parts of it were rais'd and heav'd up out of the Bowels of the Earth at the time of that general conflagration and that the greatest quantity of this Sulphur lying about the Center of the Island raised up the Pico to that height at which it is now seen And he sayes that any one upon the place that shall carefully note the scituation and manner of these calcin'd Rocks how they lie will easily be of that mind For he sayes that they lye for three or four miles almost round the bottom of the Pico and in such order one above another almost to the very Sugar-loaf as 't is called as if the whole ground swelling and rising up together by the Ascension of the Brimstone the Torrents and Rivers of it did with a sudden Eruption rowl and tumble them down from the rest of the Rocks especially as was said before to the South-west For on that side from the very top of the Pico almost to the Sea shore lye huge heaps of these burnt Rocks one under another And there remain to this time the very Tracts of the Rivers of Brimstone as they ran over all this quarter of the Island which hath so wasted the ground beyond recovery that nothing can be made to grow there but Broom But on the North side of the Pico few or none of these Stones appear And he concluded hence that the Volcanio discharg'd it self chiefly to the South-west He adds further that Mines of several Mettals were broken and blown up at the same time These calcin'd Rocks resembling some of them Iron-Ore some Silver and others Copper Particularly at a certain place in these South-west parts called the Azuleios being very high Mountains where never any English man but himself that ever he heard of was There are vast quantities of a loose blewish Earth intermixt with blew Stones which have on them yellow rust as that of Copper and Vitriol And likewise many little Springs of Vitriolate waters where he supposes was a Copper Mine And he was told by a Bell-founder of Oratava that out of two Horse loads of this Earth he got as much Gold as made two large Rings And a Portuguez told him who had been in the West-Indies that his opinion was there were as good Mines of Gold and Silver there as the best in the Indies There are likewise hereabout Nitrous Waters and Stones covered with a deep Saffron colour'd rust and tasting of Iron And further he mentions a Friend of his who out of two lumps of Earth or Ore brought from the top of this side the Mountain made two Silver-spoons All this he confirms from the late instance of the Palme Island eighteen leagues from Tenariffa where a Volcanio was fired about twelve years since the violence whereof made an Earthquake in this Island so great that he and others ran out of their houses fearing they would have fallen upon their heads They heard the noise of the Torrents of flaming Brimstone like Thunder and saw the fire as plain by night for about six weeks together as a Candle in the room And so much of the Sand and Ashes brought from thence by the Wind with Clouds fell on his Hat as fill'd a Sand box for his Inkhorn In some part of this Island there grows a crooked Shrub which they call Legnan which they bring for England as a sweet Wood There are likewise Abricots Peaches c. in Standard which bear twice a year Pear-trees also which are as pregnant Almonds of a tender shell Palms Plantains Oranges and Lemmons especially the Pregnadas which have small ones in their bellies from whence they are so denominated Also they have Sugar Canes and a little Cotton Colloquintida c. The Roses blow at Christmas There are good Carnations and very large but Tulips will not grow or thrive there Sampier clothes the Rocks in abundance and a kind of Clover the Ground Another Grass growing neer the Sea which is of a broader leaf so luscious and rank as it will kill a Horse that eats of it but no other Cattle Eighty ears of Wheat have been found to spring from one root but it grows not very high The Corn of this is transparent and bright like to the purest yellow Amber and one bushel hath produc'd one hundred and thirty in a seasonable year The Canary birds which they bring to us in England breed in the Barancos or Gills which the Water hath fretted away in the Mountains being places very cold There are also Quails Partridges larger than ours and exceeding beautiful great Wood-pigeons Turtles at Spring Crows and sometimes from the Coast of Barbary appears the Falcon Bees are carried into the Mountains where they prosper exceedingly They have wild Goats on the Mountains which climb to the very top of the Pico sometimes Also Hogs and multitudes of Conies Of Fish they have the Cherna a very large and excellent fish better tasted than any we have in England the Mero Dolphin Shark Lobsters without the great claws Mussles Periwinkles the Clacas which is absolutely the very best Shell-fish in the world they grow in the Rocks five or six under one great shell through the top holes whereof they peep out with their Nebs from whence the shells being broken a little more open with a stone they draw them forth There is likewise another Fish like an Eel which hath six or seven tails of a span in length united to one head and body which is also as short Besides these they have Turtles and Cabridos which are better than our Trouts The Island is full of Springs of pure Water tasting like Milk And in Lalaguna where the Water is not altogether so Limpid and Clear they percolate it through a kind of spungy Stone cut in form of a Bason The Vines which afford those excellent Wines grow all about the Island within a mile of the Sea such as are planted farther up are nothing esteem'd neither will they thrive in any of the other Islands for the Guanchios or antient Inhabitants he gives this full Account September the third about twelve years since he took his Journey from Guimar a Town inhabited for the most part by such as derive themselves from the old Cuanchios in the company of some of them to view their Caves and the Bodies buried in them This was a favour they seldome or never permit to any having in great veneration the Bodies of their Ancestours and likewise being most extreamly against any molestation of the Dead but he had done several Eleemosinary Cures amongst them for they are generally very poor yet the poorest thinks himself too good to marry with the best Spaniard which indeared him to them exceedingly otherways it is death for any Stranger to visit these Caves or Bodies These Bodies are sowed up in Goat-skins with thongs of the same with very great curiosity particularly in the incomparable exactness and evenness of the seams and the Skins are made very close and fit to
5. Whether it be true that upon the Coast of Achin in Sumatra the Sea though it be calm groweth very high when no rain falls but is smooth in rain though it blows hard A. Sometimes but not alwayes the Reason is this that Achin lieth at the very end and corner of Sumatra as may be seen by the Map open in the main Ocean so that the Sea comes rowling from the Cabo de bona Esperanca and all that way unto it and it is natural to the Sea to have a continual motion let it be never so calm which motion cannot be called a Wave neither have I any English for it at present but in Dutch we call it Deyninge van Dee Zee and the calmer it is the higher the natural motion of the Sea elevates very slowly the water so that I have seen Ships and Junks tossed by these Deynings in a calm when there is scarce wind enough to drive a bubble that a man can scarce stand in them some say this motion proceeds from boysterous winds at Sea far distant That rain beats down the swelling of these Deynings especially if it be vehement proceeds naturally from its weight and impetuosity And it is observed that about Achin the Mountains are high and steep from whose tops boysterous called Travant come suddenly like a Granado cast falling into the Sea are accompanied commonly with a great shower of rain and last not above a quarter or at the most half an hour which is too short a time to disturb the Sea or to cause a contrary motion in it being shelter'd by these Mountains Q. 6. Whether in the Island of Sambrero which lyeth Northwards of Sumatra about eight degrees Northern latitude there be found such a Vegetable as Master James Lancaster relates to have seen which grows up to a Tree shrinks down when one offers to pluck it up into the ground and would quite shrink unless held very hard And whether the same being forcibly pluck'd up hath a worm for its root diminishing more and more according as the Tree groweth in greatness and as soon as the Worm is wholly turned into the Tree rooting in the ground and so growing great And whether the same plucked up young turns by that time it is dry into a hard Stone much like to white Corral A. I cannot meet with any that ever have heard of such a Vegetable Q. 7. Whether those Creatures that are in these parts plump and in season at the full Moon are lean and out of season at the new find the contrary at the East-Indies A. I find it so here by Experience at Batavia in Oysters and Crabs Q. 8. What ground there may be for that Relation