doth a very competent Book which would have by it Self the perfection if not of the Whole yet of a more principal part and of that part which to Professors or Candidates of Learning is most desireable And then the Author's Avocations and other Studies being so many that we could prefix no certain time for the complement of the mention'd remaining parts I was loath to hazard the Preservation of These by deferring the Impression since I know there is no Security of the continuance of those Writings which are reposed only in single or at most in few written Copies I remember the Author had once lost for a good while one of these very Essays which are now here Printed and put beyond that Danger for the future Besides other Casual accidents the very Contingency of Humane life and the chance of a Man's papers after Death For to them the Question of King Solomon is most proper and pertinent VVho knows whether then they may happen to fall into the hands of a Wise man or a Fool were of force enough to perswade me to secure these when it was in my power unto the Common Use. Would not Printing in all probability have preserv'd unto Us that Universal History of Vegetables from the Cedar of â—ibanus unto the Moss that groweth upon the Wall written by that Wise and Learned King and the loss of which we now in vain lament Would not Printing have sav'd that Excellent Book of Democritus which he inscribed his XEIPOKMHTA or EXPERIMENTS of his own personal Tryal so utterly lost that the Name of the piece is not mention'd among the Catalogue of his Writings in Laertius And may not the Printing of this Piece be a meanes of the preservation besides the Notional part of divers very useful XEIPOKMHTA of the Honourable Author who hath been ever unwearied in the Tryal of all probable Experiments that may increase the Light or advance the Profit of Mankind But before I leave the Reader I must give him this single Advertisement that the Passages included within the Paratheses or Crotchetts as the Press stiles them that is between any two such Marks as these were inserted long since the writing of these Essays upon the Relection of some parts of the Book before He sent it to me Which I therefore did so distinguish and do intimate that there may appear no inconsistency in our Author and the Reader may not marvel to find somethings very Recent in a Book written several Years agoe Farewell RO SHARROCK The Author's ADVERTISEMENT about the following ESSAYS THat the Title of the following Treatise might not raise in the Reader an Expectation of more then he will find in the Book I think my self oblig'd to inform him That though it come not forth before divers parts were sent to the Press in 1660 or 1661 and this present Yâ—ar 1663 yet the very Last Essay of it was written divers Years before Since when those Papers were left sometimes in the hands of Friends and sometimes in distant places where I could not come at them which I mention that the Reader may neither wonder nor blame Me if he now meet with some things in them that have already been published by others or are more vulgarly known then my way of mentioning them implyes For it may this notwithstanding very well be that when I writ them no body had yet lighted on some of them and that others of them did then but begin to be taken notice of And as for the Five first Essays which treat of The Usefulness of Natural Philosophy to the Mind of Man though by my addressing them all the way to the Gentleman I call Pyrophilus they may seem to have been Originally written to the same Person and about the same time with the Essays that make up the Second Part yet indeed a great Portion of the First part was written as I remember 10 or 12 years ago when I was scarce above 21 or 22 years old to another Friend to whom the Considerations that serv'd to confirm Piety and excite Devotion were far more acceptable then those that were more purely Physiologicall so that having whether through lazinesse or wâ—nt of leisure contented my self to substitute the name of Pyrophilus for that of my other Friend who was not unwilling I should do so in a Discourse written when I was so Young I would not have the Reader think that I do now so appâ—ove of all those Youthful Discourses which I therefore suffer to pass abroad without a Name as to think all the Tenets they propos'd to be irrefragable Tâ—uths or all the Reasonings they contein to be Demonstrative that I would at present have my Judgment estimated according to their Cogency But yet I do without much Reluctancy comply with those Friends who would by no means consent that the Five first Essays of this Treatise should not come forth with the Rest partly because not writing all things for all Readers I hold it not unfit to publish something to gratify those who desire with me to be both excited and assisted to admire and praise the Great and VVise Author of all things partly because the Treatise would seem main'd and incompleat if the latter Essays should come abroad without the Rest and partly too because Learned Men have been pleas'd to assure me that those Essays are not destitute of Notions and Ratiocinations that are not altogether vulgar or contemptible However those Readers that either cannot rellish or at least desire not any thing but what is meerly Physiologicall may thus advertis'd passe by the former part of this Treatise and content themselves to read over the Latter