not speak of this airy food yet Pliny and others do 2. Scaliger writes that Claudius saw a Camelion lick up a fly from his breast And Bellonius upon exenteration found flies in the Camelions belly Answ. So I have seen Dogs and Cats eat Flies Monkies and Turkies eat Spiders and Dogs eat grasse yet it will not follow that they feed on these but rather eat them out of wantonnesse or for physick so doth the Camelion sometimes eat flies and so doth the Ostridge eat Iron and divers birds swallow stones 3. There are found in this animal the guâ—s the stomach and other parts for nutrition which had been superfluous if it feed on aire only Answ. These parts are not superfluous though they feed on air but necessary because the air on which they feed is not pure but mixed and therefore nutritive Again they vvere to eat sometimes flies for pleasure or physick therefore the stomach was necessary Moreover we must not think every thing in nature superfluous whereof vvee can give no reason for so wee may accuse her for giving eyes to Wonts tears to Men Goats and Dogs whereof they make no use And why she is so bountiful to the Fox and so niggardly to the Ape in giving the one too great a tail the other none at all 4. He reasons From the bignesse of the Camelions tongue and the slimy matter in it that air cannot be its nutriment Answ. Its tongue vvas made to catch flies but not for nutriment as is said and that slimy matter is given as well for its prey as for the destruction of Serpents its enemies for it useth upon the sight of a Serpent to let fall that slimy matter on his head vvith which he is presently killed 5. The air cannot nourish because it hath no taste Ans. Tast belongs not to nourishment for they who have lost their tast are not therefore the lesse nourished Again though the pure air be tastlesse yet air thickned and moistned is not so as we may perceive by the divers tasts in waters Besides though the air be tastlesse to us it may be otherwise to the Camelion 6. There can be no transmutation of air into the body nourished because there is no familiarity of matter between air and a living body Ans. This may be true of pure air but not of mixed and of our bodies not of the Camelions Besides divers creatures live on dew which is but watrish air and how many in Arabia are fed with Manna vvhich is both begot of and in the air 7. Nutriment is condensated by the natural heat but air by the bodies heat is rarified Ans. The contrary of this is seen continually by the air vve breath out which is still thicker then that we take in For though the heat doth rarifie the air yet by the moisture of our bodies it is thickned 8. All aliment must remain some time in the body but air is presently expelled Answ. The air which is attracted by the Lungs and serves for refrigeration of the heart is quickly again expelled because it is to stay no longer then it performs its office vvhich is to refrigerate but that air on which the Camelion and other creatures feed must and doth stay longer 9. Air in regard of our natural heat is cold and so contrary but aliment is potentially the same Ans. All aliment is contrary at first or else there could bee no action and so no nutrition Again vvhat is cold is potentially the same vvith our bodies in respect of the substance not of the quality Besides how many sorts of cold meats fish fruits hearbs sallets do men eat in Summer vvhich notwithstanding are the same potentially with their bodies 10. Some deny air to be an aliment or that it entreth into mixt bodies and it s not easie to demonstrate that it is convertible into water and we doubt that air is the pabulous supply of fire much lesse that flame is properly air kindled Ans. Some have denyed Snow to be white or fire hot therefore no wonder if some fantastical heads deny air to be an element or that it entreth into mixt bodies Danaeus indeed thinks air and water to be all one because water is quickly turned into air and because they have great affinity but this is against himself for what can be turned into another substance is not the same nothing is convertible into it self and if air be vvater because this can be turned into that then vvater is earth for in many caves vvater drops turn to stones and so we shall make but one element Again if air enter not into mixt bodies what is that unctuous humidity or oyl which we finde in all perfect mixt bodies It cannot be fire nor earth for these are neither unctuous nor humid nor can it be water for though that be humid it is not unctuous it must needs then be air Again when the Doctor saith It is not easie to demonstrate the conversion of air into water he denieth both sense and reason for this conversion is as demonstrable as our respiration in winter when the air which a man attracteth is turned into water drops on his beard sheets rugs and blankets reason also shews this for if water can be turned into air why cannot air be turned into water both communicating in the symbolical quality of humidity Lastly his doubting and the Lord Verulams denying air to be the pabulous supply of fire is causless For I ask what is it that substantially maintains the fire They answer It is combustible matter in the kindled body But in this they trisle for I ask what this combustible matter is Earth it cannot be for earth 1. as earth is not combustible and we see that after the fire is spent earth remains in ashes Nor can it be water for that maintains not the fire but extinguisheth it It must then necessarily be air for we see by daily experience that the more of this unctuous or aereal humidity is in the fewel the more apt it is to burn And when this is spent the fire dieth as we see in candles lamps torches links and whatsoever hath pinguedinous matter in it Fernelius indeed gives a threefold food to the fire to wit combustible stuffe smoak and air but all this may be reduced to air For nothing is combustible which hath not in it aereal humidity and smoak is nothing else but air cloathed with the fiery quality of siccity and calidity wanting nothing but light to make it fire Therefore we see how quickly smoak is turned into flame and this into smoak again To conclude air is the very life of fire which would quickly die if it received not animation by ventilation This we see in cupping-glasses how nimbly the fire when almost extinguished will upon a little vent suck the air to it CHAP. VIII 1. Divers animals long-lived without food The Camelion live on air only 2. Divers creatures fed only by water 3. Chilification not
