stand and the Loadstone be carried about for if you decline to the right hand the Needle will follow the same part and likewise if you turn to the left Hence it is apparent That the Needle in the Compass is drawn by the North-Pole for those that sail toward the East have it turned toward the East and so contrarily to the West it will move to the same point of the Heaven and if the Loadstone be turned about the Iron will turn about also as a pair of Compasses about the Centre CHAP. XL. The Loadstone imparts a contrary force to the Needle NOw I will speak of the Needle touched with the Loadstone and of the wonderful operations of it The first is That when the Iron is touched by the Northern point of the Loadstone and equally balanced
if you put that part to it from which it received its force it will not endure it but drives it from it and draws to it the contrary and opposite part namely the Southern part the reason whereof I set down before The same falls out if you touch the Needle with the South part of the Loadstone for if you presently put the same to it it will resist it and draw to it the North point Hence the parts that are alike are at enmity and rejected as Adversaries and the parts that are unlike do agree as Friends Whence it is apparent That the Loadstone imparts to the Iron a contrary force from what the end it self is and the Steel receives the force of that point of the Loadstone which it toucheth not And I prove it thus Take two Needles and put them in Boats or hang them by Threeds that being touched with the Loadstone they may move freely they are contrary one to the other and they will joyn in the parts that were touched with contrary ends of the Loadstone and will not endure the ends that are alike CHAP. XLI Two Needles touched by the Loadstone obtain contrary Forces I Will relate a strange thing yet not far from Reason If you touch two Needles with a Loadstone together and set them on the same point of it the other parts that hang on the Loadstone will abhor and flie one from the other and if you force them together with your hands so soon as you let them alone they will presently return to their postures and depart as far as they can from one another The reason is this That if two Needles stick fast to one Northern point of the Loadstone with their points you must imagine that they did receive a Southern vertue and because they are of the same similitude they will not endure one the other and because they are fastened to the Loadstone they cannot get off being compelled by a greater force but the opposite points of the Needle because they are both alike Northerly they must needs abhor one the other and when they are free one will part from the other And when they are so hanging on if you put to them the Southern part of another Loadstone they will presently let go their hold and go as far off as they can that sometimes they are pulled off from the Loadstone being forced by an invisible vapor CHAP. XLII That the force of the Iron that draws will drive off Iron by diversity of Situation THat as I said of the Loadstone alone is true of the Iron that is touched with it for if you put a Needle touched with a Loadstone by a Boat swimming in the Water or hanged by a Threed or turning on a point equally balanced if you put upon this a Needle touched with a Loadstone it will draw it and that part that attracted the Iron above will put underneath drive it away and the part that drives off above will draw to it put underneath where you may observe that the position will work contrary operations CHAP. XLIII The Needle touched by the Loadstone on one part doth not alwayes receive Vertue on both parts IF the Needle be touched at one end by the Loadstone it receives Vertue at that end and at the other end the contrary vertue But that must not be understood absolutely but of that Needle that is of a proportionable length for if it be too long the vertue will not come to the other end But would we know how far the vertue is come we must know how far reached the Circumference of the Vertue as I said Therefore if the Circumference of it be a foot the force will go a foot-long into the Needle If we would try this Touch a long Needle three foot long with a Loadstone at one end if it touch the Iron at the other end the Iron touched will not move from its place but if you touch it a foot or two long namely as far as the Circumference of the Loadstones Vertue will reach and then touch the Needle it will presently move and be drawn by it CHAP. XLIV The Needle touched in the middle by the Loadstone sends forth its Force at both ends IF the Needle be somewhat too long and we rub it with the stone in the middle of it the forces of the stones part are diffused to both ends of it but very obscurely for you shall not know which is the end but if you touch it something farther from the middle the neerer part will receive the forces of the part that touched it be it the Northerly or Southerly part CHAP. XLV An Iron Ring touched by a Loadstone will receive both Vertues BUt if we rub an Iron Ring on the one side with a Loadstone then the part that is touched will receive the vertue of the part of the Loadstone that touched it and the opposite part will receive the contrary and therefore the middle of the Iron Ring will be capable but of half the force of it as if it were straight But if we make a Pin round as a Ring and the part joynted together with a joynt be rubbed with a Loadstone and being rubbed be stretched straight again the ends shall receive the same vertue be it Northern or Southern But by degrees that force will grow feeble and in a short time become Northerly and the other Southerly or will receive more vertue then it first had may be when it was touched farther from the end But if you would that of these a Chain of Iron should hang in the Air so soon as one ring touched on one side with the Loadstone hath received force on the other side by it we may hang a Chain of Rings in the Air as we may of Loadstones so then if the Rings be laid in order upon a Table that they may one touch the other though they do not fasten put the Loadstone to them and not onely the first will be drawn but the next and the third that they will hang like links of Rings and not only will it be so if the Loadstone touch the first that the rest will follow but if the stone be but neer it will do the same without touching them CHAP. XLVI An Iron Plate touched in the middle will diffuse its forces to both ends WHat I said of a long Needle I say also of an Iron Bar for if you touch it in the middle the Beams of it are spread like the Beams of the Sun or light of a Candle from the Centre to the Circumference and extream parts But if we touch an Iron Morter being the force is feeble where it is touched about the superficies some vertue may be be perceived but it is very weak in the extream parts CHAP. XLVII How filings of Iron may receive force IF you wrap up filings of Iron in a paper as Druggists do like a Pyramis and put a Loadstone neer it all the filings together will receive
I will say what I have read of the Loadstone How that if the Diamond be by it it will not draw iron and if it do when it comes neer the Diamond it will let it fall Marbodeus of the Loadstone All Loadstones by their vertue Iron draw But of the Diamond it stands in awe Taking the Iron from 't by Natures Law I tried this often and found it false and that there is no Truth in it But there are many Smatteres and ignorant Fellows that would fain reconcile the ancient Writers and excuse these lyes not seeing what damage they bring to the Common-wealth of Learning For the new Writers building on their ground thinking them true add to them and invent and draw other Experiments from them that are falser then the Principles they insisted on The blinde leads the blinde and both fall into the pit Truth must be searched loved and professed by all men nor must any mens authority old or new hold us from it But to return from whence those Reconcilers idleness drew me I took a piece of a Loadstone to try by it was hardly four Grains in weight I fastned the filings of iron very fast to it then I put the Diamond that was three or four times bigger then them both but that would not make the Loadstone forsake the iron then I took off the filings of iron from the Loadstone and set them at a just distance and it drew the filings to it though the Diamond were by I say this lest they should think I failed in the trial and to have taken a Loadstone of twenty or thirty pound weight and fastened an ounce of iron to it and then to have taken a very small Diamond and put it to them to make trial with CHAP. LIV. Goats blood doth not free the Loadstone from the inchantment of the Diamond I Said That from false Principles are drawn most false Conclusions Also I said That it is related that the juice of Garlick smeered on the Loadstone will take away its attraction of iron and That when the Diamond is by it will not draw iron or will let it fall But because say some Goats blood will break the Diamond if the Loadstone be anoynted with Goats blood it will recover Castianus in Geoponic Graec. The Loadstone draws iron to it and again drives it away from it if it be annointed with Garlick but that the force almost lost may be restored it must be washed in Goats blood Rhennius the Interpreter of Dionysius 'Gainst which nor fire nor steel ever won Goats blood if warm can break the Diamond Nor strokes o' th' Hammer can consume this Stone Which from the Loadstone doth the Iron take That it would still embrace it let alone Diamonds Loadstones vertues empty make Marbodeus of the same A Diamond is mighty hard a Stone That on the Anvil never can be broke Nor steel nor fire hurt it yet 't is known It crumbles in Goats blood if laid to soak Since therefore there is an Antipathy between the Diamond and the Loadstone and there is as great Antipathy between the Diamond and Goats blood as there is sympathy between Goats blood and the Loadstone We are from this Argument proceeded thus far that when the vertue of the Loadstone is grown dull either by the presence of the Diamond or stink of Garlick if it be washed in Goats blood it will then recover its former force and be made more strong but I have tried that all the reports are false For the Diamond is not so hard as men say it is for it will yield to steel and to a moderate fire nor doth it grow soft in Goats blood or Camels blood or Asses blood and our Jewellers count all these Relations false and ridiculous Nor is the vertue of the Loadstone being lost recovered by Goats blood I have said so much to let men see what false Conclusions are drawn from false Principles CHAP. LV. The Iron touched with a Diamond will turn to the North. BUt this is most true that I found out by chance when I made trial whether the Diamond had any forces to weaken the Loadstones vertue as I said for if you rub a steel-Needle on a Diamond and then put it into a Boat or thrust it through a reed or hang it up by a Threed it will presently turn to the North almost as well as if it had been touched with the Loadstone but something more faintly And what is worth noting the contrary part will turn the iron to the South and when I had tried this in many steel-Needles and put them all into the Water I found that they all stood equi-distant pointing to the North. And if they that write That the Loadstone is weakned by the presence of the Diamond had written thus â—â—ey had said more Truth for a Needle rubbed on a Diamond and stuck in a 〈◊〉 â—nd put into the water that it may turn freely being turned with your finger when it stands still it will turn North and point at it exactly CHAP. LVI The forces and remedies of the Loadstone OUr Ancestors invented many things by reason of this admirable attractive operation of the Loadstone and found out many remedies that are worth observing From this drawing quality that it allures iron to it and that they mutually attract the one the other they did attribute unto it an understanding of venerious actions and that they are one in love with the other nor will their mad love abate till they imbrace each one the other and when they turn their backs they hate one the other and drive one the other off and that they contain in them also the Principles of hatred Marbodeus This Stone doth reconcile the man and wife And her recal that from her husband goes If one would know her leads a whorish life Under her head when that she sleeps it shows For she that 's chast will presently imbrace Her husband whilst she sleepeth but a whore Falls out o' th' bed as thrown out with disgrace With stink o' th' Stone which shows this and much more And for this cause our Ancestors to signifie as much did oft-times engrave the picture of Venus upon the Loadstone Hence Claudian writes The Loadstone Venus oft-times represents I remember also that many of the Ancients reported That if a Loadstone were beat into powder and were strewed into burning Coles about the corners of the house that the smoke might flie up those that are in the house will presently run out for fear the house will fall and frighted with these phantasmes would run forsaking all their houses and thus Thieves may steal all their Goods Marbodeus If that a Thief can creep into a House That 's full of wealth and Treasure hath good store Let him on burning Coles before he rowse The people strew the Loadstone dust all ore That so the Smoke may at each corner rise And that will make the people wake and think The house will fall
six hours always fomenting the place with Rain or Cistern-water and that for twenty four hours and it will here and there make little Bladders which being touched will bleed much blood that she can hardly be known from a Maid Midwives that take care of this do it another way They contract the place with the Decoction of the forementioned things then they set a Leech fast on upon the place and so they make a crusty matter or scab which being rub'd will bleed Others when they have straightned the part inject the dried Blood of a Hare or Pigeon which being moistned by the moysture of the Matrix shews like live fresh Blood I found out this noble way I powder Litharge very finely and boyl it in Vinegar till the Vinegar be thick I strain out that and put in more till that be coloured also then I exhale the Vinegar at an easie fire and resolve it into smoak CHAP. XXX Some sports against women THus far I have shewed how to beautifie women now I shall attempt some things against their decking of themselves and make some merriment after those things that I seriously discovered to adorn them To make a painted Face look pale If you would know a painted Face do thus Chew Saffron between you Teeth and stand neer to a woman with your mouth when you talk with her your breath will foul her Face and make it yellowish but if she be not painted the natural colour will continue Or burn Brimstone in the room where she is for if there be Ceruss or Mercury sublimate on her Face the smoak will make her brown or black The painted Women that walk at Puteoli in the Mountains of Phlegra are made so black as Silver-money is shut up in bags We may also know thus Whether she be painted with red Chew Grains of Cummin or a Clove of Garlick and speak close by her if it be natural it will remain but counterfeit with Ceruss or Quick-silver it presently decays To make a woman full of red pimples Of a Stellio is made an ill Medicament for when he is dead in Wine all the Faces of those that drink of it will be red-spotted Wherefore they that would disfigure Whores kill him in an Oyntment The Remedy is the yelk of an Egg Honey and Glass Pliny To make the Face green Avicenna saith That the Decoction of Chamaeleon put into a bath will make him green-coloured that stays long in that bath and then by degrees he will recover his former colour To make the Hair fall off the Head and Beard Touch any part of mans body with a matter white as milk that the Salamander vomits up out of its mouth and the Hairs will fall off and what is touched is changed into the Leprosie Pliny THE TENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of Distillation THE PROEME NOw I am come to the Arts and I shall begin from Distillation an Invention of later times a wonderful thing to be praised beyond the power of man not that which the vulgar and unskilful men use for they do but corrupt and destroy what is good but that which is done by skilful Artists This admirable Art teacheth how to make Spirits and sublime gross Bodies and how to condense and make Spirits become gross Bodies and to draw forth of Plants Minerals Stones and Jewels the Strength of them that are involved and overwhelmed with great bulk lying hid as it were in their Chests and to make them more pure and thin and more noble as not being content with their common condition and to lift them up as high as Heaven We can by Chymical Instruments search out the Vertues of Plants and better then the Ancients could do by tasting them What therefore could be thought on that is greater It is Natures part to produce things and give them faculties but Art may ennoble them when they are produced and give them many several qualities Let one that loves Learning and to search Natures Secrets enter upon this for a dull Fellow will never attain to this Art of Distilling First we shall extract Waters and Oyls then the Essences Tinctures Elixirs Salts and such-like then we shall shew how to resolve mix'd Bodies into the Elements and make them all more pure to separate their divers and contrary qualities and draw them forth that we may use them at pleasure and other things that will never repent us to know and do CHAP. I. What Distillation is and of how many sorts WHether the Art of Distillation were known to the Learned Ancients or no I will not undertake to dispute yet there is another kinde of Art to be read in Dioscorides then what we use He saith thus There is an Oyl extracted out of Pitch by separating the watry part which swimmeth on the top like Whey in Milk and hanging clean flocks of Wool in the vapor arising from it while the Pitch boyls and when they are moyst squeezing them into some Vessel This must be done as long as it boyleth Geber defineth it thus Distillation is the Elevation of moist vapors in a proper Vessel but we will declare the true definition of it elsewhere He maketh three sorts of it by Ascent by Descent and by Filtration But I cannot but confess that Filtration is not properly a species of Distillation But I say by Ascent by Descent and by Inclination which is a middle between both and is very necessary for when a thing is unwilling to ascend we teach it by this to rise by degrees by inclining the Vessel and raise it by little and little until it become thinner and know how to ascend The Instructions for Distillation shall be these First Provide a Glass or Brazen Vessel with a Belly swelling out like a Cupping-Glass and sharpened upward like a Top or a Pear fit it to the under-Vessel like a Cap so that the neck of that lower Vessel may come into the belly of the upper A Pipe must run about the Bottom of the Cap which must send forth a Beak under which there must stand another Vessel called the Receiver from receiving the distilling water Stop all the vents close with Stawmortar or rags of Linen that the spirituous Aery matter may not pass out The fire being put under this Stillatory the inclosed matter will be dissolved by the heat of the fire into a dewy vapor and ascendeth to the top where meeting with the cold sides of the Head it sticketh there being condensed by the cold swelleth into little bubbles bedeweth the roof and sides then gathereth into moyst pearls runneth down in drops turneth into water and by the Pipe and Nose is conveyed into the Receiver But both the Vessels and the Receiver must be considered according to the Nature of the things to be distilled For if they be of a flatulent vaporous Nature they will require large and low Vessels and a more capacious Receiver for when the Heat shall have raised up the flatulent matter and that finde
untwine themselves again put one of these into the mouth of each Glass to binder the Herbs from falling out when the Glasses are turned downwards Then thurst the necks through the holes of the Form into the Receivers which are placed underneath and admit them into their bellies fasten them together with linen bands that there may be noâ—vent and place the Receivers in dishes of water that the vapor may the sooner be condensed All things being thus provided expose them to most violent heat of Sun-beams they will presently dissolve them into vapors and slide down into the Receivers In the evening after Sun-set remove them and fill them with fresh Herbs The Herb Polygonum or Sparrows-tongue bruised and thus distilled is excellent for the inflammation of the eyes and other diseases Out of S. Johns-wort is drawn a water good against cramps if you wash the part affected with it and others also there are too long to rehearse The manner of Distilling this Figure expresseth CHAP. V. How to draw Oyl by Expression VVE have treated of Waters now we will speak of Oyls and next of Essences These require the industry of a most ingenious Artificer for many the most excellent Essences of things do remain in the Oyl as in the radical moysture so close that without the greatest Art wit cunning and pains they cannot be brought to light so that the whole Art of Distillation dependeth on this The cheifest means is by Expression which though it be different from the Art of Distillation yet because it is very necessary to it it will not be unnecessary to mention here The general way of it is this Take the Seeds out of which you would draw Oyl blanch them and strip them of their upper Coats either by rubbing them with your hands or picking them off with your nails When they are cleansed cast them into a Marble-Morter and beat them with a wodden Pestle then sprinkle them with Wine and change them into a Leaden-Morter set them on the fire and stir them with a wooden-Spoon When they begin to yield forth a little Oyliness take them from the fire and prepare in readiness two plates of Iron of a fingers thickness and a foot-square let them be smooth and plain on one side and heated so that you can scarce lay your finger on them or if you had rather that they may hiss a little when water is cast upon them wrap the Almonds in a linen-cloth being wetted squeeze them between these plates in a press save the Expression and then sprinkle more Wine on the pressed Almonds or Seeds allow them some time to inbibe it then set them on the fire stir them and squeeze them again as before until all their Oyl be drawn out Others put the Seeds when they are bruised and warmed into a bag that will not let the Oyl strain thorow and by twining two sticks about press them very hard and close then they draw the Oyl out of them when they are a little settled To draw Oyl out of Nutmegs Beat the Nutmegs very carefully in a Morter put them into a Skillet and warm them and then press out the Oyl which will presently congeal Wherefore to make it fluide and apter to penetrate distil it five or six times in a Retort and it will be as you desire or else cast some burning Sand into it and mix it and make it into Rolls which being put into the neck of a Retort and a fire kindled will the first time remain liquid To extract Oyl out of Citron-seed we must use the same means Blanch and cleanse them an Oyl of a Gold-colour will flow out they yield a fourth part and it is powerful Antidote against Poyson and Witchcraft and it is the best Menstruum to extract the sent out of Musk Civet and Amber and to make sweet Oyntments of because it not quickly grow rank Oyl of Poppy-Seed is extracted the same way and yields a third part of a Golden-colour and useful in dormitive Medicines Also thus is made Oyl of Coloquintida-Seeds The fairest yield a sixth part of a Golden-colour it killeth Worms and expelleth them from Children being rubbed on the mouth of their Stomach Also Oyl of Nattle-Seed An ounce and a half may be extracted out of a pound and a half of Seeds being picked and blanched it is very good to dye womens Hair of a Gold-colour Oyl of Eggs is made by another Art Take fifty or sixty Eggs boyl them till they be hard then peal them and take out the yelk and set them over warm Coals in a tinned Posnet till all their moysture be consumod still stirring them with a wooden-spattle then encrease the fire but stir them uncessantly lest they burn You will see the Oyl swet out when it is all come forth take away the fire and skim off the Oyl Or when the Oyl beginneth to swet out as I said put the Eggs into a press and squeeze then very hard they will yield more Oyl but not so good CHAP. VI. How to extract Oyl with Water NOw I will declare how to extract Oyl without Expression and first out of Spices Seeds Leaves Sticks or any thing else Oyl being to be drawn out onely by the violence of fire and very unapt to ascend because it is dense considering also That Aromatick Seeds are very subtile and delicate so that if they be used too roughly in the fire they will stink of smoak and burning therefore that they may endure a stronger fire and be secure from burning we must take the assistance of water Those kinde of Seeds as I said are endued with an Airy thin volatile Essence and by the propriety of their Nature elevated on high so that in Distillation they are easily carried upward accompanied with water and being condensed in the Cap of the Stillatory the oyly and the waterish vapours run down together into the Receiver Chuse your Seeds of a full ripeness neither too new not too old but of a mature age beat them and macerate them in four times their weight of water or so that the water may arise the breadth of four fingers above them then put them into a Brass-pot that they may endure the greater fire and kindle your Coals unto a vehement heat that the Water and Oyl may promiscuously ascend and flow down separate the Oyl from the Water as you may easily do As for example How to draw Oyl out of Cinnamon If you first distil Fountain-water twice or thrice you may extract a greater quantity of Oyl with it for being made more subtile and apt to penetrate it pierceth the Cinnamon and draweth the Oyl more forcibly out of its Retirements Therefore take CXXXV pound of Fountain-water distil it in a Glass-Alembick when forty pound is drawn distil that until fifteen flow out then cast away the rest and draw five out of those fiftteen This being done macerate one pound of Cinnamon in five of Water and distil them in a
