sword The Reformation followed So many were seen in Helvetia in 1528 a wonderfull Famine was the sequel of it In 1532. at Venice they were seen with two Rainbowes opposed to the Sun one presently vanished but the other was seen for two hours Cardan l. 14. de varietat Rer. cap. 70. The Suns themselves were transparent the greater was Southward the lesse Northward increasing In the year 1314. before the War of Lodowick of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria more Suns were seen they signified the dissentions of the Electors and their falling to sides Peucer in Meteorol Before these troubles we saw it a Comet with a fatall tail followed Because the Empire of Nero had the same beginnings the future event might easily be foreknown Artic. 2. Of the Suns light and Eclips THe Thalmudists hold that the light of the Sun was seven times greater in the Creation but was lost afterwards We see it very great and ruling almost every where For the Sun-beams enlighten and enliven all things Cardan maintains that by the force of it the Southern parts are pressed down lower but whether it be so every one may judge And though at Rhodes or Syracuse there never be a day that the Sun is not seen in some parts of it Plin l. 1. Cap. 62. yet it is certain that the Suns light is often intercepted When Constantine was blind the Sun did not shine for 17 dayes In Plinies time â—e was often 12. dayes in Leo's time 4. dayes So never seen that Marriners lost their Course Maiol Colloq 1. But this was only a Clouding An Eclips is somwhat more when the Suns beams are turned away from by interposing of the Moon Barbarians understand not this whence Columbus foretelling the Moons Eclips won the favour of the Indians It was a Capital crime in Plath's days to maintain that the Moon could hold the Sun beams from us Alexander Aphrodis Problem 46. Some thought the Devills were the cause and therefore ran to assist it with lighted Torches Archelaus was so ignorant that the day the Eclips of the Sun was he shut up the Court and shaved his sonne as the custome was in time of adversity and of mourning Senec. l. 5. de benefic C. 6. The Eclipse of the Sun happens in the new Moon or in the Conjunction nor real but appearing so when Sun Moon and our eyes are in the same right line It it be totall it is in a moment in respect of the parts It was so when Scipio fought and overcome Hannibal at Carthage Zonaras Tom. 2. Nicephorus sayth the same happened at Augustus's death Somtimes in five yeares some are seen Maiolus thinks they produced Warrs Famines and Deaths of Popes It seemes to be certain that both of them may be Eclips'd twice in six Months and in five Months either of them and that the Suns light may be twice taken from one Country in the period of seven Months Peucer in Astrolog Some are of opinion their operation begins afterwards I dispute not but this is certaine they never appeare but they foreshew somthing When in the year 3343 an Eclips was seen the most corrupt state of the Kingdome of the Jews appeared In the yeare 3350. began the 70 yeares captivity In 3360 the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar About the Eclips in 1619 Stars were seen at noon-day and the Warre of Peloponesus began with the Athenians In the yeare 360 the Sun was Eclipsed untill noon-day and also in 592. What followed Phocas confirmed the Popes supremacy 622 wicked Mahomet sowed his mischief Alsted in Thesaur Chronol In 812 before the Death of Charls the great a Spot of a black had appeared for seven dayes witnesse Eginbartus It seems to intimate say some the darkning of the Gospel In 1415 the 7. of June so horrible was the Eclipse of the Sun that birds fell to the Earth At this time John Hus was burned in the Councell of Constance the 6. of July That was supernaturall at our Saviours passion It was a totall Eclips at a full Moon and lasted three houres Dionysius said of it Either the God of nature suffers or the frame of the World dissolves He afterwards consulting with the Philosophers built an Altar to the unknown God and was converted by St. Pauls Preaching Tertullian in Apologetico saith it was laid up amongst the publike Acts of Rome but forbidden to be published Also there is a notable use of Eclipses amongst Chronologers especially of those which with certain circumstances of time Yeare Day Month Hour Minuts and of the distance from other Eclipses were exactly taken such as was the Eclips at Arbelia in Câ—rtius or Peloponesus in Thucydides at Cambisia in Ptolomy Powel in his Consilio Chronologico For there are certain bounds and Characters of times fastned in the Heavens hence Calvisius commends Scaligers Chronology because he hath observed Phainomena and Eclipses allmost according to the years of the World out of the Tables of the Heavenly motions and are fitted to the same Hence the Calyppic period comprehended in 76 yeares in which time all conjunctions of the Planets new Moons and full Moons and Eclipses returne to the same moment of time See the famous Chronologer Pavellus treating accurately of these things I hasten to other matters Art 3. Of the Suns Motion THe Mahumetans fain that the Sun is carried with Horses and sets in the Sea and well washed rises again Daily experience sheweth us a double motion we see it rise every day and set again and every yeare it makes an Oval figure passing to North and South Yet so right under the Ecliptick that it swarves not a hair from it The complement of the motion in the Zodiack varieth with many Hipparchus assignes to it 365 days Ours 6 houres lesse Tebitius saith that there want nine minutes of the 6 houres Henricus Mechiniensis hath written that all those shall err perpetually who observe Eclipses by the Tables of Ptolomy or Albategnius Bodin 5. Theatri Naturae It is the vulgar tenent to assigne 365 days and 6 hours In that oblique course we observe the Sun to be nearer the earth whilst he passeth through the Southern signs and to be further off in the Northern That is finished in 178 dayes 21 hours and 12 minuts This requires 186 dayes 8 hours 12 minutes But because the distancâ— of the Eccentrick is variable from the centre of the World therefore Melancthon and Origanus write that the Sun is nearer to us now than in Ptolomies dayes by 9900 miles but Copernicus and Stoflerus cast it to bee 26660 miles Alsted in Theoria Planetarum Scaliger dislikes this Exerc. 99. sect 2. Nor is it probable saith Bodin l. 5. Theat in so great variety of distance that the knowledge of Eclipses could be so exactly preserved The Scripture tells us that the Sun went backward miraculously in Ezechiahs dayes as was known by the shadow on the Diall The History of Josuah witnesseth that it stood still and
made a day of 36 houres Justin Martyr in Dialog cum Tryphon Some think the Sun danceth when it riseth on easter-Easter-day and honours our Saviours Resurrection in Triumph If that be so it is necessary for it to dance a whole day because it riseth the whole day What ever this is it must be ascribed to the Ayre interposed betwixt which about the Sun rising abounds with Vapours and if at any time most in the Spring because the pores are open and it sends forth more Vapours Camer Cent. 2. Memorab p. 39. Artic. 4. Of the inequality of Dayes and Nights WHen the Sun comes to the Horizon the Day riseth with us Night comes when the Sun departs But because it moves obliquely and is girt within the bounds of both Tropicks it keeps equality under the Equinoctiall it varies which side soever it declines yet the greater it is the farther the Countries are distant from the aequator In Arabia a Province of the new World the Dayes and Nights are alwaies equall Geographers have written the same of Peru Ovetan in Summa In a Country of Africa called Gambra in the moneth of July the Night is no shorter than 11. hours The Sun riseth suddenly without dawning The Troglodites and men of Africa have but 13. hours to their longest day Strabo l. 1. They that live under the Pole of the Stars in the spring-Equinox see the Sun rising but in the Autumnall setting Mela. l. 3. c. 2. Hence it is that they have half a year day and then half a year night The Hollanders at the Straights Vaigats from the 4th day of November to the 24. day of January have found but one continual Night under the degree of 71. Boetius in the description of the Narrow Sea Vaigats In Laponia one Night lasts 3. moneths and there is in that time no more light than the Moon-shine or clear twilights afford Zigler in Laponia In the farthest part of Norway the Sun is not hid in the night In another Northern Climate the Nights are very bright at the Summer Solstice Saxo Grammaticus The Day and Night with us are equall when the Sun enters Aries and Libra they are longer when he is in the Tropick of Cancer shorter in Capricorn The moneth of June is said to contain the longest day the shortest is assigned to the 25. of December The more superstitious are perswaded that strange things are seen the night before The Olive Tree and the white Poplar and the leaves of Willowes are said to be driven about Macrob. l. 9. c. 7. The moisture in Trees ascends upwards from out of the root The Apple-tree brings forth blossoms and unripe fruit Some strings of Instruments are strook with the fingers and the other strings sound Suetonius l. 1. Ludicra Historia The small livers of Mice are increased The kernells that are shut up in Apples are turned the contrary way Cicero lib. 2. de Divinat Artic. 