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
light which shines to men in the night not that it is put out in the day by the Sun beams but that the medium being enlightned admits of the more forcible species the lesser and weaker is carried through the medium unperceived Scalig. exerc 6.2 Historians observe that they have been seen in the day-time and not without some token In Commodus his times they were seen a whole day some were drawn forth at length as though they were fastned in the Ayre The slaughter of the Parthians followed civill warrs and the killing of five Emperours in one year The same thing was seen in the raign of Constantius from Sun rising till noon about Sun set the Sun first appeared with crooked horns and then but halfe some suppose it was an Eclipse Cardanus saw two at Millan l. 14. de varietat rer c. 70. One Anno 1511 and the French were driven out of Italy another 1535 and the death of Francis Sforâ—ia followed and because he died childless the Prince was changed Charls took the Government Lastly the 9th of June this yeare there was one seen in England before noon when a solemn thanksgiving was made to God for the birth of the Prince of Wales we were certified that some French men saw the same at Diep the same time There is a wonderfull matter in their motion Besides their own which is made from North to South upon the poles of Aries and Libra they are said to be drawn by the 9th sphere from west to east Hence it comes that they are all moved from their places Braheus saith in a hundred yeares they are drawn back one degree 25 minuts Meto who florished in the 130th yeare after Thales observed the Starr of Aries to be in the Equinoctiall Timochares that it gain'd two degrees Hipparchus four and nine minuts Ptolomy 6 and 40 minuts Albategnius 18 and 12 minuts Alphonsus 23 and 48 minutes Vernerus 26 and 54 minutes Bodinus 28 and 20 minuts The bright one in the utmost tayle of the little dog which is for the pole Starr Hipparchus observed to be 12 degrees distant from the pole of the world we see it but almost three now adays Cardan saith that the heads of the motions of this Orbe will be not only in contrary places in the year 1800 but the motion will be contrary also and he collects from thence that there will be strange alterations in the Christian religion de varietat rer l. 2. c. 3. CHAP. IV. Of the Five Planets THe wandring Stars are called Planets The Ancients accounted them to be seven Those of our times have added four about Jupiter and no fewer about Saturn Each of them hath its own sphere its nodes epicycle and its aequant Their motion is more free than the rest sometimes they are present with mortals sometimes they depart from them Hence arise the names of Aux and Absis Peregaeum and Apogaeum amongst Astronomers But so great is the difference that Saturn requires 30 years Jupiter 12 Mars 2 Venus 360 dayes and Mercury as many Venus is a Planet by her sirnames that stands in aemulation with the Sun and Moon For rising before the Sun she is called Lucifer like another Sun hastening the day again shining in the West she is called Vesper or the Evening Star as prolonging the light and standing in place of the Moon Plin. l. 2. c. 9. The cause of their wandring motion some ascribe to the Sun who either by its beams sets them forward or removes them on one side oâ— departing from them lets them remain in their own places Extraordinary influences Medicaments Baths Phlebotomy Plantings choice of businesse change of the Ayr are by some tyed to the hour of their position It is observed that the Plague growes fierce about Wittenburg when Saturn moves in Leo or Sagittarius and abateâ— by the accesse of Mars the same thing is threatned to them at Norimberg by the signs of Gemini or Sagittarius Those that Mars and Saturn being in the angles assayle with a quartile aspect are short-lived if they passe their Infancy it will be difficult for them to attain the flower of youth their conjunction increaseth their force If Mars and Venus are in conjunction when one is born the concupiscible appetite is contaminated more if it be in Capricorn and Mercury be present By the concurrence of Mars Mercury and the Moon men have subtile wits Peucerus l. de divinat s. de Astrologia But this is a lesser conjunction That is a great Conjunction which is made by Saturn and Jupiter one happened in the seventy year and 200 dayes The signs of the Zodiack are run through that at the beginning of the first meeting there may be a conjunction of the Planets the Learned called it a revolution Alsted in thesauro Chronologico There are seven reckoned since the World was made and constant observation hath proved that none of them ever came without some notable alteration All things were heroicall in the first conjunction at the second men despised Noah's preaching at the third there were great pressures in Egypt The fourth was 17 years after when Rome began to be built the fifth was in the 26th year of Christ. The Bishops of Rome pretended the Donation of Pipin and Constantine when the sixth was The seventh was in the sign of Sagittarius in the year I was born in 1603. the last was in Leo 1623. what this shall produce God knowes The City of Rome about the 800th year under its fiery sight was thought to be renewed At the beginning of that happened the dispersing of the Jews what if about the end of it the calling of them again may be CHAP. V. Of the Sun Artic. 1. Of the Greatnesse and Unity of the Sun EPicurus thought the Sun to be an accidentall Globe and fire but an earthly grosse Body Anaximander thought it was red-hot Iron the Peruvians think it a GOD and so did Aurelianus a Prince of old May the gods do it and the Sun the created god in Vopisco Porphyry writes that it was adored in the East under the name of Mytra in his Comment de Nymph cultu And Macrobius shews l. 1. Saturn cap. 17. That all the gods of the Gentiles were extended to the Sun After him Cluverius Polyhistor in Germ. antiqua So great reverence was there toward it in the minds of the Gentiles It is with us the Principall Planet and the great Luminary It is greater than the Earth 167 times and it is distant from the Earth in its Apogaeum 1012868 miles Kecherm in his Astronomy It is but one and where is there room for more in so great a magnitude yet there are more also That is but one of which we speak the rest are but figures and draughts of this one beautifull Sun The Philosophers call them Parelia they have alwaies some future signification as we frequently observe and find it In 1514. there were 3. seen in each there was a bloody