and set them to macerate ten days in dung being close stopt up then accomodate them to the Furnace and kindle fire an Oyl mixt with water distils out of a most pleasant sent The same may be done with Orange and Lemmon-peal In places where Flowers and Fruits are not to be had they cut off the tops of the Branches and Tindrils and slice them into four-inch-pieces and so distil them Oyl of Roses and Citron-Flowers is drawn after the same sort a most excellent Oyl and of an admirable savour But because the Oyl is very hardly distinguished from the Water pour the Water into a long Glass with a narrow neck and expose it to the Sun being close stopt the Oyl will by little and little ascend to the top which you must gather off with a Feather or pour out by inclining the Glass Sweet Oyl of Berjamin is to be made by putting Benjamin into a Glass-Retort and fitting it to the Furnace then encrease the fire without any fear of combustion and you will obtain a fragrant Oyl to be used in precious Oyntments So Oyl of Storax Calamite and Labdanum and other Gums So also Oyl of Musk Amber and Civet cannot be extracted more comodiously by any Instrument Art or Labour then by the aforesaid for they are of so thin a substance that they can hardly endure any the least heat without contracting a scurvy base stink of burning yet by this Artifice it may be drawn out very safely I see nothing to the contrary but that we may extract Oyl out of Spices also very securely by the same Artifice CHAP. X. How to extract Oyl out of Gums THere is a peculiar Extraction of Oyl out of Gums which although they require the same means almost as the former that is the mixing them with Waterâ— and macerating them for many days then putting them into a Brass pot and by a vehement fire forcing out the Oyl with the Water yet doth it come out but in a small quantity of an excellent odor and free from the stink of the fire as thus they usually deal with Opoponax Gaâ—â—anum Storax and others But they are distilled also another way by Ashes which doth require the diligent attendance of the Work-man and a singular judgement and provident dexterity in him for it is rather an ingenious then painful Operation I will set down an example How to extract Oyl out of Benjamin Macerate the Benjamin in rose-Rose-water or omitting that put it into a Retort set the Retort into a Pot full of Sand so that it may fill up the space between the side of the Pot and bottom of the Retort put the neck of it into a Receiâ—er with a wide belly kindle the fire by little and little and without any haste or violence of heat let the Water distil by and by increase the fire that the Oyl may flow out yet not too intensely for fear of burning but moderately between both the oyly vapors will straight fill all the Receiver then will they be condensed and turn into flakes like Wool and sticking to the sides and middle of the Glass present you with a pleasant spectacle by and by they are turned into little bubbles so into Oyl and fall down to the bottom keep the fire in the same temper until all the Feces are dried then remove it or fear of ustion Oyl of Storax is drawn in the same manner but if the Storax be liquified it will run with a gentle fire it is of a strong and quick odâ—r Calamites requires a more lively fire such as was used in Benjamin and a diligent attendance for too much fire will cause adustion in it Oyl of Ladanum Beat the Ladanum and macerate it fifteen days in Aqua Vitae or Greek-Wine at least ten for the lonâ—er it infuseth the sooner it will run into Oyl draw it with a gentle fire it will distil out by drops after the Water Oyl of Turpentine is extracted easily for it floweth with a gentle fire but beware in the operation that no smoak do evaporate out of it for it presently will take fire and with a magnetick vertue attract the flame and carry it into the Retort where it will hardly be extinguished again which will happen in the extraction of Oyl of Olives and Linseed Oyl If you distil common Oyl it will hardly run yet en reasing the fire it will come out in six hours you must be very careful that the Ashes and Pot do not wax too hot for if the Oyl within take fire it will break the Vessels and flie up that it can hardly be quenched and reach the very cieling so that it is best to operate upon Oyls in arched Rooms From herce Artificers of Fire-works learned to put Oyl in their Compositions because it quickly taketh fire and is hardly extinguished CHAP. XI Several Arts how to draw Oyl out of other things THe Nature of things being diverse do require divers ways of distilling Oyl out of them for some being urged by fire are sublimed and will not dissolve into Liquor others cannot endure the fire but are presently burned From which variety of tempers there must arise also a variety in the manner of Extraction I will set down some examples of these that ingenious Artists may not despair to draw Oyls out of any thing whatever Oyl out of Honey is hard enough to be extracted for it swells up with the least heat and riseth in bubbles so that it will climbe up thorow the neck of the Retort though it be never so long into the Head and fall down into the Receiver before it can be dissolved into Liquor or Oyl There are divers remedies found out to help this Take a Glass with a short wide neck put your Honey into it and stop it in with Flax quite over-laid two fingers thick This will repress the Honey when it swelleth and froaths and make it sink down again Clear Water will drop out at first but when it beginneth to be coloured take away the Receiver and set another in the place so keep the Waters severally Or put Honey into any Vessel so that it may fill it up four large fingers above the bottom and cover it close as the manner is then dig a hole in the ground and set the Vessel in as far as the Honey ariseth then lute it and plaister it about four fingers above the Ground and drie it well kindle your Coals round about it then will the Honey grow hot and by degrees stick to the Pot but because the heat is above it it cannot swell up but very easily distilleth Water and Oyl first yellow next reddish until the Honey be turned into a very Coal There is another way which may be performed by any Woman Pour the Honey into a new Pipkin and cover it dig a hole and bury it abroad about a cubit under Ground there let it putrifie for ten days then take it up and there will swim on the top of the
Honey a Chrystal Liquor which you must strain out and stop the Pipkin again and bury it as before About a week after view it again and strain out the over-flowing water so the third and fourth time until all the Honey be converted into water which you may see by uncovering the Pipkin distil the Water according to Art and it will yield Water and Oyl easily enough Oyl of Camphire Beat Champhire very small and put it into common Aqua Fortis made of Salt-Peter and Coppress distilled and clarified set the Pot in a Bath or Stove for half a day and you will see a cleer bright Oyl swim on the top of the Water incline the Pot gently and pour it off and clarifie it in a Retort so shall you have a beautiful thin and sweet Oyl Oyl of Paper and Rags Rowl up your Paper like a Pyramide as Grocers do when they lap up any thing to lay by or send abroad clip the edges even and taking hold of the top of it with a pair of Pincers set it on fire with a Candle and while it flameth hold it downward over a broad dish half a finger distant from the bottom so that the smoak may hardly flie out and still as the fire consumes the Paper let your hand sink that may always keep the same distance from the Dish When it is quite burnt you will findâ— a yellow Oyl stinking of burning upon the bottom of the dish Gather it up and reserve it it is excellent to drive away freckles and pimples in womens faces being applied Almost in the same manner Oyl of Wheat Lay your Wheat plain upon a Marble-Morter being turned with the bottom upwards and cover it with a plate of Iron almost red hot and press it hard out of the sides there will be expressed an Oyl of a yellow colour and stinking of burning which is good for the same purposes that which is good to refresh decayed Spirits is prepared another way CHAP. XII How to extract Oyl by Descent THe way is common and vulgar to all for it is done by Ustulation but the Oyls are of a most offensive savor and can be used only in outward Medicines for they are not to be taken inwardly Prepare a Pipkin made of tough Clay and able to endure fire well vernished within that there may be no suspicion of running out let the bottom be full of holes set upon another earthen Pipkin whose mouth is large enough to receive the bottom of the upper Pipkin lute them close together Fill the Pipkin with slices of your VVood cover it and lute it Then dig a hole and set the Pipkins into it and fling in the Earth about it and tread it down close and throw Sand over it two inches thick make a gentle fire just over the Pipkin which you must encrease by degrees until the Pipkin have stood there a whole day After this remove the fire and when the heat is spent dig up the Pipkins and you will finde the Oyl strained down into the lower which you must distil again in a Retort to purifie it from filth To add something to the former invention I always do thus I make a Tressel with Legs of two foot in length There must a hole be bored in the Plank of it to receive the neck of the Limbeck Upon the Tressel fasten an Iron-plate to keep the VVod from burning Underneath about the middle of the Feet fasten a Board upon which the Receiver may stand and meet with the neck of the inversed Vessel which being filled with the materials to be stilled kindle a fire about it Therefore if you would extract Oyl out of Lignum Guaiacum fill it with the Dust of Lignum Guaiacum and lute it close with Straw-Mortar twice or thrice double when it is dried in the Sun put into the neck wire Strings and thrust it through the hole of the Tresse into the mouth of the Receiver and mortar them together Then kindle the fire on the Plate about the body of the Limbeck at some distance at first and by degrees nigher and hotter but let it not be red hot until you think it be all burned then remove the fire and let it rest a while until it be cold and you shall finde in the lower Vessel a black stinking burnt Oyl In this manner is Oyl drawn out of Juniper Cypress and Lignum Aloes but in this last you must use more Art and diligence and a gentle fire because it is mixed in Oyntments CHAP. XIII Of the Extraction of Essences VVE have delivered the several kindes of Extraction of Oyls now we are come to Quintessences the Extraction of which we will here declare The Paracelsians define a Quintessence to be the Form or Spirit or Vertue or Life separated from the dross and elementary impurities of the Body I call it the Life because it cannot be extracted out of the Bones Flesh Marrow Blood and other Members for wanting Life they want also the Quintessence I say Separated from elementary impurities because when the Quintessence is extracted there remaineth only a mass of Elements void of all power for the Power Vertue and Medicinable qualities are not the Elements but in their Essences which yet are Elements and contain the vertue of the Elements in them in the highest degree for being separated from the grosness of their bodies they become spiritual and put forth their power more effectually and strongly when they are freed from them then they could while they were clogged with the Elements They are small in bulk but great in operation The strength of Quintessences is not to be judged by the degrees of their qualities but of their operation for those which soonest and clearliest root out a disease are reckoned in the first degree So the essence of Juniper is reckoned the first degree of operation because it cureth the Leprosie by purging the Blood onely The essence of Ambar in the second because it expelleth poyson by purging the Heart Lungs and Members Antimony in the third because beside the former vertues it also purgeth the Body But Gold of it self alone hath all those vertues and reneweth the Body Wherefore the fourth degree and greatest power is attributed to it Bet how to extract these Essences is a very difficult work for they may be either Oyl or Salt or Water or of Extraction some by Sublimation others by Calcination others by Vinegar Wine Corrosive Waters and such like So that several kinde of menstruums are to be provided according to the nature and temper of things I will set down some Rules for the chusing of proper menstruums Let the menstrum be made of those things which are most agreeable to the things to be extracted and as simple as may but for Essences ought not to be compounded mixed or polluted with any thing be pure simple and immaculate But if there be a necessity of adding some thing let them be separated after extraction If the Essence
of any Metal be to be extracted by Corrosives separate the Salt from the Waters after the work is done and use those Salts only which will easily be taken out again Vitriol and Allom are very difficult to be separated by reason of their earthy substance Moreover use not a watry menstruum for a watry Essence nor an oyly menstruum for an oyly Essence because being of like natures they are not easily separated but watry Menstruums for oyly Essences and so on the contrary I will set before you some examples in Herb fat of Flesh and other things by which you may learn of your self how to perform it in the rest There are an infinite number of Essences and almost many ways of Extraction of them some I shall shew unto you whereof the first shall be How to extract the Essence out of Civet Musk Ambar and other Spices Take Oyl of Ben or of Almonds mix Musk Ambar Cinnamon and Zedoary well beaten in it put it in a Glass-bottle and set it in the Sun or in Balneo ten dayes then strain from it the Dregs and the Essence will be imbibed into the Oyl from which you may separate it in this manner Take Aqua Vitae and if it be an odoriferous Body Fountain-water three or four times distilled mix with the aforesaid Oyl and stir it about and so let it digest for six dayes then distil it over Cinders the hot Water and the Essence will ascend and the Oyl remain in the bottom without any sent Afterwards distil the Aqua Vitae and the Essence in Balneo until the VVater be evaporated and the Essence settle to the bottom in the form of an Oyl If you will do it with Aqua Vitae alone slice the Roots of Zedoary beat them and infuse them in so much Aqua Vitae as will cover them three fingers over in a Glass Bottle let them ferment for ten dayes according to Art then distil them over Cinders or in Sand until nothing but VVater run out yet have a care of burning it Take the distilled Liquor set it in Balneo and with a gentle fire let the Aqua Vitae evaporate and the Quintessence of Zedoaay will settle in the bottom in a liquid form Next To extract Essence out of Flesh. Out of three Capons I have oftentimes extracted an Essence in a small quantity but of great strength and nutriment wherewith I have recovered life and strength to sick persons whose Stomacks were quite decayed and they almost dead for want of nourishment having not been able to eat any things in three dayes Take Chickens or Hens or Capons pluck them and draw their Guts out beat them very well and let them boyl a whole day in a Glass-Vessel close stopt over warm Embers until the bones and flesh and all the substance be dissolved into Liquor then strain it into another Vessel through a Linen-cloth and fling away the Dregs for the remaining Bones are so herest of Flesh sent or any other quality that a Dog will not so much as smell to them which is an assured Argument that their goodness is boyled out Pour the strained Liquor into a Glass-bottle and dissolve it into vapor in a gentle Bath the Essence will remain in the bottom either hard or soft like an Oyntment as you please of a most admirable vertue and never sufficiently to be commended To extract Essences out of Salts Take Salt and calcine it according to Art if it be volatile burn it and grinde it very small lay the Powder upon a Marble in a moyst Cellar and set a Pan under it to receive it as it dissolveth let it ferment in that pan for a month then set it in Balneo and with a gentle fire let it distil cast away the sweet Water that comes from it and set that which remains in the bottom to ferment another month then distil out the sweet Water as before and do this while any sweet VVater will run from it keep it over the fire until the moysture be all consumed and then what remains settled in the bottom is the Quintessence of Salt which will scarcely arise to two ounces out of a pound To extract Essences out of Herbs Beat the Herbs and set them to ferment in dung for a month in a convenient Glass-Bottle then distil them in Balneo Again set them in dung for a week and distil them in Balneo again and thus macerate them so long as they will yield any Liquor then pour the distilled Water upon the Herbs again and distil them in this Circulation for six dayes which will make it of a more lively colour draw of the VVater by Balneum and the Essence must then be expressed out in a press ferment it in dung for five days and it will yield you the sent colour and vertues of the Herbs in perfection A way to extract The Essence of Aqua Vitae It is a thing bragged of by thousands but not effected by any I will not omit the description of it which I have found out together with a Friend of mine very knowing in Experiments by the assistance of Lulius Provide some rich generous old VVine bury it in dung for two months in large Bottles close stopt and luted that they may not have the least vent The whole business dependeth on this for if this be not carefully look to you will lose both your cost and your labour the month being past distil it in an ordinary Stillatory reserve the Spirits by themselves The Dregs and Faeces of the Wine must be buried again and the Spirits be distilled out as before and reserved by themselves Distil the Faeces until they settle like Honey or Pitch then pour on the phlegm upon them wash them and lay them to dry then put them into a Porters or Glass-makers Furnace and with a vehement fire burn them into white Ashes wet them with a little VVater and set them in the mouth of the Furnace that they may be converted into Salt There is no better mark to know the perfection of your work then by casting some of it on a red hot Plate of Iron if it melt and evaporate it is well done otherwise you must rectifie it Mix the Salt with water and put it into a Glass bottle with a long neck stop it with Cork and Parchment then set on the Head and kindle the fire the force of which will carry it up thorow all the stoppage into the Head and there it sticks to the sides like durt the VVater will remain quiet in the bottom in which you must again mingle the Salt and so by a continual Circulation draw it out of it self until it be divested of all its Grosness and obtain a more thin and subtile Essence CHAP. XIV What Magisteries are and the Extraction of them I Said That Quintessences do participate of the Nature of mixt Bodies on the contrary a Magistery taketh the temper of the Elements so that it neither extracteth the
