before time is held for the worst of all In old time they called this morcell in Latine Abdomen and before it was growne hard and brawnie they neuer were wont willingly and wittingly to kil Sowes euen vpon the point of their farrowing and being readie to Pig as our monstrous gluttons doe now adaies because they would haue the teats soft tender and full of milke All horned beasts hauing teeth growing but in one jaw and pasterne bones about their feet do beare tallow or sewet and feed fat Those that be clouen-footed or otherwise haue feet deuided into many toes and beare no horns haue no tallow but grease or fat The tallow or sewet growes to be hard and when it is thoroughly cold is brittle and apt to crumble and breake and is euer found in the edge and extremities of the flesh contrariwise the seam or grease is enterlarded betweene the flesh and the skin liquid it is and easie to melt Some creatures there bee that will neuer be fat as the Hare and Partridge Generally whatsoeuer is barren be it male or female will soone feed fat Sooner grow they to be old which are ouer-fat No liuing creatures there are but haue a certain fat in their eies the tallow in any thing whatsoeuer is sensllesse for neither hath it Arteries nor Veines The fat also grease in most of them is without sence And hereupon it is That some affirme how Mice and Rats haue gnawne and eaten fat Hogs whiles they were aliue and made them nests in their backs yea and Lucius Apronius somtimes Consull had a sonne so fat that he could not goe so heauie was he loden with grease insomuch as he was faine to take some of his grease forth of the bodie and so discharge himselfe and become lighter Marrow seemeth to be much of the same natnre in youth it is red and in age waxeth white This is neuer found but in hollow bones and yet not in the legs of Horse Asse Mule or Dog And therefore if they chance to be broken they will not sowder and vnite againe which happens when the Marrow runs out to the place of the fracture In those that carrie grease or sewet fattie it is and greasie but in horned beasts it resembles Tallow Sinewie it is and that onely in the ridge of the backe of as many as haue no bones as namely in all fishes Beares haue none at al. A Lion likewise hath but very little to wit in some few bones of his thighes buts behind and also of his legs before vnder his shoulders For his other bones are so hard that they will strike fire as it were an hard flint The Marrow is hard in them that gather no grease but rather tallow The bones of Asse legs are good to sound shrill and to make pipes of Dolphins haue verie bones and not prickie chines for they bring forth their yong aliue Serpents haue only prickie ridges Fishes that be soft haue no bones but their bodie is bound with certaine hoopes or circles of flesh as the Cuttill or Calamarie Neither haue Infects any bones at all Those fishes which be not soft but gristly haue a kind of marrow in their ridge bone Seales haue gristle and no bone The eares and nosethrils of all creatures if they beare vp but a little haue a soft tender gristle apt to bend and wind such is the goodnesse of Nature prouiding that they should not breake A gristle if it be broken will not close together and be sound Neither will bones if ought be cut from them grow againe vnlesse it be in horses and such beasts of carriage and namely betweene the house and the pasternes A man Groweth in height and length vntill hee be one and twentie yeares of age then beginnes he to spread and burnish in squarenesse As well men as women-kind shute vp most and vndoe the knot that hindered their growth when they are come to fourteene yeares of age and be vndergrowne and most is this seene if some sicknesse happen about that time As for the Sinewes Ligaments and Cords which take their beginning at the heart be couered as it were with a certain white and glutinous substance and the like cause and nature they haue These in all bodies are tied to the slipperie bones the knitting of the bones together which be called joints they fasten and bind together some by comming betweene others by clasping round about others again by passing crosse ouer in one place they be twined round in another broad according as the figure of each part doth require Be they cut a two as they cannot knit againe so they put a man to no paine pricke or wound them a wonder to see what extremitie of paine will thereupon ensue Some creatures be without nerues and sinewes as namely fishes for they stand much vpon Arteries and yet ye shall haue neither the one nor the other in soft fishes Look where there be Sinews Cords and Ligaments those that lie more inward and vnderneath stretch out the part and giue libertie whreas the vppermost that lie ouer them draw the same in as much Among these are hidden the Arteries that is to say the passages of the spirit and life And ouer them ride the Veines euen the very conduits and channels that carie the bloud The Pulse or beating of Arteries is most euident in the extremities or ends of any members and for the most part bewraies hidden diseases Herophilus that renowmed Poet and interpreter of Physick hath with maruellous skill reduced the order thereof into an art he hath set downe most artificially the certaine measures and times the compasse