Marius The Leprosie called Elephantiasis appeaâ—ed first in Italy in the time of Pompey He speaks also of other diseases which not long before his time sprung up in Italy A kind of Fever called Coqueluche by the French invaded their country anno 1510. England was plagued with a new sweating sicknesse anno 1529 The French malady appeared first at Naples anno 1492. The Scorbutus is but a new disease in those parts Many strange kinds of vermin have been bred in mens bodies in this last Age not known before in this part of the world Of these and many more new diseases Fernelius Fracostorius Sebizius and others do write Now it is no wonder that there are new diseases seeing there are new sins 2. New sorts of foods and gluttony devised 3. New influences of the Stars 4. New Earthquakes and pestiferous exhalations out of the Earth 5. New temperaments of mens bodies 6 Infections of waters malignant meteors and divers other causes may be alledged for new diseases but none more prevalent then the food which is converted into our substance therefore in eating and drinking wee should regard the quantity quality and seasons II. It is strange to consider the diversitie of colours caused in the same Individual body of man by the same heat the chylus milk sperm and bones are white the blood and liver red the choler yellow the melancholy green the spleen blew a part of the eye black the hairs of divers colours and yet none blew or green And as strange it is that in some the skin is tauny in others white and in others black all which is effected by one and the same Sun which as it produceth all things by its heat so it giveth colour to all things for what giveth the essence giveth also the consequences yet Dr. Brown Book 6. c. 10. will not have the Sun to be the caus of the Negro's blacknesse 1. Because the people on the South-side of the River Senaga are black on the other only tauny 2. Other animals retain their own colours in that clime 3. In Asia and America men are not so black I answer that it will not follow that the Sun is not the cause of blacknesse for he doth work upon each Subject according as it is disposed to receive his impression and accordingly produceth diversity of colours Hence in the same hot climat men are black Parrets and leaves of trees are green the Emmets as some report are white the Gold is yellow and every thing there hath its own peculiar colour and yet all are produced by the same Sun nay the same man that hath a black skin hath white teeth the same Sun at the same time in the same Garden doth cloath the Lily in white the Rose and Cherry in red and divers fruits in black it is observed that the Sun whiteneth those things which are inclined to be hard and blackneth soft things so he makes the Ethiopians teeth white the skin black he makes the green corn turn white and hard with his heat and at the same time makes the plumb black and soft women that blanch or whiten their linnen in the Sun know that he can â—an their skins but whiten their cloth â—gain the air may be more temperate and greater store of refreshing windes and exhalations on the one side of the river Niger then on the other and so the Suns operation may bee hindred which is the cause that in America and Asia under the same parallel men are not so black as in Africk where there is more heat and greater drought For it wants those fresh Winds and great Lakes and Rivers which are in Asia and America The Suns heat then is the cause of blacknesse in such as are capable of it whether the clime be torrid or frigid Hence in cold countries we finde black crowes and in hot white Swans Besides this narration is suspicious for on both sides of the River men have been seâ—n equally black and there be some in Asia as black as in Affrica He objects again That Nigro's transplanted into cold countries continue their hue therefore the Sun is not the sole cause of this blacknesse Ans. The question is not if the Sun be the sole cause but whether a cause at all which the Doctor in his former objections seemed to deny 2. I say that the Sun is the sole primary cause if there be any other causes they are secâ—ndary and subordinate to the Suns heat and influence 3. Hee may as well infer the Sun is not the cause of greennâ—sse in leaves grasse or plants in the Torrid Zone because these being transplanted into cold climats retain their hues Book 6. c. 12 And indeed he seems to make the spirit of Salt peter in the Earth the cause of viridity because in a glasse these spirits project orient greens I should like his reasons well if the verdure of the plant were not more real then that of Salt-peter in the glasse but what will he say to that Earth where is no Salt-peter at all and yet the â—earbs are green Or is there Salt-peter in a glasse of pure water where I have seen green leaves bud out of the stem of an hearb Besides I finde urine out of which Salt-peter is made to spoil the greennesse of the hearbs 4. If the impression of black which the Sun causeth in a hot clime must alter in a cold then may the other qualities also which the Sun by his heat procureth be lost in a cold countrey and so what is hard in Ethiopia must bee soft in England and the heat of Indian spices must here grow cold He objects again that there are Negroes under the Southern Tropick and beyond which are colder countries I answer that these Negroes were colonies out of hotter countries and not Aborigines or Natives at first And he confesseth there be Plantations of Negroes in Asia all which retain their original blacknesse Lastly he objecteth That in the parts where the Negroes possesse there be rivers to moisten the air and in Lybia there are such dry and sandy desarts as there is no water at all but what is brought on camels backs and yet there are no Negroes therefore drinesse cannot cause blacknesse I answer 1. It cannot be proved that the Neâ— groes who dwell neere rivers had their originall there 2. Though there may be some moist exhalations yet it seems they are not so abundant as to qualifie the Suns heat 3. Though the desarts of Lybia be dry yet they are not so hot as under the Line It is the excesse of heat and siccity together that causeth blacknesse and not one of these alone 4. We see men grow tauny here by conversing much in the Sun And further South more tauny and still as the heat increases the degrees of blacknesse increase also to deny this were to deny our senses and we see dead bodies hung in the Sun grow black the same would befall to living bodies if they continued
from their chiefe Citie Samaria but I understand that table of Nations which Salmanasser brought in to possesse the Israelites lands These with so many of the ancient Samaritans or Israelites as remained in the land retained the ancient Hebrew characters in which the Law was given by Moses and these letters for distinctions sake were named Samaritan and those of Esdras called Hebrew and square from their form Some ancient coins as Sicles have been found with Samaritan characters on them which shew this difference The form of these letters may be seen in the Samaritan Alphabets As these Samaritan retained the ancient characters so they did the ancient Pentateuch of Moses and no more Now that Hebers posterity retained their language without mixture after the Flood is proved by Austin and Ierome out of the Hebrew Names given to the creatures before the Flood It stood also with reason that Hebers family should not be partakers of the worlds punishment in this confusion of tongues seeing they were not guilty of their sins CHAP. XIII 1. There is not heat in the body of the Sun 2. Islands before the Flood proved 3. The seven Ostiaries of Nilus and its greatness The greatness of old Rome divers ways proved Nilus over-flowing how proper to it the Crocodiles of Nilus its inundation regular THe Doctor in his subsequent discourses 6 Book c. 1 2 3 4 5 6 hath many learned Cosmographicall passages collected dextrously out of many approved Authours against which I have nothing to say onely he must give me leave to dissentfrom him in his opinion concerning the Suns heat when he sayes that if the Sunne had been placed in the lowest spheare where the Moon is by this vicinity to the earth its heat had been intollerable What will he say then to that world lately discovered in the Moon