Spirits nor the Tincture but a certain mean between both A Magistery therefore is what can be extracted out of things without separation of the Elements Essences do oftentimes keep the colour of the Bodies out of which they are extracted Tinctures always do it Magisteries never The means of extracting Magisteries is various according to the diversity of Natures in things I will set down for an example and pattern How to extract a Magistery of Gems Coral and Pearl Beat the Gems and set them in igne reverberationis till they be calcined mix them with an equal quantity of Salt-Peter and dissolve them in Aqua Vitae pour out that which is liquified and let the remainder of the Powder be calcined better then lay it in Aqua Vitae again and do this till it be all dissolved Set this water in a hot Furnace until the moysture be all evaporated and what shall remain in the bottom is the Magistery of Gems Pearls must be dissolved in Vinegar and if possible in juice of Lemmons You may augment the strength of the Vinegar by those things which as I shewed you in Aqua Vitae do quicken the Vertue of it that is it s own Salt being dissolved and macerated in Balneo or in Fimo for a month then distil the Menstruum and in the bottom will remain the Magistery of Pearls Of Charabes I will deliver to you the way that I use for the Paracelsians do either conceal it or not know it Beat your Gum very small and dissolve it in Aqua Vitae when it is liquified pour that out and put in fresh let them macerate for a month and when all is dissolved mix the waters all together and let it evaporate over a fire so in the bottom will remain the Magistery of Charabe It will take away scars in the Face and cure the Vertigo The Magistery of Guaiacum is an excellent Remedy against the Pox and is thus extracted Take the shavings of Lignum Guaiacum or the dust of it which Turners work off for the File by continual Frication heats it and exhausteth the best Spirits Lay it in clarified Aqua Vitae a whole day when the water hath contracted a red colour which will be when it hath sucked out the oyliness and substance of it strain it out and pour in fresh Then stir it about until the water become coloured again strain that out also and put in as much more until the water do not alter its colour any more Then strain it in a press and distil the juice through Linen-cloth and then boyl it till the moysture be consumed the Oyl or Gum or Magistery will remain of a bright colour and most sweet sent which you would think impossible to reside in such Wood. You may extract the same in a shorter time but it will not be of the same value for if you lay the dust of Guaiacum in distilled Fountain-water boyl it for half a day strain it distil it thorow a cloth and let the moisture evaporate over a fire the same Gum will settle in the bottom You must chuse the most Gummy Wood which being held neer a Candle will sweat out a kinde of Oyl The Magistery of Lignum Aloes Take the shavings of the Wood worked off as the former with a Turners wheel lay it in Aqua Vitae till it colour it then strain it out and let the moysture evaporate over a fire and in the bottom of the Glass you will finde a most odoriâ—erous Oyl excellent to be used in sweet Oyntments The Magistery of Wine commonly called the Spirit of Wine I will first set down the Paracelsian way of extracting it and afterwards my own because we cannot use that in our Countries Pour some strong generous good Wine into a Glass-Bottle so that it may fill two parts of it stop the mouth of it very exactly either with Hermitis Sigillum or a strong Glue which I shall hereafter describe unto you and so set it in Fimo three or four months with an unintermâ—tted fire In the Winter set it out in the Frost for a month and let it freeze the Spirit or Magistery will retire into the Centre because its fiery Essence maketh it uncapable of conglaciation Break the Vessel cast away the congealed part and reserve the liquid which being circulated in a Pelican for a month will yield you what you seek for My way is to put the aforesaid Wine into a round Glass-Vessel let it ferment in Fimo conglaciate it as I shall shew you and then breaking the Vessel to reserve the unfrozen liquor in which you will finde a great deal of vertue but if you desire to have it better you may perfect it by Circulation CHAP. XV. How to extract Tinctures A Tincture is the purest and most active part of a coloured body extracted the noblest Essence in a Compound It is extracted out of Gems Flowers Roots Seed and such-like It differeth from a Quint essence in this that it especially draweth the colour of the Body from whence it is extracted and requireth Arâ— and Cunning and diligent Attendance more then labour It is separated by Distillation clear from any oyliness or matter free from the commiâ—â—ion of other Elements or any impure substance it imitateth the clearness and perspicuity of the Air and in that brightness represents the colour of the Gem or Flower from whence it was drawn of so pure a substance that in many yeers it will not have any dregs in it but will continue in a perpetual cleerness subtilty and strength After the exâ—ractiâ—n the matter remaineth discoloured and useless for any thing I will present some examples to you how to extract the Tincture out of Metals and Flowers c. How to draw out the Tincture of Gold If the Vertues of this never-sufficiently-praised Metal were known as well for the health of the Body as the conveniency of mens living it would be adored with a greater devotion then it is already The Apes of wise Nature cunning Inquirers in Experiments perceiving a certain Glory and Brightness in Gold and an attractive or magnetick Vertue if I may so say which at first sight draws every mans eye to look upon its Majesty and Beauty and tempts our hands to touch and handle it and even our mindes to desire it so that even Infants do rejoyce and laugh at the sight of it and reach their arms out after it and catch it and will by no means part from it presently conjectured that there was some extraordinary Vertue in it for the health of man Astrologers seeing it contend with the Sun in Beams Brightness and Glory and to have a Praerogative of Majesty among Metals like the Sun among the Stars do therefore set it down for a Cordial and a Destroyer of Melancholy and all the ill Companions of it Refiners say That the Elements are so proportionably mixt in the Composition of it so pure and compacted that they account it a most exactly
tempered body and free from corruption in which there is nothing deficient nor superfluous so compact and close that it will not onely endure the fire without consumption but will become more bright and refined by it It will also lie under Ground thousands of yeers without contracting any rust neither will it foul the hands like other Metals or hath any ill sent or raste in it Wherefore say they being taken into our Bodies it must needs reduce the Elements and humors into a right temper allay the excessive and supply the defective take away all putrefaction refresh the natural heat purge the blood and encrease it and not onely cure all sicknesses but make us healthy long-lived and almost immortal Rainoldus Raimundus and other Physitians of the best esteem do attriâ—ute to Gold a power to corroborate and strengthen the Heart to dry up superfluities and ill humors to exhilarate and enliven the Spirits with its Splendor and Beauty to strengthen them with its Solidiry temper them with its Equality and preserve them from all diseases and expel Excrements by its Weight by which it confirmeth Youth resâ—oreth Strength retardeth old Age corroborateth the principal Parts openeth the Urinary Vessels and all other passages being stopt cureth the Falling-sickness Madness and Leprosie for which cause Osiander the Divine wore a Chain of Gold about his neck and also Melancholy and is most excellent against Poyson and Infections of the Plague We will now examine whether the old or new Physitians knew the way to prepare it aright to perform these admirable Effects Nicander doth mightily cry up for an Antidote against Poyson Fountain-water in which Gold hath been quenched supposing that it imparteth some of its Vertue to the Water in the extinction Dioscorides Paulus Aegineta and Aëtius affirm the same Avicenna saith That the filings of it helpeth Melancholy and is used also in Medicines for the shedding of the Hair in liquid Medicines or reduced into very fine Powder it is used in Collyriums or Medicines for the Eyes for the pain and trembling of the Heart and other passions of the Minde Pliny useth it burnt in an earthen Pipkin with a treble quantity of Salt whereby it will communicate its Vertue but remain entire and untouched it self He also makes a Decoction of it with Honey Marsilius Ficinus saith It is of a solid substance and therefore must be attenuated that it may penetrate the Body But he is ignorant of the way of it onely he adviseth to give it in Cordial-waters being beaten out into thin Leaves for so the Water will suck out the Vertue of it or else by extinguishing it in Wine There are some of Pliny's Scholars who would have the parts of a Hen laid in melted Gold until it consume it self for the parts of a Hen are Poyson to Gold Wherefore Ficinus mixeth Leaf-Gold in Capon-broath Thus far the Grecians Latines and Arabians have discoursed concerning the Extraction of the Tincture of Gold but they have erred far from the Truth for what a vanity is it to imagine that quenching it in Water can extract the Vertue of it or that the heat of Man's Body though it be liquified and be made potable can draw any thing from it when the force of the most vehement fire is ineffectual and cannot work upon it I have made trial of it in a most violent fire for the space of three months and at last I found it nothing abared in weight but much meliorated in colour and goodness so that the fire which consumeth other things doth make this more perfect How then can it be concocted by the heat of Man's Body which is scarce able to concoct Bread And how can it impart its Vertue by Extinction when neither Aqua Vitae nor any strong Waters can alter the colour or taste of it I will set down what I have seen The later learned Men and curious Inquirers into Nature affirm That the Magistery Secret and Quintessence of Gold consisteth in the Tincture so that the Vertue Power Life and Efficacy of it resideth in the Colour Wherefore it will be no small Secret to know how to extract the Tincture no small labor and pains for those who pretend to speak of it do it so intricately and obscurely that they rather seem to obscure it or not to understand it then to discover or teach it Know therefore that the Tincture cannot be extracted but by perfectly dissolving it in Strong Waters and that it cannot be dissolved as the work requireth in common Aqua Fortis or Royal Waters because the corrosive Salts in them are not perfectly and absolutely dissolved into Water Wherefore you must learn by continual solution and immistion so to distil them that the whole substance of the Salt may be melted which must be done by reiterating the Operation I have informed you what Salts are easie to be separated the which must onely be used in this Work After perfect solution cast in that Menstruum or Water which I have often mentioned for the Extraction of Essences or Colors I have with great joy beheld it attract to it self the Golden Yellow or Red-colour and a white dust settle down to the bottom We must then separate the Salt from the Menstruum dissolve it and let the liquor evaporate away and there will remain true potable Gold the right Tincture and that great Arcanum of Philosophers disguised with so many Riddles so thin that it will easily penetrate the Body and perform those wonders which Antiquity could only promise Tincture of Roses Cut Red Rose-Leaves with a pair of Shears into small pieces lay them in Aqua Vitae and they will presently dye it with a sanguine color After three hours change those Leaves and put in fresh ones until the water become very much coloured then strain it out and let the Liquor evaporate quite away and in the bottom will remain the Tincture of Roses The same may be done with Clove-Gilliflowers We may also do it another more perfect way without Aqua Vitae Fill a wide-mouthed Glass with Red-Rose Leaves set iâ— into a Leaden-Limbeck and fill it with other Roses then set on the Head and kindle the fire whereupon the vapours will arise and fall into the Glass of a sanguine-colour This is a new way of extracting Tinctures which may be used in any coloured Flowers So the Tinctures of Marigolds Violets Bugloss and Succory-Flowers If you extract them the former way the Tincture of Marygolds will be yellow of Bugloss Violets and Succory-Flowers Red because the colours of those Flowers is but thin and superficiary so that it expireth with a little heat and is red underneath Tincture of Orange-Flowers of an excellent sent Cut the Orange-Flowers into small pieces macerate them in Aqua Vitae and when the Water is turned yellow and Flowers have lost their sent change them and put in fresh until the Water become very sweet and well-coloured and somewhat thick then strain it and
VVater will ascend which is proper onely to Tin for in no other Metal the Air remaineth last but in Tin the VVater is first elevated next the Fire last of all the Earth Of Iron is made a dark ruddish Oyl Of Quick-silver a white Oyl the Fire settleth to the bottom the Earth and Water are elevated and so of the rest How to separate the Elements in Herbs In Herbs there is alwayes one Element which reigneth in chief Take the Leaves of Sage bruise them macerate them in Fimo and then distil them the Fire will first ascend until the colours be changed next the VVater then a part of the Earth the other part will remain in the bottom not being volatile but fixed Set the VVater in the Sun six dayes then put it in Balneo the VVater will ascend first then the colour will alter and the Fire ascendeth next till the taste be changed at length a part of the Earth the rest being mix'd with the Air tarrieth behinde in the Bottom In VVater-Plants the Air ariseth first next the VVater and Fire How to finde out the Vertues of Plants There are no surer Searchers out of the Vertues of the Plants then our Hands and Eyes the Taste is more fallible for if in Distillation the hottest parts evaporate first we may conclude that it consisteth of hot and thin parts and so of the rest You may easily know by the separation of the Elements whether a Plant have more of â—ire or VVater or Earth by weighing the Plant first then afterward when the VVater and Oyl are extracted weighing the Foeces and by their proportion you may judge of the degrees of each Element in the Composition of it and from thence of their Qualities But the narrow limits of this Book will not give me leave to expatiate farther on this Subject Wherefore I will leave the Discourse of it to a particular Treatise which I intend to set out at large on this matter How to extract Gum out of Plants There are some Plants out of which we may extract Gum some Plants I say because many have none in them and nothing can give more then it hath Fennel and all other kindes of it Opoponax and such-like Herbs are full of it Nature is the best Director in extracting them for when the Sun shines very hot and the Stalks of these Plants are swelled with sap by reason of the continual encrease of their juice they open themselves in little clefts like a Woman when her labour approacheth and thence doth the Plant bring forth as it were in travel that Noble Liquor which partly by the heat of the Sun partly by a natural Inclination grows clammy and is condensed into a hard Body Hence we may learn How to extract Gum out of Opoponax In the Summer Solstice gather the Roots in the night-time that the heat of the Sun may not exhaust the moysture slice it long wayes and put it into a well vernished earthen Pipkin then set it upside down in a descending Furnace with a Receiver underneath to catch the falling-Liquor make a Fire about the upper part of the Vessel which will drive down a Noble Gum which must be purged in other Vessels and may be meliorated by Diâ—â—illation The same may be effected on Sagapene wâ—ose Roots must be gathered at the same time and sliced and being put into a Vessel with a gentle fire will drop out a glutinous Liquor into the Receiver which being clarified will harden like Gum and is kept for Medicinal uses How to extract Gum out of Fennel Gather the stalks of Fennel when it is in its vigor and the Flowers begin to blow about the full of the Moon for then they are more succulent slice them into pieces of a hand-long and put them into a Glass-Tub of a hand in wideress and a handful and a half in length fill it full and set the bottom of it being full of little holes into a Tunnel fit to receive it and the lower part of the Tunnel into a Receiver Then make a gentle fire about the Tub at a handful distance which may beat upon the stalkes on every side with its heat like the Sun-beams The Tub thus growing hot will exclude some drops which flying from the violence of the heat slide down thorow the hoâ—es of the bottom into the Tunnel and from thence into the Receiver where they will condense into Gum participating of the Nature of Fennel of no contemptible vertues THE ELEVENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of Perfuming THE PROEME AFter Distillation we proceed to Unguents and sweet smells it is an Art next of kin to the other for it provides odors of the same things compounds and mingles Unguents that they may send forth pleasant sents every way very far This Art is Noble and much set by by Kings and great Men. For it teacheth to make Waters Oyls Powders March-panes Fumes and to make sweet Skins that shall hold their sent a long time and may be bought for little money not the common and ordinary way but such as are rare and known to very few CHAP. I. Of perfuming Waters I Have in the former Book shewed how sweet Waters may be distilled out of Flowers and other things as the place dedicated to Distillation did require here now I will teach how to compound sweet Waters and Flowers that may cast forth odoriferous sents as first To make a most sweet perfumed Water Take three pound of Damask-Roses as much of Musk and Red-Roses two of the Flowers of Orange as many of Myrtle half a pound of Garden-Claver an ounce and a half of Cloves three Nutmegs ten Lillies put all these in an Alimbeck in the nose of which you must fasten of Musk three parts of Amber one of Civet half a one tied up together in a clout and put the Nose into the Receiver and tie them close with a cloth dip'd in Bran and the white of an Egg mixed set a gentle fire under it until it be all distilled Another Take two pound of rose-Rose-water of Lavender half one of Certan-Wine thirteen drachms of the Flowers of Gilliflowers Roses Rosemary Jasmine the Leaves of Marjoram wilde Betony Savory Fennel and Basil gentle half a pound an ounce of Lemmon-peel a drachm of Cinnamon Benjamin Storax and Nutmegs mix them and put them in a Glass and set them out in the Sun for four dayes then distil them with a gentle fire and unless you put Musk in the Nose of the Alimbeck tie it up in a rag hang it by a thread in the Water whilst it standeth sunning for a month Set it in the Sun to take away the scurvy savor of the distilling if by chance it conceive any Aqua Nanfa Take four pound of Rose-water two of Orange-Flowers one of Myrtle three ounces of sweet Trifoil one of Lavender add to these two ounces of Benjamin one of Storax the quantity of a Bean of Labdanum as much Mace and Cloves a drachm of Cinnamon
remaining Powders make a mass which you may form into cakes which being burnt on hot Ashes smell very sweetly I take out the Cinnamon and the Woods because in burning they cast forth a stink of smoak Another way Take one pound and a half of the Coals of Willow ground into dust and seirced four ounces of Labdanum three drachms of Storax two of Benjamin one of Lignum Aloes mix the Storax Benjamin and Labdanum in a Brass Morter with an Iron Pestle heated and put to them the Coal and Lignum Aloes powdered Add to these half an ounce of liquid Storax then dissolve Gum Tragacantha in Rose-water and drop it by degrees into the Morter When the powders are mixed into the form of an Unguent you may make it up into the shape of Birds or any other things and dry them in the shade You may wash them over with a little Musk and Amber upon a Pencil and when you burn them you will receive a most sweet fume from them Another Perfume Anoynt the Pill of Citron or Lemmon with a little Civet stick it with Cloves and Races of Cinnamon boyl it in rose-Rose-water and it will fill your chamber with an odorifeous fume CHAP. IX How to adulterate Musk. THese Perfumes are often counterfeited by Impostors wherefore I will declare how you may discern and beware of these Cheats for you must not trust whole Musk-Cods of it there being cunning Impostors who fill them with other things and onely mix Musk enough to give its sent to them Black Musk inclining to a dark red is counterfeited with Goats blood a little rosted or toasted bread so that three or four parts of them beaten with one of Musk will hardly be discovered The Imposture may be discerned onely thus The Bread is easie to be crumb'd and the Goats blood looketh clear and bright within when it is broken It is counterfeited by others in this manner Beat Nutmegs Mace Cinnamon Cloves Spikenard of each one handful and seirce them carefully then mix them with the warm blood of Pigeons and dry them in the Sun Afterward beat them again and wet them with Musk-water and Rose-water dry them beat them and moysten them very many times at length add a fourth part of pure Musk and mix them well and wet them again with Rose-water and Musk-water divide the Mass into several parts and rowl them in the hair of a Goat which groweth under his Tail Others do it Another way and mingle Storax Labdanum and Powder of Lignum Aloes add to the Composition Musk and Civet and mingle all together with Rose-water The Imposture is discovered by the easie dissolving of it in water and it differeth in colour and sent Others augment Musk by adding Roots of Angelica which doth in some sort imitate the sent of Musk. So also they endeavour To adulterate Civet with the Gall of an Ox and Storax liquified and washed or Cretan Honey But if your Musk or Amber have lost their sent thus you must do To make Musk recover its sent hang it in a Jakes and among stinks for by striving against those ill savours it exciteth its own vertue reviveth and recovereth its lost sent THE TWELFTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of Artificial Fires THE PROEME BEfore I leave off to write of Fire I shall treat of that dangerous Fire that works wonderful things which the vulgar call Artificial Fire which the Commanders of Armies and Generals use lamentably in divers Artifices and monstrous Designs to break open Walls and Cities and totally to subvert them and in Sea-fights to the infinite ruine of mâ—rtal men and whereby they oft-times frustrate the malicious enterprizes of their Enemies The matter is very useful and wonderful and there is nothing in the world that more frights and terrifies the mindes of men God is coming to judge the world by Fire I shall describe the mighty hot Fires of our Ancestors which they used to besiege places with and I shall add those that are of later Invention that far exceed them and lastly I shall speak of those of our days You have here the Compositions of terrible Gun-powder that makes a noise and then of that which makes no noise of Pipes that vomit forth deadly Fires and of Fires that cannot be quenched and that will rage under Water at the very bottom of it Whereby the Seas rend asunder as if they were undermined by the great violence of the flames striving against them and are lifted up into the Air that Ships are drawn by the monstrous Gulphs Of Fireâ—Balls that flie with glittering Fire and terrifie Troops of Horse-men and overthrow them So that we are come almost to eternal Fires CHAP. I. How divers ways to procure Fire may be prepared VItruvius saith That it fell out by accident that sundry Trees frequently moved with Windes and Tempests the Bows of them rubbing one against another and the parts smiting each other and so being ratified caused heat and took fire and flamed exceedingly Wilde people that saw this ran away When the Fire was out and they durst come neerer and found it to be a great commodity for the Body of man they preserved the Fire and so they perceived that it afforded causes of civility of conversing and talking together Pliny saith It was found out by Souldiers and Shepherds In the Camp those that keep watch found this out for necessity and so did Shepherds because there is not always a Flint ready Theophrastus teacheth what kindes of Wood are good for this purpose and though the Anger and the handle are sometimes both made of one sort of Wood yet it is so that one part acts and the other suffers so that he thinks the one part should be of hard Wood and the other of soft Example Wood that by rubbing together will take Fire They are such as are very hot as the Bay-Tree the Buck-thorn the Holm the Piel-Tree But Mâ—estor adds the Mulberry-Tree and men conjecture so because they will presently blunt the Ax. Oâ— all these they make the Auger that by rubbing they may resist the more and do the business more firmly but the handle to receive them is to be made of soft Wood as the Ivy the wilde Vine and the like being dried and all moisture taken from them The Olive is not fit because it is full of fat matter and too much moysture But those are worst of all to make Fires that grow in shady places Pliny from him One Wood is rub'd against another and by rubbing takes Fire some dry fuel as Mushroomes or Leaves easily receiving the Fire from them But there is nothing better then the Ivy that may be rubbed with the Bay-Tree or this with that Also the wilde Vine is good which is another kinde of wilde Vine and runs upon Trees as the Ivy doth But I do it more conveniently thus Rub one Bay-Tree against another and rub lustily for it will presently smoak adding a little Brimstone put your fuel
