a Tempest of its Cannons which are plac'd very low which cannot be done in other Ships 3. When it is calm the Ship will go with Oars betwixt these two little ones beneath the Platform Besides the Oars which may be used without-Side as it happeneth every Day to others 4. Because this Ship will be equally proper to serve in War or Merchandise And as it will be lighter than others it is very useful to carry News to any Place that they have occasion to convey it to Relieve a Besieged Place or go to spy out the Enemy and even in Battle it will have many Advantages as easily may be imagined That which is the most feared in this Vessel is breaking asunder For in fine a considerable Space being betwixt the two Vessels whereof the Ship is composed it is feared the Waves which meet there with great Force will separate them But as this Objection was made as soon as the Structure of this Ship was proposed he that undertook it hath as he says taken such Care to provide against this Accident that he thinks it is the least thing to be feared And certainly if there is no secret Cause that retards its Course or renders its Navigation more perilous there is no apparent Reason which hinders the succeeding of the Enterprise In this Case a great many things must be changed in Naval Architecture which hath been hitherto observed And Wits will have Subject enough to exercise themselves in the Disquisition of the Causes of the Motion which will meet in the Agitation of this Ship An Extract of two Letters one written from London and the other from the Hague concerning the Vse of Pendulums to find out the Longitude upon the Sea BEfore I give the Extract of these two Letters we must say two or three Words of the Longitude in favour of those who are not well acquainted with these kinds of Subjects One of the greatest Philosophers of these latter Ages has observed That of all Arts Navigation is the most Perfect and that which can receive the least Addition Yet nevertheless there are many Defects observed in it The chief is That Pilots having lost sight of the Land and knowing not where they are run the hazard of loosing themselves for if the Compass and the height observed teach at what Distance they are from the North and South and that so the Latitude is easily distinguished yet no means could hitherto be invented by which the Longitude could be precisely known viz. what Distance one is from the East or West Nevertheless seeing it would be impossible to Navigate if there was not at least an imperfect Knowledge thereof Pilots are reduced to make a Journal from Hour to Hour to mark what Wind they have made use of and observe the Violence and Impetuosity of Currents through which they have passed Therefore they hold a very exact Register of these things and afterwards computing their Journals they judge by the Estimation of the Way which they have gone towards the East or West and thus they conjecture at what Distance they are from it But as this manner is very uncertain and that the best Pilots agree but very seldom in their Reckoning they often lose themselves in Places against Rocks which they think themselves very far from So that it may be judged of what consequence it would be to discover a certain Means to find out the Longitude seeing after that the Place may be precisely known in what part of the Sea soever one is and so we might Sail in great Security This is what Mr. Huggens hath found out by means of the Pendulum All the World knows its Exactness that it fails not one Moment And as soon as it appeared it was not doubted but it would serve to find out the Longitude provided a means could be invented of carrying it on the Sea without its losing any thing of the Regularity of its Motion For suppose this exactness it is certain that if in parting from the Port the Pendulum's adjusted to the Hour it is in the Port from which the Longitude and Latitude is known when one is on the Main Sea it will be easie to know by the Sun or the Stars the Hour of the Day at the Place where one is and in comparing this Hour with the Hour it was at the Port whence one parted as it is given by the Pendulum the Longitude will be found without Trouble For as it is known how many Degrees of Longitude the Sun makes in one Hour one may infallibly determine by the Difference of the Hours how far one is towards the East or West and then to judge by the Map of the Distance of the Place where one is from all the other Places which are marked in the Map An Extract of a Letter written from London January 1665. CAptain Holmes is at last arrived and the Relation he made us of the Experiment of the Pendulums makes us confident they will succeed He parted from the Isle of St. Thomas which is under the Line accompanied with four Vessels He was obliged to gain the Wind proper for his Return toward the West and to sail six hundred Leagues without changing his Road After which finding the Wind favourable he drew towards the Coasts of Africk directly to North-North-East But as he had made about four or five hundred Leagues upon this Rumb the Pilots of the three Ships which were under his Conduct fearing they should lack Water before they arrived at the Place intended proposed to him to go and take Water in at the Barbados Hereupon this Captain having assembled them and made them bring their Journals they found themselves distant in their Reckoning from his one eighty Leagues the other one hundred and the other one hundred and twenty for this Captain judged by the Pendulums that he was not much more than thirty Leagues from the Isle of Fuego which is one of those of the Green-Cape which these Pilots judged then to be very far off And because he had an entire Confidence in these Clocks he maintained that they should continue their Road and the next Day in the Morning the Isle appeared according to his Expectation An Extract of a Letter written from the Hague the fifth of February 1665. CAptain Holmes at his Return hath given such Relations concerning the Usefulness of Pendulums as surpassed my Expectation I did not imagine that the Clocks of this first Construction would succeed so well and I reserved my chief Hope for the New But seeing those have already been so successful and that the others are more exact I have the more reason to believe that the Invention of the Longitude will be in its utmost Perfection Nevertheless I shall inform you concerning what you desired to know of the manner wherewith the Gentlemen of the States received my Proposition when I asked them for the Priviledge of New Clocks and such a settled Price on the Invention in case of Success
Reader is not at all a loser in the Exchange either in the Number or Quality of Books for as they may be assured we had no interest in expunging some and putting in others which we cou'd yet wish had been more so we shou'd hardly put in worse than those we took out having perhaps as much Iudgment in Books as the first Single Collector and our Bookseller But to do our Bookseller Iustice in this affair we shall acquaint the World that he very readily offer'd to add â—en Sheets more than the Proposals for the same Money to wit 130 instead of 120 and this after he had receiv'd a deal of Subscription-Money because he wou'd have the Work Compleat and Perfect and lay more than a Common Obligation upon his Subscribers perhaps there has not been another such an Instance to be found amongst those of his Calling Our Bookseller has been extreamly harass'd about a Speedy Publication which above all Men he has least deserv'd for there 's no body more diligent in his Employ than himself as every body of his Acquaintance will acknowledge There were Six Presses at work Mr. Rush-worth's Collections were in the Press at the same time and there were Six Weeks Frost which hindred the Printers therefore no Reasonable Person can suppose our Bookseller careless in the Affair or responsible for things out of his Power We have also to Advertise that the Author of the Hebrew Punctuation has retir'd into the Countrey where his necessary business will take up a great part of his time yet whatever Letters Objections c. shall be sent to him about his Performance if they be directed to our Bookseller they will come to his hands and he will notwithstanding his business set apart so much time as to maintain what he has advanc'd and to Answer all Objections whatever The Reader is to expect one other Inconvenience which was almost impossible to be avoided in having to do with six Presses the Abstracts are not exactly placed Dupin's Works being divided one Volume in one place and another in another but the Table will rectifie that Error only in one place the Printer has through a Mistake broken off in the midst of Bishop Ushers Works p. 37. and began another Subject and what shou'd have follow'd is transferred to page 65. which the Reader is desir'd to Correct and make a note of Reference with his Pen. And also instead of The the Direction word in page 316 should be Apostolici He that translated above an hundred of these Sheets is a Frenchman a Stranger to us and tho' we have revis'd all we cou'd not possibly give the Style a new Air and turn unless we had wholly alter'd it which wou'd have been so much labour that we had better to have translated all over again However this we can say for the Translation that its greatest Fault is that it keeps too nâ—ar the Original which the severest searcher after Truth will not be sorry to find for there 's less Error in such a Translation than in one where an affected profuse Liberty is assumed And after all we can't promise that in this hasty Review we have been rigid enough in our Examination only we hope there 's nothing very Material and if so a few small defects may easily be pardon'd by the Ingenious when they reflect of what great Vse this YOUNG STUDENTS LIBRARY will be to the World of which we shall now speak a word or two