cleare to discusse these Clowds Abraham Bucholzerus with Mirandula and Reusnerus saith it was created before the said Epoche 3970 yeares Buntingius 3968 Mercator 3967 Scaliger 3947 Beroaldus 3929 Broughtonus 3928 Pareus 3927 Pavellus 4022. Hitherto Scaliger hath been preferr'd yet it is thought that Pavellus hath discovered his imperfection The uncertainty concerning its end is greater Macrobius defines it by 15000 years Orpheus by 12000 Cassander counts 30 times 6000000. Berâ—sus as Seneca saith contends that the earth shall be burnt when all the Starrs meet in Cancer and a flood should be in Capricorn Amongst Christians Liborovius will have it to be 1666 Rossinus 1656. Libavius in declam de comet anni 1604 Cusanus 1700 or else the space that goes before 1734. That as after the first Adam they are Cusanus hiâ— words the consumption of sin came in the 34th Jubile by the waters of the flood in the days of Noah according to Philo so we conjecture that after the second Adam in the 34th Jubile shall come the consumption of sin by fire Nancelius cites it in analog Microcosm cum Macrocosmo l. ult Augustinus and Lactantius define it by 6000 yeares Alstedius holds the term to be uncertain but it is certain it shall not be before the yeare of Christ 2694 in Thesauro Chronolog c. 6. et diatrib de mille annis A certain friend dreams of some thousands Napeirus is of one mind Copernicus of another What shall we say to this It is not in man to declare these things or to know them the Angells know them not nor yet the Son of man God hath kept these times in his own power Thomas speaks true All those that undertook to determine the time of the end of the world have been found false and so shall all that shall undertake the same hereafter Be the time never so uncertain yet certain it is it shall have an end The word of God saith it The Heavens and the Earth shall passe away Luc. 21.23 Christ in Mathew 23 foreshews the forerunning signs The Stoicks set down the manner in the flood and in the consuming by fire and the Hebrews seem to consent For they affirm that the Sea should ascend above the Mountains tops 40 cubits Petrus Comestor in Nancelius Aristotle and Plato universally deny it It is known by the word of God to Christians that the world perished by the flood and the burning of it is expected For St. Peter saith c. 2. and 3. but the Heavens that now are and the earth are reserved for the fire at the day of Judgment But whether there shall be another world differing essentially from this or this shall be renewd wherein we live is a question The Apostle saith The fashion of this world passeth away the holy Fathers Basil Eusebius do imply an alteration and Seneca in his disputes Every creature shall be generated anew and a Man shall be given to the earth that knows no wickednesse and bred from better principles yet he adds Their innocence shall not last longer then while they are first bred for wickednesse will soon break in He differs from us because he makes eternal innovations which we admit not The censure of Tatianus against the Gentiles Doth any man determin God to be a Body I think He is without a Body Do's he think the world incorruptible I think It is corruptible That it shall be burnt by degrees I think it shall be but once for ever Artic. 5. Of the hidden qualities of natural bodies I Said that natural bodies were containd in the world now I say that they are so ordered that they have their peculiar vertues and in some things they are partakers Every one hath its nature they are containd in place measur'd by time defined by number they begin they perish they move augment diminish they act and suffer Amongst the rest hidden qualities are admirable according to which there is either consent in things or jarring and discord Philosophers call this sympathy and antipathy The first and second qualities are no causes of these things examples of them are spred through the whole field of Nature The raging Elephant growes calme if he see a Ram and if he see a Rhinoreros he is angry The tender flesh of sheep bitten by a Wolfe and the wooll woven also will breed Worms Cattel almost dead and men faint are revived by the smell of bread Pencerus de divin sect de Astrolog Porphyrio a bird will dye if it look on a Whore Woodpeckers will with grasse drive out wedges A Stag draws out Arrows with dittany The venome of the Tarantula is driven away by the sound of Musick and dancing by measure Alexander ab Alexan. l. 2. genial dier Many will sweat if a Cat be present Quercetan in diaetetica and make water at the sound of the harp Scalig. excerc 344. s. 6. One was driven from a feast at the sight of Apples if we credit Quercetan A boy's lips swelled by eating of eggs and his face was spotted with black spots Marcel A Monk saith Lusitanus swounded at the smell of a Rose Another hated bread and flesh and lived only upon eggs One espied an old