concerning Horns taking root and growing about Goa A. Inquiring about this a Friend laught and told me it was a Jeer put upon the Portuges because the Women of Goa are counted much given to lechery Q. 9. Whether the Indians can so prepare that stupifying Herb Datura that they make it lye several dayes months years according as they will have it in a mans body without doing him any hurt and at the end kill him without missing half an hours time A. The China men in this place have formerly used Datura as a Fermentation to a sort of Drink much beloved by the Souldiers and Mariners called Suykerbier which makes them raging mad so that it is forbidden strictly under the penalty of a great pain to make use of the same Q. 10. Whether those that be stupified by the juyce of this Herb Datura are recovered by moystning the soles of their feet in fair water A. No. For I have seen divers Souldiers and Mariners fall into the Rivers and Ditches being stupified by their drink aforesaid who were rather worse after they were taken out than better Q. 11. Whether a Betel hath such contrariety to the Durion that a few leaves thereof put to a whole shopful of Durions will make them all rot suddenly And whether those who have surfeited on Durions and thereby overheated themselves do by laying one leaf of Betel cold upon the heart immediately cure the Inflammations and recover the Stomach This Betel being thought to preserve those Indians from Tooth-ach loose Gums and Scurvey and from stinking breath some of it is desired to be sent over with the fruit Areica and the other Ingredients and manner of preparing it A. I have seen that Betel leaves in a short time will spoil a Durion take away his nature and turn a fat creamy substance into water Commonly those that eat great quantities of Durions eat a Betel afterwards as a Correctorium but of laying a leaf upon the heart I have never heard As for the other qualities of the Betel I believe they are good if not abused as most of the Indians do who never are without it in their mouths no not sleeping which corrodes their teeth and makes them as black as Jet It draws from the head the Flegmatick humours which are voided by spitting so we use it but the Indians swallow down their spittle together with the juyce of the Betel and the Areica The manner of preparing it is easie being nothing but the Nut leaf and Calx viva of which last each one adds as much as pleaseth his palat There is a sort of Fruit called Sivgboa which is used with the Areica instead of Betel and can be dried and transported as well as the Areica and hath the same force but a great deal more pleasant to the palate Q. 12. Whether the Papayas that beareth fruit like a Melon do not grow much less bear fruit unless male and female be together A They grow as I have seen two in the English-house at Bantam and bear little fruit which never comes to perfection but if the male and female be together the one bears great Fruit the other nothing but Flowers Q. 13 Whether the Arbor Triste sheds its Flowers at the rising of the Sun and shut them again at the setting of the Sun And whether the distill'd water thereof called Aqua di Mogli by the Portugals may not be transported to England And whether at the rising of the Sun the leaves of the Arbor Triste drop off as well as the flowers A. There is two sorts of the Arbor Triste one is called by the Portugals Triste de Die the other Triste de Nocte the one sheds his Flowers at the Rising the other at the Setting of the Sun but neither of them shed their leaves There is no body here that understands the distilling of waters some say this Aqua di Mogli is to be had at Malaca for which I have writ and shall send it if procurable Q. 14. Whether the Arbor de Rays or Tree of Root propagate it self in a whole Forrest by shooting up and letting fall roots from its branches into the ground that spring up again and so on A. This is true And we have divers trees about Batavia and the
Menstruums out of fermenting Liquors out of Water and other Liquors by heat and by exhaustion of the returning of such Air into the Water again of the vanishing of Air into Water exhausted of Air of the maintaining and increasing a Fire by such Airs of the fitness and unfitness of such Air for respiration of the use of Air in breathing Experiments of keeping Creatures many hours alive by blowing into the Lungs with Bellows after that all the Thorax and Abdomen were open'd and cut away and all the Intrails save Heart and Lungs remov'd of reviving Chickens after they have been strangled by blowing into their Lungs to try how long a man can live by expiring and inspiring again the same Air to try whether the Air so respired might not by several means be purify'd or renew'd to prove that it is not the heat nor the cold of this respired Air that choaks Experiments of the respiring of Animals in Air much rarify'd and the fatal effects of the long continuance of several Animals very well in Air as much condens'd as it will be under water at two hundred fathoms deep that is about eight times of the quantity of fresh Air requisite for the life of a respiring Animal for a certain space of time of making Air unfit for respiration by satiating it by suffering Candles or Coals to burn in it till they extinguish themselves Experiments of including living Animals and kindled Coals and Candles in a large Glass to observe which of them will be first extinguish'd of a mans living half an hour without any inconvenience in a Leaden Bell at divers fathoms under water of the Quantity of Air respir'd at once by a Man of the strength a Man has to raise Weights by his breath Experiments of the swelling of an Arm put into the rarifying Engine by taking off the pressure of the Ambient Air of the swelling of Vipers and Frogs upon taking off the pressure of the Ambient Air of the life and free motion of Fishes in Water under the pressure of Air eight times condens'd of Insects not being able to move in exhausted Air of the resistance of Air to bodies mov'd through it of the not growing of Seeds for want of Air of the growing of Plants hung in the Air and of the decrease of their weight of the living of a Cameleon Snakes Toads and divers Insects in a free Air without food of conveying Air under Water to any depth of condensing Air by Water and by the expansion of freezing Water of the swelling of Lungs in the rarifying Engine of the velocity and strength of several Winds The third kind are those which have been made about the substance and properties of Water Such are Experiments about the Comparative Gravity of Salt Water and fresh and of several Medicinal Springs found in this Nation of the differing weight of the Sea-water in several Climats and at several Seasons of the weight of Distill'd-water Snow-water May-dew Rain-water Spring-water of augmenting the weight of Liquor by dissolving Salts of the greater thickness of such Water at the bottom than at the top of weighing ascending and descending Bodies in Water of the pressure of the Water at several depths under its surface Experiments of the heat and cold of the Water at several depths of the Sea of propagating sounds through the Water of sounding the depth of the Sea without a line of fetching up Water from the Bottom of the Sea of fetching up Earth Sand Plants from the bottom of the Sea Experiments of the resistance of Water to Bodies mov'd on its surface of several Figures and by several degrees of force of the resistance of Water to Bodies mov'd through its substance ascending and discending of the expansion and condensation of Water by heat and cold of the condensation of Water by several wayes of pressure of converting Water into a vapourous Air lasting sometimes in that form the Torricellian Experiment try'd with Water in a Glass-cane thirty six and forty foot high in a leaden Tube also with a Glass at the top the same try'd with Oyl and other Liquors Experiments of the rising of Water in small Tubes and many others about its congruity of filtration or of the rising of Water to a great height in Sand c. of the swimming of Fishes of Waters being able to penetrate through those Pores where Air will not of opening bellows at a depth under water and blowing up Bladders to find the pressure of the Water of Water not subsiding in a high Glass-cane upon removing the ambient pressure after it had been well exhausted of the Air-bubbles that lurk'd in it of forcing Water out of a Vessel by its own vapours Experiments of the different weight and refraction of warm Water and cold of the passing of Water through the coats of a Mans stomach of the living of Fish in Water the Air being exhausted of closing up a Fish in a Glass of water of the dying of Fishes in Water upon taking off the pressure of the Air in the rarifying Engine of Hydrostaticks and making a Body sink by pouring more water upon it of raising Water above its Standard by sucking of the subsiding of Water in the stem upon putting the Bolt-head into warm water of the shrinking of Water upon cooling The fourth kind are about Mines Metals Oars Stones c. Such as