Fringe at each end being three Inches more so that the whole was just a Foot in length and the breadth was just half a Foot There were two Proofs of its resisting Fire given at London One before some of the Members of the R. Society privately Aug. 20.1684 when Oyl was permitted to be poured upon it whilst red hot to enforce the Violence of the Fire Before it was put into the Fire this First Tryal it weighed one Ounce Six Drams Sixteen Grains and lost in the burning Two Drams Five Grains The Second Experiment of it was publick before the SOCIETY Nov. 12. following when it weighed as appears by the Iournal of the SOCIETY before it was put into the Fire One Ounce Three Drams 18 Grains Being put into a clear Charcoal Fire it was permitted to continue Red hot in it for several Minutes When taken out though red hot it did not consume a piece of White Paper on which it was laid It was presently Cool and upon weighing it again was found to have lost one Dram Six Grains PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 172. That this LINNEN was very well known to the Ancients beside that of Pliny we have the further Testimony of Caelius Rhodiginus who agrees with the aforesaid Account in Mr. Waites Letter to Dr. Plot placing both the Materials and Manufacture of it in India and Paulus Venetus more particularly in Tartary the Emperour whereof He says sent a piece of it to Pope Alexander It is also mentioned by Varro and Turnebus in his Commentary upon him De lingua Latina And by all of them as a thing inconsumable by Fire In these latter Ages Georg. Agricola tells us that there was a Mantle of this LINNEN at Vereburg in Saxony and Simon Majolus says He saw another of it at Lovain exposed to the Fire Salmuth also acquaints us that one â—odocattarus a Cyprian Knight shew'd it publickly at Venice throwing it into the Fire without scruple or hurt and Mr. Lassells saw a piece of it in the Curious Cabinet of Manfred Septalla Canon of Milan Mr. Ray was shew'd a Purse of it by the Prince Palatin at Heidleberg which he saw put into a Pan of burning Charcoal till it was red hot which when taken out and cool he could not perceive had receiv'd any harm and we are told in the Burgundian Philosophy of a long Rope of it sent from Signior Bocconi to the French King and kept by Monsieur Marchand in the King's Gardens at Paris which tho' steeped in Oyle and put in the Fire is not consumed To which add that we have now seen a piece of this LINNEN pass the fiery Trial both at London and Oxford So that it seems to have been known in all Ages all describing it after the same manner as a thing so insuperable by Fire that it only Cleanses and makes it better Dr. ROB. PLOT in the PHILOS TRANSACT Numb 172. The said Dr. saith that this INCOMBUSTIBLE CLOTH is now of no Mean value even in the Country where made a China Covet that is a piece 23 Inches and three Quarters long being worth 80 Tale that is Thirty Six Pounds Thirteen Shillings and four pence PVRCHAS saith that in Fanfur a Kingdom of Iava in the East-Indies there is a Tree of a great bigness and length the Pitâ— whereof is Meal which they put in water and stir well the lightest dross swimming and the purest settling to the bottom and then the water being cast away they makethere of Paste which tasts just like Barly Bread The Wood of this Tree thrown into water sinks like Tron hereof they make Lances but short for if they were long they would be too heavy for use These they sharpen and burn at the tops which so prepar'd will pierce Armour sooner than if they were made of Iron PVRCH. Pilg. Vol. 3. Pag. â—04 In great Iava they say there is a Tree 〈◊〉 Pith is Iron It is very small â—et runs from the top to the bottom of the Plant. The Fruit that grows on it is not to be pierc'd with Iron IVL. SCALIG Exercit. 181. Sect. 27. In the Island Câ—mbubon there grows a Tree whose Leaves fallen upon the ground do move and creep It hath Leaves like the Mulberry Tree They have on both sides that which looks like two little feet pressed they yield no Liquor If you touch them they flye from you One of them kept eight days in a Dish liv'd and moved as oft as one touch'd it IVL. SCALIG Exercit. 