before you yet doubtlesse I shall do you right otherwise if I acquaint the world with your vertues and that you are one of that small number which in this sordid and phantasticall Age loves true and solid Learning not being carried away with the vain whimzies of brainsick Sciolists whose learning and piety consists in shaking the foundation of both esteeming that building strongest which is erected on stubble and straw but let them aloue with their brittle and sandy ground-work Old Truth is that sure Rock against which Hell gates shall not prevail I have adventured to consecrate this small piece to you as one who is truly acquainted and affected with the Old and True principles In this Dedication I have endeavoured to discharge my selfe of ingratitude and oblivion and to testifie to the world how much I am indebted to you which I will alwayes thankfully acknowledge so long as I am Sir Your humble servant to command ALEXANDER ROSS AN APPENDIX Containing divers passages of Fishes Presages Sneezing Thunder c. With a Refutation of Doctor HARVY the Lord BACON and others CHAP. I. 1. Fishes breath not the Reasons thereof and the contrary objections answered 2. Fossil or earth-fishes 3. Fishes delight in the light 4. Fishes of Humane shapes 5. Fishes are cunning and docible creatures 6. Why some Fishes have Feet and Wings 7. Many monstrous fishes I. THat Fishes have no breathing or respiration is manifest 1. Because they want Lungs and other Instruments of breathing For though they may receive aire in at the mouth and let it out again by their gills yet this is not respiration which is the action of the Lungs Wind-pipe and Diaphragma in attracting the air for refrigeration and emitting the same 2. There is no air under or in the water therefore fishes cannot breath there For this cause terrestriall creatures die in the waters for want of air as fishes die in the air for want of water If any will say That man dieth in the water not for want of aire there but for want of gills or some other passage to let out the water received into the lungs I answer The Dolphin hath a passage or Fistula to let out the water and yet there he could not live without suffocation if he did not now and then elevate his head above the water to draw breath If it be be again objected That water is a body mixt with air therefore Fishes doe breath I answer That so is wine which we drink mixed with more air then water is yet if we did not draw the air above we should be quickly choked The quantity of air in the water is so little that it is discernable by Art onely not by the senses and so there is some water in that air which we breath yet we are not said to breath water but air Again if there were air in the water which the fishes drew bubbles would appear upon the superâ—icies thereof as we see in Mice or other terrestriall creatures drownd in the water For as soon as the water fils the breast and lungs it draws out the air which tending upward towards the superâ—â—cies â—auseth bubbles If it be objected That fishes breath and yet â—ake no bubbling because the air hath a free passage through the gills I answer That the freenesse of passage is no hinderance to bubbling seeing any light agitation of the water will make bubbles when it hath received air within ir and so we deny not but fishes may make the water bubble not by their breathing but by their motion 3. If fishes breath air in the water why doe they die when they are in the air If any say It is because they cannot endure the coldnesse of the air I answer That the water is colder then the air Again we see that the hotter the air is the fishes die the sooner Hence it is observed that â—els live longer in a Northern then in a Southern wind and these live longer out of the water then other fishes because their heat is in a more viscid and slimy humidity then others Hence it is that the parts cut off doe live and move sometime because their heat is not easily dissipated in so slimy a matter But some will object That fishes out of the water gape for air therefore they breath Answ To gape or open the mouth is no argument of breathing except we will give respiration to Oysters which sometimes gape Again fishes gape not for air but for water so men in the water being almost stilled gape not for water but for air Object 2. The air penetrateth into the thick earth therefore much more into the thin water Answ. I deny that air can penetrate into the thick parts of the earth for that were to make penetration of dimensions but onely to avoid vacuity the air enters into and fills up the holes and cavernosities of the earth for if the air could pierce the thick earth there would never be earthquakes and if that air which is mixt with the substances of the earth were sufficient for respiration Moles needed not take so much pains as to work through and make cavities purposely for respiration For shut up a Mole within a parcell of earth which he cannot dig through he will die for want of sufficient air Object 3. Exhalations and vapours arise out of the water which shews there is air Answ. These exhalations are the thinner parts of the water turned into vapours by heat or motion whence it will not follow that air is in the water actually or a body separated from the water in which are not cavities as in the earth and much lesse will it follow that fishes breath in the water though there were air in it seeing they want the organs of breathing as is said Object 4. Fishes inclosed in a vessel halfe full of water strive to get up into the air Answ. This striving to get uppermost is not to enjoy the air which is not their element but to get out of prison and to have more scope being straitned in a narrow vessel so fishes in the net struggle to get out and to be at liberty Object 5. Fish in a close vessell die for want of air Answ. They die for want of sweet water which being included from fresh air degenerates and putrifies Hence fish die in a pond that is long frozen because the water for want of agitation and fresh air becomes â—nwholsome to the fishes which yet can live a moneâ—h together under the Ice without any air Scaliger shewes that he hath kept fish in a close vessel who have lived and the same in an open vessell who have died It is also manifest that Leaches in a close glasse will live whole years without air Object 6. Pliny objects against Aristotle that as some creatures have not blood but an humor so some fishes want lungs but have some other instrument by which they breath Answ. It is as easie for us to deny as