This Book is a kind of a Common Theatre where every person may Act or take such Part as pleases him best and what he does not like he may pass over assuring himself that every ones Iudgment not being like his another may choose what he mislikes and so every one may be pleas'd in their Turns A Book of this Nature provided every one follows the Rule just now laid down will solve the Common Complaint of Authors viz. that it 's impossible to please every Body for there 's scarce any one that can't find some Subjects here very agreeable to his Iudgment which if it alters may be refurnisht either by something new or perhaps by the very same things that displeas'd before Only here 's one Inconvenience depends upon this Variety to wit The unsetling people in their Iudgments and Perswasions To such we answer That what we here offer to the VVorld is rather a History of Books than a Method for people to fix their Iudgments by Here are several Subjects and some such as are diversely treated of but this hinders not the profit of the Reader since 't is universally granted that Diversity and Opposition shew the way to Truth It wou'd be an endless Task to Comment upon every good Thing that we find abstracted to our Hand or to expect that we shou'd censure what we find disagreeable to our Iudgments 't is enough to expunge such things in Divinity where Fundamentals are attaque'd by Libeâ—tines or Atheists we think we ought not to do it in any other Sciences let 'em all find out â—ruth after their own manner which when the Reader has fully consider'd he may by their Errors avoid Falsehood and raise one new Model out of their best Materials These Treatises are not only pleasant as to their Variety but useful for their Brevity there being the Substance and Value of a Considerable Part of a good Library brought within the Compass of this one Volume which as it will spare much Labour a man being able to peruse here more of an Author in half an hour than in half a day in the Author himself so it will save a great deal of Expences to such as wou'd be Master of the Knowledge of many Books by laying out a little Mony the performances of the Author and Quality if known being here Epitomiz'd and such as wou'd see more than oâ—â— Abstract may by the Title be directed where to buy the Author himself That there can be no Convenience without its Inconvenience we are satisfi'd and it may be alledg'd that Compendia sunt Dispendia but that this is an Error we dare appeal to the Encouragements that the Journal des Scavans the Republique des Lettres and the Universelle Bibliotheque c. out of which these Abstracts are Translated have met with from all the Men of Letters beyond Sea So that it must first be shewed that what has been so universally approved by the Ingenious in other Nations shou'd not also meet with the same Success here amongst us when Translated into English which to doubt wou'd be to question the Capacity Spirit and penetrating Genius of our Nation In fine We hope the Iudicious Reader will also pardon the Errataâ—s of the Press and with his own Pen Correct such Faults as may happen that way we having only had leisure to revise what went in not what comes out of the Press tho' we hope there 's nothing of an Error has escaped that 's very Material Directions to the Bookbinder
of the Book of Samuel of the Chronicles and of Kings put together according as the order of events required Here are also many Psalms with the occasions and most difficult passages of the Canticles explained after the manner of our Author that is to say according to the method of the Rabbins who only guessed at many things in ancient History Whereof see an example in C. 58. about the explication of Psalm 58.35 but as neither the time nor the Authors of all the Psalms are not known Lightfoot could not range them in Chronological order Which has obliged him to place the Book of Psalms after the the 35 th chapter of the 1 st Book of Chronicles In this place he makes divers reflections upon the gathering together of these Sacred Songs Ps. 71. He tells us the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Songs was written when Solomon had finished the buildings he had undertaken He believes that the Song of Songs was composed by this Prince upon his Marrying the King of Egypt's Daughter who that being a very hot Country was Brown as it is Cant. 1.5 6. but his chief end was to represent the Spiritual Marriage of Jesus Christ with his Church under the sensible Type of his own with an Egyptian As for the Ecclesiastes Lightfoot places it much later and thinks it a work that he composed in the time of his Repentance see Pag. 26. from this place the Books of the Kings and Chronicles are Printed in Columns so that one may see at first view the conformity and difference which is between them as there is in this History many Chronological difficulties so Lightfoot is more exact to mark the years of every Prince 5. Being come to the Reign of Vzziah whom the Scripture also calls Azarias he saith that before that time there always had been some Prophets but that none of them had left his Prophecies in writing And according to him 't was in this time that the Prophets begun to write On this occasion he describes the order and end of the Prophecies of Hosea Ioel Amos Obadiah and Ionas he maintains that the first occasion of the Prophecies of Hosea was the death of Zacharias Son of Barachia As all that this Prophet saith cannot relate to one time only so he here mentions but the four first Chapters the others are each in their place He hath observed the same order in regard to the rest who have prophesied in divers times Those according to his Judgment whose Predictions have been delivered in the same time are inserted entire in the places where Lightfoot speaks of what happened at that time as Nahum Zephaniah c. 6. The Book of Esdras immediately followeth the first of Chronicles It was then that Cyrus published his Edict by which he permitted the Jews to return to their Countrey for tho' Darius of Media or Astyages as the Greeks call him lived at that time it was made in the name of Cyrus his Grandson Lightfoot makes divers remarks upon this Darius of Media to p. 113. in explaining the 5th Chapter of Daniel and to p. 136. he speaks of several things during the Reign of Cyrus and the Succession of the Kings of Persia. Lightfoot inserts the History of Esdras after the 4th Chapter of Esdras He believes the Assuerus mentioned in this History was also called Artaxerxes and that he was called Assuerus from the name of one of his Predecessors which is spoken of in Dan. 9.1 to wit the Grandfather of Cyrus whom the Greeks called according to Lightfoot Astyages He makes this Assuerus immediately to follow Cyrus 7. Nehemiah and Malachy end this work and the Spirit of Prophecy having ceased among the Jews the Books that they have since made have not had the same Authority as those that preceded them Lightfoot explains here the difficult Chronologies that he meets with in his way 2. The Harmony of the Old Testament is followed with some remarks upon Genesis and Exodus the first are entituled Paucae ac novellae observationes super librum Geneseos quarum pleraeque certae caeterae probabiles sunt omnes autem innoxiae ac raro antea auditae It is a Collection of divers Rabbinical Remarks or like in subtilty to those of the Rabbins They conjecture at many things according to the custom of these ingenious Doctors for example That the first natural Day in the Climat of the Garden of Eden was thirty six hours long even as the day whereof mention is made in the 10 th Chapter of Joshua That the Moon and some Stars were created before the Sun That it was at the full before the Sun appeared which then augmented its Light but that the Earth hindering the sight thereof it appeared not to Adam till six days after who saw it in its first quarter after that the Promise had cleared the darkness of the Fall That the clean Beasts were created in each kind to the number seven whereof three pairs were destined to the propagation of their kind and the seventh to be sacrificed by Adam after he had sinned but that there was but one pair of each kind of unclean Animals c. His Remarks upon Exodus bear this Title Manipulus spicilegiorum è libro Exodi ubi solutio probabilis scrupulorum quorundam manifestorum explanatio difficiliorum textuum qui hoc libro occurrunt antea ab aliis raro exhibitae These Remarks keep much of the subtilty of the preceding ones therein is nevertheless seen a method a little more conform to that which the Interpreters of the holy Scripture commonly follow Every Section contains particular Remarks which have no connexion one with the other and there are 59 Questions which we cannot undertake to make an exact Extract of We shall only bring two or three of them by which you may judge of the rest Lightfoot believes that the 88 th and 89 th Psalms are the most Antient Works that remain amongst us and are made by Heman and Ethan Sons of Zerach as hath already been remarked who lived in the time of the Egyptian Slavery He makes answer to those who oppose him therein that Ethan speaks of David 1. That this might be a Spirit of Prophecy as 't is spoken of Samuel in Psal. 99. which the Hebrews believe to be of Moses 2. That Prophet having left some Writings they have been polished and augmented by others who had also the gift of Prophecy according as certain things present past or to come required it This will plainly appear saith Lightfoot if we compare the 18th Psalm with the first of Sam. chap. 22. Obadiah with Ieremiah c. 49. v. 14. 1 Chron. c. 16. with Psal. 92. 105. 2 Pet. c. 2. with the Epistle of St. Iude. He believes that this piece of Ethan hath likewise been polished in David's time and that several times the name of David was then inserted from Section the 30th unto the end Our Author endeavours to describe the Tabernacle and
