to tell you that amongst them all I made choice of the Spirit not that which Chymists call the Oyl of Salt as that which is very simple and which if it be not too much dephlegm'd may be had clear and Colourless enough With this Spirit I proceeded to make the following Experiments upon several Bodies whose differing Textures made me suppose they would be fit for my purpose And tho I could not without much disadvantaging my Design forbear to mention some Tryals that may be found elsewhere scatterd among my Writings on other occasions yet the greatest part by odds of those laid together in this Chapter will I presume be found New I. Some drops of well Coloured Syrup of Violets being let fall together upon a piece of white Paper if a third or fourth part so much Spirit of Salt be with the tip of one's Finger mix'd with them the Syrup will presently become of a Red Colour usually somewhat inclining to Purple II. But if the Liquor to be Acted on be otherwise disposed 't is possible with Spirit of Salt to turn it from a Blew Colour not to a Red but to a Green as I have sometimes done by letting fall into a deep Solution of Filings of Copper made with an Urinous Spirit as that of Sal armoniaâ— just as many drops of Spirit of Salt as were requisite and sufficient to produce the change intended I say just so many Drops because a very small error either in excess or defect may leave the mixture still Blew or bring it to be all Colourless III. Upon a quantity not exceeding many Drops of good Syrup of Violets let fall two or three drops of good Spirit of Urine Harts-horn or the like or of Oyl of Tartar per deliquium and when by mixing them well the Syrup has acquired a fine Green Colour then by putting to it a little of the Spirit of Salt and stirring it with the tip of your Finger you may turn the Green Syrup as in the first Experiment you did the Blew into a Red. IV. If you put a quantity of Red Rose Leaves well dryed into a Glass Vial almost full of fair Water and soon after put to them as much Spirit of Salt as will make the Water pretty Sharp you will quickly see both that Liquor and the contain'd Leaves brought to a fine and lovely Red which Scarlet Colour it will retain for a great while the like effect Spirit of Salt will have on some other Vegetables of a Stiptick or of an Astringent Nature V. But if by infusing Brazil in fair Water you make a Tincture of it which you may much deepen by droping into it a little Spirit of Harts-horn or of Urine if you then put to it a little Spirit of Salt it will presently change it from a deeply reddish Colour oftentimes like that of Muskadine to a Colour far more pale or rather yellow like that of the more dilute Sack so that the same Spirit acting upon two Vegetable Tinctures differingly dispos'd draws out and heightens redness in one and destroys it in the other VI. If you make an Infusion of true Lignum Nephriticum in Spring Water it will appear of a deep Colour like that of Oranges when you place the Vial between the Window and your Eye and of a fine deep Blew when you look on it with your Eye placed between it and the Window But if you shake into this Liquor a few drops of Spirit of Salt the Caeruleous Colour will presently vanish and appear no more in what light soever you look upon the Vial tho the Liquor will still retain the Orange Colour VII We took common Writing Ink and having let fall several Drops of it upon a piece of white Paper so that when it grew dry in the Air some parts of the Ink lay thick and some thinner upon the Paper whereon it did spread it self we put a few Drops of strong Spirit of Salt some on one part of the black'd Paper and some or perhaps a small Drop on another and observ'd as we expected that in these places where the Spirit had been put or to which it reach'd the blackness was quite destroyed and succeeded by an unpleasant kind of Colour that seem'd for the most part to participate of Yellow and Blew neither of them good in its kind VIII If in Spirit of Salt you dissolve Filings of Steel and slowly evaporate the filtrated Solution it will shoot into a kind of Vitriolum Martis that will be Green as well as that which Chymists vulgarly make with Oyl of Vitriol And to add That on this occasion if you take these Chrystals made with Spirit of Salt and when they are dry keep them in a Crucible you will find that even a moderate Fire if duly apply'd will make them in a short time exchange their Green Colour for a Red like that of the finer sort of Crocus Martis as indeed this Operation makes them referable to that sort of Medicines IX We took some Mercury precipitated per se that is by the sole Action of the Fire without any saline additaments and tho crude Mercury is not as far as I have tryed soluble in our English Spirit of Salt yet this Red Precipitate which is suppos'd to be meer Mercury with its own Sulphur extraverted did readily enough dissolve in that Liquor and if I very much misremember not did not at all impart its own Colour to it And I also found that Red-Lead or Minium being boyl'd