the metricall lawes thereof according to euery age when they strike euen and steadie when too fast when too slow But the skill herof is little exercised and his inuention in that behalfe neglected because it seemed ouerwittie subtile and curious Howbeit the obseruation of the strokes either comming thick fast or slow and softly giueth a great light to judge of the strength of Nature that gouerns our life Arteries want sence and no maruell for they be without bloud Neither do they all containe within them vitall spirit For there haue beene knowne some of them cut in twaine and yet that part of the body only is mortified which receiued the offence Birds haue neither Veines nor Arteries Likewise Serpents Tortoises Lizards haue but very little bloud The Veines dispersed at the last into most fine and small threadie fibres vnder all the skin grow at the length to bee so slender that the bloud cannot possibly passe thorough them nor any thing else saue a thin humor or moisture which thorough infinite small pores of the skin doth breath forth and stands there like a dew and is called Sweat The place where all the Veines doe meet in a round knot together is the Nauell CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ Of Bloud as well that which soonest waxeth
Island distant Northward from Britaine six daies sailing Yea and some affirme the same of Mona an Island distant from Camalodunum a towne of Britaine about 200 miles CHAP. LXXVI ¶ Of Dials and Quadrants THis cunning and skill of shadowes named Gnonomice Anaximines the Milesian the disciple of Anaximander aboue named inuented and hee was the first also that shewed in Lacedemon the Horologe or Dial which they call Sciotericon CHAP. LXXVII ¶ How the dayes are obserued THe very day it selfe men haue after diuers manners obserued The Babylonians count for day all the time betweene two Sun-risings the Athenians betweene the settings The Vmbrians from noone to noone But all the common sort euery where from day light vntill it be darke The Roman Priests and those that haue defined and set out a ciuil day likewise the Egyptians and Hipparchus from midnight to midnight That the spaces or lights are greater or lesse betwixt Sun risings neere the Sunsteds than the equinoctials it appeareth by this that the position of the Zodiake about the middle parts therof is more oblique and crooked but toward the Sunsted more streight and direct CHAP. LXXViij ¶ The reason of the varietie and difference of sundry Countries and Nations HEreunto we must ioyne such things as are linked to celestiall causes For doubtlesse it is that the Aethiopians by reason of the Sunnes vicinitie are scorched and tanned with the heate thereof like to them that be adust and burnt hauing their beards and bush of haire curled Also that in the contrarie Clime of the world to it in the frozen and icie regions the people haue white skins haire growing long downeward and yellow but are fierce and cruell by reason of the rigorous cold aire howbeit the one as well as the other in this mutabilitie are dull and grosse and the very legs do argue the temperature for in the Aethiopians the iuice or bloud is drawne vpward againe by the naturall heate But among the nations Septentrionall the same is driuen to the inferior parts by reason of moisture apt to fall downward Here breed noisome and hurtfull wilde beasts but there be ingendred creatures of sundry and diuers shapes especially birds Tall they are of bodily stature as well in one part as the other in the hot regions by the occasionall motion of fire in the other by the moist nourishment But in the midst of the earth there is an wholesome mixture from both sides the whole Tract is fertill and fruitfull for all things the habit of mens bodies of a mean and indifferent constitution the colour also shewing a great temperature The fashions and manners of the people are ciuill and gentle their sences cleare and lightsome their wits pregnant and capable of all things within the compasse of Nature they also beare soueraigne rule and sway empires and monarchies which those vttermost nations neuer had Yet true it is that euen they who are out of the temperate Zones may not abide to be subiect nor accomodate themselues to these for such is their sauage and brutish nature that it vrgeth them to liue solitarie by themselues CHAP. LXXiX ¶ Of Earthquakes THe Babylonians were of this opinion that earthquakes and gaping chinks and all other accidents of that nature are occasioned by the power and influence of the planets but of those three only to which they attribute lightnings and by this means namely as they keepe their course with the Sun or meet with him and especially when this concurrence is about the quadratures of the heauen And surely if it be true which is reported of Anaximander the Milesian naturall Philosopher his prescience and foreknowledge of things was excellent and worthy of immortalitie who as it is said forewarned the Lacedemonians to looke wel to their city and dwelling houses for that there was an earthquake toward which hapned accordingly when not only their whole city was shaken and fell downe but also a great part of the mountain Taygetus which bare out like to the poupe of a ship broken as it were from the rest came down too wholly