the Witnesses from the Revocation of the Edict of Nants To return to our Author he remarks that the same prodigies have been related of the year MXXXIII and the same evils as of the year M. There was also towards that time a Mortality and Famine and Signs from Heaven appeared to wit Eclipses and Comets besides Earthquakes that were in divers places And that there should nothing be wanting of what had appeared at the beginning of this Age one Arnulph a Monk of Ratisbone testified he had seen in Hungary a Dragon suspended in the air and altogether like the Leviathan whereof mention is made in Iob. It came also out of the North and after having appeared sometime as unmoveable he began to fly with an extraordinary swiftness and went amongst the Clouds whisling horribly where he raised Lightnings and Thunders for more than 24 hours Notwithstanding ignorance and superstition encreased from day to day A Bishop of France at the relation of Sigebert would fain make people believe that he had received Letters from the third Heaven wherein all men were ordered on Friday to live upon Bread and Water to bear no Arms to recall nothing by way of Justice what had been taken away by violence and not to pursue the Murderers Heaven promised Salvation to those who should live thus not having need of any other penitence but to abstain from flesh on Fridays There were Bishops so simple or superstitious as to believe and impose those new Laws upon many under pain of Excommunication and of being deprived of Burial if they died in the refusal thereof In this time likewise were discovered many Relicks of Martyrs which had been unknown in former Ages Glaber relates that an Impostor sold in divers places of France Bones of dead Folks which he had gathered in some Church yards for Relicks of Saints that afterwards did an infinite number of Miracles and which much benefited the Churches in which they were placed Fearing he should be suspected and that men would desire to know whence this inexhaustible fund of Relicks came he stay'd not in one place and changed his name when he changed his Habitation He gave amongst others to the Inhabitants of the Alps and Tarantoise a Martyr to whom he gave the name of Iust and who did as 't is said so great a number of Miracles that the sick were carried from all parts to be cured and that the Saints were sorry if they had not some disease whereby they might have an opportunity to be cured by him Poenitet insuper si non est sibi morbus quo curari se poscat Glaber attributes these Miracles to the Devil and mightily censures the Bishops of that Country for not having put a stop to such extravagances of the People The Pope who ascended the Apostolick See in the year MXXXIII was Bennet IX whom Glaber accuseth of all manner of impurities and Cardinal Baino of Idolatry and Magick This Pope coming to the Chair at the age of XII years lived eleven years only but he committed so many crimes that he was driven from Rome and was forced to sell his dignity whereof notwithstanding he would not be deprived afterwards so that there were at Rome three Popes at once Bennet Sylvester and Gregory The disorders of that time are too known to make any stop at them it will suffice to say that the memory of this Benet was in so great a detestation that there ran a report that his Soul had been sent after his death into the body of a Monster which was shap'd like a Bear and which had the Ears and Tail of an Ass where he was to stay till the day of Judgment that he would be sent without remission into Hell It was at the beginning of this Age as our Author sheweth that the dignity of Cardinals begun to be considerable but it came not to the height till they only had the priviledge of choosing Popes since they have been equalled to Kings and have carried their Pride so far that Nicholas de Clemangis Arch-Deacon of Bajeux who lived in the year MCCCCXVI describes them in these terms The Pride of Cardinals who sit at the side of the Pope is so excessive their words are so fierce and their ways so insolent that if a Painter would make a Picture of Pride he could not better do it than in Painting a Cardinal Cardinalium qui Papae assident spiritus verba tumulentia gestus taminsolentes ut si artifex quisque vellet superbiae simulaâ—hrum effingere nullâ congruentius ratione id facere posset quaà m Cardinalis effigiem oculis intuentium objectando c. It hath been seen that according to our Author the term at which the Devil was let loose expired a thousand years after the Birth or after the passion of our Lord. He afterwards says that if men will take the beginning of these thousand years from the destruction of Ierusalem it may be said with as much likelihood that they are in effect expired in MLXXIII that the Monk Hildebrand ascended the Apostolical See and Governed the Church with the utmost Tyranny under the name of Gregory VII The unheard excesses which this Pope committed made the honest men of that time to say according to the relation of Sigebert in his Chronicle upon the year MLXXXVIII that the Reign of Antichrist then begun according to the Prophecies of the Apostles Waltram Bishop of Naumbourg or the Author of the Apology for the Vnity of the Church saith in these terms That is seemed then that the Devil was come out of Prison whereas it is written in the Apocalypse he went forth to seduce the Nations and to engage 'em to War c. The Church of Liege in its answer to Paschal II. saith as much as well as divers other Authors cited by Vsher who describe Hildebrand as the most wicked of all men He was accused of Witchcraft in a Synod held in MLXXX and several Catholick Writers have sufficiently declared the same thing which gives occasion to our Archbishop of applying unto him what St. Paul saith of the man of sin that he was to come accompanied with the work of Satan and with deceiving Miracles And also what St. Paul saith elsewhere of some Impostors who were to come in the latter times and which he describes by two remarkable characters which is that they would interdict Marriage and order the abstaining from Meats which God hath created to be eaten with thanksgiving In effect Gregory VII did 'em both in two Synods assembled the sixth year of his Popedom wherein he prohibited the Marriage of Priests and the use of Flesh on Saturdays Sigebert de Gemblou and Lambert de Schafnabourg have written at large the murmurs and disorders which these prohibitions caused Priests said particularly that it was unjust to constrain men to live like Angels and that in stopping the ordinary course of Nature the bridle was let loose to Fornication and Impurity They added that if
Vessel wherein he was six or seven Leagues in three quarters of an Hour When these Whales are Wounded they make a horrid Cry to which all the rest that are within Hearing immediately swim thither but without hurting any Body He struck one of them one day which by estimation was more than one hundred Foot in length He believes that these Fish are like those which are called Iubartes they have no Teeth and are of a greater length than the Whales of Greenland but not so thick They feed on the Herbs which grow in the bottom of the Sea which is apparent by the opening of their great Sack or Stomach in one of which there have been found two or three Hampers full of green Stuff like to Herbs He thinks seven or eight Tuns of Oyl may be drawn from the biggest of these Whales tho' all those he took afforded him but eleven Tuns But he believes the Reason was because he had not a Skilful Cooper to hoop them well The young Ones give but little and it is more like Jelly than Oyl That of the old Ones is curdled and yet burns very well That which is drawn from the Fat is as clear as Whey but that which is drawn from the interlarded Leanness becomes hard as Tallow and sparkles in burning As to that which is made of the Leaf it is like the Fat of an Hog This Oyl he says hath a marvelous Quality for tho' it is boyling hot one may dip ones Hand in it without being burned It is Soveraign for Wounds and several other sorts of Evils being applied to the afflicted part Upon what he first said That the catching of these Whales lasts from the beginning of March unto the end of May he was asked where they might be the rest of the time seeing they were not in the Sea To which he replyed That the common Opinion was that they withdrew into the Weedy Caves of the Gulph of Florida because it hath been observed that upon their Fins and Tails there were quantities of Viscosities upon which there grew Shells and there has been seen upon 'em Shells bigger than Oysters many of which have been ranged upon the Palisadoes of the Governour of Bermudas An Extract of an English Iournal A new Invention which they use in Virginia to kill Bell-Serpents THere are in several Places of America a kind of Serpents most dangerous which is called the Bell-Snake because with the End of their Tail they make a Noise very like that which Bells do when they are moved This Animal is very big about five Feet long and of Brown Colour mixed with Yellow It hath a forked Tongue and long sharp Teeth and moves with as much Swiftness that it seems to Fly As there was Discourse in the Royal Society of this kind of Serpents Captain Silas Taylor gave there the Relation of the manner how they are killed in Virginia and afterwards gave it in by Writing attested by two Persons worthy of Credit in whose Presence the Experience had been made These are their own Words The wild Pouliot or the Dictam of Virginia is about a Foot high the Leaves are like unto those of the Pouliot and little blue Knots at the Places where the Branches are joyned to the Trunk and though the Leaves are of a Red Colour inclining to Green the Water which is distilled thence is of a fine Yellow and is like Brandy When these Leaves are opened and put upon the Tongue they seem