by glasses as fallacious as the opinion is erroneous Surely these people must live uncomfortably where the heat is so intollerable or else they must have the bodies of Salamanders or else of those Pyrusâ—ae in the Furnaces of Sicily but indeed though the Sunne work by the Moon upon sublunary bodies yet the Moon is not hot nor capable of it no more then the line is capable of that stupidity which from the Torpedo is conveyed by the line to the Fishers hands No celestiall body is capable of heat because not passive except we will deny that quintessence and put no difference between Celestial and Elementary bodies The Sun then is not the subject but the efficient cause of heat the prime subject of heat is the element of fire the prime efficient cause is the Sun which can produce heat though he be not hot himself And this is no more strange then for him to produce life sense vegetation colours odors and other qualities in sublunary bodies which notwithstanding are not in him though from him Again if the Sun be the subject of heat because he is the original and effector of it then Saturn is the subject of cold the Moon of moisture and Mars of drinesse and so we shall place action and passion and all elementary qualities in the heavens making a Chaos and confusion of celestial and sublunary bodies Moreover if the Suns vicinity causeth the greatest heat why are the tops of the highest mountains perpetually cold and snowy Why doe there blow such cold windes under the Line as Acosta sheweth We conclude then that the Sun is the cause of heat though he be not hot as he is the cause of generation and corruption though he be neither generable nor corruptible Ovid then played the Poet not the Philosopher when he causeth the Suns vicinity to melt Icarus his waxen wings II. He sayes That Islands before the Flood are with probability denied by very learned authors Answ. He doth not alledge any one probable reason out of these Authors in maintenance of this opinion I can give more then probable reasons that there were Islands before the Flood First the whole earth it selfe was made an Island therefore the Sea is rightly called Amphitrite from encompassing the earth For this cause David saith That God hath founded the Earth upon the Waters And though Earth and Sea make but one Globe yet the Earth onely is the Center of the world as Clavius demonstrates 2. The world was in its perfect beauty before the Flood but Islands in the Sea tend no lesse to the beauty and perfection of the world then Lakes upon the Land 3. All the causes of Islands were as well before the Flood as since for there were great Rivers running into the Sea carrying with them mud gravell and weeds which in time become Islands There were also Earthquakes by which divers Islands have been made the vapour or spirit under the bottome of the Sea thrusting up the ground above the superficies of the water and who will say that in the space of 16. hundred years before the Flood there should be no Earth-quakes Again in that time the Sea had the same power over the neighbouring lands which it hath since the Flood But we find that Islands were made by the Sea washing away the soft and lower ground in peninsules at this day there doubtless the Sea wanted not the same force and quality before the Flood for there were as forcible winds and as impetuous waves Lastly Islands are made when the Sea forsakes some Land which it useth to over-flow and this property also we cannot deny to have been in the Sea before the Flood for there were windes to beat off the Sea to drive together heaps of sand into some altitude whereby the water is forced to forsake the land whence hath proceeded divers Isles III. He saith Book 6. c. 4. there were more then seven Ostiaries of Nilus Answ. There were but seven of note the other four were of no account but passed by as inconsiderable Hence they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therfore the stream of all waters run upon seven so Virgil septem discurrit in ora And AEn 6. septem gemini turbant trepida ostia Nili Ovid calls the Riâ—er Septemfluus by others it is named Septemplex by Valerius septem amnes Claudius gives it septem cornu Manilius septem fauces Ovid septem portus Statius septem hiemes Dionysius Afer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These seven mouthes have their particular names given them by Mela and other Geographers and so the Scripture gives it seven streams Isaiah 11.15 at this day there are but foure left two of which are of little use therefore the Doctor needed not to have troubled himselfe so much as he doth because so frequenely this is called the seven-mouthed river for it is usuall to give denominations not from the exact number but from the most eminent and major part of the number He may as wel except against Moses who indivers places reckons but seventy souls which went down into AEgypt and yet Saint Steven in the Acts mentions 75 souls Again he
fire truly black brimstone causeth blackness 4. Philoxenus a glutton and his wish not absurd How long necks conduce to modulation THe Inundation of Nilus saith the Doctor proceeds from the rains in AEthiopia This I deny not because averred by Diodorus Seneca Strab◠Herodotus Pliny Solinus and others both ancient and modern Writers and it stands with reason for the Springs of Nilus are neere the Tropick of Capricorn where it is winter when the Sun is with us in Cancer then doth it rain abundantly in that Southern climat for though within the Tropicks the Suns vicinity causeth rains yet without his distance is the occasion thereof His melting of snow upon the Hils of AEthopia is a cause of this inundation But Scaliger denies that there is any snow at all yet I doe not think the high mountains there should be lesse subject to snow then in Peru under the line although the people in the low Countries thereof be black and the windes in the vallies warm The third cause of Nilus overflowing are the Etesiae or northerly windes which blow there every yeare when the Sunne is in Cancer This winde blowing into the mouth of Nile keeps it from running into the Mediterranean sea Scaliger refutes this reason because at the same time the river Nigir which runs into the Western Ocean overflows his banks but to this I can easily answer That at the same time there be different Etesi◠or constant windes in different regions of the world so that whilst the North wind blows against Nilus the West or Southwest which also as Acosta saith is predominant upon the coast of Peru blowes against Nigir As for the original of Nilus it hath been still held uncertain Pliny writes that King Iubia found out the springs thereof in the Mauritanian Mountains but since this river hath been found as far as the lake Zaire which is in ten degrees of Southerly latitude The AEgyptian Sultan did spare neither for men nor cost to search out these springs but could not find them therefore Virgil calls these streams of Nilus Latebrosa flumina Herodotus witnesseth that neither AEgyptian Grecian nor African could resolve him any thing of Nilus springs Hence in Homer Nilus is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is falling or descending from Iupiter because God onely knew the original of this river The Doctor book 7. c. 11. will not question the metamorphosis of Lots wife whether she were transformed into a reall statue of salt though some conceive that expression metaphoricall That the expression is not metaphorical but the transformation real is manifest by the testimonies of the Rabbins by the Thargum of Jerusalem by the best expositers by Iosephus and Borchardus in whose times that statue of Salt was yet extant besides divers reasons doe evince the same For it was as easie for God to turn her body into a salt Pillar as to turn Moses rod into a Serpent Nilus into blood Nebuchadnezzar into a beast 2. We see daily transformations in generation and in our own nutrition 3. Nature can transform mens flesh into Worms Calves flesh into Bees Horses and Asses flesh into Wasps and Hornets We read also of Birds procreation out of old Timber of Iaponian dogges transformed into fishes of water turned into stones and of an Oyster metamorphosed into a Bird which was presented to Francis the first of France 4. The Magicians of Egypt trans formed divers