112. The SENSITIVE PLANT is somewhat of this Nature which contracts it self if any one puts his hand to it and if you pull back your hand it recovers it self again Observations concerning MOVNTAINS SOme have thought that MOUNTAINS and all other Irregularities in the Earth have rise from Earthquakes and such like Causes Others have thought that they came from the Vniversal Deluge yeâ— not from any Dissolution of the Earth that was then but only from the great agitation of the Waters which broke the ground into this rude and unequal Form Both these Causes seem to me very incompetent and insufficient Earthquakes seldom make MOUNTAINS they often take them away and sink them down into the Caverns that lie under them Besides Earthquakes are not in all Countries and Climats as MOUNTAINS are for as we have observ'd more than once there is neither Island that is Original nor Continent any where in the Earth in what Latitude soever but hath MOUNTAINS and Rocks in it And lastly what probability is there or how is it credible that those vast Tracts of Land which we see fill'd with MOUNTAINS both in Europe Asia and Africa were rais'd by Earthquakes or any Eruptions from below In what Age of the World was this done and why not continued As for the Deluge I douâ—t not but MOUNTAINS were made in the time of the General Deluge that great Change and Transformation of the Earth happen'd then but not from such Causes as are pretended that is the bare rowling and agitation of the Waters For if the Earth was smooth and plain before the Flood as they seem to suppose as well as we do the Waters could have little or no power over a smooth Surface to tear it any way in pieces no more than they do a Meadow or low Ground when they lie upon it for that which makes Torrents and Land Floods violent is their fall from the MOUNTAINS and high Lands which our Earth is now full of but if the Rain fell upon even and Level Ground it would only sadden and compress it there is no possibility how it should raise MOUNTAINS in it And if we could imagine an Vniversal Deluge as the Earth is now constituted it would rather throw down the Hills and MOUNTAINS than raise new ones or by beating down their Tops and loose parts help to fill the Valleys and bring the Earth nearer to evenness and plainness Seeing then there are no hopes of Explaining the Origin of MOUNTAINS
some of the Alps. The Trees which in the Islands of Ferro and St. Thomas are said to furnish the Inhabitants with most of their Water stand on the sides of Vast Mountains Vossius in his Notes on Pomponius Mela affirms them to be Arborescent Fâ—rula's I believe there is something in the many Relations of Traveller's and Voyagers concerning these Trees but then I fancy they are all mistaken when they say the Water issues out of the Trees The Vapours sâ—â—pt by the Mountains condense and Distil down by the Boughs There being no Mountains in Egypt may be one reason why there is little or no Rain in thâ—t Countrey and Consequently no fresh Springs therefore in their Caravans they carry all their Water with them in great Borracio's This may be the cause that the Vast Ridge and Chain of Mountains in Peru are continually watered when the great Plains in that Countrey are all dry'd up and parcht This Hypothesis concerning the ORIGINAL of SPRINGS from Vapours may hold better in those Hot Regions within and near the TROPICKS where the Exhalations from the Sea are most plentiful most rarify'd and Rain scarce than in the Temperate and Frigid ones where it Rains and Snows generally on the Tops of the Mountains yet even in our EUROPEAN Climates I have often observ'd the Firs Pines and other Vegetables near the Summets of the ALPS and APPENNINES to drop and run with Water when it did not Rain above some Trees more than others according to the density and smoothness of their Leaves and Superficies whereby they stop and condense the Vapours more or less The Beams of the Sun having little force on the high Parts of Mountains the interrupted Vapours must continually moisten them and as in the Head of an Alembick condense and trickle down so that we owe part of our Rain Springs Rivers and Conveniencies of Life to the Operation of Distillation and Circulation by the Sun the Sea and the Hills without even the last of which the Earth would scarce be Habitable Novemb. 12. 