very hot and pricking They take of these Leaves which they tie to the End of a splitted Stick and some one puts it very near the Nose of the Bell-Serpent which useth all its Endeavours to draw away from it but the Smell as it is believed kills it in less than half an Hour This Experiment was made in Iuly 1651. at which Time it is thought the Venom of these Animals is in its greatest Strength This Gentleman also assured the Royal Society That where ever the wild Pouliot groweth or the Dictam of Virginia there are no Bell-Serpents to be seen An Extract of an English Iournal about a remarkable Spring which is near Paderborn in Germany NEar the City of Paderborn there is a Spring or Source which is called Methorne whence there comes three different Brooks There are chiefly two which though they are not distant from one another above about a Foot and a half yet have very contrary Qualities for the Water of the one is Clear but blewish Blood-warm and Boyling which seems to partake of an Armoniac Salt of Oker of Iron of Vitriol of Alum of Brimstone of Niter and Arsnick which they usefully make Use of against the Epilepsie the Pains of the Spleen and Worms The other has a Water as cold as Ice Muddy Whitish more Heavy and of a Stronger Taste than the former and imbibes much of Arsnick Salt Iron Nitre and a little of Armoniac Salt Alum and Vitriol and it is said That all Birds that drink on'â— do dye suddenly Which gave an Occasion to a curious Person to make Trial thereof by himself upon Hens to which he gave of this Water to drink after they had been fed He remarked That all those which after having fed upon Barly Oats or Crumbs of Bread drank thereof did immediately stagger and fall being attacked with strange Convulsions in which they dyed a little after and became Stiff almost like Sticks But those which he made to swallow a little Common Salt immediately after they had drunk lived a little longer Others which he made to swallow Vinegar lived almost seven or eight Days being very much incommoded thereby and about that Time dyed He had the Curiosity of opening all those which dyed and found that they all had the Entrals and Lungs withdrawn and gathered together Notwithstanding it is certain that several Persons have been cured of the Worms in taking a little of this Water which they mixed with other common Water for though most of them became thereby Sick yet none of them dâ—ed and they have been delivered from Worms after having voided a great Quantity of them As to the third Brook which is a little below the others about twenty Paces from them it hath a Water Greenish Clear of an Acid Taste and agreeable enough It is not as Light as the first nor so Heavy as the second but it seems to keep a medium betwixt both which makes those who have examined it to believe That this Brook is formed and comes from the Mixture of the others which come to joyn together This is principally known in that if they mix an equal Quantity of the Water of these two first Brooks and if there is a little Well-water put thereto shaking them altogether it falls out that after they settle there is a Water which hath the same Taste and the same Colour as that of the third Brook An Extract of an English Iournal An Opinion of the Astronomers of England upon the Contestation
willing yet to impart to you an Invention that I find new which they make use of to blow the Fire in the Brass Forges of Friouli near Rome It is the Water which bloweth the Fire not in moving the Bellows as is commonly done but by making a Wind. There is a River from whence proceeds a Fall of Water which is received into a Tub out of the Side of this Tub comes a Pipe like the Nose of a Pair of Bellows on the upper-side of the Pipe there is a Hole with a Stopple to stop or unstop it at pleasure the Tub empties itself under Ground when the Hole in the Pipe is stopped at its Mouth comes out incessantly a great Wind and when the Mouth of it is stopped the Wind comes out with such Violence by the unstopped Hole in the Top of the Pipe that I believe it would make a Ball leap as that does of Frescati An Extract of an English Iournal containing Instructions for those who take great Voyages upon the Sea THE Design of the Royal Society being according to its Establishment to apply it self to the Search of Nature and conformably unto the Observations made upon divers Phoenomenas and the effects thereof which were observed by 'em to compose a Natural History that might serve for a Foundation to establish a solid and profitable Philosophy they have from Time to Time given Orders to divers of their Members not only to labour after the Search of Remarkable Things which they might meet with in Foreign Countries but also to give some Instructions for Private Men who should have the same Curiosity It is for this End that considering the great Advantages which might be drawn from Voyages that shall be made for the future into all Parts of the World Mr. Rooke was heretofore chosen and charged with the Care of giving some Advice to those who go to the East or West Indies the better to enable them to make such Remarks as might contribute to the Accomplishment of their Design After which they desired the Mariners to keep an exact Register of these Observations which at their Return they should give two Copies of one to the High Admiral and the other to Trinity-House to be revised by the Royal Society Therefore Mr. Rooke before he dyed acquitting himself of his Commission and having made up a Memorial according to the Order which he had received thereupon it was thought fit to publish it and to give a Copy thereof to all the Mariners in the ensuing Form I. To observe the Declination of the Compass or the Variation of the Needle to the Meridian marking as exactly as possible the Place wherein the Observation shall be made and the Method which shall be used to make it II. That they should carry with them Needles of a good Temper and well-touched with a Load-Stone and to remark after the same manner the Inclination of the Needle III. To observe carefully the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea in as many Places as they are able with all the Ordinary and Extraordinary Accidents of the Tide as what is the prefix'd Time of its Ebbing and Flowing in the Rivers or Promontories or Capes what way the Current of the Water takes what perpendicular Distance there is betwixt the highest and lowest Tide what Day of the Moon and what Time of the Year falleth out the highest or lowest Tide so of the other Accidents which may be observed in the Tides chiefly near the Ports and about the Isles IV. To make Draughts and Descriptions of the Aspect of the Coasts Promontories of the Isles and Ports marking the Approaches and Distances as exactly as possible V. To Sound and Observe the Depth of the Coasts Ports and other such like Places near the Shore as they shall think fit VI. To endeavour to know the Nature of the Earth which is at the Bottom of the Sea and to sound it after all the ways to know if it be Mud Sand or Rock VII To make a Memorandum of all the Changes of Winds and Tides which happen at every Hour of Day and Night marking the Point or the Place whence the Wind comes and if it be strong or weak as also the Rains Hails Snow and such like Things with the precise Time of their beginning and continuance but chiefly to have a great Care to remark regular Winds in what Degree of Longitude and Latitude they begin at first where or when they cease or change and become stronger or weaker and by how much which ought to be done as exactly as possible VIII To observe and put in Writing all the extraordinary Meteors such as are Lightnings Thunders Comets and false Fires always remarking the Place and Time of their Apparition and Duration IX To carry about them good Ballances and Viols that contain near a Pint and have a very narrow Neck which shall be filled with Sea-Water in different Degrees of Latitude as shall be thought convenient and to remark carefully the Heaviness of the Viol full of Water taken at each Time and especially the Degree of Latitude and the Day of the Month. An Extract of an English Iournal containing some Observations made by Mr. Boyle and taken from one of his Letters about the Baroscope and the manner of Weighing the Air. I Shall make no Difficulty to say That I have hitherto found nothing that presages more certainly and makes known so exactly the Changes of the Time which happen after a long and constant serenity than the Baroscope I know not also whether in the most clear and serene Climates this Instrument might not be absolutely infallible for in these Northern Isles the Clouds are so little and discharge sometimes so suddenly that often the Weight of the whole Atmosphere of the Air receives thereby so small an Alteration that we are deceived therein and cannot find out the true Causes of the Constancy or Change of Air Therefore I should desire to see some good Kalendar or Journal made at Tangiers or in some other of our Northern Places or meridional ones of America At least I can affirm That after having tryed all sorts of Hydroscopes whereof I have a great Quantity and observed carefully the sweating of Marble and as many other famous Prognosticks as I have heard spoken of I have at last found out That there is none which comes near the Excellency of the Barometer to signifie the Changes of the Times which are to happen 2. To confirm what I have advanced I am willing here to give some Remarks which I have made The Weather appeared extreamly charged the fourth of last Ianuary but yet more on the seventh and it remained the following Days so gloomy that all the World believed certainly that we should have Rain nevertheless I observed then That the Mercury of my Baroscope did not fall down and that notwithstanding the Mists which sometime appeared pretty Thick and some Drops of Rain which fell it remained very high which made me