5. Of the Four Parts of the Year THe motion of the Sun through the Zodiack makes a Year Mathematicians make this to be twofold The one is the space in which the Sun goes from the Spring Equinox and returns to the same again and it consists of 365 dayes five hours 49 first minutes 10 seconds The other is from the time the Sun departs from the first Star in Aries and returns to the same again and it consists of 365 6 hours 9 first minutes seconds 23. Copernicus appointed this and he deserved great thanks for it Of the former there are four parts Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring and Autumn make the Equinoxes this the Winter Equinox that the Summer They both happen when the Sun passeth the Line The most certain sign of the Springs approach is the Butterfly being a weak creature Pliny in histor Natural Cancer makes the Summer when the Sun-beams are verticall with us It is inflamed by the rising of the Dog-star saith Pliny l. 2. c. 40. yet it were more Philosophicall to say that when the Sun repeats his Journey he raiseth hot blasts and wind whence our bodies partake of great heat Truly sometimes it is extream if we credit Histories I read in Livy l. 4. Histor. That in the year of Rome 322. not onely rain from Heaven was wanting but the Earth also wanted its inbred moysture that the Rivers that run continually were almost dry that many Fountains and Rivers wanted water that the Cattel dyed for thirst In the year 1153 the Woods were fired with over-great heat the fat Earth took fire and could be extinguished with no rain Mergerius The German Records report That in 1228 the heat was so great that the Harvest was ended I will use their own words before the Feast of St. John Baptist. Lipsius cites it in his Epistles In the year 1573. the Wood of Bohemia burnt 18. Weeks The Danube was so dryed up that in many places one might foord it And what is wonderfull there was no losse in the Corn. But in 994. in the end of July the Lakes and Waters were so hard frozen that all the Fishes dyed and there was great scarsity of water Cardan thinks it is a mark of an over-hot Summer de varietat rer l. 15. c. 38. if old sheep are very much given to lust in the Spring Men write that there was so pleasant an Autumn in the year 1584. that the Roses and young branches flourished It is our Winter when the Sun enters Capricorn then all things quake are covered with Snow and bound up with Ice The Sun foreshews a most bitter Winter in the Northern parts when he hides himself in a red clowd as a pillar of fire and casts out his beams like fiery darts That descending it is turned into black Cardan l. 1. Or when things that use to be moist seem dryer or drops dripping from houses fall more slowly And sometimes the winter hath been excessive Chronicles say that in 1234. the winter was most fierce so that in the Adriatick Sea the Venetian Factors passed over the Ice with their charge of moneys Zonaras reports the like to have happened under Constantine Copronymus so in the Pontick Sea and the Straights adjoyning Marianus Scotus In the year 32. of Charles the Great there was a great and most bitter Frost so that the Pontick Sea was frozen 100 miles in the East where it was 50 cubits from top to bottom In the year 1525. the winter was so cruel that in Brabant an infinite company of Eâ—lâ—s by reason of the Ice went forth of the Lakes which is a wonderfull thing and hid themselves in Hay-ricks and perished there with extremity of cold Robertus de Monte. The Trees had hardly any leafs afterwards in May. Sometimes the winters are so calm too In the year 1225. in December the Peach Tree budded In 1186. in December and January Crowes and other birds hatched their Eggs with young But these divers parts of the year for length and duration comes from a divers position They
that live under the Pole are 't is probable in perpetual cold and they are more hot that live under the Equinoctiall They under the Equinoctiall have a double most pleasant winter and a double Spring He that would know more of this may read Mayolus Colloqu de proprietat locor Artic. 6. Of the Sun's shadow TWo things chiefly are observable concerning the Suns shadow the operation and the diversity It can hardly be said how great it is Men skill'd in the Opticks have described it more acurately It shews the reason of Eclipses the Suns magnitude the variety of Eccentricks the condition of time hath been demonstrated by it Men are taught thereby to define the climates and parallells to prove the Earth to be round and that the Earths Globe stands exactly in the midst of the Universe to know the Earths magnitude c. Examples shew the diversity Those that dwell Northward between the Tropick of Cancer and the Arctick Circle their Noon-shadowes are cast Northward and to the Southern people Southward They of Finmarch and Groenland and that passe the degree of elevation 66 see the shadows run round about them Gauricus in Geograph In Syene a Town above Alexandria 5000 furlongs at noon-day on the solstice there is no shadow at all and a pit was made to make experiment of it and the Sun shined to every part in it Pliny l. 2. c. 73. And in India above the River Hispasis the same falls out aâ— the same time as Onesicritus hath recorded In the Island of Merce which is the chief of the Ethiopian Country the shadows fail twice a year and in Summer they are cast Southwards in winter toward the North. In the same in the most famous Haven of Patales the Sun riseth on the right hand the shadowes fly Southward It is lastly manifest that in Berenice a City of the Troglodytes and from thence for 4820 furlongs in the same Country in the Town of Ptolemais which is built on the brink of the red Sea at the first hunting of Elephants the same thing falls out 45. dayes before the Solstice and as many after it and during those 90 dayes the shadowes are cast into the South Plin. l. 1. Art 7. Of the Suns Influence on the Inferiour World IT was easie to observe how powerfully this Eye of the World would work upon Inferiour bodies by his lighter and publique motion There is nothing in the parts of the year or dayes or nights or variety of shadowes but must be ascribed to it When the Sun ariseth all things are enlightened when it sets all are in the dark Things flourish when he approacheth fade when he departeth These are generals and if we respect particulars are not much lesse It is certain that tempests and seasonable weather are from the Sun About the middle of Sagittarius and the constellation of Pisces by the help of Stars that are in them and rise it blowes warm to those that are under it and the humours that were frozen being melted and the earth being watered with them it produceth the fruitful Western blasts and stirs up the force of the Pleiades and Hyades in Taurus and of the Kids from the North from the South or Orient that is near unto it and of Arcturus that lyes opposite to it which raise up Southern winds and for some dayes do water the seed sown with continual rain Peucer in Astrol. When the Herbs are grown and want moisture again for their just magnitude it affords it and drawes it forth by it coming up toward the Stars of Cancer Pliny takes the signs of Tempests from it l. 18. c. 35. It belongs to motion for Scaliger saith That men sail faster with the Sun Exerc. 86. And Pliny l. 2. Histor. c. 71 writes That the Currior Philonides ran from Sicyon to Elis 1200 furlongs in 9. hours of the day and came back again oft-times though it were down hill at 3. a clock at night The reason was because he ran out with the Sun but returned against the course of the Sun CHAP. VI. Of the Moon Artic. 1. Of the Figures and light of the Moon THe Stoicks thought the Moon to be a dark and hairy light Cleomedes supposed it was a ball white on one side and blew on the other We acknowledge it to be a heavenly body one of the two great Lights that God made Sometimes there have been two sometimes 3. seen as when Cn. Domitius and C. Fannius were Consuls whom they called the Night-Suns Pliny l. 2. c. 82. She is lesse than the Earth thirty times 9 or 3. times 40 if we follow Copernicus She is distant from it 44916 German miles or if we credit Schrechenfuchsius whom most follow it is 28359 She borrowes her light from the Sun Whence it comes that she hath so many Aspects she is alwaies increasing or decaying and sometimes she is crook'd with horns sometimes she is equally divided sometimes she is crooked sometimes full sometimes she is suddenly wane and the same appears suddenly again Pliny l. 2. c. 9. The Ancients adored the full Moon as a type of beauty There is a merry Tale in Plutarch in his Symposiacks of Wiseman concerning the Moon decreasing That the Moon asked of her Mother a Coat fit for her and she answered How can I do that for sometimes thou art a full Moon sometime a half Moon and sometimes with two horns In Biarmia she is never seen but with a full circle toward the surface of the Earth of a fiery colour and like a cole Olaus l. 1. Artic. 