substances and the Devil by Gods permission hath often done the like examples of which may be seen in Spuedanus Camerarius Peucerus and others 5. The Gentiles who laugh at this transformation are convinced by their own stories or Fables of Ulysses and his fellowes transformed into beasts and of Diomedes his companions metamorphosed into birds if they can believe these changes why should they doubt of Lots wifes transmutation III. To conceive a general blacknesse in hell and yet therein the material flames of sulphur is no Philosophical conception nor will it consist with the real effects of its nature Answ. What though this were no Philosophical conceptions nor consisting with the effects of Nature is it therefore untrue God is not subject to Philosophical conceptions nor to the lawes of nature who could make fire to burn but not consume the bush and make the fiery furnace burn the Chaldeans and yet not sindge a haire of the three childrens cloathes the same power can make blacknesse and the flames of sulphur dwel together in hell and which is more he can make fire which naturally is accompanied with light to be the subject of darkness in Hell But the Doctor is deceived by his experiments who thinks that sulphur affords no blacking smoak for I know the contrary by blacking paper with the smoak thereof Besides both Philosophers and experience tell us that the sulphurous vapours which in thundring and lightning break through the clouds do make black the things touched with them so saith Aristotle Pliny and others And though Brimstone make red Roses and Tiffany white it wil not therfore follow that it will make any thing white the Sun beams which whiteneth the Linnen tawns the skin and if the whitning of things by sulphur proceeds as he saith from its drying and penetrating quality much more would all things be whitened by the Sun and fire whose heat is more penetrating and drying but we see how many things by them are blackned and the very heat of the fire will induce blacknesse upon paper though there come no smoke at all to it He therefore who long since destroyed Sodom with fire and brimstone will with the same materials punish the wicked in hell where shall be in stead of light blackness and darkness IV. Philoxenus the Musician desired a Crains neck not for any pleasure at meat but fancying thereby an advantage in singing Book 7. c. 14. Answ. That this Philoxenus was a glutton ancient Historians do affirme and that he wished a Cranes neck to enjoy the longer pleasure of meat and drink is asserted by Aristotle Athenaeus Machon the Comick AElian and others Machon sayes that he wished a neck of three cubits long He was a great Fish eater therefore was nick-named Phylichthys and Solenista from Solenes a kind of Oysters which he delighted in Being one day at Table with Dionysius the tyrant he had a small mullet set before him which he takes up in his hand and holds to his eare Dionysius asks what he meant by that He answers that he had asked advice of Galataea but she sayd that she was too young to advise him and that he were best to consult with the old Galataea in Dionysius his dish At which the Tyrant laughing gave him the great Mullet that he had before him which was very pleasing to the glutton This story is recorded by Caelius Rhodiginus and doubtless that proverb Collaria cadavera that is long necked carcasses which Erasmus borrowes from Aristophanes hath relation to this wish of Philoxenus for by it are
not drawn in by the Kidneys but sent thither by the veins neither is the liquefaction of the solid parts in a Hectick sent by the veins being weakned nor drawn in by the reins being against nature but of it self is conveyed thither thorough the capacious vessels V. Such a sympathy there is between the stomach and the reins by reason of the nerves common to both and of the outward tunicle of the reins arising from the Peritonaeum which is joyned to the bottom of the stomach that in fits of the stone we are troubled with vomiting 2. By reason of the muscle on which the Kidneys lean which muscle is inserted in the inward part of the thigh and by reason of the nerves inserted in that muscle which nerves are pressed by the hardnesse of the stone in the Kidneys we find a stupidity or numbnesse in the thigh in fits of the stone VI. The Bladder draws the urine to it not to be fed by the urine for it is fed by blood as appears by its veins but that it may retain it till by its quantity or quality it grow offensive and then it is sent away which action both of retention and emission is partly natural partly animal as the urine is retained by the oblique fibres of the bladder it is natural as it is retained by the muscle sphincter it is animal so as it is expelled by the faculty of the bladder this action is natural but as it is expelled by the muscles of the Abdomen the action is animal CHAP. XI 1. The Heart and Testicles how the noblest parts Generation wâ—â—hout Testicles they corroborate the Heart their sympathy with the breast 2. And with the brain 3. Different vessels in the Male and Female 4. The Matrix sympathizeth with the Head Heart Breasts c. 5. Affected with smells It s twofold motion ARistotle will have the Heart Galen the Testicles to be the noblest parts of mans body both are in the right for if we consider the individual person the Heart is the noblest part but if the propagation of the Species the Testicles have the prerogative for without them there can be no generation in perfect creatures 2. The Testicles are not of such absolute necessity for propagation of the Species as the Heart is for conservation of the individuum For divers creatures as Fishes do propagate without Testicles 3. The Testicles as Aristotle affirms truly were not made only or principally for generation but for corroboration of the Heart by a secret sympathy and communication of spermatical spirits and heat therefore Eunuchs lose much of their vigour courage and masculine heat 4. By means of the Nerves Veins and Arteries there is a great communication between the breast and the parts contained in it and the testicles for oftentimes the tumor of the testicles end in a cough and so the cough sometimes ends into the Testicles And hence it is that the voice begins to grow big and hoarse in young men as soon as they begin to have puberty and seed because the heat of the Testicles increasing dilates the passages of the brest and wind-pipe II. As there is a great sympathy between the seminal vessels and the brest so there is between them and the brain hence it is that imagination of venereal objects causeth erection and upon the exuberance of seed there arise lascivious imaginations 2. Erection is partly animal in respect of the muscles the imagination and delight and partly natural in respect of flatulency heat and seminal spirits which cause distension and of the natural end which is procreation III. The vessels of generation in the male and female are not the same as some have thought supposing they differ only in scituation the one being inward the other outward which is not so for they differ in figure number and scituation as may be seen in Anatomies Therefore these stories which tell us of maids turned into boyes are false and ridiculous except they mean Hermaphrodites in which are the vessels of both sexes which are not discerned while they are young because of the weakness of heat in them so at first some young boyes have been taken for maids because the yard and testicles for want of heat have not appeared outward IV. Such a sympathy and combination there is between the matrix and the head by reason of the nerves that when the matrix is ill-affected the head and brains are ill-disposed and oftentimes the sensitive animal and motive faculties are overthrown hence convultions stupidities and strange disturbances of the imagination 2. By reason of the arteries such a sympathy there is between the heart and the matrix that swouning fits and suffocation with a cessation of pulse and respiration follow upon the distemper of the matrix 3. Such a consent there is between the matrix and brests of women that sometimes blood hath flowed from the breasts instead of milk and milk hath been voided downward instead of blood 4. By reason of the consent between the liver and the matrix the