a while in good Spirit of Salt the Redness did totally disappear So that the same Agent that produces Redness in divers Bodies did in those two I have been mentioning more than change it since it quite abolished it Of which also I can give you an easier instance by observing that the Reddest Coral being dissolv'd in our Menstruum the Redness vanishes and the Solutition appears Colourless X. Take Filings of Copper the smallest are the fittest for this Experiment and having poured on them good Spirit of Salt till it swim about two fingers breadth over them keep the Vial in a pretty strong Heat in a Sand Furnace till you perceive the Menstruum has dissolv'd a competent part of the Metal Then warily take out the Vial and holding it between your Eye and the Light you will perceive the Solution of Copper to be not like that of Steel formerly mentioned of a Green Colour but of a dark and troubled one oftentimes inclining to a deep but muddy Red. XI But if you pour this Solution into a wide-mouth Glass and let it stand for a competent time which sometimes amounts but to a few hours and sometimes to very many the expos'd Liquor will appear of a Green much finer than that of the Chrystals of Mars XII Take filtrated and limpid Solution of Silver or of Mercury made in Aqua fortis and drop upon it some Spirit of Salt by which you shall find the clear Liquor turn'd white as Milk which after a
while will let fall a precipitate of the same Colour XIII And if instead of a Solution of Silver or Quick-silver you take a Red Solution or Tincture of Benjamin or of the Resinous part of Jallap Root or you 'le also have upon the Affusion of Spirit of Salt a white Liquor and a Precipitate of the same Colour XIV Being desirous to produce two differingColours at once by the same Affusion of Spirit of Salt I infused some dryed red Rose leaves in fair Water till it had acquired a deep Colour from them To this Infusion pour'd off warily that it might be clear I added a considerable proportion of the sweet Liquor made by digesting Spirit of Vinegar upon red Lead by which I knew 't would be turn'd of a Blewish Green Upon this almost opacous Liquor I pour'd Spirit of Salt which as I expected precipitated the Lead that had been dissolv'd in the sweet Liquor into a very white Powder and gave the remaining Liquor well impregnated with particles of the Rose Leaves a very fine and durable Scarlet Colour To which Experiment I shall add on this occasion that if it had been well made you may barely by shaking very well together and confounding the White Powder with the Red Liquor make a Carnation Colour which when 't is made as it should be appear'd very fine and lovely whilst it lasted for in no long time the two Substances that compos'd it would by degrees separate and re-appear each of them in its former place and Colour XV. We took some Spirit of Salt that having lain long upon Fylings of Copper had lost the muddy Tincture it had first acquired by being almost boil'd upon them This Liquor I say that look'd like common Water we pour'd into a small but wide-mouth'd Christal-Glass about half an hour after 8 in the Morning and leaving it in a Window it appear'd after 40 Minutes to have there acquir'd a Colour much like that of a German Amethist and seem'd to have no tendency to Greenness But being detain'd by the visit of a Virtuoso till eleven a Clock I could not see what happen'd in the mean time But then as he was going away I invited him to see the Liquor which he not knowing what it was told me it look'd of a Grass-green Colour wherein tho I were not altogether of his mind yet in a short time after it did to me also appear of a lovely Green in its passage to which it had in all been expos'd about 3 hours and a half XVI Precipitate a strong Solution of Sublimate made in fair Water with a s q. and no more of Oyl of Tartar per deliquium Put the Liquor and Powder into a Filter of Cap-paper and when the Water is run thorow there will remain in the Filter the Precipitate which is to be slowly and well dry'd Then take it out of the Filter in the form of a gross Powder and having put it into a clear Glass let fall on it warily some Drops of pretty strong Spirit of Salt and if the Experiment succeeds with you as it did with me during the Conflict that will be made the little Lumps of the Precipitate will lose all their former Brick-dust Colour and turn White tho afterwards they will appear dissolv'd into a transparent Liquor wherein the Orange Colour is quite abolish'd XVII Having calcin'd Copper without any Additament save Fire and Water by the way we elsewhere mention we took an Arbitrary quantity of it and having pour'd on it about 3 or 4 times the quantity of good Spirit of Salt we obtain'd what we look'd for both a Muddy but manifestly Reddish Liquor and somewhat to the surprize of the Persons I had a mind to satisfy a white Powder whose quantity bore a considerable proportion to the Part that was dissolv'd but whose Qualities belong not to this place In which part its self to add that upon the