2. Of the Spots and Eclipse of the Moon THe substance of the Moon is spotted if you ask the reason wise men have said that the parts of the Moon are unequally compacted The Poets thought she carryed a Boy with her whom she loved who covered his face for shame When she is deprived of the Suns light she is Eclipsed But that is only in a diametricall opposition when the Moon hath no declination from the Ecliptick or that which is lesse then 67 minuts and so it either enters the shadow of the Earth or cannot avoid it The antients thought she might be drawn from Heaven by Charms and being thrust down she might be compelled That she powereth forth her venome and force into the hearbs that are subject to her which may be more succesfully used in Magick arts Hence it was that they tinkled in Cymballs that the Charms might not be heard There are no Eclipses of Sun or Moon but there follow some changes in sublunary things There was one in the yeare 3459. And Darius at Marathon was overthrown by the Athenians with wonderfull ruine another was 3782. and Perseus King of the Macedonians was conquered by consul Aemilius and an end was put to the Kingdom of Macedonia Alsted in thesauro Chronolog Some observe them superstitiously for example Niceas of Athens Ubbo Emmius Tom. 2. vet Graec. being beaten at Epipolas in Sicilia when his Country was in danger
Ayre is contrary But examples will hardly make that good In the Navigations of the Portugalls some Marriners under the Equinoctiall had allmost breathed their last though it were in the middle of the Sea and a in a most open ayre And when we were present saith Scaliger Exercit 31. some Italians of Lipsia in the Stoves were like to swound and you may remember from Histories concerning the death of King Cocal Wheat in Syria laid close in Mows corrupts not but is spoild shut up in Barnes if the Windows be open it takes no harme Artic. 2. Of the Infection of the Ayre The Ayre doth not allwaies retain its own qualities it is infected somtimes with hurtful things They that go out of the Province of Peru into Chila thorow the Mountains meet with a deadly ayr and before the passengers perceive it their limbs fall from their bodies as Apples fall from Trees without any corruptions Liburius de Origine rerum In the Mount of Peru Pariacacca the ayr being singular brings them that go up in despair of their lives It causeth vomit so violent that the blood follows it afflicts them most that ascend from the Sea and not only Man but Beasts are exposed to the danger It is held to be the highest and most full of Snow in the World and in three or four houres a man may passe over it In the Mountains of Chilium a Boy sustained himself three dayes lying behind a multitude of Carcases so that at last he escaped safe from the Venomous blasts In a Book concerning the proper causes of the Elements it is written that a wind killed the people in Hadramot The same Authour reports that the same thing hapned in the time of King Philip of Macedo that in a certain way between two Mountaines at a set hour what horseman soever past he fell down ready to die The cause was not known The foot were in the same condition untill one Socrates by setting on high a steel Looking-Glasse beheld in both Mountains two Dragons casting their venomous breath one at the other and whatsoever this hit upon died Liban l. cit But the true cause of this mischief was a mineral ayr stuft with nitrous and other metallick Spirits Such a one is found in some Caves of Hungary and Sweden and we know that the Common Saltpeter is full of Spirits it is moved dangerously and forcibly if fire be put to it and cast into water it cools them much But that bodies corrupt not that we ascribe to cold but it may be attributed to the Spirits of cold by mixture such as are in some Thunder-bolts for the bodies of living Creatures killed by them do not easily corrupt and they last long unlesse some more powerfull cause coming drive it out Artic. 3. Of the Putrefaction of the Ayr. THe Pestilence comes from putrefaction of the ayr which in respect of divers constitutions is divers It is observed that there never was any at Locris or Croto Plin. l. 2.99 So in that part of Ethiopia which is by the black Sea In Mauritania it ruins all It lasted so long somtimes at Tholouse and in that Province that it continued seven years It perseveres so long and oftimes amongst the Northern people and rageth so cruelly that it depopulates whole Countries Scaliger exercit 32. It is observed in the Southern parts that it goes toward the Sun setting and scarse ever but in winter and lasts but three months at most In the year 1524 it so raged at Millan that new baked bread set into the ayr but one night was not only musty but was full of Worms those that were well died in 6 or 8 hours Cardan de rer varietat l. 8. c. 45. In the year 1500 it destroyed 30000 at London somtimes 300000 at Constantinople and as many in the Cities of the Vandalls all the autumne thorow In Petrarchs dayes it was so strong in Italy that of 1000 Men scarse ten remained Alsted in Chronolog But that in divers Countries it works so variously on some men and severall Creatures that proceeds from the force of the active causes and the disposition of the passive Forest. l. 6. observ de Febre If the active cause from the uncleanness of the Earth or water be not strong it only affects those beasts that are disposed for such a venome but if it be violent it ceazeth on Mankind yet so that of its own nature it would leave neither Countrey not Cittie nor Village nor Town free This layes hold on men in one place only But if the active force be from a superiour cause or be from the ayr corrupted below Mankind alone are endangered by it But if both a superiour and an inferiour cause concur then may all living Creatures be infected with the Plague yet it must be according to the disposition of their bodies Artic. 4. Of Attraction cooling and penetrating of the Ayr. NO man almost is ignorant but that the Ayr serves for the Life of man for the branches of arteria venosa drink in blood from the whole Lungs brought to them by the arteria venosa and it is made more pure in them The Ayr drawn in at the mouth is mingled with the blood and this mixture is carried to the left ventricle of the heart to be made spirituous blood Ludovi du Gardin Anatom c. 40. But being drawn in heaps it strangles Zwinger Physiol l. 2. c. 23. For if you compasse a burning Candle in the open ayr with wine from above you put it out because it cannot attract the Ayr prepared on each side by reason the wine is betwixt and it cannot from below draw the crude and unprepared Ayr. The desaphoretick force of it will appear in an Egg when that is new a pure spirit sweats through its shell whilest it rosts like unto dew What will this do in the body of man It will make that full of chinks if it be touched by a small heat otherwise it fills and penetrates all things It pierceth thorow a brick and there it inflates the concocted lime so that the quantity of it is increased till it break it We see that the Ayr entring by the pores of a baked brick doth swell a stone that was left there for want of diligence and is turned into Lime and so puts it up till the brick breaks Zwinger Phys. l. 2. c. 25. Farther it is concluded by certain observation That a wound is easie or hard to cure by reason of the Ayr. In Fenny grounds wounds of the head are soon cured but Ulcers of the Legs are long Hence it is that wounds of the head are light at Bonnonia and Paris but wounds of the Legs are deadly at Avignon and Rome There the Ayr is of a cold constitution and is an enemy to the brain here it is more hot whereby the humours being melted run more downwards Paâ—aeâ—s l. 10. Chirurg c. 8. It may be cooled 9 wayes by frequent ventilating of it with a fan