Experiments of Coppelling made at the Tower of dissolving many Salts in one Liquor of the Oculus Mundi of Rusma of the Tenacity of several Metals examin'd by weights of the rarefaction and condensation of Glass of the volatizing Salt of Tartar with burnt Allom with Vinegar and Spirit of Wine on the Bononian Stone on Diamonds of their shining by rubbing on Copper-oar of the distillation of Coal of refining several kinds of Lead-oar of extracting a much greater quantity of Silver out of that Oar than is commonly done of several wayes of reducing Letharges into Lead of changing Gold into Silver Experiments Magnetical of the best form of capping Loadstones of the best forms of Needles of several lengths and bignesses of various wayes of touching Needles on the Loadstone of making the same Pole of the Loadstone both attract and chase the same end of the Needle without touching it to find the variation of the Loadstone here at London Experiments with the dipping Needle of the extraordinary strength in proportion to its bulk of a small Loadstone to measure the strength of the Magnetical attractive power at several distances from the Stone to examine the force of the attractive power through several Mediums as Water Air Wood Lead and Stone to divert the attractive power by interposing Iron to find the directive virtue of the Loadstone under water Experiments to manifest by the help of Steel-dust the lines of the Directive virtue of the Loadstone to be oval in a contrary Position to what Des Cartes Theory makes them to manifest those lines of Direction by
the help of Needles to discover those lines of Direction when the influence of many Loadstones is compounded to find what those lines are incompassing a Sphaerical Loadstone what about a Square and what about a regular Figure to bore through the Axis of a Loadstone and fill it up with a Cylindrical Steel Experiments on Loadstones having many Poles and yet the Stones seeming uniform The fifth kind is of the growth of Vegetables in several kinds of Water as River-water Rain-water Distill'd-water May-dew of hindring the growth of Seed Corn in the Earth by extracting the Air and furthering their growth by admitting it of steeping Seeds of several kinds of inverting the Positions of Roots and Plants set in the ground to find whether there are values in the Pores of the Wood that only open one way of the decrease of the weight of Plants growing in Air of Lignum Fossile of the growing of some branches of Rosemary by only sprinkling the leaves with water of Camphire wood of Wood brought from the Canaries of a stinking Wood brought out of the East-Indies of the re-union of the Bark of Trees after it had been separated from the Body The sixth are Experiments Medicinal and Anatomical as of cutting out the Spleen of a Dog of the effects of Vipers biting Dogs of a Camaeleon and its dissection of preserving Animals in Spirit of Wine Oyl of Turpentine and other Liquors of injecting various Liquors and other Substances into the veins of several creatures Experiments of destroying Mites by several Fumes of the equivocal Generation of Insects of feeding a Carp in the Air of making Insects with Cheese and Sack of killing Water-Newts Toads and Sloworms with several Salts of killing Frogs by touching their skin with Vinegar Pitch or Mercury of a Spiders not being inchanted by a Circle of Vnicorns horn or Irish Earth laid round about it Experiments with a Poyson'd Indian Dagger on several Animals with the Maccasser Poyson with Florentine Poyson and several Antidotes against it of making Flesh grow on after it has been once cut off of the grafting a Spur on the head of a Cock and its growing of the living of Creatures by Factitious Air of the reviving of Animals strangled by blowing into their Lungs of Flesh not breeding Worms when secur'd from Fly-blowings of the suffocation of Animals upon piercing the Thorax of hatching Silk-worms Eggs in rarify'd Air of transfusing the blood of one Animal into another The seventh sort are about those which are call'd sensible Qualities as of freezing of cold and heat of freezing Water freed from Air of the time and manner of the contraction in freezing luke-warm Water of the temperature of several places by seal'd Thermometers as of several Countries of the bottoms of deep Mines Wells Vaults on the tops of Hills at the bottom of the Sea Experiments of the contraction of Oyl of Vitriol and divers other Oyls by freezing of freezing bitter Tinctures of freezing several ting'd Liquors and driving all the tincture inward to the Center of shewing Ice to be capable of various degrees of cold greater than is requisite to keep it Ice of producing cold by the dissolution of several Salts of freezing Water without blebs of a membranous substance separable from the blood by freezing of a Thermometer in rarify'd and condens'd Air of very easie freezing of Oyl of Anniseeds of making a Standard of Cold by freezing distill'd-water The eighth are of Rarity Density Gravity Pressure Leuity Fluidity Firmness Congruity c. as of the Nature of Grauity of the cohaesion of two Flat Marbles of compressing the Air with Mercury to find its spring of the weights of Bodies solid and fluid of rarefaction and condensation by the help of Mercury of the tenacity of several Bodies of the turning of two very fluid Liquors into one solid mass by mingling them together Experiments for examining whether the gravity of Bodies alter according as they are carried a good way above or below the surface of the Earth of the standing of Mercury well exhausted many inches nay many feet above its usual standing of a Wheel-Baro-Meter of the expansion and contraction of Glass and Metals by heat and cold of Spirit of Wine and several ting'd Liquors by the help of a Glass Tube the examination of Monsieur Paschals Experiment by many others The ninth are Experiments of Light Sound Colours Taste Smell as of two transparent Liquors producing an opacous one of Ecchos and reflected sounds of Musical sounds and Harmonies of Colours of the greater refraction of Water than of Ice of Refraction in a new Engine of the Refraction of Glass of various shapes under Water of destroying the shining of Fish by Oyl of Vitriol of making a great light by rubbing two Chrystals hard one against the other of making a deaf and dumb man to speak The tenth are Experiments of Motion as of Glass drops several wayes order'd and broken of the velocity of the descent of several Bodies of divers fashions through several Liquors of determining the velocity of Bodies falling through the Air try'd by many wayes of the swift motion of sounds of the irregular motion of the Oyl of Turpentine on Spirit of Wine of the strength of falling Bodies according to the several Heights from which they fall of proportioning the shapes of Bodies so as to make them fall together in the same time through differing Mediums Experiments of the swiftness of a Bullet shot with extraordinary Powder of the best Figure of the weight of a Pendulum for Motion of the Motion of Pendulous Bodies of various figures to determine the length of Pendulums to find the velocity of the vibrations of a sounding string to find the velocity of motion propagated by a very long extended Wire for explaining the inflection of a streight motion into a circular by a supervening attractive power towards the Center in order to the explaining of the motion of the Planets Experiments of the circular and complicated motion of Pendulums to explain the Hypothesis of the Moons moving about the Earth of comparing the Motions of a circular Pendulum with the motion of a streight one of the propagation of motion from one Body to another of the reflection of motion of the vibrating motion of Quick-silver in a crooked Pipe imitating the motion of a Pendulum of communicating of the strength of Powder for the bending of Springs and thereby for making artificial Muscles to command what strength we desire The eleventh are Experiments Chymical Mechanical Optical as of reducing the Flesh of Animals into a Liquor like blood by dissolving it in a certain Menstruum of a greater facility of raising Water in Pipes of a larger Bore of brewing Beer with Bread Barly Oats Wheat and without malting of precipitating Tartar out of Wine by several expedients of a Chymical extraction of a volatil Spirit and Salt out of Spunges of examining Aurum fulminans after explosion
