their bosomes Fire is not unknown to us So great is the variety of it and it is so manifold that I know not what order to deliver it in Pliny saith it is from it self steel rubb'd against steel causeth fire Also the stones we call fire-stones stricken against steel or other stones send forth sparkles Therefore the Laplanders begin their Contracts of Marriage with the fire and flint Scalig. Exerc. 16. s. 1. For fire with them is the Authour of life and the flint is eternal wherein the treasure never fails It is in vain to try that in a brittle stone for the piece falling away that which should draw forth the Ayr is lost The rubbing of sticks one against another will fetch fire The Indians do so They make two sticks fast together and put another stick between them turning it swift like a wimble and so they make them take fire Ovetan l. 6. c. 5. In Apulia they wrap a Caâ—â—â— iâ— cords and draw them as fast as they can forward and backward till they fire it by motion Mayolus Colloq 2â— The Vestal Nuns did the same when their eternall fire went out if we credit Festus In Nympheus a flame goes out of a Rock which is kindled by rain Aristotle saith in Admirand it is not perceived untill you cast oyl upon it and then the flame flyes upward We find also in Authours that in the Country of the Sabins and Apulia there is a stone that will fire if you annoint it Plin. l. 2. c. 207. In Aricia if a live cole fall on arable ground the ground will burn In a Town of Picenum Egnatia if wood be laid on a certain stone that they account holy there it will flame presently Also a flame goes forth at the waters of Scantia but it is very weak at the going forth and will not last long in any other matter Also at Gratianopolis in Dauphin flame shines out when you stir the burning Fountain with a staff so that straw may be kindled by it Dalechamp ad l. c. The fire of the Mountain Chimerâ— is kindled by water Plin. l. 2. c. 106. If you hold a glasse Globe full of water in the Sun fire will rise from the repercussion of the light from the water in the coldest frost Lactan. de ira Dei c. 10. Sometimes also fire ariseth so suddenly in houses that it may be thought wonderful Cardan l. 10. de varietate c. 49. ascribes the cause to the salt and Salt-Peter that sticks to the walls of the houses Which Valerius reports concerning the Schollar of the vestall Nun Maxima Aemilia l. 1. c. 1. that she adoring Vesta when she had laid her fine linnen veil upon the hearth the fire that was out shined forth again an old wall being scraped down he writes that it might take fire onely by hot Ashes If you look in the Bible you shall find a wonderfull originall of fire in it 1 King c. 18. Elias when he offered sacrifice brought fire down from heaven which consumed the sacrifice wood stones dust and water In the Book of Judges Ch. 6. when Gideon at the command of the Angel had laid flesh and bread upon a stone and poured Frankincense upon them fire came forth of the stone and consumed them Artic. 2. Of Fires in the Waters IF we will credit Histories it is most certain that fires have been seen in the waters Pliny saith lib. 2. c. 107. That the whole Lake Thrasimenus was on fire That the Sea did burn Liv. lib. 33. when Alaricus wasted Italy and John Chrysostome was driven from his Bishoprick the Earth quaked fire fell from Heaven and a wind took it and cast it into the Sea which took fire by it and at last went out again Niceph. l. 13. c. 36. In the fields of Babylon there is a Fish-pond that burns which is about an Acre of ground Plin. lib. 2. c. 106. A stone cast into a Lake near to Denstadium of Thuringia when it sinks to the bottom it hath the form of a burning arrow Agricol lib. 4. de nat affluent c. 22. In a City of Comagena called Samosata there is a Lake that sends forth burning mud Plin. l. 2. c. 104. Posidonius saith that in his time about the Summer Solstice in the morning that between Suda and the Sea of Evonymus fire was seen lifted up to a wonderfull height and to have continued so a pretty while carried up with a continued blast and at length it sunk down Many dayes after Slime appeared that it swam on the top of the waters and that flames brake forth in many places and smoaks and soot and at length that Slime grew hard and that the lumps grown hard were like unto Milstones Julius Obsequens adds that it dispersed a great multitude of fish which the Liparenses much feeding on were spoiled by them so that the Islands were made wast with a new plague Strabo l. 6. Between Ther and Therasia which are in the Cyclades flames went out of the Sea in such abundance that is was extreme hot and seemed to burn and when it had swelled by degrees of the peices cast out that were like to Iron an Island was made which was called Hiera and Automate now it is called Vulcanellus by a very small arme of the Sea it is parted from Vulcanellus Plin. l. 2. c. 87. Artic. 3. Of Fire under the Earth I Said that fire was also in the waters now I will shew that in the bowells of the earth fire is generated When Claudius Nero was Emperour fire was seen to come forth of the Earth in the land of the Town of Colein and it burnt the Fields Villages Houses now because the matter of it was bituminous and could be quenched neither by raine nor River waters nor by any other moisture it was extinguished by Stones and old Garments In Misena a Country of Germany a Mountain of Coles burns continually the trenches falling down by degrees in the superficies which if any man behold they appear to be burning Furnaces The fire kindles any thing neere to it at four foot distance but not put close to it Agricol de natur effluent ex terr Vesuvius also a Mountain in Campania burned when Titus Vespasianus and Flavius Domitianus the seventh were Consuls First it cast out Stones from the top broken open after that it cast forth such Flames that two Towns Herculaneum and Pompeti were set on fire and it sent forth such thick smoak that it obscured the Sun and lastly it blew forth such a quantity of Ashes that like snow it covered the Neighbour Country which by force of winds was carryed into Africa Aegypt Syria Dion Cass. in Histor. When the Elder Pliny beheld this Fire the Younger in Epistol ad Tacitum the smoak so stopped his sharp artery that his breath being intercepted he was choaked There is also a mountain of late in Campania full of rises from the time the fire was bred there which burns and rores
doth not lye upon the waters but contrarily where the Conduits are not full the lower part is not empty but the upper part IV. Nor the Bulk of the Sea Scaliger thinks that the Waters being pressed in the channels by the Sea lying upon them do seek to get forth His Example is of a stone in a vessel But two things are here assumed 1. That the gravity is every where the same as in the weight of a stone 2. That a great part of the Sea water is out of its place V. Nor yet vapours redoubled into themselves and so drawing nor the spungy Nature of the Earth nor the veins of the Earth whereby the moysture of the water may be drawn forth For 1. attracting forces would be more fit for Champion ground than for Mountains 2. If they should attract it were for that purpose that they might have the fruition of it but from whence are there such Rivers 3 The veins of waters are no where found so full as that reason requireth whether it be for blood in living creatures or for squirts VI. The water is raised out of the Caves of the Earth to the Tops of Mountains as the Sea is raised above the middle Region of the Ayr. VII But this Elevation is made by the force of heat resolving the water into vapours Aristotle himself intimates that heat is required but that water may be made of a vapour there needs no cold but a more remisse heat VIII The heat of the Earth proceeds not from the heat of the Sun namely of the Earth in its Intralls For first it can penetrate but two yards deep and therefore the Troglodites make their Caves no deeper 2. In the hottest Summer a woodden post that is but one or two Inches thick is not penetrated 3. The entralls of the Earth about 8 or 10 yards deep are found colder in Summer then in Winter IX The Antiperistasis of the cold Ayr in the superficies of the Earth is nothing to the purpose 1. It is more weak than the cold of the firm Earth 2. What ever of the Suns heat is bred within passeth out by the pores and vanisheth 3. It perisheth being besieged by both colds to which it bears no proportion X. The heat that is in the bowells of the Earth is from a double cause For in the parts nearest the superficies it proceeds from the Sun beams but in the bowels of the Earth from other causes That passeth out by the pores of the Earth in Summer being opened by the Sun and therefore it vanisheth when as being removed from its original it is weaker but in winter it is bound in by the cold XI The heat in the bowels of the Earth is known by the heat of the Waters but these are neither hot by the Sun nor from brimstone or quicklime in the conduits but only from a subterraneal fire Not from the Sun For. 1. That cannot penetrate so far 2. If it were from thence it would be most in Summer Not from brimstone or quick lime for brimstone heats not unlesse it be actually heated and quick-lime only then when it is resolved by Water Also the vast quantity of it would be resolved in a short time and would make a change in the Channels But it may be understood some ways how it may be heated by a subterraneal fire 1. As it is actuall and so the Channels being solid stone cannot derive it 2. As it is more remote but sends forth Vapours by pipes as in Baths so also not for Vapours cannot have so great force as to make it boil 3. That the Water may run amongst the burning fire as in bituminous Channels But here the question may be why it doth not cast out the Bitumen as in Samosata a City of Comagenes Pliny saith l. 2. c. 104. and 107 that a certain lake cast forth flaming mud and fire came out at the Waters of Scantium 4. The fourth way is the truth Art doth some wayes imitate Nature but in Stills the water by the force of heat is resolved into Vapours and the Vapours fly upwards to the heads where they stick and being removed from the violent heat they return to Water again so also in the bowells of the Earth XII But Fountains that boyl seem not to be of those Waters that run but that stand still Namely Wells that have formerly been opened by the quakings of the Earth which it is no wonder that they are joyned to the Sea In a small Island against the River Timevuâ— Pliny l. 2. c. 103. writes that there is a hot spring that ebs and flows with the Sea In the Gades it is contrary Pliny l. 2. c. â—2 But if any of these hot springs do runâ— we must observe of them that their Channels are so scituated that when the Sea flowes it comes unto them or if it were come into them before it powreth forth the more And so the heat of the fire will be either proportionable and the exhalation greater or not and so lesse XIII But what Agricola writes of bituminous Waters and that yeeld a smell must be ascribed to their neernesse but it vanisheth at a farther distance The same is observed in artificiall distilled waters that in time the burntness of them will vanish away XIV But because this fire by the shaking of the Earth can do much in the superficies it can then do more in the place it is It can therefore stop up old Channels open new ones in divers caves of the Earth without sending forth of the matter combustible or propagation of fire or conflict of Vapours it can rayse new fires from whence new Rivers may be produced yet somtimes also it useeth to be extinguished or sunk so deep that it cannot send its force to the superficies This is the opinion of Lydiat which we have set down more amply that being better known it might be more exactly weighed CHAP. V. Of hot Baths THe heat of hot Baths is diversly spoken of by Authours Aristotle thought it proceeded from Thunder which is false for the force of Thunder is pestilentiall any man may know it that beholds Wine corrupt by Thunder It makes men mad or dead but these are healthfull as experience daily shews Also there are many places that were never touched with Thunder for that never descends above five foot Sennert Scient natural l. 4. c. 10. thinks it comes from two waters that are cold to be felt but grow hot in their meeting from repugnancy of the Spirits as we see in oyle of Tartar and Spirit of Vitrial and in Aquafortis and Tartar and of the butter of Antimony and Spirit of Nitre all which though they are cold to the touch yet if you mingle them they grow hot and so that if you suddenly powre oyle of Tartar into Aquafortis wherein Iron is dissolved it will not only boyle but the mixture will flame which also happeneth if you pour fast the spirit of Nitre into the
too heavy Hence it comes to passe that all Seas purge themselves in the full of the Moon Not that the attraction of the Moon is the cause of it but because the wind that was in the interim collected in the hollow places under ground strives to fly upwards or being heaped up about the putrefactions of the Sea breaks forth Lydiaâ— de orig sâ—ntium attributes it to subterraneal fire That you may know the grounds of his opinion I will set it down in a few Propositions I. The flowing of the Sea is not because of the Moon by the nearnesse of her light and of that especially which she borrowes which breeds exhalations whereby the waters swell and run over For in the full Moon her light is thwart the earth and yet there is a tide great enough II. The Sun and Moon do not by their beams cause the flowing of the Sea 1. When it flowes in one hemisphear and both the Luminaries are in the other what is the cause of that For it hath not equall forces in both 2. If Sun and Moon cause the flowing of the Sea wherefore elsewhere in the very Ocean and that between the torrid Zone where their power is extream are there no Tides at all or very small ones III. When we enquire concerning the flowing of the Sea we must suppose 1. That there is a wonderfull plenty of water in the bosome of the Earth 2. That water which is in the bosome of the Earth is not onely continued to it self but to this we see in the Sea and is joyned with it by the channels or open chaps of the Earth First it is probable from hence that it is a part of the same body Then the deeps of the Sea that were never yet certainly known are a token of it 3. When two most vaste Continents on this side Asia Africa Europe on that America divide CHAP. VII Artic. 1. Of the New World and Asia by which the passage was open to other neighbouring Islands and from the Island to all the continent which was in sight and neere to the Ocean but in the mouth of it there was said to be a Haven with a narrow entrance c After this by a wonderfull Earth-quake and a continuall inundation for a day and a night it came to passe that the Earth clave asunder and swallowed all those warlike people and the Island of Atlantis was drowned in the deep But Aristotle lib. de admirand c. 8. relates that in the Sea beyond Herculâ—s Pillars an Island was found out by the Carthagenians which had Woods and Rivers fit for shipping but it was distant many days Voyage But when more Carthagenians allured by the happinesse of the place came and dwelt amongst the Inhabitants they were condemned to death by the Commanders he adds by those that sayled thither Let us also hear Seneca lib. 7. quaest c. 31. The people that shall come after us shall know many things we know not many things are reserved for after ages when we are dead and forgotten The World is but a very small matter unlesse every age may have something to search for And again quaest 5. c. ult Whence do I know whether there may not be some Commander of a great Nation now not known that may swell with Fortun 's favours and not contain his forces within his own bounds Whether he may not provide ships to attempt places unknown How do I know whether this or that wind may bring Warr Some suppose Augustus extended his Empire so far Marianus Siculus is the Authour that there was found in the new World old Golden Money with the Image of Augustus and that it was sent to Rome to the Pope in token of fidelity by Johannes Ruffus Bishop of Consentia That is more wonderfull that the Spaniards write that there is a Town in the Province of Chili in the Valley called Cauten which they name Imperiola for this cause because in many Houses and Gates they found the Spread-Eagle as we see now a dayes in the Arms of the Roman Empire Animlanus l. 17. observes somthing not unlike it that in the obeliscks of the Aegyptians there were ingraven many Pictures of Birds and Beasts also of the other World What shall we say to these things We say they knew them but scarse ever travelled thither But if those relations are true that Plato reports of which Tertullian also speaks Apolg. c. 39. and Marcellinus l. 17. we add farther That the praediction of Seneca sounds rather of the British Islands in favour of Claudius That is false which is said of Augustus We have all the Acts of this Noble Prince if there be any thing buried in silence it is some mean matter But Novelty easily gains the name of Antiquity if there be fraud in him that forgeth it Artic. 2. Of the miracles of some Countrys PLiny relates and we out of him There is a famous Temple at Paphos dedicated to Venus into a Court whereof it never rayns Pliny l. 2. c. 96. By Harpasa a Town of Asia there stands a hard Rock which you may move with one finger but thrust it with your whole body and you cannot stirr it There is Earth in the City Parasinum within the Peninsula of Tauri that cures all wounds In the Country Ardanum Corn that is sowed will never grow At the Altars of Martia in Veii and at Tusculanum and in the Wood Ciminia there are places where things fastened into the Earth cannot be drawn forth Pliny l. 2. c. 94. In Crustuminum Hay that grows there is hurtfull but out of that place it becomes good Some Earths tremble at the entrance as in the Country of the Gabii not far from Rome about a 100 Acres when men ride upon it and likewise at Reate In the Hills of Puteoli the dust is opposed against the Sea Waves and being once sunk it becomes one stone that the waters cannot stirr and daily grows stronger also if it be mingled with the Caement of Cumae Plin. l. 35. c. 13. Such is the nature of that Earth that cut it of what bignesse you please and sink it into the Sea it is drawn forth a stone In a Fountain of Gnidium that is sweet in eight Months time the Earth turns to a stone From Oropus as far as Aulis whatsoever earth is dipped in the Sea it becomes a stone Tilling of the ground was of old of great esteem amongst the Romans they found one sowing and gave him honours whence is the surname Serranus As Cincinnatus was ploughing his four Acres in the Vatican which are called Quintus his Meadows Viator offered him the Dictator ship and as it is reported that he was naked and his whole body full of dust To whom Viator said Put on thy Cloths that I may deliver to thee the commands of the Senate and people of Rome Whence Pliny l. 18. c. 3. answers to this question Whence was it then they had so great plenty The Rulers at
her Therefore they were wont to make the Emperours Tents of Sea Calfs Skins And Suetonius writes that Augustus was so fearfull of Thunder and Lightning that he allwaies carried the same with him Severus the Emperour had a litter made of the same matter for the same purpose yet Vicomercatus ad 3. Meteoror c. 10. relates that the Bay Tree is somtimes stricken from Heaven and Conimbricense thinks this freedome it hath to be but imaginary but only by an instinct of nature they foreshew Thunder I need not speak much of the Thunder-bolt kept in houses of hearb and Candles at the mâ—re solemn feasts purged with holy water and of the ringing of Bells who sees not but that these things are superstitious Some of them say Remig. l. 1. daemonol c. 26 that ringing of Bells is uneffectuall and uselesse if any one of them when it is purged beare the name of the Priests Concubine For if that sound do rarify the Ayre which yet spoken absolutely is false for it neither dissipates the Clouds that are neerer to us nor doth it fly right upwards but in many places it comes forth obliquely by the Windows nor doth it come to the Cloud it were better that only the great Guns should be shot off and only the greatest Bells Rung Constant observation shews that Dogs Cats and Goats are most obnoxious to be Thunder struck Hence it is that if a Dog be by a man in an open field he will be frighted and lye between his feet Cl. Bortholinus casts the cause of it upon the Vapours breathing forth of these Creatures bodys which as a known matter and nutriment the Vapours for thunder follow especially if these Creatures be abroad that they may be freely carried into the open Ayre Hence it is that Cats are often stricken in the entry and who knows not that the Dogs and Goats smell strong And Cats send out such Plenty of Vapours by their pores that some men have fainted at their being present and the more noble Horses if they be hid in the Coach will sweat extreamly as experience teacheth Thunder seldom hapneth in the Winter For but very few or allmost no hot exhalations are lifted up yet Curtius l. 8. de Alex mentioneth that in the time of Alexander There was saith he allmost a continuall Thunder and the Thunder bolts seemed to fall in divers places then suddenly a shore of hayle was poured forth like a Torrent and force of cold froze this showre into Ice Olaâ—s l. â— c. 6. thinke that they are more vehement in Northern Climates for they kill Men and in the Kingdom of Mongall in Tartary they fall mingled with Snow In Brasile Thunder bolts fall but seldome but such lightnings that they seem lighter than the Sun Joseph Ac. sta Anno 1560. In the time of Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher we read that the Enemy was stricken with Thunder at the prayers of the Christian Souldiers whence the Christian Legion was called the Thundring Legion presently saith the Emperour of them in Epist. as they lay upon their Faces and prayed to a God I know not a cold shower fell upon us but upon our Enemies hail mingled with thunder that we found immediately that the hand of the mighty God assisted us CHAP. VI. Of the Winds Artic. 1. Of the Originall of Winds ARistot 2. Meteor c. 4. saith That the Sun is the cause of the winds by drawing up the moysture that is upon the surface of the Earth and by heating doth dry the Earth it self Lydiat likes not this opinion For the Earth moystned being dryed affords but little matter for winds For the Earth drinks in no more rain than may quench its thirst and which it may change into a dry nature from whence comes no Exhalation of the same allowance much goes to rain which is no small part of it What then shall be left for the vast winds wherefore inward heat is pleaded for And truly in Winter the Earth sends forth a smoky exhalation In the Southern parts Winds arise from Snow A breath riseth from Lakes and standing Pools and storms from the Sea though it be calm whence is this but that the Earth breathes out vapours which break forth through the depth of waters The Chymical Instrument will shew this which they use for bellowes Sennert l. 4. Epitom c. 3. A Globe is made of Copper that it may be fill'd with water and then shut a pipe with a small hole is made of one side the Glob fill'd with water is set to the fire and the pipe for bellowes is set to another As the Globe growes hot and the water rarifies the Ayr continually breathes forth and serves for bellows till all the water be consumed Winds are then bred when heat burns the moyst Earth The Sun by drying openeth the pores and the Ayr helps by its motion If it rise from the Sea the Sea at firsâ— calm making a muttring noise signifies that an exhalation that is matter for wind is already then bred in the bowels of it some fishes sport some fasten themselves to rocks then the Sea swelling a little shewes that the exhalation newly bred seeks a passage forth then when it fails it shews it is come to the superficies but in small quantity then the blasts breaking forth with all their force lift up the waves before them and cause Winds and Tempests Artic. 2. Of the Kinds and Effects of Winds THere are many kinds of Winds which were chiefly found out by Navigation and the operations of them according to the difference of their blasts and properties The North-East wind drawes clowds to it Circeius a Southern wind hinders that the North wind be not mingled with the smell of plants and the force of it is so great that it will overthrow an armed man and lift ships up from the water into the Ayr and carry away Windmills with the stones house and men to some other place Pliny l. 2. c. 47. Gel. l. 2. c. 22. Olaus l. 1. c. 4. and 2. c. 3. There is a whirlwind that causeth such Tempests to those that sail out of the Country of China to Jupan that it is a miracle to escape shipwrack In the Country of St. Vincent it roots up Woods in Hispaniola it will take up men and carry them a furlong If they arise in the Island of Ormuth they kill those they meet with heat and they part the flesh of those that are killed from the bones as boyling water doth To avoid the danger they hide themselves in the water up to the head Ovetan l. 6. Polus l. 1. c. 5. Women are wonderfully prone to lust when their privities are obvious to the South wind but the North wind is said to be fit for generation whence it is that some believe it will raise men dying with its blast Rhodigin l. 54. c. 4. l. 15. c. 23. In Lesbos at Mytilene when the South wind blowes men are sick they cough when the
nourished is very great at the place he comes forth of his shell This is very brittle milk white shining polished altogether representing the form of a round ship for it swims on the top of the Sea arising from the bottom and the shell comes the bottom upwards that it may ascend the better and sail with an empty Boat and when she is come above the water then she turns her shell Moreover there is a membrane that lyes between the fore-legs of the Boat-fish as there is between the toes of water-fowl but this is more thin like a cobweb but strong and by that she sails when the wind blowes the many tufts she hath on both sides she useth for rudders and when she is afraid then she presently sinks her shell full of Sea water Farther she hath a Parrots bill and she goes with her tufts as the Polypus doth and after the same manner she conceives in hollow partitions CHAP. XVIII Of Oysters and Muscles THough Oysters love sweet waters yet Pliny reports that they are found in stony places but Aristotle saith that though they live in water and cannot live without it yet they take in no moysture nor Ayre When in the time of the Warr with Mithridates the earth parted at Apumaea a City of Phrygia Rivers did suddenly appeare and not only sweet but salt waters brake out of the bowels of the earth though the Sea were farr distant so that they filled all that Coast with Oysters Athen. l. 8. The Oysters are of divers colours In Spain they are red in Sclavonie brown in the red Sea they are so distinguished with flaming Circles that by mixture of divers colours it is like the Rainbow Aelian l. 10. c. 13. At the beginning of Summer they are great and full of milk At Constantinople they cast this wheish matter into the water which cleaving to stones will beget Oysters Gillius writes it and it is very probable For of the decoction of Mushroms powred on the ground it is certain that Mushroms will grow the Crabfish doth wonderfully desire the meat of them but he comes hardly by them because they have a strong shell by nature wherefore he useth his cunning For when in places where the wind blows not he sees them taking pleasure in the Sun and to open their shells against the Suns beams he privately casts in a stone that they cannot shut again and so he conquers them CHAP. XIX Of the Butterflye and the Polypus THe Butterflies couple after August the male dying after copulation the female lays egs and dieth also How they are preserved in winter is hardly discovered by any man except by Aldrovandus de Insectis But he enquired of Country people and they hold him that the leaves were great with the Butterflies seed at what time they plowed the ground they were hid in the bowells of it and fostered by its heat yet he thinks that they only are preserved that lye hid in the hollow barks of Trees but what lyes on leaves is quickned the same yeare And Aldrovandus adds I saw eggs layd under the leaves of Chamaeficus out of which about the end of August little Catterpillars naturally came forth They were wrapped in a thin down that the ayre might not hurt them and these little Catterpillars falling did not fall to the ground but hung by a small thred like Spiders in the Ayre When they lay under leaves they fold them so that the rain cannot hurt them and lay them up as under a penthouse I twice observed one Catterpillar that I took amongst the Coleworts first to lay yellow eggs wrapt up also in fine down and when they were laid she turned into a Chrysalis of the same colours that she was that is yellow green and black and that which seemed strange to me out of those eggs little flying creatures came forth that I could hardly see them such as are wont to be found in the bladders of Elms when they are in great abundance they shew contagion of the Ayre Anno 1562 they flew at Bannais neere the waters in such multitudes that they darkned the course of the River especially after Sun set then coming hither about night they wandred through the Villages as in Battel aray little differing from Moths Cornelius Gemma testifieth that that was a tempestuous yeare The Polypus in time grows so great that it is taken for a kind of Whale In the bowells of them there is a strange thing like a Turbane that you would say it had the nature of the Heart or of the Liver but it suddenly dissolves and runs away They exceedingly love the Olive-Tree For if a bough on which Olives hang be let down into the Sea and held there you may catch abundance of them hanging about the bough Somtimes they are taken sticking to Figg-Trees growing by the Seaside and they eat the fruit of them They also delight wonderfully in Locusts of which you shall find a cleare Testimony in Petrus Berchorius I have heard saith he that some Fishermen in the Sea of Province had set Locusts on the shore to boyle over burning coles and a Polypus smelling the Locust came forth of the Sea and coming to the fire would with his foot have taken a Locust forth but he feared the heat of the fire and so went back to the Sea and filâ—'d a coat which he had on his head like a Friers cowle with water and went and came so often with it and cast it on the fire that he put the fire out and so taking the Locust he had carryed it to the Sea unlesse one of the Fishermen that saw him had caught him and broyl'd him to eat instead of the Locust CHAP. XX. Of a Lowse and a Flea SOme think that Lice are bred of flesh others of blood but both opinions are false For first they breed in the skin of the head and we know they abound in the second and third kind of hectick feavers when as there is little flesh and here they are almost consumed Again in putrid Feavers they breed not and things bred do confirm their principles Their colour shews they proceed not from blood Wherefore some think they breed from putrid matter that is cold and moyst which abounds in the skin in places where they cannot be blown away Experience teacheth that they will leave those that are dead either because the blood is cold in the body when the heat is gone or because the dead body is cold and they fly from the cold Nolanus Problem 225. They that eat figs often are thought to be troubled with them Nolanus makes the juice of them to be the cause For this increasing in the veins heats the blood and makes it moyst and frothy which because it naturally tends to the skin and retain'd under that it putrefies it turns to lice Truly they that feed on figs have little knots and warts on their skins A Flea is a small Creature yet Africanus a cunning
within and sends forth smoak in many places and very hot brooks the shore smoaks at the foot of the Mountain the sand is hot the Sea boyles Agricol l. c. In the same place there are many ditches covered with sand into which some that have viewed these things carelesly have sunk in and were stifled This is in Europe In India there are no lesse burnings by fire In Ciapotulan a Province of the Kingdome of Mexico a Mountain casts forth stones as big as houses and those stones cast forth have flames of fire in them and seem to burn and are broke in pieces with a great noise Petrus Alvarad ad Cortesium In the province Quahutemallan of the same Country two Mountaines within two Leagues one of the other vomit out fire and tremble Petrus Hispalens p. 5. C. 23. In Peruacum also out of the Mountain Nanavata the Fire flies out at many holes and out of one boyling water runs of which salt is made In the same Peruacum in the Town Molahaâ—o fire is vomited forth and ashes is cast out for many dayes and covers many Towns There is an Island next to great Java in the middle of which land there burns a perpetuall fire Odoard Barbosa In the Island Del Moro there is a Fire cast forth with such a noise that it is equall to the loudest Cannon and the darknesse is like Night The Ashes so abound that houses have sunk down under them and Trees have been barren for three yeres their boughs being lopt off all places are fild with Ashes and living Creatures destroyed with hunger and pestilence also sweet waters have been changed into bitter Diat Jesuita Also there are concealed Fires namely there where the waters run forth hot warm or sower or where exhalations break forth good or bad and where places seem adust Strab. in Geograph There is a Country in Asia which is called Adust which is 500 furlongs long and 50 broad whether it should be called Misia or Meonia saith Strabo In this there grows no Tree but the Vine that brings forth burnt Wine so excellent that none exceeds it You may not think that those Fires stay only in one straight place for they pass many miles under ground Agricol l. 4. de nat Effl. c. 24. in Campania from Cunae thorough Baianum Puteoli and Naples Also out of Campania they seem to come as far as the Islands Aenaria Vulcania c. Hence Pindarus elegantly faigned that the Gigant Typâ—o being stricken with a Thunder-Bolt lay buried under these places Artic. 4. Of the Original of Subterraneall Fire WEe will now search out the original of these Fires and what it is that kindles and nourisheth them The Poets speak Fables concerning Aetna but of this more in the 4th Chapter Hyginius Mytholog cap. 152. Hell of the Earth begat Typhon of a vast magnitude and a wonderfull shape who had 100 Dragons heads that sprang from his shoulders He challenged Jupiter to strive for his Kingdome Jupiter hit him on the breast with a burning Thunder-bolt and having fired him he cast Mount Aetna upon him which is in Sicilia and from that time it is said to burn yet Isidor l. 14. c. 8. ascribes it to Brimstone that is kindled by the blasts of winds Justinus affirms that it is nourished by water Bleskenius relates of Hecla that no man knowes by what fire or what matter it burneth but since that brimstone is dug forth of all Islandia it should appear that a brimstony matter was sometimes kindled there Not far from Hecla are Pits of brimstone saith Bertius in Islandia That is certain that brimstone affords nourishment for this fire under ground and it is such as will burn in water For in these Mountains Writers make mention of waters and we have shew'd that it hath sometimes burned in the Sea But Lydiat L. de orig font thinks That in the gulfs of the Sea a most violent fire is contained and he demonstrates this by Earth-quakes Therefore the food of it cannot be dry and like to the Earth which we call Dorfa for that is quickly consumed by fire and is quenched by water Nor is it Marle for that will not burn unlesse it be sulphureous and bituminous Brimstone burns indeed but it is soon put out with water therefore it is Bitumen and this seems to be the subject of it Strabo writes That there are under this Cave Fountains of water and Pliny addes l. 2. c. 106. that it burns with water running from Bitumen Burning Bitumen sends forth fire in Hecla a Mountain in Islandia which consumes water The stones of Rivers and the sand burn at Hephestios a Mountain of Lycia and they are bituminous Naphta is very near akin to fire and it presently flames Pliny l. c. Wherefore we think Bitumen to be the food for these fires and they are kindled by a fiery vapour that takes fire if but cold thrust it forth as the Clowds thrust ouâ— lightnings or drives it into some narrow places where rolling it self up and down and seeking to come forth it burns in the conflict and flames Agricol lib. cit Artic. 5. Of the Miracles of Fire in duration burning and in being Extinguished SOme Fires are perpetuall The stone Asbestos once lighted can never be extinguished therefore Writers say it was placed in Idol Temples and the Sepulchres of the dead Solinus c. 12. There was a Monument once dug up wherein was a Candle that had burned above 1500 years when it was touched with the hands it went to fine ashes Vives ad lib. 21. de Civitat Dei Vives saw wicks at Paris which once lighted were never consumed In Britany the Temple of Minerva had a perpetual fire when it consumed it was turned into balls of stone Solinus c. 24. Polyhist The same thing is written of a certain Wood near to Urabia in the New-found World There are some fires that burn not either not at all or in some certain matter or else miraculously In Pythecusis saith Aristotle admirand c. 35. there is a fervent and hot fire that burns not An Ash that shadowes the Waters called Scantiae is alwayes green Plin. lib. 2. c. 107. In the Mountain of Puteoli consisting of Brimstone there is a fire comes forth that is neither kindled nor augmented by oyl nor wax or any fat matter nor is it quenched with water or kindled and it will not burn towe cast into it nor can any Candle be lighted by it Mayolus Colloq 22. he conceives it is not fire but fiery water Near Patara in Lycia flame is cast forth of a field you shall feel the heat if you put your hands to it but it will never burn The parts of the ambient ayr that are cold and moist are said to be the cause of it that by their thinnesse entring into the fire do hinder the burning of it Some napkins made of a kind of Flax will not burn and being durty they are never washed but being cast