Ice he made some fine Powder to take Fire which he had placed in its Focus or Point where the Rays met together It is true that notwithstanding all the Care which may be taken it is impossible to make all the Aerial Matter to evaporate from the Water and to hinder that some Bubbles do not form in the middle of the Ice yet there is always a considerable Part on 't which is perfectly Transparent An Extract of a Letter of Mr. Hugens of the Royal Accademy of Sciences to the Author of the Journal of the Learned touching the Figure of the Planet Saturn THE last Conjunction of this Planet with the Sun happened the twelfth of March past of 22 Degrees 35 Minutes of Pisces and the great Obliquities of this Place from the Zodiack to our Horizon when it riseth is the Reason why it was almost three Months before it was seen in a clear Morning for it was but the fifth of Iune when Mr. Cassini observed it the first Time the Arms of Saturn being already visible and large it was judged they were re-established a long Time before He remarked also upon the North Side of the Descus of Saturn a little Tract of Shadow which agreeth as well as the re-establishment of the Arms with what is mentioned elswhere concerning the Ring with which I suppose Saturn is surrounded But because this Hypothesis is chiefly confirmed by the Observations which have been lately made whereof some have not been as yet published you will suffer me to relate them on this occasion with the Reflections I have made thereupon In the Year 1671. Saturn appeared round without Arms or Handles as I had foretold it fourteen years ago when I published my System though this happened two Months sooner than I expected to wit from the beginning of the Month of May. Afterwards an Intermission was perceived in the round Figure which I had not seen before and it had been hard for me to do it having observed Saturn but for one Year only when I writ these Predictions But you know that as soon as I heard that the Arms were returned which Mr. Cassini observed on the eleventh and fourteenth of August I said that assuredly he would take them up again in a little Time which was also found to be true for about the fourth of November the Arms of Saturn were to obscure that I doubted whether they appeared as yet though Mr. Cassini assures he had seen them the thirteenth of December following after which the round Figure continued until Saturn hid himself in the Beams of the Sun This Last Eclipse of the Arms proveth chiefly the Truth of my Hypothesis seeing it may well be judged it would have been hard for me to foresee this second Change so near the first if I had not known what had been its true Cause Besides that the manner it self wherewith the Arms were lost this second Time was precisely such as I have established in my System for they were seen to lose by little and little their Brightness though they remained always large enough to be seen which was a certain Mark that the Beams of the Sun lighted very obliquely the Surface of the Ring of Saturn which was turned towards us and that at last they lighted no more but the other opposite Surface In the Precedent Apparition of the round Figure from the end of May unto the fourteenth of August the Arms were not become invisible for want of being lighted but because our Sight was very little or not at all raised upon the Surface of the Ring which the Sun looked upon All these Reasons cannot be understood but by those who have taken the Pains to examine attentively what I have written thereof in the System of Saturn and it is for them that I shall adhere yet that as to the Lines of the Equinoxes or of the round Apparition of Saturn which Line is made by the Intersection of the Ring and of the Draught of the Orb of this Planet there have been hitherto no Observations made which oblige me to place it elswhere but at the 20 Degree of Pisces and the Balance which is the situation I have given it in Writing the System Every Time that the Place of Saturn meets in these Places of the Zodiack it ought to appear round and even it is only two Degrees or thereabouts from it For the Observations of the last Year 1671. oblige me to straiten thus these Limits which I had in Times past established six Degrees which I had done to save some Observations of Galileus and Gassandus whose Prospects have been of less effect than I had dared to suppose them According to these last Limitations the Appearances of the round Form of Saturn ought to last less than by my former Predictions so that in 1685. it will not be at the beginning of March but only at the Month of Iuly about the End of the Appearance of Saturn that he shall be seen to lose his Arms which he shall recover in the Month of November and so in the Year 1701. it cannot be seen round but in Iune at the beginning of his Appearance and from the Month of August his Arms will begin to grow again Before I end I shall add That the Table which I have given of the Motion of the small Moon or Star which accompanieth Saturn and which turns round about him in sixteen Days forty seven Minutes hath been hitherto found so conformable to the Observations that I cannot as yet see whether I ought to add to it or diminish from it An Extract of the Registers of the Royal Accademy of Sciences containing some Observations which Mr. Perrault made concerning two remarkable things which were found in Eggs. THE first Observation is upon a little Egg which was found in a great one and was about as large as a little Olive it was also of the Form of an Egg only a little longer in Proportion than Eggs commonly are but the End which is the sharpest in Eggs was so much more in this When it was first found in the big one which inclosed it it had no Shell it was only covered with a hard and thick Membrane which became hard in a very small Time as the Shell of all Eggs. The Matter wherewith it was filled was not Yellow as it is common in other Eggs but White and Serous such as is that of Eggs which are found in an Ostrich when she is near laying or such as are those that are Barren and Corrupted Another Observation is of an Egg in which a Pin was found inclosed and the Place by which it got in was not to be seen This Pin was covered with a whitish Crust of the thickness of the third Part of a Line which gave it the Form of a Bone of a Frog's Thigh Under this Crust the Pin was Black and a little Rusty The great Number of Examples which we have of the easie Penetration which Living Bodies are
capable of suffering by the Dilatation of their Pores may make it credible that the Small Egg entred the Covering of the Great one without Difficulty notwithstanding the little Disposition which its blunt Figure gave it for penetrating and that the Pin passed through the Body of the Hen without wounding her though its pointed Figure was very capable of doing it It appears that the insensible Motion of Things which are pushed by little and little produceth these two marvelous Effects It is seen that the Parts of the Plants although blunt such as the Points of Sparrow-grass penetrate the most hard Earth by the slow Strife they make and there are Persons who thrust sharp-pointed Pins up to the Head in their Arms and Legs without Pain because they are used to it by little and little It seems nevertheless That nature finds more safety to make blunt things pass which are capable only of dilating the Pores of Living Bodies than those which by their Figures are more sharp and this is seen by the Care it hath to make as it were a Case to the Point of a Pin which we speak of And we have moreover observed a like Providence in the Dissection of a Duck in whose Ventricle we have found a great Knot of Ribbons made of Thred and Gold-Lace which being a Weaving of small Bars of Metal capable of tearing the Skin of the Ventricle and Intestines each Bar was covered as with a little Leather which took the Roughness away yet we have further remarked in the Ventricle of an Ostrich That two coyned Pieces which it had swallowed seemed only to have been kept a long Time and were not covered with this Crust so much as in the very Places of their Cavity because perhaps these Pieces of Metal were not capable of hurting the Body their Figure there being some Reason to believe That things which hurt the Parts by their asperity make a Salt come out capable of causing the Coagulation of the Humour whence this Crust is produced Howbeit the Examples of Penetration which blunt Bodies may make and the Histories which we have of this Nature about Bodies swallowed and entred by Places where there is no apparent opening render this Thought probable That the little Part which was found harder about the Point than the Film of an Egg is ready to descend into the Channel called Oviductus might penetrate these Films being pushed on softly and insensibly An Extract of an English Iournal containing some very Curious Remarks made by Dr. Grew about the Structure and Vegetation of Plants THE First of these Remarks is That in Plants there are organick Parts somewhat like those of Animals so that according to him one may say they have Entrails a Heart a Liver c. 2. That all the Entrails are not of the same kind but that they contain divers Liquors and that the Concurrence of two Liquors particularly different is not less necessary for the Vegetation and Nourishment of Plants than for that of Animals 3. That the whole Body of a Plant in respect to its Structure is like a Piece of Lace in the same Form as it appears upon the Cusheon The Substance of the Liver and the Parts which are about it are like so many small Threds those which are neaâ— unto the Heart turn on both Sides and form divers little Bladders of the Barks like to small Threds that are turned and moved in making Lace and cause the little Holes which appear in it 4 That the Juice supplying the Place of Blood in Plants there is a continual Profusion made on 't and a Circulation very much like the Blood in Animals 5. That the Motion of the Air in Plants is not less necessary for their Vegetation than the Motion of the Juice that it enters into it by the Trunk and particularly by the Root from whence it is distributed into all the Parts of the Plant. 