under water and hardned by the air Viscum or Missletoe how it grows The shade of the Ash-tree pernicious to Serpents CHAP. XXI 1. The existence of the Phoenix proved by divers reasons and thcontrary objections refelled the strange generation of some birds 2. The Ancients cleared concerning the Phoenix and whether the Phoenix be mentioned in Scripture Divers sorts of generation in divers creatures The Conclusion with an Admonition not to sleight the Ancients opinion and Doctrine The fourth Book Containing a Refutation of the Lord BACON Doctor HARVEY and others CHAP. I. 1. Fishes breath not the Reasons thereof and the contrary objections answered 2. Fossil or earth-fishes 3. Fishes delight in the light 4. Fishes of Humane shapes 5. Fishes are cunning and dâ—cible creatures 6. Why some Fishes have Feet and Wings 7. Many monstrous fishes CHAP II. 1. Publick and privat calamities presaged by owles 2. By dogs 3. By ravens and other birds and divers other ways 4. Wishing well in sneezing when and why used 5. Divers strange things in thunderâ—struck people CHAP. III. 1. The Female hath no active seed of generation Doctor Harvies and Fernelius reasons refutaed 2. A Discourse of the Cholick 3. The same soul in a subventaneous and prolificall egge Doctor Harvies reasons to the contrary refuted 4. Blood not the immediate instrument of the Soul Doctor Harvies reasons answered 5. Doctor Harvies way of conception refuted CHAP. IV. 1. My Lord Bacon's opinion confuted concerning the French disease 2. Concerning the expulsion of pellets out of guns 3. Of the wax candle burning in spirit of wine 4. Of the parts most nutritive in animals 5. Of the spirits in cold bodies 6. Of air fire water oyl whiteness the hands and feet 7. Of souls and spirits 8. Of visible objects and hearing 9. Of sounds and musick 10. Of singing birds descending species light 11. Ingrate objects and deafness with other passages CHAP. V. The Lord Bacons opinions refuted Of holding the breath when wee bearken Of time Of long life Of making gold Of starres Of oyl Of indisposition to motion Of death diseases and putrifaction Of stuttering Of motion after the head is off Of sympathies and antipathies of the Vine and Colewort the Fig-tree and Rew. Of white colour Of the Oke bough in the earth Of transmutation of species Of Incubus Of grain in cold Countries Of determination and figures Of accretion and alimentation Of the period of life Of sugar leaves roots snow and putrifaction CHAP. VI. The Lord Bacons opinions confuted concerning Snow Ephemera gravitie the sperme of Drunkards putrifaction teeth bones and nails thick and thin mediums Nilus hot Iron broin sudden darkness drie and moist bodies fish cornes hunger liquifaction hardness moisture accidents light right side spungy bodies stone-walls imagination the cramp hedghog mummy salt Cominus and others refuted concerning motion qualities colours forms the Epilogue Arcana Microcosmi OR The hid Secrets of MAN's BODY discovered WITH A Refutation of Doctor BROVVNS VULGAR ERRORS My Lord BACON'S Naturall History AND Dr HARVEY's Book De Generatione CHAP. I. 1. The Hearts dignity scituation priority necessity and use 2. The Heart first formed not all the parts together 3. The Galenists Objections answered 4. How the heart is perfect before the other members and how nourished 5. All the temperaments united in the Heart 6. Three ventricles in som Hearts 7. The Heart nervous 8. No parts more spermatical then others 9. The Liver not the first that is formed 10. The Heart the seat of Bloud and nourishment 11. The heat of the Matrix not generative 12. The right Ventricle nobler then the left 13. The vital and nutritive faculties are the same 14. Heat the cause of the Hearts motion 15. The Heart was first formed and informed 16. There is but one principal member in the body not many AS in all States and Kingdomes there have ever been factions and sidings so have there been still oppositions in the Common-wealth of Learning amongst many others there are two great factions concerning the fabrick of Mans Body namely the Peripateticks and Galenists so that in Rome there was not greater emulation between the Pompeians and Caesarians then there is between the Philosophers and Physitians in the points of Anatomy I stood as neuter a long time but at last being evinced by the multitude and strength of Aristotelian reasons am forced to side with them against the Galenists but so that I do what I can to reconcile them in some things and to make peace for Nulla salus bello I. I will therefore briefly set down the reasons that have induced me to side with the Aristotelians And first concerning the Heart I finde that it is the first member that lives and is formed in our bodies and consequently the noblest and chiefest of all our members whatsoever the Galenists say to the contrary For 1. The Heart is placed in the midst of the breast as the Sun in the midst of the world that it might impart its vital heat and motion to all parts So the seed is in the midst of the fruit 2. Where there is a medium there must needs be extreams but we finde in mans body this medium to wit that there are some parts which both give and receive life and motion therefore there must be some that receive but give not and consequently some that give but receive not and this must be the heart or brain or liver for to make more originals then one is needless seeing Nature always tends to and aims at unity Now that the heart is this principal appears by these reasons 3. First that is most likely to be the originall of life sense and motion in other members which is most apt and capable of these and so that had first life and motion which had the greatest inclination and aptitude to receive them but the heart of all other parts is most apt to receive these from the formative faculty Therefore doubtless this faculty in the seed would first produce the heart as being a matter prepared to receive first the impressions of the formative 4. What the heart is in Animals that the root is in Vegitables but the root is the first thing the plant thrusts out therefore the heart is first formed 5. The heart dieth last therefore it lived first for this method Nature observes that the parts which are last made decay first as the eies and teeth and consequently that decayeth last which was framed first 6. They that have been curious by inspection into eggs to observe Natures progress in the generation of the chick have found a red spot the third day which had a motion like palpitation this could be nothing else but the heart 7. The other members cannot live without the heart but the heart can live without the other members as I have seen a Monkeys heart live a great while after it hath been taken out of the body If then the life of the other members depends from