woman at a feast and could not endure her and when he was forced to stay he was carried forth dead One swounded with the combing of his hair Demohon the builder of Alexandria was cold in the Sun or a hot Bath and hot in the shade The same is said of a certain Idiot that clothed himself with skins in Summer but went naked in Winter Pontanus his dog would eat no Cocks flesh but Scholtzius his would houl lamentably when the strings of a Lute were wound higher But when they were tuned as they should be and sounded harmoniously he was quiet I say no more Libavius de Antipathia rerum The cause of all these things is hid But it is certain that the most eminent of them arise from those qualities that both agree with their forms and are moved by the force of them The knowledg of secret forces appertaine to natural magick wherein we had need of a wonderfull caution Alvernius lib. de universo writes that Turnsoil will make men invisible and that quicksilver put between two reeds will hinder witchcraft That Rue taken away by stealth Basil planted with a feast will grow the more abundantly saith Trievius de Daemon decep and he adds that 7 grains of a certain hearb cast amongst the guests at a drinking feast will make them fight up to the eares in Blood These are fooleries and confuted by propounding them Delrius l. 1. disquis Magic c. 3. Artic. 6. Of Gods Providence in the World GOd was not pleased onely to make all these things but he would have them all under his Government and Providence Hence comes the preservation of the beings and vertues of things and the disposing of them all after the freedom of his will the wise ordering of all things In this are the ends set orderly
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
In the Warr of Mithridates at Apamaea a City of Phrygia new Lakes Pools Fountains and Rivers came forth many of the old ones being suckt in and amongst these one was salt that put forth an infinite plenty of Fish and Oysters and yet Apamaea is far distant from the Sea Nicolaus Damascenus During the second Punick Warr there were such great Earthquakes at Liguria and the parts neer unto it so far as the Sea of Tyrrhenum that the Rivers ran the contrary ways The most wonderfull Earthquake was in Hereford here in England in the year of Grace after the 15 century 71 the 12 of the Calâ—nds of March at six a Clock at night the Earth parted in the Eastern part of the County and a Mountain with a Rock under it first with a wonderfull noise and roaring that the neighbour parts might hear it as if it had been raised out of a long sleep lifted up it self and ascended into an upper place leaving its deep Chamber and it carryed with it the Trees that grâ—w upon it the folds and slooks of sheep some of the Trees lay overwhelmed with the Earth others were joyned to the Mountain and grew there as well as if they had been there planted at first It left the place from whence it came with a great pit 40 foot broad and 80 els long The whole field was about twenty Acres It overthrew a Chappel in its way It carryed a Peare Tree that was planted in the Church-yard from West to East and with the same force it thrust forward high ways Paths Hedges with Trees that grew in them It made pasture ground of arable and arable again of pasture It rolled against the upper ground and being driven with greater violence it heaped it up into a high Mountain so when it had passed up and down from Saturday evening till Munday noon it rested quiet This is Cambdens description of it The Philosophers call this kind of Earthquake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this may be referred the Earthquake in Apulia Anno. 1627 it was open above 200 miles and overthrow great part of the City St. Severus Sarra Capreola Dragonora Procina of St. Lyander it laid hold on Assolum Bovinium Troia Andria Tranium Foggita Campus Marinus Remitium Itistonium Franca Villa Asanum Consilinum c Also it killed 17 thousand Men. It is certain that it brings with it not only present mischiefs but it is a forerunner of mischiefs to follow Rome had never any Earth-quake that did not foreshew some future eventâ— Pliny l. 2. c. 64. Socrates saith it foretells of discords in religion wherefore what the Romans did of former times by appointing holydays by injunction let us do the same They might feare lest by naming one God for an other they might induce the people to a false religion but we know that God by whose power the Earth is shaken CHAP. VIII Of Rain THere is a great difference in respect of the abundance of Rain in time and other circumstances and very wonderfull no lesse variety than there is in dayes and oft-times greater if you respect extraordinary things In Ahab's days it rained not for 3. years It never rains in Cyrenica The harvest there is onely that which for the hasty ripening of things by reason of the Sun or Ayr or Winds useth to come to passe It is reported that from sowing of Seed it is but 30 days to the harvest Maiolus Colloq 1. About Uraba a City of the New World it rains most part of the year and therefore the drops hang alwayes on the trees Hispal p. 5. c. 26. It never rains in Winter amongst the Tartars but oft in Summer But in the Country of Mexico the drops fall with such force that they are said to kill men If you consider the substance it is common water that is the matter of it yet examples shew that it hath been of another kind oft times It rained blood sometimes in Borussia Thuan. l. 27. in the Island Pelagia gold in Lucania iron before the Parthian War in which Crassus was slain Ammian l. 17. It rained Corn in Carinthia for two hours above two miles space of which they made bread Thuan. l. 5. de Anno 1548. Stones fell with rain as big as Hens eggs wherein were pictures of mens countenances and Diadems Lintur ad fascic Anno 1496. Ashes rained in the time of Leo which lay a little hands heighth upon the tyles Niceph. l. 15. c. 20. In the Wood Neuholen they say that a great piece of Iron fell out of the Ayr like to the drosse and it weighed many pounds so that it was too heavy to carry and no Cart could carry it because the wayes were unpassible Agricola observ Metal c. 8. In Egypt it frequently rains very small drops Mice breed of them that use to gnaw and cut the ears of Corn Aelian l. 6. c. 40. Also in Thebais when it rains with hail Mice are said to appear in the earth half mud half flesh Aelian l. 2. c. 56. But that is most wonderful if it be not a Fable that Olâ—us l. 18. and Ziglerus hath in Norway concerning the Northern Creatures And from them Scaliger hath it Exerc. 