Mountain the rage was no lesse on the top of it whence there rose such a shour of Ashes in the Country of Catana that Fields and Mountaines were hid by it And the North wind then blowing plenty of them with a brimstony smell were brought as far as the Island of Malta which is a 160 miles distant from the Hole Amongst the greatest Torrents that is reckoned which hapned a little before our days they are the words of Bembus in his dialogue of Aetna that ran as far as Catana and wasted great part of the City by fire and that Haven of which Virgil writes And that great Harbour where no wind could blow Near thundring Aetna lyes some thing below The torrents of Aetna have so filled up the Haven now that you would say VIRGIL committed an errour to speak of a great Harbour where is none to be seen almost Anno 1537. on the Calends of May all Sicily for 12 dayes together began to thunder like Canon shott off frequently The noise was heard not only at Catana and neighbouring places but at Palermo Lylibeum Sacca Agrigentum and allmost in the whole Island whereby a little Earthquak arose that shook the houses When these hideous sounds increased on the third of the Ides of May unusuall Caves were opened in Aetna out of which so great a quantity of fiery matter was cast forth that in four dayes it went 15 miles and burnt down all things it met with and run as farr as the Monastery of St. Nicolas de Arenis where leaving the Monastery untouched it invaded Nivolasum and Monpelavium two Towns and allmost destroy'd them The upper hole of the Mountain shortly after for three dayes cast out so much black ashes that as far as Consentia in Calabria the Towns were filled with ashes and they were so scattered by the winds upon the Seas that for 300 miles distant from Sicily the ships were fowled by the ashes afterwards Aetna began to rore mightily and as it did rore the upper top of it was broken off and swallowed in the Cave Though the fire of Aetna be so terrible yet the land there is so fruitfull that what Pliny speaks of Campania l. 3. c. 6. we may say the same of the neighbouring parts From this border begin the hilâ—s that beare grapes the juyce whereof is famous in all lands and the great contest between Bacchus noble for drunkennesse as the Antients said and Ceres In that wooddy Countrey there are spacious places saith Fazellus rer sic dec 1 l. 2. c. 4. that are very fruitfull for Corn and there is so good pasture for Cattle that unlesse you let them often blood in their ears they are in danger by plethory moreover the fluent matter that is cast forth of Aetna by this fire growes so hard that for a good depth it changeth the surface of the ground into a stone and when they would come at the ground they must cut the stones For the stone being melted in the Holes or Caves and cast forth the humour that swims on the top is black mire running down from the Mountain and when it growes together it becomes as hard as a Milstone holding the same colour it had when it ran and ashes are made of the burnt stones as of burnt Wood now as Rue is nourished with Wood-ashes so it is credible that the Vines flourish by the ashes of Aetna And thus far for Aetna Hecla is a Mountain in Islandia not farr from the Sea somtimes it casts forth flame somtimes fiery water after that black ashes and Pumex stones in such abundance that it darkneth the Sun yet somtimes the Mountain is wonderfull quiet especially when the West wind blows· An. 1553. the 19 of November about midnight a flame appeared in the Sea by Hecla that lightned the whole Island An hour after the Island shaked then there followed a terrible noise that if all the Guns for Warr were shot off they were nothing to this terrible noise Dithnarus Bleskenius writes thus We had thought the frame of the World would now be dissolved and that the last day was come Camer Horar subcis cent 3. c. 17. It was found afterwards that the Sea was gone back from that place two miles it was all left dry An. 1580 it vomited out fire with such a noise that for 80 miles men thought the great Guns were discharged The common people think the souls of the damned are there tormented Georgius Bruno in theatro Mundi The End of the Second Classis OF Naturall VVonders The Third Classis Wherein are the Wonders of the Meteors WHat then Is it better think you to perish by discontent of Mind or by Thunder Therefore rise stronger against the threatenings of Heaven and when the World is all on fire think that thou hast nothing to lose in so great a Masse Seneca quaest natur l. 2. c. 59. CHAP. I. Of Subterraneous Exhalations MEteors are made of Exhalations the Sun and the rest of the Stars draw them forth and the subterraneall fire is the worker of very many of them We shall speak nothing of them These are some hurtfull some safe as may be proved by many Examples At the foot of the Mountain Tritulum Halveatum there are waters you must ascend by 43 degrees to a place of sweating It is in length three miles the more you are lifted up above them the hotter you are the more you descend into them the cooler Those draw flegme from the parts and cure distillations from the head There is a hot Bath near the hot waters that run forth of the Lake Agnanum The ditches are covered with Turves of grasse and stones being removed a hot vapour is sent out that makes them sweat that receive it Out of Avernus a Lake of Campania before Agrippa had cut down the Woods that covered it and laid it open the Exhalations were so thick that came forth that the birds were killed that flew over it At the Lake of Agnanum in Italy there is a Mountain in which there is a narrow Cave it declines moderately downwards being 8 foot long if you touch the earth of it with your foot or hand it feels hotter than the rest it choaks any living creature that is cast in by the venomous blast deprives them of sense and motion though you pull it out presently but cast the same presently into the next Lake it is a wonder how it restores their life again Camer Cent. 7. Mirab mem 50. In the Island Ebusus Exhalations do so infect the ground that if they fall upon places where Serpents are the pestilent Creatures cannot endure them In the great places of refreshment at Baianum there is a ditch the water whereof sends forth such hot vapours that wax Candles will melt be put onâ— by them and they are so pernicious that men fall down dead therewith In Babylon there is a Cave also out of which riseth such a pestilent vapour that it kills all that draw it
in Also Plutonium in a little hill of a Mountainous Country hath so moderate a mouth that it can receive but one Man but it is wonderfull deep It is compassed about with square pales and that so many as would compasse in half an Acâ—e which are so full of clowdy thick darknesse that the ground can hardly be seen The Ayr hurts not those who come to the outside of the pales as being clear from that darknesse when the winds blow not If a living Creature goes in he dies immediately Bulls brought in fall down and are drawn forth dead Lastly at Hierapolis in Syria as Dio in the Life of Trajan writes there is a den of a filthy and deadly smell what living creature sucks it in is destroyed by it Only Eunuchs are free from the venom and hurt of it Scaliger Exerc. 277. Sect. 4. CHAP. II. Of Comets Artic. 1. Of the Nature and Magnitude of Comets THe original and nature of Comets hath diversly troubled wise then nor yet was any man found that could decide the question Some think they are perpetuall and are carried about the Sun like Venus and Mercury and oft times they lye hid some think they are newly created and are not in sublunary but heavenly places Democritus thought they were the soules of famous men who when they had been vigorous many Ages in the earth make their triumphs when they die Bodine confesseth his ignorance yet he to this inclines and 〈…〉 lâ—st they become 〈…〉 Stars The cause The Ancients say they all vanished and did not seâ— Others said they were of two sorts false ones in the Aire true ones who foreshew'd things to come from the heavenly place What ever it be they are secret things and because they are in the Heavens they are so much the harder That which shined Anno 1456. possessed more than two signs in the Heavens that which appeared Anno 1472 for a whole moneâ—h retrogâ—ade from Libra 〈…〉 through the whole Zodiack in its motion at first 40 parts then 120 parts every day Sennert l. 4. Epitom Cap. 2. Anno 1556. There was one so great that not onely the most light and dry vapours but all Woods and Groves be they as many as are in the whole Earth would not serve for to feed it two moneths that it shined They are Bodin's words l. 2. Theatr. Anno 1543 it had a very long tayl toward the North a flame flew from it like a Dragon it drank up a River and consumed the fruits of the ground Sennert l. c. When Attalus raigned there was one so great that it was stretched out exceedingly and was equall to the milky way in the Heavens Senec. quaest natural l. 7. c. 15. Aristot. 1. Meteorol c. 7. In the time of Anaxagoras a huge great one burned 75 dayes and so great a Tempest of winds followed that it brake a stone off as great as a Chariot and the whirlwind carried it aloft and threw it into the River Aegaeum in Thracia Niceph. l. 12. c. Again in the Reign of Theodosius the elder an unusuall one appeared at midnight about Lucifer and a great multitude of Stars were gathered about it which by their mutual lustre sent out the greater light this was resolved into one flame like to a two edged sword The same day in July the Spaniards report they saw it that was fatall to them and to their Ships Cardanus l. 4. de varietat c. 63. saith it happened either by reason of the purenesse of the Ayr or the union of Light or by reason of the darknesse of the day Artic. 