full of water But that ceased when the sacrifice ceased Joseph l. 7. c. 24. There is a certain River Bocatius speaks of every ten years it makes a mighty noyse by the stones striking together and this is suddenly in a moment and the stones ran downwards for 3. dayes and 3 or 4 times a day though it be fair weather and after three dayes all is quiet Strabo writes of the Rivers of Hircania l. 11. There are in the Sea high shores that are prominent and are cut forth of Rocks but when the Rivers run out of the Rocks into the Sea with great violence they passe over a great space as the fall betwixt the Sea and the Rocks that Armies may march under the fall of the waters as under Arches and receive no hurt Trochlotes in North Norway makes such a noyse when it runs that it is heard 20 miles Olaus l. 2. c. 28. Beca in Livonia runs forth of the Rocks with such a fall that it makes men deaf Ortel in Livon Tâ—nais by a very long passage from Scythia falling into the Lake Meotis it makes it so long and broad that those that are ignorant of it take it for a great Mountain Boccatius In Solomon's Temple there ran a Spring great in Summer small in Winter Euseb. praeparat Evangel l. 9. c. 4. If you ask the cause it is taken from the Time All things are wet in Winter then are the Channels full and for want of evaporation the waters are kept in But in Summer all things are dry and the Suns heat penetrates Hence it is that they are congregated in their Fountains and run out by the Ayr inforcing them Maeander is so full of windings and turnings that it is often thought to run back again c. He that seeks more concerning Nilus and other Waters let him read Geographerrs Artic. 5. Of the change of quantity and of qualities in Waters THis great variety in Waters that I have set down is a token of the wisdome and power of God and it is no lesse wonder that the same waters should be so diversly changed It is certain that they are changed A Fountain in the Island Tenedos alwayes from 3. at night till 6. after the Summer Solstice overflowes There is another in â—odon that hath its Name from Jupiter it fails always at Noon-day And the River Po in Summer as if it took its rest growes dry saith Pliny In Italy Tophanus a Fountain of Anagnania is dry when the Lake Fucinus is frozen at other times of the year it runs with great quantity of water Agricol l. cit passim The Waters of the Lake of Babylon are red in Summer Boristhenes at some times of the year seems to be died with Verdigrease The water of the Fountain of the Tungri is boyling hot with fire subterraneal and is red The Waters of the River Caria by Neptunâ—s Temple were sweet and are now salt But in Thrace when Georgius Despota ruled a sweet Fountain grew to be bitter intolerably and whole rivers were changed at Citheron in Beotia as Theophrastus writes Men report that of the Mineral Waters which run by the Pangaeus a Mountain of Thrace an Athenian cotyle weighs in Summer 64 grains and in Winter 96. In the Province of Cyrene the Fountain of the Sun is hot at midnight afterwards it cooles by degrees and at Sun-rising it is cold and the higher the the Sun riseth the colder it is so that it is frozen at mid day then again by degrees it growes warm it is hot at Sun-set and the more the Sun proceeds the hotter it becomes The same Fountain every day as it growes cold at mid-day so it is sweet as it growes hot at midnight so it growes bitter Artic. 6. Of some other things admirable in Waters THey were wonders that are passed but greater follow In those it is easy to assign a cause mixture or some such like if you rightly consider it but here it is difficult for though you may in some yet commonly we must fly to hidden qualities I will briefly rehearse them Some drops of a Fountain of the Goths powred upon the Earth cease to move and are thickned by the ayr The waters of Cepusia in Pitchers turn into a Stone those of Rhaetid make people foolish they pull out the teeth in two years and dissolve the ligaments of the sinews which Pliny writes to be in Germany by the Sea-side Those of Islandia change things that are hollow into stones Tybur covers Wood with stone covers Zamenfes in Africa makes clear voyces Soractes when the Sun riseth runs over as though it boyled birds that then drink of it die He growes temperate who drinks of the Lake Clitorius and he forgets who drinks of a well nere the River Orchomenus sacred to the God Trophonius Philarch. He proves dull of wit that drinks of a Fountain in the Island Cea Agricola de reb 〈…〉 terra effluent gives a cause for it as for the former by reason of the bitumen For saith he the seeds of wild Parsnips wrapt in a linnen clout and put into Wine as also the powder of the flowers of Hermodactylus which the Turks use being drunk with it are the cause that it will make a man sooner and more drunk so some kind of Bitumen mixt with water is wont to make men drunk The horses drinking Sebaris are troubled with sneesing whatsoever is sprinkled with it is couloured black Clitumnus of Umbria drank of makes white Oxen and Cesiphus of Beotia white sheep but a River in Cappadocia makes the hair whiter softer and longer In Pontus Astaces waters the fields in which Mares are fed that feed the whole Countrey with black milk The waters in Gadaris make men bald and deprive Cattle of hair hooffs and horns Cicero writes that in the Marshes of Reate the hoofs of beasts are hardned The hot baths at the Fort of New-house colour the Silver Rings of such as wash in them with a Golden colour and make Gold Rings more beautifull Aniger that runs out of Lapithum a Mountain of Arcadia will nourish no fish in it till it receive Acidan and those that go then out of it into Aniger are not edible but they in Acidan are Pausanias Agrigentinum a Lake of Sicily will beare those things that do not swim in the waters In Aethiopia there is one so thin that it will not carry up leaves that fall from the next Trees In the lake Asphaltiâ—es a man bound hand and foot cannot sink The cause is held to be the great quantity of Salt Hieronymus Florentinus saw a Bankrupt bound and cast headlong from the Tower into it and it bore him up all the night Posidonius observed that bricks in Spain made of Earth with which their Silver plate is rub'd did swim in the waters Cleon and Goon were two Fountains in Phrygia either of their waters made men cry There were two in the fortunate Island they that tasted of one laught till they died
the other was the remedy for them Anauros of Thessaly and Boristhenes send out no vapour nor exhalation many refer the cause of it to its mixture others seek it other-where Agricola l. 2. de effl ex terr c. 17. saith In what part of the Rivers the Channels in the Fords have no veins and fibres by that they can breath forth no exhalations In the snows of Mount Caucasus hollow Clods freez and contain good water in a membrane there are Beasts there that drink this water which is very good and runs forth when the membranes are broken Strab. in Geograph Nilus makes women so fruitfull that they will have 4 and 6 at one venter Pliny in Histor. There is a Well of water that makes the inhabitants of the Alps to have swollen throats Lang. l. 5. Epist. 43. But in field Rupert neer to Argentina there is a water said to be that makes the drinkers of it troubled with Bronchocele they seem to be infected with quicksilver for this is an enemy to the brain and nervs for it not only sends back flegme to the glandulous parts of the head and neck but that which is heaped up in the head it throws down upon the parts under it Sebizius de acidul s. 1. dict 6. Corol. 1. thes 12. Diana a River of Sicily that runs to Camerina unlesse a chast woman draw its water it will not mingle with Wine Solinus C. 10. Styx in Arcadia drank of kills presently it penetrates and breaks all yet it may be contained in the horns of one kind of Asse Seneca l. 3. natur c. 25. Two Rivers runs into Niger a River in Africa one is reddish the other whitish Barrens Histor. dec 1. l. 3. c. 8. If any man drink of both he will be forced to Vomit both up but if any man drink but of one he shall Vomit leasurely but when they are both run into Niger and a man drink them mingled he shall have no desire to Vomit Narvia is a River of Lithuania so soon as Serpents tast of the water they give a hiss and get away Cromer descript Polon l. 1. A Fountain of Sardinia in the Mediterranean keeps the length and shortnesse of dayes and runs accordingly In the Island of Ferrum one of the Canaries there is no water the Ayr is fiery the ground dry and man and beast are sad for want of water But there is a Tree the kind is unknown the leaves are long narrow and allways green A Clowd allwaies surrounds it whereby the leaves are so moystned that most pure liquour runs continually from it which the inhabitants fetch setting vessells round the Tree to take it in Bertius in descript Canariar Sea-waters if they be lukewarm they portend tempests before two days be over and violent Winds Lemnius de occult l. 2. c. 49. In England nere New-Castle there is a lake called Myrtous part whereof is frozen in Summer Thuan. in Histor. But I have done with these Authours have more if any man desire it especially Claudius Vendilinus whom I name for honour sake if he seek for the wonders of Nilus Artic. 7. Of some Floods or Waters and of the Universall Deluge THe Floods were signs of Gods anger and so much the more as that was greater and mens sins more grievous The greatest was that we call the generall Deluge which began about the end of the year of the World 1656. All the bars of the Channels were broken and for 40 dayes a vaste quantity of water was poured down Also the Fountains of the great Deep were cut asunder so that the Waters increased continually for 150 dayes and passed above the highest Mountains 15 Cubits At length they abated by degrees for after 70 dayes the tops began to appear The Inhabitants of the New World say they had it from their Ancestours Those of Peru say that all those Lands lay under waters and that men were drowned except a few who got into woodden Vessels like Ships and having provision sufficient they continued there till the waters were gone Which they knew by their dogs which they sent forth of doors and when the dogs came in wet they knew they were put to swim but when they returned dry that the waters were gone August Carat But they of Mexico say that five Suns did then shine and that the first of them perished in the waters and men with it and whatsoever was in the earth These things they have described in Pictures and Characters from their Ancestors giving credit to Plato's Flood which was said to have hapned in the Island Atlantis Lupus Gomara But Lydiat ascribes the cause of that universal Deluge to a subterraneal fire in a hotter degree increasing the magnitude by rarefaction so long as it could not gâ—t out of its hollow places Genesis seems to demonstrate it For the Fountains of the great Deep are said to be broken open and that a wind was sent forth after 40 dayes and the waters were quieted We must understand a wind from a dry Exhalation which a subterraneous fire much increased had most abundantly raised out of the deep of the Sea which was then thrust forth of them and did increase the motion of the ayr that it laid hold of together with the revolution of the Heavens and the vehemency of the Firmament But there were other miraculous Deluges besides this CHAP. IV. Of the Originall of Fountains Sea by passages under the Earth The Sea alone is sufficient to supply all Springs and when we see that it no wayes increaseth by the Rivers that run into it it is apparent that they run to their Fountains by secret channels But the question is of the manner how they ascend Socrates ascribes it to the Tossing of them Pliny to the wind l. 21. c. 65. Bodin l. 2. Theatr. to the weight of the Earth driving forth the water Scaliger to the Bulk of the Sea others to vapours redoubled into themselves It is a hard matter to define all things nor is it our purpose But because Thom Lydiat an English Man hath written most acutely of this Subject we will set down his opinion here contracted into a few Propositions I. The Rolling of the Water is not the cause of its ascending to the superficies of the Earth For there is no cause for its tossing and wherefore then should it not at length stand levell II. To be driven with the wind is not the cause 1. For it seems not to be raised in the Sea by a fixed Law of Nature but by way of Tempest 2. The Channels are winding and should carry it rather to the sides than to the superficies 3. If a contrary wind cannot do so much in any water what then can the wind do here Also if there were any receptacles for the waters forced upwards Miners those that dig in mines would have found them out as Vallesius saith III. The weight of the Earth squeesing out the water is not the Cause For the Earth
butter of Antimony Some impute it to the native heat of the earth or to a certain hot spirit so that these natural spirits of exhalations heating not violently but naturally in some places the secret channels of the Earth grow hot that this heat is communicated to the Walls of those concavities by reason whereof a sufficient and continuall heat may be communicated to the Baths even as in an Oven heated when all the flame is gone the bread is sufficiently baked Horstius de natur Thermar Others ascribe it to subterraneall fire but whether it be so may be known by what proceeded Bartholin de aquis Farther it may be shewed by an Example Mingle salt-water with Clay make of this clay or mud a ball and hollow it within then stop the orifice with the clay and put in a narrow pipe into it and put this ball to the fire the pipe being from the fire when the ball waxeth hot out of the ball by the pipe hot water will run Sennert l. 4. scient natural c. 10. Baths have a taste by the mixture of Earths and so have things in the Earth Hippocrates l. de natur human saith That there is in the Earth sweet sowr and bitter and in the bowels of it there are divers faculties and many humours l. 4. de Morbis Every thing drawes its nourishment from the Earth in which it is Hence in Ionia and Peloponnesus though the heat of the Sun be very sufficient yet Silphium growes not though it be sowed namely for want of such a humour as might nourish it Yet there are in that earth juices not onely for the vaporous but also for the moyst and solid substance Juices condensed are dissolved by waters the moyst are mingled Earths are dissolved and scrapings of mettals are found The goodnesse of them differs sometimes because those that in Summer are beray'd with the Suns heat and attenuated are the best In Autumn they are lesse beat upon by its beams because he is nearer to them so in the spring For the Earth is opened the waters are purified the healthfull light of the Sun approaches but in the Winter they are worst for they are heavier thicker and more defiled with earthly exhalations That they suffer changes we may learn by divers examples Fallop de Therm c. 11. Savanarola saith That the Bath waters in the Country of Pisa cause great diseases in those that drink them and the Inhabitants are warn'd of it For in March April and May when they see the waters look yellow and to be troubled they foresee they are dangerous Alcardus of Veroneus a Physitian who writ of the Calâ—erian Baths saith That the water of Apponus is sometimes deadly by the example of one Galeatius a Noble man who with his Son in Law drank of it and dyed The sharp waters of Alsatia are sometimes so sharp that they cause the dysentery and sometimes they are feeble and are deprived of their wonted vigour Sebizius de acidulis diss 50. s. 1. The causes are divers amongst the ordinary a rainy cloudy dark Southern constitution of the Ayr too violent flowing of the Sea inundations Earthquakes It is wonderfull that is written concerning some hot Baths in Germany that they grew dry when there was a tax set upon them Camerar horis subcis cent 2. c. 69. Something like this fell out in shell-fish at the Sluce for when a kind of tribute was laid upon the collecting of them they were no more found there they returned when the Tax was taken off Jacob Mayer in Annal. Flandriae CHAP. VI. Of the Sea Artic. 1. 〈…〉 Artic. 2. 〈…〉 and Hercules Pillars about Spain and France in his dayes But the North Sea for the greatest part was passed over by the happy successe of the famous Augustus We find in Velleius that Germany was surrounded by sailing so far as the Promontory of the Cimbri and from thence the vast Ocean was discovered or known by relation as far as Scythia and the parts that were frozen by the command of Tiberius The same Pliny tells us that Alexander the Great extended his Victories over the greatest part of the East and Southern Seas unto the Arabian shores whereby afterwards when C. Caesar the Son of Augustus managed the businesse the ensigns of ships were known to belong to the Spaniards that had suffered shipwrack there But when Carthage flourished 〈…〉 from the Gades to the furthermost parts of Arabia and 〈…〉 writing that Voyage and Hamilco at the same time was sent to discover the outward parts of Europe Moreover Cornelius Nepos is the Author of it in Pliny that one Eudoxus in his time when he fled from Lathyrus King of Aegypt came from the Arabian Coasts as far as Gades and Caelius Antipater long before him affirms the same that he saw him who sailed out of Spain into Aethiopia 〈…〉 Merchandize The same Author writes that the King of Sweden gave freely to Quint. Metellus Celer Pro Consul of France those Indians who sailed out of India for Traffiquâ— and were by Tempests carried into Germany That Voyage hath been attempted of late but with extream danger of life men being hindred continually by Ice and extream darknesse If these things be so then was all our World sailed about It is further questioned whether there be any passage through the North Sea to the Kingdom of Sina and to the Moluccos Jovius reportâ— that he heard it of Demetrius Moschus that Duidna with many Rivers entring into it ran into the North a wonderfull way and that the Sea was there open so that stearing the course toward the right hand shore unlesse the land be betwixt men might saile to Cathay Those of Cathay belong to the furthest parts of the East and the parallel of Thracia and are known to the Portingalls in India when they to buy spices sayled to the Golden Chersonesus through the Countries of Sina and Molucco and brought with them garments of Sabell skins Petruâ— Bertius a man that deserved well for his learning but ill for divinity reports in descrip noâ— Zembliae that he saw a Table described 〈…〉 the Russes wherein the shores of the Russes Samogetans and Tingâ—â—eri with the North Sea nere unto them and some Islands were â—â—â—ely set forth In that the Duina River was farthest West but others Rivers followed towards the East and in the first place Peisa Petchoâ—a Obiâ— Jeneseia and Peisida Therefore the passage must be open from the River Obii to Peisida The Histories of â—â—e Russes reportâ— that when the Moscovites and the Tingesi were curious to search out Countries farther toward the East they sent out discoveries over Land who passed beyond the River Obii and Jeneseia so far as Peisida ouâ— foot and there they fell amongst people that in their habit manners and speech were farr different from them There they heard the found of Bells from the East the noyse of Men the neighing of Hortes they saw say is foure square such as
the Indians use They saw a place in Aprill and May abounding with all sorts of flowers The Duke of Moscovia heard of this afterwards and triall was made but the Duke died in the interim and this noble designe was hindred It is supposed that those places are nere the Indies and therefore if the River Peisida can be overpassed the passage to Cathay and Sinae were not difficult Artic. 3. Of the depth freesing and â—oloâ—ys of the Sea COncerning the depth of the Sea there are many opinions Burgensis saith it is deeper than the Earth 〈…〉 Plin. l. â— c. 22. and Solinus c. 54 that in many 〈…〉 no borrow can be found But there speak of a certain Sea in the 〈…〉 and they speak according to their days when navigation was 〈…〉 known Priscianus reports that Julius Caesar found by his Searchers 15 furlongs others give 30. But the English Portugalls 〈…〉 who now a days use most Navigation reckon 2 Italian miles and a time Olaus Magnus l. 2. Histor. septent c. 10. weâ—â—es that at the shoâ—es of Norway it is so deep thay not open can 〈…〉 but that is by reason of the hollow shores and full of cracks every where And though there be such a wonderfull force of waters in the Sea yet certain it is that it is somtimes frozen Strabo l. c. Geograph writes that in the mouth of Maeotis so great Ice was seen that in the place that King Mithridates Generall overcame the Enemy in the Ice the same he passed over with his Fleet. When 〈…〉 four the Sea of Pontus was so frozen for a 100. â—â—les that it 〈…〉 hard as a stone and was above 30 Cubiâ—s 〈…〉 Vintent l. 〈…〉 But Olaus l. 11. c. 25 saith that in the North Sea they 〈…〉 and draw along their Engins for Warts and â—aires 〈…〉 kept The condition of the Ice there is very strange Being carried on the shore it presently thawes no man furthering it Ziglerus l. â— 8. In Islandra if it be kept it vanisheth and he affirms that some will turn to a stone The Sea hath many colours Andreaâ— Causalius saith that neer the Inhabitants of the East-Indies there is a milk 〈…〉 that is seen for 300 miles Martyr also attests the same in his Sumâ—lâ—â— That which washes the Island Cabaque is somtimes green and sometimes of the yeare red for the Shel-fish every where poure much blood Petrus Hispan The red Sea though it be so called because it is rinctured with red waters yet it is not of that nature 〈…〉 for but the water is tainted by the shores that are neer and all the land about it is red and next to the colour of blood 〈…〉 l. 13. c. 1â— The Sea useth frequently to change its colour Aulâ—â—ell noct Atâ—â—l 2. c. 30 gives the cause It is faith he observed by the best Philosophers that when the South wind blows the Sea is blewish and â—â—eyish but when the North blows it is blacker and darker c. When the Doâ— days are it is troublesome Men ascribe that to the Sun that pierceth the inward parts of the Sea with its beams and stirrs the grosseâ— parts but consumes them not But this is strange that is said that the Sea Parium in the New Word is so intangled with so many green herbs that Men cannot fall in it the long branches of herbs like nâ—ts hindring them That Sea is so like a Medow that as the Waves turn all the herbs turn with it also that the storms are lesse from the Waves than from the grasse This endangers Sea-Men and first Columbus Ovetan l. 2. c. 2. For the Ships are held by the bendings of little branches that they cannot turn It is deep enough for Galleys to row in but the herbs rise from the bottom and grow together on the top and are 15 hand-breadth higher sometimes Pliny l. 13. c. 25. reports that in the red Sea Woods flourish chiefly â—he Laurel and the Olive bearing Olives and if it rain Mushromâ—â— which when the Sun shines are converted into a Pumex-stone The sprouts themselves are 3 cubits great and are stored with abundance of dog fish that it is scarse safe to look out of the Ship and they will set upon the very oars oft times The Souldiers of Alexander that sailed from India reported that the boughs of Trees in the Sea were green but taken out of the Sea were presently changed by the Sun into dry salt Also Polâ—bius reports that in the Sea of â—ortingal Oakes grow that the Thynni fishes feeding on their Acorns grow fat Athenaeus l. 7. Artic. 4. Of the Saltnesse of the Sea THe Works of God are wonderfull in Nature but two are most wonderfull the saltnesse of the Sea and its flowing and ebbing It is said that there is an Island in the Southern Ocean that is waterâ—d by a sweet Sea which also Diodorus Siculus seems to testifie and assert concerning the Scythian Sea Pliny l. 6. c. 17. But that is ascribed to the great running of Rivers into it and how small is this in respect of the other Sea Yet Philosophers argue concerning the saltnesse of the Sea Aristotle l. 2. Meteor c. 1. calls for the nature of the Sea and efficacy of the Sun to assist him For the Sea-waters by the mixture of the ground and the shores is thicker and the Sun by its heat calls forth thinner parts and resolves them into vapours which being burnt with heat and mingled with the water cause its saltnesse Mans body will help us in this wherein the native heat dissolves the sweetest meats into the saltest humours which being collected in the Reins is cast forth by urine Experience confirms it that shews us that the Sea is more salt in Summer than in Winter and more toward the East and South than elsewhere Lydiat likes not this opinion but brings another That Youth may more exactly comprehend the sense of this brave man We will set it down here in a few Propositions I. The vehement heat of the Sun doth not boyl the Sea to be salt For 1. Why is not the same done in a little water in a bason 2. The same cause of saltnesse should work upon the subject with lesse resistance II. A hot dry earthly exhalation carried by rain into the Sea iâ— not the cause of its saltnesse For 1. Why is not the same done in Fountainsâ— 2. It is too little 3. Why is it not onely salt in the superficies but in the deep For though Scaliger Exercit. 51. denyes that saying that the â—â—â—nators have proved it to be sweet yet Patricius saith it was found otherwise in the 〈…〉 between Crete and Egypt when it was very calm Philip 〈…〉 witnesseth the same III. The Sea is salt by the mixture of something with it That is clearâ— because all tasting is oâ— mixt bodies IV. That which is mingled with the Sea hath the nature of a hot and dry exhalâ—â—ion That is apparent 1. Because the Sea is such 〈…〉 will
hardly extinguish flames and it is easily 〈…〉 that are washed in it are quickly dryed 3. 〈…〉 as Britanny and France hotter V. The Sea is not onely salt but bitter therefore it is 〈…〉 called Mare than Sâ—â—um VI. The salt and bitternesse of the Sea iâ— from a subterraneal 〈…〉 fire 1. Bitumen is perceived so bitter in taste that it may be known to be the first subject of it 2. Bitumen hath great force to cause iâ— salt and bitter taste The bituminous Lake of Palestina is so salt and bitter that no Fish is bred in it it scours cloaths if one wet them and shake it well out 3. Pliny reports that a bituminous water thaâ— is also salt at Babylon is cast out of their Wells into salt Piâ—â— and is thickned partly into Bitumen partly into Salt VII A salt Exhalation proceeding froâ—â—hose Deâ—pâ— iâ— easily divided by the body of the Sea For as fine flower or 〈…〉 thing else casâ— into 〈…〉 boyling liquor is cast from the place that boyls unto other parts 〈…〉 on one side to the other if in the middle to the circumference 〈…〉 bituminous Exhalation from thence where it boyleth most and the Sea is most hot is cast and dispell'd into the whole body of it So 〈…〉 Artic. 5. Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea ANother great miracle of Nature is the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea When the Philosopher sought for the cause of it hâ— grew desperate Possidonius in Strabo l. 3. Geograph makes 3. Circuits of the Sea's motion The diurnall monethly and yearly The first is when the Moon is risen above the Horizon but one sign of the Zodiack or is gone down under the Horizon then the Sea swells untill the Moon comes to the midst of the Heaven 〈…〉 it above or beneath the Earth When it declines from thence the Sea begins to retire untill the Moon is but one sign distant from the East or West and then it stops Pliny assents thus far to him that the flowing of the Sea begins about two equinoctiall hours after the rising or setting of the Moon and ends just so long before its setting or rising He determines the other to be monethly in the conjunction when he saith That the greatest and quickest returnings of the Sea do happen about the new and full Moon the mean about the Quarters of the Moon And Marriners approve this when they call it the Living Sea by reason of the great ebbings and flowings in the new and full Moons but the dead Sea in the half Moons because of the lesser and slower motions of it Possidonius addes more That one Sâ—leucus observed a Sea that was derived from the red Sea and was different from it that kept the monethly course of returning namely according to the Lunar moneth which men call periodicall For he had observed in the Moon being in the Equinoctiall signs that the Tides were equall but in the solstices they were unequall both for quantity and swiftnesse and the same inequality held in the rest so far as any of them happened â—ear to the foresaid places Lastly Possidonius saith That he learned the yearly motions from the Mariners of Gades For they say that about the summer Solstice the ebbing and flowing of the Sea increaseth much and that he conjectured the same did diminish as far as the Equinoctial and again to increase untill Winterâ— from 〈…〉 to decrease untill the spring Equinox â— and so increase again untill the Summer solstice Pliny determines the contraâ—◠〈…〉 reason of the Equinox But Patricius witnesseth That iâ— Libâ—â—â—ia in January great part of the strandâ— are naked and continue dry for some dayes The same Pliny l. â— c. 97. observes That in every eight years in the Moons 100 circumvolution the Tides are called back to their first motions and like increasings that is to say the Sun and Moon then returning to a conjunction in the same sign and degree wherein they were in conjunction eight years before But for the daily Tides there is a differeâ—â—e amongst Writers In the Sicilian Sea 〈…〉 and flowings are twice a day and twice in the night 〈…〉 in the Sinâ—s of Aegeum repeats its motion 7. times a day and sometimes is seen thrown down from the highest Mountains and so steep down that no ships can be safe there Basil iâ— Hexaemex In England at Bristoll the Ebb is daily twice and so great that the ships that were in the Sea stand dry and are twice on dry Land twice in the Sea Pitheas Massiliensis as Pliny testifies l. 2. c. 67. writes that it swâ—lls fourscore cubits higher than Britanny In the Southern part of the New World the Sea rising flowes two Leagues Ovetan summ c. 9. But in a certain Northern Sea there iâ— no flowing or ebbing observed by the waves of it Petrus Hispan p. 5. c. 1. Not far from Cuba Promontory and by the shores of Margaret Island and Paria the Sea flowes naturally nor can ships by any means though they have a prosperous gale sayl against the floods nor make a mile in a whole day Petrus Martyâ—â—â—n sum Indiae In the Adriatick Sea formerly there was wont to be a very great flowing forth early in the morning the Sea being so advanced into the Continent that it went as far up as a strong man could run in a day Procop. l. 1. Belli Gothici â—ut singular was that Tide and a wonder of the World which in particular which proceed from whirlepools by which the waters are suckt up and spued out again by turns It is very probable this happens in Charybdis the Syrtes and Chalcydis about Eubaea This represents a true flowing and comes from winds breaking forth of the Caves of the Earth and forcing forward the waters or to the Waves running back again and sinking down But the fourth is 〈…〉 true ebbing and flowing which runs neither Eastward nor Westward but begins from the Navel of the Sea and that boyls up and as the waters rise thus they are powred forth toward the Banks more or lesse as the cause is more or lesse violent unlesse something hinder the cause whereof we shall seek last of all And true it is that Marriners in the straights of Magellan where the South Sea is seperated from the North by a notable difference marking diligently the Tydes of both Seas have observed what they could not do in the vast Ocean namely that both Seas do not begin to flow at the same time And that it is not moved by any outward cause not from the Heavens nor is it brought in from the East or West but comes from the bottom of it and boyles out from thence the superfluity running toward the Land variously as the swelling is great or small the shores high or low and the cause that moves it from the bottom upwards weaker or stronger This is confirmed by the nature of the water which casts up from the bottom whatsoever it sucks in if it be not
North-west wind blowes the North wind makes them well again In Tercera it eats Iron and stones Bertius in Geograph Amongst the rest are the Etesia that are very moderate winds every year two dayes after the rising of the dog-star they are wont to blow 40 dayes They temper the heat with their blast and cool the Summer and defend us from the burthen of the hot moneths They rise at 3. of the clock of the day thence they are called sleepy winds and they cease at night It is likely they are bred by great heat melting the Snow that yet remains in the Northern parts It is credible that the Earth being freed from Snow and uncovered they will blow the freer The Ancients sacrificed to the winds to please them Herodotus saith That a Temple in Ilissum was built to Boreas They call'd them at Athens Boreasmi who kept the Feasts of Boreas We believe P. Victor that at Rome there was a Temple for Tempest Rhodigin l. 20. c. 25. CHAP. VII Of the Earth-quake Artic. 1. Of the rising of an Earthquake THe Ancients believed that the Earth moved by waters fluctuating in the Caves of the Earth Whence they called Neptune Earth-shaker and mover Gell. l. 2. c. 28. Others thought the wind in the surface of the Earth returning into the hollow caves of it did shake it Others again that the Sun kept the vapours within the ground and they seeking passage to come forth did wander where they could when they found none Reason and Experience are against it There is in the West part of Spain a Mountain of wonderfull height with many hollow Caves Scalig. Exerc. 38. waters fall down in them with so great noise that they are heard five miles yet there is no Earthquake there nor yet is the wind or Ayr that goes under very great it is dispersed in the largenesse of the Channels and the diverticles it finds going farther it is stopt Mineral operations shew this For they make mighty bellowes to draw the ayr lest they should be choked for want of it The contest of winds doth nothing for that rather tends to the sides or flyes upwards by its leightnesse and at the first hindrance they fly from the Earth like a whirlwind It is uncertain whether the Sea can stop the passages there are seldom any such great Caves by the Sea nor can that go in at once but it will be thrust back again The Sun cannot more easily exercise its force upon the Earth and beget an Exhalation than he can bring it forth being begotten for the Sun beams operate noâ— but by resistance Whilest they heat and dry they open the same because exhalations ascend more strongly to that place which is neer One in respect of continuity followes another but howsoever they enter in they easily come out of the Earth and more easily than they can shake it for in Mines where the powder finds but a chink when it is fired it is lost labour Wherefore Exhalation bred from fire under the Earth and shut up in the bowels of the Earth causeth an Earthquake And that is apparent by this For before an Earthquake well-Well-waters will not onely boyl but be more troubled and brimstony vapours come forth From whence The like vapours are tossed in the bowels of the Earth Pliny l. 2. Artic. 2. Of the place time and effects of an Earth-quake THose places are subject to Earth-quakes which can easily take in wind Solid places will not admit it sandy places mixed with lime do easily discuss it they want receptacles for winds Champion places have no Caves Yet the whole Earth is never shaken for the Vapours included have no proportion to the Globe of the Earth If it should happen it must be ascribed to divine power which nature would seem to challenge to her self If you consider the duration it differs as the resistance is few Vapours are sooner discussed many last longer and rage a greater time Senec. naturalâ— l. 6. c. 3. Campania trembled many dayes Livy writes that at that time when L. Cornelia and Q. Minucius neer Consuls the Earth-quakes were so frequent that men were weary not only of it but of all businesse The same Author sayes that an Earth-quake lasted 40 days others say one hath lasted two yeares and returned again and again Livy l. 44. l. 45. Aristot. l. 2. Meteor c. 8. Plin. l. 2. c. 82. Such is the condition of the effects of it that those that hear of it will be astonished at it and those that see it dye Oft times it doth not devour Houses Cities or whole famelies only but whole Nations and Countries somtimes the Earth falls upon them somtimes it takes them into its deep jaws and leaves not so much whereby it may appear that what is not now ever was Seneca L. 6. natur c. 1. The ground covers somtimes the most noble Cities without leaving any mark of their formeâ— being when as the great hollow Caves in the Earth are forced and shaken with winds and fall down oft times in the Sea a hollow pit opening drinks up the waters on the Land Rivers that both fish and shipping sink into it On the otherside the Earth lifted up into a high tumour hath caused Mountains on land and Islands at Sea somtimes the course of Rivers hath been changed that hilly ground having been removed on that side that they formerly ran Histories are full of these calamities The last yeare of Nero fields and Olive Trees that the high way passed between in the Country of the Mâ—rrucinum were transported to the other side L. Marcius and Sextus Julius being Consuls in the Country of the Mutinenses two Mountains fell together with a mighty noise Plin. l. 2. and l. 16. c. 40. Many Villages were then beaten down and Cattel killed In Parthia there is a place called Ragai from the clifts where many Towns and Villages 2000 were overwhelmed At Cajeta in Italy there is a Mountain toward the South a part whereof an Earthquake so divided that one would believe the division was made by the art of Man the Sea runs under it with a great noise Agricol in reb quae efflu ex terra The Houses of Helice and Bura two Towns in the Sinus of Corinth did appeare in the Sea In the Island Aenania a Town was so taken in that there was no appearance of it left Not far from Ptolemais the Waves of the Sea were carried into the deep and so lifted up themselves that they appeared like a great Mountain and afterwards they were carryed to the land and drownd the Army of Tryphon When Cneius Octavius and C. Scribonius were Consuls the River at Velia brake down the bridges and threw the banks of the River into the waters drove away the stones that were in the Market place in Town and Field it shook the Churches which a few days after fell down By an Earthquake the City of Lacedemon fell all down when the Mountain Taygetus was broken