by by the affusion of common Water and the action of the Air we afterwards produc'd more than one change of Colour XVIII We sometimes for Curiosity sake took a quantity not exceeding a spoonful of the dark brown or somewhat reddish Solution of ♀ mention'd in the foregoing Experiment and having put it into a cylindrical Vial that the change of Colour may appear the better we pour'd on it 2 or 3 Spoonfuls of totally ardent vinous Spirit and giving the Glass a shake to mingle them we presently had as soon as the mixture became clear a lovely green Liquor which when 't was well setled was very fair and lookt almost as if it were a liquid Emerald XIX We took some green Taffatee Ribband and having moisten'd one part of it that was not great twice or thrice with good Spirit of Salt we suffer'd it to dry of its self which it did in a short time and then we found as we expected that the wetted part was no longer of a Green but chang'd to a Blew Colour But the same Spirit to add that upon the by presently turn'd that part of a piece of black Ribband upon which we put 2 or 3 Drops of it to a Colour not unlike that which they call Fueille Morte or a fading Leaf XX. 'T is usual in Paper-shops and in divers other places to meet with Pamphlets and other thin Books that are covered with Papers that look sometimes of a Greenish Blew Colour bordering upon Purple and sometimes upon that of Violets Some of the deeper colour'd Papers of this sort I have several times to gratify some curious Persons especially of the Sex held in my left hand and with the other lightly and nimbly toucht them here and there with the end of a feather cut off from the rest of the Quill dipt in Spirit of Salt which almost in the twinkling of an Eye dy'd the toucht parts of the Paper with a Lovely Red that would sometimes continue very Vivid for a good while and be manifest at the end of divers Weeks if not Months And if instead of the forementioned Quil I took into my right hand a Brush or somewhat that was fit to sprinkle with and having dipt it in the Saline Spirit made many drops at once fall upon the Paper 't was pleasant enough to behold how suddenly and prettily it would be Speckled XXI VVe took Antimony well powder'd and pour'd on it 3 or 4 times its weight of good Spirit of Salt we caus'd it to be boil'd in this Liquor and that in a Glass Vessel wherein a part of it was dissolv'd and taken up into the Menstruum where the Antimony quite lost its blackness And this thus impregnated Spirit of Salt being dropt into fair VVater the black Mineral subsided immediately in the form of a very white Powder or Precipitate To these I might add other changes of Colours that I have made by the help of Spirit of Salt But these being not of so quick and easy Tryal especially because some of them require skill in Chymistry I
Touch-stone to be likewise saw'n asunder by the same Artificer to make two of it I observed upon the new Surfaces made by this Action that to the Touch smooth and polish'd such vivid Colours as I lately mention'd to be these Surface were put in to various Position in reference to the Sun and the Eye so that notwithstanding the great transparency of the Chrystal and great Opacity of the Touch-stone their superficial Corpuscles were found fit to exhibit in due positions the vivid Colours we admire in the Rain-bow The II PENTADE EXPERIMENT I. Having for less than two hours borrow'd an Oculus Munai whose Colour was White whose Figure was Round and plain Convex and whose Diameter I judg'd to be about a third part of an Inch rather less than more I put it into a very shallow Glass Vessel almost fill'd with fair Water and observ'd within one Minute or thereabout with the Minute-Watch that one part of the Edg began to appear somewhat Diaphanous and the whole Stone did by degrees lose its Whiteness appearing of a dark Brownish Colour When this Change had reach'd the whole Surface I look'd upon my Watch and found that the Stone had lain nine Minutes in the Water out of which having taken it I perceiv'd the Body was grown Semi-Diaphanous and the parts near the Edg being less thick appear'd to have lost much more of their former Opacity than the innermost part had Then putting the Stone presently into the Water again I let it lye there so long till the Time efflux'd since the begining of the Experiment amounted just to half an Hour Then taking it out and wiping it I found it was grown much more clear since being held against the light it look'd almost like Yellow Amber but not quito so Diaphanous Then I expos'd it to the Contact of the Air in the Scales of a very good Ballance where it weigh'd four Grains and about a quarter and left it for a quarter or near half an Hour in that Ballance to try if by the recess of any imbib'd aqueous Moisture it would become lighter but want of Time hindred me from compleating the Experiment but did not deter me from making another Observation which was that within about a single Minute of an Hour a portion of the Stone near one part of the Edg was manifestly grown