2. Of the Comets signification MEn say it is a fore-runner of Calamities if we look upon the Judgment and it is found so to be It foreshew'd Vespasian's death Romes Captivity by Alaricus the miserable end of Mauritius the destruction of Mahomet the destructive diminution of the Emperours of Rome the end of Charles the Great the Excursion of the Tartars into Silesia and the cutting off of Lugs Records say that Charles the Great when he saw it was frighted and reasoning with Eginhartus he said it foreshew'd the death of a Prince And when he lest he should be sad at it said Be not afraid at the signs in the Heavens He replyed We must fear none but him who created us and the Stars also but we are bound to praise his Clemency who will vouchsafe to admonish our sluggishnesse with such signs Alsted in Chronol One was held to be fortunate which appeared to Augustus when he prepared Plays for his Genitrix Venus These are his words Pliny l. 2. c. 25. The very same dayes I had my pastimes a hairy Star appeared for seven dayes in the Region of Heaven which is under the North Star It rose about the 11th hour of the day and was clear to be seen in all Lands The people believed that that Star signified that Caesar 's Soul must be received amongst the immortall Gods upon which account that Ensign was added to the Image of an head which presently was consecrated by us in the publick Judicature In the one side of an old Roman penny Caesar's Image was to be seen with these Letters Imp Caes Divi 111. Vir R.R.C. on the other side the forepart of Venus Temple with a Star and Caesar's Statue in his Robes of Inauguration and the Altar where he was wont to sacrifice make his Vowes and Controversies by interposâ—ng an Oath and these Letters were added to it Divo Jul. Delchamp add 2. Plin. c. 25. CHAP. III. Of an Ignis Fatuus Helena Castor and Pollux AN Ignis Fatuus useth to be seen about Sepulchres and Gallowses for it riseth from a birdlimy fat Exhalation It is lighted by an Antiperistasis of the ayr in the night and it is carried here and there with the Ayrs motion It seems to fly from travellers coming toward it and to follow those that run from it The Cause is in the Ayr It is driven forward in running and it drawes them forward but in flying from it it followes and keeps them company Hence are strangers travelling in so great danger oft times For they thinking that it is light from Towns fall into bogs These 3. following use to appear at Sea Pliny l. 2. c. 37. saith That these lights are dangerous if they come alone and sink the ships and burn them if they fall to the bottoms of their Vessels but two are successeful and signs of a prosperous Voyage for they by their appâ—oach drive away say they that unhappy and threatning Helena Wherefore they assign that diety to Castor and Pollux and call upon them at Sea making them the tutelar Captains for their Ships Act. 28. c. 11. Cardan de subâ—ilitat l. 2. of the Star Helena writes thus The Star of Helena is almost of the same kind about the Mast of the Ship which falling will melt brazen Vessels a certain sign of shipwrack For it appears onely in great Tempests and cannot be driven into the
pearl with the ear-jewel when 4. or 5. hours were past the Pearl and Jewel were mist. A certain Maid thought the Hen had swallowed it because some dayes before the said Hen had swallowed one the Italians call Gazetta Wherefore the hen was killed and presently her Gisard being parted and cut we found the pearel with the earing not yet passed into the cavity of the stomach but contained in the orifice thereof extream hot and yielding to the touch like wax and the ornaments of it almost consumed by the heat thereof which Jewel in a short space when it grew cold and the heat was gon became hard as it was before the forme was spoiled and when it was weighed with another caring like it it wanted a third part in weight But to return to Gold No Mettal is drawn out further or can be more divided for one ounce of it will be hammer'd into 750 and more leaves of 4. fingers broad and long Plin. l. 33. c. 3. That it may be wire-drawn and spun without silk I need not approve of The Luxury of the Age is well known Pliny lived when Agrippina as Claudius made a shew of a Sea-sight sate by him clothed in a robe of woven gold without any other addition Now though it consumes not in the fire yet it is resolved Chymically and becomes so aërial that if it be but stirred with an iron Spatula or grow hot any other way it will presently take fire and make a great noise and one scruple of it shall work more forcibly than half a pound of Gun-powder Crollius cited by Sennert c. 18. de Consens et dissens Chymicor A few grains of it if they flye down perpendicularly can strike through a Table of wood Quercetan The cause is the contrariety of the spirit of Nitre and the brimstone of gold for when as oyl or salt of Tartar is poured into the solution of gold the salt of Tartar unites it self with common salt and also with Allum and Ammoniac and hence it is that gold left to it self sinks to the bottom and if any of these salts is left with the gold it is washed off with hot water Sennertus de consens et dissens Chymic et Galen c. 19. onely the spirit of Nitre is left which perfectly unites with the Gold If that therefore grow hot so soon as it perceives that the Sulphur of gold is there present it opposeth it self against its Enemy and breaks forth with a mighty noise in flame It hath been long disputed whether it can be made potable experience shews that it may For that famous man Dr. Francis Antony Physitian of London brought it into a consistence like honey and sent certain portions of it to the Physitians of Germany to try it Johan Vincent Finckius in Enchiridio dogmatico Hermetico Yet Heurn l. 1. Aph. 24 thinks it hath no nutritive faculty because between potable and solid Gold there is no difference but the liquefaction and if a man cannot be nourished by the pure Elements he can hardly be fed with things inanimate and distilled Also it may be made nay it was made Kelleius an English man converted one pound of quick-Silver with one drop of a liquor of a deep red colour into Gold that with one grain he tainted 5000 and with one he extracted about ten Ounces of pure Gold Sennert de consens et diss cap. 2. And what Theophrastus did is known out of Neander it is known out of Oporinus Neander in Geographia Oporinus in Epistolis Nicolaus Mirandulanus made an Ingot of Gold out of Brasse he did it also at Jerusalem and there are so many witnesses that it were impudence to deny it Picus Mirandula Apollinaris did aver sincerely that he had above 20 ways to make Gold Hence was made that Epitaph at Rome To the collector of Gold out of Lead Some think they may be changed in shape but not in substance I see not what hinders The forme of Lead is not turned into Gold but that departing this succeeds Where there is community of matter there must be symbolization of necessity Plants have a perfect form in their kind yet are they turned into Chylus and it is no sophistication The forms of things are unknown to us we know them but by their properties and when as they all inhere in that what place is there for doubting Yet that is difficult and to be attempted warily Penotus was an excellent Chymist learned men know how miserably he was deceived in his old age His words were If there were any man whom he could not hurt by open violence he would perswade him to turn Chymist Sennert lib. cit It is known to all Men that divers works are made out of Gold Heliogabalus unloaded his belly in Golden Vessells Xerxes had a Golden Tree under which he was wont to sit A King of Aegypt buried his daughter in a Coat of Coffin Agricola in observ Metal In lower Germany on Danubius there were Vines that had tendrels and somtimes white leaves of pure Gold Alexander The cause is assigned That there are Gold Mines and that Gold grows about their roots and being bred with it and hardned by a secret Original whilst Vines send out their branches by a wonderfull work of nature or decree of the Starrs the Gold grows out with them Alexander ab Alexandro l. 4. Genial dier CHAP. XXVII Of Silver PUre Silver is dug up in many places but especially out of two places in Germany So much was dug forth of the Mine at Sueberg that it was worth 1000000 Rhenish Nobles That of Abertham afforded 150000 Nobles About some hundreds of yeares since the Mine at Friberg yeelded enough to buy all the Kingdom of Bohemia Agricola in praefat in decemfossil libros ad Henricum Principem Mâ—senae Wherefore Prince Henry neere Northusa set a great Tree of Silver that he might bestow some of the leavs of it which were partly Silver and partly Gold on those Noble Men that had gallantly discharged themselves in fighting on horsback Somtimes great lumps are dug forth In the time of Albertus the Saxon the pieces were so great that he used them in the Mines for a Table saying Frederick the Emperour is powerfull and rich yet he hath not at this time such a Table In the Valley Joachim they report that there was a Lump dug forth that weighed ten Attick Talents Nature makes it of many fashions sometimes like Trees sometimes like hairs It is white yet some hath been found green Put rude suddenly into the fire it will leap forth When black Lead is mingled with it it is melted in a great vessel and part is turned into Lead ore part into Lytharg but when it burns long it loseth something sharp things corrode it Divers works are made of it Amongst the Tectosages there are made silver Mills An Historian writes that the Buckler of Barchinus Asarubal weighed 138 pounds The History of the Passion was made in pure silver