the imagination is vitiated or the spirits subservient to the same are disturbed or an opac vapour is interjected between the Cornea and chrystalline humor wee seem to see things and colours in the air which are not there but this is an imperfect vision because there is no reception of species from the air nor is the organ distinct from the medium and object nor is there that distance between the organ and the object as is required in perfect vision II. The eye should be of a watrish substance not fiery because water is dense and diaphonous fit to receive the species as it is diaphonous and to retain them as it is dense so is not the fâ—re for though it be diaphonous it is not dense therefore not fit to retain the species 2. The species being spiritual or immaterial do not affect or hurt the eye but the colours only hurt the eye more or lesse as they participate more or lesse of the light which dissipates the visive spirits these being lucid spend themselves on lucid objects by reason of their cognate quality 3. Sometimes the eye is wearied with seeing not as vision is a reception and so a passion but in respect of the visive spirits which are agents 4. The eye in an instant perceives its object though never so far distant because the visible species are in the air contiguous to the eye though the object be distant III. That there are spirits in the eye is apparent by the dilatation of the Ball of one eye when the other is shut which is caused by the spirit passing from one eye to the other and by reason of these spiriâ—s the eye is more cheerful at one time then at another 2. Though there be two eyes and divers mâ—scles yet they are moved but with one motion because otherwise one object would appear as two Thus by lifting up one of our eyes with our finger the object we look upon appears double because the two Balls of the eyes are not upon the same â—uperficies nor do the beams of both eyes equally reach the object Thus it is with dâ—uâ—karâ—s and goggle eyes and in conâ—ulsâ—ons of the muscles of the eye â— There are not properly any câ—louâ—s in the eye becauâ—e then the object would seem to be of the same colour that the eye is of yet the eyes seem to be coloured because they are visible IV. The optick nerves seem of all others the most soft and spongy that they â—ight bee the lesse offensive to the eye the most tender of all other members and that they might convey the gâ—eater quantity of optick spirits 2. They are united into one about the middle way between the brain where they have their beginnings and the eyes into which they are inseâ—ted that by this union they might be the stronger and that â—hey might be â—qually implanted into the same superficies of both eyes lest the visive spirits beiâ—g unequally communicate should occaâ—ion the object to appear double V. The Chrystallinâ— humour is a part of the eye because it hath its life nutriment and function as other parâ—s have it is also both a similar part in its temper and substance and it is organical in its sâ—tuation and figure 2. The glassâ—e humour is also a part for the saâ—e reâ—sons therefore the Chrystalline doth not feed upon it for no partâ—feeds upon another but it prepares the blood and alters it for the Chrystalline left it should be infecâ—ed with a red colour it affords then the same service to the Chrâ—stalline which the stomach doth to the liver 3. The white of the eye is a part thereof and no excrement for Nature exâ—ludes excrements but if this white should perish sight faileth for it is as a Bulwark to the Chrystalline and conveyeth the species to it CHAP. XIX 1. Five things required to hearing 2. Not the real but intentional sound is heard Hearing fails last in drowned men 3. The innate air no organ of hearing no spirit or part of the body 4. The caus â—f the sympathy between the ear and the mouth I. FOR the sense of hearing are required 1. A sound which is caused by the collision of two solid bodies or of the air and of another body 2. Air which is the medium that receiveth and carrieth the sound whereas the water in respect of its thickness carrieth the sound but imperfectly and dully 3. The ear containing in it the thin and dry membrane called the drum which if it be thick or too much moistned hindreth hearing 2. Three little bones called Incus malleus Stapes 3. An innate and immoveable air 4. A winding labyrinth that the external air and sound may not too suddenly rush in upon the nerve of hearing 5. This auditory nerve carrieth the sound to the brain that there the common sense and fantasie may judge thereof II. The sound which is carried into the ear is not real but intentional and spiritual or the species and image of the real sound for how can a real sound passe through a thick wall or multiply it self in a thousand ears in an instant or in so short a time reach twenty miles from any canon to the eare 2. The winding labyrinth in the ear is the cause why men that are drowned lose the sense of hearing last because the water cannot passe through that winding Meander III. The innate air of the ear is not the organ of hearing but a medium for it differs not from the external air nor can that be an organ which is no part of the body either spermatical or sanguiâ—eal as Physitians use to speak neither is it animated by the soul for the soul is the act of organical bodies onely Nor is it a spirit either animal or vital because it is not contained within the nerves or arteries and being it is not a mixed but a simple body it can be no part either similar or dissimilar IV. By reason the auditory nerves do impart some branches to the tongue hence it is that there is such a sympathy between the ear and mouth That this is a help or hindrance to our hearing and this to speaking so that if the auditory nervs be stopped or deficient not onely deafness but dumbness is caused and we finde that those who hear hardly speak little and such as are born deaf are born dumb too and if we hold a musical instrument with our teeth and stop our ears we shall hear the sound perfectly CHAP. XX. 1. How wee excell the beasts in smelling Wee smell reall odours 2. Smells nourish not 3. The nose not the brain is the organ of smelling I. THOUGH the beasts excel us in the sense of smelling in respect of celerity and way of reception yet in respect of dijudication and differencing the diversities of smells wee exceed them for our brains being bigger colder and moister then those of beasts cannot so quickly receive the smell But because of the reasonable soul we judge better of