6. That the Juice is not always the same that it is at first like Oyl afterwards like Milk and that it is apparent from the grosest Parts of the Juice which are thus found the Matter of Rosin and Gum are produced upon the Body of Trees 7. That the Motion of the Juice ascends up to the Top of the Branches by the newest Fibres which compose the last Circle which is formed in the Body of the Tree and he pretends That there are so few of them in the oldest Fibres that it may be said they are rather filled with a kind of Vapour than a true Liquor Notwithstanding as this Vapour moistens the sides of these old Fibres yet it doth not nourish them and it is for this Reason that Onions and other such like Roots being only plac'd in a moist Air encrease and grow An Extract of a Letter written from Florence concerning a prodigious Fire in the Air. AN Hour after Sun-set there appear'd in the City of Florence in Tuscany so great a Brightness by the means of a prodigious Fire which run in the Air that it was thought by a new Miracle the Day would re-appear Every one spake as he thought of this new Prodigy and gave it a Name according to his Fancy Some affirm'd they had seen a Flying Dragon which vomited Flames and heard his Hissings others call'd it a Column a Beam or a great Club of Fire others gave it the Name of a Fatal Comet which foretold very great Misfortunes But intelligent Persons agreed that in the middle Regions of the Air there was seen at the beginning a little whitish Flame like unto a little Cloud which immediately darkned the Moon and which kindling still stronger became in a little time of a considerable greatness and thickness It 's Course lasted not long It first appeared under Arcturus thence running with a surprising Impetuosity against the Motion of the first Mobile and whistling after a frightful manner it came to the vertical Circle and travers'd the Zodiack under the Lines of the Lobsters and Gemini but coming at the right Shoulder of Orion it fell into a Cloud which was at the West as if it had been entirely quenched there was no more Fire nor Brightness seen but during the Space of eight Minutes a great noise was heard much stronger in some places than in others and which might pass for an Earthquake This Prodigy ought not to go for a new one in Italy for we find that in the same City of Florence in 1325. a Figure as it were a Spindle of Fire was seen to fly at Night in the Air which was very big In 1352. there was likewise seen in the Air after Sun-setting a great Mass of gathered Vapours which was accompanied with a noise as great as a Thunder-clap In 1353 and 54. there appeared two more The first as a great Serpent all in Fire about one of the Clock at Night and the other about six at Night like flying Fire Finally in 1557. there appeared in the Air a great Vapour kindled which was
seen throughout all Italy and which was follow'd by three different Noises There may be a Physical Reason given for this Meteor which ought to be put into the number of those which are called burning Torches It arose from the great Heat which was at Florence about the end of that Winter which had less of the rigour of this Season than of the mildness of the Spring and was warmer than usually For the preceeding Summer having been almost without any warmth the Exhalations remained spread in the low Region of the Air not being able to rise up to the middle one They were balanced and preserved in this first Region by the great Humidity of Autumn But the last forty days of the Winter having been very dry as we have already said there was Heat enough for these Exhalations to be raised higher where they were easily inflamed and aided by the violence of the Winds which reigned then by means of which they made a violent Passage through the Clouds which inclosed them Mr. Cassini had Advice that the same Phoenomen was seen at Rome at Genoa and Bologne and Imola and several other Places the same Day and about the same Hour that it appeared at Florence The Relation which Mr. Vittori hath sent him from Bologne upon the Observation which he made of it himself is almost like to that of Florence But as it specifieth many things which the Relation of Florence does not it will not be unagreeable to give here a little Abridgment of it which Mr. Cassini hath had the goodness to communicate to me Mr. Vittori observed this Phoenomen at Bologne at a quarter past one of the common Clock which was then an hour and three quarters after Sun-setting It was as large as the Moon in its full of the colour of pale Fire and inclining a little to Green bright as the Sun when it is among Vapours after Rain with a long Tail as a sparkling Flame its Head being a little obscure as if it were lighted Iron It had a very quick Motion from the East to the West It lasted but a Minute of Time and in less than a quarter of a Minute it passed from the Constellation of Orion to Venus which was at the West it augmented in apparent bigness and made a noise like to that which several Serpents do when they are cast into the Air. Several Persons smelled an odour of Brimstone and Bitumen The Tail of the Phoenomen was followed with some black Clouds which afterwards covered the Heaven and the same Night there hapned a small Rain which was much expected for four Months What Mr. Cassini finds remarkable in all this is that this Phoenomen was seen at the same time from Bologne and Florence to pass through the Constellation of Orion Whence he conjectures that it was very much raised yet it could not be said how much because the Constellation of Orion is great and the Observation of Bologne marks not the Star by which it passed as that of Florence even as the latter telleth us nothing of the Clouds wherewith the Tail of this Phoenomen was followed as we learn by that of Bologne An Extract of the Iournal of England containing some new Experiments made and communicated by Mr. Boyle concerning the Course of the Air weakned and the Change of Colours which are produced by its Operation in some Dissolutions and Precipitations THESE Experiments are but a Series of the Design which Mr. Boyle had proposed to himself in the Conjectures which he gave us upon some Qualities of the Air which had not yet been observed The two principal Things which he proposed in these new Observations are to discover 1. If even as the Corruption of some Bodies inclosed in Vessels makes the Air to augment as he hath already marked elsewhere so some other Corruptions might not also weaken it by some contrary manner If in some Dissolutions or Precipitations the Air might not produce some new Phoenomen by some Quality which had not as yet been observed EXPERIMENT I. Having taken some Leaves or Dust of pure Brass and put them into a Cristal Glass of a Conick Figure into which very good Spirit of Salt had been cast for about the height of three Fingers above the Brass the Glass was neatly shut with a Stopper which had been made for this effect Then it was left for some Days upon a Window without stirring it and some time afterwards was perceived in the Liquor a brown and obscure Colour by the Dissolution of the Brass But this Colour being vanished the Liquor appeared like clear Water which is also a certain considerable Phoenomen and then taking away the Stopper without troubling the Liquor with any Motion and giving thus a free axcess to the exterior Air the Surface of the Liquor regain'd in a few Minutes its first Colour and having insensibly penetrated more deeply all the Body of the Liquor appeared a quarter of an Hour after coloured after the same manner The Glass being well restopped the Menstruum in a few Days lost its Colour and when it was again unstopped it retook its first Tincture EXPERIMENT II. The Liquor became more clear than usually in this second Experiment which was made after the same Method as the first but the Glass having been unstopped and the Liquor thus exposed to the exterior Air for half an Hour the Surface of the Liquor was found more coloured than the rest This perhaps was not because it was exposed to the exterior Air but because it might be doubted whether the Air had made some Operation upon the rest of the Liquor tho' it appeared not at first to try it EXPERIMENT III. The Vessel was stopped and having left it thus two or three Hours there was perceived in the Liquor a Colour something like Green pretty thick and indifferently transparent which it lost not even when it was exposed to the open Air after that the Glass had been unstopped and that it had been left so 24 Hours But because they might in part attribute this slow and imperfect Success to the Season of the Year which was a little too late since 't was towards the middle of October he made the following Experiment for better Information EXPERIMENT IV. A little of the strong Spirit of Salt being preserv'd upon the Brass until the Dissolution was come to a Colour intermingled with red and black he put about three Spoonfuls of it into a Recipient which held eight times as much The whole having been preserv'd in a Void for about half an Hour kept the same Colour but the Vessel being open'd and the exterior Air having free Access the Dissolution appear'd in half an Hours time turn'd to a very clear and transparent Green although we saw no precipitation of the Substance disturb'd by the Faeces As for the Influence of the Air and the Knowledg of weakning and diminishing it by any other Method than that of Cold and Compression just as we