couering the foresaid ruines There is reported another shrewd guesse of Pherecydes who was Pythagoras his master and the same likewise diuine and propheticall he by drawing water out of a pit both foresaw and also foretold an earthquake there Which if they be true how far off I pray you may such men seeme to be from God euen while they liue here on earth But as for these things verily I leaue it free for euery man to weigh and deeme of them according to their owne iudgement and for mine owne part I suppose that without all doubt the windes are the cause thereof For neuer beginneth the earth to quake but when the sea is still and the weather so calme withall that the birds in their flying cannot houer and hang in the aire by reason that all the spirit and winde which should beare them vp is withdrawne from them ne yet at any time but after the windes are laid namely when the blast is pent and hidden within the veines and hollow caues of the earth Neither is this shaking in the earth any other thing than is thunder in the cloud nor the gaping chinke thereof ought else but like the clift whereout the lightning breaketh when the spirit inclosed within strugleth and stirreth to go forth at libertie CHAP. LXXX ¶ Of the gaping chinks of the earth AFter many and sundry sorts the earth therefore is shaken and thereupon ensue wondrous effects in one place the walls of cities are laid along in another they be swallowed vp in a deepe and wide chawne here are cast vp mighty heaps of earth there are let out Riuers of water yea and somtimes fire doth breathe forth and hot springs issue abroad in another place the course and chanell of riuers is turned clean away and forced backward There goeth before and commeth with it a terrible noise one while a rumbling more like the loowing and bellowing of beasts otherwhiles it resembles a mans voice or else the clattering and rustling of armor and weapons beating one vpon another according to the qualitie of the matter that catcheth and receiueth the noise or the fashion either of the hollow cranes within or the cranny by which it passeth whiles in a narrow way it taketh on with a more slender and whistling noise and the same keepeth an hoarse din in winding and crooked caues rebounding againe in hard passages roaring in moist places wauing and floting in standing waters boiling and chasing against solid things And therefore a noise is often heard without any earthquake and neuer at any time shaketh it simply after one and the same manner but trembles and waggeth to and fro As for the gaping chink sometimes it remaineth wide open and sheweth what it hath swallowed vp otherwhiles it closeth vp the mouth and hideth all and the earth is knit together so againe as there remaine no marks and tokens to be
all tides in the main Ocean ouerspread couer and ouerflow much more within the land than in other seas besides either because the whole and vniuersall element is more couragious than in a part or for that the open greatnesse and largenesse thereof feeleth more effectually the power of the Planet working forcibly as it doth far and neere at liberty than when the same is pent and restrained within those streights Which is the cause that neither lakes nor little riuers ebbe and flow in like manner Pythias of Massiles writeth That aboue Brittain the tide floweth in height 80 cubits But the more inward and Mediterranean narrow seas are shut vp within the lands as in an hauen How beit in some places a more spacious liberty there is that yeeldeth to the power and command of the Moon for we haue many examples and experiments of them that in a calm sea without wind and saile by a strange water onely haue tided from Italy to Vtica in three daies But these tides and quick motions of the sea are found to be about the shores more than in the deep maine sea For euen so in our bodies the extreme and vtmost parts haue a greater feeling of the beating of arteries that is to say the vitall spirits Yet notwithstanding in many firths and armes of the sea by reason of the vnlike risings of the planets in euery coast the tides are diuers and disagreeing in time but not in reason and cause as namely in the Syrtes And yet some there be that haue a peculiar nature by themselues as the Firth Taurominitanum which ebbeth and floweth oftner than twice and that either in Euboea called likewise Euripus which hath seuen tides to and fro in a day and a night And the same tide three daies in a moneth standeth stil namely in the 7 8 and 9 daies of the moons age At Gades the fountaine next vnto the chappell of Hercules is inclosed about like a well the which at sometimes riseth and falleth as the Ocean doth at others againe it doth both at contrary seasons In the same place there is another spring that keepeth order and time with the motions of the Ocean On the banke of Betis there is a towne the wells whereof as the tide floweth do ebbe and as it ebbeth do flow in the mid times betweene they stirre not Of the same qualitie there is one pit in the towne Hispalis all the rest be as others are And the sea Pontus euermore floweth and runneth out into Propontis but the sea neuer retireth backe againe within Pontus CHAP. XCVIII ¶ Maruels of the Sea ALl seas are purged and scoured in the full Moone and some besides at certaine