veins and matrix the bladder and the matrix the evil disposition of this is the cause of distempers and diseases in them V. The matrix is much affected with smels not that the sense of smelling is there which is in the brain but because of the consent that is between the matrix and the membranes of the brain they being both of the same substance and because with the smell the thin vapors are conveyed thither on which the spirits are fed 2. Sometimes abortions are caused by bad smels because the maternal spirits which the child attracteth by the umbilical arteries are infected 3. Sweet smels do cause in some women histerical passions because they stir up the pernitious vapors that lay lurking in the matrix which vapors are conveyed by the arteries to the diaphragma heart and brain whereas by stinking smels nature is stirred up to the expulsion both of them and withall of the naughty humors in the matrix 4. There is a two-fold motion of the matrix the one is natural by its straight and circular fibres so it is moved downward towards the reception of the seed and expulsion of the childe and secundine the other motion is convulsive proceeding from too much inanition or repletion and sometimes of venomous vapours whence are suffocations and want of respiration the diaphragma being pressed CHAP. XII 1. Distinction of sexes the male hotter then the female 2. The seed no part nor aliment of the body derived from all parts how 3. The menstruous bloud no excrement how it is The cause of the small pox Its evacuation 4. The uses of the matrix 5. It s vitiosity the cause of Monsters Mola what I. AS nature hath appointed generation for continuing of the species so it hath appointed distinction of sexes aiming as well at the female as the male and not at the male alone as some think who would make the female an imperfect thing and
reparation by generation of spirits 5. It differs from the animal motive faculty because it is necessary and perpetual the animal is voluntary and sometimes ceaseth VII The vital spirits are ingendred in the left ventricle of the heart partly of aire prepared in the lungs and conveyed to the heart by the Arteria venosa and partly of the purest blood powred out of the mouth of Vena cava into the right ventricle where it is prepared and attenuated a part whereof is conveyed for nourishing of the lungs by the Vena arteriosa the other part sweats through the partition that divides the heart and in the left ventricle is mingled with the aire and turned into spirits by its excessive heat VIII The Diastole and Systole that is the dilatation and contraction of the heart and arteries is all one and at the same time for the heart and arteries are so united that they make but one body so there is but one pulsifick vertue in both and the end of their motion is the same to wit the vegitation and life of the body the suddenness of the motion in the remotest arteries from the heart and the strong beating of the pulse and heart in Feavers and anger do shew the identity of motion in both 2. The arteries are moved by the spirits of the heart conveyed by their tunicles rather then their cavity for upon the pressing of the tunicles the pulse ceaseth but not when the cavity is stuffed or stopped They are not then moved by their heat and blood but by the heart as may be seen by binding the arteries whose motion beneath the binding saileth the commerce between it and the heart being intercepted 3. The heart is first dilated by receiving the aire then it is contracted by expelling the fuliginous vapours 4. The heart strikes the breast in its dilatation not in its contraction or Systole because the left ventricle which is the originall of the Arteries is distended in the Diastole and so toucheth the breast about the left pap IX The motion of the heart is not voluntary because we cannot command it nor sensitive because it is not performed by the nerves and muscles nor simple because there are two motions nor compounded because they are contrary and of contrary motions can be no compositions nor is it violent because it is not repugnant to its nature nor is it caused by an externall agent as the trembling of the heart is by distempers vapours or humours but the hearts motion is natural yet not caused by the elementary form for so there should be more agents in our bodies then one and its motion should be â—itâ—eâ— upward or downward but it is natural in respect of the soul which is the chief nature that works in animal bodies and in respect of the fibers heat and spirits of the heart which are natural organs and in respect of the natural use or end of this motion for the heart dilates it self to receive aire and blood it contracts it self to be emptied of its fumes and to communicate its spirits to the nerves which ends are naturall X. When Aristotle saith that the motion of the heart is caused by heat and cold he contradicts not the Physitians in affirming the soul or its vital faculty to be the cause of this motion for heat and cold are subordinate instruments to the soul which by the heat of the blood and spirits dilates the heart and by the attraction of the cold air contracteth it as we see water by the heat of the fire swel and dilate it self but upon the breathing of cold air to contract and fall down again CHAP. XVI 1. The Lungs how moved the air is not the spirits nutriment 2. Respiration not absolutely necessary 3. The Lungs hot and moist 4. Respiration a mixed motion as that of the bladder and intestins 5. No portion of our drink passeth into the Lungs ARistotle differs from the Galenists about the motion of the Lungs he will have them moved by the heart whose heat listeth up the Lungs upon which motion the air enters for avoiding vacuity which being entred the Lungs fall The Galenists will have their motion to depend on the motion of the breast but both are in the right For the motion of the Lungs is partly voluntary and so it depends on the moving of the muscles of the breast and partly natural and so it is moved by the heart 2. When Aristotle denies that the air is the nutriment of the spirits which the Galenists affirm his meaning is that the air doth not properly nourish the spirits as meat doth our bodies for there is no assimilation or conversion of the substance of the air into our spirits which are properly nourished by blood but only a commixtion of the air and spirits for refrigeration And indeed if the spirits were properly fed by the air there would not come out the same air that went in For the spirits would not part from their food the air then nourisheth the spirits as it doth the fire by refrigeration and preserving it from suffocation II. Respiration is not so necessary for preservation of life as the motion of the heart for histerical women can live without that but they cannot live without this Neither is the motion of the arteries of absolute necessity for the member is not deprived of life though the arterie be stopped or tied and deprived of its motion 2. The motion of respiration is more noble then the motion of the heart because this is meerly natural that is also animal and voluntary yet as the motion of the Lungs is subservient to the motion of the heart that is more noble then this for the end excels the means III. The Lungs are hot and moist hot that they mighâ— temper and alter the cold air therefore the substance is fleshy light and spongy and fed with hot and spirituous blood from the right ventricle of the heart It is also moist as appears by its soft and loose substance It is also moist accidentally by receiving the flegme and rhumes that fall from the brain 2. The Lungs refrigerate the heart not because their substance is cold but because the air is cold which they attract IV. Respiration is a motion partly voluntary as it is performed by the muscles nerves and diaphragma which are the organs of voluntary motion and as it is in our power to breath or not to breath to hasten or retard it And it is partly natural as it is performed by the Lungs which are organs of natural motion as it is not subject to fatigation as it is performed in our sleep when we have no command over our selves and the sensitive faculties then cease as it is not performed by election or apprehension of the object as voluntary motions are And lastly as in Apoplexies when the senses fail the brains and nerves are hurt yet respiration continues it is then a mixt action as the expulsive actions of the