though they who shall take the Pains to read Both will not perhaps think their Labour lost Since I have taken Care to leave even the former Part as little disfurnisht with Experiments and useful Notions as the Argument consider'd I conveniently coulâ— And since also for the Paucity of such things in the First Part I have endeavoured to make amends in the Second which is almost wholly Physiological concerning which nevertheless I shall admonish the Reader And indeed the whole Tenets that make up the following Book are by no means to be look'd upon as Published for an acurate Treatise of the Usefulnes of true Physiology but as Familiar Writings that want only the formality of Salve and Vale to passe for Physiological and Medical Epistles consisting of such loose Observations as I thought might be this way preserv'd and did not so properly belong to my other Writings as they seem'd fitted for the use and whereto I have applyed them namely that being drawn up together into one Treatise their Union might enable them to make the greater Impression and might somewhat at least recommend that sort of Learning to a Beginner And one thing that must be especially comprehended in this Admonition is that the Particulars I have mentioned to shew of what use Chymical Experiments may be to a Physitian
composing of it those matchlesse Records of Nature from which I remember some Jewish Authors relate Aristotle to have borrowed diverse which if it be true may well be supposed to be the choicest pieces that adorn'd his Philosophie and which Providence perhaps depriv'd the World of upon such a score as it did the Jewes of the Body of Moses lest men should Idolize it or as some Rabbies are pleased to informe us lest vicious men should venture upon all kinds of Intemperance out of Confidence of finding out by the help of those excellent Writings the Cure of all the Distempers their dissolutenesse should produce And Pyrophilus yet a little further to discover to you the Delightfulnesse of the Contemplations of Natures works Give me leave to mind you of their almost unimaginable Variety as of a Propertie that should methinks not faintly recommend Naturall Philosophy to curious and active Intellectuals For most other Sciences at least as they are wont to be taught are so narrow and so circumscrib'd that he who has read one of the best and recentest Systems of them shall find little in the other Books publisht on those subjects but disguis'd repetitions and a diligent Scholar may in no long time learn as much as the Professors themselves can teach him But the objects of Naturall Philosophy being as many as the Laws and Works of Nature are so various and so numberlesse that if a Man had the Age of Methuselah to spend he might sooner want time then matter for his Contemplations And so pregnant is each of that vast multitude of Creatures that make up the Naturalists Theme with usefull matter to employ Mens studie that I dare say that the whole life of a Philosopher spent in that alone would be too short to give a full and perfect account of the Natural Properties and Uses of any one of several Minerals Plants or Animals that I could name 'T is an almost incredible variety of Vegetables that the teeming Earth impregnated by Gods Producat Terra does in several Regions produce Botanists have a pretty while since reckon'd up near 6000 Subjects of the Vegetable Kingdom since when divers other not-described Plants have been observed by Herbarists the chief of which will I hope be shortly communicated to the World by that Curious and Diligent Botanist my Industrious Acquaintance Dr. How to whom I not long since presented a peculiar and excellent kinde of Pepper whose Shell tastes not unlike Cinnamon and smells so like Cloves that with the Odor I have deceived many which he confest to be new even to him it having been lately gâ—thered in Jamaica where it abounds and presented me by the inquisitive Commander of the English Forces there And yet Pyrophilus this great variety of Simples could not deter either Ancient or Modern Inquirers from Writing entire Treatises of some particular Ones So Pliny tells us That Themison the Physitian publisht a Volume for so he call'd it of that vulgar and despised Herb called Plantain So the same Author tells us That Amphilochus writ a Volume De Medica Herba Cytisa and King Juba another of a sort of Nymphaea by him found on Mount Atlas And in our Times not to mention those many Books that have been written by Physitians Of the Structure of Mans Body and De Usu Partium Carolus Rosenbergius writ some Years since an entire Book of Roses which he calls his Rhodologia Martinus Blochwitius since published another Book of Elder under the Title of Anatomia Sambuci Among the Chymists Angelus Sala publisht in distinct Treatises his Vitriologia Tartarologia Saccharologia Untzerus also writ peculiar Tracts De Mercurio De Sulphure De Sale And Paracelsus himself vouchsafed distinct Treatises to Hypericon Persicaria Helleborus and some other particular Plants Basilius Valentinus one of the most Knowing and Candid Chymical Writers publisht long since an excellent Treatise of Antimony inscrib'd Currus Triumphalis Antimonii but though in his other he hath also taught us divers other things concerning it yet he left so much undiscovered in Antimony that Angelus Sala was thereby emboldned to publish his Anatomia Antimonii And Hamerus Poppius if that be his