superinduced upon any kind of Material as Wool Linnen Hair Feathers Cotton or Silk And with what Advantages or Disadvantages of Lasting Brightness Cheapness and Variety c. each may be performed But this being infinite and almost unteachable by words as being incomparably more difficult than how to imitate and compose any Colour assigned out of the few usually furnishing a Painters-palat I leave the whole to the further consideration of this Learned Society THE HISTORY Of the Generation and Ordering of GREEN-OYSTERS Commonly called Colchester-Oysters IN the Month of May the Oysters cast their Spaun which the Dredgers call their Spat it is like to a drop of Candle and about the bigness of a half-penny The Spat cleaves to Stones old Oyster-shells pieces of Wood and such like things at the bottom of the Sea which they call Cultch 'T is probably conjectured that the Spat in twenty four hours begins to have a Shell In the Month of May the Dredgers by the Law of the Admiralty Court have liberty to catch all manner of Oysters of what size soever When they have taken them with a knife they gently raise the small brood from the Cultch and then they throw the Cultch in again to preserve the ground for the future unless they be so newly Spat that they cannot be safely severed from the Cultch in that case they are permitted to take the stone or shell c. that the Spat is upon one Shell having many times 20 Spats After the Month of May it is Felony to carry away the Cultch and punishable to take any other Oysters unless it be those of size that is to say about the bigness of an half Crown piece or when the two shells being shut a fair shilling will rattle between them The places where these Oysters are chiefly catcht are called the Pont-Burnham Malden and colne-Colne-Waters the latter taking its name from the River of Colne which passeth by Colne-Chester gives the name to that Town and runs into a Creek of the Sea at a place called the Hythe being the Suburbs of the Town This Brood and other Oysters they carry to Creeks of the Sea at Brickel-Sea Mersey Langno Fringrego Wivenbo Tolesbury and Salt-coase and there throw them into the Channel which they call their Beds or Layers where they grow and fatten and in two or three years the smallest Brood will be Oysters of the size aforesaid Those Oysters which they would have green they put into Pits about three foot deep in the Salt-Marshes which are overflowed only at Spring-tides to which they have Sluces and let out the Salt-water until it is about a foot and half deep These Pits from some quality in the Soil cooperating with the heat of the Sun will become green and communicate their colour to the Oysters that are put into them in four or five days though they commonly let them continue there six Weeks or two Months in which time they will be of a dark green To prove that the Sun operates in the greening Tolesbury Pits will green only in Summer but that the Earth hath the greater power Brickel-sea Pits green both Winter and Summer and for a further proof a Pit within a foot of a greening Pit will not green and those that did green very well will in time lose their quality The Oysters when the Tide comes in lie with their hollow shell downwards and when it goes out they turn on the other side they remove not from their place unless in cold weather to cover themselves in the Ouse The reason of the scarcity of Oysters and consequently of their dearness is because they are of late years bought up by the Dutch There are great penalties by the Admiralty-Court laid upon those that fish out of those grounds which the Court appoints or that destroy the Cultch or that take any Oysters that are not of size or that do not tread under their feet or throw upon the shore a Fish which they call a Five-finger resembling a Spur-rowel because that Fish gets into the Oysters when they gape and sucks them out The reason why such a penalty is set upon any that shall destroy the Cultch is because they find that if that be taken away the Ouse will increase and then Muscles and Cockles will breed there and destroy the Oysters they having not whereon to stick their Spat The Oysters are sick after they have Spat but in Iune and Iuly they begin to mend and in August they are perfectly well The Male Oyster is black-sick having a black substance in the Fin the Female white-sick as they term it having a milky substance in the Fin. They are salt in the Pits salter in the Layers but saltest at Sea In Composing Histories after this manner they resolve to proceed till they have not only obtain'd an Account of all the Great and most substantial Trades but also of all the less Works and Private Productions which are confin'd to some particular Soyls or Corporations or Families As this Stock shall increase they purpose to make it of General use either by continual Printing the most remarkable of them or by freely exposing them to the view of all that desire such Informations provided that at the same time they receive some they will also Communicate others And they have assured grounds of confidence that when this attempt shall be compleated it will be found to bring innumerable benefits to all practical Arts When all the secrets of Manufactures shall be so discover'd their Materials describ'd their Instruments figur'd their Products represented It will soon be determin'd how far they themselves may be promoted and what new consequences may thence be deduc'd Hereby we shall see whether all the parts of the most obvious Crafts have been brought to perfection and whether they may not assist each other more than has been hitherto indeavour'd Hereby we shall discern the compass the power the changes the degrees the ages of them all and speedily understand whether their effects have been large enough and the wayes of producing them sufficiently compendious In short by this help the worst Artificers will be well instructed by considering the Methods and Tools of the best And the greatest Inventors will be exceedingly inlighten'd because they will have in their view the labours of many men many places and many times wherewith to compare their own This is the surest and most effectual means to inlarge the Invention whose Nature is such that it is apt to increase not only by mens beholding the Works of greater but of equal nay of less Wits than themselves In the whole progress of this Narration I have been cautious to forbear Commending the labours of any Private Fellows of the Society For this I need not make any Apology to them seeing it would have been an inconsiderable Honour to be prais'd by so mean a Writer But now I must break this Law in the particular case of Dr. Christopher Wren For doing so
like adjacent Islands above fifty foot in the diameter Q. 15. What kind of fruit is that in Jucca which grows immediately out of the Trees body and is said to breed the Plague if eaten immoderately A. It is a fruit much like to Durion which groweth in the same manner hath a faint smell and sweet waterish taste for my part I do not affect them The Plague is a Disease unknown amongst the Indians but this fruit as most others do immoderately eaten causes a Dirthea which easily degenerates to a Tenasmus by us called Peirsing a dangerous Sickness and worse than the Plague Q. 16. What Poyson is it the King of Macassar in Colebees is said to have particular to himself which not only kills a man immediately that hath received the slightest Wound by a Dart dipt therein but also within half an hours time make the flesh touched with it so rotten that it will fall like Snivel from the Bones and whose poysonous Steam will soon fly up to a Wound made with an unpoysoned Dart if the Blood be only in the slightest manner touch'd with a Dart infected with the Poyson What certainty there is of this Relation A. That there is such a Poyson in this Kings possession is most certain but what it is no Christian hitherto ever knew right By the Government of Arnold De Flamminge Van Outshorn divers have been tortured yea killed Some say it is the Gall of a Venemous Fish Others say it is a Tree which is so Venemous that those who are condemned to die fetch the Poyson but not one of an hundred scape death the Roots of this Tree are held an Antidote against the Poyson but our People when we had War with Macassar found no Antidote like to their own or others Excrements as soon as they felt themselves wounded instantly took a dose of this same which presently provoked to vomit and so by repulsion as I perceive and sweat freed the Noble parts from further Infection That a Wound should be infected by this Poyson though inflicted by an impoysoned Weapon is not strange to those who study Sympathy And set belief in that much renowned Sympathetical Powder of Sir Kenelme Digby Yet such Effects of the Macassars Arts are unknown to us Q. 17. Whether in Pegu and other places in the East-Indies they use a Poyson that kills by smelling and yet the Poyson smell is hardly perceived To this no Answer was return'd Q. 18. Whether Camphire comes from Trees What kind of Trees they are in Borneo that are said to yield much excellent Camphire as that one pound thereof is said to be worth an hundred of that of China and other places A. Camphire comes from Trees of an Excessive bulk as you may see by the Chests which comes from Iappan into Europe made of the same wood of Burneo it comes likewise from Trees which are said to stand in Sandy Ground And drop like a Gum. But of late an Experiment is found in Ceylon that the Root of a Cinnamon Tree yields as good Camphire as either Iappan or China of which I shall send you a pattern being now to be had at present here as also an Oyl extracted from the same Roots which reserves something of the Cinnamon smell but may be the fault of the Distiller Q. 