eaten Scammony others Opium others Hellebor and of some that without hurt have swallowed quick-silver that must be attributed to their particular tempers and strength of heat by which they mastered these poisons V. As stones are ingendred in the kidneys bladder and other parts so are they also sometimes bred in our intestins for there are some that void stones familiarly by the stool and I have read of one who was killed by a stone that grew stuck fast to his colon the bignesse of a ches-nut this sure must proceed from the extraordinary heat of the intestins and viscous matter impacted there for the heat baked the matter to the consistence and hardnesse of a stone by drying up the watrish moisture thereof VI. I have read of some old men and women that have becom young again that is to say after they had lost their teeth strength and beauty have recovered all at 80 or 100 years of age their veins filled with blood new teeth a fresh colour their white haires turned black and in women their monethly flowers fresh and orderly This is not unlikely for if after a fever or other great sicknesse nature recovers her lost beauty vigour colour and decayed spirits and senses why may not she doe the like in some people seeing there is not in old age a total privation of these perfections there but a decay and we may observe that many who are old weak and sickly when they are young are young lusty and healthy when they grow old VII I have read of men that have had milk in their brests which is likely if they were of a cold moist and feminine complexion abounding in blood of women also who have had four breasts all full of milk which is probable seeing there be many monsters that have superfluous members according to the superabundance of the parents seed and prolifical blood but of all monsters that which is mentioned by Buchanan in his History of Scotland is most wonderful which had beneath the navel one body but above two bodies when it was hurt beneath the navel both bodies felt the pain if hurt above the body felt only that was hurt These two would sometimes differ in opinions and quarrel the one dying before the other this pined away by degrees it lived 28 years could speak divers languages and were by the Kings command taught Musick Doubtlesse nature aimed at twins but failed in the lower part Neither was this one Individuum but two because they were two souls as appears by their different wills and it is the form not the matter that is the cause of individuation CHAP. VIII 1. Of divers and strange spleens 2. Black urine 3. One lived without sleep 4. The Tarentula's effects and cure The force of Musick 5. Serpents begot of dead brains 6. Of Tiberius his sight Alexanders sweat Strabo's eyes FAllopius in his Anatomical Observations l. 1.6 writes that he hath found three Spleens in one man Gemma in his Cosmocritick speaks of two Spleens that he found and hee writes of one who had the Spleen in the right side and the Liver in the left in l. 1. Cyclognomonick p. 75. Some have Spleens of incredible bignesse and weight others have them fastned to their breasts others loose and swimming up and down others again have had no Spleen at all and such have died of the black jaundice for the blood and skin could not but bee infected with that melancholy humour wanting the Spleen which is the proper receptacle of it II. For a man in a burning fever or one that is oppressed with melancholy humours to void black urine is no wonder but for one that is sound all the days of his life to pisse black urine as Petraeus sheweth is somewhat strange Disput. 5. de urinis num 22. But doubtless the constitution of that man was melancholick for the black colour in any thing is caused by the predominancy of earth therefore ater quasi à terra And earth is most predominant in melancholick tempers besides the watrinesse of natural heat may be the cause of black Urine III. Whereas the animal spirits and strength of our bodies are wasted by watching therefore sleep is ordained to repair and refresh the decayed strength and spirits Yet Fernelius in his Pathology lib. 5. c. 2. speaks of one who lived without sleep 14 moneths But this man was possessed with madnesse whose brain being heated with adust melancholy did beget animal spirits without much wasting of them Thus we see that hot and cholerick constitutions can endure longer without sleep then cold and moist complexions IV. The effects of the Tarentula in mens bodies are strange and various and no lesse strange is the cure for their sting and poison cause some to laugh some to weep some drowsie and stupid and some jovial and merry These divers effects must proceed from the diversities of poison that is in them for it seems these venomous creatures are not all of one kind or els these doe proceed from the different constitutions and tempers of those men that are stung with them Thus we see what different effects drunkennesse doth cause in men and so doth musick but whether this poisonable humour be cured by the musick or by their dancing and labour by which the pores are opened and the poison by sweat expelled is questionable but I think by both for even in musick there is great power over the minde and affections and consequently over the diseases and humours which are mitigated or exasperated according to the minde and affections This we see in Sauls melancholy which was cured by Davids Harp Such force there was in Timothy the Milesian that when he pleased he could by the power of his musick make Alexander take up and lay downe Arms. Not to speak of that Dane who by his musick could make men mild sad and merry at his pleasure V. That a Serpent should bee in gendred of a dead mans brain is no more impossible then for Snakes or Eels to be begot of Horse hairs or for divers sorts of beasts to breed in women upon depraved conceptions And doubtlesse as Satan in the form of a Serpent brought mortality upon mankind so he doth sometimes triumph in that shape over mans mortality God in his judgement permitting sometimes that dead brain to be turned into a Serpent which when it was alive did hatch so many Serpentine plots and imaginations VI. I read in Suetonius that Tiberius the Emperour could see perfectly in the dark And Curtius writes that Alexander did smell sweetly when he sweat I have read of men and women who can fascinate and hurt others with their eyes Pliny and Solinus write of one Strabo who from a Promontory in Sicily could see the ships that went out of the Harbour at Carthage which is 55 Leagues These are strange and rare priviledges in which God doth manifest his power and shâ—weth that he is not tied to the Laws of nature Yet
dislikes the Title given by Ortelius to Nilus when he calls it the greatest river of the world But Ortelius was not mistaken in calling it so for it is the greatest though not perhaps in length because it may be some are longer the which are not certainly known yet in breadth when it overflowes the whole Countrey in which respect it may be called rather a Sea then a River and so it was called by the Ancients as Pior Valerius sheweth Nile saith Basil is liker a Sea then a River and some esteem the length of it a thousand German miles or 35. degrees having Summer at the springs thereof and Winter at the other end the same time It is also the greatest in regard of use and benefit for no River doth so much enrich a Countrey as Nilus doth Egipt It is the greatest also in same for no River is so renowned in Writers By the world also is meant so much as is known to us for the Rivers of America are known rather by hearsay then otherwise The greatness of this River was of old Hieroglyphically expressed by the vast body of a Giant There is a Statue of Nilus in the Vatican the picture whereof is in Sands his Travels the greatest of Poets by way of excellency calls this the Great River In magno maerentem corpore Nilum Again the Doctor will have Rome magnified by the Latines for the greatest of the earth to be lesser then Cairo and Quinsay to exceed both But he is much mistaken for Cairo as Sands tells us who was there is not above 5. Italian miles in length with the suburbs and in bredth scarce one and