be troubled with the Strangury any more who quencheth in his urine the burning root of Tamarisk Physitians do diversly dispose them the Chymists teach us to know them by their signatures and Porta of Naples thinks that it is certain that what part of Man they resemble that they are good for Sennert de cons. Chym. c. 18. But of these more hereafter if God please Now let us see Nature prodigall in Plants and opening her Treasures let us admire with thanksgiving CHAP. II. Of Wormwood Woolfsbane and Snapdragon WOrmwood is in many things a wonderful Plant it is very bitter yet the distilled water of it is sweet Hence the Commentators on Mesues think that the intrinsecal parts are sweet but the matter must be ascribed to the thinnesse of the outward parts for these being soluble into a vapour being more attenuated by heat of the fire are easily resolved and abate of their bitternesse Mathiolus in Dioscor c. 24. The Lye out of which the salt of it is prepared will so benum the hands that they almost lose their feeling Mathiol de febrib pest It is credible that if Infants before they be 12 weeks old be anointed with the juice of Wormwood on their hands and feet that neither heat nor cold will ever trouble them during their life and if the whole body be anointed they shall never be scabby Guerth in Append. ad memorab Mizaldi Wolfsbane is the quickest of all venomous things for if it touch but the secrets of a woman it kills her the same day This was the poyson that Mar Coecilius objected that Calphurnius Bestia killed his Wives with when they were asleep hence it is that he so sharply declamed against him that they dyed by his hand Yet experience teacheth that this may be made use of for mans good and against the bitings of Scorpions given in hot wine the nature of it is to kill Man unlesse it find some venome in him to be destroyed Scorpions are stun'd by the touch of it and being astonished shew by their palenesse that they are subdued White Hellebore helps them by its resolving touch and Wolfsbane yields to two evils to that which is evil to it self and to all others Pliny But Snapdragon is so contrary to them that the sight of it stuns them but whilest some by this Amulet hope to procure Princes favours they are deceived Mathiol in l. 4. Dioscor c. 128. CHAP. III. Of Aloes Agallochum and Camomill SCaliger had found by above 40 years tryal that Aloes hurts the Liver Exerc. 160. Sect. 3. They whose veins swell or are opened if they take never so little of it it will certainly go thither for it will adde something of its own to open these vessels But Agalloâ—â—um is Aloes wood so excellent that cast into water it will not swim at all but sinks presently When it is cut from the Tree the Inhabitants bury it a whole year that the bark may wither under ground and the wood lose nothing and they think it will never be so sweet unlesse it first be worm-eaten Simeon Sethi citante Mathiâ—lo Camomil is so like to May-weed that you cannot know them asunder by sight but onely by smell This stinks and bound on will presently blister the skin The flowers of Camomil taken without the leaves and beat in a Mortar and made with oyl into balls if they be dissolved in the same oyl and those that have Feavers be anointed therewith from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet and be presently covered with blankets to sweat if they sweat plentifully it cures them of their Agues This is Nictessius Aegyptius his receipt Mathiol in Dioscorid l. 3. c. 1 37. CHAP. IV. Of Ammi Holly Ceterach and the Strawberry-Tree AMmi if it be the right seed that comes from Alexandria it cherisheth Womens fruitfulnesse if you drink of it a dram weight in the morning every other day 3. hours before meat Yet in those dayes they must not lie with their husbands as Mathiol in 3. Dioscor c. 61. With the flowers of Holly water congealeth and a stick made of it thrown at any living creature though it fell short by the weaknesse of him that threw it yet of it self it will fall nearer to him Plin. l. 22. Ceterach growes in Crete by the River Potereus that runs between two Cities Enosa and Cortina it destroyes the Spleen in Cattel that eat it thence it hath its name Spleenwort In a certain place that lyes toward Cortina this Spleenwort is found in great abundance but it is otherwise toward Enosa for there growes none In the wrong side of the leave of it there is found a precious powder which being given one dram weight with half a dram of the powder of white Amber in the juice of Purslane cures the Gonorrhaea The Strawberry Tree flowers in July the buds by a singular hanging together are joyned in clusters at the utmost end each of them like a long form'd Myrtil berry and as great without leaves hollow as an Egge made so with the mouth open when it fades what hindred is perforated Theophrast l. 3. c. 16. de Plantis CHAP. V. Of the Cane reed Asserall and Agnacath IN Zeilam the Reeds are so large that they make boats of them severally also they make Javelius of them As in the Kingdom of Pegu they make Masts and Oars of the Myoparones Certain it is that they are some of them 7 foot about Scaliger Exerc. 166. Mathiolus writes that in India they grow so great that between every knot they serve for Boats to sail in Lakes and Rivers for three Men to sit in them Mathiol in Dioscorid l. 1. c. 97. Between the Reed and the Fern there is a deadly feud and they say that a Reed tied to the Plough destroys all the Fern that growes there It agrees with Sparagus for if they be sowed in Reedy grounds they increase wonderfully Mathiol l. citat The Turks going to battle devoure Asseral and by that they grow merry and bold against dangers Juglers use this often on their Scaffolds They mingle a Medicament with Wine that will draw their mouths together and whom they would put a trick upon they bid him dip his finger in and suck it he putting this into his mouth cannot for pain suck it The Juglers as if they pittied him in this case annoint the arteries of his wrists and temples with some peculiar Oyntment When he is recovered like one that comes from Sea after Shipwrack he winds his hair and garments as if they were wet and wrings them out he wipes his Armes blows his Nose Scaliger Exerc. 159. Agnacath is a Tree like a Peare Tree and as great allwayes with green leaves and very clear in the outside It makes men so lusty that it is miraculous Kin to this is a root in the Western Hills of Allas the Inhabitants call that part Surnaga The eating of it gives wonderfull strength for Venus they say if
hath a stalk like a Cane that hath a white pith in it like to Sugar-Canes in the top whereof it puts forth branches divided and empty The fruit wherein the Corn is shut up in thin covers come forth of the sides of the stalk The Ear is as great as the apple of the Pitch-Tree there are round about it clear white grains within as great as Pease disposed of in 8. or 10. right lines on all sides From the Top of the Cod hang long shoots of the same colour with the corn the Indians call it Malitz It is steeped 2 dayes in water before they sow it nor do they trust it untill it be wet with rain They reap it in 4 months but that which growes in Eubaea is ripe in 40 dayes Theophrast lib. cit Thyme begins about the Summer Solstice and honey from thence is successefull for Bees and Bee-masters Theophrast l. 6. c. â— If it put forth its flowers otherwise the making of honey doth not succeed well the flower perisheth if a shower fall There runs oyl from it of a golden colour when the herb is distilled through a bath of hot water when it is green It tastes like a pome Citron Mathiol in l. 3. Dioscor c. 37. CHAP. XLII Of Tobacco TObacco or Nicotiana from the finder of it is called also the holy Herb the Queens herb the herb of the holy Crosse and Petum It is well known to them that know the Indian Merchandise and those that have smelt the fume of it in Britany France and the Low-Countries It is sowed when the