1691. TANCRED ROBINSON Since the Receipt of this Letter an Experiment occur'd to Me which hath much confirm'd me in the belief and persuasion of the Truth of those Histories and Relations which Writers and Travellers have delivered to us concerning Dropping Trees in FERRO St. THOME GUINY c. of which before I was somewhat disâ—ident And likewise in the approbation of the Hipothesis of my Learned Friend Dr. Tancred Robinson for the solving of that Phoenomenon The same also induces me to believe that Vapours may have a greater Interest in the production of SPRRINGS even in temperate and cold Regions than I had before thought Therefore whenever in this Work I have assigned RAIN to be a sufficient oâ— only Cause of SPRINGS and RIVERS I would not be understood to exclude but to comprehend therein MISTS an VAPOURS which I grant to have some interest in the production of them even in Temperate and Cold Regions and a very considerable one in Hot. Though I cannot be perswaded that even there they are the Sole Cause of SPRINGS for that there fall such plentiful and long continuing RAINS both in the East and West-Indies in the Summer Months Which must needs contribute something to their ORIGINAL IOH. RAY's Miscell Disc. of the Dissolution of the World Pag. 249. FINIS A Catalogue of some Plays Printed for R. Bentley BEaumont and Fletcher's Plays in all 51. in large Fol. Mr. Shakespear's Plays In one large Fol. Volume containg 43 Plays Mr. Nathaniel Lee's Plays In one Volume Mr. Otway's Plays In one Volume Mr. Shadwel's Plays In one Volume Mr. Dryden's Plays In two Volumes His other Poems One Volume more 1 All mistaken or the mad Couple 2 Alexander the Great 3 Andromache 4 Ambitious Statesman or the Loyal Favourite 5 Virtue Betray'd or Anna Bullen 6 Abdellazor or the Moor's Revenge 7 Amoroâ—â— Prince 8 Amends for Ladies 9 Albumazor 10 Amboyna a Tragedy 11 Brutus of Alba. 12 Byron's Conspiracy 1. Part. 13 Byron's Conspiracy 2 d. Part. 14 Banditti or the Lady in distress 15 Busey d' Ambois 16 Caesar Borgia 17 Country Wit 18 Calisto or the Chast Nymph 19 Country Wife 20 City Politicks 21 Constantine 22 Common-wealth of Women 23 Counterfeits 24 Caius Marius 25 Destruction of Ierusalem in two Parts 26 Duke of Guise 27 Dutch Lovers 28 Duke of Millan 29 Disappointment 30 English Monsieur 31 Esquire Old-Sap or the Night Adventures 32 Essex and Elizabeth or the Unhappy Favourite 33 Empress of Morocco 34 Evening Love or the mock Astrologer 35 Forc'd Marriage or the Jealous Bridegroom 36 The Fond Husband or the Plotting Sisters 37 Fool turn'd Critick 38 The Fatal Wager 39 Fatal Jealousie 40 False Count. 41 Generous Enemies or the Ridiculous Lovers 42 Gloriana or the Court of Augustus Caesar. 43 Grateful Servant 44 Henry the Sixth or the Misery of Civil-War 45 Henry the Sixth or the Murther of the Duke of Glocester the 2 d. Part. 46 Hamlet Pr. of Denmark a Tragedy 47 Humerous Courtier 48 The Hollander 49 Iulius Caesar. 50 Island Queen or Mary of Scotland 51 King Lear. 52 King and no King 53 Knave in Grain 54 Little Thief 55 Love Tricks 56 Lucius Iunius Brutus 57 Loyal Brother 58 Mythridates King of Pontus 59 Madam Fickle or the Witty False One. 60 Mr. Limberham or the Kind Keeper 61 Mistaken Husband 62 Moor of Venice
have any Stone in them But so abundant in SUGAR-Canes and well stored with SUGARS that forty Ships are thence loaded Yearly with that one Commodity For the making of which they have there Seventy Ingenios or SUGAR-Houses and in each of them Two Hundred Slaveâ— in some Three Hundred which belong to the Works Six says He that Concrete consists of a very sharp and Corrosive Salt though mitigated with a Sulphur as it plainly appears from its Chymical Analysis For SUGAR distill'd by it self yields a Liquor scarce inferior to Aqua Stygia And if you distil it in a Vesica with a great deal of Fountain-Water pour'd to it though the fixt-Salt will not so ascend nevertheless a Liquor will come from it like the hottest Aqua Vitae burning and very pungent when therefore says the Dr. SUGAR mixt almost with any sorts of Food is taken by us in so great a plenty how probable is it that the Blood and Humours are rendred Salt and sharp and consequently Scorbutical by its daily use A certain Famous Author viz. Simon Pauli has laid the cause of the English Consumption on the immoderate use of SUGAR amongst our Country-Men I know not says the Dr. whether the cause of the increase of the Scurvy may not also be rather hence deriv'd WILLIS's London-Practice Pag. 372. 