neerer or dry matter made of dry Toad-stools or Leaves that are very fine found about the Roots of Colts-foot for they will soon take fire and retain it I have done the same with Ivy-wood cleansed from the Bark and dried and by rubbing one Reed against another or which is better drawing a cord swiftly upon it The West-Indians binde two dry sticks together and they put a stick between them which they turn about with their hands moved from them and so they kindle fire But since the minde of Man seldom rests in the thing once invented but seeks for new Inventions by mans industry there is found out A stone that will raise Fire with any moysture The way to make it is thus Take quick Brimstone Salt-Peter refined of each a like weight Camphire the double weight to quick Lime and beat them all in a Morter till they be so fine that they will flie into the Air binde them all fast together wrapt in a Linen-clout and put them into an earthen pot let it be well stopt lute it well with clay and straw and let it dry in the Sun then put them into a Potters Oven and when the earthen Vessel is perfectly baked they will grow together and be hard as a Stone take them out and lay them up in a dry place for use I went to try this in haste and my experience failed me I know certainly that some of my Friends have done it but the pot must not have any vent for it will all burn away Yet I have seen water cast upon quick Lime and by putting Brimstone to it it took Fire and fired Gun-powder This I can maintain CHAP. II. Of the Compositions for Fire that our Ancestors used BEfore I come to our Compositions for Fire-works I shall set down those that our fore-Fathers used in Sea-fights and in taking or defending of Cities Thucidides saith That those that besieged Plataenenses when Engines would do no good they fell to Fire-works for casting about the Walls bundles of stuff and throwing in Fire Brimstone and Pitch they burnt the wall whence arose such a flame that until that time no man ever saw the like Heron teacheth That in burning of Walls after you have made a hole thorow you must put wood of the Pine-Tree under and anoynt them with dry pitch and powdered Brimstone together with Tar or Oyl and set this on fire And elsewhere he teacheth to burn with a pot Take an earthen Pitcher and binde it about with plates of Iron on the outside and let it be full of small coal let there be a hole about the bottom to put in the Bellows for when the coals take fire by sprinkling on of vinegar piss or any other sharp matter the Walls are broken Vegetius teacheth what combustible matter must be used and he useth burning Oyl Hards Brimstone Bitumen Burning Arrows are shot in Cross-bows into the Enemies Ships and these being smeered over with Wax Pitch and Rosin they quickly fire the Decks with so many things that afford fuell to the Fire I shall add The Fire-Darts the Ancients used Aâ—â—ianus Marcellinus described Fire-Darts a kinde of Weapon made after such a fashion It is an Arrow of Cane joyned with many Irons between the Shaft and the Head and they are made hollow after the fashion of a womans Distaff wherewith Linen-threed is spun in the midst of it it hath many small holes and in the very hollow of it is put fire with some combustible matter and so is it easily shot forth of a weak Bow for a Bow that is strong puts out the Fire and there is no means to put it out but by casting on Dust or Lees of Oyl Livy Some came with burning Torches others carrying Tow Pitch and Fire-Darts and the whole Army shined as if it were all in flames but in the concave part of this Dart there was Glue and Fuel for Fire not to be extinguished of Colophonia Brimstone Salt-Peter all mingled with Oyl of Bays Others say with Oyl of Peter Ducks-grease the Pith of the Reed of Ferula Brimstone and as others think with Oyl Tallow Colophonia Camphire Rosin Tow. The old Warriors called this an incendiary composition Lucan speaks of burning of Ships This plague to water is not consonant For burning Torches Oyl and Brimstone joyn'd Are cast abroad and fuel was not scant The Ships do burn with Pitch or Wax combin'd And elsewhere He bids them shoot their Shafts into the Sails Besmeer'd with Pitch and so he soon prevails The Fire straight doth burn what 's made of Flax And so their Decks were fir'd by melting Wax And tops of Masts were burâ—â— and Sea-mens packs But in compositions for Arrows and Darts that they might burn the more vehemently they put melted Vernish Printers Oyl Petroleum Turpentine made up with the sharpest Vinegar pressed close and dried at the Sun and wrap'd over with Tow and with sharp Irons to defend it wrought together like to a bottom of yarn all which at last only passing over one hole are smeered over with Colophonia and Brimstone after the manner that follows But by the subtilty of the Greeks there was invented A Fire called the Greek Fire To overcome the Ship presently they boyl'd Willow-coals Salt Spirit of VVine Brimstone Pitch with the yarn of the soft VVooll of Ethiopia and Camphire which it is wonderful to speak will burn alone in the water consuming all matter Callimachus the Architect flying from Heliopolis taught the Romans that thing first and many of their Emperors did use that against their Enemies afterwards Leo the Emperor burnt with this kinde of Fire those of the East that sail'd against Constantinople with 1800 Carvels The same Emperor shortly after burnt with the same Fire 4000 Ships of the Enemy and 350 in like manner Prometheus found out that Fire would keep a yeer in the Cane Ferula wherefore Martial speaks of them thus Canes that the Masters love but Boys do hate Are by Prâ—metheus gift held at great rate CHAP. III. Of the divers Compositions of Gun-powder WE should be ill spoken of if that treating of fiery Compositions we should not first say something of that wonderful Gun-powder that is the Author of so many wonderful things for it is an ingredient in all mixtures and all depends upon it not that I have any minde to speak of it because it is so common but of such things that have some new or hidden secret in them It is made of four parts of Salt-Peter Brimstone and VVillow-coals of each one part But the Salt-Peter must be refined from common Salt the fat and earthly parts for that is the Foundation and Basis of the rest All of these must be well powdered and finely seirced and perfectly mingled together Therefore if you would have Gun-powder that shall make a great noise and do much service Put in more parts of Salt-Peter namely to one part of Brimstone and one of Willow-coal put in six or
eight parts of Salt-Peter but excellent well refined and mingled For four parts of Salt-Peter well refined and mingled will do more then ten parts of that which is faeculent and ill mingled From the Salt-Peter comes the force the noise of the flame for Brimstone it takes fire and the sooner for the coal But if one would have Gun-powder that will shoot a Bullet without noise he must make weak the Salt-Peter but with some fat substance which is done by the Glew and Butter of Gold by mingling them according to a certain and due proportion and so it will shoot a Ball with very little or no noise for you shall scarce hear it and though the force be not so strong yet it is but little less I will not teach the way lest wicked men should take occasion to do mischief by it CHAP. IV. How Pipes may be made to cast out Fire THe same Heron bids the Souldiers when they scale the VValls that they should set against the faces of their enemies that defend the Cities such hand-Guns that they can turn and that will throw fire a great way for so they shall so terrifie those that defend the VValls by these monstrous Engines that cast Fire-Balls at such great distance and with such furious flames that they will never endure to behold them nor yet the Souldiers that mount up the VValls but will quickly run away Moreover in fights at Sea and amongst Horse-men men of this later age make great use of them for Horses are terrified with Fire as Elephants were and will easily run away and break the ranks VVhen Antipater besieged the Megarenses and the Macedonians did fiercely lie upon them the Megarenses first anoynted their Hogs with pitch and set them on Fire and so sent them out amongst their Enemies The Hogs were mad at it and ran furiously among the Troops of Elephants and cried as they burned with the Fire and as so many Furies they extreamly disordered the Elephants But I shall describe Rockets that cast Fire a great way Make a stick of three foot long round on the outside and with a Turners Instrument make it hollow within let the hole in the middle be four fingers diameter and the VVood a finger thick but within let it be fenced with a thin Iron plate and without with Iron hoops at the mouth in the middle and on the end and let the Spaces between be fastned and joyned together with Iron-wires lest by the violence of the flames striving within the Engine should break in pieces and hurt our Friends Fill the hollow hole with this composition Gun-powder three parts Colophonia Tutia Brimstone half a part but you must bruise your Brimstone and Colophonia very well and sprinkle them with Linseed Oyl and work them in your hands Then try if your mixture will burn gently or fiercely fill the space between the joynts in a Reed with powder put Fire to it if it burn vehemently that it break the Cane add to it Colophonia and Brimstone but if mildly then put more Powder into your Rocket pressing it again with a sharp stick then stop the mouth of it being full with a Linen-clout wax and pitch and cover it that the Powder fall not out and making a hole in the clout fasten a Cotton-match to the mixture that when necessity is it may take fire You shall learn shortly after to make the Match This is called a simple Rocket How to make a Rocket armed This by a continual sending forth of Fire-balls and Leaden Bullets and by the shooting off of Iron-guns will strike thorow the faces of those that stand by It is made of Turpentine-Rosin liquid Pitch Vernish Frankincense and Camphire equal parts quick Brimstone a third part and half two parts of Salt-Peter refined three parts of Aqua Fortis as much of Oyl of Peter and Gun-powder pown them together and make Fire-balls put them into the hollow of the Pipe that is broad enough to receive them Put into the hollow part the first mixture three fingers deep and press it down then put in the little Ball of Gun-powder onely weighing one ounce ready made then put in again the first Powder and do this by course one after another till it be full and stop the mouth as I said Some do not thrust down a Ball but Hards wrap'd up in square pieces of Iron and that is so pliable that the first mixture can kindle the Gun-powder Some put in with the Tow Glass grosly powdered Others Salt and powder of Lead for if the Lumps stick to Armour or Garments you cannot put them out with water or any thing else till they be consumed Some there are also that compass in the Rocket with Brass or Iron-Guns and at the open passage of the Rocket they put in Gun-powder when fire comes at it with terrible and frequent noises they cast Leaden Bullets forth upon the standers by I saw a Rocket of extraordinary largeness it was ten foot long and as wide as a mans head might go in it was full of Fire-balls Stones and other matters and put into a Gun and bound to the lower part of the Cross-yard of a Ship which was transported every way with cords as the Souldiers would have it and in Sea-fights was levelled against the Enemies Gallies and destroyed them all almost Yet I will not omit to relate how A Brass-Gun once fired may discharge ten times It is a new Invention that a great Brass-Gun or a hand-Gun may discharge ten or more Bullets one after another without intermission Make a dark Powder such as I used in the precedent part and fill it thus First put in a certain measure of Gun-powder that being put in may discharge the Ball then put in the Ball but a small one that it may go in loosely and that the powder put in upon it may come to touch the Gun-powder then pour in this dark powder two or three fingers depth then put in your Gun-powder and your Bullet and thus in order one after the other until the Gun seems to be full to the very mouth Lastly pour in some of your dark clammy powder and when you have levelled your Gun to the place appointed put Fire to the mouth of it for it will cast out the Bullets and then Fire for so long time as a man may discharge a hand-Gun at divers shoots And thus with one Brass-Gun you may discharge many times CHAP. V. How Fire-Balls are made that are shot off in Brass-Guns NOw I will shew how to make some Pot-compositions of Fire-balls that are shot out of Brass-Guns for divers uses either to burn ships or to give light to some men in the night or at Solemnities to cast up into the Air that they may seem to stream along like falling Stars Fire-balls flying in the Air that are made at Festival times Grind one pound of Gun-powder one third part of Salt-Peter two ounces of Brimstone and as much
Colophonia mingle all these sow them up in Coffins made of thick Cloth in fashion of Balls and put them into hollow half circles made in Wood and strike them with a wooden Hammer that they may be hard as stones then binde them about with cords and dip them in Tar three or four times they that may be well fenced about lest being discharged by the violence of a Brass-Gun they should break in pieces Lastly pierce them thrice thorow with a sharp stick in the centre and fill them with Gun-powder and dry them to be sent aloft When you would use them raise your Brass-Guns or more conveniently the but end of your Guns and take the Ball in a pair of Iron Pinchers and give Fire to the holes that it may take when your are certain that it is lighted with your right hand cast it into the hollow of the Gun and with your left give fire to the lowest touch-hole of the Gun when it is fired it rebounds and being carried up by force of the Fire it seems to run up and down in the Air as I often saw it at Rome and prepared it They are made also Another way Take Sea-pitch three parts Turpentine-Rosin two parts as much Brimstone one part Goats suet powder what must be powdered and melt in a Brass Vessel what will melt put them together and stir them with a wooden stick Then cast in Hards of Hemp or Flax so much as will drink up all the mixture then take the Brass Kettle from the fire and with your hands make Balls as big as you will that they may be shot forth of Brass-guns and before they grow hard thrust them through with wooden sticks making small holes then put in Gun-powder broken with Brimstone and rowl them about upon a Table strewed with Gun-powder and through the holes fasten cotton Matches rolled in the Powder as I shall shew let these dry and grow hard in the Sun The way to discharge them from a Brass Gun is this Chuse such as are commonly called Petrils that are fittest for this use The weight of the Gun-powder to be put into the Vessel must be one fifth part of the Ball or a little more or less for if you put in much they are either cast down by the too great violence of the Fire or else they are put out as they flie and do not answer our expectation The Powder being put into the Vessel lay neither Hards nor Hemp upon it but fit the Ball upon the Powder that as that fires it may fire the Ball and send it forth Here is a more noble Composition Another way Take five parts of Gun-powder three of Salt-Peter refined Brimstone two Colophonia one half part beaten Glass common Salt of Oyl of Peter and of Linseed Oyl and refined Aqua Vitae as much powder what must be powdered and pass it through a fine Cieve then melt it in a new earthen pot with burning coals without flame let them not sparkle for so the Composition may take fire Then cast in the Powders that they may incorporate well together then make round Coffins of Linen cloth as I said and fill them with the Gun-powder alone and binde them with cords about then wrap your Tow in the Composition and make a Ball of the bigness you would have it and if you will shoot it out of a Brass Gun binde it the thicker with little cords then pierce your Ball through in many places with wooden pricks that they may come at the powder that lieth in the middle then put cotton Match through that when it flies in the Air so violently they may preserve the fire In another earthen Pot melt Pine-Tree-Gum Gun-powder and Brimstone and dip in your Ball into that liquor that it may be all over-cast with it When you take it out lift up your cotton Matches with a stick and strew them with Gun-powder This Ball will sorely punish the Enemies with a great noise cracking and breaking asunder the Fire cannot be put out it will burn all kinde of Furniture Garments and what else till it be all consumed for it will burn Armour so mightily that unless they be taken off they will burn the man CHAP. VI. Of Compositions with burning Waters PHilosophers seeking the Reason of Waters that lie hid above and under the earth and are always hot they say Bitumen is the cause thereof which being once on fire hath this property that it will not only not be put out but if you cast on water it will burn the more The Mountain Chimaera burns always in Phaselis both night and day Gnidius Ctesias saith The fire of it is kindled by water and is put out with Earth or Hay In the same Lycia Vulcan's Mountains touched with a burning Torch will so burn that the very stones and sand in Rivers are consumed by them and will burn in the midst of the waters and that fire is maintained by water The hollow Cave in Nymphaeum foreshews terrible things to the men Apollonia as Theopompus writes it encreaseth by showres and it casts forth Bitumen that must be tempered with that Fountain that cannot be tasted otherwise it is more weak then any Bitumen is Now I shall search out the kindes of Bitumen The first kinde is liquid called Naphtha we call it Oyl of Peter which remains in stones and Kiâ—ram This hath great affinity with Fire and the fire will take hold of it every way at a great distance So some say That Medea burnt a whore who when she came to sacrifice at the Altar the fire laid hold on her Garland Another kinde is that men call Maltha for in the City of Comagenes Samosata there is a Lake sends forth burning mud when any solid thing toucheth it it will stick to it and being touch'd it will follow him that runs from it So they defended the Walls when Lucullus besieged them and the Soldier burned in his Armor Waters do kindle it and only Earth can quench it as experience shews Camphire is a kinde of it as Bitumen it draws fire to it and burns Pissaphaltum is harder then Bitumen both Amber and Jet are of this sort but these burn more gently and not so much in the waters Moreover in regard it burns in the Water it is Brimstone for no fatter thing is dug forth of the Earth To maintain this fire it self is sufficient it neither burns in the waters nor is it put out with water nor doth it last long but joyn'd with Bitumen the fire will last always as we see in the Phlegrean Mountains at Puteoli and as fire if Oyl be cast in burns the more so when Bitumen is kindled water cast on makes the flame the greater Wherefore I shall make use of those fires that burn in and above the waters But I shall bring some examples how is made A Ball that will burn under Water First prepare your Gun-Powder for this must be one Ingredient in all Compositions
and gives force to the rest to burn vehemently If it be in great corns pown it well and seirce it fine to seven parts of this add two parts of Colophonia three of Salt-Peter one of Brimstone pown them all together and mingle them sprinkling on of Naphtha or of liquid pitch Kitram moystning them so long until the powder pressed in your hand will stay together When these are well mingled make trial by them if it burn too vehemently add more Colophonia Salt-Peter and Brimstone but if but weakly more Gun-powder This mixture must be wrapt in straw or linen-rags or put into coffins made of the same things and binde it as close as you can with straw or little cords round about then dip it into scalding pitch and so let it dry then wrap it again with straw and smeer it over with pitch to keep it safe from water and that it may not break asunder by the violence of the fire When it is well dried and a little hole made in it put in Gun-powder and put fire to it and when it begins to burn stay but very little and cast it into the water It will by its weight fall to the bottom and the flames will strive with the water and drive them far from it so it will appear to burn above and is obscured with a black smoak that you will think you see the sulphureous waters at Puteoli burning there Being then made lighter by many turnings and windings it will seem to ascend to the superficies of the water which is a most pleasant sight for you will think that the water burns and you shall see two contrary Element fighting together yet to unite friendly until the matter be spent Others wrap in cloth nothing but Gun-powder a whole handful and this they binde in with cords then they dip it in melted scalding pitch and bound very fast and wrapt in many linen rags they make a small hole through it and they place this in the Centre of the Ball we even now spake of that when it comes to the superficies of the water the fire taking hold on the Powder within breaks the Ball in pieces and with a mighty noise wounds all those that stand neer it Some make it Otherwise They make a Composition of Brimstone Colophonia Salt-Peter Vernish and to this they add a fourth part of Gun-powder and they add Venice-Turpentine-Rofin Oyl of liquid Vernish Petroleum Linseed Oyl and the best refined Aqua Vitae with these they wet and sprinkle the dry Powders I have seen this take fire more vehemently and to cast the flames farther To do The same Take Mastick one part Frankincense two Grains of Vernish Brimstone Camphire Gun-powder of each three parts of Colophonia six Salt-Peter refined nine pown them all together and fift them onely pown the Camphire mingled with the Salt for that onely will not be powdered strew them all about upon an earthen dish with a large mouth and sprinkle them with Naphtha or Vernish or Linseed Oyl and mingle them with your hands Take out part of the Powder and put it into a hollow Cane and try it whether it will burn to your minde and if it burn too weak put in more Gun-powder if too vehemently more Colophonia always trying if it be as it should be For to these Compositions we add the same things to blunt the vehement burning of the Salt-Peter and the Gun-powder Then make Coffins of Canvas like Balls and fill them with your Composition and stuff it in well and binde them well with cords round about Then melt Brimstone and let there be in it one fourth part of Gun-powder stir them together with a wooden stick and lute the Ball over with that liquor that it may be well fenced and crusted Then with a wooden prick make a hole in it in the middle to the Centre and fill that with powder and so put in fire and it will burn under water it may also be shot forth of brass Engines I will shew you how to make Balls and Pots to be cast forth of Ships The Ancients write That Alexander the Great found out this Composition of Fires to burn Bridges Gates Ships and the like but it will work now more vehemently by reason of the Gun-powder added Take Gun-powder Salt-Peter Brimstone Pitch Pine-Tree-Gum Vernish in Grains Frankincense of each alike Camphire one half beat all these and mingle them Then take Oyl of Peter liquid Vernish Rosinous Turpentine equal parts and with these being liquid mingle all together and fill Pots with them to be cast among Ships and enemies or if you make a Ball of these binde it hard about the head of a hammer whose sharp-tooth'd end must be a foot long and the handle three foot If at a Sea-fight any one with a light Boat strike this into a Ship of the enemies with one blow he shall raise a mighty fire that neither water nor any other thing will put out CHAP. VII How Balls are made of Metals that will cast forth fire and Iron wedges I Shall shew you how to make brittle Balls of Metal that being filled with Gun-powder and all the places of vent stopt with the violence of the flame will flie into many pieces and strike through those they meet with and on all sides they will pierce through those who are not onely unarmed but armed men and these are to be used in besieging of Cities for cast amongst multitudes they will wound abundance The danger is seen among Herds of Cattle Make then Balls that will cast pieces of Iron a great way off Let a Ball of Metal be made a hand-breadth diameter half a finger thick the Metal is made of Brass three parts Tin one part to make it so brittle that by force of fire it may flie in small pieces To make the Ball more easily make it of two half circles for the charge is the less and let them joyn together like a box or let them screw one within another let it be equally thick that it may break in all parts alike Then with a Nail drove through the middle let it be fastened the better together a finger thick that it may break in all parts before it do in the joynts Then make a little Pipe as big as a finger and as long as ones hand that it may come to the Centre of the Ball and so stick forth beyond the Superficies like a Pyramis the Basis outward the Point inward sodder it fast to the Ball. The nail as I said must come forth on both sides and to this fasten wires that runs through iron piles that have a large hole through them that every wire may have thirty of them that when the ball is broken by force of the fire the wires of iron may break also and the piles of iron may be thrown about a great way with such force that they may seem to be shot forth Guns and Ordnance Lastly let the Ball be filled