a halfe whereas Rome was almost fifty miles in compasse within the walls and the circuit of the suburbs much more as Lipsius de mag Rom. l. 3. c. 2. hath collected out of divers Authors He shewes the greatnesse of it also by the number of the people therein for there were three and twenty thousand poor which was maintained upon the publick charge then if we reckon the multitude of rich men and their train which was not small for divers of the great persons maintained families of foure hundred persons if we look upon the multitude of Artificers of Souldiers of Courtiers of strangers from all parts flocking thither as to the great Metropolis and shop of the World we shall find there were no lesse then four millions or fourty hundred thousand people which is more then can be found in many large provinces Heliogabolus collected the greatness of this City by the Cobwebs found in it which being gathered together did weigh ten thousand pound Another argument of its greatness may be collected out of Eusebius his Chronicle who reckons that for many dayes together there were buried of the plague ten thousand daily Not without cause then was Rome called the Epitome of the world by Aristides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earths workhouse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worlds Citadel or Castle by Saint Iohn the great Citie and the great Babylon by Virgil Maximum rerum And it stood with reason that Rome should be the greatest of Cities being the Queen and Mistress of the greatest Empire of such large Territories and full of people Cities and Nations Rome then was every way the greatest Citie both in extent in power in people in glory in magnificence What Citie ever had that multitude of stately Palaces Temples Theaters Olisks triumphant Arches Baths and other publick buildings as Laurus sheweth As for Quinsay in China we have a fabulous narration in M. Paulus Venetus that is was an hundred miles in compasse but his narrations have been found erroneous and if the Kingdome of China comes far short of the greatnesse of the Roman Empire surely Quinsay must fall short of Rome which as the Poet saith Inter alias tantum caput extulit urbes Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressâ— As for Quinsay now it is not thirty miles in compasse as Nicolas de Contu sheweth who was there Again he saith That this anuall overflowing is not proper unto Nile being common to many currents in Africa I answer It is so proper to Nile that no other River doth so orderly so frequently so fully overflow their banks as this doth Crocodiles saith he are not proper to Nile Answ. They are so proper that no river either in Africk Asia or America hath such Crocodiles as Nilus if either we consider the magnitude multitude or fiercenesse of them Other Crocodiles chiefly the American are gentle the AEgyptian fierce and cruel which is the cause that Dogges are so afraid to drink out of Nilus whence arose that proverb Canis ad Nilum The greatest Indian Crocodiles exceed not twenty foot in length as Scaliger shewes but those of Nile are three hundred foot long whose jawes are so wide that one of them can contain a whole heifer at a time some have been found there of 25 and above 26. cubits in bigness as AElian reports The Romans to shew how proper this beast was to Nile represented AEgypt by a Crocodile in that Coin on which Augustus stampt a Crocodile tied to a palm-tree with this Inscription Primus relegavit for he subdued AEgypt and restored peace to them Again he saith That the Causes of Niles inundation are variable unstable and irregular because some yeares there hath been no increase at all Answ. He may as well say that the causes of all natural effects are variable because sometimes they faile But all naturall causes operate for an end therefore are constant regular and stable so are not Chance and Fortune which Aristotle excludes from naturall causes Are the causes of rain and storms irregular variable and unstable because sometimes it rains more in Summer then in Winter Or is generation irregular because sometimes women miscarry Naturall causes alwayes produce their effects or for the most part so that they faile but seldome and that upon the interposition of some impediment whereas fortuitall causes produce their effects seldome The causes then of Niles overflowing are not contingent but certain constant regular and stable because they never faile or but seldom upon some impediment in the producing of that effect As for the AEgyptian raines I have spoken elsewhere animad on Sir Walt. Raleigh Now because of this regular constant and beneficial inundation of Nilus it was called Iupiter AEgiptius and divine honours were given to it its annual festival was kept about the Summer Solstitial when it overflows the land This was called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priests used to carry the water of Nile on their shoulders with great solemnity to their temples falling down on their knees and lifting up their hands gave solemne thanks to Iupiter Nilius to whose honour they dedicated a certain piece of coin with this Inserâ—ption Deo Sancto Nilo CHAP. XIV 1. The cause of Niles inundation 2. Lots wife truly transformed into a salt Pillar 3. Hels
original from eggs which if true then that is no fiction of the Poets concerning Leda's two eggs out of which were procreated Pollux and Helena Castor and Clytemnestra but I conceive the Doctor in this speaks rather tropically then properly for simile non est idem and what may in some sort resemble an egge is not an egge however his book is full of excellent learning and observation yet I have been bold in some thingâ— to dissent from him as may be seen in the former Chapter The other book I lately viewed is my Lord Bacon's Natural History a Piece fraughted with much variety of elegant learning but yet wherein are divers passages that deserve animadversionâ— I never had leasure to run over the book till now though I had seen it before and now my distractions are such that I cannot exactly examine it but onely ut canis è nilo here and there touch a little First then I finde him mistaken in thinking that the French-pox is begot by eating of mans flesh Cent. 1. Sect. 26. His reasons are A story of mans flesh barrelled up like tunny eat at the siege of Naples the other is because the Canibals who feed on mans flesh are subject to that disease 3. Because the blood or fat of mans flesh is mixed with poysons And lastly because Witches feed on mans flesh to aid their imaginations with high and foul vapors Answ. These reasâ—ns are of small validity For 1. it was not the eating of mans flesh at the siege of Naples that brought this disease into Europe but it was procured by some of Columbus his Company who had carnal commerce with soul Indian women which with the pox they brought along with them 2. Mans flesh of all other animals is counted the most temperate therefore cannot produce such a venomous distemper so repugnant to mans body 3. This is a peculiar disease of the Indians both East and West for divers Countries have their divers maladies 4. Neither can this or any disease be counted new in respect of their subjects original causes or seminaries for this disease is as old as mans flesh though in this part of the world it did not break out so generally as of late and who knows but that the ancients had it but under another name being a kind of Leprosie 5. The Canibals among the Indians are not more subject to this disease then others who never tasted of mans flesh for in all ages there have been men eaters yet not tainted mith this malady and millions of latter years among us who are infected with this poyson and yet never eat of mans flesh 6. It is against reason to imagine that the flesh of a man should rather breed this disease then of an ox or a sheep seeing mans flesh is sooner convertible into nutriment then of any other animal because of the greater simpathy and specifical unity 7. Though ignorant Indians do mix mans blood or fat with poyson it will not therefore follow that these are poyâ—â—nable no more then wine can be called poyson because poysonable materials may be mixed with it so we mix sugar and butter with rats bane which we know have no venemous quality in them 8. Witches who are silly