192. Sect. 3. Lemer bestiolae There are four-footed Creatures as big as field Mice of a divers coloured skin they fall in tempests and showers we know not whether they come from the remote Islands or from foeculent clowds Assoon as they fall you shall find herbs in their bowels raw not digested These like Locusts eat up all green things this plague continues till green herbs come again They come together like Swallows departing they either dye at the set time or are devoured by Lefrat other little Beasts We were told by our Master the famous Doctor Menelaus Vinsenius Doctor of Physick and Professor in the University of Frisia that it rained Frogs in Ameland which admits of no Frogs To conclude in Velaunium there rained from Heaven so many Caterpillars in one night that they were forced for two dayes to burn straw to kill them creeping in their houses all the men and women there were hardly sufficient to perform this work Dalechaâ—p ad l. 2. Pliny c. 56. Sennertus thinks that Creatures that can breed of putrifaction are bred either of some matter watred by rain or else they lying hid in the bowels of the Earth are called forth but more perfect Creatures and stones come another way yet he thinks that many of these ought to be referred to superiour Causes CHAP. IX Of Snow and Hail IN the Winter there is an infinite abundance of Snow with us but there is none in the deep Sea Pliny l. 2. c. 103. Nor is there any such in Aethiopia Alvarez de reb Aethiop But it is greater in the North. Sometimes great Trees being in the way it all sticks upon the boughes and the Ayr stops it that it can fall no lower making as it were a vaulted Gallery It is said to have beaten down
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
being kept 3. years in a Cage and fed if they can find opportunity they will flie away There is such plenty of the wild ones that they cover all the waters but they live no where but in warm Countries In the Winter that they may not be Frozen in by an instinct of nature they swim circularly and on one side they keep the waters open and cry so lowd that they may be heard When the cold grows too violent they flye aloft to the Sea Olaus l. 19. c. 6. The Hollanders brought the Bird Emme from Java it is twice as great as a Swan black and with black wings But out of two originalls there proceed two more as it is with the Ostrich It wants wings and a tongue on the top of the head it hath a buckler as hard as a Tortesse-shell like a Target It would swallow Apples as big as ones fist and lumps of Ice also burning Coles and all without any hurt Aldrovand CHAP. VII Of Barnacles THere is a bird in Britanny that the English call Barnacles and Brant Geese the Scotch call them Clakguse It is lesse than a wild Goose the breast is somwhat black the rest Asâ—-colour It flies as wild Geese do cries and haunts Lakes and spoiles the Corne. The learned question the original of it very much For some say it breeds from rotten wood some from Apples some of fruit that is like to heaps of leaves which when at the time appointed it falls into the water that is under it it revives and becomes a living Creature It grows in the Isle Pomonia in Scotland toward the North. And of this opinion is Isidore Alexander ab Alexandro Olaus Magnus Gesner Boetius and others contrarily Albertus and those that are of his mind hold that they breed by copulation The Hollanders from their own experience in Greenland affirm they found some Barnacles sitting on egs and had young ones But these things may agree together for things bred of corruption may have eggs and that seems also most clear that Boetius hath written concerning them That every man may perceive they are not fabulous I shall set it down Now it remains that we speak of those Geese which they call Clak-Geese and which commonly they think amisse to be bred upon Trees in these Islands of which we were for a long time very inquisitive and have found by experience For I think the Sea between is the greater cause of their generation than any thing else For things are bred in the Sea variously as we have observed For if you throw wood into the Sea in time Worms breed in it that by degrees have a head feet wings and lastly feathers Lastly they are as great as Geese when they are full grown they flye upward as other birds do using their wings to carry them through the ayre which is as clear as day and was seen in the yeare from the Virgins conception 1490 Many looking on For when some of this wood was carried by the Waves to the Castle Pethschlâ—ge in great quantity they that first espied it wondred and ran to the Governour and tell him this strange news The Governour came and bid them Saw the Log in sunder then they saw an infinite sort of living Creatures that were partly Worms some not formed others were and were partly birds and some of them were callow some had feathers Wondring at the miracle at the Governours command they