that the souls of the dead did always rest in the grave as the ashes do and that they might not lye in the dark they endeavovred all they could to send out this light that their souls might enjoy light continually Therefore we must think on another experiment and make trial of it But this must be held for a rare and firm principle in Natures shop that the cause of wonders is because there can be no vacuum and the frame of the work will sooner break asunder and all things run to nothing then there can be any such thing Wherefore if a flame were shut up in a glass and all vent-holes stopt close if it could last one moment it would last continually and it were not possible for it to be put out There are many wonders declared in this Book and many more shall be set down that have no other cause But how the flame should be lighted within side this is worth the while to know It must be a liquor or some subtile substance and that will evaporate but little and if then it can be shut up in the glass when the glass is shut it will last always which may easily be performed by burning-glasses fire industry and cunning It cannot be extinguished because the Air can come in nowhere to fill up the emptiness of the Vial The Oyl is always turned into smoke and this being it cannot be dissolved into Air it turns to Oyl and kindleth again and so it will always by course afford fuel for the light You have heard the beginnings now search labour and make trial THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of tempering Steel THE PROEME I Have taught you concering monstrous Fires and before I part from them I shall treat of Iron Mines for Iron is wrought by Fire not that I intend to handle the Art of it but onely to set down some of the choicest Secrets that are no less necessary for the use of men in those things I have spoken of already besides the things I spake of in my Chymical works Of Iron there are made the best and the worst Instruments for the life of man saith Pliny For we use it for works of Husbandry and building of Houses and we use it for Wars and Slaughters not onely hard by but to shoot with Arrows and Darts and Bullets far off For that man might die the sooner he hath made it swift and hath put wings to Iron I shall teach you the divers tempers of Iron and how to make it soft and hard that it shall not onely cut Iron and other the hardest substances but shall engrave the hardest Porphyr and Marble Stones In brief the force of Iron conquers all things CHAP. I. That Iron by mixture may be made harder IT is apparent by most famous and well-known Experience that Iron will grow more hard by being tempered and be made soft also And when I had sought a long time whether it would grow soft or hard by hot cold moist or dry things I found that hot things would make it hard and soft and so would cold and all the other qualities wherefore somthing else must be thought on to hunt out the causes I found that it will grow hard by its contraries and soft by things that are friendly to it and so I came to Sympathy and Antipathy The Ancients thought it was done by some Superstitious Worship and that there was a Chain of Iron by the River Euphrates that was called Zeugma wherewith Alexander the Great had there bound the Bridge and that the links of it that were new made were grown rusty the other links not being so Pliny and others think That this proceeded from some different qualities it may be some juices or Minerals might run underneath that left some qualities whereby Iron might be made hard or soft He saith But the chief difference is in the water that it is oft plunged into when it is red hot The pre-eminence of Iron that is so profitable hath made some places famous here and there as Bilbilis and Turassio in Spain Comum in Italy yet are there no Iron Mynes there But of all the kindes the Seric Iron bears the Garland in the next place the Parthian nor are there any other kindes of Iron tempered of pure Steel for the rest are mingled Justine the Historian reports That in Gallicia of Spain the chiefest matter for Iron is found but the water there is more fortible then the Iron for the tempering with that makes the Iron more sharp and there is no weapon approved amongst them that is not made of the River Bilbilis or tempered with the water of Chalybes And hence are those people that live neer this River called Chalybes and they are held to have the best Iron Yet Strabo saith That the Chalybes were people in Pontus neer the River Thermodon Virgil speaks And the naked Calybes Iron Then as Pliny saith It is commonly made soft with Oyl and hardened by Water It is a custome to quench thin Bars of Iron in Oyl that they may not grow brittle by being quenched in Water Nothing hath put me forward more to seek higher matters then this certain Experiment That Iron may be made so weak and soft by Oyl that it may be wrested and broken with ones hands and by Water it may be made so hard and stubborn that it will cut Iron like Lead CHAP. II. How Iron will wax soft I Shall first say how Iron may grow soft and become tractable so that one may make Steel like Iron and Iron soft as Lead That which is hard grows soft by fat things as I said and without fat matter by the fire onely as Pliny affirm Iron made red hot in the fire unless you beat it hard it corrupts as if he should say Steel grows soft of it self if it be oft made red hot and left to cool of it self in the fire and so will Iron grow softer I can do the same divers wayes That Iron may grow soft Anoynt Iron with Oyl Wax Asafoetida and lure it over with straw and dung and dry it then let it for one night be made red hot in burning coals When it grows cold of it self you shall finde it soft and tractable Or take Brimstone three parts four parts of Potters Earth powdered mingle these with Oyl to make it soft Then cover the Iron in this well and dry it and bury it in burning coals and as I said you may use Tallow and Butter the same way Iron wire red hot if it cool alone it will be so soft and ductible that you may use them like Flax. There are also soft juices of Herbs and fat as Mallons Bean-Pods and such-like that can soften Iron but they must be hot when the Iron is quenched and Juices not distilled Waters for Iron will grow hard in all cold waters and in liquid Oyl CHAP. III. The temper of Iron must be used upon soft Irons I Have said how Iron may
Return Taking it out of the Water shake it up and down in Vinegar that it may be polished and the colour be made perspicuous then make red hot a plate of Iron and lay part of the Coat of Male or all of it upon the same when it shews an Ash-colour workmen call it Berotinum cast it again into the water and that hardness abated and will it yield to the stroke more easily so of a base Coat of Male you shall have one that will resist all blows By the mixture of Sharp things iron is made hard and brittle but unless strengh be added it will flie in pieces with every blow therefore it is needful to learn perfectly how to add strength to it CHAP. V. Liquors that will temper Iron to be exceeding hard I Said that by Antipathy Iron is hardened and softened by Sympathy it delights in fat things and the pores are opened by it and it grows soft but on the contrary astringent things and cold that shut up the pores by a contrary quality make it extreme hard they seem therefore to do it yet we must not omit such things as do it by their property If you would have A Saw tempered to saw Iron Make your Saw of the best Steel and arm it well that it be not wrested by extinguishing it Then make a wooden Pipe as long as the Iron of the Saw that may contain a liquor made of Water Alon and Piss Plunge in the red hot Iron and take it out and observe the colours when it comes to be violet put all into the liquor till it grow cold Yet I will not conceal that it may be done by a Brass wire bent like a bow and with Powder of Emril and Oyl for you shall cut Iron like Wood. Also there are tempered Fish-hooks to become extream hard The Hook serves for a part to catch Fish for it must be small and strong if it be great the Fish will see it and will not swallow it if it be too small it will break with great weight and motion if it be soft it will be made straight and the Fish will get off Wherefore that they may be strâ—ng small and not to be bended in the mouth you shall thus temper them Of Mowers Sythes make wire or of the best Steel and make Hooks thereof small and fine heat them not red-hot in the Fire for that will devour them but lay them on a plate of red hot Iron When they grow red cast them into the water when they are cold take them out and dry them Then make the plate of Iron hot again and lay on the Hooks the second time and when an Ash colour or that they commonly call Berotinus appears plunge them into the water again that they may be strong for else they would be brittle So you may make Culters extream hard Albertus from whom others have it saith That Iron is made more strong if it be tempered with juice of Radish and Water of Earth-worms three or four times But I when I had often tempered it with juice of Radish and Horse-Radish and Worms I found it alwayes softer till it became like Lead and it was false as the rest of his Receits are But thus shall you make Steel extream hard that with that onely and no other mixture you may make Culters very hard Divide the Steel into very small pieces like Dice and let them touch one the other binding Iron wires over them fastning all with an Iron wire put them into the Fire till they grow red hot and sparkle at least fifteen times and wrap them in these powders that are made of black Borax one part Oyster-shells Cuttle-bones of each two parts then strike them with a Hammer that they may all unite together and make Culters or Knives or what you will for they will be extream hard For this is the most excellent sort of Steel that onely tempered with waters is made most hard There is another but not so good and unless it be well tempered it alwayes grows worse It is this To temper a Graver to cut Marble Make your Graver of the best Steel let it be red hot in the Fire till it be red or Rose coloured dip it into water then take it away and observe the second colour When it is yellow as Gold cast it into the water So almost is A Tool made to cut Iron When the same red Rose colour appears plunge it into the water or some sharp liquor that we shall shew and you must observe the second yellow colour or wheat colour and then cast it into the water These are the best Tempers for Swords Swords must be tough lest whilst we should make a thrust they should break also they must have a sharp edge that when we cut they may cut off what we cut The way is thus Temper the body of it with Oyl and Butter to make it tough and temper the edge with sharp things that they may be strong to cut and this is done either with wooden Pipes or woollen Cloths wet with Liquor use it wittily and cunningly CHAP. VI. Of the temper of a Tool shall cut a Porphyr Marble Stone OUr Ancestors knew well to temper their Tools wherewith they could easily cut a Porphyr Stone as infinite Works testifie that were left to us but the way was shewed by none and is wholly concealed which is a mighty disgrace to our times when we neglect such rare and useful Inventions and make no account of them That we might be freed from this dishonour with great care and pains and cost I made trial of all things came to my hand or I could think of by divers wayes and experiments that I might attain unto it at last by Gods great blessing I found a far greater passage for to come to these things and what exceeds this And I will not be grieved to relate what I found out by chance whilst I made trial of these things The business consiâ—ed in these difficulties If the temper of the Graver was too strong and stubborn with the vehement blow of the Hammer it flew in piece but if it was soft it bowed and would not touch the stone wherefore it was to be most strong and tough that it might neither yield to the stroke nor flie asunder Moreover the juice or water the Iron must be tempered in muâ— be cleer and pure for if it be troubled the colours coming from heat could not be discerned and so the time to plunge the Tools in would not be known on which the whole Art depends So then cleer and purified juices will shew the time of the temper The colours must be chiefly regarded for they shew the time to plunge it in and take it out and because that the Iron must be made most hard and tough therefore the colour must be a middle colour between silver and gold and when this colour is come plunge the whole edge of the Tool into the
their wings they fall down that they may take no hurt by falling Those that are so killed with fear of death grow very tender So old Pigeons that by chance had fallen into deep pits when they had long laboured struggling with their fluttering wings above the waters to save themselves from drowning with strugling and fear of death they grew very tender and by this accident we have learned that when we would have them very tender we purposely drive them in Horace in Serm saith almost the same How a Cock may grow tender if you must suddenly set him before your friends and cannot help it If that a guest do come by chance at night and if the cock be tough not fit to eat drown'd him alive in Muscadel out right and he will soon come to be tender meat We use to hang up Turkies alives by the bills at the sadle-bow when we ride and these being thus rack't and tossed with great pains at the journeys end you shall find them dead and very tender CHAP. II. How flesh may grow tender by secret propriety SOme things there are that by secret propriety make flesh tender I shall record two prodigious miracles of Nature One that hung on a fig-tree Cocks flesh grows tender and so short that it is wonderful Another that wild Cocks bound to a fig-tree will grow tame and stand immoveable Plutarch in his Symposiacks gives the reason why the Sacrifices of Cooks hung to a Fig-tree did presently grow tender and short when the Cook of Aristian amongst other meats offered to Hercules a tender dunghil-Cock newly slain that was extream short Aristio gives the reason of this tenderness to be the Fig-tree and he maintaned that these killed though they be hard will grow tender if they be hanged up on a Fig-tree It is certain as we may judge by sight that the Fig-tree sends forth a vehement and strong vapour This also confirms that which is commonly spoken of Bulls that the fiercest of them bound to a Fig-tree will grow tame presently and will endure to be touched with your hand and to bear the yoke and they puff out all their anger and lay aside their courage that thus fails them for so forcible is the acrimony of the vapour of that Tree that though the Bull rage never so much yet this will tame him For the Fig-tree is more full of Milky juice then other Trees are so that the Wood Boughs Figs are almost all full of it wherefore when it is burnt the smoke it sends forth doth bite and tear one very much and a lixivium made of them burnt is very detergent and cleansing also Cheese is curdled with Fig-tree milk that comes forth of the Tree if you cut the green bark Some would have the heat to be the cause that the Milk curds by the juice of the Fig-tree cast in which melts the watry substance of the humour wherefore the Fig-tree sends forth a hot and sharp vapour and that is digesting and dries and concocts the flesh of Birds so that they grow tender So Ox flesh may be made tender If you put the stalks of wilde Fig-trees into the pot wherein Ox flesh is boil'd they will be boil'd much the sooner by reason of the wood Pliny I gave you the reason of it before from Antipathy The Egyptians alluding to this when they would describe a man that was punished to the height they painted a Bull tied to a wilde Fig-tree For when he rores if he be bound to a wilde Fig-tree he will presently grow tame If we will have Pulse grow tender because I see that there is great antipathy between Pulse and Choke fitch that destroys and strangles them Some call this Lions Herbe for as a Lion doth with great rage and furiously kill Cattle and Sheep so doth choke fitch all Pulse wherefore this Herbe put to Pulse when they boil will make them boil the sooner But To make meats boil the sooner All kinds of Docks though they be dry and juiceless will do it that all flesh will grow tender and become fit to eat Wherefore the Antients always fed on it that it might digest the meat in their stomacks and loose their bellies Also the root of wilde Nettles boil'd with flesh will make them tender Pliny CHAP. III. How Flesh may be made tender otherwise THere be other ways to make flesh tender First if flesh killed be hung in the open Air for they will grow tender as beginning to corrupt but they must not stay there so long till they corrupt indeed Wherefore you must know their quality which will keep longest and which not For example Peacocks Partridge Pheasants to be made tender Isaac saith That a Peacock killed will be kept two days and three in winter that the hard flesh of it may grow soft Haliabas hangs them up three days hanging stones to their feet Savanrola hangs them up ten days without weights Simeon Sethi saith That Patridge newly killed are not to be eat but after a day or two that they may lose their hardness Pheasants in Summer hung up two days and three days in winter after they are killed will be fit meat Arnoleus And to avoid tediousness the same must be done with other flesh The like That Birds may grow tender If you hang those in Moon-light that were killed in the night they will grow more tender by boiling For the Moon hath great vertue to make flesh tender for it is but a kind of corruption Therefore wood cut by Moon-light will sooner grow rotten and fruit sooner grow ripe Daphnis the Physitian in Athenaus CHAP. IV. How Shell-creatures may grow more tender BEfore I end to speak of ways to make flesh more tender It will not be amiss to make Crabs tender and by another way then I shew'd before How we may make Crab-fish tender shel'd At Rome they do so and it becomes pleasant and excellent meat for Noble mens Tables I speak of those Crabs bred in fresh waters For at Venice I have eaten them that bred naturally tender in salt-salt-waters they call them commonly Mollecas but they are not so sweet as they are made at Rome and they ask a Julius apiece The way is in the Moneths of June July August and September the Crabs use to cast their shels and put off their old coat at that time fisher-men search about the banks of Rivers where they find their holes and caves half stopt and by that they know the time is come to cast their shells for the more their shells grow tender the more they shut up their holes They grow tender first about the feet and by degrees it ascends over their whole bodies When they have taken them they bring them home and put them every one in several earthen pots and they put in water that it may cover half their bodies and so they let them remain eight or ten days changing the water every day and their shells will grow more tender every day
When it is all soft that it is transparent as Crystal they fry them with butter and milk and bring them to the Table So Squils grow tender We must do as we did to Crabs for they cast their shells as Crabs do and Nature did this for some end for when their shells are grown too thick and weighty they can scarce crawl wherefore by the excrements that go into it that are consumed to make a new shell within the former that was made is broken and falls off CHAP. V. That living Creatures may be made more fat and well tasted I Shall endeavour to shew how living Creatures may be made more fat and well tasted that we may set more favory meats before our guests The Antients were not negligent in this matter Wherefore you shall find many ways not onely amongst Cooks but such as write concerning Husbandry Liccorish Gluttons found out the ways to fat Cattle that they might feed on them more plentifully and daintily Hence they called them cram'd because they were full fed and had gross bellies Those were called Bird pens where they fatted all sorts of Birds M. Lelius Strabo was the first that appointed this and he appointed Crammers to take care of them and ordered how much every crammed bird should eat They will fat better in winter than in summer because Birds at that time of the year are best being not so much wasted with yong and Cocks will fat better then Hens and such as never trod nor made eggs In summer when it is at an end and the sowre Grapes hang yet upon the Vines they are at the best I shall therefore teach How Hens and other Birds must be crammed Choose a place that is hot and obscure shut them all up apart and so close in their pens that they cannot come together nor turn and make two holes one for their heads to put forth and the other for their tails that they may both at their meat and shite it out again when it is digested Lay soft hay under them for if they lye hard they will never fat Pull off all the feathers from their heads thighs and 〈◊〉 under their wings there that it may breed no lice here that the dung corrupt it not For meat give them gobbets of Barley-Meal made up with water at the first for some time more sparingly then after give them as much as they can digest and you must give them no new meat till you feel their câ—ops that all the old is digested When the Bird is full let him go a while not to wander abroad but if there be any thing that urgeth him he may pick it off with his bill Let him not be set to fatting before five or after twenty Moneths old Yong Pigeons or Chickens will fat better with their dams if you pull off a few of their feathers and bruise their legs that they may stay in their places and if you give meat plentifully to their dams that they may feed themselves and their yong ones sufficiently Turtles are best fatted in summer give them nothing but meat especially Millet-seed for they much delight to eat that but Geese in winter They must be put up to fat four Moneths you need give them nothing else but Barley-Meal and Wheat-meal three times a day so that you give them water enough to drink and no liberty to walk about thus they will fat in two Moneths But tender Pullers will not be made fat in forty days Ducks will grow fat with all nutriment if it be abundance especially with Wheat Millet-seed Barley and with Water-squils Locusts and Creatures found in Lakes Columella Pheasants Partidges Heath-cocks and Turky-hens will fat being shut up and the first day they eat meat the next set them water or good strong wine to drink Let their meat be raw Barley-Meal made up with water giving them it by degrees or else broken and ground Beans and Barley sod with water and whole Millet-seed Linseed boil'd and dry mingled with Barley-meal to these you may add Oyl and make gobbets of them and give them to eat to the full and they will grow fat at longest in sixty days Now I shall shew how Four-footed Beasts are fatted The Sow will soonest fat for in sixty days she will be far First kept hungry three days as all the rest must be She grows fat with Barley Millet Acorns Figs Pears Cucumbers rest and not wandring But Sows will grow fatter by wallowing in the mire Figs and Chick-peason will fat them soonest and they desire change of meats Varro The Sow is fed with Beans Barley and other Grain for these will not onely fat them but give them a good rellish The Olive wilde Olive Tares Corn in straw Grass and they are all the better sprinkled with brine but the more effectual will they be if she fast three days before Aristotle Bean-husks and Coleworts are pleasant meat for them Salt put to them will make them have a stomack which in summer put into their troughs will season their meat and make them eat it up and by that seasoning of it they will drink and eat the more Colunmella Oxen will grow faâ— with Corn and Grass Tares ground Beans and Beanflalks Also with Barley whole or broken and parted from the hulls also by sweet things as pressed Figs Wine Elm-boughs and with a Lotion of hot water Aristotle We feed them at home with Wine of Surrentum or else we put Calfs to two Cows and thus being fed with abundance of Milk they can scarce go for fat Also in their craâ—ches we strew Salt stones that they may lick them and so drink and they will grow exceeding fat and tender CHAP. VI. How the flesh of Animals is made sweeter NOw shall I shew with some Meats and Arts How not onely the parts of Animals but their whole bodies are made fat tender and more delicate And first How to fat the Livers of Geese Out wise Ancestours saith Pliny who knew the goodness of a Goose liver taught how by cramming to make it grow great also taken forth it is augmented by sweet Milk And it is not without cause demanded who was the first man that found out so profitable a thing Whether it were Scipio Metellus that was Consul or Mar Sejus that in the same age was a Gentleman of Rome Palladius taught the way how when Geese have been fatting thirty days if you desire to have their livers tender you shall bruise old Figs and steep them in water and make gobbets of them and feed the Geese with them twenty days together But Quintilius way is when they grow fat you shall break dry wilde Radish in small pieces and tempering them with water give them this to drink for twenty days Some that the liver may be made great and the Geese fat feed them thus They shut up the Goose and cast to him Wheat sleeped in water or Barley the same way Wheat makes him fat quickly but Barley makes