hatched CHAP. IX Of the Feldifare and Goat-Sucker THe Feldifare makes her nest in the thickets the walls are mosse wooll downy herbs the ground-work is heath They have six young ones and they are so unlike their old ones that they have scarce any mark like them Because he flyes he doth a little imitate the other Birds notes he catcheth those that fly to him and is easily taken himself for when he sees a bird shut up in a cage he flyes upon it to invade it The Caprimulgus goes into the folds of shepherds and sucks the Goats teats for milk the udder loseth its force by this injury and the Goats that are so suckt grow blind Pliny l. 10. c. 40. He sees little in the day but is quick-sighted at night Arist. histor l. 9. c. 30. In Candie it makes such an horrible noise that it will fright the Inhabitants Bellonius CHAP. X. Of the Cuckow THe Cuckow is a Bird of a very cold constitution of body whence she is so fearful that all the birds offend her Plin. l. 10. c. 9. she breeds in other birds nests especially the Woodculver's the hedge-Sparrow's the Lark the Red-breast and the Nightingall If their nests be empty she will not turn in there but if there be eggs she breaks some and sucks them and layes her own in the room in some nests they say she breaks them all Arist. l. 6. c. 7. The young ones hatcht and known by the bird are said to be beaten and to fly away to their own dam. Note the goodnesse of nature they say she layes in those Birds nests that feed on common meats she feeds on Worms Insects and Corn. The Grashoppers before the dog-dayes when they hear the Cuckow sing run upon her in troops and they get under her wings and kill her Isidor l. 12. c. 8. They are said to be bred of Cuckow spittle In winter she casts her feathers and changeth her colour Arist. 9. histor c. 43. In a Mountain of Greece where many Cuckowes breed it is said that a Holly Tree growes there that what living Creature soever sits upon it is glewed fast as with birdlime except the Cuckow Plin. l. 30. c. 10. In what place soever you first hear the Cuckow sing if you make a circle about your right foot and dig up that compasse of earth no fleas will breed wheresoever that is spread CHAP. XI Of the Crow IT is certain that in the New World the Crowes are white and Alphonsus King of Cicily had one They say they grow white if the eyes be anointed with the brain or fat of a Cat and be put under a white 〈…〉 in a cold place They flock together to a fruitful field but two at once where the field is not fruitfull He hath many notes they say 64 the proper note is â—roking which he makes being changed with no passion or variety of weather He longs for raw flesh and corrupt and that dyed of it self if he refuse this it is an ill omen as Thucidides observed in the Plague at Athens Julius Caesar Moderatus Ariminensis learned by experience that he vomits up again the bones and the small feet Hyginus denyes that he can drink when he eath eaten figs because then his throat is pierced thorow He casts off his young ones if they be white though they write that seven dayes after they are hatcht they become black Cassiodorus thinks out of the Psalmist that they then live upon dew A tame Crow at Erfurd took money off of the Table and kept it and did so exactly call Conrade the Cook when he was hungry that you would believe it were a mans voice then he pricked holes in a Musick-book that he found as if he understood Musick Scalig. Eâ—erc â—37 Barbarus observed that he carried fire in his mouth when Lightning fell Some think he catcheth sparks of fire instead of pieces of flesh when exhalations take fire in Lightning He is said to live 180 years Indeed in a City of France Corvatum one lived 100 years Albertus 9. hist. c. 10. A certain Physitian that was famous in Pliny his days burnt two Crowes to ashes taken out of the nest in the moneth of March and being made into fine powder gave them to people for the Epilepsie one dram weight twice or thrice in a day with water of the decoction of Castorium CHAP. XII Of the Rook and Chrysaethos IN Britany there is abundance of Rooks because the Sea washeth it on all sides and in the grounds that are moyst there breed abundance of Worms for their food Cardanus Ludovicus Rhodiginus saw a white one with a black head not far from the walls of Rhodigium l. 17. Antiq. lect c. 11. He loves Nuts chiefly which if he cannot break he lets them fall upon stones Aelian l. 3. c. 9. They do not inconsiderately couple for when one dyeth the other lives single alwayes after When Storks fly beyond Sea this leads them It is so industrious that Merthes King of Egypt had one that would carry letters whither he sent him Porphyr de abstin ab animal When she is slain and remains dead till she stincks she drawes mice if you lay her in a place where you may kill them Gesner The Chrysaethus hath a tongue like a mans armed on both sides toward the roots with two horny hooked appendices The length is sometimes from the beak to the clawes four hands breadth and a half the breadth is eight when the wings are stretched out It layes but one egg if it lay two one is rotten CHAP. XIII Of the Pigeon THe Pigeon when she layes two eggs the one egg will bring a male the other a female but because the heat is greater in the male he is said to be first hatcht Paul à Castro When the young ones are brought forth she thrusts the salt Earth into their mouthes which she hath first fitted in her own to prepare them to receive some meat and to implant fruitfulnesse into them and to raise their appetite Athen. 9. hist. c. 24. Many things prove them to be apt to learn One of them pecked corn out of Mahomet's ear When Leyden was besieged some of them carried Letters Lipsius The same was done at the siege of the Buss. Divers men use divers remedies to keep them in the Dove-houses and to allure others thither Some stir Man's blood up and down in an earthen vessell for a quarter of an hour with Pease and then anoint Pigeons with it and cast the pease to them to eat Gesner Some hang the skull of an old man in the Dove-house Albertus Some hang a piece of the halter that a man was hang'd with on rheir windows Pallad l. 3. c. 44. Pliny l. 11. c. 37 writes That there is poyson in mans teeth that will kill young unfeather'd Pigeons We have it from the secrets of the Egyptians that such as feed on Pigeons flesh will never be infected with the Plague Hence in times of
in time they grow as big as the greatest Tunie fish in the Danube and their abdomen is so fat that you would say their paps were as great as a Sowes that gave suck and are covered with a rough skin that Spears are polished with them with a membrane so tied from the brain to the tail that dryed in the Sun it will serve for a whip that must be understood of these Husons For Vadianus in Epitome trium terrae partium writes that he saw some of 400 weight They are so fearful that the least fish will fright them They follow the sound of Trumpets that they will come to the bank over against it Lastly they are so strong in the water that if they strike the fisher with their tail they will strike him out of the Ship so soon as they put their heads above water they grow weak They will drink strong wine and live many days being drunk they are carried to strangers they will drink 4. Sextarii of Wine CHAP. X. Of the Pike and Luna ALbertus writes that the Pike hath its stomach so joyn'd to the throat that sometime it will cast it up for greedinesse of meat but it hath many appendixes wherein the Chylus made is preserved as Rondeletius observed There was a very great one seen that had another great one in the belly and this again had a vvater-mouse Another was seen that had tvvo young Geese in it another had a Moor-hen in its stomach For great hunger it will feed on food at Land It hath a natural Enmity with a frog Hence it is that the Frog will oft times dig out his eyes He cures his wounds by rubbing against a Tench which he alwaies keeps company with His jaw-bones boat into fine powder given the quantity of an aureus will break the stone In England they cut off the belly of it two fingers breadth and if they cannot find a Chapman they will sew up the belly and put it into their fish-pond again vvhere Tench are Though the cause may be attributed to friendship yet it is better to attribute it to the clammy matter the Tench abounds with by which he may heal his wound A Pike of Frederick the Emperour was said to have lived 267 years in a Lake that was found out by a brasse ring that he hid under his skin in his gills when he put him into the lake It had a Greek Inscription on it which is to this sense I am that Fish that was first put into this Lake by Frederick the Second Emperour of the World on the fifth of October Conradus Celtes saith that ring was found upon that Pike taken Anno 1497 as Gesner relates in Epistola nuncupatoria Luna is a fish exceeding beautiful very small broad bodied of a blevvish colour on the back it hath soft fins which vvhilest it dilates in swimming it makes a semicircle like to a half Moon Aelian ex Demostrato Those that fish for Bream say that at the full of the Moon it will grow dry and die and put on herbs it will make them wither CHAP. XI Of Manaty and the Whiting MAnaty is a great Fish taken in the Rivers of Hispaniola His head is like an Ox head or bigger His eyes in respect of his body are small he hath two thick feet like wings in the place of gills with which he swims they are set about his head he hath a thick skin and no scales He is so great that there needs a yoke of Oxen to carry him Sometimes he is above 14 or 15 foot long and eight hands thick near the tail he is narrower and as it were girt in from which straightnesse the tail growes longer and thicker He hath two stones or rather bones in his head so great as little hand-balls or the bullet of a Crosse-bowe and sometimes greater as the fish is He wants ears but in place of them he hath small holes by which he hears His skin is like the skin of a shriveled Ox a finger thick ash-coloured and thin set with hairs The tail from that straight part unto the end of it is all nervous From that cut into pieces and then set five or six dayes in the Sun and dryed and then boyled in a Cauldron or rather fryed much fat comes forth for it all resolves into fat It is good to fry eggs in a frying-pan For it never grows rank nor unsavoury He is made tame and will be taught like a dog but Franciscus Lopetius saith he will remember Injuries The petty King of Caramatexum in the Island of Hispaniola fed one of them 26 years in the Lake Guaynabo and made him so tame though he were grown great as great as an old Dolpbin for he would take meat by hand and when they call'd him Mato which in their Tongue signifies Magnificent he would come forth of the Lake and creep to the house for meat and then go back to the Lake again Boyes and Men going with him and when they sang he seemed to be delighted with it and he would let them sometimes ride on his back he would easily carry ten at a time from one part of the Lake to the other But when a certain Spaniard would make triall whether his skin were so hard or no and threw a dart at him he grew so angry that if he saw any clothed in Christians habit though he were called he would not come forth of the water After that the River Haibon swelled extreamly and ran into the Lake Guaynabo so he found his way to the Sea and the people were very sorry that he was gon The Whiting eats nothing unlesse he see it is dead Aelian The male is very jealous For he stays at home and fearing his young ones should be caught he stays to preserve them CHAP. XII Of Mirus Mola and Monoceros THe Fish Mirus is briefly described by Ambrosius Pareus In the Venetian Sea saith he between the Venetians and Ravenna two miles above Clodia Anno 1550 there was a flying Fish taken very terrible and monstrous four feet long he had a very thick head and two eys not set one against the other with two ears and a double mouth a very fleshy nose green colourd with two wings and five holes in his throat as Lampreys have his tail was an ell long and in the top of it were two little wings Also Mola is a Fish that was taken on the calends of March Anno 1552 not farr from Venice at first sight it seem'd rather a peice of Flesh than a Fish It was round it had a skin without skales or hairs The mouth was so straight that it was miraculous considering the greatnesse of the Creature The eyes were large stretching out and greater than Oxe eyes The gills were uncovered fleshy and beat the fins on the sides were a span long It had a very hard knot The Jaws on both sides were fenced with a solid continued bone the tongue of it stuck fast to the
Salmon striving to overcome the precipice of the water be frustrated at the second or third leap he swims to the foard and there he will lye hid under stones and gravel and pine away he is full of brasse colour'd spots and his beck is bent like a great hook In Scotland in Autumn they meet in little Rivers or places fordable where they joyne bellies and lay eggs and cover them in the gravel at which time the male is so spent spending his milt and seed and the female with her spawn that they are nothing but bones and prickels and skin That leannesse is infectious for they will infect all the Salmons they come neere It is an argument thereof that oft times they are taken and one side is consumed the other not so From their eyes covered in the sand little fishes breed the next spring that are so soft that untill they be no bigger than a mans finger if you presse them with your fingers they will run as from congeled moysture Then first as Nature leads them they hasten to the Sea and in 20 days or a little more it is incredible how great they will grow when they come from the Sea against a River that runs thither they shew a wonder For the Rivers that are straightned with Rocks and Banks on every side and therefore run down swiftly when they fall with a great fall the Salmons do not presently swim forth by the Channel but they fling themselves up crooked by force of the water and so are carried in the Ayre before they fall That they are lively is seen by their heart taken forth Robertus Constantinus testifies that he saw the heart of a Salmon that was unbowelled that was wet with a moyst sanies and it lived after it was taken forth above a day There are some different kinds of Turdi Some have as it were some skiny yellowish Apophyses hanging down from their lower chop somtimes they vary and are all for the most part Gold colour or colour of the Amethyst or blew Their eyes are extreme great and a black circle goes about a Golden Apple a Golden circle about the black and lastly a black circle goes about them all The fins by the gills are wholly Gold colour but of the brest they are all blew except their nervs that are Gold colour'd The fin that is from the anus and that which is on the back and taile where they are joyn'd to the rump are Gold colour'd but sprinkled with little red blood spots the rest are blew CHAP. XX. Of the Torpedo and the Tunie I Have nothing to say of the Torpedo but that he benums the hands and hence he hath his name And he doth this so effectually that before he is taken he will do it by the net or the rod. He useth this cunning that covering himself with mud and dirt he will catch little fish very strangely Plin. l. 1. utr anim The Tunies though they be caught in many places yet chiefly about Constantinople for when they come to the Islands Cyaneae and are past by the shore of Chalcedonia a certain white rock appears to them and doth so terrifie the Tunies that immediately they put over to the farther bank and being taken away with the swift current of the waters the natural fitnesse of the place turns the course of the Sea to Constantinople and the winding thereof so that being driven thither by force of Nature it is no wonder that they fall into snares They are also ingendred in the Lakes of Maeotis and when they are a little grown they break forth of the mouth of the Lake in sholes and run by the Asiatick shore so far as Trapezunda but because they cannot endure tempests and cold weather whereby their eyes grow dim they stay in a very deep place of the Thracian Sea that harbours them it is called Melas and it hath hollow and muddy places fit to cherish fish in and they grow till the Spring They seem to understand the blowings of the winds For Pliny saith they stay for the North wind that they may get out of the Pontick Sea with the flowing of the water to help them They enter into Pontus one way and go forth another For Aristotle l. 8. Histor. c. 13. saith they lye on their right side next the Earth when they no in and come forth on the contrary side for they turn on the left side which saith he they are therefore said to do because naturally they see clearest with their right eye and duller with the left The old Oracle of the Prophet Amphyllus in Herodotus proves that they go forth in the night And this is again confirmed by ancient medalls such as Bellonius writes that he saw at Paris on one side was an Ear of Corn and on the other side the Tunie and above this the Moon with an Inscription of Phillips They sleep so soundly that they may be taken napping CHAP. XXI Of the Uranoscopus and the Sword-fish URanoscopus is a fish that swims alone and eats flesh so lively saith Bellonius that if you take out all his Entrals yet he will move still It is the greediest eater of all fish he hath an apophysis hanging forth of his mouth and with that he ensnares the fish This shews he is an insatiable paunch that if you cast meat to him he will feed so long till the meat come up to his throat The Sword-fish hath a beck on both chaps but the lower of them is short and triangular the upper is more bony and harder and far longer sometimes two cubits long In the Indian Sea they grow so great that they will pierce the sides of the strongest Ships a hand and half in thicknesse sometimes Jovius Gesner writes from the relation of a faithfull friend of his who saw a man when he sailed into Syria that swam by the Ship side and he was cut in the middle by the beck of this fish He fears a Whale and when he sees one he claps his sword into the earth or some place of the Foard that he can and so forms himself like to a log and the Whale neglects him and swims by him CHAP. XXII Of some other Wonders concerning Fishes IN Minerals and Quarreys also fishes are found especially if the places be moyst though there be no water Theophrastus observed this in many places of Pontus Eudoxus in Paphlagonia Agricola at Orterantum beyond the Albis There is a plain by the River Narbon by this run the Rivers Iliberis and Roschinus there are fossil fish found therein The earth is tender there and brings much grasse about two or three cubits under this runs the water of the Rivers that hath dilated it self If at any time they overflow they fill the plain with fish from underground Polyb. in Histor. There are two sorts of them some round like to Eels but they want a tuff skin they are scaly as Gudgeons their flesh is hard and not well savoured The
every thing had a sufficient perfection given to it and is content with it thence we see his goodnesse They are all from God and they tend unto God thence is glory Article 2. Of the Parts of the World and the disposing of them WEe need not be over-curious for the matter of it It contains the Heaven with the Stars the Elements Meteors in the Ayr Fishes in the Waters Minerals in the secrets of the Earth Plants Animals and Man are in the upper surface They are all materiall and corporeal things which wise men include in it and they are all realities Heaven is thought to be uncompounded the Elements serve for composition Meteors are imperfectly mixt Minerals perfectly but without life Plants with life but without sense Beasts with life and sense but without reason Man with life sense and reason is the compendium of all a little world in the great world The perfection is as great as the matter could bear the Workmaster could give more but the Matter was not capable of it Scalig. Exerc. 243. s. 3. The goodnesse is confirmed by the decree of God Gen. 1. vers ult He saw and behold all things were good The manner of ordering them in this great Engine Zeno in Laertius amongst the Philosophers hath declared That God at first whilest he was alone changed all essence by Ayr into Water and as in the birth the seed is contain'd so God who is the seminal cause of the World left such a seed in the moysture that should afford an easie and fit matter for this work for the generation of things afterwards Then he first produced the four Elements Fire Water Ayr Earth c. Trismegistus in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks true There was saith he infinite darknesse in the deep and the water and an intelligible spirit were by Divine vertue existing in the Chaos wherefore the holy light was taken away and the Elements were congealed and fastned beneath of a moyst substance and all these embraced and were in love with a seminall nature And when all things were undivided and not set in order they were parted and things that were leight chose the uppermost place heavy the lowest moyst the dry Land all of them being divided by the Fire and hanging in the Ayr and carried by it And the Heaven appeared in 7. circles and the gods appearing in the Aspects of the Stars with all their signs and the whole circumference was distinguished and with the gods that are in it was circumscribed with the circumambient Ayr and carried by a moving Divine spirit And every God by his own vertue produced what he was commanded and there were brought forth four-footed beasts creeping things Fishes Birds and every seminall plant and grasse and flowers and every herb contain'd in themselves seeds of regeneration and the Generations of men were for the knowledge of Divine things c. But Moses sets it down most truly Gen. Chap. 1. Heaven and Earth and Light the first day are The Firmament dividing Waters second were The third the waters parted Plants the Earth The fourth to Sun and Moon and Stars gives birth The fifth gives Fishes and all kind of Birds The sixth brought Cattell all made by Gods Words Then Man was made the seventh rest affords Danaeus in Phys. Christiana Artic. 3. Of Unity Figure and Soul of the World DEmocritus and Empedocles supposed that other worlds were made successively of some indivisible small seeds Hence Alexander complain'd that he had not yet conquered one Origines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said they were infinite successively that the Elementary world was made every 7 thousand years and the heavenly once in 4900 years For the Sabbath for the earth and the yeare of Jubilee was wont to return every 7th year and every 49 yeares Leo Hebraeus toucheth upon this opinion Dialog de Amore where he saith The inferior world by the opinion of the old divines is generated corrupted and renewd once in 7000 years But because we see nothing moved in it confusedly nor any thing set without it whither shall we go out of it Our desire is answered For in the end of our cogitations the same question alwaies returns Wherefore we say that there is but one world and the figure of it is plain like to a skin stretched forth very large saith Basilius But Plato held that it was like a Circumvex pointed with many Angles Sanchumates Berytius the most ancient writer of the affaires of Phoenicia said it was like to an Egge wherefore at the feasts of Bacchus they religiously adored an egg as the emblem of the world Some compare it to the greek letter Ω in which the outward lineament represents the Ocean Dalecham P. ad l. 2. Plin. hist. c. 3. But that it is made like a Globe not only the name and consent amongst men that call it so but every mans eyes can tell him for it is convex and one half look upon it which way we will Plato Of which living creatures he would have all other living creatures contain'd he framed that of such a forme that in that one all the rest might be contain'd The Stoâ—cks would have it to be a living creature endued with sense and reason Hence grew that description by its parts The Starr saith Plutarch of the face of the Moon are shining eyes in the face of the world they run their race the Sun is in place of the Heart as this affords blood and spirit so that sends forth heat and light the world useth the Earth and the Sea as a living creature doth its belly and bladder The Moon between the Sun and the Earth is as the Liver between the heart and belly or some soft bowel and attenuating its respirations by some concoction and purgation scatters them about Elegantly but not true For the world hath no known soul if we ascribe any thing to it all will be but a diffused force common to all and in proportion we may call it a soul. For what the soul is in bodies the same is force diffused in the universe Combach in Phys. cap. de Mundo Artic. 4. Of the Duration of the World past and to come THe duration of the World both past and to come is sought out by many but no certainty is proved The Aegyptians formerly boasted of 48000 years past in their History the Chaldaeans 470000 The East-Indies 700000. The Aegyptians are disproved by their disagreement one of them reported 20000 to Solon that asked him another 1300 to Herodotus The Chaldaeans alleage that in 48863 there have been only 832 luminaries But the doctrine of Astronomy shewes these to be trifles If this were not it might be yet Diodorus in Augustus his time searched for the greatest antiquity of the Aegyptians and found scarce 4000. Calisthenes Nephew to Aristotle by his sister found the Chaldaeans not to be 2000 Simplicius reports it Amongst our Chronologers the Christian Epoche is uncertain nor is there any beam so
made a day of 36 houres Justin Martyr in Dialog cum Tryphon Some think the Sun danceth when it riseth on Easter-day and honours our Saviours Resurrection in Triumph If that be so it is necessary for it to dance a whole day because it riseth the whole day What ever this is it must be ascribed to the Ayre interposed betwixt which about the Sun rising abounds with Vapours and if at any time most in the Spring because the pores are open and it sends forth more Vapours Camer Cent. 2. Memorab p. 39. Artic. 4. Of the inequality of Dayes and Nights WHen the Sun comes to the Horizon the Day riseth with us Night comes when the Sun departs But because it moves obliquely and is girt within the bounds of both Tropicks it keeps equality under the Equinoctiall it varies which side soever it declines yet the greater it is the farther the Countries are distant from the aequator In Arabia a Province of the new World the Dayes and Nights are alwaies equall Geographers have written the same of Peru Ovetan in Summa In a Country of Africa called Gambra in the moneth of July the Night is no shorter than 11. hours The Sun riseth suddenly without dawning The Troglodites and men of Africa have but 13. hours to their longest day Strabo l. 1. They that live under the Pole of the Stars in the spring-Equinox see the Sun rising but in the Autumnall setting Mela. l. 3. c. 2. Hence it is that they have half a year day and then half a year night The Hollanders at the Straights Vaigats from the 4th day of November to the 24. day of January have found but one continual Night under the degree of 71. Boetius in the description of the Narrow Sea Vaigats In Laponia one Night lasts 3. moneths and there is in that time no more light than the Moon-shine or clear twilights afford Zigler in Laponia In the farthest part of Norway the Sun is not hid in the night In another Northern Climate the Nights are very bright at the Summer Solstice Saxo Grammaticus The Day and Night with us are equall when the Sun enters Aries and Libra they are longer when he is in the Tropick of Cancer shorter in Capricorn The moneth of June is said to contain the longest day the shortest is assigned to the 25. of December The more superstitious are perswaded that strange things are seen the night before The Olive Tree and the white Poplar and the leaves of Willowes are said to be driven about Macrob. l. 9. c. 7. The moisture in Trees ascends upwards from out of the root The Apple-tree brings forth blossoms and unripe fruit Some strings of Instruments are strook with the fingers and the other strings sound Suetonius l. 1. Ludicra Historia The small livers of Mice are increased The kernells that are shut up in Apples are turned the contrary way Cicero lib. 2. de Divinat Artic. 5. Of the Four Parts of the Year THe motion of the Sun through the Zodiack makes a Year Mathematicians make this to be twofold The one is the space in which the Sun goes from the Spring Equinox and returns to the same again and it consists of 365 dayes five hours 49 first minutes 10 seconds The other is from the time the Sun departs from the first Star in Aries and returns to the same again and it consists of 365 6 hours 9 first minutes seconds 23. Copernicus appointed this and he deserved great thanks for it Of the former there are four parts Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring and Autumn make the Equinoxes this the Winter Equinox that the Summer They both happen when the Sun passeth the Line The most certain sign of the Springs approach is the Butterfly being a weak creature Pliny in histor Natural Cancer makes the Summer when the Sun-beams are verticall with us It is inflamed by the rising of the Dog-star saith Pliny l. 2. c. 40. yet it were more Philosophicall to say that when the Sun repeats his Journey he raiseth hot blasts and wind whence our bodies partake of great heat Truly sometimes it is extream if we credit Histories I read in Livy l. 4. Histor. That in the year of Rome 322. not onely rain from Heaven was wanting but the Earth also wanted its inbred moysture that the Rivers that run continually were almost dry that many Fountains and Rivers wanted water that the Cattel dyed for thirst In the year 1153 the Woods were fired with over-great heat the fat Earth took fire and could be extinguished with no rain Mergerius The German Records report That in 1228 the heat was so great that the Harvest was ended I will use their own words before the Feast of St. John Baptist. Lipsius cites it in his Epistles In the year 1573. the Wood of Bohemia burnt 18. Weeks The Danube was so dryed up that in many places one might foord it And what is wonderfull there was no losse in the Corn. But in 994. in the end of July the Lakes and Waters were so hard frozen that all the Fishes dyed and there was great scarsity of water Cardan thinks it is a mark of an over-hot Summer de varietat rer l. 15. c. 38. if old sheep are very much given to lust in the Spring Men write that there was so pleasant an Autumn in the year 1584. that the Roses and young branches flourished It is our Winter when the Sun enters Capricorn then all things quake are covered with Snow and bound up with Ice The Sun foreshews a most bitter Winter in the Northern parts when he hides himself in a red clowd as a pillar of fire and casts out his beams like fiery darts That descending it is turned into black Cardan l. 1. Or when things that use to be moist seem dryer or drops dripping from houses fall more slowly And sometimes the winter hath been excessive Chronicles say that in 1234. the winter was most fierce so that in the Adriatick Sea the Venetian Factors passed over the Ice with their charge of moneys Zonaras reports the like to have happened under Constantine Copronymus so in the Pontick Sea and the Straights adjoyning Marianus Scotus In the year 32. of Charles the Great there was a great and most bitter Frost so that the Pontick Sea was frozen 100 miles in the East where it was 50 cubits from top to bottom In the year 1525. the winter was so cruel that in Brabant an infinite company of Eâ—lâ—s by reason of the Ice went forth of the Lakes which is a wonderfull thing and hid themselves in Hay-ricks and perished there with extremity of cold Robertus de Monte. The Trees had hardly any leafs afterwards in May. Sometimes the winters are so calm too In the year 1225. in December the Peach Tree budded In 1186. in December and January Crowes and other birds hatched their Eggs with young But these divers parts of the year for length and duration comes from a divers position They
he should have marched away as Demosthenes and Eurymedon perswaded him When he did march the Moon was Eclipsed Many took that for an ill Omen this so moved Niceas that he said he would decree nothing to remove his Tents untill three times 9 days were over that the Wizards had foreshewed Plin l. 2. C. 12. He did it and so wasted the forces of the Athenians To this may be referred the ridiculous opinion of some who think that an Asse drank up the Moon for when the Asse drank the Moon was seen in the water when the Asse went away she was covered with a Cloud and could not be seen Wherefore they cast the miserable Asse Silenus rod on into Prison and cut up his belly that they might have the Moon again and they most cruelly took out his bowells Delrius disquisit Magic l. 2. quest 11. In the year 1499 about setting the moon was first changed into black then she was divided into two parts and the one part leapt upon the other backwards both parts were sprinkled with red They united afterwards and set as one Moon Many confederacies followed and the Nobles who in 1496 were confederate opposed themselves against the King of the Romans Linturius cited by Wolsius in Memorabil Artic. 3. Of the Moon 's Influence on these sublunary things INnumerable are the operations of the Moon on sublunary things If you would run over all the field of nature Plants Animals and mens bodyes are subject to the Moons Government Palladius reports Cardan de varietat l. 2. c. 13 If Garlick be set when the Moon is under the Earth and be pulled up again when the Moon is under the Earth it will lose its strong smel So they say that Basil bruised in the new Moon and put into a new Pot at the full Moon it will send forth flowers at one end and if it be set under the Earth twice as long time it ingenders Scorpions Vines in the day time are nourished by drawing moisture to them and in the night they increase and grow Lillies and Roses open their buttons only in the night Keckerman disp Phys 3. coroll 11. Of all that beare head only the Onion is augmented when the moon increaseth when it growes new it fades as if it hated the course of that Planet Lucilius Wherefore the Aegyptians at Pelusium hate to eate it Gellius Lib. 20. C. 7. As for living Creatures Savanarola writes that in the Leap-yeare living Creatures are barren Cardan l. c. It is observed that in the full Moon all Oysters Perwinkles and all shell fish increase and their bodies decrease with the Moon Also the more industrious have found out that the fibres of Rats answer to the dayes of the Moon and that the little Creature the Ant is sensible of this Planets force and alwaies rests in the Conjunction of the Moon Pliny Lib. 2. Cap. 41. The skins of the Sea-Calves and Sobles are stiffe and the haires stand upright when the Moon increaseth and they sink down when the Moon decreaseth and grow weak Keckerman l. c. As for Mankind if the Moon come to the Sun passing thorow Aries or Scorpio when any one is born it so afflicts the brain of him that is borne that when he comes to be a young man he shall be troubled with melancholly Things bred in the Conjunction of the Moon are frequently dry and are encumbred with a sharp heat and have all their limbs especially affected Peucerus de divinat They that sleep under the Moon-beams are troubled with heavinesse of their heads and defluxions Camerar Memorab Cap. 9. Art 85. For by the Moon beams the moisture of the braines of those that sleep is melted which being restrained in the head the internall heat being not active enough to expell it outward it breeds Catarrhs The Epileps is exasperated in the full Moon For the abundance of moysture hinders the sharpnesse of Vapours and the putrefaction that they cannot breath forth A smaller quantity doth more easily corrupt and the heat acting upon it makes sharper Vapours according to its proportion Libavius tom 3. Singul lib. 3. cap. 18. At the same time dropsie people are grievously tormented and therefore they all dye almost about the full Moon Truly in March 1629. when we writ this it took away that Reverend man D. Martin Gratianuâ— the superintendent of the Reformed Churches in the greater Poland who was the Chariot and Horsemen of Israel Let his memory be blessed When the Moon is opposite to the Sun mad-men rage most They that are troubled with a disease of the brain from too much plenty of brain are choked in the full Moon Hence it is that the Britans on the 14. day of the Moon whip mad folks Bodin l. 5. Theatr. Better therefore it is to give a medicament against the Epilepsie the day after than in the opposition of the Luminaries For in the hour of conjunction the Moon is calm nor are there propensions to either side of advantages the next time after it she begins to work in the humours and to augment them Libav Epist. 15. to Sâ—hnitzâ—r CHAP. VII Of New Stars WEe have spoken of those things that ordinarily are done by Nature in Heaven I will now adde some things which the right hand of God hath produced above nature I mean new Stars which have appeared and not being of long continuance have shortly disappear'd again and vanish'd from our sight The Star at our Saviours birth is the chief which Fulgentius saith had no place in the Firmament nor in the Ayr. It went forward with an uncertain motion sometimes it shewed it self and sometimes it was hid Damascenus l. 2. Orthodox fidei Chalcides the Platonist speaks thus of it upon Timaeus of Plato There is also a more holy and more venerable History that relates that by the rising of a Star that was unusual not Death and Diseases were foreshewed but the venerable descending of God for man's salvation and in favour of mortall things which men testifie to have been observed by the Chaldaeans who adored God with gifts who was newly born Whence they learned the knowledge of its apparition is shewed in the Books of Balaam the Southsayer wherein are many fabulous things The other is that which appeared in the year 1572. This is that year wherein that Bartholmy-slaughter was acted at Paris in which not excluding other places 30000 men were slain 100000 of honest Families were oppressed in three dayes Widows and Orphan Children innumerable being brought to the greatest beggery or want Prisbach in Responsâ— ad oration habitam apud Helvetios The summe was so great that the wiser sort that were no wayes addicted to the Protestant side when they were come to themselves and considered the sad condition of things at that time and disavowed the Act and sought out curiously the causes of it and excuses for it they judged that there was no such Example of cruelty to be found in all Antiquity should their Chroniâ—les