for about tenne years ago when my aged Father was giving up the ghost I came towards his beds side he suddenly cast his eyes upon me and there fixed them so that all the while I stood in his sight he could not die till I went aside and then he departed Doubtless the sympathy of affections and the imagination working upon the vital spirits kept them moving longer then otherwise they would have done so that the heart the seat of affection and the brain the hous of imagination were loth to give off and the spirits in them to rest from their motion so long as they had an object wherein they delighted The like I have read of others And truly the sympathy of affections and strength of imagination is admirable when the mind is able to presage the death or danger of a friend though a great way off This also I found in my self For once I suddenly fell into a passion of weeping upon the apprehension I took that my dear friend was dead whom I exceedingly loved for his vertues and it fell out accordingly as I presaged for he died about the same hour that I fell into that weeping fit and we were at that time 60 miles asunder nor could I tell certainly that he was dead till two days after Thus to some the death of friends is presaged by bleeding at the nose and sudden sadness by dreams and divers other ways which the learned Poet was not ignorant of when he saith Agnovit longe gemitum praesaga mâ—li mens AEn l. 10. So by the Greek Poet the soul is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soothsayer of evil The cause of this the Gentiles ascribed to the Sun which they held to be the Soul and our souls sparks of that great Lamp A Platoâ—â—cal conceit which thought mens souls to bee mâ—terialâ— we were better ascribe this to the information of that Angel which attends us V. That which Herodotus in Thalia c. 3. writes of this difference between the Persian and the AEgyptian skuls may be no fable for in the wars between them such as were killed on either side were buried apart after their bodies were putrified it was found that the Persian skuls were soft but the AEgyptians so hard that you could scarce break them with a stone The reason of this might be because the AEgyptians used from their childhood to cut their hair and to go bareheaded so that by the Sun their skuls were hardned Hence it was that few among them were found bald but the Persians who wore long hair and had their heads always covered must needs have had soft skuls by reason the humidity was kept in and not suffered to evaporate nor the Sun permitted to harden them CHAP. II. 1. The benefits of sleep and reasons why some sleep not 2. Why dead bodies after the ninth day swim Why dead and sleeping men heavier then others why a blown bladder lighter then an empty 3. Strange Epidemical diseases and deaths The force of smels The Roses smell 4. Strange shapes and multitudes of worms in our bodies 5. The French disease and its malignity The diseases of Brasil WHereas Sleep is one of Natures chiefest blessings for refreshing of our wearied spirits repairing of our decayed strength moistning of our feebled limbs as the Poet speaks fessos sopor irrigat artus Virg. AEn 3. 4. for easing of our diurnal cares Positi somno sub nocte silenti lenibant câ—râ—s corda oblita laborum And therefore is as Euripides cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remedy of our evils And whereas in sleep the heart is at rest as Aristotle rightly said though Galen who understood him not checks him for it from feeling understanding and inventing though not from life and motion I say whereas by-sleep we have so many benefits it is a wonder that any should bee found to live a long time without sleep Yet I read in Fernelius Pathalog l. 5. ca. 2. of one who lived fourteen moneths without any rest And it is more strange what Heurinus Praxis l. 2. c. 7. records of Nizolius that painful Treasurer of Cicero's words and phrases who lived ten years without sleep Mecaenas was sleeplesse three years saith Pliny Laurentius in his Tract of Melancholy knew some who could not sleep in three moneths the reason of this might be 1. The heat and drinesse of the brain as is usual in decrepit and melancholy men 2. The spareness of 〈◊〉 so that no vapours could be sent up to moisten the brain or nerves 3. The want of exercise and motion for sedentary men are least given to sleep 4. Continual cogitation and intention of the phantasie 5. And adust melancholy humours 6. Accompanied with continual fears horrid and distemperate phantasâ—es representing to the mind unpleasant objects II. Why dead bodies after the ninth day swim upon the water may seem strange seeing till then they lie hid under the water Cardan de subtil l. 8. gives this reason Because between the Peritoneum and Omentum flatulent matter is ingendred as appears by the great swelling of the belly Now this flatulent matter is begot of humidity dissolved by heat which heat is procreated of putrifaction Besides we see that putrified bodies as eggs fruit wood grow light because their solid parts being consumed what remains are porous and full of air for experience teacheth us that the more porous and aereal the body is the lighter it is and lesse apt to sink and perhaps may bee the reason why that body which wants the Spleen swimmeth not being a porous light substance And those men who have capacious lungs to hold much air can dive and live longer in the water then others And surely some people whose bodies are active subtile and quick will not sink so soon as men of duller spirits Such were the Thebii a people which could not sink so that it is a vain way to conclude those to be Witches who do not presently sink Hence also it is plain that dead bodies are heavier then living though Dr. Brown of Errors l. 4. c. 7. contradict this because he found no difference between a Mouse and a Chick being dead and alive in respect of gravity A weak reason to reckon a received truth among his vulgar errors for though there were no sensible difference in such little animals which have but few spirits yet in men which are of a greater bulk in whom do abound vital and animal spirits to say there is no difference of gravity in their life and death is to contradict sense and reason for every woman that attends upon sick men knows that they are more pondrous when dead then when alive being used to lift and turn them Reason also grounded on experience teacheth us that those bodies are lightest in which air is predominant therefore doubtlesse where there is store of such pure and refined air as the spirits are there must be lesse gravity then where they are vvanting his