19. Whether some of that rare Wood called Palo d' Aquila and Calamba of an Extraordinary value even in the Country where it groweth as in Siam about San and Patan and in Cochinchina may not be brought over as also some of those strange Nests of Cochinchina made by Birds upon Rocks of a certaine viscous froth of the Sea which Nests grown dry and hard are said to become transparent and when dissolved in Water serves excellently to season all their Meats A. If the Question be made whether these things may be brought over by permission of the Company I answer as first that their Laws forbid the transportation of all whatsoever whether necessary to the conservation of Health or acquisition of Wealth or Rarities c. but if the Querie be concerning the nature and substance of the Wood and Nests they are transportable and can subsist without decaying many years Lignum Aquilae is far inferiour to Calamba though not easie to be discerned the pound of Calamba is worth in Iappan thirty and sometimes forty pounds Sterling the best comes from Cambodia and seems to be the pith of the Tree Aquilae in Iappan it is used as Incence to perfume Cloth and Chambers It is held for a great Cordial and commonly used by that Nation as also the Chineses In Defectione spirituum vitalium as in Paralisi Nervorum laxatione impotentia They rub it with Aqua Cynamoni upon a Stone till the substance of the Wood is mixt sicut pulpa with the Water and so drink it with Wine or what they please The Birds-nests are a great Restorative to Nature and much used by the lecherous Chinaes Q. 20. Whether the Animal call'd Abados or Rhinoceros hath teeth claws flesh blood and skin yea his very dung and water as well as his horns Antidotal And whether the horns of those beasts be better or worse according to the food they live upon A. Their horns teeth claws and blood are esteemed Antidotes and have the same use in the Indian Pharmacopeia as the Therieca hath in ours the flesh I have eaten is very sweet and short some dayes before the Receipt of your Letter I had a young one no bigger than a Spaniel Dog which followed me whereever I went drinking nothing but Buffulo milk lived about three weeks then his teeth began to grow and got a looseness and died 'T is observed that Children especially of European Parents at the breaking out of their teeth are dangerous sick and commonly die of the scouring in these parts His skin I have caused to be dryed and so present it unto you since fate permits not to send him you living such a young one was never seen before The food I believe is all one to this Animal being that they are seldome seen but amongst withered Branches Thistles and Thorns so that the horn is of equal vertue Q. 21. Whether the falsifying of the China Musk is not rather done by mixing Oxen and Cows Livers dried and pulverized with some of the putrified and concrete flesh and blood of the China Musk-cat than by beating together the bare flesh and blood of this Animal c. Not answered Q. 22. Whether there be two sorts of Gumlack one produced from a certain winged Ant the other the Exudation of a Tree The first had in the Islands of Suachan the last in the Kingdome of Martaban A. We know of none but such as drop from Trees and comes from divers places in Siam Cambodia Pegu c. Q. 23. If the best Ambergreece be found in the Islands Socotora and Aniana neer Java To endeavour the getting of more certain knowledge what it is being reported
to be bred in the bottom of the Sea like to a thick mud A. The best that is in the World comes from the Island Mauritius And is commonly found after a Storm The Hogs can smell it at a great distance who run like mad to it and devour it commonly before the people come to it It is held to be a Zeequal viscosity which being dried by the Sun turns to such a Consistence as is dayly seen Myavines father Isaac Vigny a Frenchman in Oleron hath been a great Traveller in his time and he told me he sailed once in his youth through so many of these Zeequalen as would have loaded ten thousand Ships the like having been never seen his Curiosity did drive him to take up some of those which being dried in the Sun were perceived to be the best Ambergreece in the World I have seen one piece which he kept for a Memento and another piece he sold for 1300 l. Sterling This being discovered they set sail to the same place where these Zeequelen appeared and crusing there to and fro for the space of six weeks but could not perceive any more Where this place is scituated I do not know but Monsieur Gentillot a French Captain in Holland can tell you Q. 24. To enquire of the Divers for Pearls staying long under water whether they do it by the assistance of anything they carry with them or by long and often use get a trick of holding their breath so long at the Isle of Baharen neer Ormus A What they do at Baharen is unknown to me but since we have had Tute Corein in Ceylon where very good Pearls grow I hear the Divers use no Artifice The manner is thus at a set time of the year Merchants come from all parts as likewise Divers with their Boats each Boat hath a certain quantity of square Stones upon which Stones the Divers goe down and give a token to their Companions when they think it time to be hal'd up each Stone payes tribute to the Company The Oyster or Shell-fish is not immediately open'd but laid on heaps or in holes at the Sea-side When the Diving time is ended the Merchants come and buy these heaps according as they can agree not knowing whether they shall get any thing or no. So that this is a meer Lottery This Pearl-fishing is dangerous being the Divers commonly make their Will and take leave of their Friends before they tread the Stone to go down Q. 25. Whether Cinnamon when first gathered hath no tast at all but acquires its taste and strength by fifteen dayes sunning And whether the Bark be gathered every two years in the Isle of Ceylon A. The Cinnamon Tree as it groweth is so fragrant that it may be smelt a great way off before it be seen And hath even then a most Excellent taste so that by Sunning it looseth rather than acquires any taste or force the Tree being pill'd is cut down to the root but the young Sprigs after a year or two give the best and finest Cinnamon Q. 26. To learn if it may be what Art the Master-workmen of Pegu have to add to the colour of their Rubies A. Not answered Q. 27. To inquire after and get if possible some of the Bones of the Fish called Caballa which are so powerful in stopping blood A. 'T is done and they shall follow with the Dutch Ships Q. 28. Whether at Hermita a Town in Ethiopia there are Tortoises so big that Men may ride upon them A. It is reported that there be extraordinary great ones there I have seen some Sea-Tortoises here of four foot broad in oval form very low leg'd but of that strength that a man may stand on one The manner of catching them is to turn them with a Fork upon their backs Q. 29. Whether there be a Tree in Mexico that yields Water Wine Vinegar Oyl Milk Honey Wax Thread and Needles A. The Cokos Trees yields all this and more the Nut while it is green hath very good Water in it the Flower being cut drops out great quantity of liquor called Sury or Taywack which drank fresh hath the force and almost the taste of Wine grown sowr is very good Vinegar and distilled makes very good Brandy or Areck The Nut grated and mingled with water tasteth like Milk pressed yields very good Oyl Bees swarm in these Trees as well as in other Thread Needles are made of the leaves and tough twigs Nay to add something to this description in Amboina they make Bread of the body of the Tree the leaves serve to thatch houses and likewise sails for their Boats Q. 30. Whether about Java there be Oysters of that vast bigness as to weigh three hundred weight A. I have seen a Shell-fish but nothing like an Oyster of such a bigness the Fish being salted and kept in pickle afterwards boyled tasteth like Brawn in England and is of an horney substance Q. 31. Whether neer Malacca there be found in the Gall of certain Swine a Stone esteemed incomparably above Bezoar A. In that Country but very seldome there grows a Stone in the Stomack of a Porkapine called Pedro Porco of whose virtue there are large descriptions and the Hollanders are now so fond that I have seen 400. Dollars of â— given for one no bigger than a Pidgeons Egg There is sophistication as well in that as Bezoar Musk c. and every day new falshood so that I cannot well set down here any rules but must be judged by experience A false one I send you which doth imitate very near virtue the true one but is a great deal bigger and of another colour As for the Observations desired of the Islands Saint Helena and Ascension they may be better made by the English East-India men which commonly touch at both places but the Hollander never or very seldome Q. 32. Whether it be winter at the East-side of the Mountain Gates which comes from the North to Cape Comoryn whilst it is summer on the West-side and Vice versa A. Not only there but likewise on the Island of Zeylon Q. 33. In what Country Lignum Alloes is found whether it be the Wood of a Tree or the Root of a Tree How to know the best of the Kind A. Lignum Alloes Lignum Paradisi Calamba are Synonyma the same And the same Wood comes most from Cambodia and Siam but they say it it brought by the people of Lawlan a Country about Cambodia whence Musk and Benzoin and most Aromada come it is easily distinguished from other Wood by its strong scent and richness of Balm in it which appears in its blackness it is of great Value and hard to be gotten here The rest of the Queries are not answered because the time is short since I received them and especially because I cannot meet with any one that can satisfie me and being unsatisfied my self I cannot nor will obtrude any thing upon you which may hereafter prove