true name Johannis Tholdius and the experienced Alexander van Suchten thought fit to write entire Treatises of that same Mineral by which if they seem to Eclipse the diligence of Basilius at least they bore witness to his Judgement for modestly inviting his Readers to make further enquiries into the Nature and Preparations of that abstruse Mineral He gives this account of his leaving many things unmention'd That the shortness of Life makes it impossible for one man throughly to learn Antimony in which every day something of new is discovered And I remember that having lately given a Chymist upon his request some Directions for drawing not an imaginary Mercury of Antimony as those which are wont to be taught by Chymists but a real fluid Quick-silver he some days since brought me about an Ounce of it which you may command when you please as the first Fruits of Directions differing enough from those which I have hitherto met with in Authors A peculiar way likewise of separating from Antimony not such a Substance as those which are as improperly as vulgarly call'd Antimonial Sulphurs but a really combustible Body which looks and burns so like common Brimstone that it is not easily distinguishable from it we shall elsewhere God willing Pyrophilus teach you And I remember that whereas according to the way mentioned by Basilius in his Currus Triumphalis and both generally transcrib'd by Authors and formerly practis'd by our selves the Tincture of the Glâ—ss of Antimony is very tedious to make being to be drawn with Spirit of Vinegar I once made a Menstruum to draw it more expeditiously which having not hither to met with in any of the Authors I have read I shall not conceal from you Taking then an arbitrary quantity of the best French Verdegreece and distilling it orderly in a strong naked Fire I found the extorted Liquor to extract even in an ordinary digesting heat from powdred Antimonial Glass a Blood-red Tincture in three or four hours and my curiosity leading me to abstract the Menstruum from the tinging Powder and put it again upon â—ulveris'd Glass I found it again hâ—ghly Tincted in a very few hours And prosecuting the Experiment I found that by drawing off the Menstruum and â—igesting Spirit of Wine upon the remaining Calx I could soon obtain a red Tincture or Solution From which some Chymists if I should tell them what I have now told you would perhaps expect no ordinary Medicine But this I suppose you will think less strange then that with a Liquor easily separated by a way which I may elsewhere teach you from an obvious Vegetable of which you may safely eat a whole Pound at a time I have drawn a deep red Tincture even from crude Antimony and thâ—t in not many hours and without heat
whence at length he was stol'n And though I remember the famous Emperick Fiorouanti in one of his Italian Books mentions his having been prevail'd with by the importunity of a Lady whom he calls Marulla Greca much afflicted with Splenetick distempers to rid her of her Spleen and addes That she out-liv'd the loss of it divers Years Yet he that considers the situation of that part and the considerableness of the Vessels belonging to it in humane Bodies will probably be apt to think that though his relation may be credited his venturousness ought not to be imitated The Experiment also of detaining Frogs under Water for very many hours sometimes amounting to some days without suffocation may to him that knows that Frogs have Lungs and Breath as well as other Terrestrial Animals appear a considerable discovery in order to the determining the Nature of Respiration Besides the scrupulousness of the Parents or Friends of the deceased Persons deprives us oftentimes of the Opportunities of Anatomizing the Bodies of Men and much more those of Women whereas those of Beasts are almost always and every where to be met with And 't was perhaps upon some such account that Aristotle said that the external parts of the Body were best known in Men the internal in Beasts Sunâ— enim says he speaking of the inward parts hominum imprimis incertae atque incognitae quamobrem ad caeterorum animalium partes quarum similes sunt humanae referentes eas contemplari debemus And questionless in many of them the frame of the parts is so like that of those answerable in Men that he that is but moderately skill'd in Andratomy as some of the Moderns call the Dissection of Mans Body to distinguish it from Zootomy as they name the Dissections of the Bodies of other Animals may with due diligence and industry not despicably improve his Anatomical knowledge In confirmation of which truth give me leave to observe to you That though Galen hath left to us so many and by Physitians so much magnified Anatomical Treatises yet not onely divers of those Modern Physitians that would eclipse his Glory deny him to have learn'd the skill he pretends to out of the inspection of the Dissected Bodies of Men or Women or so much as to ever have seen a humane Anatomy But I finde even among his Admirers Physitians that acknowledge that his Knives were much more conversant with the Bodies of Apes and other Bruits then with those of Men which in his time those Authors say 't was thought little less then Irreligious if not Barbarous to mangle which is the less to be wondred at because even in this our Age that great People of the Muscovites though a Christian and European Nation hath deny'd Physitians the use