Effluviums of the Magnet we might hope to discover all Epicurus's Atoms Des Cartes his Globuli Aetherii and all those insensible Corpuseles which daily produce such considerable Effects in the Generation and Corruption of Bodies about us Nay might not such Microscopes hazard the discovery of the Aerial Genti and present even Spiritualities themselves to our view HENR POWER 's Experim Philosophy pag. 154 155. Andreas Libavius lib. 2. Singul. affirms that the LOADSTONE if it be put into Fire loseth its attractive force and that whilst it burns the Sulphureous Particles fly forth Baptista Porta in his 7th Book Chap. 2. saith that he hath often seen with great delight a LOADSTONE wrapt up in burning Coals that sent â—â—rth a blue Flame which smelt of Brimstone and Iron and that being dissipated it lost its attractive Virtue Mr. Samuel Colepress in a Letter to the ingenious Mr. Oldenburg giving an account of some Magnetical Experiments acquaints him That he had taken a LOADSTONE unpolish'd which attracted but meanly and that he had heated a Lath-nail glowing hot nimbly applying the North-Pole of the said Magnet to it which quickly took it up and held it suspended a great while till he put down both the Magnet and Nail He further faith that he took the same Stone and cast it into the Fire letting it remain there till it was thorough hot altering its colour from black to red and that being red-hot he applied the North-Pole to another Lath-nail cold and untoucht before which it took up but faintly yet held it suspended for some time In conclusion he saith that two or three days after he took the very same LOADSTONE and found that it attracted then as strongly as before it was cast into the Fire Whence he inferr'd that the Fire somewhat lessen'd its attractive Faculty but did not deprive the Stone of it PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 27. pag. 500 501. Dr. Edward Cotton made a Present to the ROYAL SOCIETY of a LOADSTONE that weighed sixty Pounds Dug out of the Ground in Devonshire Which though it takes up no great Weight yet moves a Needle nine foot distant Some part hereof which was broken off being put into its proper place adds much Strength to it PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 23. pag. 423. Of the Sea COMPASS IN the Year Thirteen Hundred One Flavio of Malphi in the Realm of Naples found out the COMPASS or Pixis Nautica consisting of Eight Winds only the Four Principal and Four Collateral and not long after the People of Bruges and Antwerp perfected that Excellent Invention adding Twenty-four other Subordinate Winds or Points By means of this most Excellent Instrument and withall by the good Success of Columbus the Portugals Eastwards the Spaniards Westwards and the English Northwards have made many Glorious and Fortunate Expeditions Which had been utterly impossible to have been perform'd and had been foolishly undertaken when that help Was wanting I know there hath been much Pains taken by some Learned men to prove the use of the Mariners Compass to be far more Ancient than is now commonly pretended Nicolas Fuller a very Learned and Industrious Man but better skill'd in the Hebrew Tongue than the Philology of the Greeks and Latines will have it known to Solomon and by him taught unto the Tyrians and Phoenicians the most famous Seamen of Old Times but he brings no Argument of Weight to make good the Cause Nor is it possible that such an Excellent Invention so beneficial to the common good of all Mankind should have been forgotten and discontinued for the space of more than Two Thousand Years if ever the Tyrians and Phoenicians had been Masters of it who could not possibly conceal it had they been so minded from the Common-Mariners or they not have Communicated it for gain or desire of Glory to the Greeks and Romans under whom successively they liv'd And as little moment do I find in some other Arguments as that the Lapis Heraclius of the Ancient Writers or the Versoria of Plautus should be by them intended for the Mariners Compass For plainly the Versoria of Plauturs is no other than the Piece of Tackle which our Mariners now call the Bolin by which they use to turn their Sails and fit them to the change of every Wind. And so much doth appear by the Poet himself in the Comedy which he calls Mercator saying Hinc ventus nunc Secundus est cape modò Versoriam So called from Verso to turn often or from Versum the first Supine of Verto Whence Velum Vertere is a common Phrase amongst the Latines us'd for the shifting of the Sail as the Wind doth vary PET. HEYLIN's Cosmog But as peremptory as Heylin is in the assigning this Noble Invention to Flavius the Neapolitane yet I find other Authors it may be of as good Credit and Authority wholly differ from him Dr. Gilbert our Country-Man who hath written an Excellent Latin Treatise of the Properties of the LOADSTONE seems to be of Opinion that Paulus Venetus brought the Invention of the Use of the COMPASS from the Chineses Paulus