fools may eat mans flesh hoping thereby to aid their imaginations but there is no such vetue in mans flesh as they conceive so they use many spels charms and canting words in which there is no more vertue then in a pibble stone or a piece of rotten wood 9. Mans flesh can afford no soul vapors except it befoul it self and putrified and so indeed it may breed loathsome diseases as all other corrupt and putrified meats do which is done as it is corrupted not as it is mans flesh neither can it afford high vapors except it were full of spirits which cannot be in a piece of dead flesh he that will have high vapors must drink sack not eat mans flesh the blood of the vine not of the vein can breed high vapors Indeed the drinking of mans blood and eating of his flesh may inure a man to cruelty which Catelin knew by causing his associates to drink humane blood hence the Judaical law forbids eating of blood at all shewing us hereby how much God abhors cruelty or that which may induce a man to it II. His Lordship calls it A crude and ignorant speculation to make the dilatation of the fire the cause of the expulsion of the pellet out of the Gun but he will have the cause to be the crude and windy spirits of nitre dilated by heat which bloweth abroad the flame as an inward bellows But I would know what difference there is between dilatation and between the flame and spirit of the nitre He affirms dilatation to be the cause of this expulsion therefore his exception against the former opinion was needless and whereas he grants the flame to be the immediate expeller of the pellet he unawares affirms what he rejects neither can I see any difference between the flame of the nitre and the spirit of the nitre inflamed onely he was pleased to make shew of a new reason by altering somewhat the words of the former whereas the sense is one and the same the speculation then is not crude but the spirit of his nitre is crude which without the flame can do nothing 3. From a wax candle burning in a porringer full of spirit of wine set on fire he infers Cent. 1.31 strange conculsions As 1. That the flame of the candle becomes bigger and globular and not in pyramis and consequently that the pyramis of the flame is accidental I answer the flame of the candle becomes bigger and globular accidentally because the air about it is heated by the flame of the wine therefore as in all things like draws to like so one flame dilates it self to enjoy the other as a drop of water will contract it self upon a drie but dilate it self upon a wet table 2. He infers That the flame of itself would be round if it were not for the air that quencheth the sides of it But I say that the air is so far from quenching that it cherisheth and maintaineth the flame without which it would quickly vanish and that the flame would not be round of it self if the air round about were not inflamed for the same cause it rouls and turns not of its own nature but because the ambient flame draws it 3. He â—nfers hence That the celestial bodies are true fires for they are igâ—obular and have rotation and have the colour and splendor of flame These are weak arguments that from common accidents prove specifical identities for if the stars be true fires because globular then we may infer that water drops are fire because round and that every thing which hath rotation is fire and if that be fire which hath the colour of fire or that a flame which hath the splendor of flame we may say that rotten
convert any other metall into gold which were to introduce by Art a specificall form into the matter which is the work ofâ— Nature alone He saith It is a vain opinion to think the starre is the denser part of his Orb. This is spoken both Lordly and maâ—esterially but he had done well to tell us why this opinion is vain and to have delivered an opinion void of vanity which he doth not but his bare word is not sufficient to make this a vain opinion which the learned of so many Ages have approved and stands so much with reason I confesse we know but little of those quintessentiall natures for we are as the Poet saith Curvae in terris animae coelestium inanes Yet of all opinions this is most consonant to reason that the starre is homogeneall with its spheare so that the starre is the heaven contracted and the heaven in which the starre moveth is the starre dilated for otherwise wee must make the heaven an heterogeneall body and consequently organicall which will prove the vainer opinion of the two He tells us That Oyl is almost nothing else but water digested I may say it is any thing else rather then water from which it is so averse that it will not be united or incorporated with it and the effects are clean opposite for water is cold oyle hot in operation water putrifieth oyle resisteth putrifaction water makes Iron rust oyle keeps it from rusting water quencheth the fire oyle kindles and feeds it water is heavy oyle light for it vvill still be uppermost vvater is thin oyle thick water is quickly up by heat and turned into vapours so is not oyle water is the food of plants oyle of men oyle is apt to be inflamed so is not water therefore oyle is rather air or fire then vvater digested He gives us a strange cause of mans indisposition to motion when Southern winds blow The cause saith he is that the humours do melt and wax fluid and so flow into the parts How humours should melt I know not except they were congealed like butter wax or ice and where be the parts into which they flow he tells us not but indeed the true cause is the giving as we call it or relaxation of the muscles nerves and tendons by the warm and moâ—st air which in dry and cold weather are more firm compacted and united and therefore the apter for motion It is saith he commonly seen that more are sick in Summer and more die in Winter This is to me a Riddle for if more die in Winter then in Summer it must follow That more are sick in Winter then in Summer for men usually die not till they be sick and so he contradicts himselfe Much like to this is that saying of his Diseases are bred chiefly by heat the contrary whereof is apparent that multitudes of diseases are bread by cold neither can I yeeld to him in saying That it is a superficiall ground that heat and moisture cause putrifaction because there have been great plagues in dry years But by his Lordships leave the plagues were not bred by the drynesse of the yeare but by the precedent heat and moisture of the Winter or Spring which break out upon the hot and dry Summer or Autumne and this hee acknowledgeth in his next Section where he sheweth That the cause of diseases is falsly imputed to the constitution of the air at that time when they break forth whereas it proceeds from a precedent sequence and series of the seasons of the year and so when he saith That in Barbary their plagues break up in Summer when the weather is hot and dry If this be so then it is no superficial ground to say that heat and moysture cause putrifaction seeing it is resisted by hot and dry weather and indeed it were absurd to think otherways seeing both experience and reason tells us that heat and moysture are â—he breeders of putrifaction and that frigidity and â—â—ccity are its greatest enemies therefore in cold climats and seasons putrifaction is not so frequent as in hot Countries and Summers so he confesseth that the Country about Cap Vorde is pestilent through moysture neither are drie things so apt to putrifie as moist so the flesh putrifieth and not the bones the apple or the pear will putrifie when the seed within remains unputrified whereas those bodies which have little or no moysture resist putrifaction both in themseves and others as Salt Brimstone Myrrhe Aloes and such like He makes Refrigeration of the tongues the cause of stuttering If this were so then old men should stutter more then young men for old men are colder But we know the contrary that not the coldnesse but rather the over-heating of the tongue causeth stuttering and this he acknowledgeth in the same Section that many stutterers are very cholerick men But choler is hot then it seemes that both heat and cold is the cause of stuttering But indeed the true cause in some is a bad habit or custom contracted from their infancy in others eagernesse of disposition for hasty and eager