of the dissolution of Manna in Water and of a chrystallizing it again out of it by evaporation Experiments of volatizing Salt of Tartar many wayes of examining the mucilaginous matter call'd Star-shoot of examining our English Telescopes and Microscopes and comparing them with such as have been made at Rome of making a volatil Salt with Oyl of Turpentine and Sea-salt of the Quantity of Spirits in Cyder of the strength of several Springs of examining a Pump made with Bellows of dying Silk with several Iamaica Woods of finding the strength of Wood of several kinds for bearing of finding the flexibility of various Woods and determining the utmost extent of their yielding and bending Experiments about the gravity of Bodies made on the top of Saint Pauls Steeple Westminster-Abby and several other high places and in a Well of seventy Fathoms depth examined about the Virgula Divina wherein the common Assertions were found false of the various refractions of several Liquors in a new refractive Engine of common Oyl of Tobacco made by distillation in a Glass retort of making the Object-glass of a Microscope to bear as large an Aperture as is desir'd Of this their way of Experimenting I will here produce these Examples EXPERIMENTS Of the Weight of Bodies increased in the FIRE Made at the Tower and the Account brought in by my Lord BROVNCKER 1. Copper and Lead  d. gr THe Coppel weighed 10. 8. 7 32 Lead 4. 9. Copper 0. 6. Into the fire all three 14. 23 7 32 Out of the fire 15. 4 â— 32 Gained 0. 5 â— 32 Besides what the Copel lost in weight supposed to be about three grains 2. Copper and Lead  d. gr Coppel 10. 2 ¾ Lead 4. 9. Copper 0. 6. Into the fire all three 14. 17 ¼ Out of the fire 15. 1 â—â— 32 Gained 0. 7 â—â— 32 3. Lead alone  d. gr Copel 10. 3 29 32 Lead 4. 9. Into the fire both 14. 12 29 32 Out of the fire 14. 23 â—9 32 Gained 0. 10 â—â— 32 4. Lead alone  d. gr Copel 10. 10 â…ž Lead 4. 9. Into the fire both 14. 19 â…ž Out of the fire 15. 1 5 64 Gained 0. 5 â—â— 64 5. Copel alone  d. gr Into the fire 10. 5. Out of the fire 10. 1 â— 8 Lost 0. 3 â… 6. Copel alone  d.  gr Into the fire 10. wanting 7 ¼ Out of the fire 10. wanting 9. Lost 0.  1 ¼ EXPERIMENTS Of a Stone called OCVLVS MVNDI Made by Dr. GODDARD A Small Stone of the kind called by some Authors Oculus Mundi being dry and cloudy weighed 5 gr 200 256 The same being put under Water for a night and somewhat more became transparent and the superficies being wiped dry weighed 6 gr â— 256 The difference between these two weights 0. 50 256 The same Stone kept out of Water one day and becoming cloudy again weighed 5. 225 256 which was more than the first weight 0. 16 256 The same being kept dry two dayes longer weighed 5. 202 256 which was less than at first 0. 7 256 Being kept dry something longer it did not grow sensibly lighter Being put under Water for a night and becoming again transparent and wiped dry the weight was 6. 3 256 the same with the first after putting in Water and more than the last weight after keeping of it dry 0. 57 256 Another Stone of the same kind being variegated with milky white and grey like some sort of Agates while it lay under Water was always invironed with little bubbles such as appear in water before boyling next the sides of the vessel There were also some of the like bubbles on the surface of the water just over it as if either some Exhalations come out of it or that it did excite some fermentation in the parts of the water contiguous to it There was little sensible difference of Transparency in this Stone before the putting under Water and after To be sure the milky white parts continued as before but more different in weight than in the former For whereas before the putting into the water the weight was 18 gr â—â— 118 after it had lyen in about twenty four hours the weight was 20 gr 27 123 so the difference was 1 gr 5â— 1â—8 The same Stone was infused in the water scalding hot and so continued for a while after it was cold but got no more weight than upon infusing in the cold neither was there any sensible difference in the weight both times An Account of a Dog dissected By Mr. HOOK IN prosecution of some Inquiries into the Nature of Respiration in several Animals A Dog was dissected and by means of a pair of bellows and a certain Pipe thrust into the Wind-pipe of the Creature the heart continued beating for a very long while after all the Thorax and Belly had been open'd nay after the Diaphragme had been in great part cut away and the Pericardium remov'd from the heart And from several tyrals made it seem'd very probable that this motion might have been continued as long almost as there was any blood left within the vessels of the Dog for the motion of the Heart seem'd very little chang'd after above an hours times from the first displaying the Thorax though we found that upon removing the Bellows the Lungs would presently grow flactid and the Heart begin to have convulsive motions but upon removing the motion of the Bellows the Heart recovered its former motion and the Convulsions ceased Though I made a Ligature upon all the great Vesels that went into the lower parts of its Body I could not find any alteration in the pulse of the Heart the circulation it seems being perform'd some other way I could not perceiue any thing distinctly whether the Air did unite and mix with the Blood nor did in the least perceive the Heart to swell upon the extension of the Lungs nor did the Lungs seem to swell upon the contraction of the Heart EXPERIMENTS Of the Recoiling of GUNS By the Lord BROVNCKER WHen I was commanded by this Society to make some Experiments of the Recoiling of Guns In order to the discovery of the cause thereof I caused this Engine that lyes here before you to be prepared and with it assisted by some of the most eminent of this Society I had divers shots made in the Court of this Colledge near the length thereof from the mark with a full charge about a fourpenny weight of Powder But without any other success then that there was nothing Regular in that way which was by laying it upon a heavy table unto which it was sometimes fastned with Screws at all the four places R L V B sometimes only at R or L having wheels affixed at L and V or R and B that it might the more easily recoil This uncertainty I did then conceive might arise from one or more of these three causes viz. 1. The violent trembling motion of the Gun
for Astronomical Observations or taking Angles at Land A new Instrument for taking Angles by reflection by which means the Eye at the same time sees the two Objects both as touching in the same point though distant almost to a Semicircle which is of great use for making exact Observations at Sea A new kind of Back-staff for taking the Suns altitude by the Shadow and Horizon which is so contriv'd that though the shadow be at three foot distance or as much more as is desir'd yet there shall not be the least Penumbra and the Shadow may be easily distinguish'd to the fourth part of a minute A Hoop of all the fix'd Stars in the Zodiac for the speedy finding the Position of the Ecliptic and for knowing the extent of the Constellations A Copernican Sphere representing the whirling Motion of the Sun and the Motion of the several Planets A great many new wayes of making Instruments for keeping time very exactly both with Pendulums and without them whereby the intervals of time may be measur'd both on the Land and Sea A universal Standard or measure of Magnitudes by the help of a Pendulum never before attempted A new kind of Pendulum Clock wherein the Pendulum moves circularly going with the most simple and natural motion moving very equally and making no kind of noise A Pendulum Clock shewing the aequation of Time Three new wayes of Pendulums for Clocks and several wayes of applying the motion of the Watch-work to them Several new kinds of Pendulum Watches for the Pocket wherein the motion is regulated by Springs or Weights or Loadstones or Flies moving very exactly regular Several sorts of Instruments for compressing and rarefying the Air A Wheel-Barometer and other Instruments for finding the pressure of the Air and serving to predict the changes of the Weather A new kind of Scales for examining the gravity of Bodies in all places to see whether the attraction of the Earth be not greater in some parts of