the flesh white Let her be sed with the said grain but severally with them both for twenty days giving to her twice a day a moyst Medicament made thereof so that seven of those meats may be given her for the first five days and by degrees the days following increase the number of these meats until twenty five days be past that the days in the whole may be thirty and when they are over heat Mallows and in the decoction thereof being yet hot give her leaven moystned therewith do so for four days and in the same days give her water and honey changing it thrice every day not using the same again and do this the days following till sixty days mingle dry Figs bruised all this time with the said leaven and after sixty days you may eat the Goose and its liver that will be white and tender Which being taken forth must be put into a large vessel wherein there is hot water that must be changed again and again But the Bodies and Livers of the females are best but let them be Geese not of one year but from two years old to four Horace in Serm. speaks of this Fat Figs do make the Goose white Liver great And Juvenal Satyr 5. A Goose's Liver fed before him stood As big as a Goose and to eat as good And Martial The Liver 's greater then the Goose that 's true But now you l wonder where this Liver grew Athenaus writes That this was of great account at Rome When you kill the Goose take out the Liver quickly and cast it into cold water that it may be solid then fry it in Goose-grease in a frying pan and season it with spices It is a dish for a Prince and highly commended by many So is A Sows Liver fatted Pliny There is art used for Sows Livers as well as for Geese It was the invention of Marcus Apicius when they are fat with dry Figs give them sweet wine to drink and kill them presently Apicius Add to the Liver of a Sow fatted with Figs Wine-pickle Pepper Time Lovage Suet and a little Wine and Oyl Aetius If saith he any man feed that creature with dry Figs the Sows Liver is preferred before all meat I said out of Aristotle that Figs and Chick peason will fat a Sow best Galen As whilst Sows are living their Livers are fed for delight with dry Figs so for Geese I see their meats are moystned with milk that their Livers may be not onely most pleasant meat but may be fed exceedingly and be most delicate If you will That Cattle may be more excellent to eat Cattle that use to feed on Masterwort and to be first cleansed will grow very fat and their flesh will be exceeding sweet Pliny Whence it is that this Benjamin is not for many years to be found in Cyrene because the Farmers that hire the grounds finding more gain by it devour them by their Cattel Moreover in India and chiefly in the Country of the Prasil it rains liquid honey which falling down on the grass and the tops of Reeds in the Lakes is admirable food for Sheep and Oxen and the Shepherds drive them thither where most of this sweet dew falls from the Air and there they are feasted with it as with pleasant bankets and they recompence their Shepherds with a pleasant reward for they milk very sweet milk from them and they have no need as the Grecians do to temper honey with it Aelian But How Pullets are made most white tender and delicate Such as I use to set before my friends The way is I shut them up five days in chambers or cellars and I give them a dish full of chippins of bread wet with milk and sometimes with honey fed thus they will grow as fat as great Sappers in Fig time and so tender that they will melt in your mouth and they taste better by far then Pheasants Heath-cocks or Thrushes And it seems the Antients knew this For saith Pliny when a crammed Hen was forbid to eat at supper by the Laws of the Antients they found out this evasion to feed Hens with meats wet in milk and so they were far more delicate to set on the Table And Columella They that will make Birds not onely fat but tender they sprinkle the foresaid Meal with water and honey new made and so they fat them Some to three parts of water put one of good wine and wet Wheat-bread and fat the Bird which beginning to be fatted the first day of the Moneth will be very fat on the twentieth day CHAP. VII How the Flesh of Animals may be made bitter and not to be eaten AGain if we will that Flesh shall be rejected for the bitterness and ill taste of it we must do contrary to what hath been said Or if we will not take the pains we must wait the times that these creatures feed on such meats as will do it whereby sometimes they become venemous also As if we would have Deers flesh become venemous Simeon Sethi saith That Deers flesh that is catcht in summer is poyson because then they feed on Adders and Serpents these are venemous creatures and by eating of them they grow thirsty and this they know naturally for if they drink before they have digested them they are killed by them wherefore they will abstain from water though they burn with thirst Wherefore Stags-flesh eaten at that time is venemous and very dangerous Sometimes also Partridge are nought Namely when they eat Garlick The Chyrrhaei will eat no Partridge by reason of their food for when they have eaten Garlick they stink and their flesh is stinking meat that the Fowler will not eat them So also Quails and Stares are rejected at that time of the year that black Hellebour is the meat they like onely Wherefore when Quails feed on Hellebour they put those that feed on them into so great danger of their lives that they swell and suffer convulsions and are subject to vertigo's Wherefore Millet-feed must be boil'd with them Also Birds are not to be eaten when the Goose-berries are ripe for their Feathers will grow black thereby and men that eat them fall into scowrings Dioscorides The Eggs of the Barbel or Spawn not to be eaten in May because they are dangerous but the Eggs are not dangerous of themselves nor do they breed such mischiefs For they do not do it always for often you may eat them without danger but they are onely then hurtful when they feed on Willow-flowers that fall into the waters So are Snails to be rejected when they stick fast to briars and shrubs for they trouble the belly and the stomack and cause vomiting Dioscorides And not onely these Animals themselves cause this mischief but their excrements as milk honey and the like For Milk must not be eaten when Goats and Sheep feed on green food because it will loosen the belly the more but Goats-milk doth not try the belly so
put into it a little musk stop the mouth close that it vent not set it in the summer-Sun two weeks always stirring the water The use is if you put a drop of this into a gallon of wine all the wine will smell of Musk and so for Cinnamon or other Spices So you may make Hippocras Wine Take the sweetest wine we call it commonly Mangiaguâ—rra and into four Vials full of that pour in two pounds of beaten Sugar four ounces of Cinnamon Pepper and grains of Paradise one ounce and half let them infuse one day then strain them adde in the end in a knot a little Musk and it will be excellent Wine or to powdred Sugar we put a little Aqua vitae wherein Cinnamon Pepper Grains of Paradise and musk have been infused as I said and it is presently provided for it draws forth the quintessence I shall shew how Wine may freeze in Glasses Because the chief thing desired at Feasts is that Wine cold as ice may be drunk especially in summer I will teach you how Wine shall presently not onely grow cold but freeze that you cannot drink it but by sucking and drawing in of your breath Put Wine into a Vial and put a little water to it that it may turn to ice the sooner then cast snow into a wooden vessel and strew into it Salt-peter powdred or the cleansing of Salt-peter called vulgarly Salazzo Turn the Vial in the snow and it will congeal by degrees Some keep snow all the summer Let water boil in brass kettles then pour it into great bowls and set them in the frosty cold Air it will freeze and grow harder than snow and last longer CHAP. XII To make men drunk and to make them loath Wine NOw we are come to speak of Wine before we pass from it I will shew you how to make your guests drunk for drunkenness at Feasts increaseth mirth and then how to keep them safe from drunkenness when they are often provoked to drink healths and to strive who shall drink most You may with these fruits Make men drunk The fruits of the Arbute and the Lote-tree being eaten will make men as though they were drunk also Dates eat in too great a quantity cause drunkenness and the pain of the head Sow-bread with Wine makes a man drunk Amber-greese or Musk put in Wine exasperate drunkenness The filth of a Dogs ear mingled with Wine makes one drunk as Albertus saith But Rhases out of whom he took it saith That Wine wherein the seeds of Ricinus are infused if any one drink it it will inebriate them Camels froth drunk with water by a drunken man will make him mad as possessed with a Devil Let these suffice for I said more in my description of Plants But on the contrary these things will Take away drunkenness Because Hemlock with Wine is the cause of death by its venome it hath been invented and found true that Hemlock is the cause of life to others Pliny seems to intimate as much Also venoms are prepared to drink some taking Hemlock before that they may drink and die If a man hath drunk too much Wine that doth him hurt he shall discuss it thus Cato bids that at the beginning and middle of Supper a man should eat four or five tops of raw Coleworts and it will take off his drunkenness and remove the hurt comes by Wine and will make a man as though he had neither eat nor drank The Egyptians before all meat did eat boil'd Coleworts and so provided themselves for drink Many to keep themselves sober take Colewort-seeds first The Tibaritae saith Simaeus before they drank fenced themselves by feeding on Coleworts Alexis Yesterday thou drank'st too much And now thy head doth ake but such Distemper fasting cures then Eat boil'd Coleworts drink agen And Amphis There is no means can half so well As sudden trouble drink dispel For that will wonderfully cure Eat else Radish that 's as sure They were wont in a vessel of Amethyst to make another remedy for drunkenness that they might drink Wine without danger Athenaeus If you would otherwise hinder the vapours of the Wine drink it well tempered with water for they are soonest drunk that drink strongest Wines Africaâ—â—â— saith If thou have drunk too much eat before meat three or four bitter Almonds they are drying and will drink up the moysture and drive away drunkenness Plutarch relates That there was a Physitian with Drâ—sâ—s who when he had first eaten five or six bitter Almonds he always conquered at the duel of drunkenness The powder of Pumex-stone will do as much if the drinker take that first Theophrastus saith it is dangerous unless he drink abundantly So Eâ—deâ—â—â— drank two and twenty Cups at last he went into a Bath and did not vomit and supped so as if he had drank nothing for by its drying quality it consumes all the moysture and being cast into a vessel of new Wine that works the heat of the Wine is strait allayed There are other things prepated by the Antients to extinguish drunkenness as to eat Lettice at the end of Supper for they are very cold we eat it now first to procure appetite whence Martial writes Why do we first our Lettice eat Our Fathers made it their last meat Dioscorides seems to call it Acrepula because it hinders drunkenness Leeks discuss drunkenness and he that takes Saffron before shall feel no drunkenness There are also Herbs and Flowers that if you make Garlands of them they will hinder drunkenness as Violets Roses and Ivy-berries The ashes of the Bill of a Swallow powdred with Myrrhe and strewed into the Wine you drink will keep you secure from being drunk Hâ—rus the King of Assyria found out this invention Pliny I have said how drunkenness may be disposed now I shall shew how men shall abstain That love Wine to refrain it There are many who when they have drank much Wine that is the worst thing in the world for them fall sick and die of it Now if you would refrain and abhor Wine and strong drink because the Fountain Clitorins is too far off let three or four live eels put into the Wine stay there till they die Let one drink of this Wine who is given to drunkenness and he will loath Wine and always hate it and will never drink it again or if he do he will drink but little and with much sobriety Another way wash a Tortois with Wine a good while and give one of that wine to drink privately half a cup full every morning for three days and you shall see a wonderful vertue Myrepsus VVhen one complained before the King of the Indians that he had Sons born to him but when once they began to drink a little wine they all died Jarchus answered him thus It is better for them that they died for had they lived they would have all run mad because they were begot of seed that was too cold Therefore
Wrap the Egg in wax and with an iron point make letters on it as far as to the shell but break it not for 〈…〉 shell with you iron or point or knife it may be detected So aâ—â—â—our Egg one â—ight in strong 〈…〉 depart which separates gold from 〈◊〉 in the morning take away the wax and take off the Egg-shellâ— cover and hold the shell between your eye and the light and the letters will be seen very clear quite through the 〈…〉 The same is done with the juice of Lemons for it softeneth the 〈…〉 not and you shall 〈◊〉 your desire Will you 〈…〉 the white yellow and better when the Egg is boyl'd 〈…〉 Egg hard and rowl it in wax and engrave the letters on the wax with an iron 〈◊〉 that the marks may lie open put this Egg into liquor with Aâ—om and Galls 〈…〉 then put it into sharp Vinegar and they will 〈…〉 and taking off the 〈◊〉 you shall see them in the white of the Egg. 〈…〉 and alom with vinegar till they be as thick 〈◊〉 with this 〈◊〉 what you will 〈◊〉 in Egg and when the writing is dried in the Sun put it 〈…〉 dry it 〈◊〉 it and 〈◊〉 off the shell and you shall read the writinâ—◠〈◊〉 put it into vinegar and 〈…〉 nothing of it Perhaps he means by pickle 〈…〉 The cause is this the Egg-shell is porous and hath large holes which is 〈◊〉 for being set up the fire it will sweat and water will come forth and looking at it against 〈…〉 will 〈◊〉 clear so then 〈◊〉 being subtile peâ—â—rates by the pâ—res and 〈◊〉 the shell 〈…〉 and when it is mingled with the Alom Galls it 〈…〉 them appear on the white and when it is put into 〈…〉 to be hard as it was But observe it must not 〈◊〉 long in vinegar for that will eat off all the shell and will leave the Egg bare having nothing 〈…〉 to cover it and if you put that into cold water the shell will not come again If 〈◊〉 will know How letters writ with water maybe seen in an Egg Dissolve 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 and writ 〈…〉 dry it and nothing will be seen If you will read 〈◊〉 dissolve Galls 〈…〉 steep the Egg therein or 〈◊〉 with Lime-water 〈◊〉 Egg and 〈…〉 Brasil is infused and so the letters will seem to be 〈…〉 upon the shell and steep it in water 〈◊〉 vitriol 〈…〉 is dry 〈…〉 and nothing will be seen when you afterwards steep it in the 〈◊〉 wine white letters will appear in a black shell I will shew How letters may become visible upon an Egg by the fire Write on the Egg with juice of Lemmons or Onyons or Fig-milkâ— when you put this to the fire the Letters will appear yellow and that must be done on a raw Egg for if you boyl it the letters will be seen That letters may be seen on the Egg shell by dust Make letters on the shell with vinegar suet fig-tree milk or of Tithymal or with gums when you would have them seen rub them with cole-dust or burnt straw or paper and they will seem black There is a way How to put a letter into an Egg. Make your letter that you send narrow and long searce broader then your middle-finger write your minde in short characters and with the edge of a knife make a cut in the Egg and break the inward skin and put in your letter at one end by degrees for it will easily take it in were it ten hands breadth then stop the cut with lime and gum mingled that it may not be seen and with Ceruss and 〈…〉 for then it is impossible to discern it But if you will have this done more neatly put the egge in sharp vinegar three or four hours and when you finde it soft 〈…〉 the shell with the edge of your knife put in your roll of paper then soak it in 〈…〉 and the shell will grow as hard as it was CHAP. V. How you may write in divers places and 〈…〉 I Have shewed you diâ—â—â—s ways of writing invisible now I come to those ways that will teach you to write letters on divers things which though they be visible and intercepted yet the Reader will be deceived by their secret device First How to write 〈…〉 Let us see how they did this in elder times 〈…〉 That when the Lacedemonâ—â—â— writ to their 〈◊〉 that their 〈…〉 being intercepted by the enemies might not be read invented this kinde of writing yet it is referred to Archimedes to be the 〈◊〉 of it Twâ— sticks must be 〈…〉 and polished with the Turners in 〈◊〉 they must be equal for 〈…〉 and thickness One of these was given to the 〈◊〉 when he 〈…〉 and the 〈◊〉 was kept at home 〈…〉 Senate 〈…〉 a page 〈…〉 about the stick as large as 〈◊〉 the matter 〈…〉 might make a round volume and the sides of it were 〈…〉 that they were like a collar that exactly fitted the wood and no 〈…〉 that thus was rolled about the stick they writ letters 〈…〉 collar thus written on being long and narrow 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 the General for they thought if it was â—â—â—â—â—scepted by the 〈…〉 when they 〈◊〉 bits of letters and 〈…〉 of words 〈◊〉 at divided they 〈…〉 discern the thing and they were not deceived 〈…〉 fell among 〈…〉 the enemy did not imagine any thing was 〈…〉 let them 〈…〉 as with a thing done as all adventures and insignificant but he to whom it was writ applied this band and rolled it about as it was 〈…〉 upon and 〈…〉 words lay joyn'd as they should be and so be knew the message The Greeks call this khird of writing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch saith 〈…〉 was brought to Lysander by Hellespont But I invenâ—â—◠〈…〉 make two small sticks alike great and round one we give to our friend that 〈◊〉 far from us and hold the other by us let us make them stick so 〈◊〉 together that they may joyn and seem to be as onâ— and the wood not 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 should be and write long-ways on the stick what you please the 〈…〉 more lines will they receive If you first steep 〈…〉 is dissolved the Ink will not spread but the letterâ— will 〈…〉 â—ake your Threed that is about the â—â—ick and 〈…〉 to keep 〈…〉 secret 〈…〉 the edges of napkins or 〈…〉 your 〈…〉 for the curious watch shall discern nothing 〈…〉 our friend winding the Threed about the 〈…〉 to make the points 〈…〉 the tops and agree well shall easily read them I will shew How to write on Parchment that the Letters may not be seen When you have writ on Parchment put it to the light of a candle or to the fire and it will all crumple and run together and be nothing like what it was if a man look on it he will hardly suspect any fraud If he desires to read what is in it let him lay it on moyst places or sprinkle it gently with water and it will be