'T is observ'd of Those who work much in the SUGAR-Houses that they are very subject to the Scurvy and that in Portugal where there is a mighty Quantity of SUGAR Yearly spent their chief Distemper is a Consumption The manner of Ordering the CANES and How the SUGAR is made WHen the CANES come to Maturity which the Planters know by several Signs as well as we know when our Harvest is ready they cut them down at or above the first Joynt from the Ground for there is little moisture in them close to the Ground with a strong Instrument for the same purpose laying them even in â—eaps as we usually lay our Corn here in Harvest-time Then they shread off all the Branches and â—ind the Stalks in Bundles ready â—or their Servants to carry away or else they lay them together here and there till they can carry them away with their Horses to the Mill Machine or Ingenio where they squeeze them Which must be as fast as they can after they are cut for if they lye long after they are cut before they use them then they come by much damage so that whilst they are cutting in the Plantations the Mill is usually going and the Coppers are boyling They carry them on their Horses being loose or bound up in bundles after this wise They have a kind of Pad made as some of our Horses have that carry Burthens and on each side of that are two Crooks standing up even or higher than the Horse's back into which Crooks the CANES are laid on each side of the Horse and then they carry them up to the SUGAR-Mill which is made after this manner following They have an open House built on some pretty high Ground oâ— Hill whereby they may have as much Air as they can square or at least pretty wide in the middle of which they set up two great Posts of very hard and solid Timber made exactly round and straight with Irons at each end â—itted for them to turn the lower end of which turneth in Brasses fast fixt in a great and solid piece of Wood Now in one of these Cylinders or Rowlers which are to turn upright is a set of Coggs set round about which taketh always hold of the other Rowler and causeth it to turn so that both of them turn together There being fastned to one of the Cylinders a piece of Wood or rather a Frame of Wood whereunto is fastned a Horse or two to go round and draw it about in such a manner as most Brewers in England Grind their Mault Now the Mill being prepared and the CANES laid by it and all things ready to set them to work there is one that doth always put the CANES between these Rowlers as they turn which draw them through by turning very nigh one against another so that it squeezes all the Juice or Moisture out of them And then there is another always to take the Crusht CANES away unless one sometimes make shift to do both which commonly is too hard a Task Now under these Rowlers is set a Receiver as a Trough Cistern or the like convenient thing to receive the Juice or Liquor that is squeez'd out of the CANES And from this Trough or Cistern is a Spout to convey this Juice into the Furnaces or Coppers where it is to be boyl'd to SUGAR whereas in some SUGAR-Houses there are five or six Coppers for that purpose which are commonly set in a House built only for the same use at a distance from the Mill and also somewhat lower than the Mill because the Liquor is always running down into the Coppers All which Passages and Vessels must be kept very clean for otherwise they are by reason of the great heat apt to Sower and so spoil the Juice Neither must the Juice be long kept after it is pressed out for if it once grow Sower it is not then sit to make SUGAR These Coppers are set all one by another a-thwart the end of the SUGAR-House or Caring-House as they term it so that the upper edges of each Copper do almost touch one another being fast fixed in Brick-work and cemented round the Edges that no Fire can get up or be seen in the SUGAR-House But the mouth of the Furnaces where the Fire is put is so contriv'd â—hat they are made and appear on â—he outside the House where before â—hem is always ready cut great store â—f Wood to cast in to maintain â—he Fire so long as they boil Now if there be six Câ—ppers the â—â—st two are thinnest anâ— biggest 〈◊〉 which the Juice is first 〈◊〉 but not by a very strong Fire for that will make the Scum to rise by casting in Temper as they call it the first of which that ariseth is little worth but afterwards what is scumm'd off they make a very good drink of called Locus-Ale much used by the Servants in Iamaica or else they convey it into a Copper-Still as they do all their other Setlings and Dregs of SUGAR to be distill'd and make a sort of strâ—ng-Water which they call Rum or Rumbullion stronger than Spirit of Wine and not very pleasant until a Man be us'd to it This strong Liquor is ordinarily drank amongst the Planters as well alone as made into Punch Furthermore when this Juice hath so boil'd into the two first Coppers then is it strained into the third and fourth Furnaces which are less and thicker and there it is boil'd by somewhat greater Fire and as it begins to grow pretty thick theâ— is it put into the fifth and sixth Coppers and there boil'd by a greater and very strong Firâ— to a just consistence These