times About Messala and Nylae there is voided vpon the shore certaine dregges and filthinesse like to beasts dung whereupon arose the fable That the Sunnes oxen were there kept in stall Hereunto addeth Aristotle for I would not omit willingly any thing that I know that no liuing creature dieth but in the reflux and ebbe of the sea This is obserued much in the Ocean of France but found onely in man by experience true CHAP. XCIX ¶ What power the Moone hath ouer things on Earth and in the Sea BY which it is truly guessed and collected that not in vaine the planet of the Moone is supposed to be a Spirit for this is it that satisfieth the earth to her content shee it is that in her approch and comming toward filleth bodies ful and in her retire and going away emptieth them again And hereupon it is that with her growth all shell-fish wax encrease and those creatures which haue no bloud them most of all do feele her spirit Also the bloud in men doth increase or diminish with her light more or lesse yea the leaues of trees and the grasse for sodder as shall be said in conuenient place do feele the influence of her which euermore the same pierceth and entreth effectually into all things CHAP. C. ¶ Of the power of the Sun and why the Sea is salt THus by the feruent heate of the Sun all moisture is dried vp for wee haue been taught that this Planet is Masculine frying and sucking vp the humidity of all things Thus the broad and spacious sea hath the taste of salt sodden into it or else it is because when the sweet and thin substance thereof is sucked out from it which the firie power of the Sun most easily draweth vp all the tarter and more grosse parts thereof remaine behinde and hereupon it is that the deep water toward the bottom is sweeter and lesse brackish than that aboue in the top And surely this is a better and truer reason of that vnpleasant smacke and taste that it hath than that the sea should be a sweat issuing out of the earth continually or because ouermuch of the dry terrence element is mingled in it without any vapour or else because the nature of the earth infecteth the waters as it were with some strong medicine We finde among rare examples and experiments that there happened a prodigious token to Denis tyrant of Sicily when he was expelled and deposed from that mightie state of his and this it was the sea water within one day in the hauen grew to be fresh and sweet CHAP. CI. ¶ In like manner of the Moones Nature ON the contrary they say that the Moone is a planet Foeminine tender nightly dissolueth humors draweth the same but carieth them not away And this appeareth euidently by this proofe that the carkasses of wilde beasts slain she putrifieth by her influence if she shine vpon them When men also are sound asleepe the dull nummednesse thereby gathered she draweth vp into the head she thaweth yce and with a moistening breath proceeding from her enlargeth and openeth all things Thus you see how Natures turn is serued and supplyed and is alwaies sufficient whiles some stars thicken and knit the elements others againe resolue the same But as the Sun is fed by the salt seas so the Moone is nourished by the fresh riuer waters CHAP. CII ¶ Where the Sea is deepest FAbianus saith that the sea where is deepest exceedeth not fifteen furlongs Others againe do report that in Pontus the sea is of an vnmeasurable depth ouer against the Nation of the Coraxians the place they call Bathei Ponti whereof the bottome could neuer bee sounded CHAP. CIII ¶ The wonders of Waters Fountaines and Riuers OF all wonders this passeth that certain fresh waters hard by the sea issue spring forth as out of pipes for the nature of the waters also ceaseth not from strange and miraculous properties Fresh waters run aloft the sea as being no doubt the lighter and therefore the sea water which naturally is heauier vpholdeth and beareth vp whatsoeuer is brought in Yea and amongst fresh waters some there be that flote and glide ouer others As for example in the lake Fucinus the riuer that runneth into it in Larius Addua in
But some men there be which haue their tongues so at commandement and so artificially they can handle it and their throat together that they are able to counterfeit the singing of all birds and the voice of any other creature that one cannot know and discerne them asunder As touching Taste which is the judgement of meats and drinks to wit What smack and tallage they haue all other liuing creatures find it at the tip of their tongue only but man tasteth as wel with the pallat or roofe of his mouth The spungeous kernels which in men be called Tonsillae or the Almands are in swine named the Glandules That which betweene them hangeth downe from the inmost part and roofe of the mouth by the name of the Vvula is to be found in man onely Vnder it there is a little tongue which the Greekes call Epiglossis at the root of the other and the same is not to be found in any creature that laieth egs A twofold vse it hath lying as it doth between the two pipes Whereof that which beareth more outward and is called The rough Arterie or the Windpipe reacheth vnto the lungs and heart And as a man doth eat and swallow downe his meat this foresaid little flap doth couer it for feare lest as the spirit breath and voice passeth