Opacous and Whitish and within not many Minutes after the whole Stone began to appear in a changing condition but did not change in every part at once nor did the alteration make an uniform Progression but here one might successively discover divers white Arches or as 't were Zones that were parallel enough to one another and being quite Opacous intercepted between them other little Zones which being yet Semi-opacous appear'd of a Brown Colour and concurr'd to make the Stone look like a very pretty Agate wherein the Whiteness made a continued Progress as long as the Time permitted me to observe it And the Possessor assur'd me that within an Hour or or two it would be all of a Cream White as he express'd himself which I thought the more Credible because I saw one part of it that was pretty broad to have obtain'd already a Whiteness little if at all inferiour to that of Ivory EXPERIMENT II. Remarkable Observations about Hurricanes The late Governour of the Bermudas Islands very much subject to Hurricanes in Answer to my Questions about the Presages of those hideous Tempests inform'd me that these were of the principal Forerunners First That the Sea would manifestly swell at some distance from the Shores insomuch that the Fishermen would divers times make to Land and warn the Inhabitants upon the confidence of that Presage to provide against that dismal Storm tho the Sea were then smooth enough Secondly That the Sea would beat with great Noise against the Shore especially the Rocks tho there appear'd no manifest Cause as upon the account of the Wind or Tide why it should do so And this Sign would sometimes not appear till many Hours or perhaps a full Day after that foremention'd And sometimes 't was observ'd that the Sea would now and then suddenly Invade the Shore and gain further upon it than could be accounted for by the Wind or Tide and then quickly Ebb away beyond the usual Low water-Mark and after return again with more fury and fall back further than before Thirdly That sometimes there would be perceiv'd an ungrateful Smell in the Air before the Hurricane began to Blow And Fourthly and Lastly My Relator affirm'd to me both he and others had seen many Bundles as it were of long Streaks of differing Colours some Whitish some Reddish and some Blewish or Greenish which by reason of their Figure are usually call'd in those parts Horse-Tails And these were seen in parts of the Sky where the Air was Troubled indeed but yet no form'd Clouds did appear to the Eye EXPERIMENT III. A Monstrous Pearl Yesterday a curious Person came to shew me a Monstrous Pearl if I may so call it because it was very irregularly shap'd and of an Enormous bigness For tho it were so artificially set in Gold that by the help of a little of that Metal fitly plac'd here and there the whole Jewel represented a Lion yet I made shift to Measure it exactly enough with a Pair of Calapar Compasses as they call those whose Legs are made Arch-wise and found the Length to be just an Inch and an Half and the greatest Breadth where yet it was of a proportionate Thickness to be 2 10 or 4 5 of an Inch. The Colour was Orient enough all but one dark Spot which by its size figure and situation I guess'd to be the remains of that Part whether like an Umbilical Cord or no whereby it was fasten'd to the Naker or Shell of the Fish that produc'd it EXPERIMENT IV. An odd Observation about the Influence of the Moon I know an Intelligent Person that having by a very dangerous Fall so broken his Head that divers large Pieces of his Skull were taken out as I could easily perceive by the wide Scars that still remain Answer'd me that for divers Months that he lay under the Chirurgeons Hands he constantly observ'd that about Full Moon there would be extraordinary Prickings and Shootings in the wounded Parts of his Head as if the Meninges were stretched or press'd against the rugged Parts of the broken Skull and this with so much pain as would for 2 or 3 Nights hinder his Sleep of which at all other times of the Moon he us'd to injoy a competency And this Gentleman added that the Chirurgeons for he had 3 or 4 at once observ'd from Month to Month as well as he the Operation of the Full Moon upon his Head informing him that they then manifestly perceived an Expansion or Intumescence of his Brain which appear'd not at all at the New Moon for that I particularly ask'd nor was he then obnoxious to the foremention'd