Osorius in his Discourse of the Acts of King Emanuel ascribes it to Gama and his Country-Men the Portugals who as he pretends took it from certain Barbarous Pyrats Roaving upon the Sea about the Cape of Good Hope Goropius Becanus likewise thinks he has great Reason to intitle it upon his Countrey-Men the German's in as much as the 32 Points of the Wind upon the COMPASS borrow the Name from the Dutch in all Languages But Blondus who is therein follow'd by Pancirollus both Italians will not have Italy lose the Praise thereof telling us that about 300 Years ago it was found out at Malphis or Melphis a City in the Kingdom of Naples But for the Author of it the One Names him not and the Other assures us he is not known Yet Salmuth out of Ciezus and Gomara confidently Christens him with the Name of Flavius To conclude then who it was that first discover'd this Noble useful Invention is not certainly known And is it not pity that one of the Greatest Benefactors to Mankind that ever was should lie hid in so neglected an obscurity When the great Disturbers of the World have so dear and so precious a Memory For my part I think there is much more acknowledgment due to this obscure Fellow if it be Flavius than to a Thousand Alexanders and Caesars or to Ten times the Number of Aristotles And He really did more for the increase of Knowledge and the Advantage of the World by this one Invention than the whole Tribe of Schoolmen have done by their many niceties and subtile Disputations In the Philosophical Transactions Number 157 Pag. 520. we meet with a very Remarkable Account concerning the COMPASS of a Ship viz. of its changing its Poles in a Thunder-Storm There are Three Kinds of Sea-COMPASSES the First the plain Meridional COMPASS The Second a COMPASS of Variation The Third a Dark
either from particular Earthquakes or from the General Deluge according to the common notion and Explication of it these not being Causes answerable to such vast Effects let us try our Hypothesis again which hath made us a Channel large enough for the Sea and room for all Subterraneous Cavities and I think will find us Materials enough to raise all the MOUNTAINS of the Earth We suppose the great Arch or Circumference of the first Earth to have fallen into the Abyss at the Deluge and seeing that was larger than the Surface it fell upon 't is absolutely certain that it could not all fall flat or lie under the Water Now as all those parts that stood above the Water made dry Land or the present Habitable Earth so such parts of the dry Land as stood higher than the rest made Hills and MOUNTAINS and this is the first and General Account of them and of all the Inequalities of the Earth THO. BVRNET's Theory of the Earth Lib. 1. Cap. XI The Height of MOUNTAINS compar'd with the Diameter of the Earth is not considerable but the Extent of them and the Ground they stand upon bears a considerable proportion to the Surface of the Earth And if from Europe we may take our Measures for the rest I easily believe that the MOUNTAINS do at least take up the Tenth part of the Dry Land Ibidem The Height of the highest MOUNTAINS doth bear no greater a proportion to the Diameter of the Earth than of the Sixteen Hundred and Seventieth part to the whole supposing the Diameter of the Earth to be Eight Thousand Three Hundred Fifty Five Miles as Pet. Gassendus computes both And it is more than probable that Men have been exceedingly mistaken as to the height of MOUNTAINS which comes so far short of Sir Walter Raleigh's Computation of Thirty Miles that the Highest MOUNTAIN in the World will not be found to be Five direct Miles in height taking the Altitude of them from the plain they stand upon Olympus whose Height is so extoll'd by the Poets and Ancient Greeks that it is said to exceed the Clouds yet Plutarch tells us that Xenagoras measur'd it and found it not to exceed a Mile and a half perpendicular and about 70 paces Much about the same height Pliny saith that Dicaearchus found the Mountain Pâ—lion to be The Mount Athos is suppos'd of extraordinary height because it casts its shadow into the Isle of Lemnos which according to Pliny was 87 Miles yet Gassâ—ndus allows it but Two Miles in height but Isaac Vossius in a Learned Discourse concerning the height of MOUNTAINS in his Notes on Pomponius Mela does not allow above 10 or 11 Furlongs at most to the Height of Mount Athos Cancasus by Ricciolus is said to be 51. Miles in height Gassendus allowing it to be higher than Athos or Olympus yet conceives it not above three or four Miles at most but Vossius will not yield it above Two Miles perpendicular for which he gives this very good Reason Polibius affirms there is no MOUNTAIN in Greece which may not be ascended in a Days time and makes the highest MOUNTAIN there not to exceed Ten Furlongs Which saith Vossius it is scarce possible for any one to reach unless he be a Mountainer born any other will scarce be able to ascend above Six Furlongs perpendicular for in the Ascent of