those that Work in the Day Sleep in the Night and those that Work in the Night Sleep in the Day The Ore which is as hard as a Stone is cut out with Pick-Axes beaten in pieces with an Iron-Crow and carried upon their Backs on Ladders made of Leather Each Ladder hath three fastnings about the thickness of a Cable stretch'd out by Sticks so that one goes up on one side whilest another comes down on the other Each Ladder being Ten Fathom long is pitch'd upon its several Floor on which the Labourers rest before they go up higher for they make divers Floors according to the Depth of the Mine The Labourers carry the Ore in Bags fastned before on their Breasts and falling back over their Shoulders three and three together the foremost whereof ties a lighted Candle to his Thumb and thus they help themselves with both hands It is a wonderful thing to Consider how the Peruvians are able to scramble up and down continually a Hundred and Fifty Fatham But besides many other Inconveniences the Mines often fall in or at least great Pieces which Bury all the Diggers The Mines also being excessive Cold occasion to those that are not us'd to them a Vertigo in the Head and Vomiting The SILVER runs for the most part between two Rocks as it were in a long Channel of which one side is as hard as Flint and the other much softer The SILVER is of different Value the best call'd Cacilla or Tacana resembles Amber in Colour the worser sort is Blackish and sometimes of an Ash-Colour The Pieces of Ore are carried on the Backs of the Sheep Pacos to the Mill where being ground to Powder they are put into Furnaces to melt of which there were once above Six Thousand on the Top of Potozi but since the Quick-Siviler was found to cleanse the same not a third part remains Ibidem Pag. 464 465. SILVER is in its highest perpection in JAPAN but not used in Trade in which is seen nothing but Gold and some small Coin of Brass which latter they spoil by Refining it too much PHILOSOPH TRANSACT Numb 49. Pag. 984. Observations concerning METTALS how they are generated IT is no wonder that Learned Men differ so much in their Opinions about the Matter whereof METTALLS are engendred because the Author of Nature seems to have Created them in that obscurity and depth and to have immur'd them with hard Rocks on purpose to hide their Causes and to give check to the Ambiton of Man The Philosophers who pretâ—nd to know the Causes of Things â—esides the first Matter which is the first Principle not only of Mettalls but of all other Bodies in the World assign another Matter remote also which is a certain moist and unctuous Exhalation together with a portion of thick and rough Earth from which being mingled together there results a Mâ—â—â—er whereof not only Mettalls but also Stones are made For if dryness prevail Stones are begâ—tten but if the unctuous humidity be predominant then Mettalls are begotten Plato Aristotle and their Followers are of this Opinion From the abundance of this pure and Shining Moisture made Solid proceeds the Lustre of Mettalls in whom of all the Elements Water is experimentally known to 〈◊〉 most predominant and tâ—◠〈◊〉 they run and are dissolvâ—d â—y Fire From the vâ—riâ—us â—â—â—pâ—rament and purity of â—he asâ—◠〈◊〉 Mateâ— come the Diveâ—s kinds of Mettalls the most pure and â—ine of all which and as it would seem Nâ—turâ—â— Principal intention is Gold Many to avoid difficult dispures of this Nature do hold with the Vulgar That at the Creation of the World God Almighty made the Veins of Mettalls in the same Condition as we now find them at this Day herein doing Nature a great injury by denying her withoâ—â— Reason a productive Virtue â—n this Matter which is alow'd unto her in all other Subâ—unâ—ry Lâ—ingâ— Moreover that Expâ—iâ—ce in divers places hath 〈…〉 trary A clear Example whereof we have in Ilva an 〈…〉 ing to Tuscany full of Iron Mines which when they have dug as hollâ—w and as deep as they can the Circumjacent Earth falls in and fâ—lls them up again and in the space of Ten or Fifteen Years at most they work those Mines again and thence draw out abundance of Mettall which that new Earth hath been converted into Many do think that the same happens in the rich Hill of Potosi BARBA of Metalls Chap. 18. It is Reported by some of