carried that Log into the Church of St. Andrew at Tira where it yet remaines full of Worm holes as it was The like to this two yeares after was brought into Tham by the tide to Bruthe Castle many ran to see it which again two yeares after at Leith in the Harbour all Edenburgh came to see For a great ship that had the name and the ensigne of Christopher when it had been 3 whole yeares at Anchor in one of the Hebrides was brought back hither and drawn on land that part of it that was alwaies under the Sea had the beames eaten through and was full of Worms of this kind partly unformed not yet like birds and partly those that were perfect Birds But it may be some man will cavill at it and say that there is such a vertue in the boughs and stocks of Trees that grow in those Islands and that the Christopher it self was made of the wood growing in those Hebrides wherefore I shall willingly declare what I saw 7 yeares since Alexander Gallovidianus Pastor of the Church of Kilâ—y a man besides his great integrity incomparable for his care in study of wonders when he had pull'd forth some Sea weeds from the stalks and boughs and likewise from the root that grew up to the top where they joynd he perceived some shell fish-breed he frighted with the novelty of the matter presently opened them to know farther and then he wondred far more than before For he saw no flesh shut up in the shells but which is wonderful a bird Wherefore he ran presently to me whom he a long time knew desirous to know such new things and shew'd it me who was not more astonished at the sight of it as I rejoyced at the occasion to see a thing so rare and unheard of By this I think it is evident enough that these are not the seeds of breeding of Birds in fruits of roots of Trees but in the Sea it self which Virgil and Homer rightly term the Father of all things But because they saw that come to passe vvhen the Apples fell from the Trees that grevv on the shore into the vvaters that by continuance of time Birds appeared in them they vvere of that opinion that they believed the Apples vvere turned into Birds c. Thus far Boetius Reader thou may'st judge of it for my part I admire at Gods providence and at the end of this Classis by vvay of Appendix I shall add some thing out of the discourse of Majerus concerning the Tree-Bird CHAP. VIII Of the Owl and Catarrhacta THe Owl builds in the highest Rocks that sometimes it is hard to find her eggs for its young Pliny saith comes forth by the tail out of the egg because the eggs being reversed by weight of their heads brings the hinder part to be fostered by the dam. It is said That in Churches she drinks up the oyl she not onely kills Birds but Hares also A Duck hath been found in one cut open The brain of it with Goose-grease doth wonderfully joyn wounds The Catarrhacta hath a wonderful way of sitting on her eggs if that be true that Oppianus hath written She layes Sea-weed upon her eggs on a rock and so leaves them open to the winds Hence the male catcheth those eggs he thinks sit to breed the males and the female doth the like for the females then they carry them up on high with their Talons and so let them fall into the Sea doing this often they grow hot by motion and the young ones are
principall parts and the heart The Gyrsaulcons are of divers kinds They are some white found in Moscovy Norway Ireland They are bold If one of them be let fly at five Cranes he will follow them all till he have killed them The food of it reserved in its Cave it will take in order She never wets her self with water but onely with sand She loves the cold so well that she will alwayes delight to stand upon ice or upon a cold stone sometimes untaught she is sold for 50 Nobles There is a Faulcon called Ruâ—eus because the spots that are white in the rest are red and black in this kind yet they seem not to be so but when she stretcheth forth her wings The cause of this rednesse is a feeble colour infused into the superficies of the body and inflaming the smoaky moysture which is put forth to breed the feathers CHAP. XVII Of a Hen and Cock HEns in the Kingdom of Senega are thrice greater than ours there are many near to Thessalonica some lay two eggs that is with two yolks which are parted by a partition that they may not be confounded Aristot. in mirabil reports that some have laid â—â— double ones and to have hatcht them one chicken was greater than another and at last it became a Monster In Macedonia there was one Hen which once laid 18 eggs and hatcht two young chickens at once saith Pierius l. 24. Hieroglyph But their eggs as also dâ—uer birds eggs are first conceived above where the partition is where first it is seen to be faint and white as Aristot. writes than red and bloody and as it increaseth it becomes all yellow but as it more increaseth it is distinguished so that the yellow part is inward and the white goes outwardly about it when it is perfect it is finished and comes forth of the shell soft at first hatching but presently it growes hard The place of its perfection is the Matrix it self into which they fall Aldrovand l. 14. Ornithol Some report also that a Cock layes an egge when he is 9. or 14. years old and they suppose it proceeds from seed putrified or ill humours concurring together It is thought to be round and to be laid about the rising of the Dog-star For the expulsive faculty being then weak is helped in an aged Cock by the outward heat With Ferrans Imperatus an Apothecary one was seen that was long fashioned Aldrovand The Cocks are wonderful falacious for they will tread the Hens 50 times a day and they have been seen to ejaculate their seed when they but saw the Hen or heard her note Aelian There was an old Law as Plutarch saith in Libro Num bruta