for him to affirm that which he could never prove For neither doth he shew what these fishes be nor what are these instruments nor though there were such can he prove that they breath by them And though some creatures have an humor in stead of blood yet that humor hath not the properties qualities nor office of the blood Object 7. Fishes gape therefore they breath Answ. Here is no sequell for Oysters gape which breath not and many creatures breath which gape not Again if with their gaping there were any breathing we should see saith Aristotle the breathing parts move but there is no motion at all and it is impossible there should be attraction and emission of the air without motion Besides if Fishes breathed we should see some bubbles on the water when their breath went out as in breathing animals when they die in the water It is true that lunged fishes such as Dolphins Whales Seals and Frogges make bubbles because they breath which will not prove that all fishes do so And yet there be other causes of bubbling besides expiration for rains tempests vapours or any agitation of the water will cause bubbling Object 8. The Moon gives increment to shell-fishes therefore their spirits also do increase Answ. It 's true if they speak of the animall and vitall spirits but what is this to breathing the subject whereof is the air and not those innate spirits and if increment of substance doth suppose respiration then trees must breath as they grow in bignesse And although the Moon causeth humid bodies to swell yet she doth not make the air by which we breath being a part of the Universe Object 9. Fishes doe smell and hear therefore they breath because air is the matter of all three Answ. Air indeed may be called the matter of breathing but not of hearing and smelling it is not the air we smell or hear but we smell the odors and hear the sounds in the air which is therefore properly called by Philosophers the Medium not the matâ—er of hearing and smelling And as the air is to us so the water is to fishes the medium of hearing and smelling And if it be the matter of breathing to fishes then it is not air but water which they breath whereas indeed water cannot be the subject or matter of breathing nor can they breath at all which want the organs of breath Object 10. No animall can live without respiration therefore fishes breath Answ. The antecedent is denied for many animals live without respiration onely by transpiration such are insects so doth the child in the matrix so do women in their histericall passions these breath not yet they live Object 11. Pliny tells us that fishes do sleep therefore they breath Answ. Breathing hath no relation to sleep it is neither the effect nor cause nor quality nor part nor property nor consequent of sleep for some animals sleep which breath not all that time as Dormice in Winter the child in the mothers womb breathes not as having in the matrix or membran within which he lieth no air at all but a watrish humor which if he should suck in by the lungs he would be presently suffocated yet at that time the chid sleepeth There is no community at all in the subject or organ of sleep and respiration nor in their natures the one being a rest or cessation the other a motion the one consisting in the senses within the head the other in the lungs breast and Diaphragma Again respiration consists rather in the actions of life and sense which accompany waking then in sleep which resembles death Respiration is for refrigeration of the heart which is more heated by the motions of the body whilst we are awake then by rest when we are asleep therefore men that walk labour run struggle or whose heart is heated by anger or Feavers breath much faster then in sleep as standing more in need of air for refrigeration So children because of their heat breath faster then old men Therefore we concludeâ—with Aristotle that fishes which want lungs throats have gills breath not for what needed lungs to draw in air seeing Nature hath given them gills to let in water for cooling the fishes hear which is but weak because they have little blood II. That some small fishes have been found on hills farre from the Sea is verified by divers as also that sometimes fishes are digged out of the earth which we may call Fossil to distinguish them from aquatile is recorded by grave and ancient Writers But I believe that these are not true fishes but rather terrestriall creatures resembling fishes in their outward shape for as many fishes resemble terrestriall animals which are not therefore properly terrestriall so many terrestriall creatures may resemble fishes which properly are not such or else where these Fossil fishes are found there are subterraneall waters not farre off by which they are conveyed thither Hence sometimes fishes have been found in deep wells and I have read of some fishes found in springs of sulphury and allum water for otherwise fishes can no more live in the earth then earthy creatures in the water seeing nothing can live out of its own element where it hath its originall food and conservation Or lastly these land fishes have been such as have fallen out of the clouds For I have read in good Authors of divers showers or rains of fishes and of Frogs and Mice and such like animals out of the clouds III. That Fishes in Moon-shine nights chiefly when she is in the full delight to play upon the superficies of the water is plain by fishermen who take greatest quantities of them then The cause of this may be the delight that fishes take in the light or else they finde some moderate heat in the superficies of the water when the Moon is full but I rather think it is the pleasure they take in the Moon light which gives a silver brightnesse to the water and Natâ—re hath given them a quick sight and eminent eyes whereas the senses of smelling and hearing are in them yet the organs are so obscure they cannot be found and albeit they have all the senses yet they are dumb for they make no sound at all because they breath not nor have they the organs of sounding such as the throat windpipe and lungs IV. That some fishes resemble men in their faces hands and other parts is no fable for such are not only recorded by the ancients but also have been seen by late Navigators Lerius saw none of them yet relates that an American fisherman cut off the hand from one of those fishes which did offer to get into his boat the hand had five distinct fingers like ours and in his face he resembled a man Scaliger writes that one of those sea-men or men-fishes was seen by Hierom Lord of Noâ—icum which laid hold on the cable of his ship this story he related as a truth