a MOUNTAIN every pace doth reach but to an hands breadth perpendicular but if we do allow Eight Furlongs to a Days Ascent yet thereby it will appear that the Highest MOUNTAINS in the World are not above Twenty four Furlongs in height since they may be ascended in Three Days time And it is affirmed of the top of Mount Caucasus that it may be ascended in less than the compass of three Days and therefore cannot be much above two Miles in height Which may be the easier believ'd of any other Mountain when that which is reputed the highest of the World viz. the Pike of Teneriffe which the Inhabitants call Pica de Terraria may be ascended in that compass of time viz. Three Days For in the Months of Iuly and August which are the only Months in which Men can ascend it because all other times of the Year Snow lies upon it although neither in the Isle of Teneriffe nor any other of the Canary Islands there be Snow ever seen the Inhabitants then ascend to the top of it in Three Days time which top of it is not Pyramidal but plain from whence they gather some Sulphureous Stones which are carried in great quantities into Spain So that according to the proportion of Eight Furlongs to a Days journey this Pike of Teneriffe will not exceed the Height of a German Mile perpendicular as Varenius confesseth than which he thinks likewise that no Mountain in the World is higher For what Pliny speaks of the Alpes being Fifty Miles in height must be understood not perpendicular but in regard of the Obliquity of the Ascent of it so that he might account so much from the Foot of the Alpes to the top of them and yet the Alpes in a perpendicular Line not come near the Height of a German Mile STILLING FLEET 's Orig. Sacr. Lib. 3. Cap. 4. pag. 544 c. Mr. Muraltus of Zurich in a Letter to Mr. Haak a Fellow of the R. S. concerning the Icy MOUNTAINS of Helvetia call'd the GLETSCHER gives him this Account The Highest ICY MOUNTAINS of Helvetia about Valesia and Augusta in the Canton of Bern about Paminium and Tavetsch of the Rhaetians are always seen cover'd with Snow The Snow melted by the heat of the Summer other Snow being faln within in a little while after is hardned into ICE which by little and little in a long tract of time depurating it self turns into a Stone not yielding in hardness and clearness to Crystal Such Stones closely joyned and compacted together compose a whole MOUNTAIN and that a very firm one though in Summer time the Country People have observ'd it to burst asunder with great cracking Thunder-like Which is also well known to Hunters to their great cost for as much as such Cracks and Openings being by the Winds cover'd with Snow are the Death of those that pass over them PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 49. Monsieur Iustel in an Enlargement upon this very Subject says that the ICY-MOUNTAIN call'd the GLETSCHER is very high and extends it self every year more and more over the Neighbouring Meadows by increments that make a great noise and cracking There are great Holes and Caverns which are made when the ICE bursts which happens at all times but especially in the Dog-days Hunters do there hang up their Game they take during the great heat to make it keep sweet by that means Very little of the Surface melts in Summer and all freezes again in the Night When the Sun shineth there is seen such a variety of Colours as in a Prism There is such another MOUNTAIN near
Fringe at each end being three Inches more so that the whole was just a Foot in length and the breadth was just half a Foot There were two Proofs of its resisting Fire given at London One before some of the Members of the R. Society privately Aug. 20.1684 when Oyl was permitted to be poured upon it whilst red hot to enforce the Violence of the Fire Before it was put into the Fire this First Tryal it weighed one Ounce Six Drams Sixteen Grains and lost in the burning Two Drams Five Grains The Second Experiment of it was publick before the SOCIETY Nov. 12. following when it weighed as appears by the Iournal of the SOCIETY before it was put into the Fire One Ounce Three Drams 18 Grains Being put into a clear Charcoal Fire it was permitted to continue Red hot in it for several Minutes When taken out though red hot it did not consume a piece of White Paper on which it was laid It was presently Cool and upon weighing it again was found to have lost one Dram Six Grains PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 172. That this LINNEN was very well known to the Ancients beside that of Pliny we have the further Testimony of Caelius Rhodiginus who agrees with the aforesaid Account in Mr. Waites Letter to Dr. Plot placing both the Materials and Manufacture of it in India and Paulus Venetus more particularly in Tartary the Emperour whereof He says sent a piece of it to Pope Alexander It is also mentioned by Varro and Turnebus in his Commentary upon him De lingua Latina And by all of them as a thing inconsumable by Fire In these latter Ages Georg. Agricola