Moon increaseth and cut down when she decreaseth There is one kind call'd the Male with a broad leaf and another called the female with a narrower leaf but a longer stalk The least seed of it falling of its own accord lies safe in the coldest winter and the next Summer being carried into many grounds with the wind cometh up of itself Camerar in hort Neaâ—der in Tobaccolog From the seed of the male they say the female will spring if it fall into a ground where Tobacco grew before and that so fruitfully that it will yearly grow up of it self But it will not endure the cold but if it be well preserved it will like Citron Trees continue all the year and remain 4 years without damage Monardus de simpl medicam As for the forces of it it will cause thirst hath an acrimonious taste it troubles the mind and makes head-ach Neander They that drink it too greedily have fallen down dead and stupified for a whole day Benzon l. 1. c. 26. hist. nov orb Hence it was that King James of famous memory King of England writ Misocapnos For he supposed it weakned the bodies of his Subjects Yet many famous men have written high commendations of it The Spaniards say it resists poyson For when the Cannibals had wounded them with poyson'd darts they cured themselves with the juice of Tobacco laying on the bruised leafs Monard loc cit The Catholick King made tryal of it on a Dog wounded with a venomâ—â— weapon and it cured him Heurnius writes that it oures perfectly the pain of the teeth and takes away all the dolour His words are When I was vehemently pain'd with Tooth-ache about a year since I boyled Tobacco in water with some Camomil flowers and I held a spoonfull of the warm decoction in my mouth I spit it forth and used this for two houres the pain abated The next day saith he I went to my Garden in the Subburbs as I was wont to do and bending down with my head to pull up some grasse there ran a moysture out of my nostrills yellow as Saffron it smelt like Tobacco and all the pain of my teeth was gone Never did blood nor any thing but a flegmatick matter run forth of my nose in all my life and I never saw any deeper yellow than what ran now out of my nostrills That it restores the sight see Wiburgius ad Schnitz Epist. 209. A certain Maid had the pupil of her eye covered he with the juice of the best Tobacco boyl'd to an unguent with May butter and anointing the Eye outwardly with it the eye being shut effected so much that none could discern it but those that stood close by Clusius saith That the Indians use to make pills with the juice of it and Cockle-shells bruised that will stop their hunger for 3. dayes It is no wonder for by resolving of slime that falls upon the stomachs mouth it abates the appetite Castor Durantes in an Epigram describes the vertues of it thus An herb call'd Holy Crosse doth help the sight It cures both Wounds and Scabs and hath great might 'Gainst Scrophulous and Cancerous Tumours Burnings and Wild-fires repressing humours It heats it binds resolves and also dries Asswages pains diseases mundisies Pains of the Belly Head or Teeth with ease It helps old Coughs and many a sad disease Of Spleen and Reins and Stomach and more parts As Womb sore Gums and Wounds with venom'd darts Are cur'd thereby with sleep it doth refresh And covers naked bones with perfect flesh For Breast and Lungs when that we stand in need All other herbs Tobacco doth exceed CHAP. XLIII Of Trifoly Teucrium Thelyphonon Yew Thapsia and Thauzargent TRifoly foreshews a tempest at hand for when it is coming it will rise up against it It hath been observed that when this hearb hath plenty of flowers it portends many showers and frequent inundations that year and a few flowers shew drinesse Fuchs in herb It is called Cuccow bread either because she feeds of it or because it comes forth about the time the Cuccow sings seven times in a day it hath a sweet smell and seven times in the day it loseth it But pulled up it always holds it and when a showr is coming it will smell so sweet that it will fill all the houses Teucrion otherwise Hermion neither beares flowers nor seed It cures the Spleen and they say it was so found out Plin. l. 25. c. 5. when the entralls were thrown upon it they report it stuck to the Spleen and drew it empty It is said that swine that feed on the root of it dye without a Spleen Thelyphonum hath a root like to a Scorpion and put to them it kills them but if you strew white Hellebour upon them they will revive again it is scarce credible Theophrast l. 9. c. 19. The Yew brings forth berries that are red and like red Wine they that eat them fall into Feavers and Dysenteries Cattel will dye if they eat the leaves of it and do drivel Theophrastus writes it l. 3. c. 10. but Pliny confutes it l. 16. c. 10. It is so Venemous in Arcadia that it kills such as sleep under its shadows Ovetan Sum c. 78. In India it makes the eyes and mouth of such as sleep under it to swell Thapsia grows in the Athenian land Cattle bred there will not touch it but strange Cattle will
wonderfull the body was full of streaks of divers colours and equall lines Pontan dâ— Magnificent CHAP. III. Of the Boar and the Archopitecus IN Crete there are no Boars In a great part of the New World there are some that are lesse than ours Their tails were so short that the Spaniards thought they were cut off The fore-feet are whole the hinder feet cloven In some parts of Scandinavia they are 12 foot long Scaliger writes that the petty King of Salvimons had a huge one which would at the sound of the horn go forth to hunt with his Lord and the dogs Archopitecus is a creature in America that is wonderfull ill-favour'd The Inhabitants call it Haâ—â—t He is as great as a Monky his belly toucheth the ground he hath a head and a face like a child and when he is taken he sighs like to a child Three claws hang to his hinder feet and four long ones to his fore-feet like the great prickly bones of a Carp and with these he creeps up upon Trees His tail is 3. foot long He was never found to eat mans flesh whilest he is alive and they think he lives upon nothing but leaves which in their language they call Amohut When he is tame he will love a man and run up upon his shoulders Thevet left him in the open Ayr yet was he never wet CHAP. IV. Of the Ox. IN one of the outermost Provinces of Asia between the outmost Mountains of India and Cathay Oxen are bred white and black with a horses tail but more full of hairs and reaching down to their feet The hairs of them are most fine like feathers and as dear Venet. Brought into Hispaniola they will grow so much that they are greater than Elephants Petr. Martyr in Decad. In these parts where we write these things Guickardinus testifieth that one of them weighed above 1600 weight we saw one at Leyden that weighed 2970 pound But Ptolomaeus 11 had the horn of one that held 27 gallons When the Cows are great with young men say they carry their young ones on their right side though they be great with two But they that drink of the River Charadrus not farr from the City of the Patrenses conceive for the most part only Males the same will come to passe if in time of copulation you bind the left testicle of the male with a band or let them couple when the North wind blows Pausan. in Achaicis and if the right or when the South wind blows the Cows will conceive a female The Cows if they be more fruitfull in summer are a Token of a rainy Winter For a fruitfull Creature cannot abound with generative humour unlesse it be moved by a celestiall influence Albert. Somtimes they are very fierce In the yeare 1551 in Rhoetia between Duria and Velcuria some of them brought into the fields from two Villages fought so violently that 24 were killed before the combate could be ended Gesner de quadrup Somtimes they are puffed up with fullnesse for the cure whereof they use a Charme nameing the swelling In the name of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost Men say that Pythagoras by whispering some words at Tarentum tamed an Oxe so that he forsook bean straw and followed a Country Man and lived to be very Old at Tarentum eating out of mens hands Coelius The smok of Oxe-dung will preserve Bee-hives free from Flies and Spiders Bullocks blood powred into a wound will stop the bleeding Also the dry dung burnt drunk three spoonfulls will cure the dropsy CHAP. V. Of the Buffe and Bonasus A Buff is a Creature greater than an Oxe with a bunch on his back two or three men may sit between his Horns for it hath a very large forehead and curled with haire that smels like Musk. The flesh of it is most fat in Summer but it tasts of Garlick that it feeds on It is wonderfull strong for he will take up a Horse and his Rider The blood of it is redder than purple so hot that it will make Iron on the Hunters Speare turn every way and in the greatest cold it will corrupt in two houres In the Scotch woods they so abhor the company of men that they will not touch the shrubs