Ayre is contrary But examples will hardly make that good In the Navigations of the Portugalls some Marriners under the Equinoctiall had allmost breathed their last though it were in the middle of the Sea and a in a most open ayre And when we were present saith Scaliger Exercit 31. some Italians of Lipsia in the Stoves were like to swound and you may remember from Histories concerning the death of King Cocal Wheat in Syria laid close in Mows corrupts not but is spoild shut up in Barnes if the Windows be open it takes no harme Artic. 2. Of the Infection of the Ayre The Ayre doth not allwaies retain its own qualities it is infected somtimes with hurtful things They that go out of the Province of Peru into Chila thorow the Mountains meet with a deadly ayr and before the passengers perceive it their limbs fall from their bodies as Apples fall from Trees without any corruptions Liburius de Origine rerum In the Mount of Peru Pariacacca the ayr being singular brings them that go up in despair of their lives It causeth vomit so violent that the blood follows it afflicts them most that ascend from the Sea and not only Man but Beasts are exposed to the danger It is held to be the highest and most full of Snow in the World and in three or four houres a man may passe over it In the Mountains of Chilium a Boy sustained himself three dayes lying behind a multitude of Carcases so that at last he escaped safe from the Venomous blasts In a Book concerning the proper causes of the Elements it is written that a wind killed the people in Hadramot The same Authour reports that the same thing hapned in the time of King Philip of Macedo that in a certain way between two Mountaines at a set hour what horseman soever past he fell down ready to die The cause was not known The foot were in the same condition untill one Socrates by setting on high a steel Looking-Glasse beheld in both Mountains two Dragons casting their venomous breath one at the other and whatsoever this hit upon died Liban l. cit But the true cause of this mischief was a mineral ayr stuft with nitrous and other metallick Spirits Such a one is found in some Caves of Hungary and Sweden and we know that the Common Saltpeter is full of Spirits it is moved dangerously and forcibly if fire be put to it and cast into water it cools them much But that bodies corrupt not that we ascribe to cold but it may be attributed to the Spirits of cold by mixture such as are in some Thunder-bolts for the bodies of living Creatures killed by them do not easily corrupt and they last long unlesse some more powerfull cause coming drive it out Artic. 3. Of the Putrefaction of the Ayr. THe Pestilence comes from putrefaction of the ayr which in respect of divers constitutions is divers It is observed that there never was any at Locris or Croto Plin. l. 2.99 So in that part of Ethiopia which is by the black Sea In Mauritania it ruins all It lasted so long somtimes at Tholouse and in that Province that it continued seven years It perseveres so long and oftimes amongst the Northern people and rageth so cruelly that it depopulates whole Countries Scaliger exercit 32. It is observed in the Southern parts that it goes toward the Sun setting and scarse ever but in winter and lasts but three months at most In the year 1524 it so raged at Millan that new baked bread set into the ayr but one night was not only musty but was full of Worms those that were well died in 6 or 8 hours Cardan de rer varietat l. 8. c. 45. In the year 1500 it destroyed 30000 at London somtimes 300000 at Constantinople and as many in the Cities of the Vandalls all the autumne thorow In Petrarchs dayes it was so strong in Italy that of 1000 Men scarse ten remained Alsted in Chronolog But that in divers Countries it works so variously on some men and severall Creatures that proceeds from the force of the active causes and the disposition of the passive Forest. l. 6. observ de Febre If the active cause from the uncleanness of the Earth or water be not strong it only affects those beasts that are disposed for such a venome but if it be violent it ceazeth on Mankind yet so that of its own nature it would leave neither Countrey not Cittie nor Village nor Town free This layes hold on men in one place only But if the active force be from a superiour cause or be from the ayr corrupted below Mankind alone are endangered by it But if both a superiour and an inferiour cause concur then may all living Creatures be infected with the Plague yet it must be according to the disposition of their bodies Artic. 4. Of Attraction cooling and penetrating of the Ayr. NO man almost is ignorant but that the Ayr serves for the Life of man for the branches of arteria venosa drink in blood from the whole Lungs brought to them by the arteria venosa and it is made more pure in them The Ayr drawn in at the mouth is mingled with the blood and this mixture is carried to the left ventricle of the heart to be made spirituous blood Ludovi du Gardin Anatom c. 40. But being drawn in heaps it strangles Zwinger Physiol l. 2. c. 23. For if you compasse a burning Candle in the open ayr with wine from above you put it out because it cannot attract the Ayr prepared on each side by reason the wine is betwixt and it cannot from below draw the crude and unprepared Ayr. The desaphoretick force of it will appear in an Egg when that is new a pure spirit sweats through its shell whilest it rosts like unto dew What will this do in the body of man It will make that full of chinks if it be touched by a small heat otherwise it fills and penetrates all things It pierceth thorow a brick and there it inflates the concocted lime so that the quantity of it is increased till it break it We see that the Ayr entring by the pores of a baked brick doth swell a stone that was left there for want of diligence and is turned into Lime and so puts it up till the brick breaks Zwinger Phys. l. 2. c. 25. Farther it is concluded by certain observation That a wound is easie or hard to cure by reason of the Ayr. In Fenny grounds wounds of the head are soon cured but Ulcers of the Legs are long Hence it is that wounds of the head are light at Bonnonia and Paris but wounds of the Legs are deadly at Avignon and Rome There the Ayr is of a cold constitution and is an enemy to the brain here it is more hot whereby the humours being melted run more downwards Paâ—aeâ—s l. 10. Chirurg c. 8. It may be cooled 9 wayes by frequent ventilating of it with a fan
that fresh ayr may come if Snow and water be set about the bed if the walls be compassed about with Willow leaves or with linnen cloaths dipt in vinegar and Rose-water if the floor be sprinkled and fountains made to run in the chamber if beds saith Avicenna be made over a pit of water If beds be made of Camels hair or of linnen laying the skin under them If the Bed be strewed with herbs and lastly if fragrant fruits be placed near the bed Heurn lib 2. Medic. c. 18. CHAP. III. Of the Water Artic. 1. Of the quantity and colour of Waters SO much for Ayr Now followes the Element of Water And first we shall consider the quantity and the colour of it In the Country of the great Cham near the City Simqui there is the River Quian which is 10 miles broad and waters 200 Cities and it is so long that it cannot be sailed in 100 dayes Polus writes That he told in the Haven of it 50000 Ships Also in Moscovia the Duina is so great by the melting of the Snow that it cannot be passed over in a whole day with a well sayling Ship it is at least 50 miles broad Jovius a Lake of Genebar the Portingalâ—s call it January Thuan. histor l. 16. is so large under Capricorn that men write who have sailed thither That all the Ships in the World may well harbour there As for Colours they are different in many waters Danubius is white as milk and water which divides Noricum and Windelicia from Germany Agricol de Natur. effluent The Waters of the Mayn especially where it hath passed the Francks and is fallen into the Rheyn are yellowish The Fountain Telephus is muddy near Patâ—ra and mingled with blood In Ethiopia there are red Waters that make one mad that drinks them At Neusola in the Mountain Carpathâ—s waters runing out of an old passage under ground are green At Ilza that which comes forth of the Mountains of Bohemia and runs into Danubius is black Artic. 2. Of the Taste of Water THere is no lesse variety of Waters in their tastes Some are sweet some taste like wine you shall find every where salt Allom tasted sharp bitter waters every where The Waters of Eleus Chocops Rivers are sweet The Kings of Persia drank of them and transported them to far Countries The water of Cardia in a field called Albus is sweeter then warm milk Pausanias So is Vinosa near Paphlagonia whence so many strangers come thither to drink of it In the bosome of the Adriatick Sea where it turns to Aquileia there are 7. Fountains and all of them except one are salt Polyb. in Hist. At Malta there is one that the waters running above are very sweet but the lower waters are brackish Aristobul Cassand The small River Exampeus is so bitter that it taints the great River Hypanis in Pontus In the Lake Ascanium and some Fountains about Chalcis the upper waters are sweet and the lower taste of nitre Plin. in Hist. The Fountains are sowr about Culma and because the water though it be cold boyls they seem to be mad Agricol lib. cit In the same place there is a Mineral water which they call Furious because it boyls and roars like thunder In Cepusium at Smolâ—icium it not onely eats iron but turns it into brasse But the water about Tempe in Thessaly of the River Styx can be contained in no vessel of silver brasse iron but it eats through them nothing but a hoof can hold it Artic. 3. Of the Smell of Water and of the first and second qualities THe hot Baths that are distant from Rhegium the Town of Lepidus Aemilius 26 miles smell of so gallant Bitumen that they seem to be mingled with Camphir There was a Pit in Peloponnesus near the Temple of Diana whose water mingled with Bitumen smelt as pleasant as the unguent Cyzicenum In Hildesham there are two Fountains the one flowes out of Marble that smells like stinck of rotten Eggs and taste sweet but if any man drinks of it fasting he will belch and smell like the Marble pownded The other is from Brimstone and smells like Gun-Powder The water of this brook covers with mud the stones that lie in the channel of it scrape it off and dry it and it is Brimstone Agric. lib. cit Arethusa a Fountain of Sicily is said to smoke at a certain time At Visebad there is a Spring in the Road-way the water whereof is so hot that you may not onely boyl Eggs in it but scall'd chicken and hoggs for it will fetch off feathers or hair if you dip them in or pour it upon them Ptolomy Comment lib. 7. affirms That at Corinth there is a Fountain of water which is colder than Snow Near the Sea-Banks at Cuba there is a River so continual that you may sayl in it yet it is so hot that you cannot touch it with your hands Martyr Sum. Ind. Near the Province Tapala it runneth so hot that one cannot passe over it Ramus tom 3. At Segesta in Sicily Halbesus suddenly growes hot in the middle of the River Pontus is a River that lyes between the Country of the Medes and the Scythians wherein hot burning stones are rolled yet the water it self is cold These if you move them up and down will presently cool and being sprinkled with water they shine the more bright Lastly near the City Ethama there is a River that is hot but it is good to cleanse the Lepers and such as are ulcerated Leonius Also some waters swim above others Arsanias swims above Tigris that is near unto it so often as they both swell and overflow their banks Peneres receiveth the River Eurôta yet it admits it not but carrieth it a top of it like oyl for a short space and then forsakes it Plin. hist. Natural Artic. 4. Of the Diverse running of the Water IT is said of Pyramus a River of Cappadocia which ariseth from Fountains that break forth in the very plain ground that it presently hides it self in a deep Cave and runs many miles under ground and afterwards riseth a Navigable River with so great violence that if any man put a sphear into the hole of the Earth where it breaks forth again the force of it will cast out the sphear Strabo l. 12. Not far from Pompeiopolis in the Town Coricos in the bottom of a Den of wonderfull depth a mighty River riseth with incredible force and when it hath ran with a great violence a short way it sinks into the Earth again Mela. l. 1. c. 6. The Water Marsia after it hath run along tract from the utmost Mountains of the Peligni passing through Marsius and the Lake Fucinus it disemboggs into a Cave then it opens it self again in Tiburtina and is brought 9 miles with Arches built up into Rome Plin. l. 31. c 3. The Sabbaticall River was wont to be empty every seventh day and was dry but all the six dayes it was
ship but by great force of winds being a most grosse Exhalation and burn also whence it signifies imminent danger CHAP. IV. Of Ignis Lambens IGnis Lambens riseth from a thin and fat Exhalation and cleaves to the hairs and clothes of living Creatures and if it be of a hotter temperament it kindles by their sweat Virgil writes some such thing of Ascanius 2. Aeneid Behold a shining Crest was from Jülus head Seen to give light and so the harmlesse flame Did feel full soft and on his Temples fed Cardanus l. de varietat 10. c. 49. relates to a friend of his when he came at one a clock at night laying down his cloak as he was wont to do sparks flew forth behind his Hat but 15 dayes after he being accused of Witchcraft at his friends perswasion went into voluntary banishment Also when Servius Tullius was a little boy and was asleep a flame shined about his head as they saw it in the house Which wonder Tanaquil Wife to Tarquinius Priscus admired at and bred up Servius born of a servant Maid as if he had been her son and he was elevated to be King by her Valer. Max. l. 1. c. 6. Livy l. 35. Also one appeared on the head of L. Martius Commander of two Armies as he made an Oration the ruine of them weakned P. and Cn Scipio in Spain A Boy of Jena pulling off his shirr over the hinder part of his head he wiped many sparks off with it Liban l. 1. de origin rerum The Countesse of Caumantia whilest her hair was kemb'd in the dark it seemed to vomit forth fire We had saith Scaliger Exerc 174. a white War-Horse out of Calabria he in the dark when he was curried seemed to sparkle They give the cause to be refraction of Light in a polished subject as in the dewy Ayrs the drops are as so many Looking-Glasses so in a hairy head fat and clammy and scaly are hairs and scales Also in Insects some fiery matter is said to appear In the Island Solebe all the flyes every night seem to shine so gallantly that they represent so many Torches Libavius l. c. A Worm is found like a Star that shines like a Star in the night May be it is the Sea-Star the Chymists promise to extract light from the liquor of it From the joynts of some Worms in Hispaniola Island a great light shines forth and glitters like hoar frost There are others that will give light 100 paces and that not from their whole body but only from their joynts In Spain of the New World â—here is said to be a Fly like a Beetle for magnitude with it wings in a sheath called Cocujus whose Eyes enlighten the night that it serves for a wax Candle to give light to those that walk abroad and for a Lamp in their Chambers to read and write by and that not onely whilest they live but after they are dead Some make themselves little ropes of those Candles and tie them to their necks to give them light as they travel The cause is not in Ignis Lambens but it lyes in the humours of these Creatures and is done by way of repurcussion some are thought to have some light shining within them Truly Gloworms shut up in your fist give light if you look through a chink in the darkest night Reischius saith That Fish in their scales comprehend some fiery parts and by that they shine The Dolphin seems to confirm this for it seems gilded in the night yet is it blew on the back green on the sides white on the belly Reischius in Margarit Philoso CHAP. V. Of Lightning Thunder and Thunder-bolts HEe that would neerly understand the breeding of Thunder must consult with Chymists for so oft as a part of Salt-Peter and brimstone 〈…〉 there is made a great noise and we shall say that thundring Gold is carried with a greater force Also it is well known that if a mixture be made of Niter Brimstone Quicklime and Bitumen that it will kindle by powring on any moisture and so it is here for when the brimstony and nitrous Vapours in Summer-time are carried upwards by heat of the Sun especially the Southern wind being quiet they are united and condensed by the opposite winds and are kindled by a peculiar antiperistasis hence comes the sound and lightning Histories write that it hath been heard in a cleare Sky Senec. natural l. 2. cap. 30. Aetna somtimes hath abounded with great fire and hath cast out a wonderfull quantity of burning Sand the day was hid in dust and sudden night frighted the people They say that at that time there were great thunder claps and noises in the Sky which were made by the concourse of dry things and not of the Clouds for it is likely in so clear weather that there were none The Thunder-bolt oft times is carried into the Earth because it is cast forth of the Cloud with great violence and is made of a fast and well compacted matter yet Pliny l. 2. c. 55. saith that it never strikes above five foot deep into the Earth The effects of it are wonderful vessells of water are drank up the cover being untouched and no other token being left Gold Brasse Silver have been melted within and the bags no ways burnd nor so much as the Seal of Wax defaced Pliny l. 2. c. 51. Lucius Scipio proved that by Gold he had in a Chest of Osiers Marcia a Queen of the Romans was Thunder-stricken when she was great with Child she had no hurt at all only the Child was killed The cause is put in rarity and thicknesse that penetrates more easy this because it penetrates with more difficulty doth more harm Aristotle 3. Meteorolog c. 1. The wine somtimes stands stil the vessel being broken the cause is because the heat of the thunder thickneth the outward parts of the Wine that the wine seems to stand as shut up in a skin Sennert l. 4. Epitom c. 2. but this hardnesse will not last 3. dayes Seneca quaest natural l. 2. c. 5. That is most admirable which Meâ—rerus in Comment Meteorolog reports that a certain Minister was so suddenly taken away out of the sight of Men in the way that men passe from Lipsia to Torga that he was never seen again Those that shall be presently striken are so stupefied that they neither heare the Thunder nor the greatest claps of it That in the German Warrs hapned to Severus Master of the Horse Julian being Emperour First he was stiffe and then lither death being at hand Pliny writes that it will not touch the Bay-Tree the Sea Calf the Eagle Rhodiginus adds the fig-Tree and saith it is by reason of its bitternesse Rhodig Antig lect l. 3. c. 29. Therefore Tiberius Caesar as Suetonius saith in his life fearing thunder when the Skyes were troubled wore a Crown of Bays upon his head and for this reason saith Columella when a Hen sits they put Bay boughs under
a City being on the top of the Mountains of Dofrinium where it first was like a ball but at last like a mighty round Mountain Olaus l. 59. c. 15. and l. â— c. 13. The tops of Mount Caucasus have scarce any lesse for they cannot be come at in Winter especially in Cambisena the quantity is so great that whole Troops of men are overthrown by it Strabo l. 11. The Armenians are in the same condition for those that passe over the Mountains are suddenly covered with clots of Snow that they cannot be seen and that in the fierce Winter Rhodigin l. 18. c. 29. In Tartary it comes on also in Summer mighty cold vast Snowes all are removed by the wind Hispal p. 4. c. 23. In the same the Champion places of Pamer do sustain so great cold that it will put out the fire for it will give no light nor can any thing be boyled with it Polus l. 2. c. 28. In Moscovia where water runs out of a high hill it is congealed before it touch ground Surius ad Anno 1501. In Armenia they are red which proceeds from the places that abound with Minium and by the force of its exhalations they are coloured Nor is this against reason for plenty of bloods yields a blood-coloured dew Homer shews that at Troy when he speaks of bloody drops of dew that of it sprang hairy rough red Creatures Apollonius calls them Worms Theophanes Mountain worms There is a liquour in them which the people love to drink Eustath in Homer Aristot. 5. Anim. Hail is a kin to Snow whereof we have nothing to say except of its greatnesse for in the time of Valens it fell like stones of unusual greatnesse at Constantinople Socrates histor Eccles. l. 4. c. 10. When Alaricus took the City it was greater than stones that can be handled and was about 8. pounds in weight Maiolus in Caâ—â—cul In France when Paschal was Pope one piece fell down that was 12 foot long Bonsinius At Augustodanum one 16 foot long 7 broad and 2 foot high Segebertus And no lesse fell in the time of Bergoma for it was compared to an Ostrich Egg and was 12 inches about Bonsinius They say in the same year at Bommel in Gelderland there fell one stone was 3 pounds weight on the 12th of June sometimes the forms of it have been wonderful Anno 1395 it had the Images of men with beards of women with Kerchers and hair At Cremona Anno 1240 it had the sign of the crosse But we are often deceived and imagine what is not so Yet the Works of God are wonderfull CHAP. X. Of Dew Manna and Honey DEw comes from a thin vapour resolved into water by the cold of the night It is first found in the light and thick leaves and flowers of plants and sometimes it is scarce lift up above two Cubits high Some say it was the daughter of Jupiter and the Moon for as Plutarch saith The full Moon makes plenty of Dew And therefore dogs in the full Moons can sent out things by the foot worst because the cold dew takes away the sent that they cannot smell them wherefore it is hard to hunt well in the Spring time Plutarch saith that fat women were wont to gather dew with cloaths or soft skins which they used to make them lean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christophorus Vega writes That Manna is made by some little Bees like thick Gnats from whom sitting by swarms upon Trees sweat as it were drops from them Sennertus l. 4. c. 8. thinks that they are rather drawn thither by the sweetnesse of the Manna and that they make it not The Learned make a question whether the Jews Manna was the same with ours Many things agree but in this they differ that theirs ground in a mill or bruised in a mortar was fit to make wafers If it be not prevented it will melt with any Sun for an Easterly Sun will melt it We read that it is used for Sugar with water alone to drink and to quench ones thirst amongst those Shepherds that frequent the desarts of Targa Scalig. Exerc. 164. Manna is of kin to to honey This comes out of the Ayr especially at the rising of the Stars it is made especially when the Dog-star shines nor doth it appear before the Pleiaâ—es shine in the morning Plin. l. 11. c. 12. Therefore then in the morning early the leaves of Trees are bedewed with honey and if any in the morning be in the open ayr they shall perceive their clothes anointed with the Liquour and their hair glewed together This dew is afterwards collected by Bees it is altered by them in little bladders It is put up in little Cells like pure liquor in which afterwards it grows hot and is concocted with natural heat The 20th day it growes thick then is it covered with a thin membrane which growes together by its frothing heat Pliny l. cit c. 13. Also that it is made by Wasps Pliny teacheth out of Aristotle The Spanish Navigations confirm that it is made of some Molucca flies in Trees which are lesse than Ants. Lithuania and Moscovia have great plenty The story is old concerning a Country-man that fell into a hollow Tree of honey and a Bear drew him forth We have heard that concerning honey that Aristotle speaks of grated wine for it growes so thick that it must be shaved off to drink it Amongst the Troglodites at Belgada honey is as white as Snow and hard as a stone Scaliger Exerc. 191. S. 1. It is so solid in Calicut that they carry it it in baskets Many things are preserved by honey and many things die by it for the milky humour in it is not weak wherefore that remaining uncorrupt corrupts others Wallnuts keep their nature in it for by their unctuous quality they resist their peculiar humidity but Figs Peaches Pears Apples corrupt in it Scaliger Exerc. 170. CHAP. XI Of the Rainbow THe Poets feigned the Rainbow to be Daughter of Thaumas The Ancients thought that she drew water by her two horns let down toward the Earth Hence Virgil Georgic ver 138. and the great Bowe Drank But Propertius L. 3. Why doth the Purple Bowe rain-Rain-water drink The colours are so exact that no Painter can equal them The blew colour is said to shew that the Flood is past but the fiery colour shews that which is yet to come Strabo citant Rhodigin Albertus thinks that 3 and somtimes more may be made in it When it is made at noon we cannot see it for no man ever saw a Rain-bow beyond 3 miles It is never made when the Cloud ascends but allwaies as it goes downward for so it causeth no dew but when it falls away Rhodigin l. 22. l. 12. c. 7. Celius denies that it can be made by the Moon beams Scaliger exerc 80. s. 12. approves it In the Island of St. Thomas saith he if a showr went before the Moon will make a Rain-bow the
out of the Skys Lydiat de fontib 6. c. 6. The latter is confirmed by the testimony of some Writers For the Gold of Corbachium in Westphalia every four year grows and springs again in heaps In Sclavonia a vein of Lead every 40. yeares is changed into Silver A dry scale of Brasse into Gold in one yeare Iron in Silesia at Saganum is digged a new every tenth yeare In Sweden red fâ—nny mud laid one yeare in the open Sun becomes good Iron The Mountain of Fessula in Hetruria hath lead-stones which if they be cut out will in a short time grow again Caesalpinus l. 2. de metal c. 6. relates of Iron that is dug up in Ilva an Island of the Tyrrhene Sea that all the Earth that wanted Mettal that is dug up with the Iron will the next time they dig be turned into good Iron Lastly in the Indies there is the Mountain Oromenus where salt is cut out as out of quarries and it grows again Caesalpin l. 1. de Metal c. 1. But that is wonderfull which Garzias ab horto writes of the Diamant Simpl Indiae l. 1. c. 47. The Adamaâ—ts saith he that lye deep in the bowells of the Earth and require many yeares to their perfection are bred almost on the surface of the ground and are ready in 2 or 3 yeares for dig this yeare but a cubit deep in the quarrie and you shall find Diamonds dig there after two yeares and you shall find Diamonds again But how that should be it is hard to say yet no man can speak with more care than Nature can work when especially she is prodigall and sports her self in the variety of things Pliny l. 21. praefat Yet it doth not seem unreasonable that the Vapour should congele with a fit matter and that which is not well concocted to put off to another time and so to perpetuate the generation Truly the Flux of Veins hath somthing proportionable to vegetable nature and the relation of a Physitian of Friberg that in the Lungs of such as use to dig in Mines their bodies being opened when they are dead you shall find the same Mettals grown hard wherein they laboured being alive Sennertus lib de consensu et diss Chymicorum et Galenicorum seems to intimate as much CHAP. II. Of Marle and Potters-Earth MArle is a thick fat Earth and yet is somtimes so fluxible and white that it seems like to marrow in the bones of living Creatures Of times it is hard and being drank it stops the Veins that bleed at the mouth and hath the same force that Terra Samia hath It is dug up in many places especially amongst the Saxons At Gossaria there are two sorts one is Ash-coloured and the other is whiter of which are made forms wherein your Image makers make their Pictures they cast Sharp cold will divide them both into very thin plates though the former before the cold have seazed upon it consists of thick crusts Potters Earth is thick soft it is hard to come by works are made of fat and thick matter that the force of fire will not quickly break Of the same are made Vessels that will neither drink up nor consume liquor wherein water that parts Gold from Silver is both made and kept Potters Vessells have ennobled many Countries as Asia by those were made at Pergamus those that were made at Tralleis Terra Coa and Samia are not unknown and Aretina is wonderfull Plin. l. 5. c. 13. Noriberga sends earthen Furnaces wherein Gare are and Mettals are boiled Of clay digged up at the Fort of Rottingberg are made purging Vessels wherein Alchymy is made These being cast out of the fire with the brasse do not break but are drawn and wound like burning Glasse Agricola de illis quae essodiuntur ex terra CHAP. III. Of Terra Lemnia Armenia and Silesâ—ack TErra Lemnia otherwise called sealed Earth For Diana's Priest taking it upon him for the honour of his Country offering for expiation wheat and barley brought this into the City soked with water and making it like clay he dryed it that it might be like soft wax and when it was become so he sealed it with the sacred seal of Diana Gal. l. 9. Simpl. Now it is digged up yearly not without superstition the sixth day of August onely They that dig are Greeks the pit sends forth a sweet smell It is digged after Sun-rising for 6. hours and it is laid up in one lump and it must see no light till a year be expired Then it is taken out and washt being washt it is put into a bag it is mingled with hands it is made into round Cakes and marked with the Emperours seal Then it is dryed and put into a sealed Cabinet and sent away to the Emperour to Constantinople Stephanus Albacarius in Epist. ad Busbequium It is good against deadly poysons Galen tryed it against the Sea hare and Cantharides and found it good The same Authour writes of it that in a certain hill by the City of the Ephestii where no plant lives it is dug up the ground being as it were burnt Terra Armenia was wont to be brought from that part which is adjacent to Cappadocia Galen saith it helps difficult breathing so that they die whom it cures not It is drank with Wine in a thin consistence moderately allaid if the party have none or but an easie feaver but if a strong one with water At this day there is a Bolus Toccaviensis in Hungaria it is like butter and is good against Catarrhes so that it is preferred before the Earth of Armenia Crato in Epist. Sileciaca Strigensis is also preferred before Terra Lemnia Sennert Scient natural l. 5. c. 1. Johannes Montanus Silesius was the founder of it who writ a book of the same that it is transmuted gold by the ordination of God in his providence of nature prepared and transmuted into a most excellent remedy that chiefly prevails against venome no lesse than the Medicaments that are made with great cost out of the best gold of Hungary CHAP. IV. Of Salt SAlt is either made or else it growes It is made of salt Fountains the water whereof boyled long at length is turned to salt It breeds many wayes It is dryed in the Lake Tarentinum by the Summer Suns and the whole Lake turns to salt in some places it is moderated not above knee deep In Bactria two Lakâ—s very large one toward the Scythians the other toward the Arii boyl with salt Also the tops of some Rivers and condensed into salt the rest of the River running as it were under the Ice as at the Caspian mouth that are called Rivers of Salt Amongst the Bactrians the Rivers Ochus and Oxus carry out of the opposite Mountains sholes of Salt There are also natural salt Mountains as Oxomenus in India where it is cut out of quarries and growes again and the Custome of it is more to their Kings than from gold and pearls
inflammations of the eys it was as cold as Snow But Mindererus l. de Peste writes That when he went to visit sick persons and had swallowed a small piece of it he perceived nothing within him but like a very small fire CHAP. X. Of Amber or Electrum SOme think it to be the juice of Trees but amisse There stand no Trees by the Sea that Gums drop from them falling into the Sea of which Amber is made It is more certain that it is a thick juice of the Earth The most part is found in Borussia also in Curlandia on the part of Sarmatia but not so plentiful It is taken in nets like fish When the North-west or West wind blowes hard at Sea they all run to the shore with casting nets of yarn in their hands Agricol in l. de Fossil The winds being allayed but the Sea flowing when the waves return back they draw the Amber from the bottom and an herb like pennyroyall that growes in it When they have taken it they carry it to the Magistrates who give them the weight of it in salt Every Moneth it is said to be sold for ten thousand German Crowns At Buchania in Schetland a masse came to shore greater than a horse The ignorant Clowns used it for Frankincense Hector Boetius in histor Scot. Precious figures are made of it the Romans were so taken with it that a little picture of it was more than the price of a living man Plin. Histor. natural Rubb'd it drawes straws if it be not smeared with oyl or water Some seek the cause in a dry spirit But Scaliger Exerc. 104. s. 12. saw it draw a green Lettice some in the super elementary quality others think it comes by accident Fernel l. 3. Med. c. 4. For it hath piercing and sharp spirits and withal glutinous and fat Being attenuated by rubbing they wax hot and they easily pierce into light things as they break forth Libavius in lib. singular When they meet with cold things they congele congealed they return toward their beginning for the heat is driven back by its contrary If you make a fine powder of chaff and iron the Amber draws forth the chaff the Loadstone the iron In the shore at Puceca of former times they digged up some of ash colour which when it was broken with iron it drew unto it leaves that were upon the ground and two foot from it when they were blown up into the Ayr The white smells the best Because of the Plague Chambers are perfumed with the scrapings of it the sent lasts for 3. dayes every thin piece of it burnt in fire flames away CHAP. XI Of Ambergreece Jet and Earthy Bitumen AMbergreece is a Juice in Asia amongst the Moors Some think it growes like Mushrooms out of the Earth under the Sea Others say that the Cod-fish doth greedily follow after it and kills it self by devouring it which the Fisheâ—s knowing taking him in their Nets when he is dead they unbowel him Maâ—hiolus in Dioscor l. 1. The truth is it runs out of the Fountains into the Sea and being hardned there it is cast upon the shore It is good for the brain that is cold Libav l. 3. Singul. It may hurt the heart unlesse the cause be cold that molests it namely if the spirits be hot and too much attenuated Heurn l. 2. Medic. A Plaister of Amber is good for bald and weak heads from a cold cause He that carrieth it after a little use perceiveth it not The weaker a woman is and the Matrix moveable the more easily is it disquieted by Musk and Amber and her head will ake Infused in wine it will make men drunk Black Bitumen hardned in the Sea is called Jet which the floods use to cast upon the shores of the Aestyi with Amber Earthen vessels that are glazed with it are not defaced Plin. l. 36. c. 19. When it is burned it smells like brimstone It is a wonder that it kindleth with water but is extinguished with oyl It discovers the Falling-sicknesse and Virginity by the smell of it drank by a Virgin fasting it causeth her to make water Dalechamp in Notis ad l. c. Nicander in his Theriacks calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Interpreter expounds that Jet which is found great and of a pale colour oâ— the shore at the Town of Ganges in Lycia Strabo saith That creeping things fly from the sent of Jet It is called Earthy Bitumen otherwise burning stone because it will flame and is good for Iron-Smiths Furnaces It is called Ampelitis because it kills little Worms called Caipas Also Pharmacitis because it is good in Physick I saw it dug up in Scotland So in the Jurisdiction of Leids where if it be hard they make Chapelets of it to say their prayers upon Hitherto belong the bituminous Furrs that being dryed make the Dutch fuel Also theâ— are dug forth in Collaum a Province of Peru which Monardus describes in these words In Collaum a Province of Peru there is a place all bare no Tree nor plant growes upon it because the Earth is bituminous out of which the Indians extract a liquour good for many diseases The way to extract it is this They cut the ground into Turfs and in an open place they lay it upon rods or greater â—eeds putting vessels under it to receive it for by the heat of the Sun this Bitumen melts then the dry turfs remain without liquor fit to make fires Moreover on the left hand in the shore of the Sinus Pucicus not far from the Monastery there are found clots of congealed Bitumen very hard about the bignesse of Eggs. They all burn being kindled Agricol in l. de Fossil Near these there grow pale-coloured shrubs that smell like fish they are 3 or 4 hands breadths high They have no roots and are like little dishes the Greeks call them Lepadas they stick to the clods CHAP. XII Of Corall COrall otherwise Stone-tree It comes from a juice that is stony when it growes under the Sea water it is a small Tree green and soft bearing Berries like the Cornus Tree in shape and magnitude but soft and white it presently growes hard before it is cut it appears all green Sometimes also the stalks of one Corall Tree are partly red partly white and partly black In the Mediterranean they gather great quantity of it and those of Massilia go yearly to fish for it and draw it from the bottom of the Sea with Nets Dispens Chymic l. 2 c. 49. Linschot part 3. orient Ind. c. 1. At the Cape Bon Esperance he saith there are Rocks on which Coral grows of all colours The Indians weare it because Southsayers think it avoids dangers The vulgar thinks it can preserve their Children from Witches This is superstitious but certain it is it will quench thirst being extreme cold Mercurial l. 3. de curand affect Tied to the neck it drives away troublesome dreams and stills the nightly feares of Children