some hours and so let it stand and stir it not Now I will shew How a foil is put upon a Concave Glass But it is more laborious to lay a foil on a Concave-Glass Prepare then a foil of the bigness of your Glass that you shall lay upon the Convex superficies and holding it fast with a finger of your left hand upon the Centre with your right hand you shall fit the foil round about and shall extend it on the said superficies until it become of the same form with that convex superficies and stick every where even unto it Then of moist Gyp shall you prepare a form of the Glass namely by pouring Gyp upon the Convex superficies and when the Gyp is dry you have the form Upon the form extend a foil of Tin and let it agree perfectly with the form every where because the form and the foil are made after the same superficies strew quick-silver upon the foil and as I said make it stick by means of a Hares foot The Artists call this Avâ—vare put paper upon it and pressing this upon the Glass take away the paper when you know it sticks fast take away your hand and lay on a weight and after â—â—ke it away but with a careful balancing of your hand lest it take wind and that the quick silver may all stick fast every where Now remains how To terminate Convex-Glasses Make Glass Balls but of pure Glass and without bladders as much as you can as the receivers for distillations and from the hollow iron that it is blown in by let this liquid moisture be projected namely of Antimony and Lead but the Antimony must be melted twice or thrice and purged and cast Colophonia in So stir the mixture in the hollow vessel and what remains cast forth and so in Germany they make Convex-Glasses CHAP. XXIII How Metal Looking-Glasses are made BUt Metal-Glasses are made another way Wherefore if a Parabolical-Glass be to be made draw a Parabolical line upon a brass or wooden Table what is without it must be filed away that it may be equal smooth and polished fasten it upon an Axis in the middle and fit it with Instruments that may be fitly turned about let there be clay with straw under it made up with dung that the Table being turned about it may receive a Concave form exactly then let it dry strew ashes upon it and plaister clay above that of a convenient thickness let it dry by the fire or if you will by heat of the Sun take it off for it will easily part from the ashes unite them together that as much space may be between both forms as you think fit for the thickness of the Glass when it is dry cover it with this leaving an open orifice on the top and some breathing places that the Air may breathe forth at it Then make such a mixture let them be put into a new pot that will endure the fire and lute it well within that it may hold the faster let it dry well and do this twice or thrice over set it to the fire and melt in it two pounds of Tartar and as many of white Arsenick when you see them fume pour in fifty pounds of old brass often used and let it melt six or seven times that it may be pure and cleansed then adde twenty five pounds of English Pewter and let them melt together draw forth some little of the mixture with some Iron and try it whether it be brittle or hard if it be brittle put in more Brass if too hard put in Pewter or else let it boil that some part of the Pewter may evaporate when it is come to the temper it should be cast upon it two ounces of Borax and let it alone till it dissolve into smoke then cast it into your Mold and let it cool When it is cool rub it with a Pumice-stone then with powder of Emril When you see that the superficies is perfectly polished and equal rub it over with Tripolis Lastly make it bright and shining with burnt Tin most adde a third part of Pewter to the Brass that the mass may be the harder and become more perspicuous THE EIGHTEENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Treating of things heavy and light THE PROEME MAny miracles worth relating and to be contemplated do offer themselves when I begin to describe heavy and light and these things may be applied to very necessary and profitable uses and if any man shall more deeply consider these things he may invent many new things that may be employed for very profitable ends Next after these follow wind Instruments that are almost from the same reason CHAP. I. That heavy things do not descend in the same degree of gravity nor light things ascend BEfore I shall come to what I intend to demonstrate I must premise somethings necessary and set down some actions without the knowledge whereof we can make no proof nor demonstration I call that heavy that descends to the Centre and I say it is so much the heavior the sooner it descends contrarily that is light that ascends from the Centre and the lighter that ascends soonest I say that bodies yield one to the other and do not penetrate one the other as wine and water and other liquors Moreover this action must be premised that there is no body that is heavy in its own kind as water in the element of water or Air in Air. Also vacuum is so abhorred by Nature that the world would sooner be pulled asunder than any vacuity can be admitted and from this repugnancy of vacuum proceeds almost the cause of all wonderful things which it may be I shall shew in a Book on this Subject It is the force of vacuum that makes heavy things ascend and light things descend contrary to the rule of Nature so necessary it is that there can be nothing in the world without a Body Therefore these things being premised I shall descend to somethings And first a most heavy body shut up in a vessel whose mouth is turned downwards into some liquor that is heavior or of the same kind I say it will not descend Let the vessel turned with the mouth downwards be A B filled with water the mouth of it beneath must be put into a broad mouth'd vessel C D full of water be it with the same liquor or with another that is heavior I say the water will not descend out of the vessel A B. For should the water contained in the vessel A B descend it must needs be heavior than the water contain'd in the broad mouth'd vessel C D which I said was of the same kind or heavior if then it should fall down it would be against the first action The same would fall out if both vessels were filled with wine or water For if the water contained in the vessel A B should descend into the place of C D there would remain vacuity in A being there is
vessel turned downwards touch the upper part of the lower liquor that no Air may enter for then the water will presently descend into the vessel underneath and the lighter part of the mingled liquor will ascend and the water will sink down and if it be all wine it will all ascend no wine will stay with the water if any thing stay behind you must know that so much water was mingled with the wine which may easily be known by the smell and taste if you do it as it should be done Then take a vessel that will hold more of the same liquor and put it into a vessel underneath till it takes it all in whence by the proportion of the wine ascended and of the water any man may know easily how much water is mingled with the wine But for convenience let the Vial that shall hold the water be of a round belly and the hole not very great and let the vessel under that contains the wine have a narrow mouth that the upper round mouth may the better joyn with the undermost and no Air come in But because it happeneth oft that the upper Ball when it hath drank in all the wine the wine will not fill it and we would part the water from the wine take therefore the round Glass in your hand and turn it about with the mouth upwards then will the wine presently turn about and come uppermost which may be a tongue laid in be all call'd forth Be careful to see when the wine is all drawn out remove the tongue and the water will remain pure CHAP. IV. How otherwise you may part water from wine I Can do this another way not by levity and gravity as I said but by thinness and thickness for water is the thinnest of all liquors because it is simple but wine being coloured and colour comes from the mixture of the Elements it is more corpulent Wherefore to part wine from water we must provide a matter that is full of holes and make a vessel thereof into which the wine poured with the water may drean forth for the water will drean forth through the pores of the matter that is opened by a minglâ—â— and corpulent body And though many kinds of wood be fit yet Ivy is the best because it is full of pores and chinks wherefore if you make a vessel of Ivy wood that is green and pour into it wine mingled with water the water will in a short time drean out Yet I see that all the Antients and modern Writers thought the contrary yet both reason and experience are against them For Gaeto saith If you would know whether there be water put to your wine make a vessel of Ivy put your wine you think is mixed with water into it if there be any water the wine will run forth and the water stay behind for an Ivy vessel will hold no wine And Pliny from him The Ivy is said to be wonderful for proof of wine If a vessel be made of Ivy-wood the wine will run forth and the water will stay behind if any were mingled with it Whereupon both of them are to be noted for a two sold error because they say it comes from the wonderful faculty of the Ivy whereas every porous wood can do the same Again he saith that the wine will run forth and the water stay behind whereas it is the contrary But Democritus thought what was truest and more probable who used not an Ivy vessel but one full of holes saith he they pour it into a new earthen pot not yet seasoned and hang it up for two days the pot saith he will leak if any water be mingled with it Democritas used another Art for the same purpose Some stop the mouth of the vessel with a new Spunge dipt in Oyl and incline it and let it run forth if there be water in it onely the water will run forth which experiment also he useth in Oyl For the Spunge is full of holes and open enough and being dipt in Oyl that hinders that the liquor cannot run forth so easily Africanus adds another reason Put liquid Alom into a vessel of wine then stop the mouth with a Spunge dipt in Oyl and incline it and let it run forth for nothing but the water will run out For the Alom binds the liquors that they drean forth very slowly CHAP. V. Another way to part a light body mingled with a heavy I Have another Art to seperate a light body from a heavy or wine from water or by another way Make a linnen tongue or of bombast and dip it into the vessel where wine is mingled with water and let the tongue swim above without the liquor and ascend above it and so hang pendulous out of the vessel for the lighter liquor will ascend by the tongue and drop on the outside but when the lighter ascends it attracts the heavy also wherefore when you see the colour change take the vessel away for the water runs forth It is evident that the wine being lighter will always ascend to the top of the vessel and run forth by the tongue though all Vintners say the contrary that the water will run forth by the tongue and that the wine will stay within CHAP. VI. How light is mingled in heavy or heavy in light VVE can easily know whether any light matter is mingled with heavy or any heavy matter with light And I will expound the manner out of Archimedes his Book concerning thingâ— that swim above water the cause whereof is that if Wood stone or any heavy Metal be equal in weight to the same quantity of water the utmost superficies oâ— the body will be equal with the superficies of the water if it weigh heavior it will sink to the bottom if it be lighter the lighter it is then the water so much of it will swim above the watâ—â— Since therefore this is true and wine is heavior then water one and the same thing will sink more in wine than in water and in thicker water the less Wherefore vessels are more drown'd in River than in the Sea for sea-Sea-water is thicker and more heavy by reason of its salt mingled with it as also we have it in Alexander If therefore you would know Whether water be mingled with wine Put the wine you suspect to be mingled with water into some vessel and put an Apple or Pear into it if the Apple sink the wine is pure but if it floâ—e the wine hath water mingled with it because water is thicker than wine Which Democritus saith is contrary and false He saith it is necessary sometimes to commit the Care of the wine of new wine to Stewards and Servants also the Merchant hath the like reason to try whether his wine be pure They use to cast an Apple into the vessel but wilde Pears are the best others cast in a Locust others a Grashopper and if they swim it is pure wine but
if they sink it is mingled with water But if you seek to know If new wine have any water mingled with it it will be the contrary for the contrary reason For wine that is pure and sincere is thin but new wine at first is thick feculent gross clammy because the feces are not yet sunk down but in time it will grow clear and thin Wherefore if you put Apples or Pears into new wine and the new wine be most pure the Apples will flote above it but if there be water mingled with it â—he Apples will sink to the bottom for freeze-water is thinner than new wiâ—e and lighter iâ—â—â—useth the Apple to sink which is excellent well described by Sotion and very curiously He saith That we may know whether new wine be mingled with water cast wilde Pears that is green ones into new wine and if there be any water they will sink to the bottom For when you fill the vessel with new wine if you cast in Services or Pears they will swim the more water you put to it the more will the Apple sink But we shall adde this for an addition When new wine is mingled with water to know which part is the best the upper or lower part The Country people use after the pressing forth of the wine when the clusters are pressed forth to caâ—â— in a certain quantity of water and so they make drink for laborers in the Countrey This new wine they divide the Country man hath half and the Landlord the other half The question is which part is the best the first or last that runs forth of the press But if you well remember what I said before the wine being the lightest will come uppermost and the water being heaviest will always sink to the bottom Wherefore the first that comes forth is the wine that which remains and is pressed from the clusters is watry When water is cast on the clusters it goes into the inmost parts of the Grapes and draws forth the wine that is in them and so they mingle but being lighter it chooseth the upper place therefore the upper part is best because it contains most wine but if you turn the Cock beneath the water will first run forth and the wine last CHAP. VII Other ways how to part wine from water THere are other ways to do it as by distilling For in distilling the lightest will ascend first then the heaviest when the fire is not too strong and that is but reason wherefore that the liquor may ascend it must first be attenuated into thin vapours and become lighter therefore wine being thinner than water if it be put in a still in Balneo the lightest vapour of wine will ascend by degrees and fall into the receiver You shall observe the Aqua vitae that distills into the vessel and by the quantity of that you may judge of the proportion of water mingled with the wine Also note that when the lightest part of the wine is ascended the heavy feces remain as water or as part of the wine Oft-times in our distillations when Aqua vitae was distilled in Balneo by chance the vessel brake that contain'd the Aqua vitae and mingled with the water in the kettle I put the mingled liquor into a Glass vessel and putting a soft fire to it first came forth the pure Aqua vitae simple without any water the water stayed in the bottom and kept not so much as the smell of the Aqua vitae By the veins running in the cup I knew the water ascended I will not omit though it be for another reason for pleasure and ingenuity to shew The manner to part water from wine that by this means we may know how much water is mingled in the vessel Take the quantity of the wine and put it into a Glass Vial and put the Vial into very cold water that all that is in the Vial may freeze as I shew'd If the wine be sincere and pure it will be the harder to freeze and longer if it have much water it will freeze the sooner When the wine is frozen break the Vial upon a dish the ice must melt by degrees first the wine because that is hotter than the water will remain frozen Part the wine from it for it will be longer thawing by proportion of this you may know what part of water was put into the vessel CHAP. VIII How the levity in the water and the air is different and what cunning may be wrought thereby NOw I will speak of heavy and light otherwise than I spake before namely how it is in the air and how in the water and what speculation or profit may rise from thence And first how we may know whether a Metal be pure or mingled with other Metals as Gold and Silver as in Gilded cups or else in moneys where Silver or Gold is mingled with Brass and what is their several weights which speculation is useful not onely for Bankers but also for Chymists when they desire to try Metals in fixing of Silver or other operations which I will attempt to declare plainly But first I will see whether the Antients speak any thing hereof Vitruvius saith Archimedes did write of this For when Hiero purposed to offer a Golden Crown to the Gods in the Temple he put it to the Goldsmith by weight he made the work curiously and maintain'd it for good to the King and by weight it seemed to be just but afterwards it was said that he had stoln part of the Gold and made up the Crown with Silver to the full weight Hiero enraged at this this bad Archimedes to consider of it He then by chance coming into a Bath when he had descended into it he observed that as much of his body as went into the Bath so much water ran over the Bath when he considered the reason of it he leaped forth for joy running home and crying Eureka Eureka that is I have found it I have found it Then they say he made to lumps of equal weight with the Crown one of Gold the other of Silver then he filled a large vessel to the very brims with water and he put in the lump of Silver the bigness of that thrust into the water made the water run over wherefore taking out the lump what flowed over he put in again having measured a sixt part and he found what certain quantity of water answered to the quantity of the Silver then he put in the lump of Gold into the full vessel and taking that forth by the same reason he found that not so much water ran forth but so much less of the body of the Gold was less than the same weight in Silver Then he filled the vessel with water and put in the Crown and he found that more water ran forth by reason of the Crown than for the mass of Gold of the same weight and from thence because more water run over by reason of
the Crown than for the Gold lump he reasoned that there must be a mixture in the Crown This was the Greeks invention that is worthy of praise but the operation is difficult for in things of small quantity the theft cannot be discerned nor can this reason appear so clear to the eye where the obsolute fashion of the vessel was wanting Now a way is invented how for all money be it never so small we can tell presently and we want not many instruments that we may cry We have overfounded Vpereureka Vpereureka we have gone beyond Archimedes his Eureka The way is this To know any part of Silver mingled with Gold Take a perfect ballance and put in one scale any Metal in the other as much of the same Metal but the purest of its kind and when the scales hang even in the Air put them into a vessel full of water and let them down under water about half a foot Then will it be a strange wonder for the ballances that hang equal in the Air will change their nature in the water and will be unequal for the impure Metal will be uppermost and the pure will sink to the bottom The reason is because pure Gold compared with that kind is heavior than all impure Gold because pure Gold taketh less place wherefore it will way heavior by the former reason If then we would know how much Silver is in that Gold put as much pure Gold in the other scale as will make the ballances equal under the waters when they are equal take them up and the weight you added under water will be the weight of the mixture If you would know how much Gold is upon a vessel Gilded put the Cup in one scale and as much pure Silver in the other that the scales may hang equal in the Air then put them into the water and the vessel will sink down put into the other scale as much pure Gold as will make them equal under water draw them forth and that is the weight of the Gilt of the plate You shall do the same for Silver Brass Iron white or black Lead But would you know whether in Money Brass be mingled with Silver or Coin be adulterated with Copper put the Money into one scale and as much of the finest Silver into the other ballance them equal then put them under the water the Money will go down adde as much Brass as will make the scales equal then take them forth and it will be the weight of the mixture Now will I set the weighâ—s of Metals how much they weigh more in the waters than in the Air whereby without any other experiment we may know mixtures An Iron-ball that weighed nighteen ounces in the Air will weigh fifteen in the waters whence it is that a Ball of the same magnitude must owe three ounces to the water wherefore the proportion of Iron in the Air to the same in the waters is as fifteen to nineteen A Leaden Bullet of the same magnitude weighs 31 ounces in the Air in the water but 27 A Marble Bullet little less for bulk weighs 7 in the Air and 5 in the water Copper weighs 16 in the Air and 12 in the waters Silver weighs in the Air 125 in the waters 113 Brass in the Air weighs 65 Karats and one grain in the waters 50 Karats and two grains Crown Gold in the Air weighs 66 grains in the waters 6â— Gold called Zechini in the Air weighs 17 Karats under water 16 Karats Tâ—rkish Ducat Gold weighs in the Air 34 under waters 32 Common French Crown Gold weighs in the Air 67 under waters 60 Common Crown Gold of Hungary that is old in the Air weighs 17 in the water 16 Crown Gold of Tartary weighs 16 in the Air and 14 under water THE NINETEENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Concerning VVind-Instruments THE PROEME I Have spoken concerning light and heavy now follow experiments by wind for these seem to follow the reasons of Mathematicks and of the Air and water and a Philosopher who seeks to find things profitable and admirable for mans use must insist on these things contemplate and search them out in no thing doth the Majesty of Nature shine forth more There are extant the famous Monuments of the most learned Heron of Alexandria concerning wind Instruments I will adde some that are new to give an occasion to search out greater matters CHAP. I. Whether material Statues may speak by any Artificial way I Have read that in some Cities there was a Colassus of Brass placed on a mighty high Pillar which in violent tempests of wind from the nether parts received a great blast that was carried from the mouth to a Trumpet that it blew strongly or else sounded some other Instrument which I believe to have been easie because I have seen the like Also I read in many men of great Authority that Albertus Magnus made a head that speak Yet to speak the truth I give little credit to that man because all I made trial of from him I found to be false but what he took from other men I will see whether an Image can be made that will speak Some say that Albertus by Astrological elections of times did perform this wonderful thing but I wonder how learned men could be so guld for they know the Stars have no such forces Some think he did it by Magick Arts. And this I credit least of all since there is no man that professeth himself to know those Arts but Impostors and Mountebanks whilst they cheit ignorant men and simple women nor do I think that the Godly man would profess ungodly Arts. But I suppose it may be done by wind We see that the voice or a sound will be conveighed entire through the Air and that not in an instant but by degrees in time We see that Brass-guns which by the force of Gun-powder make a mighty noise if they be a mile off yet we see the flame much before we hear the sound So hand-Guns make a report that comes at a great distance to us but some minutes of time are required for it for that is the nature of sounds Wherefore sounds go with time and are entire without interruption unless they break upon some place The Eccho proves this for it strikes whole against a wall and so rebounds back and is reflected as a beam of the Sun Moreover as I said in this work words and voices go united together and are carried very far entire as they are spoken at first These therefore being laid down for true grounds if any man shall make leaden Pipes exceeding long two or three hundred paces long as I have tried and shall speak in them some or many words they will be carried true through those Pipes and be heard at the other end as they came from the speakers mouth wherefore if that voice goes with time hold entire if any man as the words are spoken shall stop the