the Ancients that in Cyprus there is a kind of Iron that being cut into little Pieces and put into the Ground if it be well Water'd will increase into greater Pieces But this is certain and known of Old That Lead will multiply and increase as hath been seen in Old Statua's of Stone which have been put in Cellars the Feet of them being bound with Lead where after some time it appear'd that the Lead did swell insomuch as it hang'd upon the Stone like Warts BACON's Nat. Hist. Experim 797. Our Salt-Petre Men find that when they have extracted Salt-Petre out of a Floor of Earth one Year within Three or Four Years after they find more Salt-Petre generated there and do work it over again The like is observ'd in Allum and Copperas And for Mettalls our Tinners in Cornwall have experience of Pits which have been fill'd up with Earth after they have wrought out all the Tin they could find in them and within Thirty Years they have open'd them again and found more Tin generated The like hath been observed in Iron as Gaudencius Merula reports of Ilva an Island in the Adriatick-Sea under the Venetians where Iron breeds continually as fast as they can Work it which is confirm'd also by Agricola and Baccius The like we read of at Saga in Lyâ—iis where they dig over their Iron Mines every Tenth Year Iohn Mathesius gives us examples of almost all sorts of Minerals and Metalls which he â—ad observ'd to grow and regenerate The like examples you mâ—y find in Leonardus Thurnesserus Eâ—â—stus affirms that he did see in St. Ioachims Dale Silver grown upon a Beam of Wood which was placed in the Pit to support the Works and when it was rotten the Workmen comming to set new Timber in the place found the Silver sticking to the Old Beam Also He reports that in Germany there hath been Unripe and Unconcocted Silver found in Mines which the best Workmen affirm'd would become Perfect Silver in Thirty Years The like Modestinâ—s Factuus and Mathesius affirm of Uâ—ripe and Liquid Silver which when the Workmen find they use to say We are come too soon IORDEN's Discourse of Natural Baths and Mineral Waters Cap. 11. Tâ—â—â— Mettalls may be and often have been â—ound in a Solt and Liquid Form or Substance the Honourable Mr Boyle instanâ—â—â—â—â—rom Gerâ—ardus in these Worâ—â—◠〈◊〉 aqua caerulea inventaâ—st Anâ—â—bâ—â—gae â—i argentum adhue crat in primo 〈◊〉 quâ—e coagulata redâ—cta in caâ—cem sixi boni Argenti
Banks in the Sea but the greatest of them when they fell either one upon another or in such a posture as to prop up one another their Heads and higher parts would stand out of the Water and make ISLANDS Thus I conceive the ISLANDS of the Sea were at first produc'd we cannot wonder therefore that they should be so numerous or faâ— more numerous than the Continents These are the Parents and those are the Children Nor can we wonder to see along the sides of the Continents several ISLANDS or Sets of ISLANDS sown as it were by handfuls or laid in Trains for the manner of their Generation would lead us to think they would be so plac'd So the American ISLANDS lie scatter'd upon the Coast of that Continent the Maldivian and Philippine upon the East-Indian Shoar and the Hesperides upon the Aâ—rick and there seldom happen to be any towards the middle of the Ocean though by an Accident that also might come to pass BVRNET's Theory of the Earth pag. 137 138 139. Athanasius Kircher amongst many considerable Remarks in his China Illustrata tells us that in China there were several Isles to the Number of 99. all turned into one under the same Extent of space they had when they were divided by Water As concerning the Situation of ISLANDS whether Comodious or not this saith Peter Heâ—lin is my judgement I find in Machiavel that for a City whose People covet no Empire but their own Towns a Barren place is better than a Fruitful because in such Seats they are compell'd to Work and Labour whereby they are freed from Idleness and by Consequence from Luxury But for a City whose Inhabitants desire to enlarge their Confines a fertile place was rather to be chosen than a Barren as being more able to nourish Multitudes of People The like Pet. Heylin says of ISLANDS If a Prince desire rather to keep than augment his Dominions no place fitter for his Abode than an ISLAND as being by it self and Nature sufficiently desensible But if a King be minded to add continually to his Empire an ISLAND is no fit Seat for him because partly by the uncertainty of Winds and Seas partly by the length