see it encreases by Heat and Dilatation having often found the Menstruum which breaks and spoils some Metals after such a manner that it produces small Bottles or Bubbles capable of exciting the Spring of the Air shut up in Vessels where the Dissolution is made Mr. Boyle found it worth his Labour to examine whether in some Metalic Dissolutions where he only observ'd a few Bubbles almost imperceptible the Springs of the Neighbouring inclos'd Air might be satisfied See his Experiments EXPERIMENT V. After having taken some thin Pieces of Brass and put them with Mercury into a Conic Glass stop'd up exactly with a Clod of Earth he turn'd so much of the fermented Spirit of Urine upwards that it swam above to the height of three or four Fingers and then he carefully clos'd up the Glass After this he perceiv'd that the Mercury was much depress'd and the Stoppage having been taken out for the Admission of the exterior Air he saw that by this entrance of the Air it had a manifest Effect upon the Mercury EXPERIMENT VI. A certain quantity of good Brass being put into a Conic Glass with as much Spirit of fermented Urine as will make it swim above the Brass the breadth of a Finger he stop'd up the Glass very exactly placing a crooked Pipe about it wherein there was Mercury after such a manner as it lean'd upon the bottom and sides of the Glass And they observ'd that the Quick-Silver was set down in the side of the Pipe seal'd Hermetically and that the Menstruum began to operate very slowly upon the Brass in a very silent manner without making any Noise or sensible Bubbles producing a very agreeable green Colour which continued so the space of two or three days but every day afterwards became paler till the Glass was unstopp'd and the enterior Air having a free Access the Surface of the Liquor in four or five Minutes time reassumed an agreeable and livly Green which gently insinuated it self to the bottom and in ten Minutes space changed into a rich blue Colour which work'd through all the Liquor and intermix'd it self so with the Green that in a little time it became very dark The Glass being unstop'd again the Liquor began to lose something of its Colour this Experiment after several Repetitions always produced the same Effect even during the Night Without one might attribute it to the Agitation of the Liquor when the Glass is shook following the Opinion of some that one might raise a fine and subtle Powder which being precipitated from the Tincture and thus mingled again with the Liquor gives it its first Colour EXPERIMENT VII The strong Spirit of Sal Armoniac made without Quick Lime operates also more easily and strongly upon the Brass than Spirit of Urine An Experiment having been made after the same manner as we just before related the same Phoenomen was not only observed for Colour but also that the same Mercury which was plac'd according to the precedent Experiment descended although very slowly for two or three days in the seal'd side until it appear'd to be the fourth part of an Inch lower than it was and probably the descent of Quick-Silver wou'd be greater if the Glass had not been touched by which the compleating of the Experiment was hindred The Event whereof nevertheless seem'd sufficiently to declare that the Spring of the Air inclosed in the Concavity of the Glass and mixing with that which is contained in the open side of the Pipe where the Mercury was was weak in respect to that which was enclosed where it could have no Communication since the Quick-Silver hindreth it on one side and the Glass that was seal'd Hermetically on the other EXPERIMENT VIII The same Spirit of Sal Armoniac made without quick Lime produces the same Effect upon Leaves of Brass the Glass in which they are both put being stopt up the Liquor assumes a gross blue Tincture which it lost in a little time becoming pale and almost like common Water whereas the Glass being open'd the top of the Liquor appear'd of a perfect Blue in a Moment and this Tincture was not only dispersed throughout the whole Liquor but also continued for many days after the Glass was stop'd EXPERIMENT IX The Experiment being often shew'd to Mr. Boyle that the Spirit of Vinegar with Minium of Lead works very gently without producing any Scum altho' upon Coral and many other Bodies it causes not only a great quantity of Bubbles but also a kind of strong Elasticks He had a mind to prove if this gentle and quiet Dissolution of the Minium wou'd be attended with a permanent changing of the Spring of the Air. He one day placed the crooked Pipe with the Mercury in a Conic Glass the bottom of which was cover'd with beaten Coral and stop'd it very carefully after having pour'd some Spirit of Vinegar upon the Coral and there appear'd a quantity of Bubbles which for some little space of time were very considerably produced as soon as the Menstruum began to operate upon the Coral But these Bubbles successively dissipated in the concavity of the Glass and this continual Succession so strongly shut up the Air that that which was in the seal'd side of the Pipe also felt the Effect After the Corrosion had ceas'd and the Compression that this new Air had made became manifestly more feeble and the Air shut up within the Pipe forc'd its way below the Mercury to a certain Mark it continued the space of five or six Hours so that in this Operation it seem'd as if Nature exercised a double compressive Power The first might be call'd Transitory and of little duration through the agitation of Exhalations and Vapours The other Permanent by the means of the Air and of the Parts which went out and were produced from it excited by the Action of the Spirit of Vinegar upon the Coral An Extract of an English Iournal Some natural and remarkable Particularities taken out of a Letter written from Dublin WE every day see new Effects of Thunder But Mr. Havard relates one that was not a little surprizing He says that in a Vessel that went to the Barbado's the Compass was strangly disordered by a Clap of Thunder which however touched it not but threw down one of the Masts broke the Cords and tore the Sails so that this Vessel changed its Course and return'd again for England just as they were in sight of Burmudas Grofton that commanded always conducting it by this Compass in which he cou'd not observe the alteration that was made in the Needle whereof the position of both ends was chang'd He had thus continued his Course if Mr. Havard in the Company of whom he made his Voyage and whose Vessel had not been injur'd by Thunder had not recall'd him and corrected by his Compass the Change that the Thunder had made in those of Grofton But what was yet stranger in this Accident was that the new turn
'T was thus I took a Vessel full of Water the depth of four Inches the Diameter whereof was seven inches 2 10 in which I placed a Thermometer Afterwards by the means of a Chaâ—ing-Dish full of hot Coals I brought the Water to the same degree of Heat as we feel in the hottest Summer as appeared by the Thermometer That being done I ty'd this Vessel without taking any thing out of it to one end of the Beam of a Ballance and put on the other side Weights exactly of the same heaviness It was easy to preserve the same Degree of Heat in the Water by the Chafing Dish of Coals either drawing it nearer or putting it at a farther distance I soon observed that the Weight of the Water sensibly diminished and in about 2 Hours space 233 Grains of Water was evaporated altho' no Fume was observ'd to ascend and the Water appear'd not hot to the touch This quantity of Water evaporating in so small a time seems very considerable for it follows from thence that in 24 Hours it wou'd evaporate six Ounces of Water from so small a Surface which was a Circle of 8 Inches Diameter To draw an exact Computation from this Experiment and to determine the greatness of the quantity of the Water that is thus evaporated I made use of the Experiment that Doctor Bernard affirmed to have been made at Oxford It is That the quantity of Water of the bigness of a Cubic Foot weighs 76 Pounds of Troy weight This number being divided by 1728. which is the Number of the Cubic Inches contain'd in this Foot gives 253 Grains and â…“ or one ½ Ounce 13 Grains â…“ for the weight of a Cubic Inch of Water The weight then of 233 Grains is 233 253 or 35 parts of a Cubic Inch divided into 38. Now the Area of a Circle the Diameter whereof is 7 Inches 2 10 contains 49 Inches square by which dividing the quantity of the evaporated Water viz. 35 38 of an Inch the Quotient is 38 1862 or 1 5.3 from whence it appears the quantity of this Water is the 53 part of an Inch but for the facility of the Calculation we will suppose it is but the 60 part If then the Water as hot as the Air is in Summer exhales the 60 part of an Inch in two Hours from the Surface described in twelve Hours it will exhale the 10 part a sufficient quantity to furnish all Rains Fountains and Dews This Calculation may even suppose the Sea without its diminishing or overflowing like the Caspian Sea which is always of an equal height and supposing also the Current which they say is always in the Streights of Gibralter altho' the Mediterranean Sea receives a great number of considerable Rivers To make an estimation of the quantity of Water which is exhaled by Vapours from the Sea I believe one need only consider it during the time the Sun is up for as for the Night as much Water falls in Dews or even more than it draws up in Vapours during that time It is true that the Summer days are above 12 Hours but this length of the day is counter-ballanced by the weakness of the action of the Sun when it is up and before the Water is hot Thus if I suppose that if it raises every day in Vapours 1 10 of an Inch the Extent already observed from the Sea this Supposition cannot be rejected According to this Hypothesis 10 Inches square from the Surface of the Water will furnish every day in Vapours a Cubic Inch of Water