of Anatomy and Skeletons the former as an inhumane thing the latter as fit for little but Witchcraft as we are inform'd by the applauded Writer Olearius Secretary to the Embassy lately send by that Learned Prince the present Duke of Holsteine into Moscovia and Persia. And of this the same Author gives us the instance of one Quirin an excellent German Chyrurgion who for having been found with a Skeleton had much adoe to scape with his Life and was commanded to go out of the Kingdom leaving behinde him his Skeleton which was also dragg'd about and afterwards burnt To these things we may adde Pyrophilus that the diligence of Zootomists may much contribute to illustrate the Doctrine of Andratomy and both inform Physitians of the true use of the parts of a humane Body and help to decide divers Anatomical Controversies For as in general 't is scarce possible to learn the true Nature of any Creature from the consideration of the single Creature it self so particularly of divers parts of humane Body 't is very difficult to learn the true use without consulting the Bodies of other Animals wherein the part inquired after is by Nature either wholly left out as needless or wherein its differing bigness or situation or figure or connection with and relation to other parts may render its use more conspicuous or at least more discernable Thâ—s Truth may be somewhat illustrated by the following Observations which at present offer themselves to my thoughts upon this occasion The Lungs of Vipers and other Creatures whole Hearts and whose Blood even whil'st it circulates we have always found as to sense actually cold may give us just occasion to inquire a little more warily whether the great use of Respiration be to cool the Heart The suddain falling and continuing together which we may observe in that part at least of a Dogs Lungs that is on the same side with the Wound upon making a large Wound in his Chest though the Lungs remain untouched is a considerable Experiment in order to the discovery of the principal Organ of Respiration If you dexterously take out the Hearts of Vipers and of some smaller Fishes whose coldness makes them beat much more unfrequently and leisurely then those of warm Animals the contraction and relaxation of the Fibres of the Heart may be distinctly observed in order to the deciding or reconciling the Controversie about the cause and manner of the Hearts motion betwixt those Learned modern Anatomists that contend some of them for Dr. Harvey's Opinion and others for that of the Cartesians Towards satisfying my self in which difficulty I remember I have sometimes taken the Heart of a Flownder and having cut it transversly into two parts and press'd out and with a Linnen cloth wip'd off the Blood contain'd in each of them I observ'd that for a considerable space of time the sever'd and bloodless parts held on their former contraction and relaxation And once I remember that I observed not without Wonder That the sever'd portions of a Flownders Heart did not onely after their Blood was drain'd move as before but the whole Heart observ'd for a pretty while such a succession of motion in its divided and exsanguious pieces as I had taken notice of in them whil'st they were coherent and as you may with pleasure both see and feel in the intire Heart of the same Fish Some of the other Controversies agitated among Anatomists and Philosophers concerning the use of the Heart and concerning the principal seat of Life and Sense may also receive light from some such Experiments that we made in the Bodies of Bruits as we could not of Men. And the first of these that we shall mention shall be an Experiment that we remember our selves formerly to have made upon Frogs For having open'd one of them alive and carefully cut out his Heart without closing up the Orifice of the Wound which we had made wider then was necessary the Frog notwithstanding leaped up and down the Room as before dragging his Entrals that hung out after him and when he rested would upon a puncture leap again and being put into the Water would swim whil'st I felt his Heart beating betwixt my
smaller Plants it cannot but be a great help to the Student of Anâ—tomy to be able to preserve the parts of humane Bodies and those of other Animals especially such Monsters as are of a very singular or instructive Fabrick so long that he may have recourse to them at pleasure and contemplate each of them so often and so considerately till he have taken sufficient notice of the shape situation connection c. of the Vessel Bone or other part and firmly impress'd an Idea of it upon his memory We finde our selves much help'd to retain in our memory the figures and differences of Vegetables by those Books which some curious Botanists make wherein the Plants themselves artificially dry'd are display'd upon and fastned to Leaves of white Paper if it were not for one of those Books wherein I have in one vast Volumn almost all the Plants of one of the chief Physick-gardens in Europe I should every Year forget by the end of Winter to know again most of the smaller Plants I had learn'd to take notice of in the Spring And by the way 't is observable how long Plants by being carefully indeed but barely dryed in the shade betwixt Sheets of Paper which help to soak up the superfluous moisture may be preserv'd For I have divers Years had an Herbal wherein several of the Flowers and other Plants retain their