Pansa de prorog vitae l. 4. If a Man weare it it will be very red but pale if a woman use it Lemn l. de occult c. 22. The fuliginous Spirits in a woman are the cause of it and the faint heat in Coral In men the naturall heat is strong and evaporates Hence if Coral be covered with Mustard seed it waxeth red There are other Plants in the Sea that come from a juyce that grows into a stone About Hercules Pillars and in the outland Sea Trees grow like Bay Trees In the Indian Sea there are Bull-rushes and Reeds in the red Sea Mushrooms all which being cast forth are changed into stones Theophrastus and Pliny confirm these To this appertains Syringites that is like a joynted straw and the reed hollow CHAP. XIII Of Brimstone and Stybium BRimstone is dug up in Islandia by the Mountain Hecla and that without fire It is yellow that is digged out of a Plain of Brimstone which in Campania they call Virgin-Brimstone because women paint their faces with it It is so friendly to fire that pieces of it laid about the wood will draw the fire to them The Greeks and Romans did purifie houses with the fume of it put into the fire it will by the sent discover the Falling-sicknesse Anaxilaus made sport with it carrying it about in a red hot cup with fire under it which by repercussion made the guests look pale as if they had been dead Plin. l. 35. c. 15. The Chymists make such an effectual oyl of Balsome of Brimstone that it will suffer neither live or dead bodys to corrupt but keeps them so safe that no impression from the Heavens or corruption of the Elements or from their own original can hurt them Weck Antidot Spec. l. 1. I shall say something of Stybium It hath an exceeding purgative quality as we see by experience Mathiol ad Dioscorid l. 5. c. 59. Andreas Gallus a Physitian of Trent fell into an inflammation of the Lungs Heart and Stomack with a wonderfull thirst swelling of the Throat beating of the heart and a strangling distillation allmost from the head He took three grains of Stybium with Sugar rosat first he cast up yellow choler 4 ounces weight and afterwards 2 pound weight symptoms ceased and he recovered his former health Georgius Hendschius writes that the same thing hapned to him in the pestilence Also Lucas Contilis Senensis taking 4 grains of Stybium vomited up 12 bits of Turpentine Rosin that he had swallowed 15. dayes before But a Parish Priest of Prague that was mad of melancholy taking 12 graines of the same purged choler downwards that had like scrapings of flesh mingled with it and they appeared as great melancholly Veins called varices cut into peices CHAP. XIIII Of Juices that grow into stones I had allmost forgot juyces that harden like stones Nature hath wonderfully spoâ—ted herself in them sometimes it hardens before it touch the ground and somtimes when it is fallen down Both these ways are seen at Amberga where there are white pillars made by it Agricol l. de effl ex terra What ever drinks it in is made a stone if it be but porous Hence you shall find stony Fountaines and Wood and Bones that are dug up When the workmen in time of Warr fled into the Mines of Lydia about Pergamus the entrance being shut up they were strangled the den was afterwards made clean and there were found Vessels of stone fill'd with a stony juyce About the Coast of Elbog there are great-firr Trees with their barks in the cracks whereof a fire stone of a Golden colour growes About Cracovia in Bohemia there are Trees with boughes out of which there are Whet-stones with corners which was a Present sent from the Lords of Columbratium to Ferdinand the first Hildesham hath beames laid upon heaps the heads of these somtimes stick forth these being stricken with Iron or with another stone not unlike the marble at Hildesham they smell like the sent of burnt horn There is also Wood changed into a stone and in the cracks of it there is Ebony dug forth which Tâ—eophrastus was not ignorant of that it lay hid scattered in the hollow oâ— other stones Looking Glasses rubbing Cloths Garments Shoos being brought into a quarrey in Assus of Troas become stones Mucianus But stones that congele from juyce are commonly soft and brittle In the hot Baths of Charls the 4th many stones together are found hollow like Hives half Globe figured so great as peaâ—e they grow from the drops of the hot waters falling down But those earthen Vessells that are found in the Earth were Piâ—chers for dead mens bones because in all of them covered with lids there were ashes and in some Rings were found wee saw such a one in the Library Thoruniense It was the fashion of the Antients as all know to burn and lay up their ashes In Italy also some urns were found of glasse Caesar Carduinus had foure found in the fields of Naples but what hapned at Verona see Bertius in descâ—i agri Veronen CHAP. XV. Of the Loadstone THe Loadstone is well known The effects of it are admirable two are special its turning to the poles of the World and its dawing of another Loadstone and Iron As for the first in many places it doth nor exactly respect the poles the Declination is somtimes more or lesse This age observeth that for 10 degrees beyond the fortunate Islands where Cosmographers have set the beginning of Longitude it concurs with the poles of the World toward the East it varies more About Norimberg they count 10 degrees in Norway 16 in Zembla 17 as the Dutch observed but one Gilbertus hath found out 23 degrees variation Whence we collect the greatest variation to be 23 degrees If we ask the cause the learned are of divers opinions some say there are certain Mountains of Loadstones under the poles and they say the Loadstone moves by sympathy Others write that it turns to certain Starrs Others say there are in it two opposite points whereof the one turns to the North the other to the South Others think that it moves toward the South because the operation of all the Planets is Southward They all seem to be deceived How great and what kind of Mountains these are is yet unknown and there are many Mines of it in Aegypt It doth not directly point at the Pole unlesse it stand in the Meridian The point that is toward the South is held the stronger The work-Masters gives us a notable Maxime when in the finger of the Marriners Chart they rub that part of the neidle with the Loadstone wherewith it turns to the South Lastly there are opposite places wherein the Eccliptick declines from the Aequator toward the North and the Planets from the East make their motions by the North. It seems most probable Sennert l. 5. scient natural c. 4. that the Loadstone moves toward the South pole either only or if it
The Pumex stone is found in places that have been burnt baked out of the earth or stone because it hath holes in which the light ayr flotes and because it is without moysture it burns not They that have charge of Wines put it into a vessel of boyling new Wine and it presently gives off boyling Drunkards that strive for mastery in drinking arm themselves with the powder of it but unlesse they drink abundantly they are in danger saith Theophrastus CHAP. XIX Of Lapis Vitrarius and Specularis THere are three kinds of stones that will run in a burning furnace The one is like to transparent Jewels It hath their colour but is not so hard Of this kind is Alabandicus which melts in the fire and is melted for glasse The second kind is not much unlike it but hath not so many colours the third kind is lapis Vitrarius This hath its proper Veins also At Aâ—nebeâ—gum in a Silver Mine it was found in the forme of a Crosse at Priberg like to an Ape pieces of it are found also out of the Earth but by the running of the waters they are polished by rubbing against some stones of their own or of some other kind The white stone is burnt beaten to powder searsed of that they make sand of these they blow glasses The River Beluâ— at the foot of the Mount Carmel rising in Phoenicia between the Coloney of Ptolemais and the City Tyre brings those kind of Sands fit for glasse to the Sea side which being tumbled with the Waves of the Sea shine their foulness being washed off Plin. l. 6. c. 26. The report is that a ship came loaded with Nitre the Merchants provided their Victualls as they were dispersed here and there on the Sea shore and when they found no stones to make them Tables of these took fire and the Sea shoreâ—sand mingled with them thence those transparent Rivers of this noble liquor began to run and this was the beginning of Glasse But we must not think that Glasse is made of this Sand only To three parts of that they add one part of Nitre and of these melted cometh Ammâ—-â—itre If Nitre be wanting mineral salt will supply the defect If this then either Sea salt or the Ashes of the hearb Anthyllis burnt But when that the matter of glasse melts in the fire it froths and the froth is taken off with a drag when they are forthwith hardned they are made into white loafs in which there is a mixt tast more salt than bitter Men report that in Tiberius's days there was a way invented to make glasse malleable and that his whole shop was ruin'd that the price of Gold Silver Brasse and other mettles should not be brought down but the fame of it is more constant than certain In our time especially at Venice is glasse of high esteem we have seen some that have framed divers works of it as bright as a Candle When Nero raigned by the art of making glasse was found out to make small Cups with two ears they called them Pinnati or Pterota one of them was sold for 6000 Denarit I referre the lapides speculares to these because they were of a bright substance as Basilius writes it was transparent like the Ayre The Antients used it for Windows as we do glasse Nero made a Temple for Fortune of these stones so that whosoever stood without was seen though the dores were shut the light appeared though not sent through Pancirolla l. 1. de veter deperd CHAP. XX. Of Crystal Iris and the Diamond COncerning the Originall of Crystall writers differ Pliny l 37. c. 2 saith that it is made by the most violent frost from Snow or Ice Agricola l. 6. fossill saith it is some sap congealed by cold in the bowels of the Earth The former opinion seems to be true For not only the name confirms it but the place also where it is bred for it is found in those places where the Winter Snows are in such unaccessible places of the Alps that oft times they are fain to be let down with ropes to draw it to them In Asia and Cyprus it is Plow'd up and carried along with the torrents Scalig. exeâ—c 119. From the Percinian Rocks which are in the extreame parts of Noricum it is pulled off from the tops of Mountaines there that are covered with no earth Somtimes there is a kind of coorse Silver in it of the colour of lead Ore and of divers weights In India it is found so great that they make a Vessel of it somtimes that will hold four Sextaryes Livia Augusta dedicated one in the Capitol that made a Vessell that held 50 pounds They are seldom found single many of them oft times stick upon one root somtimes rising together and somtimes a part They lye somtimes so fast that it is a hard matter to pul them off Every Crystall point and the whole body of it is with 6 Angles It cannot be melted by heat of the Sun The extreame cold hath so frozen it that it is not a small thing can melt it yet can it not endure heat Bodin l. 2. Theatr Natur. For in the hottest furnaces and great flames it will run by continuance being melted it will harden again and if you poure hot liquour into a Crystal cup it will break It is thought worn about one to cure the Vertigo and for that cause Men drink out of Venice Glasses Plater l. 1. de l. f. There are made of it both Glasses and Chamber pots such a one as Pliny writes was bough by a Matron that was not very rich for H. S. C. L. M. or 150000 sestertii Pancirolla had one of so pure matter and so transparent that it seemed almost to be ayre the outsides only being opposed to the view It had an adder in it with open mouth ready to devoure a young Lamb but he was hindred by the opposite Crosse. Pancirol de veter deperd l. 1. Also Iris is a white Jewel if it have a sexangular forme held against the Sun beams entring in at the Windows it casts the colours of the Rain-bow on the wall that is over against it The Diamond is found in many Mines The Indian Diamond exceeds not the kernel of a small nut that of Cenchros is no bigger than a millet seed Agricola l. 6. de fossil The Antients speak much of it namely that it cannot be broken by hammers that it takes all virtue from the Loadstone and so resists fire that it will never waxe hot Those of our days have found the contrary Camer memorab med c. 8. M. 42. For a hammer will break it and an iron pestle will bring it to powder It yields to fire and may be calcined with a long continued flame yet though in an hour by the fire it will lose its lustre it will recover it again by polishing with some defect in the lustre It hath been found that rubbing one against the other they have
been so glew'd that they could not easily be parted Bodin Theatr. Natur. l. 2. It hath been seen to draw strawes when it hath been hot Garzias ab Horto l. 1. arom c. 47. It was hitherto believed that the powder of it drank would breed the Dysentery but that hath been disproved Slaves have swallowed down some to hide their theft they sent them forth by stool whole without any hurt to their health Cardan 2. Tract 5. Contrad 9. saith That one dram weight drank in powder did no more harm than a piece of bread The Turkish Emperour gave 50000 Crowns for one CHAP. XXI Of the Opalus Emerald Heliotrop and Topaz OPalus is a Jewel which when you hold it downward it hath the clear fire of the Carbuncle the shining purple of the Amethyst the green Sea of the Emrald and all things else shining with an incredible mixture An Emerald doth so change the ayr about it with its own tincture that it will yield neither to candles Sun light nor shade Hence in the water it seems greater Those that are not perfectly green of them are made better by wine and oyl They are seldom so great as that you may grave a seal upon them Yet there is one not very small at Lyons in a Monastery and that which was seen at Prague in the Chappel of St. Vencessius it is above 9 parts of 12 greater than that Bodin l. 2. Theatr. There is one longer at Magdeburg which is contained in part of the spire fashioned Cabinet wherein the Host is carried some say it was the handle of the knife of Otho the first There was a Jewel once found in Cyprus the one half of it was an Emerald and half a Jaspir The Emerald hath wonderful vertue It is an Enemy to poysons and bitings of venemous beasts and it breaks if they overcome it It is said to further womens labour tyed to the hips and to hinder it laid to the belly Sennert l. 5. Epitom Scient natural c. 5. Shut in a ring or hanged about the neck if it touch the naked flesh it preserves from the Apoplex Plat. l. 1. del f. It hath been known to break off from the fingers of the Master of it that wore it when he was dead It cannot endure venery for if it touch ones body in the act it will break Albertus the King of Hungary had one that brake at that time in 3. pieces Heliotropium is a Jewel marked with bloody veins cast into a vessel of water it changeth the Sun beams falling on it by reflexion into blood colour Out of the water it receives the Sun like a burning Glasse and you may perceive the Suns Eclipses by it how the Moon moves under A Topaz is not onely transparent but also shines wonderfully and the brightnesse goes forth like gold it is greater than other Jewels for thence it was that a Statue was made for Arsinoa Wife to Ptolomaeus Philadelphus of 4 cubits high and was consecrated in the Temple that was call'd the golden Temple CHAP. XXII Of the Amethyst Hyacinth the Sardonix and the Onychite IT is called an Amethyst because it comes near the colour of wine and before it comes to it it ends in a Violet colour Plin. l. 21. c. 8. Laid to the Navel first it drawes the vapours of Wine to it self and then it discusseth them wherefore it keeps him sober that wears it Aristotle The Hyacinth in clear weather shines the brighter in clowdy weather the darker By its fast cold it condenses and refreshes bodies and preserves one that wears it from the fierce pestilence Sardonix is a Jewel compounded of a Sardonius and an Onyx It shews inverted like a nayl of a mans hand the most generous roots are from a certain blackish ground and first represent Onyxes then they are compassed with a reddish circle from thence a round line goes about them then at a greater distance the circle growes larger lastly to all those girdles another kind of basis is placed under them The Graecians made great account of this Jewel Polycrates the King of Samos esteemed it so highly that when as fortune had alwaies favour'd him that he might try the contrary fortune he cast his ring into the Sea wherein this stone was set An Onychites at Colonia in the Temple of the 3. Kings is broader than ones hand Agricola The milky veins of it so run forth that they represent two young mens heads the black veins so that they represent a Serpent descending from the forehead of the lower head and a black-Moors head with a black beard But that was placed upon the mandible of the white head Two Onyxes rubbed under a Table will so burn that you cannot hold them in your hands CHAP. XXIII Of the Jasper Nephritick stone and an Agat A Jasper bound to the thigh will stop the menstrual flux of blood and all bleedings which admit of no help otherwise It stops bleeding at the Nose being hanged about the Neck Sennert l. 5. Epitom Scient natural Bound to the mouth of the stomach and so carried all day for the Falling-sicknesse if sweat follow it frees from the fit or else the sick fall Baccius de gem Pliny saith he saw one of eleven ounces and of that was made the picture of Nero in Armour Plin. l. 37. c. 9. There is found in Silis one of a blew colour that goes 9 foot deep and then comes a dark sandy stone about 12. foot long that hath no Jasper in it Agricola l. 6. de Fossil From the authority of Thaetilis the Jew There are found some strange kinds of it There was a man seen in one that had a Buckler on his neck a Spear in his hand a Serpent under his feet It had vertue against all enemies In another there was a man with a bundle on his neck It had vertue to discover all diseases and to stop blood Lemnius de gemmis Biblicis The report is that Galen wore it on his finger There is a green one found signed with the crosse good to keep one from drowning The Nephritick stone is referred to the Jasper it is found onely in Hispaniola Sennert l. 7. Inst. l. 5. p. 1. S. 1. c. 17. The superficies of it is alwayes fat as if it were anointed with oyl The Spaniards wear them cut in divers forms Many things confirm the wonderfull vertue of it Unzer de Nephritid l. 1. c. 7. Hanged about the neck it so breaks the stones that they will seek for passage out of the body at both the Eyes and where they can find way A certain Merchant of Lipsick testifieth this who had such things happened to him and both his eyes grew red by the salt and sharpnesse of the same It will cure all distillations that fall from the head on the Chest saith the same Merchants Wife For when she had carried one 3 weeks she was cured but the Physitians could not cure her It will cause one to make water that is
melted lead so you do it quickly with swift motion Lemnius l. 2. de occult c. 34. It is heavier than silver yet will swim upon it being melted It may be the volatil parts of evaporating Lead fly away by the fire but the silver not evaporating sinks down Libavius l. 2. Epist. Chym. Ep. 98 It is said to increase in weight and magnitude if it be hid in Câ—llars where the Ayr is troubled so that what is put there presently gathers rust The Leaden bands of Statues that bind their feet are sometimes found to grow and to swell sometimes so much that they will hang like Crystal out of the stones Experience hath proved it to be unfit for Medicament Fernel lib. de lue Vener c. 7. For when as one by the advice of an Emperick had eaten half a pound of the powder of it with his meat in 15 dayes to cure the joynt Gout those things that were taken in had a nidorous taste of Lead and what was voided by stool looked of Lead colour Yet it is found also to be for externall medicinal use For it cools Wherefore both Mortars and Pessels are wont to be made of it in which if Liquors are beaten what comes by the mixture of both is very cooling The plates are good to lay to the loyns over-heat with venery and against nocturnal pollutions in dreaming Calvus the Orator did prevent lust therewith that he might preserve his strength for his study Pliny Musicians were wont to lay them upon their breasts to sing the lowder Isidorus Nero had a plate of Lead to lay upon his breast when he slept to preserve his voice Suetonius in Nerone CHAP. XXXI Of Iron THe Mine of Iron is the greatest of all Mettals On that part of Cantabria which the Sea passeth by there is a Mountain high and cragged it is incredible to speak it it is all of Iron Ore Plin. l. 34. c. 14. It is rare in India Hence they write that 14 pounds of Iron at the Island of Zabur have been bartred for 250 pounds of Gold Pegaffetta It was formerly found in China called Azzalum Indicum of such an excellent temper in the edg that it would cut any Iron Pancirol l. de novis repertis Digged up in Sicilie and Lusatia it grows again and the earth and stocks of Trees as it grows become Iron First it is like a thick liquor and by degrees it grows hard Agricola in observat metal When it is boyled it becomes moyst like water afterwards it is broken into Spunges The more tender Iron instruments are steeped in oyle to quench them lest they should grow too hard and brittle with water Plin. lib. citat But in the Island Palmosa it cannot be melted also in Aethalia Strabo l. 15. Bertius in Descript Ilvae Smeared with Alum and Vineger it becomes like brasse At Smolnicium it is a Town of the Mount Carpathum water is drawn out of a pit and it is powred into Pipes laid in a threefold order and that pieces of Iron in them turn into brasse Agricol de metal But the piece of Iron that is put into the end of the Pipes is eaten by this water that it becomes like mud that afterwards boyled in a furnace becomes good Brasse It is most agreeing with all Copper that it will mingle with it in melting The Poets call these Mars and Venus in their Fables Minder de Vitriolo c. 1. Aristonides when he would expresse the fury of Athamas who would throw down headlong his Son Clearchus and when he had don so the manner of his sorrow he mingled Brasse and Iron that the rust of it shining through the brighter Brasse might expresse his shame and bashfullnesse Plin. lib. citat Plunged fiery hot in water it becomes Steel in Vinegar it will endure no hammering but will sooner break than draw Hence the Lacaedonians who were wont to make their coyn of Iron Rods steeped them red hot in Vinegar that being brittle they might never be put to any other use Plutarch in Lycurgo If you seek a reason we say that Vinegar goes into the heart of the Iron Bodin l. 2. Theatr In Furnaces where they make it into bars there rise such Vapours from it when it is hammerd that a certain powder increaseth sensibly and multiplyes sticking to the walls Albert. Mag in lib. de Animal It is so strong that it can never be consumed by fire In the new World there is an herb called Cabuja or Hentquen of the leavs of it there is a reddish string that with sand will cut Iron Ovetan Histor. l. 7. c. 10. Iron scales are very drying they put it in their shoos that have sweating feet The best Iron is most white and light and hath little branches somtimes like to Corall somtimes bound together with very fine strings They make bullets of it for great Guns CHAP. XXXII Of Fossil Flâ—sh ANdreas Libavius a Man exceedingly deserving in Philosophy and Physick saith that it was reported on the credit of the Jevenses Schroterori that at the rampire of Erfurd by the port of St. Andrews upon occasion of raising the Bulwark higher that great pieces of raw flesh were dug out of ground and that it was brawny much like to Oxe-flesh only it had no bones Hubnerus affirms this in Epistol ad Libavium But because those that dug it up prated that they could find it only upon Thursdays wise men began to suspect the matter and having discovered the fraud the deceivers were cast into Prison Though fraud here may be objected yet it is not against reason to say with Libavius that there may be fossil flesh Most true it is that the Earth I add the water also is the Mother of some living Creatures and of those imperfect ones that came by aequivocall generation and by the mixture of both these Clay may be made fit for the breeding of an animall principle which somtimes becomes a perfect Creature and somtimes is deficient As in the kinds of perfect Creatures somtimes rude lumps are bred somtimes provided with that supplies their defect If that be first and yet helps being present it is not frustrated of its motion it is likely that a Mole of clotted blood or somthing like flesh should be made no otherwise than as matter disposed with it for a bone becomes a bone which is called Fossil Horn. So Histories relate that shell fish have been found in the tops of the highest Mountaines of sand from Marle and Marble putrified which though some think they are the reliques of the General flood yet is it not probable that they could last so long by reason of the injury of time For Marble it self will at last dissolve And if you think it absurd that a Creature with blood should proceed from matter that is without blood I could by examples shew your absurdity When Nilus sinks down living Creatures are bred of the mud by heat of the Sun some perfect some half perfect sticking to
that Fig was taken from the Tree And when they all granted it was newly gathered he replied 3 dayes since was this pulled at Carthage so neere to our walls is the enemy They presently began the 3d Punick Warre wherein Carthage was rooted out In Hyrcania there are some that each of them will beare 260 Bushells Plin. l. 15. c. 18. CHAP. XX. Of the Ash Mushrooms and the Beech. THe Ash is an Enemy to Serpents none of them can â—ndure the shade of it though it be late at night Plin. l. 16. c. 13. Pliny saith he proved it that if a Serpent be compassed in with Ashwood and fire he will leap into the fire before he will passe over the Ash wood This is the great bounty of Nature that it flowers before the Serpents come forth nor do the leaves fall till the Serpents be gone to hide themselves Vessels made of the wood of it for use of meat and drink help the Splâ—â—â— and the Stone wonderfully Dom. Zean l. 1. pract At the waters 〈…〉 out of which fire breaks forth it did once prosper Pliny hist. l. 2. c. 107. Mushrooms groâ— so great in Namidia that they are thicker than Quindes In the Kingdome of Nanles the crust of the ground is thick and like Marble that being covered with earth a span deep and sprinkled with warm water in 4. dayes sends forth Mushromes Scalig. Exerc. 181. S. 1. It is of necessity that there be some seminary vertue out of whose bosome they may proceed for the water that is sprinkled on affords matter and nutriment and also a procatarctical cause Libav l. 1. Epist. Chym. 30. If they be boyled or the juice be pressed forth and poured at the roots of Trees especially Beech-Trees Mushroms will grow from thence in great abundance Sennert de cons. et disp Chym. c. 12. In the Northern parts under the Pole Beech-Trees are frequent of a magnetick vertue and the Mushroms that grow to them are changed into Loadstones saith Olaus l. 12. c. 1. CHAP. XXI Of Guaicum and Gentian GUaicum is of great vertue against the French-Pox In Italy at first they were fearful to drink it Bread and Raisins were prescribed with a moderate diet and to live 40 dayes in a dark Chamber and that so curiously that they admit not of the least Ayr Mathiol in l. 1. c. 3 The errour was observed afterwards and Hens flesh was allowed but not a drop of Wine Mathiolus was the first that tryed it with successe and others followed him Gentian called also Cruciata is the herb of S. Ladistaus a King The report is that the Tartars drove him out of Hungary and that he fled to Claudiopolis a City of Daâ—ia There he grew acquainted with a rich man and became his Godfather He helped him to drive out the Tartars They as they fled threw down moneys of Gold that they had plundered in the field of Aradium as a means to hinder those that pursued them The King pray'd unto God that they might be changed into stones and it was so Hence it is that there are so many stones there After this Hungary being afflicted with a grievous Plague He obtain'd of God that what plant an Arrow shot into the Ayr should fall down upon might be a remedy for that disease It fell upon Cruciata and by the use of that the Plague was driven out of that Country Camerar Centur. 3. Memorab s. 23. CHAP. XXII Of Broom Ginger and St. Johns-wort IN stony and sandy grounds 3. foot from Broom one moneth before and after the Calends of June there is a kind of Broomrape found that is a cubit high if this be bruised and the juice pressed forth which is like to clear wine and be kept in a glasse bottle stopt all the year it is an excellent remedy against the Plague Ginger is a root that creeps along with knots and joynts the leaves are like reed leaves that wax green anew twice or thrice a year Mathiol l. 2. c. 154. There is some difference in the taste when it is dug forth before its time to be ripe The fit time to gather it is when the root growes dry otherwise it is subject to Worms and rottennesse St. Johns-Wort both feed and flower is wonderful to heal all wounds besides those in the head Some write that the Devils hate it so much that the very smell of it drives them away I think this superstitious The same is reported of Pellitary especially for green wounds If it be bruised green and bound to a wound and taken off the third day there will need no other Medicament Mathiol in l. 4. c. 81. CHAP. XXIII Of Elecampane Turnsole and Hiuoa ELecampane is a yearly Plant that growes higher than a man Sometimes 24 foot in height it growes up in 6. moneths after the seed is sown on the top of the stalk there growes a head like an Artichoke but it is rounder and broader and it extends it self with a flower as big as a great Dish Bauhin ad lib. 4. Dioscor c. 182. Sometimes the diameter of the dish is more than a foot and half and it is compassed about with long leaves of a golden colour or as it were Sun-beams and the plain of it in the middle is purple colour The seed is disposed of in the holes of the dish it hath a black rind and sweet substance within so great is the abundance of it that sometimes you shall find above a thousand in one dish Some there are that take the tender stalks of the leaves and scraping away the Down they boyl them on a grid-iron and season them with Salt Oyl and Spices and they are better tasted than Artichokes It is a wonder that it turns with the Sun East and West for when the Sun riseth as if it did adore the Sun it bows down the head and it riseth with it alwaies pointing toward the Sun and opening it self very much at the root of it till the Sun sets Turnsole kills Pismires if you stop their holes with it If a Scorpions hole be compassed about with the juice of it he will never come forth but if you put in the herb he dies Mathiol ad l. 4. c. 186. Hiuca is as great as a mans thigh it goes about with the Sun though it be a clowdy day and at night it is contracted as sad for the Suns absence Plin. l. 22. c. 21. They break it into fine meal by rubbing it with Pumex stones or whetstones then they put it into an Hippocras bag and pour water to it and presse forth the juice The Liquor is deadly but the meal that is left is set in the Sun as they do Sugar-Candy when the meal is dry they temper it with water and make bread of it Scalig. Exâ—rc 153. l. 8. CHAP. XXIV Of Impia Juniper and Glasse-wort IMpia is thought to be a plant that no Creature will taste of and from thence it hath its name yet bruised
violently that in one night it buds all over with a noyse so that the whole Tree will be covered with flowers Pliny l. 16. c. 25. CHAP. XXX Of Napellus NApellus kills with every part but chiefly the root For held in the hand till it wax hot it will destroy you It is certain that some shepherds that used the stalk for a spit to rost birds dyed of it Mathiolus Com. in l. 4. Dioscor c. 73. confirms this venomous quality of it by many examples I shall adde one One dram of Napellus was given to a Thief that was 27 years old He drank it down and said it tasted like pepper Most grievous symptoms followed for he vomited often something green as Leeks He felt a thing like a ball about his Navell it came upwards and sent a cold vapour to his head then he became stupified as if he had a palsie that laid hold on his left arm and leg that he could scarce stir the top of his hand all motion being lost in the other parts By and by this force of the disease forsook his left side which became sound and seized on his right side and wrought the like effects there He said That all the veins of his body were grown cold He had giddinesse in his head and his brain was so often disturb'd that he said it seem'd to him like boyling water He had Convulsions in his Eyes and Mouth and a very sharp pain in his Mandibles wherefore he often held those parts with his hands fearing they would fall off His eyes appeared outwardly swoln his face wan lips black and his belly was seen to swell like a Tympany His Arteries beat strongly and his mind was diversly troubled as the symptoms increased For sometimes he thought he should die and presently he hoped to live sometimes he spake rationally and sometimes he doted sometimes he wept and sometimes he sang He affirmed that in all this time he was thrice blind and thrice in an agony of death but his tongue was firm never troubled with any symptome Thus far Mathiolus But all these symptomes by giving him Bezars stone vanished in seven hours CHAP. XXXI Of Nyctegretum Granum Nubiae Nutmegs and Olive Trees NYctegretum was admired by Democritus amongst a few things it is hot as fire and hath thorny leafs nor doth it rise from the ground It must be dug up after the vernal Equinoctial and dryed by the Moon-light for 30 dayes and then it will shine in the night Plin. l. 21. c. 11. It is also called Chenomychon because Geese are afraid at the sight of it In Nubia which is Aethiopia by Aegypt there is a grain that swallowed will kill living Creatures A tenth part of it will kill them in a quarter of an hour Scalig. Exerc. 153. s. 11. In Banda an Island of the Molucco's the Nutmeg growes and it is covered with a cup for a shell when 't is ripe it is all covered over Under the first covering the shell is not presently that covers the kernel but a thick skin which the Arabians call Macin The Olive-Tree if it be cropped at the first budding by a Goat growes so barren that it will never bear by any means but if there be any other cause the certain cure is to lay open their roots to the Winter cold Plin. l. 7. c. 14. The Olive and the Oak so disagree that one planted by the other will shortly die The Lees of oyl mingled with Lime if walls be plaistered with it and the roofs they not onely drop down all adventitious humours that they contract but neither Moth nor Spiders will endure them Mathiol in Dioscor It flowereth in July the flowers coming forth by clusters From whence grow first green berries and they are pale as they grow ripe then they become a full purple colour and lastly black They are pulled in November and December then are they laid in pavements till they become wrinkled then are they put in under a milstone and are pressed out with presses pouring scalding water on and so they yield their oyl The wood of the Tree burns as well green as dry At Megoris a wild Olive Tree stood long in the Market-place to which they had fastned the Arms of a valiant man but the bark grew over it and hid them for many years That Tree was fatall to the Cities ruine as the Oracle foretold when a Tree should bear arms for it so fell out when the Tree was cut down spurs and helmets being found within it Plin. l. 16. c. 29. The Olive Tree lasts 200 years Plin. l. 16. c. 44. CHAP. XXXII Of the Palm-Tree THey say that the female Palm-Trees will bring forth nothing without the Males which is confirmed when a wood growes up of its own accord so about the Males many females will grow enclining toward them and wagging their boughes But the male with branches standing up as it were hairy doth marry them by the blowing on them and by standing near them on the same ground Plin. l. 13. c. 4. When the Male is cut up the females are in widowhood and are barren Hence in Egypt they so plant them that the wind may carry the dust from the Male to the Female but if they be far off they bind them together with a cord Pontanus reports that two Palm-Trees one set at Brundusium the other at Hydruntum were barren till they were grown up to look one upon the other and though it were so great a distance yet they both did bear fruit Dalechamp ad lib. cit Poets write thus of them A Tree there grew in large Brundusium Land A Tree in Idumaea much desir'd And in Hydruntum Woods one rare did stand Like Male and Female 't is to be admir'd On the same ground they did not grow but wide Asunder and they both unfruitful stood They many leaves did bear nothing beside At last they grew so high above the wood That of each other they enjoy'd the light Then they grew fruitful like to Man and Wife Each in the other seem'd to take delight And to be partners each of th' others life Cardanus reports that in Data a City of Numidia there was a Palm-Tree the fruit whereof unlesse the boughes of the flourishing male were mingled with the boughes of the female the fruit was never ripe but were lean with a great stone in them and by no help could they be kept from consuming but if any leaf or rind of the male were present then they would grow ripe Philo. l. 1. de vita Mosis saith that the vital force of it is not in the roots but in the top of the stock as in the heart and in the middle of the boughes that it is guarded about with all as with Halberdiers There is a kind of Palm-Tree growes in India out of the stock whereof the boughes being for that purpose cut in the moneth of August a liquor like wine runs forth that the Inhabitants receive in vessels