and tediousness of the ways he is not so well able to supply and keep such Forces as he hath on the Continent An Example hereof is England which hath even to admiration repelled the most puissant Monarch of Europe but for the Causes above mentioned cannot shew any of her Conquests on the firm Land though she hath attempted and atchieved as many glorious Exploits as any Countrey in the World PET. HEYL. Cosmogr The Ingenious Dr. Sprat now Bishop of Rochester observes that the chief Design of the Antient English was the glory of spreading their Victories on the Continent But this says he was a Magnanimous mistake For by their very Conquests if they had maintain'd them this ISLAND had been ruin'd and had only become a Province to a greater Empire But now it is rightly understood that the English Greatness will never be supported or increas'd in this Age by any other Wars but those at Sea SPRAT's Hist. of the R. S. Pag. 404. ISLANDERS are for the most part longer liv'd than those that dwell in Continents For they live not so long in Russia as in the Orcades nor so long in Africa though under the same Parallel as in the Canaries and Tercera's And the Iaponians are longer liv'd than the Chineses though the Chineses are mad upon long life And this is no wonder seeing the Air of the Sea doth heat and cherish in cooler Regions and cool in hotter BACON's Hist. of Life and Death Of the Origine of Fâ—VNTAINS THat there is a Mass of Waters in the Body of the Earth is evident from the Origine of Fountains for the Opinion of Aristotle imputing them to the Condensation of Air in the Caverns of the Earth and that of other Philosophers ascribing them to the fall of Rain-Water received into such Cisterns in the Earth which are capable of receiving it are both equally unsatisfactory unless we suppose a Mass of Waters in the Bowels of the Earth which may be as the Common-Stock to supply those Fountains with For it is very hard conceiving how meer Air should be so far Condensed as to cause not only such a Number of Fountains but so great a quantity of Water as runs into the Sea by those Rivers which come from them as the River Volga is supposed to empty so much Water in a Years time into the Caspian Sea as might suffice to cover the whole Earth by which likewise it is most evident that there must be some Subterranean Passages in the Sea or else of necessity by that abundance of Water which continually runs into it from the Rivers it would overflow and drown the World And from this Multitude of Waters which comes from Fountains it is likewise evident that the Origine of â—ountains cannot be meerly 〈…〉 Water which 〈…〉 which would 〈…〉 maintaiâ— so full 〈…〉 many 〈…〉 that 〈…〉 that Rain-Water doth never moisten the Earth above Ten Foot deep for of far greater profundity many Fountains are And besides the Rain-Water runs most upon the Surface of the Earth and so doth rather swell the Rivers which thereby run with greater force in their Passage to the Ocean and doth not lodge it self presently in the Earth especially if it descends in a greater Quantity which alone is able to fill such Cisterns supposed to be in the Earth especially in Mountains which may keep a Stream continually running Although therefore we may acknowledge that the fall of Rain may much conduce to the Overflowing and Continuance of Fountains as is evident by the greater force of Springs afâ—er continued Rains and by the dâ—câ—y of many of them in hot and dry Weather which yet I had rather impute to the Suns exhaling by his continued heat those moist Legs because it is equally dispers'd into all the parts from the Center of it so in the Body of the Earth it is as natural for the Water to ascend into the Tops of Mountains as it is to fall down into the Center of the Earth And that it is no more wonder to see Springs issue out of Mountains than it is to see a Man Bleed in the Veins of his Forehead when he is let Blood there So in all places of the Earth the parts of it are not dispos'd for Apertion for some of them are so hard and compact that there seems to be no passage through them which is the most probable Reason why there is no Rain neither in those places because there is no such Exsâ—dation of those moist Vapours through the Surface of the Earth which may yield matter for Rain as it is in many of the Sandy places of Africa but usually Mountainous Countries have more large and as it were Temple-Veins through whiâ—h the moist Vapours have a free and open passage and thence there are