ratione careant That if one Cock trod another he should be burnt alive When he finds he is too full of blood he will scratch his comb till he fetch blood All men know he Crowes in the morning Some say the cause is the Love he hath to the Sun some to his venery others to his desire of meat The Mahumetans say they answer a Cock that crowes in heaven Keckerm in Physicis The first reason seems something for he will crow when he is full also and after copulation also he crowes when the Hen is present but when he is gelt he crowes no more Plin. Yet l. 29. c. 4. he saith That a circle of Vine-twigs tied about his neck he will not sing Albertus saith if his head and forehead be anointed with oyl He is at great Amity with the Kings-Fisher that if they be both in the same house and the Kings-Fisher dye the Cock will dye with hunger They that have fed on Fox flesh boyl'd are free for two moneths from their Treachery Boetius As for a Dung-hill Cock Gesner saith he found it in a German Manuscript that a Noble-man having tryed all remedies for pains of the Collick and finding none at length he drank a small cup of Capons-grease unsalted boyl'd in water But saith he you must drink the fat that swims on the top as hot as you can CHAP. XVIII Of the Crane and the Woodwall THe Cranes travell all over the World Yet Aldrovandus saith he scarce believes that they will live willingly in all Countries l. 20. The Aspera arteria of them is set into the flesh on both sides at the Breast-bone whence you may hear a Crane afar off They travel but no time is set yet how swiftly they fly is manifest by the example of Cyrus who was said so to have disposed of his Posts at certain stages that when one was weary another should proceed night and day that they out-went the Cranes that flew When they fly they keep a triangular sharp angled figure that they may the easier pierce through the Ayr that is against them That Crane that gathers the rest together will correct them as Isidorus saith When one is hoarse another succeeds When they light upon the Earth to feed the Captain of them holds up his head to keep watch for the rest and they feed securely Before they take rest they appoint another Sentinel who may stand and ward with his neck stretched forth whilest the rest are asleep with their heads under their wings and standing upon one leg The Captain goes about the Camp and if there be any danger he â—laries Lest they should sleep too soundly they stand upon one foot and hold a stone in the other above ground that if at any time being weary they should be oppressed with sleep the stone falling might awaken them They love their young ones so much that they will fight whether shall give them their breeding Albertus saw a maleâ—Crane cast down a female and kill her giving her eleven wounds with his bill because she had drawn away his young ones from following of him This fell out at Colen where tame Cranes use to breed Those are fables that men relate of the Battels between the Pigmies and the Cranes The Woodwall hangs up her nest on the boughs like a Cup that no four-footed beast can come at it The nest is like to the fashion of a Rams-stones Albert. Magn. Some say there is Silk â—ound in it and that rhe nest is built not far from the water made of moss and the cords it hangs by are horse hairs She leaves Italy when Arcturus ariseth As she hangs down she sleeps upon her feet hoping for more safety thereby Plin. l. 10. c. 32. When she comes into Germany there is great hopes that Winter for Snow and Frost is gone CHAP. XIX Of the Chough IT is thought that the Choughs feed on Locusts besides Corn because the Inhabitants of the Island Lemnos were reported to worship these birds because they flew to destroy the Locusts Plin. l. 10. c. 29. The males will rather lose their lives than part with their females They fly at the eyes of him that holds them The reason is rendred by Nicolaus Leonicus because the eyes are shining and very
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
fountain of good vapours is compared to beneficiall Jupiter the bladder of the Gall contains the fiery fury of Mars and the loose spungy flesh of the Milt which is the receptacle of melancholique humours doth perfectly represent the cold Planet of Saturn And if you please to proceed farther I can say boldly that the Elements Seas Winds are here shadowed forth The spirits of Mans body do set forth Heaven the quintessence of all things The four humours expresse the four Elements Hot dry choler represents the Fire blood-hot and moyst the Ayr flegme cold and moyst the Water melancholy cold and dry the Earth So the belly of Man is the Earth fruitful of all fruits The hollow vein is the Mediterranean Sea the Bladder the Western Sea into which all the Rivers discharge themselves and the superfluous salt which is resolved is collected He hath the East in his Mouth the West in his Fundament the South in his Navel the North in his Back Europe Asia Africa and America may summarily be described in Man Wherefore Abdalas the Barbarian said well that the body of Man is an admirable thing and Protagoras call'd Man The measure of all things Theophrastus The pattern of the Universe and Epitome of the World Synesius The horizon of corporeall and incorporeall things And lastly we may truly cry out with Zoroastres O Man the Workmanship of most powerfull Nature for it is the most artificiall Master-piece of Gods hands CHAP. II. Of Nutrition Article 1. Of the harmlesse feeding on venomous things IF we regard Histories we can hardly doubt but that venomous things may by custome become nutrimental For many learned men having written thus they ought to be of credit Avicenna Rufus and Gentilis speak of a young Maid who was fed with poysonous creatures