unlesse it be boyled it growes sowr after 3. daies Mathiol ad l. 1. c. 126. Boyled it is converted into most sweet honey which afterwards is resolved in water in 20 daies it is strained forth artificially and so clarified it will last But the Palm-Trees which Dioscorides calls Thebaicae in time grow so dry in the Sun that they are ground to make bread of them Thevet speaks of a Palm-Tree that yields wine in the promontory of Aethiopia which is the fairest sort of Palm-Trees for height and for being alwaies green They cut it 2. foot above the ground to draw forth the juice They let it run into Earthen vessels for their daily drink and to make it keep they cast in a little salt It is like white Wine of Campania in colour and substance Linschottus l. 4. America novae c. 26. reports That in a place of the West-Indies called St. John de portu divite there growes a Palm-Tree that every moneth brings new leaves and is loaded with Cocker-nuts Pierius in Hieroglyph saith it is an Emblem of the year because this Tree alone at every new Moon sends forth several branches CHAP. XXXIII Of the Plane-Tree Apple-Trees and the Tree called Pater-Noster OF old they gave so much honour to the Plane-Tree at Rome that they infused the roots in Wine a long time to preserve them In the Island of Candie there is one that never loseth its leafs Plin. l. 1. c. 1. But there is a noted one in Lycia by the way side that is hollow like a house the hollow cave in it is 81 foot wide it hath a wooddy top and vast boughes like great Trees it overshadowes the fields with its far casting shadow and that nothing may be wanting to the likenesse of a Cave there is a stony circumference within that is full of mossy Pumex stones the miracle is so great that L. Matianus that was thrice Consul thought fit to divulge it to posterity that he and 18. more feasted in it If Apples in winter be kept amongst Grapes they so corrupt the Grapes that they presently wither and corrupt It is reported that if a woman with Child eat Quinces she shall be delivered of an industrious and witty child Citron Apples keep garments from Moths and Worms how good they are against poyson you may know by examples out of Athenaeus A Citron Apple hath cured some that were stung by Vipers They keep longer uncorrupted if they be put into a heap of Barley or Millet They cure Scabs if they be cut in the middle and powder of Brimstone be finely strewed upon them and they be rosted in hot Embers and so the Patient be rubb'd therewith Apples of Sodome are fair to sight but touched they fall to ashes Solin c. 36. In Hispaniola there is a Tree called Pater noster the fruit is as great as a Hasel nut put this in boyling water and dip a linnen or woollen Cloth in it it will be died gallantly with diversity of spots but it corrodes with its over-great force Ovetan l. 9. c. 1. CHAP. XXXIV Of Pepper Plantain Pimpernel wild Tansie herb Paris and Paper ROund black Pepper growes upon some weak branches like tendrels that creep up to the tops of Trees by them clinging about them It growes like the fruit of the wild Vine in clusters flourishing close together of a green colour till it become dry which when it doth as it doth in October it is gathered and laid upon Palm-Tree coverlids in the open Sun to torrifie and so it becomes black and shrivelled Mathiol l. 2. Diosc. c. 153. The root of the greater Plantain put in a little bag and bound with a thread near the Region of the heart preserveth a man from the Plague Scholtius relates it for a certain remedy out of Monavius Epist. 268. Pimpernel was found out by Prince Chaba for with this alone were cured 5000 wounded Hungarians after the battel Clus. in Nomen Pannon steeped in hot water it is approved for to cure a continual Feaver It hath so great force against the disease called Hydrophobia that whosoever shall use it betimes in the morning for some dayes in Sallets or otherwise after he hath been bitten shall find no harm Fernelius Wild Tansey applyed to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet abates the heat of any Feavert Mathiol in l. 5. c. 37. In the berries of Herb Paris there is found seed that hath great vertue against Witchcraft Some grow sottish by Chronicle diseases others by Witchcraft If these drink the seed one dram for 20. days they are cured Paper reed growes in the Lakes of Aegypt or where the waters of Nilus have run over and stand still and are not above two Cubits high the crooked root is as thick as ones arme it hath triangular sides it is not above ten Cubits in length it runs up spire wise like a Javelin Plin. l. 13. c. 12. The Aegyptians made matter to joyne their Ships together with the inside of this bulrush cutting off the tops of the reed also they made Sailes and shoes of it Herodot l. 2. Onely the Priests wore those shoos as Arist. writes They were wont to sell and to eat the lower part of about a Cubit in length and they were exceeding sweet when they were torrified in an Oven This was the chief meat of the Aegyptians hence was the original of Paper Dalechamp ad l. 13. Plin. c. 11. CHAP. XXXV Of the Oake Rhubarb Rape-root and Rosa-solis IN Maritania Oaks beare a long Acorn that tasts sweeter and more delicate than Chestnuts Scaliger Exerc. 181. s. 26. The land of the shore of Sinus Pucicus is Rocky and the Clods of Earth are bituminous there grow upon them pale shrubs scarce a foot high They have a kind of Okes and Box-Trees but they have no root Scaliger saw one that was without knots and straight 75 foot long There were 30 Crowns offered for it Scalig. Exerc. 166. A little above the Cauchi Pliny lib. 16. c. 1. writes that there were mighty ones by the banks of two Lakes which being either undermined by the waters or blown down with the wind pull'd up great Islands with them that they grew upon with their roots and so standing equally ballanced they sailed being furnished with huge boughs They oft terrified the Roman Navy when as they were driven by the Waves as it were of purpose and seen by those that kept watch on the decks There was one in the Country of Thurirum that never cast its leaves yet never budded till midsummer Rheubarb grows only in China and is brought by Usebech into Turkie and so to Venice The vertues of it are said to be notable and they bring an example of an hydropick person who having been in exceeding great danger by the use of Rhubarb he was cured and lived to be a very old man Adolph Occo in Scholtii Epist. The same man received a mortall wound by his Servant after his disease and the
one is got out of Canes two ways for either it is pressed out and boyl'd to the whitenesse of Sugar or it comes forth of it self from the reeds like teares From the Indies formerly they sent it so gathered with their other Merchandise That which is called Sugar-Candy was carried about in reeds Histories testify it was made naturally For at Dathecala in the Indies it is sold for Merchandise In St. Thomas Island the reeds yeeld it every Month. In the fifth Month they are ripe and are cut down and are grund and pressed for the juyce what remaines is given to Fowle and Hogs and it will fat them wonderfully and it will make them so tender and delicate that no hens flesh can be better for those that are sick to feed on Another kind of Sugar sweats-out wonderfull strangely The Arabians and Aegyptians call it Tigala They say a little Worm doth eate the hearb whence Sugar swells forth and grows together in little peices It quencheth thirst is good for the Chest and takes away a Cough CHAP. XLVI Of other Miracles of some Trees NAture is rich and her riches are so various that they not only delight our understanding but exercise our industry Truly besides what we have said there are many wonderfull things In the Island Tylos there are Trees that beare Wool and their fruit is guords as big as Quinces these breaking when they are ripe shew balls of Down or Cotton of which they make pretious linnen garments Plin. l. 12. c. 10 In great Java they say there is a rare Tree whose pith is Iron it is very small yet runs from the top to the bottom of the Plant. The fruit that grows on it is not to be pierced with Iron Scaliger calls it Exerc. 181. s. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Island Cimbubon there is another whose leaves fallen down upon the earth do move and creep It hath leaves like the Mulberry-Tree They have on both sides like two little feet pressed they yeeld no liquor If you touch them they flye from you One of them kept 8 dayes in a dish lived and moved so oft as one touched it Scalig. Exerc. 112 in Malavar there is a plant that contracts it self if any one puts his hand to it and if you pull back your hand it recovers it self again Garzias ab horto That which he described from Costa under the name of Mimosa hortensis put your hand to it it withers take it away it grows green again The same Authour says that there is a certain Tree that is full of faire sweet flowers all night but so soon as the Sun riseth it withers yet whatsoever this is it may be ascribed to the tenuity of the Spirits of it But Linschot saith there is one that is contrary to this In Virginia there is an hearb that the leaves are good Silk and they take it off like a thin shining Membrane It is two foot and a half high the leaves are two foot long and half a foot broad In England there vvas made a triall of this in weaving For of this plant the whole Web made vvas silk and approoved for good Arioth in Verginia In America there is the flower of Granadilla in which may be seen the instruments of Christs passion the Nails the Rod the Pillar the Crown the Wounds Mejer de Annat Scoticis That Libav l. 4. de orig rer ascribes to Imagination And saith he a friend of mine hath a Cherry-stone upon which may be seen 120 faces In the Northern Island there are Rocks of Loadstone If Beeches grow upon them they are turn'd into Loadstone Olaus l. 2. c. 1. There is also in Musicanum an Indian Tree extreme high the boughs of it are above 12 Cubits long and it not only grows downwards of it self but it fastneth in the ground of its own accord and roots anew and from thence arise new Trees the boughs do thus bow down also and cause more Trees and thus they will grow in ranks that they will make an Arbour for 400 men to walk under Not far from Malacca there is another that hath many roots and as they divide severally into parts so are they of different vertues For those parts that look toward the East are an Antidote against poyson but the parts toward the West are poyson Senar res p. 4. c. 17. A certain fiery root cut in pieces if it be set right over against a burning Candle at first it makes it blink and at last it puts it out and that hath been often proved Biker in proph s. 2. There was a firr Tree very admirable seen in a Ship which brought it from Aegypt by the command of Caius the Emperour There was a foursquare obelisk set up in the Vatican and he brought four blocks of the same stone to support it The thicknesse of that Tree was as much as four men could fathom Plin. l. 16. c. 40. The root of the hearb Aproxis takes fire a great way off Plin. l. 24. c. 17. From Trees in India as high as Cedars or Cypresse Trees and with leaves broader then Palm-Tree leaves they are called Carpiâ—n an oyle distills that is taken with wooll pressed against the Trees and you may smell it five furlongs off In the same Authour we read of the Tree Parebo that grows only in Kings Gardens it is as great as an Olive Tree without flower or fruit but under the earth the roots are as thick as a mans arm Nine inches of it will draw Gold Silver Brasse Stones or any thing but Amber but an ell of it will draw Sheep and Lambs The weight of an Obolus cast into water will make it congeal and wine also that you may work it in your hands like wax yet the day after it will resolve again Libav l. 2. debitum c. 6. this seems to be a stinking ly if it be not well interpreted but surely a Philosopher cannot want that interpretation you shall find it loc cit CHAP. XLVII Of Wonders of Trees SOme are found that bear no leafs And Pliny l. 17. c. 25. tells us of a Vine and Pomegranate Tree that did bear fruit on the body or stem not on the branches or boughes and of a Vine that had fruit without leafs and of Olive Trees that the berries remain'd when the leafs were fallen We said that an Olive Tree burn'd down quite will grow again and in Boeotia Fig-trees eaten with Worms will bud again At Pausania in Arcadia the Oke and Olive Tree will grow both upon one root Dalechamp ad loc cit The same at Corinth called Hercules Club from a wild Olive Tree took root and grew again When Xerxes came to Laodicea a Plane-Tree became an Olive Tree A Tree sank into the ground at Cumanum a strange thing a little before the Civill Wars of Pompey onely a few boughs were to be seen At Cyzicum before Mithridate's siege a Fig-Tree grew out of a Bay-Tree when he with 100000 men and
pestilence onely Princes feed on them Cardanus prescribes them with their broth Their dung is so hot that being fired by the Sun it hath fired houses saith Galen The same Author useth it for a hearing remedy and being bruised dry with the seed of Cresses some apply instead of Mustard for a rubisicative Anno 1550. there was one taken in Germany with 4. feet and 2. bellies It was brought to the Emperour and Electors who all wonder'd at it CHAP. XIV Of the Swan THere are abundance of Swans in many places In Moravia a Province of Scotland there is a Lake called Spina it is noted for multitudes of Swans For therein there growes a certain herb whose seed they feed greedily on and therefore it is called Swans meat The nature of that herb is that cast into water it will never putrifie Hence it is that though the Lake be extended about five miles and was wont as men remember to abound with Fish and Salmons since that began to spring up it hath increased by degrees and hath made that Lake fordable and that men cannot swim in it nor is there any more any great Fish therein Boetius in descript Scotiae The internal constitution of Swans is wonderfull Aldrovandus dissected them The Intestines were 14. spans and a hand breadth long and many of them were covered with fat inwardly as thick as ones thumb which served instead of a caul which being not intricate with many windings and turnings but onely by a single revolution are turned back into themselves inwardly with a middle rundle perchance some of the nutriment might passe by nor distributed but nature to help this inconvenience hath fastened two blind guts a hands breadth between the anus and their beginning the right intestine passing between which should make amends for the windings of the guts that are deficient The gullet is of a wonderfull structure For the sharp artery that accompanies the wesand under it descending to the throat when it comes there doth not tend directly to the Lungs as in other Creatures but is elevated above the chanel bones and is inserted into a rib of the breast-bone or Sternon And this rib is not made of one single bone but of two side ones and a third from above made for a covering to lye upon these and it is like a scabberd or sheath and serves for the same use When the Artery comes to the end of it it is bent backwards beneath like a Serpent in fashion of the letter S and by and by it goes forth again beneath the foresaid part of this covering that was placed above it and ascending to the middle of the channel bones it leans upon their coupling as on a prop and being so upheld it is again bent backwards like a Trumpet and going under the hollow of the Thorax before it comes to the lungs it makes as it were another Larynx cut athwart and with a little bone as long as this is broad and which is covered with a thin membrane it represents a hollow pipe or an Organ pipe in figure and composition which are open in the neather part of them with the like fissure Under this Larynx the artery is parted into two channels each of which in the middle are stretched out wider and stick forth and are distributed going directly to the very small Lungs that are wholly fastned to the sides behind This is a wonderfull composition and it serves for the breathing and voyce For when in the bottom of Lakes she seeks for her food she needed a long neck lest by long continuance she should be in danger to be suffocated by such an Artery And indeed whilest for half an hour almost she thrusts down her head into the water she takes breath by that part of the Artery which is open in the sheath we spake of in the breast As for its singing some say she sings before her death and some deny it Oppianus saith she sings early before Sun rising but as she is very near her death she sings on the Sea-shores but not so loud in her old age The West wind he adds is observed by them when they sing when they are feeble and their strength is spent The fashion of their sharp artery seems to make good this opinion CHAP. XV. Of the Stork THe Storks of old time about Fidena neither made any nests nor fed their young ones Also at the Lake Larius in Italy beyond Poe a pleasant place with small Trees they are hardly seen Pliny The Author of the book of Nature writes that they neither come into nor will inhabit a City in Germany where no tythes are paid They are travelling birds but it is a question whether all or not Many as if they were dead were drawn forth in Fishers nets and these were joyned together and had their bills thrust into their anus together and being hot in Minerall waters they lived again In Lorenge it is certain that it so happened Anno 1467 as Campofulgosus reports l. 1. memorab when they depart they meet all at a set place of rendevouz and will leave none of their company behind It is observed that they are seldom seen after the Ides in August when they are costive they thrust their bills into their Anus and give themselves a Clyster that brings forth the faeces and thence Chirurgions learn'd that art They are very chaste and gratefull One of them in upper Vesalia bade his Host farewel when he departed and when he return'd he saluted him again And not content with a vocall gratitude he brought him a root of green Ginger Another pickt out the Eyes of one that lay with his Hostesse when his Host was abroad Another finding out the adultery of his mate in his absence brought more company and tore her to pieces The Stork carries his aged Parents upon his shoulders and feeds them out of his mouth Whence the word of gratitude is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gesner By the â—xample of 〈…〉 it is apparent that she foreshews things future for he as Aeneas Sylvius writes unlesse he had seen Storks from the high Towers in Aquileia would have departed thence and supposing that to be a token of taking the City he held on his purpose and shortly walâ— it when he had besieged it 3. years There are none in England as Cl Bandarcius saith CHAP. XVI Of the Faulcon A Faulcon is so strong that when he strikes a bird he will â—ut him in two from head to tail A Sea-Swallow call'd Drepanis a little Bird about Lakes when she hears the Castrel will rather let men stone her than she will rise She is wont to be sick of a disease the Faulconers call the Filandre That is a kind of worms not far from their reins near to which they are wrapt up in a thin and proper membrane they are as small as hairs and half an ell long it may be from their first originall unlesse you prevent them they will eat up the
treads them and ratifies as it were the seed eaten Those hens that he treads not do bring eggs that are windy Olaus Magnus writes that in the Winter in the North the lesser Urogalli will lye hard under the Snow two or three moneths But in Pontus they say in Winter some Birds are found that neither boult their feathers nor do they feel when their feathers are pluckt out nor when they are thrust through with a spit but onely then when they wax hot at the fire It is hardly true The greater Grygallus is so deaf that he cannot hear the noise of a great Gun CHAP. XXXVI Of the Batt PLato calls the Bat a bird and no bird Valla half a Mouse He loves Caves and holes in the earth In the hollow placeâ— of Apenniâ—uâ— there were some thousands that lodged It brings forth the young ones ready formed when they are bred they are first like young Mice smooth and naked as young children She suckles her young ones with her milk and she casts them especially between the hollow places in Tiles or roofs of houses They stick so fast to her Teats that they cannot be pull'd off when she is dead She the second day after she hath disburden'd her self of them flies to find food but in the mean time she devours the secondines Sometimes she is bred of putrid matter Frisius saith she proceeds from a sickly excretion of the Ayr she flyes with leather wings or as Isidore saith born up with the membranes of her arms flying winding up and down and not far from the earth When she is weary she hangs by her claws the rudiments whereof they have in the middle of their wings she will fly also with two young ones in her bosome They eat Gnats Flies Bacon They will so eat a flitch that hangs by a beam that they will lye in the hollow place In hot Countries they will fly at mens faces In Dariene a Province of the New World they troubled the Spaniards in the night One of them fell upon a Cock and Hen and bit the Cock dead Martyr Pompilius Azalius saith That in the East-Indies some are so great that they will strike men passing by down with their wings The Argument of this is their carcases that lie all over the Vale. The Storks eggs grow barren if a Bat touch them unlesse she take â—eed by laying Plane-tree leaves in her nest It is killed by the smell and smoke of Ivy Aelian de animal Locusts will not flye over the place where Bats are hang'd on the Trees that lie open The biting of it is cured with Sea-water or other hot water or with hot ashes as hot as one can suffer it Strabo saith That in Borsippa a City of Babylon where they are greater than in other places they are pickled up for food So in St. John's Island they are skinned with hot water and they are made like chickens with their feathers pull'd off with us for their flesh is very white The Inhabitants of the Isle of Catigan in the Sea del Zur do eat them They are as great as Eagles and as good meat as Hens Scalig. Exerc. 236. s. 3. CHAP. XXXVII Of the Vulter THe Vulter hath filthy and terrible eyes and a space under his throat as broad as ones hand set about with hairs like Calfs hairs Bellonius l. 2. observ c. 1. He hunts after Cattell in Chyla a Province of the West-Indies and that not from Sun-rising till Noon but from Noon till Night Monard de Arom Some say that the males are not bred but the females conceive by the wind which is false for they have been seen between Worms and Augusta of Trevirs â—o couple and to lay eggs Alb. Mag. They are so libidinous that when they are kindled if the male be absent they will tread one the other and conceive by a mutuall Imagination of lust or else drawing dust by force of desire they will lay eggs When he wants his prey he will draw blood from his thighs to feed on Simocatta writes that they are great with eggs 3. years He hath an excellent sight for he will see when the Sun riseth from East to West and when the Sun sets from West to East He will smell Carrion 500 miles Aldrovand Avicenna saith That he sees the carcases from aloft but Aldrovanduâ— writes That the wind carries the sent of them to him He hath an exquisite sense to perceive He lives a hundred years If you pick your teeth with his quill it will make your breath sowr A kernel of a Pomegranate will kill him Plin. l. 30. c. 4. Aelian l. 6. c. 46. The End of the Sixth Classis AN APPENDIX TO The Sixth Classis Wherein some things are taken out of a Treatise of Michael Maierus a most famous Physitian concerning the Bird that growes on Trees WHen one shall read that there is a place in the World where Geese grow on Trees like Apples perchance he will be doubtfull concerning the truth of it and question the Authour And if any man shall say that living Creatures are bred not onely of one but of divers kinds from Trees and vegetables that part will fly and part will not fly hâ— will have enough to do to make good what he sayes if he would not be accounted a Lyar. Yet I think it may be easily proved by what we have said already where we have asserted from experience that Gnats are bred in Okes and mosse of Okes and Worms are bred in other Trees and Vegetables which though they be small creatures yet are they reckoned in the number of living creatures because they feel and move Yet I should not affirm the first as the words sound For Birds make their nests sometimes in Trees hedges bryars and other vegetables but that they grow there like pears is incredible There is one of the Canary Islands called Ferro where is a Fountain of sweet water concealed and there is none besides in the whole Island in some Trees by a wonderfull Indulgence of Nature the leaves do draw abundantly water out of the Earth or Ayr which they drop down for the Inhabitants to drink For should they want this boon no men nor Cattell could live there for there are no Fountains but the Ocean or salt-salt-water runs round about it The great bounty of God hath afforded water to those to whom it is denyed in other considerations As in Egypt where there never falls any rain Nilus overflowes to supply that defect and other Countries have other gifts given them So also is this bird afforded to the Isles of the Orcades and other neighbouring places which is found no where else Yet should any man look to find him growing on the Trees he might wander all the Woods over and find none nor yet do Pyrats amongst the Ferrenses find water but are forced to leave the Country for want of it nor can they find it in the Trees Concerning this bird that is no Fable that
very learned Authors have written making mention of it also in their other works as Hieron Card. de varietat rer c. 36. Du Bartas in his Weeks the 6 th day and 1 day of his 2 week But they all do not agree of the places and manner of its generation Munster saith the Orcades are full of these birds Gyraldus speaks of Ireland Dubartus of Scotland which he calls Luturnen as also Mela writes Hector Boetius relates the same things of the Hebrides A French man understands it concerning any part of the Hesperian Sea He saith a certaine bird iâ— bred without Cock or Hen but only from some vegetable namely in Scotland from the Trees of that Country Also ships made of the same Trees when they are in the middle of the Sea produce the same fowls The French call them Marquerolle it is good to eat Plutarch makes mention of the same bird in a Treatise that begins Whether an Egge were first or a Hen The Scotch call them Klekgues Others write of them thus In the Orcades Island and Scotland there is a Tree by the Sea side and on the banks of Rivers that beares fruit not unlike to Ducks and when it is ripe it falls down into the water and swims away alive and becomes a bird if it fall on the the ground it corrupts Others call them Barnacles As also in the â—ittle Theatre of the World they are ascribed to Ireland and are thus deciphered There are also here Birds called Barnacles growing by nature contrary to Natures order not unlike to Ducks but only they are lesse For from wood of Masts for Ships first comes forth some kind of Gum then with weed or Sea grass calld'd Wier some shell-fish sticks to those kinds of wood together with the pitch which in time get wings and become Birds and fly or fall into the waters and swim I have often seen saith Silvester abundance of these Tree-Ducks hanging on the Wood inclosed in shells till they could fly They lay no eggs as other Birds do nor are they bred of eggs In some places they eate these Birds for Fish and not for Flesh. Hector Boetius tells the same History of a Bird he calls Claâ—is For saith he if you cast Wood into the Sea about the Hebrides in time Worms will breed in it that eate that Woodhollow and afterwards become Birds and are like to Geese flying Hee ascribes the generation of them to the Sea called by Homer and Virgil the Father of all things But these different descriptions of Authors do neither agree amongst themselves nor in all things with the truth it selfe For the place some say it is the Orchades others Ireland others the Hebrides others Scotland and all this may be true since in the Ocean between Scotland and the Orcades and Ireland and the Hebrides they are said to breed in both places For it is no small extent of place where they are but all that compasse of the Sea in the outmost bounds of Scotland and Ireland For the name there is no difference for divers Nations use divers names But whether that faculty be to be ascribed to the Woods or Trees of those Countries or to Worms that breed from those Trees and are changed into Shell-Fish is worth Enquiry since the forementioned Authours were of so various opinions But we shall consent with none of them For were this vertue in the Wood why should not the same kind of Wood used for Masts have the same faculty in all places yet that is not so nor do Ships made of that Wooâ— produce such fowle in the middle of the Sea For who ever heard any such thing done in France Germany or England yet are all their Havens frequented by Scotch Merchants and Ships from the Orcades Noâ— can this be referred to the Trees for they beare not birds but fruit of their own kind If they be cut down and turn'd to other uses and cast into the Sea to corrupt and grow rotten that is that they may dye as it were as to their first being and be turned into the common matter of Wood then begins this new generation of living Creatures by the influence of the Heavens and the Suns heat coâ—operating For how should a vegetable produce a flying Creature like a Goose Is not every Tree known by its specifical fruit whether it be good or bad Againe doth not every kind of fruit testify what Tree it was bred on â— Trees do not beare fish nor the Sea Trees Hares use to be found in Woods and merry conceits in words and not the contrary A vegetable doth not couple with an animal nor an animal with a vegetable each keeps its own rank and doth not exceed it unlesse Nature using the help of putrefaction do produce some small living Creatures in vegetables as I said before They that think that Worms may become fowls do not in my Judgment speak what is probable For how should a shell-fish come of a Worm yet understand me so that what I deny of each by themselves I would grant of all together But because I know this not by heare-say but I have seen above 50 almost hundreds of these shell-fish and when they were opened I have seen little young Birds coming forth as out of aâ—â— egge with all their parts necessary for flight and I have had them in my hands I must not omit here to set down an exact description of them and this it is If perhaps some pieces of Masts of Ships smeer'd with pitch fall into those Seas in the outmost parts of Scotland nor far from the Orcades or Hebrides and lye there a long time they not only grow rotten and full of Worms but are covered all over with Sea weeds for of such grass there is abundance there which cleaves to any Wood easily especially if it send forth a pitchy fatnesse as Masts that are fiâ—re or pitch Trees and are full of pitchy Rosin and then for Ships occasions are again besmeerd with the same namely that the sayls may suddenly be noised up and pulled down and stay no where Now the Sea breeds those weeds at the bottom neere the shore that are longer or shorter and these at certain times swim on the top of the water being moved or pull'd up as it were by the waves This bred in the water doth not easily corrupt having much of a salt nature in it wherefore in North Holland and many other places they make of those weeds a strong fence against the violence of the Sea so that they fetch a remedy from the disease wherefore these weeds hanging round about the said pieces of Masts insinuate themselves into the rotten places and in time on the other side of each grass will grow small shell-fish which are whitish or of the colour of a Mans nayls and in forme hollownesse and long fashion like to the nayle of a mans little finger whereof if two be joyned together that they may stick well the
upper parts being the sharpest they take hold of the ends of the weeds and are fast shut in the broader parts which afterwards open that the fruit may come out to flye Thus a thousand at least of these shell fish are fastned to the weeds at the ends which as I said are fastned to the pitcht Wood with the other end in such plenty that the Wood can hardly be seen yet those weeds do hardly exceed 12 fingers breadth in length and are so strong as thongs of leather somtimes they are longer and are some-feet-long This is the whole external description For you can see nothing but a piece of a Mast full of rotten holes and Sea Weeds thrust into them having at the other end shell-fish like to the nayle of a Mans little finger But if these shells be opened those small Birds appeare like chickens in eggs with a beck eys feet wings down of their feathers beginning and all the other parts of callow Birds As the young Birds grow so do the shells or covers of them as they do in all other Oysters Muscles shell-fish snails and the like carriers of their houses It may be asked how they get their food I answer as other Zâ—ophyta do partly from the sweeter part of the water or else as shell fish that breed pearls and Oysters do from the dew and rayn partly from the pitchy fat of the rotten Wood or the resinous substance of Pitch or Rosin For these by the intermediant grass as by umbilical Veins do yeeld nutriment to these Creatures so long as that Wood is carried by the ebbing and flowing of the Sea hither and thither For were it on the dry land it would never bring forth the said shell fish An example of this we have in places neere the Sea where those shell fish are taken alwaies with black shells sticking to Wood put into the water as also to the woodden foundations of bridges and to Ships that have been sunk And they stick either to the wood by some threds like to hayrs or Mosse or else by Sea Weeds whence it is evident that some clammy moysture is afforded to shell-fish sticking to any Wood whatsoever though it be Oke but much more to firre Wood full of Rosin whereof Masts of Ships are made For this Wood is hotter than Oke and hath much aeriall clamminesse and therefore takes fire suddenly and when it is wounded while it is green it sends forth an oily Rosin but when it is dry it will easily corrupt under water but the Oke will not because it is of a cold and dry nature It longer resists corruption and under water grows almost as hard as a stone If any man will consider the abundance and diversity of fish and living Creaturs which are bred in the Seas every where he cannot but confesse that the Element of water is wonderful ferâ—ill which breeds not only the greatest living Creatures as Whales whereof some as Pliny writes l. 32. entred into a River of Arabia that were 600 foot long and 300 foot broad and that in such abundance and variety that the same Authour reckons up 176. kinds of fish in the Sea only besides thâ—se bred in Rivers But one would chiefly admire the great diversity and beauty of Sea shell-fish for I remember that I saw aâ— â—eâ—terdam Anno 1611 with Peter Carpenter a very famous man above a thousand severall kinds of them in such plenty that he had a whole Chamber full of them which he kept as the pretious treasures and miracles of nature No doubt but these are the Ensignâ— of Natures bounty for they rather serve for the ornament of the world than for mans use wherein you may see a kind of an affected curiosity in the variety of the forms of them Hence we may conclude the great fruitfulnesse of the Sea which doth exceed the Land in breeding of living Creatures and vegetable animals which the Antients observing they ascribed to Neptune who was god of the Sea great multitudes of Children begotten from divers Concubines call'd Sea-Nymphs amongst these were Tryton and Protheus whereof he sounding a shell-fish is his Father Neptunes Trumpeter but this is changed into various forms as into fire a Serpent and such like clearly teaching that the Sea breeds divers forms These causes seemed to move them who ascrib'd the generation of these Birds in the Orcades to the Sea alone as being the Authour of fruitfulnesse and of diversity of Creatures But how rightly they did that shall be seen We deny not but that many pretty shell-fishes are bred of the Sea onely from the influence of omnipotent nature so that the Ocean affords the place and matter of them but not the form and the cause efficient All the fish except a few are bred of the seed of other fish naturally and here can be no question of these Yet we may doubt whether so many kinds of shell-fish do breed from the seed of other shell-fish It is manifest of the foresaid Bird that it breeds neither from an egge as other birds do nor yet from seed Whence then From the Ocean or must the cause be imputed to the Ocean Not at all For though the place be said to generate the thing placed yet that is understood of the matrices that are the cause of generation sine quâ non but not the efficient cause much lesse the formal material and final and not concerning every generall thing containing But to search out more exactly the nature of this wonderfull Bird we will run over those four kinds of causes not doubting but having searched out these as we ought what why and from whence it is will easily be resolved The Efficient cause therefore of this generation is external heat such as the Sun sends forth into sublunary bodies as also in the internal heaâ— in the matter corrupting For without heat nature produceth no generation but useth heat as her chief Instrument whereby homogeneous things are congregated and heterogeneous are parted the parts and bowels are formed in living Creatures and are disposed in their orders and figures In Artificiall things that men make they use divers Instruments as their Hands which may be call'd the Instrument of Instruments Hammers Anvils Files Sawes Wimbles and the like In natural things there is onely Heat as the efficienâ— cause and Nature moves it as the Artificer doth them The outward heat brings the internal into Action Without which this would be uneffectual and shut up in the matter as dead as it appears in some living creatures which when Winter comes and the outward heat fails they are as it were asleep and lye as dead as Swallows Frogs Flies and such like But so soon as the Sun beams heat the water and the earth presently these little Creatures revive as owing their lives to the Suns heat And as the heat is greater so is the efficacy thereof and their flying about and crying as we see in Flies and Frogs As for