and sometimes two Days or better The II. PENTADE EXPERIMENT I. A very uncommon way of making a Cale of Gold 'T is known that most Chymists and many Physicians have a Superlative Esteem for the Medicinal Vertues of Gold and the Preparations of it And upon this ground divers of them have long been and still are Solicitous to make Calces of Gold by differing ways most of them laborious and some of them scarce to be safely wrought and us'd in Physick Wherefore I shall I presume be easily Pardon'd if I here set down a way that came into my mind and that I have sometimes us'd to make a preparation wherein Gold is reduc'd to very minute Parts without the help of Mercury or of any Precipitation made by sharp Salts whether Acid or Lixivial We took then refin'd Gold and dissolv'd it in clean and Spirituous Aqua Regia and instead of Precipitating the clear Solution with Oyl of Tartar per deliquium as is usually done or with Spirit of Sal Armoniac or other Volatile Urinous Spirits we first with a very modest Heat drew off the Superfluous Liquor whereby the Gold with the remaining part of the Menstruum was left in the appearance of a thick and Oleous Liquor This done we pour'd upon it a treble weight of Vinous Spirit totally inflammable and in a short time we had as we expected a very subtil Powder or high colour'd Calx of Gold that subsided at the bottom the Menstruum being strangely dulcifi'd as to Tast and become fragrant in point of Smell When a very few days were past we decanted the Liquor and put on it fresh ardent Spirit and leaving them a while together there subsided the like well colour'd Calx more plentifully than the first time I know not to add that upon the by whether it may or may not be worth while to try to Discover whether this Dulcifi'd A. R. Spirituosa being drawn off from the subsiding Gold may have acquir'd any Virtue from the open'd Metal Some Tryals seeming to argue that the openness of this Calx made it fit to be easily wrought upon by a Menstruum that would not touch Water-Gold as they call the common Calx made by quartation nor yet Leaf-Gold such as the Apothecaries Imploy but however the Menstruum has acquir'd such qualities as make it seem likely to prove an useful Medicine which yet I refer to Tryal By the way we pitch'd upon to make this Powder of Gold it seem'd probable that it would not at least be less subtil and yet would be more mild than common Preparations and nevertheless we thought it might perhaps make it yet more secure if we should as we did put upon it a totally Ardent Vinous Spirit and burn it off once twice or thrice to carry off with it any little Corosive or Saline Particles that may have still adher'd to the Metalline ones N. B. The Spirituous Aqua Regia mention'd in the Process is so call'd by me partly to distinguish it from the common Aqua Regia and partly because 't is indeed of a more Spirituous Nature than the common being compos'd without any gross Salt Such as * but only of Spirits This Menstruum I made for some particular uses And tho it works more slowly than the common Chrysulca yet I often prefer it to this as that which I can imploy to some uncommon purposes and as it may probably be a more innocent Menstruum in making Preparations of Sol design'd for Medicinal uses I make it very easily by mixing one part of good Spirit of Salt with two parts of strong Spirit of Niter or when 't is not to be us'd for Medicines of common but clean Aqua Fortis SCHOLIUM The above recited Tryal was made as 't is deliver'd but some Circumstances that I took notice of and particularly some Grains of Powder that tho mingl'd with the rest were shining as if they had been extreamly Minute and bright Filings of Gold These Circumstances I say made me Suspect that the Success might much depend upon particular and nice Circumstances that may need more exact Tryal than I had then occasion to make and therefore it may be fit that the Experiment be heedfully repeated It may also be try'd whether the imploying common A. R. instead of the Spirituous will much vary the Experiment EXPERIMENT II. To try how much Volatile Salt an assign'd quantity of Water would Dissolve we took â„¥ III of Distill'd Water and put into it by degrees some dry Salt of Salt Armoniac that was very White and compact enough keeping the Liquor in digestion for a pretty while that it might have time to Dissolve as much as it could When we found it would Dissolve no more in a moderate Heat we took it off and found that after standing some Hours in the Cold there fell to the lower part of the Glass and setled there a pretty quantity of Salt which we guess'd to be about Ê’II which being deducted from â„¥ II that had been in all put in there remained â„¥ I and Ê’VI in the Liquor which by this account had Dissolv'd at least half its weight of Salt SCHOLIUM I desire it may not be thought strange if among our Chymical Experiments some few shall be here and there met with that are much less Elaborate or Promising than others that I could easily have inserted in their Rooms for I did it on set purpose partly because oftentimes as was intimated at the beginning of the Chapter some more simple or seemingly less valuable Experiments may be fitter materials than more curious ones for the Natural History we would promote and partly to give an Example if mine can signifie any thing of not disdaining to Register some things that seem mean if by the light they afford or the uses they may be apply'd to they compensate the want of Lustre and of immediate Utility And the substance of this Scholium I desire may be mentally transferr'd as occasion shall require to those following Chapters that Treat