that men have touched after many days and being taken by art they will dye for grief Cambd. in Scotia Gesner makes the Bonasus to be a kind of Bugle of whom men write that he dungs extream hot when the Hunter follows him but that happens to living Creatures by running so fast The intestines grow hot thereby and heat raiseth winds which being shut in they break forth violently through a narrow place chiefly if there fall out to be any pressing of the places by motion Also the Cuttle fish gives an example that feare will cause her to cast out her inky juyce Philip King of Macedon killed one with a Dart at the foot of Mount Orbelus the Hornes were 16 handfulls which were consecrated to Hercules CHAP. VI. Of the Camel THe Camel hath a manifold belly either because he hath a great body or because he eats Thorny and Woody substances God hath provided for the concoction Puddle water is sweet to him nor will he drink River water till he have troubled it with his foot In Africa when they have fasted 50 days they will not eat at night but when they have their burdens taken off they will feed on leaves in the fields Leo Afric L. 3. He lives a hundred yeares unlesse the Ayre agree not with him Plin. They serve the Indians to travel with if we credit Philostratus nor is it beyond his force to go a thousand furlongs in one day But that kind of Camel the Africans call Ragnail will go a hundred miles a day for 8 days together with a very little meat They never couple with their dams When as his keeper had admitted him to the dam vailed when she was discovered he was so inraged that she trampled on him and threw her selfe headlong Arist. in admirand Examples shew that they are very docile when they are longer on their journey than ordinary between Aethiopia and Barbary they do not whip them forward but they sing to them whereby they will run so fast that men can hardly follow them One at Alcair danced at the sound of a Taber being taught by a strange art For when he is young he is brought into a stove the pavement being very hot One plays on a Tabret at the dore he because of the heat lifts up one foot they continue this exercise and use him to it a whole yeare that coming in publick remembring the hot pavement when one plays on the Tabret he will lift up his feet and seem to dance Leo. Aphric In the Land of Gyants there is a Creature that hath a head ears and neck like to a Mule a body like a Camel a taile like a Horse he is 6 foot high and five foot long his neck is as white as
very smell of a man will make them fly away How he fights the history of him will shew CHAP. XV. Of the Horse IN Portugal they say the Mares conceive by the wind Varro Pliny and Solinus affirm that the Birth is fruitlesse for their Colts live not above 3 yeares Justinus calls these things Fables In the Island Hispaniola the foals conceive in ten months after they are born and oft times they beare twins Peter Martyr A Barren Mare will conceive saith Aldrovandus if you bruise a little handfull of Leeks in a Mortar and powre upon it a little cup of Wine and shall for two days cast in 12. Spanish flies of divers colours into the Matrix with water by a Syringe the next day have your Horse to the Mare that is lusty when he hath leapt her wash the privities twice In the Province of Belascia their hoofs are so hard that they are never shod Amongst the Ambes they are so swift that they will run a hundred miles in 24 houres Ludov. Rom. l. 4. Navig And Historians relate of such a one that was taken in the Alanick Warr by Prince Probus In Artois the Governour of the Fort Mellomus had one bred very large and with Horns at this day is to be seen the leap he made which was 60 foot Lipsius Cent. 3. ad Belg. Epist 56. They live very long some have come to 50 yeares and some above 60 yeares Albert Solinus and Niptus say 70 years The same saith We have observed that in Opus by name a Mare lasted to breed on for 40 years They so fear a Camel that they cannot endure to see him or smell him wherefore Cyrus when he was to fight against Craesus opposed his Camels against the others Horses Herodot Pliny writes that if Horses tread where Wolves have passed they will be benummed in their legs and Aelian adds that if they touch the foot step of a Wolfe when they are in a Wagon drawing they will stop presently as if they were frozen The Tartars love to eate their flesh and the rich men had it rosted in their feasts in Persia. The Moscovites of old time Servants to the Tartars were wont to pay tribute to them in their journeys by their Duke when they demanded it of Mares milk Their sweat causeth women with Child to suffer abortion and if Knives hot be wet with it they are so infected that the part they wound will bleed till they dye Albert. They will weep Caesars Horse wept 3 days before he died Cardan had a Gennet that would weep abundantly chiefly in Summer They are so docile that Alexanders Bucephalus nor Caesars Gennet could be ruled by any man except his Mr. There have been seen in Olandia an Island of the Gothick Sea that at the sound of a Tabret would dance Scalig. writes of one thus A certain Mountebank led about a little Horse which would do any thing at his word or beck amble trot run leap on four or two feet drink Wine sit on his buttocks and bring his foreseet to the cup he would hold a Bason or Dish with his Legs as if he were to be barb'd he would lye on the ground at length and shut his eye lids and nod He would lift up his head at his Masters beck turn on his back and lye to shew how women lay this I saw saith he and we also saith Gaudentius Merula saw a Horse of a Physitian of Pannonia that stood at the dore untied till his Master came forth from visiting the sick if it were a whole day c. CHAP. XVI Of the Urchin A Hedg-Hogg or land Urchin is a Creature with a Hogs snowt he hath most stiff bristles on his skin that a sword can hardly cut them Volchâ—rus Coiter first observed that he rowls himself up like a ball by reason of a long and broad Muscle over his whole back that contracts the skin He opens if you poure water on his belly For because he cannot breath he opens and cries with a shrill note Rosenbach in Indice About the time of the Vintage he goes under the Vines and he breaks down clusters of Grapes and takes them upon his prickles Plutarch When he is taken he pisseth on his back and it corrupts therefore hee never useth that mischievous way but when he is past hopes for they hate their imbred Venom and will not hurt themselves and will stay till the very last that they will first be almost taken CHAP. XVII Of the Elephant THe Elephant is a stranger with us but the Indians and other places have them common The King of the Palibroti had 90000 of them of the Siamenses 12000 and 4000 of them were armed against sudden occasions The great King of Mogor had 50000 at command Vartomannus saw heards of them in Mozambica In Africa there are plenty For Appianus Alexandrinus writes that there were 300 stalls for them at Carthage Many strange things are spoken of them and the most part past beleif Lipsius hath collected them in his Epistle we shall briefly reduce all to two that is to their body and soul. As for the first it is exceeding great the greatest of all land creatures wherefore the Hebrews call him in the plural number Behemoth It is certain that of old time they carried Castles of armed men into the Field and an Author namelesse writes that he saw one of their teeth sold for 36 Ducats it was 14 spans long and 4 spans thick so heavy that he could not take it up from the ground Aldrovandus In his heart he hath a bone wonderful big that Aldrovandus writes he saw in one that was killed Aristotle maintains that he hath three stomacks There were two found that weighed 225 pounds Vartomannus As for its soul Writers set down great endowments that he hath Christophorus Acosta who searched diligently the East Indies writes things that are incredible of them It is most certain saith he that in the Kingdom of Malabar they talk together and speak with mans voice There was saith he in the City Cochin an Elephant who carried things to the Haven and laboured in Seafaring matters When he was weary the governour of the place did force him to draw a Galley from the Haven which he had begun to draw into the Sea the Elephant refused it the Governour gave him good words and at last intreated him to do it for the King of Portugal Hereupon it is hardly credible the Elephant was moved and reported these two words clearly Hoo Hoo which in the language of Malabar is I will I will and he presently drew the ship into the Sea There was another example at Rome when Tiberius was Emperour 12 Elephants were brought into the Amphitheatre in Cloaths that Players use and first thir Commander divided them into several places of the Circuit as they went they went easily as if they danced and again when he spoak they came together and danced in a round and they scattered their flowers