heat the Sun the great light of the World is the Father of it which it sends upon all earthly creatures enlightning and enlivening them Hence men say that the Sun and Man beget a man namely by the intermediate seed Otherwise it proceeds of another fashion when without those mediums in things are bred of putrefaction as we said before For when the solar or elemental heat incloseth any mixt body wherein natural heat is included this is raised up by that is moved and stirred to perform its operations as appears in the hatching of eggs by artificiall heat of Furnaces or natural heat of the hens For in the yolks there is a hidden naturall heat that is stirred by the external heat so that by circulation of the Elements Water is turn'd to Ayr Ayr into Fire Fire into Earth Earth into Water and the Chickens limbs and entrals are formed and made by natural heat which is the principal internal Agent The Material cause in the generation of this Tree-Goose is that clammy matter of the wood of Firre or the Rosin and Pitchy substance of it upon which the outward Suns heat doth work and the internal heat increased in the corrupt matter This matter though it be small yet may well afford the first rudiments to this Embryo which is afterwards nourished by the clammy substance of the Ocean as Oysters and other shell-fish grow and increase for neither the hard substance of the wood nor yet the weeds affords any matter for it for the one is observed to be the container and the other the conveyer of the true matter For as in the generation of Man neither the Matrix nor the umbilical vein do afford any matter but are required as necessary instruments so must we judge here of the wood and the Sea-weeds Some will have it that from the worm bred in the rotten wood there should be made some transmutation and that the worm doth afford the first matter for this generation yet that opinion is false for that Worm cannot come â—orth to the end of the weeds nor can it make shell-fish but that must breed at the end of the weeds nor doth it come thither from any other place that it can go from place to place by an animall motion before it receive its essential form Pliny writes that the Fish Pinnotheâ— is so cunning that he will hide himself in the Oyster and as he growes he will go into such as are greater but to imagine any such thing of that Worm that eats into the wood is against the nature of it But it is no doubt but that the rosinous and pitchy matter may communicate something to the end of the weeds which yet nature must do by a way we cannot perceive as nature useth in all other generations such wayes and means that we can better think and judge of by reason than see with our eyes For who can see how the heart in the generation of living Creatures is first formed What fibres and veins nature useth there for her Instruments how and by what means this is done and when it is done how she disposeth of the other bowels and makes them of a seminall and menstruall matter There was never man yet found so quick-sighted that he could see these things whilest they were doing but when they are done reason can discern them So no man could yet say how this matter that was first radical moysture in the wood could passe to the ends of those Sea weeds and should be formed there yet it is plain afterwards that so it was made Nor will that be so hard for the matter to passe through the grasse to the end of them as to passe without any medium But the greater difficulty is and most worthy to know the Formal or seminall cause of this wonderfull birth which since it is nor contain'd in seeds for here are none to be found it must needs enter into the matter otherwise than in other kinds of generations For the seeds of both Sexes in living Creatures which are mixt together in copulation are as it were the sheaths and cases of the forming spermaticall faculty which forms the prae-existent matter of the seed or blood into an essentiall form fit for that kind that the seeds belong unto howsoever they are mingled or drawn forth into act That force of nature is a blessing given to her in the creation in the word increase which word was never idle nor shall be whilest the world endures God spake and all that God said were made very good containing in themselves principles to multiply their own kinds by because individualls must perish The Heaven with its Stars shall last from the beginning to the end and the entire Elements Ayr Water and Earth But things compounded of them as they â—y so they are restored again by multiplication of seed not the same in number but in kind not by external form but by that form which is internall and essential But since that God gave this Commission for propagation to the sublunary World and this alwaies proceeds by mediums though in the production of these Barnacles there are no visible seeds whereby the matter may receive its form wherefore it is consonant to Reason and to Nature that the form must come from some other place into the matter lest any thing should seem since the Creation to be made of nothing contrary to Gods will For nothing is the cause of it selfe or forms it self but only the eternal and infinite God All other things indeed were made by him of nothing but not by themselves nor are they propagated of nothing nor from themselves but from means appointed by Nature Plato sets universal Ideas of every species of things subject to generation fixed in a certain place from whence a formative force descends to beget and make all individualls to be made This opinion is pleasant but not true For there can be no universal substances save in the conceptions of Mens minds but only individuals that cannot give what they have not and what they do give they cannot alwaies hold themselves Nature is in all things as in individuals dispersed all over which yet operates in each individual according to the condition that every one of them requires which is true in all things that have seeds for those are the very subjects and vessells that nature works upon But the question now is how that faculty is imprinted on the seeds and from whence whether from nature If this be true then of every matter she makes what she will when as she can imprint what forme she please on any matter And then how can nature in this Barnacle that hath no seed visible presupposed proceed to generation and in other such like things bred of meer putrefaction As in man there is an imagination and cogitative force which is performed by a subtile Artifice of Images conceived in the braiâ— arising first from the outward senses and so proceeding to the
in other birds But since it is not propagated ex traduce from an egg or seed it neither leaves egg nor seed nor gives more to another than nature gave to it For if it lay'd eggs that chickens might proceed from the Barnacle had been so bred her self but neither of these is so For as a Mule is not bred of a Mule but from the mingling of an Asse and Mare together so it doth not generate a Mule but continues alwaies Barren as this bird doth Bees are bred of Worms the Worms in the honey combs from honey by a wonderfull operation of nature though without any sensible body of seed yet not without virtuall seed imprinted on the Honey-Combs by the Bees which they first had from Heaven Nor is it possible that these effectual and spiritual qualities should proceed from the pure Elements or onely by propagation since the matter of the seed which is made of nutriment and blood could be extended in infinitum without diminution of it self For we observe that the Elements are but like dead and materiall receptacles of the formal vertues and that the matter of the seed is dayly supplyed and heaped up by the Elements And therefore it is necessary that the formative force should daily flow into the formed seeds or where they are wanting into a matter prepared by Nature from corruption or other operations From whence the form of this wonderfull Creature is easily drawn namely that it is an imaginative vertue of the Heavens or of the Sun actively infused into a viscous matter of that wood in those places so disposed by corruption that it may enliven it and promote it to be a new kind of living plant or bird included in a shell which so soon as it falls into the waters may swim and when the wings are grown fly about The final cause is the common ornament of the World the variety and wonderfull works of Nature the profit of those that dwell near and especially the providence omnipotence and clemency of our good and great God all whose attributes do appear to mankind as well from this creature as from the rest whilest he crowns the year with his free gifts and the whole earth with variety of Creatures So that he is far more mighty in creating and making different kinds of living Creatures than we are able to expresse them to nominate or to know them Let it suffice us that we have seen some part of the wonderfull works of God and taken a view of them for it is not possible for a mortall Man to be capable to apprehend them all yet to consider of none of them were brutish and we should so be more like unto Beasts than Men. OF Naturall VVonders The Seventh Classis Wherein are set down the Wonders of Four-footed Creatures Seneca l. 3. de ira c. 30. WE are troubled with frivolous and vain matters A red colour makes a Bull angry and a viper is stirred by a shadow A picture will make Bears and Lions fiercer All things that are cruell and ravening by nature are moved with vain things The same things happen to unquiet and foolish spirits they are stricken with jealousie and suspition of things CHAP. I. Of the Elk and the Ram. THe Elk is a four-footed beast commonly found in Scandinavia in Summer of an Ash-colour almost in Winter it turns toward black The horns are fit for footstools each of them is 12 pound weight and two foot long His upper lip hangs out so long that he cannot eat but going backwards Men write that he is subject to the falling sicknesse and that the remedy he hath is to lift up the right claw of the hinder foot and put it to his left Ear. It holds the same vertue if you cut it off when he goes to rut in August or September He is commended for his swiftnesse for he will run as much ground in one day as a horse shall in three He is very strong for a strong blow with his foot will kill the hunter The Ram for six Winter moneths sleeps on his left side but after the vernal equinoctiall he rests on his right Aelianus hath discovered this but the Butchers deny it In Camandu a Country of Tartary they are as big as Asses their tails weigh 30 pound weight One was seen in the Court of the King of the Arabians whose tail weighed 40 pound Vartom Cardanus ascribes that to its cold temperament when the rest of the bones will no more be extended Lest he should be choked with his own fat he sends down the humour unto his tail CHAP. II. Of the Asse IN the Kingdom of Persia Asses are so esteemed that one of them is sold for 30 pound of gold amongst the Pigmies they are as big as our Râ—ms Paul Venet. In Egypt they ambâ—e so swiftly that one will go 40 miles a day without any hurt Scalig. Exerc. 217. s. 1. She doth sparingly dip-in her mouth when she drinks She is afraid saith Cardanus For when she beholds the great shadow of her ears in the water she is fearfull they will be wet There are some found in Africa that do not drink She staleth when she seeth another stale or upon a dunghill For Nature doth stirre them up being slothfull by the acrimony of the smell Cardan l. 10. subtil Observation proves that where an Asse hath cropt a vine branch the vine will grow more fruitfull The monument of this matter was seen at Nauplia where an Asse of stone was set up in thankfull remembrance for posterity Vadimonius writes that there is a fruitfull Orchard in the middle whereof she was buried Aldrovand l. 1. de quadr c. 2. In Hetruria when they have eaten Hemlock they fall asleep that they seem to be dead The Countrey-men are deceived by it for oft-times they rise up and fright them when they have pull'd off their skins almost Mathiol in Dioscorid Sheep will run into the fold if you pen them in an Asses stall If one be stung by a Scorpion if he sit upon on Asse with his face toward the tayl the Asse will endure the pain and not he It is a sign of it because she will dye farting Merula Asses milk is commended Poppaea the Wife of Domitius Nero that conceived in all 500 times did wash her body in a Bath of Asses milk thinking to stretch her skin thereby Plin. l. 15. c. 40. 〈…〉 of crete being in a Consumption recovered by feeding on Asses flesh Moreover there are some in Scythia whose horn contains Stygian water for it will pierce through iron vessels Some in 〈…〉 have one horn in their forehead Who drinks out of that is preserved from a disease but if any venomous matter be drank it is caâ—t forth They are so strong that they will kill a horse to travell with them Also that was a wonderfull one that was sent as a present with other gifts by the King of Assyria to Ferdinand of Naples for the hair was
a Swan There was one brought to Middleburg in Zeland Anno. 1558. It was called an Indian Sheep Scalig. in exerc calls it Allo. Camelus CHAP. VII Of the Shee-Goat THe report is that Goats see as well by night as by day wherefore if those that are blind in the night eat a Goats Liver they will be cured They breathe out of their eares and nostrils if we will credit the Shepherds Phiâ—es gives the reason because when their nostrills are stopt they are not hurt Aelian When the Sun sets they lye backwards in the fields and so they do at other times but one with another A Goats horn laid under a sick mans head will bring him to rest scraped with honey it stops the belly flux burnt it will raise people in a Lethargy In Aegypt they are said to bring 5 young ones The cause is the water of Nilus that is drank by such as are Barren and want milk They shew the revolution of Syrius For as often as he riseth with the Sun they turn to the East and gaze upon it Plutarch In some part of Africa they sheer them and make Cabels of their haire Those of Lybia shew when rayn comes for so soon as they come forth of their stalls they run to feed and presently come back to their stalls again Aelâ—an Those of Gimanâ—a do not drink in six moneths but turning toward the Sea they receive the vapours with open mouth and so they quench their thirst The Goat of Mambrey will endure a saddle and bridle and a rider he hath ears that hang down to the ground and horns twisted below his mouth Gesner l. 1. de quadrup The wild ones in Lâ—bia are as great as Oxen so active that they will leap upon the highest Mountain tops and their limbs are so hard that if they fall they neither break their horns nor hurt their heads Aelian l. 14. c. 16. CHAP. VIII Of the Beaver and Colus THe Beaver is a most strong Creature to bite he will never let go his teeth that meet before he makes the bones crack Plin. His hinder feet are like a Gooses and his fore-feet like an Apes His fat tail is covered with a scaly skin and he useth it for a rudder when he pursues fish He comes forth of his holes in the night and biting off boughs of Trees about the Rivers he makes his houses with an upper loft and when the water riseth he lies there Albert. When they are cut asunder they are very delightsome to see for one lies on his back and hath the boughs between his leggs he holds them fast that they may not fall down and the others draw him by the tail to their Cottage Colus is a four-footed wild Beast amongst the Scythians and Sarmatians he is for greatnesse between a Stag and a Ram. He is white and very swift He drawes his drink by his nostrils into his head and holds it for some dayes so that he will feed well enough in Pastures where there is no water Strabo l. 7. Sometimes they will be 500 together but about Easter you may see 2000. In March they dig up an herb by the sent whereof they stirre up venery when that is spent for a day they lie as half dead but when they taste of it once more they are restored Gesn. CHAP. IX Of the Cat and Câ—ney THe Cats eyes are so good that she will see any thing in the dark Albert. The Cat by the Egyptian Sea is observed to change the pupils of his eye as the Sun doth alter They are long in the morning round at noon when the Sun sets they are obscured Gellius He commonly playes on his back that he may look round about Cut off his ears he will stay at home more for he cannot endure the drops that fall into his ears If a Cat 's hair fall into a mans mouth it will stick there Hence matter is heaped together that causes a Scrâ—fulous diseases Scaliger saith That in the Province of Malabar there are wild-Cats dwelling in Trees they leap as though they flew having no wings They have a membrane stretched out from their fore-feet to their hinder-feet when they rest they contract it up to their belly when they begin to fly by moving their feet and thighes they are carried and born up by stretching out and gathering in this membrane and it is wonderfull to see them run as if they ran in the Ayr. Conies are abundant in the Baleares where they do the Corn and the fields great harm Solin They breed every moneth nor are their young ones blind They presently take Buck again so soon as they have bred though the young ones do suck Plin. l. 10. The female hath not milk presently so soon as she hath brought forth before she hath been six hours with the Buck and they have eaten some Oats Gesner de quadrup CHAP. X. Of the Stag. IT is certain that there are white Stags and Does that have horns Apollonius saw them as he passed beyond Paraca a City of the Indies Philostrat l. 3. Sertorius led one about which he feigned to have received from Diana that he took counsel with that so he might keep his Souldiers in obedience Gellius Lewis King of France took one and when Anna of Britanny asked what that was he said That they were all such at first and that God took them from them for their pride Their blood hath no fibres as other creatures have and therefore it will never grow thick The Gall is not upon the Liver but upon the Intestines or in the Tail Hence it is so bitter that dogs will not eat it Plin. In their heads they have live Worms sometimes 20 and they are parted so great as Maggots in flesh They are said to breed under the hollow of their tongue near the Vertebra where the head joyns to the neck If you pierce the scull bone in such as are of years under the eye you shall see Wasps fly out bred of the superfluous humour if you will credit Hunters and then he can live no longer unlesse he eat a Serpent to renew himself Gesner writes That in the basis of the heart between the lap of the greater ventricle and the urinal vein there is a bone found He addes That it is reddish from the heart blood and melancholick some adde that from a dry vapour it is turned into a bony substance Some adde further that it is found at no other time than between the two Feasts of the blessed Virgin that is from the middle of August to the Iâ—es of September The Doe breeds near the pathwayes for she thinks that she is safe from wild beasts by reason of men passing up and down So soon as she is delivered she first eaâ—e the gleaning hence it is that the herb Seseli is her medicament in bringing forth Arist. in hist. animal They swim over the Sea like Ships the Master Buck leads the rest follow They lean their heads one
hogs very cunningly One told me saith Albertus that a Woulf was seen to take a great piece of wood in his mouth of 30 or 40 pound weight in a Forrest and did use with that to run over a great stock of a Tree then when he thought he was skilfull enough in that exercise he hid himself and a wild hog coming thither by reason of Oates that were sowed there and many hogs young and old with him he brake forth and catched the hog that was about the bignesse of the block he lept behind the stock of the Tree and there devoured him They will not eat Oxen if you hang his tail at the Cratch Albert. Horses will tire under the rider if they follow on the Wolves footing if they tread on his heel they will stand still Gillius The skins of sheep slayn by Wolves will breed lice but their flesh is the sweeter Aristot. Plutarch ascribes this to his breath His words are The flesh of a sheep that is bitten by a Wolf is made the sweeter because the biting of the Wolf makes it soft and tender for the breath of the Wolf is so fiery that he will melt and consume the hardest bone in his stomack Examples shew that when he is shut in he will do no harm For in Italy one going into a Country-mans house the Country man ran away but the Wolf did his Children no hurt and falling into the same Cave with a Fox and a Woman he hurt neither Gesner CHAP. XXV Of the Lizzard VOlatteranus writes That there was a Lizzard 8. cubits long brought to Rome from Aethiopia by the command of a Cardinal of Lisbone and the mouth of it was so wide that a Child might be put into it Lerius c. 10. hist. saw one in Brasil 7. foot long as thick as a mans arm If you strike it on the soal and cut it in two pieces with a twig neither part will dye but it parts and first goes then joyns together Aelian The green ones are friends to man that they will gaze upon him obliquely and follow him when he goes they will lick up his spittle and Childrens urine Erasmus in colloq de amicitia Putt alive into a new earthen vessell and boyl'd with 3. Sextaryes of wine to one Cyathus it is excellent good for one sick of the Pâ—hisick if he drink of it in the morning fasting Marcell Seven of them suffocated in half a measure of oyl and set in the Sun for 3. dayes will so alter it that by anointing therewith it will cure the Rose Gesn. A water Lizzard if he be angry and as it were puffed up will stand upright on his feet and look terribly with open mouth on him that hurt him and will by degrees send forth a venomous white swear till he become all white Agricola When he is old and cannot see he lies by a hole in the wall against the East and looking toward the Sun rising he regains his sight Isidor To conclude 't is a wonder that Aelian speaks in his history There was saith he a man that catcht a great Lizzard and with a brazen point he put out the eyes thereof then he put it into an Earthen pot full of holes that it might have breath yet not come forth he put in also deâ—y earth and an herb whose name he mentions not then with an Iron ring wherein the stone Sogates was set in which was cut the picture of a Lizzard he made 9 seals and every day he blotted out one Lastly when he took off the 9 th seal and opened the pâ—t I saw the Lizzard and his sight was restored CHAP. XXVI Of the Lynx and Lutra or Otter THe Lynx is said to see so clearly that he will pierce through solid bodies yet too great light offends him Some say they onely suck the blood of their prey and never meddle with the flesh Erasmus saith he assaults greater four-footed beasts leaping upon them from Trees and catching them by the crown with his â—aloâ—s he will tear their heads and eat their brains not touching the other parts but he will eat lesser creatures every bit In Summer they are weak in Autumn strong They hide their pisse in heaps of sand as Theophrastus saith and it growes as hard as a pretious stone It is like Amber in colour and drawes things to it it cures pains of the Kidneys and the Kings-Evill We saw one at Lyons in the repositary of Cl. Dominus Baudartius Men say that in Carpathus they burn their claws and their skins for to be drunk effectually by men in powder against all obscenenesse and against too great lust in women Plin. The flesh eaten with the broth cures quartan Agues and the bones burnt cure Ulcers Collinus In the Tower of London there was once a living Creature that Gesner refers to a Lynx It was alwaies moving and would never stand still as John Gaius an Englishman writes but it would stand still at the voice of a Hickeway Lutra hath a Dogs head the Beavers ears a Foxes legs but these are somewhat thicker they are more prevalent in Water than on Land The hinder parts are plain with a membrane to fence them His Cottage is near the waters it is made of boughes that it cannot be weâ— Sometimes it is so full of Fish that they stink It is so quick-sented that he will smell fish by water that comes forth of a â—ivuleâ— at some miles distance and will go to the Fish-ponds and destroy them In Scandinavia he is so tame that he will bring fish out of the water to the Cooks in the Kitchins but because he is greedy of his prey and kills too many he is seldom used CHAP. XXVII Of the Mouse AMongst the Allobroges the Mice are white and the Inhabitants think they live by Snow Scaliger In the Island of Cyprus they will gnaw Iron and in another Island Gold therefore they are cut in pieces for mettal Aristot. in mirab Their generation is wonderfull If they do but lick salt some think they will conceive without copulation Aristot. A shee Mouse great with young staying some time in a vessel of Millet seed when the vessel came to be opened there were found 120 Mice Plin. In a part of Persia she-Mice were opened that had she-mice with young ones in their bellies They first perceive when a House will fall Helice is an Example of it for five dayes before it happened the Mice and Serpents were seen to go away in Troops Aelian â—n variis When they fall into a vessell of water and can hardly come forth they lay hold one by the tail of another and so clamber forth Elephants cannot endure the smell of them for they will not feed on any thing that Mice have touched They will â—lye away if one be gelded or let run away with the skin of his head pull'd off Avicenna when they cry they foreshew tempests they cry either because they perceive the Ayre cold or because
their skin is fine and they cannot endure to tread on the cold earth and therefore they leap up Aratus Some think they will not be taught yet Albertus saith in upper Germany he saw a Mouse hold a Candle at supper time to give light to those that sate at Table when his Mr. commanded him If a Mouse fall into new Wine and be drown'd put him into hot ashes and he will recover Colâ—mel 12.31 There are many kinds of Mice A rat is four times as big as a Mouse Agricola saw one taken in the mid'st of Aprill that was white with red eyes sticking out and it was all hairy and had a beard with very long haires Men say that there are none to be found at Auspurg about the Temple of St. Huldericus when they are lustfull they are furious so that iâ— they pisse on any naked part of a Man it will rot to the bones nor will the Ulcer be cured Albert Aquatic They will hunt fish and diving under water they will find some holes to come to land another way The field-Mice that breed of putrefaction have one right gut and no more A Physitian that dissected one observed that Gesner When Nilus runs back again little Mice are found imperfect part of their body being alive from the mixture of earth and water and part dead earth In some places they come so suddedly in abundance that they will eate up all the Corn Pliny The Wood-Mice steep from the ending of Autumne till the Spring begins Gesnerus In Norway it is called Citellus it dwells in the Caves of the earth There are found somtimes 40 in one hole with abundance of small nuts They eate them fresh or dried in the Chimney Agricola The Cricotus or Hamester is referred to Mice his haire sticks so fast to his skin that the skin will sooner come from the flesh than the hairs from the skin He will not easily be drawn out of his hole but by scalding water The male is false for when there is meat enough within he shuts out the female But she revengeth his falsenesse with fraud for possessing her self of some hole not far from him she will gather Corn he knows not of and live upon that Agricola Mice in the Alps are as big as Hares or else betwixt a Coâ—ey and a Hare It will foreshew a tempest with a very shrill voyce like a pipe and that not only in the Mountains but when he is kept in the House He hath three holes in his cave at one he enters and comes out again in another he rests and dwells in the third he â—ays his excrements When Mountains are covered with snow he hides himself in his Cave and shuts the holes he stops in the earth so fast and rams it in that it is easier to dig up the earth on either side than where it is rammed into the holes CHAP XXVIII Of the Wesil and the Sable Wesil WEesils carried into Baeotia will run away in a certaine Island they will not be taken out for if they be they dye Albertus There was a man that affirmed he saw a Weesil passing over the River Limagus constantly leaping so that he never swam but leaped upon the surface of it It is an Aegyptian Hieroglyphick for they say it ingenders by the eare and is delivered by the mouth this emblem shews the nature of speech His genitalls are bony and is a speciall remedy against the stone Yet that must not saith Albertus be understood as if it were so indeed but only by proportion that it hath The Germans call the best sort of them Zobella This skin is of very great price for sometimes 2000 Crowns at Constantinople will hardly buy a coat of them Jovius But the nature of them is such that laid in the Sun to dry they will consume more than if they be worn a whole yeare This creature whilst it lives alwaies lurks in a shady grove and watcheth for Coneys They are nimble and use their taile for a helme as squirrils do and will leap from Tree to Tree CHAP. XXIX Of the Sheep SHeep are creatures known to all The Arabian Sheep have a very broad taile and the fatter it is the thicker it will be Some tails weigh ten pounds some 20 and it naturally grows faâ— Johannes Africanus saw one above 80 pound weight some have seen them above 150 pound weight In Africa Rams are bred with Horns presently and also Sheep as there are some with Horns in England Albertus saw a Ram that had 4 great Horns growing on his head and two long ones on his legs that were like to Goats Horns yet in Pontus in the Province of Scythia they have no Horns Aristot. And they have no gall But in the Island Naxus they have two and men say the Pontic Wormwood is the cause of it Plin. In cold Countries when the snow abounds they lose it but recover it again in the Spring Aelian Anno 1547 one was given to the French King that was very fat in Picardy one of the claws namely the inward claw of both feet was eight inches long the extream part of it turned upwards and it had a Horn like to wild Goats Gesner In the Country of Prasy they yeeld most sweet milk for it rayns liquid honey that they feed on Aelian The milk is very fat in the Isle Erythea for it hath no whey and to make cheese they temper it with abundance of Fountain water The cause is the plenty of pasture It grows so fat and full that in 30 days the Sheep will be choked if it be not let blood Pliny About Calimos a Village of India they smell like fish for wanting grasse they eate fish and they that feed on fish give them dry fish to eate Arrian When the North wind blows males are chiefly conceived when the Southwind females For such is the force of the North wind that it will change those that yean none but females and cause them to bring males Plin. When a noise is made they flock together and if when it thundereth one that is with lamb be left alone she will miscarry Arist. In the Orcades Islands they all almost yean twins and oft times 3 lambs Boetius Though their bodies be very soft yet they are free of the plague Columella One was seen to run mad which a mad Cow had hit with her Horn. In England they rot in their bowells if in rainy Summers they feed on moyst ground and lick the dew Gesner In France if they eate the herb Duva they breed black Creatures in their Livers and this disease is incurable The French in Normandy call that hearb Duva that is like to the sharp dock but the leaves are narrovver and stand alvvaies upright and the middle nerve is almost red and serves for Causticks Gesner Meadovv vvater drank breeds Horseleeches shut up in bladders in the same place they are a finger and half long and almost halfe as broad CHAP. XXX Of the
Aâ—â—obroges one was seen that caught a Maid and carried her to his den and wooed her venereously and fed her with Apples growing in the Woods Swidrigelus the Prince of Lithuania hath tryed it that they will grow tame For he bred up a Shee-Bear which he was wont to feed by hand and she was wont to run into the Woods and come home again and would come home into the Prince his bed-Chamber Volater l. 7. CHAP. XLII Of the Fox IN Caspia there is such abundance of Foxes that they will go into Country houses and come into Cities Aelian and will be so tame that they will fawn like dogs They are very strong in Sardinia for they will kill the fiercest Rams and young Calves Munster They are white in Muscovy in Arabia they are of an ill-favoured hair and exceeding bold At night they rowze one the other by barking and seeking for their prey they will snatch away mens very shooes Scalig. When they are to passe over frozen Rivers in Thracia they will lay their ears to the Ice and so judge whether it be thick enough Plin. When they see a flock of birds flying they will roll themselves in red clay that they may appear like blood and they counterfeit themselves dead but when the birds come to sit upon them they catch them and eat them Herus When they are troubled with fleas they will take some soft straw and dip their hinder parts into the water the Fleas when they feel the cold water will creep up toward their heads and then they put their heads under water and the Fleas will leap into the straw the Foxes let go the straw and run away CHAP. XLIII Of the Unicorn AUthors ore of divers opinions concerning the Unicorn They doubt whether there be such a creature some affirm it and some deny it Garzias ab Horto Physitian to the Kings Deputy in India observed a creature like to the description of an Unicorn It had a wonderfull Horne that he would turn somtimes on one side somtimes on the other and somtimes he would lift it up and somtimes let it down Ludovicus Vartomannus saith that he saw two of them sent to the Sultan at Machae out of Aethiopia to Mahomets Tomb they were shut up in Lattises and were not fierce The Horns of this creatures are shew'd in many places At the Monastery of St. Denys there is a whole one in a dark vault of the Sanctuary and the end of it stands in water The water is given to drink to those that go under that hollow arch so soon as they have drank that they suddenly fall into a great sweat There is one also seen at Venice in St. Marks Church and another at Rome covered with a Purple covering Aldrovandus writes that there was a Jew at Venice that boasted he had a true one and proved it by a wonderfull example for he laid a Scorpion and Spider on a Table and compassed the place in with the Unicorns Horn these creatures were not able to passe out but were killed either by the shade or the vertue of it Cardanus describes it That it is a rare creature as big as a horse with hair like a Weasil a head like a Stag that hath one Horn growing on it 3 Cubits long it stands in the middle of the forehead and is right and strait it is broad at the bottom it hath a short neck a thin mane lying but on one side with small feet like a Goat c Pliny saith that it is a most rough creature and the rest of the body is like to a horse the head like a Stags the feet like an Elephants the taile like a Borâ—s with one black Horn sticking out of the middle of the forehead two cubits length what ever it be here is cause enough to doubt of it For first there are many kinds of Unicorns described and we know not whether they be of the same kind In India there be Oxen that have their hoofs undivided and they have but one Horn if we credit Pliny There are Bulls in Aonia if we beleive Aelian and Oppianus There were some in the Wood Hercynia if Caesar be to be believed Ludovicut Barthema saith that he saw in Zeilam a City of Aethiopia a kind of Cows that had but one Horn in their forehead that was but a hand breadth long and turned backwards As for the Horns there is much sophistication in them There was one found upon the shore of the River Arula in Helvetia nere to Bruga who shall certainly make choice of these for the Unicorns Horn. That which Albertus saw was a hand breadth and a half thick ten foot long without any spirall lines and like to a Stags Horn And a Horn so thick and long seems to appertain to a living creature as great as a great Ship Aldrovandus thinks that the cup which Alvarez Mendosa gave to the great Duke of Hetruria which he had from the King of Narsinga was rather made of one of those creatures Horns which are seen in Basma and Macinum Countries of Tartary that are as big as Elephants The Diameter of that cup was as much as both hands could hardly compasse He that would read more of the Unicorn let him read Andreas Marinus Andreas Baccius and Casparus Bartholinus I for a conclusion will add somthing omitted concerning the Mule The common opinion is that the Mule is barren and if they do bring forth it is held for a monstrous thing Yet in some Countries of Africa they are ordinarily with young and do bring them forth Varro It appears by the Monuments of the Athenians that one lived 80 yeares And they took pleasure in it when they built a Temple in the Fort that this old Mule would encourage their Cattel that fell down with accompaning them and labouring with them wherefore they made a decree that no men that cleansed Corne should drive the Mule from their sieves Plin. Some write they will not kick if they drink Wine They have an excellent smell Hence those Mules that are out of the way will return into the way when they smell it and they easily are infected with the contagious force of the Ayre and fall sick of the Plague Aldrovandus l. 4. de Quadrup There is something in them that is death to Mice for the fume of the hoofe of a Mule will drive them from the house Columella saith That the pain of their guts is abated by the sight of swimming Ducks Cardinal Ponzettus bids us to inclose one that is infected with the Plague into the belly of a Mule newly slain and Marantha de simplicibus saith he must be shut in so long untill all the heat of the Mule be vanished and this must be done oft times The End of the Seventh Classis OF THE DESCRIPTION OF Naturall VVonders The Eighth Classis Wherein are contained the Wonders of Creatures that want blood Plin. Histor. Natural l. 11. c. 2. THe Nature of things is