from her tender age and her breath was venom to those that stood by her Albertus writes That at Colonia Agrippina there was a man that held Spiders for his daintiest meat One Porus a King of the Indies used poyson every day that he might kill other men There was one who killed venomous creatures that bit him Avicenna l. 8. de anim c. 2. It is a known History of a young Maid fed with poyson with which the Persian Kings kill'd other men In Hellespont the Ophyogenes feed on Serpents One that was delighted with the same food when he was cast into a vessell fill'd with Serpents received no harm Pliny and Athenagoras of Greece could never be hurt by Scorpions and the Aethiopians that are Inhabitants by the River Hyaspis made brave cheer of Serpents and Vipers Galen saith That an old Woman of Athens eat a great quantity of Hemlock which did her no hurt Hypoth the Empirick writes that another took 30 drams of it and received no harm and he saith further That one Lysis eat 4 drams of Opium The Thracian Dame made gallant victualls of handfulls of Hellebor Lastly King Mithridates could not poyson'd bee He drinking poyson oft grew poyson-free If you search the cause of it you shall find divers First is every mans natural property by reason of which Stares feed on Hemlock Sows on Henbane with delight Then there is a certain proportion of poyson for this changeth the power of the poyson and the disposition of the subject Again the strength or weaknesse of the body Conciliator saith he saw four men feeding on venomous meats one dyed suddenly two were dangerously sick and the fourth escaped To this adde the force of the composition and the quantity the variety of the time and place wherein they are collected So Trassius Mantinensis gathered his Hemlock in the coldest places that he might sooner kill men Theophrastus shews l. 9. hist. Plant. that at Chios there was a certain way to compound it to make it effectuall One stung by a Scorpion may live many dayes and one stung by Ammodites may live 7 dayes Chersydrus kills in 3. days a Viper in 3. hours a Basilisk suddenly Lastly the history of a woman that sought to poyson her husband proves that poyson growes more effectuall by being mingled with poysons of the same kind and lesse by being mingled with poysons of a contrary kind Also it is certain that hot poysons cannot be conquer'd for Sublimate by its extream corroding cannot be concocted by nature and Napellus kills by its extremity of heat Article 2. Of the eating of other unusuall Meats NAncelius l. 3. Analog writes of a Maid delighted to feed on dung and he relates that a certain Noble-man did greedily sup up the liquid dung of Maids Fernelius l. 6. Pathol. c. 3. tells of a Maid that eat quicklime as great as a mans Fist. Trincavellus tells of one l. 7. c. 5. that eat threds out of Garments Lusitanus c. 3. cur 86 of one that eat Bombasse and Wooll Marcellus Histor. mirab l. 4. c. 1. of one that eat Lizards A woman that was fifty years old eat Tartar Nicolaus serm 5. tract 4. c. 36. Camerarius speaks of another eat hair This may happen in a particular disease which in women with Child is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Virgins and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the cause is a vicious naughty humour impacted in the coats of the stomack or bred in the same by ill diet or coming thither from the matrix Hence for the three first months especially it happens to women great with Child when they vomit and the Child consumes not much It troubles maids when their courses are stopt But it is hard to say how such an appetite should proceed from this cause and it is better to ascribe it to a hidden quality than to commit an absurdity in what is manifest But what is reported of one Lazarus that he would eat glasse stones Wood Living creatures and Live-fish and we were told by the famous Winsemius in praelection anatomic that a Country man in Frisland would do the same for money that seems to proceed from the fault of the nerves For in him when he was dissected the fourth conjugation of nervs that is produced in other men for the benefit of their tast neither came to his tongue nor palate but was turned back to the hinder part of his head as Columbus observed Anatom l. 15. Some also think a man may be nourished by smells and some Histories say it hath been done Rondeletius de piscib saith that one at Rome lived 40 yeares only by the Ayre and Laertius reports that Democritus the Abderite a Philosopher lived four days by smelling of bread steeped in Wine that he might not profane the feasts of Ceres Cardanus l. 8. de varietate rerum c. 41 saith that men may live longer only by contemplation Lastly Megasthenes writes that at the farthermost part of the Indies from the East about the River Ganges there is a Nation call'd Astomores people that have no mouth their body is all hairy and they are clothed with the mosse of boughs they live only by 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