the Earth than in others and whether it do not decrease at farther distances from the surface of the Earth either upwards into the Air or downwards under the Earth A very exact pair of Scales for trying a great number of Magnetical Experiments Several very accurate Beams for trying many Statical Experiments and for finding the most exact gravity of several kinds of Bodies A great number of Magnetical Instruments for making Experiments about Loadstones Several new kinds of Levels for finding the true Horizon where by one of not above a foot length the Horizontal line may be found without the error of many seconds A new kind of Augar for boring the ground and fetching up whatever it meets with in the right order A new Instrument for fetching up any Substance from the bottom of the Sea whether Sand Shels Clay Stones Minerals Metals A new Bucket for examining and fetching up whatever Water is to be found at the bottom of the Sea or at any dept and for bringing it up without mixing with the other Water of the Sea through which it passes Two new wayes of sounding the depth of the Sea without a Line for examining the greatest dept of the Ocean in those parts of it that are most remote from the Land Several Instruments for finding the velocity of swimming Bodies of several Figures and mov'd with divers strengths and for trying what Figures are least apt to be overturn'd in order to the making a true Theory of the Forms of Ships and Boats for all uses An Instrument of great height with Glass-windows on the sides to be fill'd with Water for examining the velocity of Bodies of several Substances Figures and Magnitudes by their descent An Instrument for measuring and dividing the time of their Descent to the accurateness of two or three thirds of time serving also for examining the swiftness of Bodies descending through the Air and of Bodies shot by a Gun or Bow A Bell for diving under water to a great depth wherein a man has continued at a considerable depth under water for half an hour without the least inconvenience Another Instrument for a Diver wherein he may continue long under water and may walk to and fro and make use of his strength and limbs almost as freely as in the Air. A new sort of Spectacles whereby a Diver may see any thing distinctly under Water A new way of conveighing the Air under Water to any Depth for the use of Divers An Instrument for measuring the swiftness and strength of the Wind. An Instrument for the raising a continual stream of Water by turning round a moveable valve within the hollow of a close Cylindrical Barrel Several kinds of Thermometers for discovering the heat and cold of the Air or any other Liquors a Thermometer for examining all the degrees of heat in Flames and Fires made of several Substances as also the degrees of heat requisite to melt Soder Lead Tin Silver Brass Iron Copper Gold A Standard for Cold several wayes An Instrument for planting of Corn. Four several sorts of Hygroscopes made with several Substances for discovering the drowth and moisture of the Air. Several kinds of ways to examine the goodness and badness of Waters Several Engines for finding and determining the force of Gun-powder by Weights Springs Sliding c. An Instrument for receiving and preserving the force of Gun-powder so as to make it applicable for the performing of any motion desir'd Several Instruments for examining the recoiling true carriage and divers other proprieties of Guns Several kinds of Otocousticons or Instruments to improve the sense of hearing Several Models of Chariots and other Instruments for Progressive Motion A Chariot-way-wiser measuring exactly the length of the way of the Chariot or Coach to which it is apply'd An Instrument for making Screws with great dispatch A way of preserving the most exact impression of a Seal Medal Sculpture and that in a Metal harder than Silver An Instrument for grinding Optick-glasses a double Telescope several excellent Telescopes of divers lengths of six twelve twenty eight thirty six sixty foot long with a convenient Apparatus for the managing of them and several contrivances in them for measuring the Diameters and parts of the Planets and for finding the true position and distance of the small fix'd Stars and Satellites Towards the exactness of all manner of these Optick-glasses the English have got a great advantage of late years by the Art of making Glass finer and more serviceable for Microscopes and Telescopes than that of Venice This Invention was brought into our Country and practis'd here by the care and expence of the Duke of Buckingham whom the Author of these Papers ought to mention with all honour both for his Skill and Zeal in advancing such Experimental Studies of which I am writing and also because it has been by the favour of so great a Patron that I have injoy'd the leisure and convenience of composing this History As soon as they were reduc'd into
ceaseth to recoil before the Bullet be parted from it And with more than twelve grains the Bullet is parted from the Peece before it hath recoiled so far A greater power not moving a greater weight swifter horizontally in the same proportion that it doth the lesser And for the third I have this to offer viz Because the mouth of the Gun is moving sidewards whilst the Bullet is going out Therefore the mouth of the Peece must be contiguous at least unto the Bullet on the contrary side to that on which the Peece recoils some time after the separation made on the other side and therefore the last impulse of the Bullet from the force of the Powder is on that side the Peece recoils wherefore the Bullet must necessarily cross the Axis of the Peece and that with a greater or lesser Angle according to the force of the Powder when this Angle therefore is greater than the Angle of recoil then must the Axis of that Cylinder in which the Bullet moues cross the Axis of the mark beyond which interjection the mark being placed the Bullet must be carried necessarily wide of the mark on the contrary side to the recoil of the Peece fek = flp = phm = the Angle of Recoile phn the Angle of Reflexion made at the parting of the Bullet from the Peece When phn > phm mh being alwayes parallel to fg then must hn entersect fg if continued Some other Experiments I have also made with another Peece about the same length but of a bore neer two tenths of an inch less and ordered in the same manner and do find that with a small charge the Bullet is shot thence too wide of the mark on the same side on which the Recoil is made and with a full charge wide the contrary side I caused besides two Pistol barrels of about five inches long to be placed upon Carriages with four Wheels and loaded with lead that they might not overturn when discharged and both of equal weight and an Iron Cylinder of the length of both their bores and of the same diameter with a piece of Lead of weight equal to it So that the piece of Lead affixed to either of these Guns which of them I should please to charge might equally poise the other with the Iron Cylinder And thus indifferently charging either with eight grains more or less of Powder and putting the Iron Cylinder home into both the piece of Lead being affixed to that which held the Powder and then both so set upon the floor and the Powder fired I could not thereby discover that the charged Peece or the other either of them did certainly recoil more or less than the other they rather seemed still to be equal These few Experiments I have made since the Barrel being first cut at the muzzle parallel to a vertical plain passing the line CD B 48 0.8 L R 48 1.2 L B 48 0.9 L L 48 0.2 L B 16 0.1 R L 48 0.3 L B â—8 0.2 R Â Â Â Â B â—8 0. â— N Â Â Â Â Besides these there is another that I shall mention and that is the Experiment it self or the Double-Bottom'd-Ship invented by Sir William Petty of this I will venture to add a few words and I think I may do it without transgressing that Rule I had fix'd to my self of not enlarging on the praise of particular Names or Designs For since the Experiment it self is lost I hope I may securely speak of its advantages seeing men are wont out of common humanity to allow the commendations of dead Men I trust I may commend a wreck'd Ship without any fear of the envy that may thence arise to the Author In brief therefore I will say this of it that it was the most considerable Experiment that has been made in this Age of Experiments if either we regard the great charge of the work or the wonderful change it was likely to make in Navigation or the great success to which this first Attempt was arriv'd Though it was at first confronted with the doubts and Objections of most Seamen of our Nation yet it soon confuted them by Experience It appear'd very much to excel all other forms of Ships in sayling in carriage in security and many other such benefits Its first Voyage it perform'd with admirable swiftness And though it miscarried after its return yet it was destroyed by a common fate and by such a dreadful tempest as overwhelm'd a great Fleet the same night so that the Antient Fabricks of Ships have no