they are drawn asunder they discover a green throat or intestine They stick to the plectrum as if there were some passage for breathing though they do not breathe But it is no doubt but there is the Seat of life though I discovered in the young ones a kind of red part as I shall shew underneath beating by it self alone like the heart when that plectrum is cut a moyst yellowish liquour comes forth and the Worms themselves do not dye but they stirr the more violently and roule and turn themselves that you will judge that they are in great pain the nervous principle being hurt The dung of them represents their meat for it is dry with six corners long as it were set with eyes whence one may collect the disposition of the gut or belly They are green from their food but because they are hard and without moysture they seem black as those that are more moyst seem more green Here if you mark you may distinguish the males from the females For the females here as the Philosopher writes of other females are greater fatter moyster softer whiter than the males which are more rude more spotted with wan spots and more slender If you handle them you shall find them all to be cold They use oft to rayse themselves on their hinder feet and to stand so like statues When they will feed they fasten on the sides and swelling veins of leaves contrary to Catterpillars I believe the appendixes of their mouths hinder them yet they afford some help for their former feet to hold their meat with They eat the leaves round that they leave a round pit When they are full they go aside and they rest many together on a heap I think they are delighted with mutuall heat you may discern those that sleep from those that cast their skin by observing the pulsation in their back For the motion in those that sleep is equall to those that wake but when they cast their skins it is slower and lesse that you would then think they were sick Also those that sleep have but one mouth but such as cast their skins shew a little mouth besides But this is not in Silk-worms but whilst they are yet Catterpillars Some of them being four times renewed have a filthy dark head and yet they feed on Some do not increase much but continue small We said before that from May 25 to May 29 the fourth change is made in divers of them From this time to June the 7th and 8th 9 10 11th they feed greedily and grow fat and great and I was forced three times a day and about the last days four times a day to give them meat or oftner For when they are almost ripe for Silk work they eat more greedily going with great courage to the leaves and biting off the nervs You shall note that about 13 days passe between their fourth change and their abstinence from meat and provision to make their Silk For the times answer one the other from the 25 of May to the 7 of June from 26 to 8 from 27 to 9 from 28 to 10 from 29 to 11 wherein I included the last except one small male that fed longer About the last days many begin to grow of a spiceous colour which begins to appeare more evidently on the hinder part and from thence to enlarge and go forward to the bunch of the breast though others are more and almost all yellow some remaine white with blew mingled with it When they must dye they go to the sides of the chest nor will they bite the leaves though they creep over them Some fasten their threds at the corners as if they were beginning the entry others creep by the outsides and seek here and there for a fit place to lye hid in I shut many of them in with paper-Coffins which I disposed of and fastned commodiously in some place in which by gnawing and rending the sides they do make a noise for a while but afterwards by voiding a dry and moyst excrement of their belly for they void out both by their hinder parts they fasten them so fast to the paper that you would think they were glewed Afterwards for 3 days continually they make a little bladder which being absolved they lay aside their fifth skin with their head and tayle and are transformed into a nympha again Some I did not shut up in papers but disposed them in a wodden chest with boughs and let them choose a nest for themselves you shall observe thence that they seek chiefly for corners and hiding places and oft times many of them make their Silk in the same place if it may be some ordering them right forward others obliquely others broad ways If the place be too narrow the wrong end of the skin is pressed together on the side nor doth it containe perfectly Oval One of these cases is longer thicker larger than another for the greatnesse and strength of the Silk-worm They differ also in colour some are Gold Silver Citron colours and they are double For some are greenish some more yellow though others call all these green The first of them all as I observed was white except some few that send a yellowish tow before Some of Gold colour have their inward coat white nor is the yellow colour certain For when the cases are unfolded in water the silk growes white and in dye yellow c. But it is worth your labour to contemplate the matter of the silk and what that is that yields a thred so long When therefore I saw a great worm to wander I put a line about his neck and dissected him He lived stoutly when his throat was tied and felt acutely For at every incision of his back the knife scarce touching him he would tosse himself violently as if he would help himself with his mouth and forefeet His skin being divided I saw his long gut as in a pike the forepart was swoln and wide the hinder part narrower On that gut did the nerves or beating arteries lye with a continuall systole and diastole and they ended on the plectrum of 〈…〉 tayl When I cut off this not onely a yellow clear humour did break forth but the heads of the nerves put themselves forth in the motion and their stirring grew weaker The Intestine hath a double coat one thick outward coat and another thin one within The thick coat feels accurately and it is near the throat covered over with much glutinous matter which afterwards becomes matter for their wings and of the hairinesse of the Silk-worm as the external excrementitious moysture becomes the Aurelia or outward shell When the thick coat is pricked the intestine comes forth yet wrapt with a thin coat and it contains much of the meat they eat the day before of green leaves Also you may see when the skin is cut and the thick coat of the Intestine that moysture will run forth in abundance that is
into a Nymph and the fleeces are taken first choosing what males and females you please for preservation of their kind Some say you may know their sex by the colour of their case some by the bignesse And this is some argument For because females are commonly the greater they make also the greater houses Yet sometimes we are deceived for a strong male may make a greater case than a weak female I have seen them both of a bignesse and I have seen females â—ed in other places to make far lesse houses than my males Wherefore the signs must also concur observed in the silk-worms themselves of which before The other cases are cast into scalding water that the worms may dy or they are choaked with the heat of an oven after the bread is taken forth taking care they burn not Then taking away the Towe maid-servants or such as can labour are ready who may loosen the beginnings of the threds which being found out many of them are cast into a bason of cold or warm water and the servant Maid sitting ready with a drawing instrument doth continually roll down 30 or 40 or more threds joyned together If the thred break any where the fellow-labourer must seek for the begining of it and give it again to him that unwinds it That is continued untill they come to the inward coat which being very difficult to untwist it is dryed and pull'd into towe and kembed When the threds are thus untwisted they send much dust into the Ayr and you may see in the bottom of the vessel some filth that fell from the silk I tryed carefully whether I could with one work unwind a whole case not breaking it taking away the Towe which by reason of its various foldings together weaknesse and divers principles cannot be untwisted at once drawing I obtain'd my desire onely in the middle of the silk for that which is before the house is wont to break easily but the middle holds best The last coat by the weight added to it for then the Nymph falls down was unfolded by me with great care to the thin skin which was scarce equall to the thumbs nail Those cases are best untwisted whose basis and top answer diametrically but those are harder whose top is bound and they that are crooked or bunched For here the thred sticks and is tangled that it will hardly yield without breaking First the point is made bare and untwisted all to the middle of the case The thred of one silk case was as long as this line here drawn when it was drawn forth 7000 times and in one it was above 8000 times longer yet they are not all of one thicknesse and greatnesse which may be seen by drawing them asunder into little skins For some fleeces I drew into 12 some into 8 more or lesse coats The wild Silk-worm hath an entrance a single coat and somthing a thicker case wherefore the thinner cases easily yeeld to the fingers pressing them but the thicker will resist When the top hath a hole almost to the middle that the Nympha may easily fall forth she falls with her cast skin wherein there is both her head and all her feet Somtimes commonly the head of this old skin is over against the top of the case that we may understand that it was cast off whilst the Worm when the case was perfected doth bend and turn her self upwards through narrow streets The Crown of the Nympha is toward the basis the tail toward the top and being that the Silk-worm is above twice as long the Nympha is contracted to a small bignesse that it is scarse so long as the middle joynt of the second finger of a man She is alive and gives tokens that she is so by the moving of her top or tail when she is touched If you regard her outward forme you would say she is a scaly Worm and her head is covered with a bag The scales are dark coloured as if they were staind with smoke and they are eight in number as farr as the confines of the Crown On the sides of each of them there are two round points out of which the tendons or bands appertain to the young Silk-worm On the Crown there is a white spot as if the mouth of the young Silk-worm shined through it with three little black spots After this on the foremost part there are prints of feet and horns and on the hinder part toward the sides are prints of wings If you will observe the inward parts the fourth day before it is changed into a young Silk-worm after it hath lain hid you may open it you shall see nothing else but a common empty place and in this only three distinct humours One of a watry thin substance of a yellow colour This is equally diffused through the whole space The other is red like blood This sticks in the upper part where the head and brest will be you would judge it to be the rudiment of the heart because I saw the like afterwards in the young Silkworm a certain Masse that moved of it self if a heart may be attributed to this creature The third humour is white and yellow and it is like to a hen egge cast into a hot water and run about or like cheese-curds if you add some yellow to them Where you see the prints of wings and feet outwardly there lies hid a phlegmatique clammy matter fit to make the membranes of you shall see no distinction of parts I think the life is in the nervous coat that is next under the outward shell For the Silk-worm in that part was exceeding sensible and had a motion of the heart and arteries you would call this a little bladder fill'd with humours which yet compared to the Aurelia after the young Silk-worm is crept forth is far thicker and you would say it were a shell cloathed on the inside with coats and a tenacious glow After this is the down of the young Silk-worm the wings feet skin and the other outward parts So the Silk-worm passeth into throat and belly for whose sake only it was detain'd there Yet here appeareth no green colour which was much in the intestine of the Silk-worm now ready to spin Part therefore was voided before the case was made and part was changed into some other juyce In the tip of the tayle there was also some clammy matter like to the raw white of an egge I thought it to be the rudiment of the genitall parts For with that the matrix spermatical Vessels were cast off the beginning whereof is seen also in the belly of the Silk-worm The humours taken on a clean paper and dried were stain'd with black as if you had mingled ink with them yet the tallowy substance remain'd white and in some places a red and yellowish spot appeared with a white spot like chalk whence we may collect that that blacknesse was only from a watery yellow humour which only shined on
belly you shall find the true stomack of it to be alwaies empty For it takes and devours nothing by the mouth But you shall see the right intestine to swell with wan colour'd excrements If you take the young Whelp alive out of the dams belly and do not hurt him but cast him into the water you shall see him to live and swim presently Rondeletius observed the eggs to stick in the middle of the matrix toward the back bone and when they increase they are translated into both the Sinus of the matrix The forme of the eggs is like to pillows we sleep upon under our heads out of the corners there hang long and slender passages which Aristotle calls hairy pores and they are rowled up like Vine tendrels if you stretch them out at length they are two cubits long When the shell breaks the young ones come forth CHAP. VI. Of Dracunculus DRacunculus is a fish with a great head a compacted nose sticking forth a little mouth without any teeth without any opening at the gils but in the place of this above the head there is a hole on both sides wherewith it takes in and puts forth water It hath great eyes set above the head the head-bone ends at the prickles that tend to the tayl The Fins are exceeding long considering the body partly Silver part Gold colour'd Those about the Gills are Gold-coloured and Silver colour'd in the root These that are in the lower part and next to the mouth are longer than those that are next to the gils On the back two stand up the first is small Gold colour'd distinguished with Siver lines the latter is very great on the middle of the back not much unlike to butterflies wings and is made of five bones like to ears of Barley and a membrane The former bones of radii are the longer the hinder are the shorter contrary to what it is in the membrane which being as it were woven between all the distances of those radii increaseth by degrees The same also is divers for it is distinguished with Silver lines set between two black lines This is hid in the middle hollow of the back as in a sheath There is also another Golden colour'd membrane from the tail to the Podex excepting the fringes that are black CHAP. VII Of the Dolphin Exocaetus and the Fiatola THe Dolphins see so exactly that they will see a fish hid in a hole Oppianus They are so swift that Bellonius observed one of them to swim faster than a ship could run under sayle before the wind that blew strongly Some make their Fins to be the cause of it others their light body The famous Baudarcius thinks the membrane between their foreyards being extended serves them for sails They love one the other so well that one being taken at Caria and wounded a great multitude of them came to the Haven and departed again when he was set free When the Marriners whistle they will stay the longer about the ship but when a tempest riseth the credulous Greeks say if any man be in the ship that hath killed a Dolphin they will all flock thither to be revenged When then play on the calme Sea they foreshew which way the wind will blow and when they cast up water the Sea being troubled they foreshew a calme Plin. l. 8. c. 35. Thomas thinks that exhalations rising from the bottom of the Sea when a storm is at hand in Winter is the cause of it and he thinks that the Dolphins feel heat thereby and so break forth the oftner But since more fishes also perceive a tempest coming Rondeletius thinks that they are affected in the water with the motion of the ayre as those that are sick are wont to be when the South wind begins to blow Exocaetus lives long on the dry land The cause is the plenty of ayr which being he doth not draw it in too largely he is not choked by it Hence it is that an Eele will live a long time under ground Rondelet Fiatola is a broad plain fish with a taile like to a half Moon a fleshy tongue contrary to all other fish he hath no sins under his belly and he is wholly without them His Liver hath but one lap without any Gall his stomach is made like the Letter V the lower part of it ends in a point and there are so many Appendixes of hairs unto it that they cannot be numbred CHAP. VIII Of Glanis and Glaucus WRiters report of Glanis that it is a mighty and terrible fish especially in the River Tissa that runs into the Danube Hee riseth so boldly that he will not spare a Man It is publikely said in Hungaria that there was found in the belly of one a hand with rings upon it and peices of a Boy that swam in the Danube that was devoured by it Comes Martinengus Gesner saith he heard it of a learned Hungarian that the same was taken in the River Tissa it was 7 or 8 cubits long and was carried in a Cart. This had layn hid in the River 16 yeares neere the Kitchin of a Noble man at last it was caught with a hook when it had young ones to look to when she found her self taken she leaped forth the fishers ran after her two miles at last they wearied and took her and carried her to a Town called Nadlac There was in her belly a Mans head with his right hand and three Gold Rings upon it The Glaucus hath a spongy Liver distinguished into two laps the left is the larger From the right lap there hangs a little Gall bladder from a thred three fingers long so great as a pease and it hath in the bottom of the stomack a kind of Apophysis not to be seen almost in other fishes besides five others in the Pylorus that fence the stomack about CHAP. IX Of the Herring and Huso THat the Herring lives by water the Author of the Book of Nature witnesseth taken out of it it will not live as experience testifies In his belly there is nothing found for it hath onely one hungry gut They swim together in such great sholes that they cannot be taken for multitudes When they see light they swim in flocks and so they are caught in the autumnal equinoctiall They shine in the water turning their bellies upward and they send forth such a light that the Sea seems to lighten It is a miracle that some relate concerning the Inhabitants of the Island Terra Sancta of the German Ocean namely that in the year 1530 after the Virgins delivery 2000 men lived by Herring-fishing there but when they peevishly whipped one of them they had taken with rods these fishes did so diminish that afterwards scarce 100 could live by that labour The Husons have a grisle instead of a back bone that hath a great empty hole from head to tail as bored with a piercer What Aelian l. 14. c. 25. saith of the Autacea that
They love the Sea exceedingly For when their skins are tanned if there be any hair left they will turn as the Sea lies by a naturall instinct For if the Sea be troubled and tosse they will stand upright but if the Sea be quiet they lye flat down When Pliny would not credit this he made tryall of it in the Indian Sea and about the Island Hispaniola he found it to be no fable as Cardan saith Rondeletius saith That by their skin changes are foreshew'd for when the South winds blow their hair sticks up but when the wind is in the North they fall so flat that you would think they had none Aldrovandus saw one Calf taught by a Mountebank who would rejoyce at the name of any Christian Prince and would seem to mutter some words but he was silent when the Turk or an Heretick was named CHAP. XVI Of the Scales and the Indian Reversus like an Eele THe Scales do bring forth two or three young ones at one time but at many times they bring forth more Their eggs are first seen without a shell in the upper part of their matrix Some of them are as big as Hen egs some lesse some scarce so big as chiâ—h-peasen Aldrovandus counted above a hundred in one of them those that are next to be laid are put into the lower part of the matrix and are covered with a shell wherein there is contain'd both the white and the yelk When he much admired at this and sought for the cause of it he boyl'd hen-eggs in which appeared no white at all being but newly formed and he observed the white severed from the yelk by the heat of the fire Hence he found that at first they lye confused but are separated by degrees by heat and the shell that compasseth them is made of the grosser part grown hard Olaus in tabula Septentrionali pictures forth a Scale in the Sea defending a man from a kennel of Dog-fish in a place a little beyond the borders of Denmark The Indian Reversus like an Eel is a Fish of an unusuall figure like to a great Eel in body and it hath on the hinder part of the head a capacious skin like to a great purse The Inhabitants hold this fish bound at the side of the ship with a cord and onely let it down so far as the fish may stick by the keel of the ship for it cannot any wayes endure the ayr and when it sees any fish or Tortoise which are there greater than a great Target they let loose the fish he so soon as he is loose flies swifter than an arrow on the other fish or Tortoise and casting that skin purse upon them layes hold of his prey so fast that no force can unloose it unlesse they draw up the cord a little and pull him to the brink of the water For so soon as he sees the light of the ayr he forsakes his prey Martyr Rondeletius ascribes to him the understanding of an Elephant for he will be tame and know what is said to him CHAP. XVII Of the Remora and the Sea-Scarus THe Antients believed that the Remora would stay Ships and it hath been found true by examples of late Petrus Melaras of Bononia reports that the ship of Francis Cardinal of Troas when he went by Sea out of France was held fast in the swiftnesse of its course Many have sought for the cause but no man hath certainly found it Some things are alwayes immoveable to do their office as the Poles some things in respect of their place as the Center of the Earth which naturally never moves Contrarily some things are to move alwaies to do their office as the Heavens some things in regard of their place as Rivers So some things have a faculty of moving as the Loadstone some to stop motion as the Remora But since no reason can be given why cold is an enemy to heat so not for these things why such things that have efficient principles in them of motion do cause motion and those that have principles of resting should cause rest Keckermannus seems to ascribe this to a cold humour that the Remora sends forth that he freezeth the water about the rudder In Disput. Physica Aristotle l. 2. Hist. c. 17. saith That of all Fishes the Scarus onely chews the cud Ovid testifieth that when it is caught in a net it breaks not forth with the head foremost but turns his tail and breaks his way forth with that often striking the net They roast them in Candie thrusting a spit through their mouth and there the Fishermen eat greedily their maws stuft with more delicate meat They mash their Livers that are very great and without any gall and their excrements also together adding to them salt and vinegar Bellonius CHAP. XVIII Of the Sea-Serpent and the Sturgeon IT is most certain that there are Serpents in the Sea and Histories shew that they are of divers magnitudes Aristotle reports that in Africa they will overthrow their Galleys and kill Men. Olaus Magnus writes that about Norwey when the Sea is calm Serpents will shew themselves that are 100 or 200 foot long and sometimes they will catch men from the Ships Schiltbergerus a Hollander hath described the Combat between the Sea and Land-Serpents His words are In the Kingdom of Genyck there is a City call'd Sampson at what time I resided with Ureiasita King of the Turks Water-Snakes and Land-Serpents innumerable did surround that City for a mile on all sides These came forth of the Woods that are many in the Countries adjoyning and those forth of the Sea Whilest these met for 9. dayes no man for fear durst stirre forth yet they hurt neither man nor any other living Creature On the tenth day these two kinds of Serpents began to fight early in the morning and continued till Sun-set and the Water-Serpents yielded to the Land-Serpents and the next day 8000 of them were found dead Many suppose that the Sturgion will pine away in the Albis Gesner writes that Johannes Fredericus Elector of Saxony bought a Sturgion that weighed above 260 pound weight for so many Franks He is so strong with his tail that he will cut wood in sunder strike down a strong man and strike fire out of hard stones and the same is done by the rubbing of those little bones that are prickly all his body over CHAP. XIX Of the Salmon and the Turdus A Salmon about Colen is two cubits long and they are greater amongst the Miseni and at Dessavia neere the River Albis from 24 to 36 pounds weight In Helvetia neere Tigurus they are taken somtimes above 36 pound weight Albertus saith the intestine of it is divided into many parts like to fingers Gesner writes that he observed two passages from the very throat of one that he dissected they stretched downward one to the Maw by the Wezand and the other was namelesse In the River Mulda neere to Dessavia if the
part hurt be thrust into that place where Cocks use to be gelt a hole being cut open Platerus l. 2. de vit c. 5. proved it and found it so A noble Matron stayd bleeding at the nose by holding a bit of white chalk under the ring-finger on that side the nostrill bled Forest. l. 13. c. 10. Osorius writes also of Nahodaguca a Prince in the Kingdome of Malacca who was hurt with many wounds and fell down yet not one drop of blood came forth when he was stript and a bracelet of gold was taken off then it began to run That stone was said to have power to stop blood that was set in it It is taken out of beasts which the Sinenses call Cabrisias Osor. l. 7. de reb Afric et Indicis That it comes forth of a vein cut the distending of the vessels is the cause For the continuall motion of the arteries added to the veins doth presse the veins but if the veins be opened the blood comes forth because there is nothing to hinder it Hence when a vein is opened if one swoond the blood stops For the vitall spirit doth no longer distend the vessels Bartholin Probl. 5. It is observed that when a man is killed it will run forth if the murderer be present but when a man is drown'd it runs forth when friends are present When you ask the cause it is either motion and agitation that opens the orifices of the veins or Sympathy and Antipathy The revenge of the person is put for an Argument He that is grievously wounded becomes the Assailer saith Rhodigiâ— Thought greedily desires revenge choler burns suddenly for it the blood is presently inflamed with it and runs with all its force to the wound both to foment it and to revenge The spirits fly together and by an inbred leightnesse do fly about the Author of it by whose heat they continue and remain for some time Rhodig 3. Antiq. c. 12. It was of old thought to be a remedy for the Falling-sicknesse to drink man's blood yet warm It was the Devil's Invention who delights in the slaughter of men and to do them mischief The Wife of Marcus Antonius the Philosopher fell in love with a Fencer the Wizards were enquired of and they gave counsel to kill him and that Faustina should drink his blood the next time she lay with Caesar. It was so done and her love was ended but the boy born was of a fighting disposition and destroy'd the Common-wealth Jul. Capitolin Langius reports that the Son of a certain shepherd was faint-hearted for robberies but when he had eaten a crust of bread dipt in mans blood he was flesh'd for all villany The Carmani had this custom that at Feasts they would open a vein in their face and mingle the blood that ran forth with wine and so drink it holding it the end of their friendship to taste one the others blood But these things belong to the description of Wonders in Customes There is compounded a Lamp of life and death with mans blood whereof Ernestus Burgravius writes thus This Lamp or Light once lighted burns continually so long as that man of whose blood it was made doth live and at the very same moment that he diâ—s it will go out Know also that if the flame be bright rising high and quiet that Man feels nothing that troubles his Mind or Body But if it be otherwise and the flame rising twinckles diversly or is lower and clowdy and troubled it gives thee a sign of great sorrow and other passions For perpetually from the coelestiall influences bred with the Microcosme and from the naturall inclinations since that blood is nourished by the blood of that man and the body of the same from the substance of this very blood from which blood was as it were mutually taken to prepare it that flame shines according to the state and habit of that man in prosperity or adversity and so shews it self Sennertus and Deodate call this Pyromantia Artic. 4. Of Urine and Reins MAny things perswade us that there is somthing else contain'd in Urines beside the watery substance For in diseases they are made plentifully though men have drank nothing And it is observed that creatures that drink nothing will make water Physitians foretell many things by their colours thinnesse and thicknesse And Chymists find salt in Urine resolved But whatsoever that is it is call'd Serum and it is the superfluous salt matter in meats and drinks and is not fit for nutriment Salt is hid in meats to season them and that plants are full of salt you may find by distilling them It is very well known that divers kinds of salt may be fetched out of Urines Aegineta saith that artificiall Chrysocolla is made with Urine Nitre is made of earth moystned with the Urine and dung of living creatures Baccius shews the way His words are Saltpeter is made now a days by industry of a most sharp Lixivium that drains forth from old dung or rotten ordure from the matter of Churchyards and some earths that are rotted together the sane water being often powred on in wodden Vessels This Lixivium is boyld in great Cauldrons and Salt-peter is made long fibres growing hard in the bottom like to salt Hence Ruffus Ephesmus said that Urine was a nitrous humour that falls into the bladder de appel corp human c. 36. The Arabians write that in the Urine of those are bit with mad dogs the pictures of dogs may be seen Abenzoar But that seems to be attributed to the force of the Venom because it changeth exceedingly a mans constitution and makes it like to a doggs For the humours are so corrupted by it that some little creatures like to puppies are bred in the body Sennert l. 2. p. 2. s. 2. c. 4. Truly we find Worms to breed in the bladder for a woman voided one a span long and a noble maid voided many as great as wiglice Schenck l. 3. obs Also Charls Count of Mansfield voided one like a Magpie Duretus like a Hog-louse But one that had the stone of the bladder voided two with a sharp head with horns the back and belly were crusty and they were black and like Tortoises but that their belly was red Pareus l. 19. c. 3. Holler de morb intern Another voided a living Scorpion another shell-fish Schenk observ All know the urinary passage yet somtimes other things are voided by it The Sonne of Boninus made water a little beneath the glans and a Maid of a noble family at the Hague urin'd her Navel An old Vine dresser had it coming forth at an Ulcer of his left buttock a Souldier Voided it by his hip and thigh others by their belly Schenk in obser Fernel l. 6. Pathal c. 13. As for the Kidneys Gemma saw 3 or 4 Lib. 6 Cyclogn Wolphius and Columbus l. 15. Anatom saw but one They were seen fastned to the Liver by Holtzapfelius at Auspurg The fat of them
there are such people in Illirium and the Triballi that will bewitch any thing with looking on it and kill those they look upon long especially with angry eyes and young men especially are bewitched by them That is most notable that they have two Apples in each eye In Albania there are some that have Owls eyes and are hoary from their childhood who see better by night than day Pliny l. 7. c. 2. Anastasius the Emperour had Apples of his eyes of divers colours the right eye was blacker the left more grey Zonar They that dwell near Lakes cannot endure smells Strabo l. 16. reports that such amongst the Sabaeans as are stupified by sweet smells are refreshed by the fume of bitumen and by the beard of a Goat burnt That stinking smells are good sometimes women that are cured by them of their hysterical passions and the plague thereby removed do confirm At Antwerp a Country man coming into a Perfumers shop swoâ—nded but came to himself by rubbing his nose with horse dung Lemn l. 2. occult c. 9. Article 4. Of the Face GOd hath set Majesty in some mens Faces chiefly if you regard Princes some are of a wonderful form for comelinesse others for ill-favourednesse They of Bruges were afraid of the Countenance of Caesar Maximilian being captive Delf l. 3. in Maximil vita et Philippi The Conquerours that beheld the Countenance of Francis the first King of France who was worthy of everlasting renown when he was taken at Ticinum they all strove to do him service seeing his Kingly Countenance Forcatul de Gullor Imper. l. 3. When the Conspirators thought to have slain Alphonsus Estensis the First Duke of Ferrara he frighted them with his looks that they durst not do it The twins Moenechmi in Plautus were so like that neither their Nurse nor Mother could know them asunder Vives observes the same of two sons John and Peter of a Senatour of Mechlin Antonius Bithynicus was so fair that Adrian the Emperour built a Temple to him in Mantinea and a City by Nilus and engraved his Image on the Coin The son of Maximinus was so beautifull that his head that was grown black after he was dead and soked with corrupt matter yet seemed very fair Democles an Athenian boy was call'd so for his comelinesse and he had so much care of his chastity that to decline the force of Demetrius he cast himself into a Kettle of scalding water Plutar. in Demetrio Spurina a young Maid by her very looks enticed men and women to lust Valeâ— Max. Lastly Queen Suavilda was so delicate of form that when she was bound with thongs and exposed to be trod on by horses she was a terrour to the very beasts that they durst not tread on her fair limbs Saxo Gram. l. 3. histor Danic Artic. 5. Of Dreams AS in other things so Nature sports her self in dreams for sad people are merry when they dream somtimes merry people are sad Servants are Kings and Lords become Servants And though we must confesse that many of them and what is then done be natural yet scarse any can deny but many of them are supernatural God in elder times did teach his Church by dreams and now adayes many dreams come to passâ— When Lucas Iselius the Son in Law of Zwingerus was at Vesontio he foresaw in his dream the death of Huber a Physitian of Basil. For he seemed to see his bed covered with fresh earth cast upon it which when removing the blanket he thought to cast off he saw Huber the Physitian under the bed and in the twinkling of an eye he was changed into the forme of a Child Nessenus the same day he was drownd in the Albis dreamt of some hurt came to the boat and his own falling out of it Christopher Rhaumbavius a Physitian of Uratislavium followed the counsel he had given him in a dream concerning the cure of a disease was to him incurable and he recovered his patient The wonder was that a few yeares after he met with that receipt in a Book newly printed Doring de medic l. 1. part 2. s. 1. d. 1. c. 3. Histories report that the same hapned to Philip and to Galen before him To this may be added the dream of the Mother of Scanderbeg concerning a Serpent that covered all Epirus and stretched forth his head into the Turks borders devouring them with bloody jaws but the tayle was contain'd amongst the Christians and the government of the Venetians Barlet l. 1. de gest Scanderbegi c. 82. That of Scaligers of a great flame with a mighty noise passing over the Alps at Noricum Rhaetia and Liguria without any hurt Scalig. in com l. de insomn Hippocrat Apotel 42. Of Hunnius his of a Pillar in the Church These did foreshew the future condition of their Sons and that certainly For Scanderbeg was a hammer to the Turks Scaliger the bright Sâ—ar of those quarters And Hunnius a Pillar of the Church he lived in What shall I say of Gunthram King of the Francks It is wonderfull what he dreamt For when on a time he went through a Wood a hunting by chance losing his company and having but one man left with him who was more faithfull to him than the rest he came to a brook of cold water And when he was heavy with sleep he laid his head in that Mans bosome and fell a sleep This servant there observed a strange thing For he saw as it were a little Creature creep out of his mouth whilst he slept and go strait to the River and when he strove in vain to passe over the Servant laid his drawn sword over the brook whereby when the little beast had easily passed over he crept into a hole in a Mountain hard by and coming back an hour after he passed the same way and crept again into the Kings mouth The King wak'd and told his Servant that in a dream he seemed to be brought to the bank of a great River and to have passed over an iron bridge and so to come to a Mountain where there was great store of gold hid When the King had related this to his Servant and heard again from him what strange thing hapned when he slept they both went to that Mountain and there they found a mighty masse of Gold conceald Heidfeld in Sphinge c. 14. Marinus Mersennus in Genesin calls this a diabolical dream That is more wonderfull that he dreamt at Schmalcaldium He that will have the relation let him read Pencerus de Divinatione And in place of that I will set down the dream of David Pareus which is thus described by him I saw a great Oxe that was weary which extended his head to the East and behold a Ram came from the East with three horns and he ran upon this Oxe and hurt his hinder legs and the Oxe fastned himself and stood stronger And I saw that the weary Oxe set his feet firmer And there came another Ram from the