tells us that there was a Mantle of this LINNEN at Vereburg in Saxony and Simon Majolus says He saw another of it at Lovain exposed to the Fire Salmuth also acquaints us that one â—odocattarus a Cyprian Knight shew'd it publickly at Venice throwing it into the Fire without scruple or hurt and Mr. Lassells saw a piece of it in the Curious Cabinet of Manfred Septalla Canon of Milan Mr. Ray was shew'd a Purse of it by the Prince Palatin at Heidleberg which he saw put into a Pan of burning Charcoal till it was red hot which when taken out and cool he could not perceive had receiv'd any harm and we are told in the Burgundian Philosophy of a long Rope of it sent from Signior Bocconi to the French King and kept by Monsieur Marchand in the King's Gardens at Paris which tho' steeped in Oyle and put in the Fire is not consumed To which add that we have now seen a piece of this LINNEN pass the fiery Trial both at London and Oxford So that it seems to have been known in all Ages all describing it after the same manner as a thing so insuperable by Fire that it only Cleanses and makes it better Dr. ROB. PLOT in the PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 172. The said Dr. saith that this INCOMBUSTIBLE CLOTH is now of no Mean value even in the Country where made a China Covet that is a piece 23 Inches and three Quarters long being worth 80 Tale that is Thirty Six Pounds Thirteen Shillings and four pence PVRCHAS saith that in Fanfur a Kingdom of Iava in the East-Indies there is a Tree of a great bigness and length the Pitâ— whereof is Meal which they put in water and stir well the lightest dross swimming and the purest settling to the bottom and then the water being cast away they makethere of Paste which tasts just like Barly Bread The Wood of this Tree thrown into water sinks like Tron hereof they make Lances but short for if they were long they would be too heavy for use These they sharpen and burn at the tops which so prepar'd will pierce Armour sooner than if they were made of Iron PVRCH. Pilg. Vol. 3. Pag. â—04 In great Iava they say there is a Tree 〈◊〉 Pith is Iron It is very small â—et runs from the top to the bottom of the Plant. The Fruit that grows on it is not to be pierc'd with Iron IVL. SCALIG Exercit. 181. Sect. 27. In the Island Câ—mbubon there grows a Tree whose Leaves fallen upon the ground do move and creep It hath Leaves like the Mulberry Tree They have on both sides that which looks like two little feet pressed they yield no Liquor If you touch them they flye from you One of them kept eight days in a Dish liv'd and moved as oft as one touch'd it IVL. SCALIG Exercit. 112. The SENSITIVE PLANT is somewhat of this Nature which contracts it self if any one puts his hand to it and if you pull back your hand it recovers it self again Observations concerning MOVNTAINS SOme have thought that MOUNTAINS and all other Irregularities in the Earth have rise from Earthquakes and such like Causes Others have thought that they came from the Vniversal Deluge yeâ— not from any Dissolution of the Earth that was then but only from the great agitation of the Waters which broke the ground into this rude and unequal Form Both these Causes seem to me very incompetent and insufficient Earthquakes seldom make MOUNTAINS they often take them away and sink them down into the Caverns that lie under them Besides Earthquakes are not in all Countries and Climats as MOUNTAINS are for as we have observ'd more than once there is neither Island that is Original nor Continent any where in the Earth in what Latitude soever but hath MOUNTAINS and Rocks in it And lastly what probability is there or how is it credible that those vast Tracts of Land which we see fill'd with MOUNTAINS both in Europe Asia and Africa were rais'd by Earthquakes or any Eruptions from below In what Age of the World was this done and why not continued As for the Deluge I douâ—t not but MOUNTAINS were made in the time of the General Deluge that great Change and Transformation of the Earth happen'd then but not from such Causes as are pretended that is the bare rowling and agitation of the Waters For if the Earth was smooth and plain before the Flood as they seem to suppose as well as we do the Waters could have little or no power over a smooth Surface to tear it any way in pieces no more than they do a Meadow or low Ground when they lie upon it for that which makes Torrents and Land Floods violent is their fall from the MOUNTAINS and high Lands which our Earth is now full of but if the Rain fell upon even and Level Ground it would only sadden and compress it there is no possibility how it should raise MOUNTAINS in it And if we could imagine an Vniversal Deluge as the Earth is now constituted it would rather throw down the Hills and MOUNTAINS than raise new ones or by beating down their Tops and loose parts help to fill the Valleys and bring the Earth nearer to evenness and plainness Seeing then there are no hopes of Explaining the Origin of MOUNTAINS