each Foot the square whereof produces half a Pint 4 Feet square Gallon a Mile square 6914 Tuns and a Degree square supposing it to be 60 English Miles will exhale in Vapours 33 Millions of Tuns If we give to the Mediterranean 40 Degrees in length and 4 Degrees in breadth in respect to those Places that are broader and those that are narrower the least without doubt that can be given will be a 160 Degrees square and by consequence all the Mediterranean Sea in a Summers day will emit in Vapours 5280 Millions of Tuns This quantity of Vapours altho' very great is however the least that can be supposed according to the Experiment that I have related It is true there is another thing that one cannot reduce to certain Rules it is the Winds which from the Surface of the Water take more Particles than the Heat of the Sun evaporates as may be easily conceived if we do but reflect on the Winds which sometimes blow It is very difficult to make a true estimation of the quantity of Water that the Mediterranean Sea receives from the Rivers that fall into it unless one had some way to measure the Mouths of the Rivers and their Rapidity All that can be done in this Affair is rather to give 'em a greater quantity of Water than indeed they have than to take from them that is to suppose 'em greater than they are according to all appearance and afterwards to compare the quantity of Water that the Thames carries into the Sea with that of those Rivers which we shall calculate The Mediterranean Sea receives these nine considerable Rivers the Eber the Rhone Tyber the Po the Danube the Nester the Boristhenus the Tanais and the Nile others being neither so celebrated nor so large Wee 'l suppose that each of these nine Rivers have ten times as much Water as the Thames not that there are any that have really ten times as much but to comprehend in our Calculation other Rivers that are less which discharge themselves into the Mediterranean the bigness of which we can no otherwise make any estimation of To measure the Water of the Thames I take it at Kingston Bridg where the Reflux never happens and where the Water always runs downwards The breadth of it is 100 Yards and its depth 3 supposing it every where equal in which computation I am certain I give it rather more Extent than it really has The Water is then in this place 300 Yards square that multiplied by 48 thousand is I believe the quantity of Water that is drawn up admitting 2000 each Hour or 84480 Yards give 25344000 Yards of Water which will be drain'd in a day that is 2030000 Tuns each day I am persuaded that by what I have added more to the Channel of this River than it really hath I have sufficiently compensated by comprehending therein the Rivers of Brent Lea Wandal and of Darwent which are of some Consideration and which discharge themselves into the Thames below Kingston Bridg. Now if every one of these nine Rivers had ten times more Water than the Thames it wou'd it follow that from each River wou'd every day run into the Sea 203 Millions of Tuns and that the whole will be but 1827 Millions of Tuns which is but a little more than the third part of what I have shewn is evaporated out of the Mediterranean Sea in 12 Hours time The
Triumphant Hyman upon Iulians being cut off which Israel Sang when the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea Naz. Orat. 3 p. 54. Iraeneus when some Hereticks made an Argument from the Conclusion of the Form of a Doxology says they alledge also that we in our thanksgiving do say World without End Iren. adv Heres lib. 1 â— 1. This Form is mentioned in Tertullian de Spect. p. 83. And the Gloria Patri was a Form both in the Gallican and African Church Tertul. speaking de Basil c. 13. says Christ had not only imposed the Law of Baptism but prescribed the Form of it The same Father Apol. c. 39. says after having washed their hands and brought in lights they called for some to sing Psalms or somewhat of their own Composing In the Third Century Hyppolitus the Martyr de Consum Mundi Tom 2. p. 357. speaking in his discourse of the end of the World and the coming of Christ says expresly That Liturgies shall be extinguished singing of Psalms shall cease and reading of Scripture shall not be heard Origen in Anno 230. is so full in his Homily on Ieremy that the Centuriators were convinced that Set Forms of Prayer were used in his time It is say they without Question that they had some Set Forms of Prayer in that Age c. The same Father adds on this Subject in Cels. lib. p. 302. They who serve God thro' Iesus in a Christian way and live according to the Gospel use frequently as becomes them night and day the Enjoyed Prayer which is as full as can be to the purpose St. Cyprian de Orat. Sect. 5. p. 310. says That Christians had a publick and Common Prayer wherein all agreed Anno 253. Gregory Thaumaturgus Bishop of Neocesarea was contemperary with St. Cyprian St. Basil an unquestionable Witness says concerning him that he appointed a Form of Prayer for that Church of Neocesarea from which they wou'd not vary in one Ceremony or in a Word nor wou'd they add any one Mystical Form in the Church to those which he had left them c. Paulus Samosatenus was offended at some Hymns and Composed others Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 24. In the Fourth Century Arnobius lib. 2. p 65. says To venerate this Supream King is the end and design of these Divine Offices Constantin's Form of Prayer is well known Euseb. vit Constant. lib. 4. Athanasius in his Apol. ad Constant. p. 156 157. says The People Mourned and Groaned to God in the Church all of 'em crying to the Lord and saying Spare thy People good Lord spare them give not their Heritage for a reproach to thine Enemies Which is an Original piece of Littany and a known Form prescribed in Scripture Athanasius de interp Psalm p. 303. Orders the People to sing the Psalms in the very words wherein they were written Flavianus was intreated to come back to the church and perform the same Liturgy there Theodor. lib. 2. c. 24. St. Cyril says to his Auditors in the Eucharistical Office Lift up your hearts Answer We lift 'em up unto the Lord. P. Let us give thanks unto the Lord. A. As it is meet and just Cyril Catechis Mystag 5. Iulian the Apostate devised to to make a Form of Prayer in parts for the Heathen Worship to be set up in Schools c. which things saith Nazianzen in Iul. Orat. 3. p. 102 are clearly agreeable to our Good Order And Sozomen Hist. lib. 5. cap. 15. speaking of the same thing says that Iulian designed to adorn his Gentile Temples with the Order of Christian Worship appointing prescribed Prayers upon set days and hours The Ingenious Apostat in one of his Epistles Iulian Fragment Epist. in Oper. p. 552. yet extant advises his Pagan Priests to pray thrice a day if possible or however Morning and Evening both in private and publick and to learn the Hymns of the Gods which were made in Old and Latter Times Adding that there was a Liturgy for these Priests and a Law directing 'em what to do in their Temples from which they might not vary The Council of Laodicea which is one of the Earliest Synods and has been always received by the Church says Canon 18. Bev. Tom. 1 p. 461. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That the very same Liturgy of Prayers which the Fathers had appointed for Three in the Afternoon c. In the Council of Sardica Anno 347. A Bishop coming to a strange City is Ordered to Assemble and Perform his Liturgy there Can. 12. There are other Testimonies in this Century of Gregory Nazianzen St. Basil Dionysius Areopagita St. Ambrose St. Ierom Chrysostom the Third Canon Carth. the 70 African Canon And here we come to the time that Mr. Clarkson confesses the uses of the Liturgies So that we need go no further We might run down the 5 th 6 th 7 th 8 th c. Centuries if there was occasion for it but what we have brought does sufficiently answer Dr. Combers end viz. To shew the palpable Errors of Mr. Clarkson about the Innovation of Liturgies Dr. Comber has Written a Second Part wherein he has followed his Antagonist down thro' these latter Ages and does not only shew from the beginning of Christianity till of late that Liturgies and Set Forms of Prayer were used publickly but that Extempâ—re publick Prayer was never suffered in the Christian Church whatever it might be in Private Families The use of the whole Discourse cann't miss this Effect amongst all considering and unpreâ—udic'd Presbyterians that it will either convince 'em that our practice is more agreeable to that of the Primitive Christians than theirs or at least that ours was used as well as theirs Besides it will take off the common Objection against us viz. That our Practices have taken their Original from the Papists since here aâ—e the most clear and convincing Eâ—idences in the World that the Papal Authority was not settled for many Hundreds of Years alter some very considerable Instances which are here brought against Liturgies and Set Forms of Prayers Hymns c. I had almost forgot to do the Author this Justice that he has not only brought his Authorities for the Practices of the Church of England but has also fully answered Mr. Clarksons Arguments against it with that Mildness Perspicuity Judgment and Learning as have not given him a little Repute amongst the Learned Such as wou'd be better acquainted with the Knowledg and Worth of the Author or are any way dissatisfied with this Subject if they please to consult the Author himself they cann't fail to meet with an ample Satisfaction A New Bibliotheque of Ecclesiastick Authors Containing the History of their Lives the Catalogue of their Writings and the Chronology of their Works the Sum of what they Contain a Iudgment on their Stile and Doctrâ—n with an Enumeration of the Different Editions of their Works Tom. the First of the Authors of the Three First Ages with a Preliminary