is somtimes found so hard and congeal'd that it is almost as hard as a stone Eustach de Renib c. 45. Saxonia saw the substance of them resolved into little peices of flesh Stones also are bred in them of a faeculent matter mingled with a salt and stony juyce Somtimes they are very great A Father general of the Carmelites had a stone in one of his Kidneys which growing from a large root was divided into eight branches according to the forme of the Channels of the urinary Vessels and the number of them this excellently resembled the stock and branches of Corall moreover the flesh much contracted and diminished with the Veins stuck so fast to this stone all about that it had lost its own form and seem'd to be a thick skin that covered it round Eustach ad c. 44. de Renib Artic. 5. Of Marrow PLinie writeth that a Serpent is ingendred of the Marrow of the back-bone of a man The truth of this testimony appeareth by experience and is made manifest by an example that we read in Plutarch For the King of Aegypt having made the dead body of Cleomenes to be hanged up and they that watched it having spied a great Serpent winding about his head and covering the face in such sort as no bird that preyes upon carrion durst soare thereabouts the people of Alexandria running thither saith he in troupes to see this spectacle called Cleomenes a demi-god and the sonne of the Gods untill such time as the best in knowledg among them had called to mind that as of the putrified flesh of a dead Oxe there grow Bees of a horse Wasps and of an Asse Beetles so likewise when the matterie substance which invironneth the Marrow gathereth together and thickneth Serpents are ingendred thereof Camerarius saith he hath oftentimes seen in a well-known place of Germany a yong gentlemans tombe who was buried in a Chappell where his predecessors lay It is said that he was the fairest yong man of his time and being troubled with a grievous sicknesse in the flower of his age his friends could never get so much of him no more than Agesilaus friends could get of him as to suffer himself to be represented in sculpture or picture to serve for posteritie only this through their importunitie he agreed unto that after he should be dead and some daies in the ground they should open his grave and cause him to be represented as they then found him They kept promise with him and found that the Worms had half gnawne his face and that about the midriffe and the back-bone there were many Serpents Upon this they caused the spectacle such as they found it to be cut in stone which is yet at this present to be seen among the armed Statues of the Ancestors of this yong gentleman A notable example of the fragilitie of mans body how faire and goodly so ever it be and that all the splendor and magnificall shew that may be seen therein is nothing else but rottennesse and Wormes-meat as the Author of Ecclesiasticus saith When a man dieth he is the heritage of Serpents Beasts and Worms Which is confirmed by a certaine inscription graven upon a tombe at Rome in Saint Saviours Church where are two Latine Verses to this effect When in my bodies prison I was pent I was compact of shamefull filth and ordure Now to this lower dungeon being sent To crawling Wormes I serve for food and pasture Saint Bernard aymed at the same when he said That man was nothing but stinking seed a sack of excrements and the food of Worms Of bodies dead ingender Worms of Wormes a rotten stink And then as horrible a state as mind of man can think This is our very case for all our pride and hie conceit Nor can we stay the stroake of death when he our life doth threat So then nature ingendring of the carrion of our bodies a Serpent or a Dragon it seemeth to shew unto us as it were with the finger the author of our calamities and corruptions as also the enemie that hath an unreconcileable warre with us to wit that old dragon and serpent who not only layeth traps for the living but besides never leaveth rending and devouring those that be dead and buried Article 6. Of Sweat ARistotle reports that some have sweat blood And Fernel l. 6. de part morb c. 4. observed that sometimes blood will run forth of the ends of the veins that end in the skin in many places There was one that every month about a pound of blood run forth of a vein opened by the skin near the lower part of the Liver when it was voided none could discern where it came forth Beneven Lastly the President of Mons Marinus when he was besieged by Augustus the base son of the Prince of Salucia and was called forth as it were to parley and then held prisoner and he was threatned with death if he yielded not up the place was so frighted with this undeserved death that he sweat blood all over his body Thuan. l. 11 Histor. The causes are two saith Aristotle The thinnesse of the blood the rariâ—y of the skin and the opening of the pores To this may be added the weaknesse of the parts that serve for nutrition if the retentive faculty hold not and the expulsive cast forth strongly Anno 1486 there was a kind of disease call'd the English Sweat It first fell out in England and in Germany Anno 1529 it so spread that it brake off the Treaty of Zwinglius and Luther The force was so great that it killed men in 24 hours or else they recovered if it did breathe forth by sweat Thuan. lib. 6. Physicall observations shew that one recovered who went into a very hot oven and sweat violently But as many as eat of the bread was baked in the same oven were all consumed by a consumption Riqu de febre sudor in Epist. And though Sweat when other signs are good be a Token of a good Crisis yet a cold sweat is certainly mortall for it comes from the decayd heat of the solid parts When as it breaks forth from a great feavorish heat within it is cooled in the Externall parts that are now void of all heat Whence our Hippocrates l. 4. Aphor. 37. saith If cold Sweats come forth upon a hot Feaver they signifie Death but if the Feaver be mild a Chronicall disease Article 6. Of insensible Transpiration AS in the great World vapours are drawn forth from moyst places by the heat of the Sun and the Stars so in Man the litle world we must grant the same is caused by force of the inward heat Yet lest they being united in mans body should cause distemper and make Feavers God made mans body open and full of pores through which the vapours breathe out and that so finely that the senses can scarce perceive them Yet Sanctor Sanctorius did observe and weigh them as fine as they are Hence grew