reason to triumph over that new Model when of the threescore and ten sail that were in the same Storm there was not one escap'd to bring the News In a word though this Invention succeeded not while it was only supported by private Purses it will undoubtedly produce great effects if ever it shall be retreiv'd upon the publick Stock of a Nation which will be able to sustain the first hazards and losses that must be allow'd to happen in the beginnings of all extraordinary Trials To their Experiments I will subjoin their Observations which differ but in name from the other the same fidelity and truth being regarded in collecting them both Observations of the fix'd Stars for the perfecting of Astronomy by the help of Telescopes of the Comets in 1665 and 1666. which were made both in London and elsewhere and particularly of the first Comet for above a month after it disappear'd to the naked eye and became Stationary and Retrograde Observations about Saturn of the proportion and position of its Ring of the Motion and Orbit of its Lunale of the shadow of the Ring on the Body and of the Body on the Ring and of its Phases c. of Iupiters Belts and of its spots and verticity about its Axis of its eclipsing its Satellites and being eclips'd by them of the Orbs Inclinations Motions c. of the Satellites together with Tables and Ephemerides of their motions Observations of the Spots about the Body of Mars and of its whirling motion about its Center of several Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and some of them as were not taken notice of by Astronomers or Tables commonly us'd of the Spots in the Moon and of the several appearances in the Phases of it of the Moon at the same time by Correspondents in several parts of the World towards the finding her Parallax and distance Observations of the Eliptical and waved Figures of the Planetary Bodies neer the Horizon from the refraction of the Hemisphere of the effects of Lightning of the various pressure of the Atmosphere by a Wheel-barometer for several years and of its usefulness for predicting the changes of Weather Observations on frozen Beer on the Figures of Snow frozen Water Vrine congeal'd on the suspension of Mercury at a great height on Mines and Minerals on the Concretions of Wood Plants Shells and several Animal Substances on the effects of Earthquakes
Fiery Eruptions and Inundations on Lakes Mountains Damps subterraneous Fires on Tides Currents and the Depth of the Sea Observations of the liming of Ground for improvement of the Bodies of Sheep but spoiling their Wool of several wayes for preventing smutty Corn of the importance of changing Seed-corn of the alteration of the Horns of Sheep and other Cattel by the change of Pasture of the Pores and Valies in Wood the Anatomy of Trees of the sensitive and humble Plant. Observations on the Bills of Mortality on the leaves of Sage on small living Flies in the Powder of Cantharides of Insects bred in Dew of Virginian Silk-Bottoms of the Parts and Anatomy of Fishes of the Teeth of Lupus Marinus that they are the same thing with the Toad-stones set in Rings of the Respiration of Fishes of Bernacles of the calcin'd Powder of Toads of an Outlandish Deer-skin and hair of the Parts of Vipers of Stones taken out of the Heart of a Man of young Vipers that they do not eat holes through their old ones Bellies as is commonly affirm'd For Examples of this Head I will only refer my Reader to those which Mr. Graunt has publish'd on the Bills of Mortality wherein the Author has shewn that the meanest and most trivial matters may be so cultivated as to bear excellent Fruit when they come under the management of an accurate and prudent Observer For from those Papers which went about so many years through every Tradesmans hands without any manner of profit except only to the Clerks that collected them he has deduc'd many true Conclusions concerning the gravest and most weighty Parts of Civil Government and humane Nature As I am now passing away from their Experiments and Observations which have been their proper and principal work there comes before me an Objection which is the more to be regarded because it is rais'd by the Experimenters themselves For it is their common complaint that there is a great nicety and contingency in the making of many Experiments that their success is very often various and inconstant not only in the hands of different but even of the same Triers From hence they suggest their fears that this continuance of Experimenters of which we talk so much will not prove so advantageous though they shall be all equally cautious in observing and faithful in recording their Discoveries because it is probable that the Trials of Future Ages will not agree with those of the present but frequently thwart and contradict them The Objection is strong and material and I am so far from diminishing the weight of it that I am rather willing to add more to it I confess many Experiments are obnoxious to failing either by reason of some circumstances which are scarce discernable till the work be over or from the diversity of Materials whereof some may be genuine some sophisticated some simple some mix'd some fresh some may have lost their virtue And this is chiefly remarkable in Chymical Operations wherein if the dissolvents be ill prepar'd if the Spirits be too much or too little purify'd if there be the least alteration in the degree of Fire the quantity of Matter or by the negligence of those that attend it the whole course will be overthrown or chang'd from its first purpose But what is now to be concluded from hence shall this instability and Casualty of Experiments deter us from labouring in them at all or should it not rather excite us to be more curious and watchful in their process It is to be allow'd that such undertakings are wonderfully hazardous and difficult why else does the Royal Society indeavour to preserve them from degenerating by so many forewarnings and rules and a Method so severe It is granted that their event is often uncertain and not answerable to our expectations But that only ought to admonish us of the indispensable necessity of a jealous and exact Inquiry If the uncertainty proceeded from a constant irregularity of Nature we had reason then to despair but seeing it for the most part arises only from some defect or change in our progress we should thence learn first to correct our own miscarriages before we cease to hope for the success Let then the Experiment be often renew'd If the same kinds and proportions of Ingredients be us'd and the same circumstances be punctually observ'd the effect without all question will be the same If some little variation of any of these has made any alteration a judicious and well practis'd Trier will soon be able to discern the cause of it and to rectifie it upon the next repetition If the difference of time or place or matter or Instruments will not suffer the product to be just the same in all points yet something else will result that may prove perhaps as beneficial If we cannot alwayes arrive at the main end of our Labours some less unsought Curiosities will arise If we cannot obtain that which shall be useful for practice there may something appear that may instruct It is strange that we are not able to inculcate into the minds of many men the necessity of that distinction of my Lord Bacons that there ought to be Experiments of Light as well as of Fruit. It is their usual word What solid good will come from thence They are indeed to be commended for being so severe Exactors of goodness And it were to be wish'd that they would not only exercise this vigour about Experiments but on their own lives and actions that they would still question with themselves in all that they do what solid good will come from thence But they are to know that in so large and so various an Art as this of Experiments there are many degrees of usefulness some may serve for real and plain benefit without much delight some for teaching without apparent profit some for light now and for use hereafter some only for ornament and curiosity If they will persist in contemning all Experiments except those which bring with them immediate gain and a present harvest they may as well cavil at the Providence of God that he has not made all the seasons of the year to be times of mowing reaping and vintage Of the variety and excellence of the Instruments with which this Age abounds for their help in Philosophical matters I have already discoursed in the former Part. I will now go on to mention those new ones which they themselves or some of their Members have either invented or advanc'd for the ease strength and direction of their senses in the motions of Nature and Art of this kind are these that follow An Instrument for finding a second of Time by the Sun another for finding the Celestial Refractions Three several Quadrants made after three new contrivances which though they are not above eighteen Inches in Diameter and so are manageable in any Window or Turret are yet far more exact than the best that have been hitherto us'd