of Chymical Experiments EXPERIMENT III. Perhaps some Chymists will think that the following Memoir may give hints that may be of use on several occasions both for other purposes and for theirs that would draw Tinctures from several Bodies that will not afford them in simple Spirit of Wine tho well rectifi'd The simple Spirit of good French Verdigreas being once or twice abstracted from as much Salt of Tartar as it would dissolve in the Cold left the Salt easily susible and dissoluble in highly rectifi'd Spirit of Wine EXPERIMENT IV. I have not been unacquainted with some Curious and Elaborate Preparations of that noble Flower the Rose and experience hath convinc'd me that t is possible whatever most Chymists think of it to obtain from Roses a true essential Oyl that mixes not with Water and is exceeding fragrant But there are several that are so far from believing that an Essential Oyl may be obtain'd from Roses without being in the form
ask'd him if any Tryal had been made whether the Weight of this Spirit varied with the Bulk and he frankly confess'd to me That it had not come into his Mind but for what is above Related of the Increment and Decrement as to quantity affirm'd to me that he himself as well as his Prince had several times Observ'd it and he also readily told me the way he used in making the Distillation which he said exacted an intense degree of Fire RELATION VI. An inquisitive Person that having gone through his Studies in the University Travell'd throgh divers Countries to make himself the more fit for the Profession of Physick answer'd me That having Resided for some time in Prussia he had more than once or twice and that in differing places observ'd as others in his Company also did That the Fisher-men in breaking the Ice of long Frozen places and taking out thence confiderable Masses of Ice did several times find in them Swallows sometimes numerous enough that were so inclos'd in the Ice that unless by breaking or thawing it they could not be gotten out of it And he further answer'd me That when these Lumps or Masses of Ice came to be thaw'd in their German Stoves the Swallows that lay as Dead before would Revive and perhaps fly about the Room but did not long survive their Recovery out of their Insensible state some Dying again in few hours others the next day or perhaps the third but sew or none that he observ'd Living beyond the fourth or the fifth which immature Death my Relator judg'd to be caus'd by their having no Appetite to Eat which Inappetency made them Dye Starv'd But as the conjecture may be true as to those that Liv'd for some days so it seems not like that those that Perish'd in few Hours Dyed meerly of Hunger and as for them that were Starv'd to Death I should suspect that they were Starv'd not so much for want of Appetite as for want of such Animals as they us'd to Feed on especially Flies which they could not get in Winter RELATION VII An Inquisitive Gentleman lately Return'd from Jamaica where he was Imploy'd by the Governour to make Discoveries of Natural Things answer'd me this Morning that he had seen in that Island great number of Trees that bear the Silken Cotten that he found many of them to surpass in bigness and height the larger sort of our English Oaks and that on a Mountain that many went to Visit out of Curiosity to view a stupendious Silk-Cotton Tree he saw its Bulk and many affirm'd to him and it was the general Tradition of the Country which he saw no cause to disbelieve that this prodigious Tree was in the Body no less than 21 yards about that is more than 60 Foot in Compass The same curious Traveller told me he saw a Cannow made of the hollow'd Trunk of one of these Silk-Cotton Trees which after all that had been taken off to give it the shape of a Vessel fit for Service was 30 Foot about and of at least a proportionable length RELATION VIII A Merchant Rich and Judicious and more addicted to Letters than is usual to Men of his Calling being return'd into England from some of the remoter Parts of the East-Indies to satisfy my Curiosity about a strange Tradition of several Navigators about a more than one way extraordinary In-draught of the Sea on the Coast of a great Island of the Southern Ocean sent me the ensuing Relation which tho it contains something manifestly Fabulous but easily distinguishable from the rest I give you in the Relators own Words being unwilling to alter any thing till I can see him again and propose my Scruples to him At Campar and Rakan on the East Coast of Sumatra is in the Rivers Mouth to a certain distance at each New and Full-Moon a Violent In-draught of the Sea call'd Bunna which approacheth with an hideous noise and Mountain-high so that whatsoever opposeth it Perisheth It s approach is in three Parts the first high but not so terrible the second is high black and horrid the third is low and of gentle motion before its approach it giveth so fair warning that the People may Eat and bath themselves before they weigh Anchor but when they weigh they must Row hard against it