end of the Pipe and he that is at the other end shall do the like the voice may be intercepted in the middle and be shut up as in a prison and when the mouth is opened the voice will come forth as out of his mouth that spake it but because such long Pipes cannot be made without trouble they may be bent up and down like a Trumpet that a long Pipe may be kept in a small place and when the mouth is open the words may be understood I am now upon trial of it if before my Book be Printed the business take effect I will set it down if not if God please I shall write of it elsewhere CHAP. II. Of Instruments Musical made with water OLd Water-Instruments were of great esteem but in our days the use is worn out Yet we read that Nero took such delight in them that when his Life and Empire were in danger amongst the seditions of Souldiers and Commanders and all was in imminent danger he would not forsake the care of them and pleasure he took in them Vitruvius teacheth us how they were made but so obscurely and mystically that what he says is very little understood I have tryed this by many and sundry ways by mingling air with water which placing in the end of a Pipe or in my mouth where the breath of the mouth strikes against the air and though this made a pleasant noise yet it kept no tune For whilst the water bubbles and trembles or warbles like a Nitingale the voice is changed in divers tunes one note is sweet and pleasant two squele and jar But this way it will make a warbling sound and keep the tune Let there be made a Brass bottom'd Chest for the Organ wherein the wind must be carried let it behalf full of water let the wind be made by bellows or some such way that must run through a neck under the waters but the spirit that breaks forth of the middle of the water is excluded into the empty place when therefore by touching of the keys the stops of the mouths of the Pipes are opened the trembling wind coming into the Pipes makes very pleasant trembling sounds which I have tried and found to be true CHAP. III. Of some Experiments by Wind-Instruments NOw will I proceed to the like Wind-Instruments but of divers sorts that arise by reason of the air and I shall shew how it is dilated contracted rarified by fire condensed by cold If you will That a vessel turned downwards shall draw in the water do thus Make a vessel with a very long neck the longer it is the greater wonder it will seem to be Let it be of transparent Glass that you may see the water running up fill this with boiling water and when it is very hot or setting the bottom of it to the fire that it may not presently wax cold the mouth being turned downwards that it may touch the water it will suck it all in So such as search out the nature of things say That by the Sun beams the water is drawn up from the Concave places of the Earth to the tops of Mountains whence fountains come forth And no small Arts arise from hence for Wind-Instruments as Heron affirms Vitruvius speaks the like concerning the original of Winds but now it is come to be used for houses For so may be made A vessel to cast forth wind You may make Brass Bowles or of some other matter let them be hollow and round with a very small hole in the middle that the water is put in at if this be use the former experiment when this is set at the fire it grows hot and being it hath no other vent it will blow strongly from thence but the blast will be moist and thick and of an ill savour You may also make A vessel that shall cast forth water There is carried about with us a Glass vessel made Pyramidal with a very narrow long mouth with which it casts water verâ— faâ— off That it may draw water suck out the air with your mouth as much as you can and presently thrust the mouth into the water for it will draw the water into it do so until a third part of it be filled with water When you will spouâ— the water afar off fill the vessel with air blowing into it as hard as you can presently take it from your mouth and incline the mouth of the vessel that the water may run to the mouth and stop the air and the air striving to break forth will cast the water out a great way But if you will without attraction of Air make water fly far with it heat the bottom of the vessel a little for the air being rarefied seeks for more place and striving to break forth drives the water before it Thus â—runkard making a little hole in a vessel of wine because the wine will not run out the mouth beinâ— stopt whereby the air might enter they will blow hard into that hole then as they leave off the wine will come forth in as great quantity as the air blowed in was Now I will shew How to make water ascend conveniently We can make water rise to the top of a Tower Let there be a leaden Pipe that may come from the bottom to the top of the Tower and go down again from the top to the bottom as a Conduit let one end stand in the water that we desire should rise the other end that must be longer and hang down lower must be fastned into a vessel of wood or earth that it may take no air at all let it have a hole above the vessel whereby the vessel may be filled with water and then be stopt perfectly Set a vessel on the top of the Tower as capacious as that beneath and the leaden pipe now spoke of must be fastned at one end of the vessel and go forth at the other end and must be in the upper part of the vessel and let the pipe be divided in the middle within the vessel and where the pipe enters and where the pipe goes out they must be joynted that they take no air when therefore we would have the water to ascend fill the vessel beneath with water and â—â—op it close that it take no air then opening the lower hole of the vessel the water will run forth for that part of water that runs out of the vessel will cause as much to rise up at the other end by the other leaden pipe and ascend above the Towâ—r the water drawn forth is filled up again we may make out use of it and the hole being stopt the lower vessel may be filled again with water and so doing we shall make the water to escend a ways We may also By heat alone make the water rise Let there be a vessel above the Tower either of Brass Clay or Wood Brass is best let there be a pipe in the middle of it that may
descend down to the water beneath and be set under it but fastned that it take no air let the vessel above be made hot by the Sun or fire for the air that is contained in the vessel rarefies and breathes forth whereupon we shall see the water rise into bubbles when the Sun is gone and the vessel grows cold the air is condensed and because the air included cannot fill up the vacuity the water is called in and ascends thither CHAP. IV. A discription of water Hour-glasses wherein Wind or Water-Instruments for to shew the Hours are described THe Antients had Hour-Dials made by water and Water-Dials were usual and famous Heron of Alexandria writ Books of Water-Dials but they are lost I have writ a Book of them and that this part may not be deficient I shall shew two that are made by contraries one by blowing in the air the other by sucking it out This shall be the first A Water-Dial Take a vessel of Glass like a Urinal it is described by the letters AB On the top is A where there is a very small hole that the point of a needle can scarce enter it at the bottom neer the mouth let there be set a staff EF that in the middle hath a firm Pillar going up to the very top of the vessel let the Pillar be divided with the Hour-lines Let there be also a wooden or earthen vessel GH full of water Upon the superficies of that water place the Glass vessel AB that by its weight will press toward the bottom but the air included within the vessel keeps it from going down then open the little hole A whereby the air going forth by degrees the vessel will gradually descend also Then make by another Dial the marks on the staff CD which descending will afterwards shew the Hourmarks When therefore the vessel goes to the bottom of the wooden vessel the Dial is done and it is the last Hour But when you would have your Dial go again you must have a crooked empty pipe OK the upper mouth K must be stopt with the finger K so K being stopt with the finger that the air may not enter sink it under the water that it may come within the vessel AB then put your mouth to K and blow into it for that will raise the vessel upward and it will come to its former place and work again I shall also describe for my minds sake Another Water-Dial contrary to the former namely by sucking in the air Let there be a Glass vessel like to a Urinal as I said AB and being empty set fast on it the vessel CD that it cannot sink down then fill it with water as far as B Let there be a hole neer the top E wherefore sucking the air by the hole E the water comes into the vessel AB from the vessel CD and will rise as high as FG when therefore AB is full of water stop the hole E that no air enter and the water will fall down again In the top of the vessel AB let there be another very small hole that the air may come in by degrees and so much as there comes in of air so much water will go forth On the superficies of the vessel make Hour-lines that may snew the Hours marked 1 2 3 c. or if you will let the Still fastned to a Cork swim on the top of the water and that will shew the Hours marked on the outside of the vessel CHAP. V. A description of Vessels casting forth water by reason of Air. NOw I will describe some Fountains or Vessels that by reason of air cast forth water and though Heron ingeniously described some yet will I set down some others that are artifically found out by me and other men Here is described A Fountain that casts forth water by compression of the Air Let there be a vessel of water-work close every where AB make a hole through the middle and let a little pipe CD go up from the bottom of the water-work vessel D so far from the bottom that the water may run forth Upon the superficies of the Tympanum let there be C a very little hole with a cover to it or let it have as the Greeks call it Smerismation to shut and open it handsomely and in the upper surface of the Tympanum bore the basis quite through with a little pipe which enters into the hollow of the Tympanum and having in the hole beneath a broad piece of leather or brass that the air coming in may not go back wherefore pour in water at E that it may be three fingers above the bottom then blow in air as vehemently as you can when it is well pressed in shut the mouth then opening the mouth A the water will fly up aloft until the air be weak I at Venice made a Tympanum with pipes of Glass and when the water was cast forth very far the Lord Estens much admired it to see the water fly so high and no visible thing to force it I also made another place neer this Fountain that let in light and when the air was extenuated so long as any light lasted the Fountain threw out water which was a thing of much admiration and yet but little labor To confirm this there is An Artifice whereby a hand-Gun may shoot a bullet without fire For by the air onely pressed is the blast made Let there be a hand Gun that is made hollow and very smooth which may be done with a round instrument of lead and with Emril-powder beaten rubbing all the parts with it Then you must have a round Instrument that is exactly plained on all parts that may perfectly go in at the mouth of the wind Gun and so fill it that no air may come forth let it be all smeer'd with oyl for the oyl by its grossness hinders any air to come forth So this lead Bullet being put into the Guns mouth and thrust down with great force and dexterity then presently take away your hands but you must first shut the little hole that is in the bottom of the hole and the bullet and little stick will fall to the bottom and by the violence of the air pressed together it will cast out the Bullet a great way and the stick too which is very strange Also I will make A Vessel wherewith as you drink the liquor shall be sprinkled about your face Make a vessel of Pewter or Silver like to a Urinal then make another vessel in the fashion of a Tunnel or a round Pyramis let their mouths be equal and joyn'd perfectly together for they must be of the same bredth let the spire of it be distant from the bottom of the Urinal a fingers breadth and let it be open then pour water into the vessel and fill the Urinal unto the hole of the spire end and fill the Tunnel to the top and the rest of the Urinal will be empty
because the air hath no place to get forth when therefore any man drinks when the water is drank up as far as the hole of the spire end by the air pressed within is the water thrust violently forth and flies in the face of him that drinks Also there is a vessel that no man can drink out of it but he who knows the art Make an earthen or metal vessel in form of a Bottle or Flagon and make it full of holes from the neck to the middle of the belly From the bottom let a pipe ascend by the handle of the vessel and the handle being round about it let it come above the brims of the vessel empty under the handle in a place not seen make a little hole that any man holding the vessel by the handle may with his finger stop and unstop this hole when he please under the brim of the vessel where you set it to your mouth let there be another secret hole Then pour water into the vessel if now any man put the bottle to his mouth and raiseth it to drink the water will run forth at the neck that is open and at the belly but he that knows the trick taking the vessel by the handle shuts the hole with his thumb and not moving the vessel he draws the air with his mouth for the water follows the air and so he drinks it all up but if any man suck and shut not the hole the water will not follow CHAP. VI. That we may use the Air in many Arts. VVE may use Air in many Artifices I shall set down some that I may give a hint to others to invent more And chiefly How wind may be made in a chamber that guests may almost freeze Make a deep pit and put in a sufficient quantity of river or running water let the pit be close stopt onely let a pipe convey it through the walls that it may be brought into the chamber Let the water be let down into the pit by a kind of Tunnel lest the air should come forth at the place where it goes in by the water is the air of the pit expelled and comes by the pipe into the chamber that not onely those that sleep there but such as converse there are extream cold and benummed I will shew How Air may serve for Bellows I saw this at Rome Make a little cellar that 's close on all sides pour in by a Tunnel from above a quantity of water on the top of the wall let there be a little hole at which the air may break forth with violence for it will come so forcibly that it will kindle a fire and serve for bellows for Brass and Iron-melting furnaces the Tunnel being so made that when need is it may be turned and water may be put in THE TWENTIETH BOOK OF Natural Magick The Chaos wherein the Experiments are set down without any Classical Order THE PROEME I Determined at the beginning of my Book to write Experiments that are contain'd in all Natural Sciences but by my business that called me off my mind was hindred so that I could not accomplish what I intended Since therefore I could not do what I would I must be willing to do what I can Therefore I shut up in this Book those Experiments that could be included in no Classes which were so diverse and various that they could not make up a Science or a Book and thereupon I have here heaped them altogether confusedly as what I had overpassed and if God please I will another time give you a more perfect Book Now you must rest content with these CHAP. I. How Sea-water may be made potable IT is no small commodity to mankinde if Sea-water may be made potable In long voyages as to the Indies it is of great concernment For whilst Sea men by reason of tempests are forced to stay longer at Sea than they would for want of water they fall into great danger of their lives Galleys are forced all most every ten days to put in for fresh water and therefore they cannot long wander in enemies countries nor go far for enemies stop their passages Moreover in sea Towns and Islands when they want water as in our days in the Island Malta and in the Syrses Souldiers and Inhabitants endured much hardness and Histories relate many such things Hence I thought it necessary to search curiously whether Sea-water might be made potable But it is impossible to finde out any thing for this how it may be done unless we first finde out the cause of its saltness and what our Ancestors have said concerning that matter especially since Aristotle saith That the salt may easily be taken from the Sea because the sea is not salt of its own Nature but by the Sun that heats the water which draws out of it cold and dry earthly exhalations to the top of it and these being there burnt cause it to be salt when the moist subtile parts are resolved into thin vapors We therefore imitating Nature by raising the thin parts by Chymical Instruments may easily make it sweet For so the Nature of the Sea makes sweet waters for the Rivers There are also veins of the Sea in the deep parts of the earth that are heated by the Sun and the vapours are elevated to the tops of the heighest Mountains where by the cold superficies they meet with they congeal into drops and dropping down by the vaulted roots of Caves they run forth in open streams We first fill a hollow vessel like a great Ball with sea-Sea-water it must have a long neck and a cap upon it that live coles being put under the water may resolve into thin vapors and fill all vacuities being carryed aloft this ill sented grossness when it comes to touch the coldness of the head or cap and meets with the Glass gathers like dew about the skirts of it and so running down the arches of the cap it turns to water and a pipe being opened that pertains to it it runs forth largely and the receiver stands to receive it as it drops so will sweet water come from salt and the salt tarryeth at the bottom of the vessel and three pound of salt water will give two pounds of fresh water but if the cap of the limbeck be of Lead it will afford more water yet not so good For Galen saith That water that runs through pipes of Lead if it be drank will cause an excoriation of the intestines But I found a way How to get a greater quantity of fresh water when we distil salt water Make a cap of earth like to a Pyramis all full of holes that through the holes Urinals of Earth or Glass may be brought in Let their mouths stick forth well luâ—ed that the vapor may not exhale the cap after the fashion of the limbeck must have its pipe at the bottom running round and let it crop forth at the nose of it Set this upon a
waters strew in powder of Penniroyal Leo Baptista Albertus when they take up the water of Nilus muddy if they do but rub the edge of the vessel with an Almond it presently grows clear I tried this to and found it false when common salt is cast into Aqua fortis that parts Gold from Silver the Silver will presently descend We see also that in the making of that they call read Alac casting but Alom into Lye the salt and colour will presently precipitate to the bottom and nothing will remain but clear water We see that milk will curdle with many Herbs which we speak of elsewhere We shall use therefore for this purpose coagulaters and astringents Cooks say That a Spunge put into a pot of salt-salt-water will draw the salt to it but pressed forth again and cast in once more will take it all out So wood wrapt about with fillets of linnen and put into the pot will draw the salt to it Others binde in a clout Wheat-meal and put it into the pot and draw forth the salt Palladius where he speaks of seasoning of wines saith The Greeks bid men keep sea-water that is clean and taken out of the calm sea the year before whose Nature is that in this time it will lose its saltness or bitterness and smell sweet by age It remains to shew How sweet waters may be mended Leo Baptista saith If you place a glazed vessel full of salt and well stopt with lime putting oyl under that no water may penetrate into it that it may hang in the middle of the waters of a Cistern these waters will in no time corrupt Others adde also Quick-silver If water begin to corrupt cast in salt to purge them and if salt be wanting put in some sea-water for so at Venice they draw water from St Nicolas Well for Marriners that go long voyages because it stands so neer the sea and salt lyes hid in it by communicating with those waters We read in Scripture that Elizeus did this who at Jericho or Palestina cast in salt into a Fountain and made it potable water which was before bitter and corrupt If water breeds worms cast in quick Lime and they will dye When we would make wine clear beat the white of an Egge and the troubled wine will descend if you put it in Others cast in the dust that is on the catlings of small nuts and the Spaniards cast in Gyp to make in clear and all these we may use in waters CHAP. II. How to make water of Air. IF all other means fail we may make water of air onely by changing it into air as Nature doth for she makes water of air or vapors Therefore when we want water we may make it of air and do as Nature doth We know when the Sun heats the earth it draws forth the thinnest vapors and carrieth them on high to that region of the air where the cold is those vapors are condensed into drops and fall down in Rain Also we see in summer that in Glass vessels well rinced and that are full of cold water the air by coming to the outermost superficies will presently clow'd the the Glass and make it lose its cleanness a little after it will be all in a dew and swell into bubbles and by degrees these will turn to drops and fall down which have no other reason for them but because the cold air sticking to the Glass grows thick and is changed into water We see also in Chambers at Venice where there windows are made of Glass when a gross and thick vapor sticks to the Glass within and a cold vapor prevails without that within will turn to dew and drop down Again in winter in Brass Guns which are always very cold and are kept in Cellars and vaulted places where men also use to be that the air will grow thick and lighting upon the cold superficies of them they will be all of a dew and drop with water But to say no more Make a large round vessel of Brass and put into it Salt-Peter unrefined what will fill it men call it Solazzo mingled with Ice for these two mixed as I said in this Book make a mighty cold and by shaking them with the wondeful force of the cold they gather air about the vessel and it will presently drop into a vessel underneath A deligent Artist will adde more that he may get a greater quantity of water It sufficeth that I have shewed the way CHAP. III. How one may so alter his face that not so much as his friends shall know him SUch as are taken prisoners or shut up close and desire to escape and such as do business for great men as spies and others that would not be known it is of great moment for them to know how to change their Countenances I will teach them to do it so exactly that their friends and wives shall not know them Great men do not a little enquire for such secrets because those that can dissemble theirown persons have done great matters and lovers have served their Mistresses and Parents have not suspected it Ulisses attempting to know what the Trojans did clothed in counterfeit garments and his face changed did all he would and was not discovered Homer With many scars he did transform his face In servants clothes as from a beggars race He went to Troy And when he desired to know what Penelope and her suters did he transformed himself again I shall shew how this may be done many ways by changing the Garments Hair Countenance Scars Swellings we may so change our Faces that in some places it may rise in bunches in other places it may sink down And first How to dye the Flesh. But to begin with the colouring of the Flesh. The Flesh may be dyed to last so long or to be soon washed out If you will have it soon wash'd off Steep the shells of Walnuts and of Pomegranates in Vinegar four or five days then press them forth by a Press and dye the face for it will make your face as black as an Ethiopian and this will last some days Oyl of honey makes a yellow colour and red and it will last fourteen days or more The fume of Brimstone will discolour the face that it will shew sickly as if one had long kept his bed but it will be soon gone But if you will have it last many days firm and very hardly to come off Use water of Depart that seperates Gold from Silver made of Salt-Peter and Vitriol and especially if it have first corroded any Silver this will last twenty days until the skin be changed But if you will Change the Hair I taught elsewhere how to do this yet I will take the pains to do it again Oyl of honey dyes the Hair of the head and beard of a yellow or red colour and this will hold a moneth But if they be hoary white or yellow we may dye them black with