natures usually stutter and whilst they make the more haste they use the lesse speed in others again stuttering proceeds from some infirmity or impedimâ— in the tendon muscles or nerves of the tongue As for drinking of wine moderatly which he saith will cause men stut lesse is a thing I could never yet observe in those stutterers I have bin acquainted with He saith That men and beasts move little after their headss are off but in birds the motion remains longer because the spirit are chiefly in the head brain which in men beasts are large but birds have smal heads therfore the spirits are more dispersed in the sinewes That the spirits are chiefly in the head brain I deny for the vital spirits are chiefly in the heart And if the spirits be chiefly in the head and brain why doth the body separated from the head move more and longer time then the head Again though birds have lesser heads then men and beasts yet they have heads proportioned to their bodies and the spirits proportionably are as much in their heads as in mens or beasts heads Moreover though some men and beasts move little after the head is off yet some move much for I saw one beheaded whose body after it was laid in the coffin and carried a pretty way from the place of execution with a violent fit of motion was like to beat the coffin out of the hands of the bearers therefore the true causes of this difference are these as I conceive 1. The spirits of birds are more aeriall and fervent then of men and beasts and in some more in some lesse therefore the body of a Cock beheaded will flutter more then of a Goose or Turkie and so in beasts a Cat beheaded will move more violently then of many others for this reason some men move
spread it selfe so soon on a dry board as on a wet upon a dry board a drop of vvater vvill contract it self into a globular form and rise into some height rather then joyn itselfe to its enemy whereas upon a vvet board it presently spreads it selfe So dry things will rather swim upon then sink in the vvater except their vveight force them downward He also contradicteth experience when he saith That Fish hating the dry will not approach the air till it grow moist For vve see that fish play most upon the top of the vvaters in hot and dry Summers and in the hottest and driest time of the day when the Sun is in his Meâ—idian So when he saith That Aches and Corns engrieve most towards rain or frost This is not as if they were sensible of future rain but because the extremity of heat and cold doe exasperate these infirmities For the same reason Moals vvork and Fleas bite more eagerly He tells That hunger is an emptinesse But this is not so for there is sometimes hunger without emptinesse and sometimes emptinesse without hunger It is therefore not emptinesse but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher tells us a desire or appetite of hot and dry things caused by the corrugation and sucking in the mouth of the stomach His Lordship is pleased to call the received opinion That putrifaction is caused by cold or preternaturall heat but nugation But if cold be not the cause of putrifaction how comes it that Apples and Cabbages doe rot in frosty vveather And if peregrine heat be not the cause how comes it that in hot and moist years and places pestilentiall Feavers and other putrid diseases doe reigne Besides abundance of vermin doubtlesse these are procreated of putrifaction and this of heat except we will forfeit our senses and reason of which he being afraid confesseth at last that such a heat tendeth to dissolution He will not have liquifaction to proceed from any of the foure prime qualities that he calls an inutile speculation but from his own phantomes For bodies saith he that are more turgid of spirit or that have their spirits more straitly imprisoned as metals or that hold them better pleased and content as butter are liquifiable How happy then are those spirits which dwell in butter where they have pleasure and content in comparison of those vvretched spirits vvhich are imprisoned in Irons and other metals and yet how these spirits should make the metall turgid I know not Surely these are but crasie fansies vvhereas it is apparent to all ntelligible men that these things are most liquifiable which aboundeth most with congealed moisture whether it be aeriall and oily as in pitch butter wax and grease or watrish alone as in Ice or of a middle nature between both or peculiar as the moisture of metals And to tell us That wood clay free-stone c. are not liquifiable because they are bodies jejune of spirits is ridiculous for there are more spirits in vegitables then in metals and it is plain that clay and stones melt not because they want moysture which is in metals So it is not the dilatation of the spirits as he saith by heat which causeth wax to melt at the fire but the rarefaction of the moysture by heat which was before contracted by the cold For this cause dry wood is more fragile then green stone then metall and fictile earth then crude because there is no moisture in the one comparable to the moisture of the other He tels us that the hardnes of body is caused chiefly by the jejuness of the spirits Indeed this Philosophy is somwhat jejun for I would fain know whether there be not more spirits and less jejune in the hard bodies of Cloves Nutmegs and Cinnamon then in the soft bodies of Wooll Silk and Cotton According to his Philosophy there is a greater quantity of Spirits in a pellet of butter because softer then in a Nutmeg which is harder he that beleeves this let him when he is troubled with flatulencies in his stomack use butter and not hard spices He saith That Moisture doth chiefly colour hair but driness turneth them gray and white In his Philosophy then gray and white are not colours nor indeed blacknes which he saith afterwards is but a privative and consequently hath no entity Aristotle indeed sometimes calls black a privation but there he useth the words in a large sense for if it were properly privative how could other colours be made of black and white seeing of habits and privations nothing can be made He saith That some fishes be greater then any beasts because these have not their moisture drawn by the air and sun-beams Also they rest always in a manner and are supported by the water If these be the reasons of fishes greatness then why are Smelts and other lesser fishes smaller then the beasts Or why are they not as big as Whales seeing neither air nor sun-beams draw away their moisture and are also supported by the water The true cause then of the bigness of fishes above the beasts is the predominance of moisture in them which is easily extendible And indeed it is a frivolous thing to give reasons for the different magnitudes of the creatures seeing Nature hath given to each creature a determinate magnitude and period of duration And whereas he thinks that fish doe rest in a manner when they swim because they are supported by the water he may as well say That beasts and men rest when they walk and run because supported by the earth they that swim find there is no rest but labour and motion Before my Lord told us That by heat in putrifaction the spirits are emitted suppressed and suffocated But now he saith That the spirits in putrifaction gather heat How the spirits at the same time should be destroyed by the heat and yet gather heat is so sublime a fansie that no fansie but his own can reach it Water saith he being contiguous with air cooleth it but moystneth it not except it vapour because heat cold have a virtuall transaction without communication of substance but moysture not He takes it for granted which no Philosophy will grant him to wit that accidents can passe from one subject to another without their substance which is to make accidents subsist by themselves and to be all one with the substance which is repugnant to sense and reason therefore without vapours neither can the water moysten nor cool the air He saith Air is not without some secret degree of heat He needs make no secret of it for it is manifest that the air is hot and moist as the fire is hot and dry but for any secret degree of light in the air I deny For though as he saith Cats and Owles see in the night this is not because there is any degree of light in the air for what light can