and when its fury is past follow with it till they return to their Anchor place The true reason whereof the Inhabitants cannot discover But as if Greece only were not the Mother of Fabulous Traditions these poor Natives Fabulize That at Campar where is the greatest Bunna in former Ages there was a Princess who to shun the Rape of an insolent Casfree Slave ran into the Seas mouth but the Slave still pursuing her and after him the Princess's little-Dog all perish'd and thus by a new Metamorphosis these three Waves perpetuate their Commemoration That afterwards a bold Fellow hoping to divert this Bunna from Campar by advice of some Wizards Row'd up against that first part of the Torrent and filling a Bottle of its Water which he immediately stopt up close he betook himself to Rakan not far distant and pour'd it out into that Rivers Mouth which brought the Bunna thither also tho it left not Campar but that Fellow suddenly after Dying none durst since attempt the like else the Natives fancy it may still be done My humble Opinion is adds my Relator that the Mouths of those Rivers being choakt up with their Sand-Banks and so render'd very Shallow when the great Spring-Tydes come roaring over those Shoals at the New and Full-Moons out of the Malacca Streights the first Influx is Irresistible by such small Vessels as use that Port especially if attended with dark Weather or Stormy Gusts so that they are forc'd to Weigh and Bear up against it for fear of being Strandded and Split In which Sentiment I rest till I can attain a more prevalent Reason RELATION IX A Gentleman that had Travell'd far and Observ'd much related to me That being off the Coast of Mosambique between the 20th and last Days of September the Captain of the great Portugal Ship they were in walking to and fro upon the Deck Spy'd a great way off a very little dark Cloud or blackish Spot in the Sky Whereupon tho the Weather were fair he made all the hast he possibly could to provide for a great Storm by taking in the Sails c. And thó for a while the Sky continu'd clear and they had no signs of an imminent Change but that when the Cloud approacht the Wind that had till then fill'd their Sails ceas'd and the Sea became Calmer than before But presently after they had a furious Hurricane which turn'd their Ship quite round many times one after another as if it were an Aerial Whirl-pool which lasted for above two Hours and then left them seeming to have a progressive Motion as Whirl-pools in Rivers often have RELATION X. An Ingenious Practitioner of Physick accompany'd by one of the same Profession assur'd me with great Asseveration That some while since being at a place in the Country near Amsterdam where there Liv'd a kind of a Farmer who tho Illiterate enough was reputed very Curious this Person shew'd him among other things a considerable quantity of Quicksilver that was altogether of the Colour of Gold And to answer my scruple this Relator added that the Colour did not belong only to the Surface of the whole Mass but having purposely with Water divided it into many Globules each of them retain'd the same rich Colour And he further told me That the possessor of this yellow Mercury having put some of it over a Fire in a convenient Vessel it quickly lost its fludity and was precipitated into a red Powder about which he hop'd to learn some notable things at his next Visit to the Author But that having been too long delay'd when he came to the place again he found to his great Grief that the Master was Dead and his Relations were or pretended to be ignorant of his Secrets A very Learned and Experienc'd Physician made me a Visit to give me notice that a few Days before he had receiv'd one in the Night from a couple of Strangers one of whom by some things that he saw him do he judg'd to be what they call an Adeptus who besides a thing far more rare and valuable shew'd him as a Curiosity a runing Mercury of a lovely Green And when I ask'd my judicious Relator whether he had broken the fluid Mass into Drops to observe whether the Colour were that only of the Surface or of the whole Mass He answer'd that he purposely laid it upon a rough Body as a Carpet and found the Globules whereinto 't was by this Means divided to be of the same fine Green that had beautify'd the whole Mass These Relations tho they had come to me from less Credible Persons than those I receiv'd them from I should not hastily have rejected because of some odd and fine Colorations of runing Mercury that I have my self Observ'd but here forbear to mention because they belong to another Paper FINIS * This refers to the Manuscript that was sent to Mr. O. and is left to shew the Intention of the Author Lib. 7. Cap. 7. See Exper. 10. 10 Cent. 12. Decemb. 23. Nov. 9. 89. This Famous Philosopher in his little Tract whose Title some render de Mirandis Auditionibus scrupled not to comprise without Method divers Reports uncertain or fabulous nor to insert several that were not so cautiously admitted as those recited in the following Collection January 25.