that way the meat or drink if it should go wrong to the other conduit or passage might indanger a man and put him to great trouble The other is more inward called properly the Gullet or the Wezand by which we swallow down both meat and drink and it goeth to the stomacke first and so to the belly This also the said flap doth couer by turns to wit as a man doth either speake or draw his breath lest that which is already passed into the stomacke should come vp againe or be cast vp vnseasonably and thereby impeach a man in his speech the Windpipe consisteth of a gristly and fleshie tunicle the Wezand of a membranous or sinewie substance and flesh together There is no creature hauing a necke indeed but it hath also both these pipes Wel may they haue a gorge or throat in whom there is found but the gullet only but nape of neck behind they can haue none As for those vpon whom Nature hath bestowed a neck they may with ease turn their head about too and fro euery way to looke about them because it is composed of many spondyles or turning round bones tied and fastened one vnto another by ioints and knots The Lion only together with the Wolfe and the Hyaena haue this necke bone of one entire and straight peece and therefore stiffe that it cannot turne Otherwise it is annexed to the chine and the chine to the loines This Chine likewise is a bony substance but made round and long and fistulous within to giue passage to the marrow of the backe which descendeth from the brain Learned men are of opinion That this marrow is of the same nature that the braine is and they ground vpon this experience That if the thin and tender skin that incloseth it be cut through a man cannot possibly liue but dieth immediatly All creatures that be long legged haue likewise in proportion as long necks So haue also water-fouls although their legs be but short But contrariwise yee shall not see any birds with long necks that haue hooked tallons Men onely and Swine are troubled with the swelling bunch in their throats which many times is occasioned by corrupt water that they drinke The vpper part or top of the Wezand is called the Gorge or the gullet the nether part or the extremitie thereof is the Stomacke There is another fleshie concauitie of this name vnder the windpipe annexed to the chine-bone long it is and wide made in fashion of a bottle flagon or rather a gourd Those that haue no gullet are also without a stomack a necke and a wezand as fishes for their mouths and bellies meet The sea Tortoise hath neither tongue nor teeth with the edge of his muffle so sharpe it is he is able well enough to chew all his victuals Vnder the Arterie or wind-pipe is the mouth of the stomacke of a callous or gristly substance thicke toothed with prickles in manner or a bramble for the better dispatching of the meat and these notches or plaits grow smaller and smaller as they approch neerer to the belly so as the vtmost roughnesse thereof in the end is like vnto a Smiths file Now are we come to the Heart which in all other liuing creatures is scituate in the very midst of the brest in man only it lies beneath the left pap made in maner of a peare with the pointed and smaller end beareth out forward Fishes alone haue it lying with the point vpward to the mouth It is generally receiued and held that it is the first principall part which is formed in the mothers wombe next vnto it the braine and the eies last of all And as these be the first that die so the Heart is last In it no doubt is the most plenty of heat which is the cause of life Surely it euer moueth and panteth like as it were another liuing creature by it selfe couered it is within-forth with a very soft yet a strong tunicle that enwrappeth it defended it is besides with a strong mure of ribs and the brest bone together as being it selfe the principall â—…tresse and castle which giues life to all the rest It contains within it certaine ventricles and hollow reâ—…s as the chiefe lodgings of the life and bloud which is the treasure of life These in greater beasts are 3 in number none there is without two This is the very seat of the mind and soule From this fountain there do issue 2 great vessels master-veins or arteries which are diuided into branches being spred as wel to the fore-part as the back parts of the body into smaller veins dominister vitall bloud to all the members of the body This is the only principall part of the body that cannot abide to be sick or languish with any infirmity this lingereth not in continuall pain no sooner is it offended but death insueth presently When all other parts are corrupt and dead the Heart alone continueth aliue All liuing creatures that haue an hard 〈◊〉 heâ—…t are supposed to be brutish those that haue small Hearts be taken for hardy and valiant 〈◊〉 â—…riwise they are reputed for timorous and fearfull which haue great Hearts And the biggest Heart in proportion of the body haue Mice Hares Asses Deere Panthers Weasels Hyâ—…es in one word all creatures either by nature fearefull or vpon feare hurtful In Paphlagonia Partridges haue two Hearts In the Hearts of Horses Kine Buls and Oxen are otherâ—…hiles bones found The Heart in a man groweth yerely two drams in weight vntill it be 50 yeares of age and from that time forward it decreaseth from yere to yere