native yellow and blue c. but somewhat faint though by the date it appear'd to be 22 or 23 Years old And I am apt to think that it would be very possible for Anatomists also to preserve the Bodies they contemplate for a considerable time For experience hath inform'd us in good number of such Animals that Butter-flies and divers other flying Insects may have their shape and colours preserv'd I know not how long by running them through in some convenient part with Pins and therewith sticking them to the inside of large Boxes And on this occasion I remember that having sometimes reflected upon the Lasting of Spiders Flys and other small living Creatures that having been casually enclos'd in Amber whil'st it was soft are ever preserv'd entire and uncorrupted I thought it not amiss to try whether some Substance like Amber at least as to the newly mention'd use of it might not easily be prepar'd by Art And hereupon I quickly found that by taking good clear Venice Turpentine and gently evaporating away about a third part of it sometimes more sometimes less according to the exigency of my particular purpose I could make a reddish Gum diaphanous and without Bubbles which would melt with a very gentle heat and easily being suffer'd to cool become again so hard as to be brittle This resinous Substance should be melted with as little heat as is possible and therefore should be first pouder'd that the texture of the Vegetable or Animal Bodies to be cased over with it might receive the less alteration And when it is brought to the requisite degree of fluidity then the Body to be preserv'd being if that be needful stuck through with a Pin must be gently plung'd into it and presently taken out and suffer'd leisurely to cool being turn'd from time to time this way or that way if there be occasion that the investing Matter may be every where of an equal thickness upon it And if at the first time the Case be not thick enough it may again when it is cold be immers'd into the liquid Matter as Chandlers are wont to thicken their Candles by dipping them frequently into melted Tallow of which some will every way adhere to it And though these Cases be inferior to Amber in regard of their being more apt to be sulli'd by dust or otherwise yet that inconvenience may be easily remedy'd by keeping them shut up in Glasses or Boxes at those times when one hath not occasion to consider them And their clearness especially if they be thin and their smooth surfaces together with their exactly keeping out the Air from the Body they enclose may perhaps make so cheap and easie an Experiment a not unwelcome trifle especially considering how easily 't is capable of Improvement But to return to the Preservation of more bulky Bodies 't is a known thing to the Collectors of Rarities that the external Idea of Fâ—shes Crocodiles Birds and even Horses may be preserv'd for many Years by taking out the more corruptible parts and stuffing their prepar'd Skins with any convenient Matter And that the internal membranous parts of Bodies may be long and easily kept from putrefâ—ction is not unknown to many Anatomists And not to mention what we have try'd of this sort we have seen the Veins Arteries and Nerves of a humane Body laid out in their natural situation upon three Boards by the pains and skill of an accurate Anatomist of Padua And elsewhere Uterum vidimus atque omnia mulieris genitalia together with the Bladder all displaid upon a Board preserv'd for many Years so entire and in a situation so near the Natural that this Scheme was far more instructive then the most accurate Printed one could possibly be We have likewise known the flesh of Vipers kept not onely sweet but efficacious for divers Years by the smoak of a peculiar Powder chiefly consisting of Aromatick Ingredients and of which you Pyrophilus may command the Composition We have also seen the Skeleton of a Monky made by an excellent French Chyrurgion of our acquaintance whereon the Tendons and Fibres of the Muscles were so preserv'd that it was look'd upon as a rarity very useful to shew their Originations and Insertions and to explain the motions of the Limbs And perhaps there may be some way to keep the Arteries the Veins too when they are empty'd of Blood plump and unapt to shrink over-much by filling them betimes with some such substance as though fluid enough when it is injected to run into the Branches of the Vessels will afterwards quickly grow hard Such may be the liquid Plaister of burnt Alabaster formerly mention'd or Ising-glass steeped two days in Water and then boild up till a drop of it in the cold will readily turn into a still Gelly Or else Saccarum Saturni which if it be dissolv'd often enough in Spirit of Vinager and the Liquor be each time drawn off again we have observ'd to be apt to melt with the least heat and afterwards to grow quickly into a somewhat brittle consistence again But I must not insist on these Fancies but rather adde That I have known an Embrio wherein the parts have been very perfectly delineated and distinguishable preserv'd unputrifi'd for several Years and I think it still continues so by being seasonably and artificially embalm'd with Oyl if I much mis-remember not of Spikes And I have elsewhere seen a large Embrio which after having been preserv'd many Years by means of another Liquor whose composition I do as yet but guess at did when I saw it appear with such an admirable