this Tract the Doctor seemes sometimes to be in earnest and sometimes to speak-problematically or rather doubtfully But however this opinion cannot consist with reason for what can be more unreasonable then that the Noblest Animals should be conceived without any sensible corporeall Agent by meere imagination not of the brain but of the Womb For 1. If this be true that the Female can thus conceive and generate what need was there of the Male they are then uselesse in generation and fathers have no reason to provide for their wives children seeing the woman is the sole parent the man but a Cypher Why should there be any lawes against adultery and fornication seeing there can be no such sins If this doctrine be true what miracle was it for a virgin to conceive and bear a Son without the help of man seeing this is ordinary for the female as the Doctor faith to be prolificall without any sensible corporeall agents for the seed he saith is not received within the matrix But if I should grant him this which cannot be true yet he cannot deny but that the seminal vapour and prolificall spirit is conveyed thither by which the female is made pregnant if he grants this then there is a sensible corporeall agent though not so grosse as the earthy part of the seed If he deny this then it will follow that we are all produced without fathers and that there is no other sensible corporeall agent but the womb and so the fifth Commandement of honoring father should be put out seeing there is no such thing in nature Again if he saith there is no agent then it will follow that the effect can be produced without an efficient and an action without an actor If he he saith there is an agent but not corporeall then that agent must be either a spirit or an accident if a spirit then we are all the children of spirits not of corporeall parents and so man cannot have for his genus a corporeall substance And these spirits if created must be either Angels Demons or Souls which was the dreams of some ancient Hereticks long since condemned by Councels If again he saith that these agents are not spirits but accidents he will make us in a worse condition For man the Noblest of all creatures is the child of an accident therefore Aristotle should have placed man in the Categorie of quality rather then of substance But we know that no accident is operativ◠but in and by the power of the principall agent Neither can an accident be conveyed into the womb without the subject in which it is inherent and therefore Iron touched without the Loadstone cannot draw Iron if the substance of the Loadstone were not imparted to it Hence we see that as the substance of the Loadstone in the Iron decayes so the vertue of attraction decayes likewise Again when he saith that the substance of the womb is like the constitution of the brain he speaks very improperly for neither is the substance of the one like the substance of the other the one being white spermatical and cold the other red sanguineal and hot nor can the substance of the one be like the constitution of the other these being indifferent predicaments between which there is no similitude nor is the constitution of the one like unto the constitution of the other as being of different temperaments and having different uses and suppose they were either of the same substance or constitution it will not follow that therefore they must have the same function The stomach and guts have the same substance and constitution so hath the brain and pith in the back bone yet they have not the same functions Again when he saith that what the fantasm or appetite is in the brain the same or its analogy is excited in the womb for the functions of both are called conceptions He speaks more improperly then before for he seems to make the fantasm and appetite one thing and to be both resident in the brain whereas the appetite is the inclination of the will and hath its residence in the heart the fantasm is the imaginary or fictitious object of the fantasie which this internal sense residing in the brains represents to it self neither of these is excited in the womb nor any thing like it for the womb is neither the seat of the fantasie nor hath it fit organs for it nor is it the seat of appetite except by this word he understands an inclination to conception or generation neither again is this a valid reason that because the functions of the womb and brain are called conceptions therefore they are the same for the conception of the womb is far different from that of the brain neither do they agree but equivocally and in name onely so this word conception is ascribed to the action of understanding Lastly though we can produce upon stone or timber or such like matter some shape or form like that Idea in our brain yet it will not follow that the species of the father in the womb can produce the like brood for I deny that the species or idea of the father is in the womb but in the brain this not that being the proper fea◠of the fantasie which receiveth the species from the common sense and the imagination doth not alwayes work upon the seed or embryo nor doeth it produce any form it onely worketh sometimes and produceth but the accidental form whereas ordinarily both the essential and accidental forms are produced by the formative power of the seed or rather by the soul it self which fabricates its own mansion which soul lay potentially in the seed and is excited by the heat or rather innate property of the matrix To conclude it is as great absurdity to affirm that the female can be made pregnant by conceiving a general immateral idea as it was by some of the ancients to think that the Spanish Mares could as Aristotle speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conceive or be made pregnant by the Western wind and as the Poets saith Ore omnes versae in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis Exceptantque leves auras saepe sine ullis Conjugiis vento gravidae mirabile dictu The like fabulous impregnations we read of in Ravens by the north winde and in Partrages by bare imagination CHAP. IV. 1. My Lord Bacon's opinion confuted concerning the French disease 2. Concerning the expulsion of pellets out of guns 3. Of the wax candle burning in spirit of wine 4. Of the parts most nutritive in animals 5. Of the spirits in cold bodies 6. Of air fire water oyl whiteness the hands and feet 7. Of souls and spirits 8. Of visible objects and hearing 9. Of sounds and musick 10. Of singing birds descending species light 11. Ingrate objects and deafness with other passages HAving lighted lately upon two books the one of Doctor Harvie's De generatione animalium wherein he proves that all animals have their
with reason for the humidity of the air must needs moisten the hinges consequently hinder their sound Neither is it true which he saith of bullets sect 120. That they in piercing through the air make no noyse For Souldiers will tell him the contrary that many times they hear the whistling of the bullets over their heads So darts and stones flung with violence in the air make a sound as the Poet sheweth Sonitum dat stridula cornus auâ—as certa secat And his reason is no lesse infirm then his observation to wit That the extream violence or swiftnesse of the motion should hinder the sound whereas nothing furthers the noyse so much as the swiftnesse of motion Again he is mistaken in our definition of sounds when he makes us say That it is an elision of the air which is a term of ignorance sect 124. So it â—is indeed but in him not in the Philosophers who doe not call sound an elision of the air but the collisian of two hard or solid bodies in the air And no lesse is he mistaken when he saith That Sounds are generated where there is no air at all This he can never prove for even in the water and in the flame wherein he saith sounds are generated there is air and if it were not for air the sound should never be caried to our ear and therefore the instrance he makes â— 133 of knapping a pair of tongs within the water which we can hear and yet there is no air at all present is to no purpose for there is air present both in the water and besides nothing but air from the superficies of the water to our ear by which medium the sound is conveyed to us He gives us a strange reason Sect. 143. why we hear better in the night then in the day Because in the day the air is more thin and the sound pierceth better but when the air is more thick the sound spreadeth abroad lesse Indeed by this reason we should hear better by day for the thinnesse of the air and the easie piercing of the sound are main helps to hearing whereas the thickness of the air is a hinderance Therefore Hippocrates in his Aphorismes observeth truly That when the wind is Southerly and the air thick our hearing is heavy We hear better when the wind is Northerly and the air clear It is not therefore the thicknesse of the air but the silence of the night which helpeth hearing as the Poet saith Tunc silens omnis ager pecudes pictaeque volucres AEn 4. And then it is when every sound though never so small affrights and excites him Tunc omnes terrent aurae sonus excitat omnis AEn 2. In his third Century Sect. 201 he tells us That though there be a wall between we can hear the voyce one this side which is spoken on the other not because the sound passeth through the wall but archeth over the wall But here he contradicteth himself in his former Century Sect. 154 when he saith Iâ— is certain that the voyce doth passe thorow hard and solid bodies The voyce then may passe through a wall and not over it And how can it passe over that wall which is continually with the seeling or roofe of the House For in a close chamber I can heare the voyce of him that is in the next room though there be a wall between us and the room sieled or roofed But he saith Sect. 213. That the spirit of the hard body doth cooperate I would know what spirits there are in a stone or brick wall or in a wall of mud to cooperate If there be such cooperating spirits it will follow That where are greatest numbers of them there will be most help and the sound better heard but in a thick stone wall there are more spirits because more stones every stone having his own spirit then in a thin mud woodden or brick wall and therefore the sound must be better heard through a thick then a thin wall there being so many pneumaticall cooperators all helping to carry the sound This is Philosophy that passeth all understanding He saith Sect. 235. It is manifest that between sleeping and waking when all the senses are bound and suspended musick is farre sweeter then when one is fully waking All the senses are not bound when a man is between sleeping and waking but when a man is in dead sleep then are all the senses bound If then they are all bound and likewise all are bound between sleeping and waking what difference will he make between the extream and the medium between a dead sleep and that which is betwixt sleeping and waking Again how can musick be sweet to him in whom all the senses are bound up Which way shall the musick enter Can he heare without hearing Doubtlesse the delight he hath in the Musick doth shew all his senses are not bound up He shews 238 239. That Parrets Pies Iayes Dawes and Ravens are singing birds and that this aptnesse of singing is in their attention He should have added Thrushes and Stares to his singing birds but it is not attention which is the cause of their singing for beasts and other birds may have as much attention but its natural for birds to sing and their speaking is but a kind of singing for singing is the musick of the throat and speaking the musick of the tongue it is easie for those who exercise their throats and tongues in singing to be brought to utter words by the same organs It may be saith he 205 the spirituall species of visible things and sounds do move better downwards then upwards Those on the top of Pauls seem much lesse then they are but to men above those below seem nothing so much lessened So knots in gardens shew best from an upper window These examples thwart his may be for if the species move better downward how comes it that we see the object better from the top of Pauls then from the street looking upward to the top Doubtlesse it is because the visible species of the things seen below move better upward as being more naturall both for the air which is a light body and for the species which hath no gravity in it Hence it is that when wee stand below we cannot so clearly discern the just magnitude of the men upon the top of Pauls because the species must come from that high object to our eye downward which is not so natural The same may be said of the audible species for sounds are better heard by those who are in high rooms then by those who are below and so they that sit in Church galleries which are above the Pulpit hear better then they who sit below in the pues He speaks against experience when he saith There is a greater degree from the privative to the active that is from darknesse to light then from lesse light iâ— more light For when the day breaks I cannot see to
stone found in the matrix CHAP. IV. 1. Some without Lungs 2. Impostumes voided in Vrine 3. Worms the cause of many diseases 4. No change of sexes 5. Giants 6. Some without livers 7. Fleshy bladders 8. Stones haires worms c. Begot in our Vrine 9. A woman without a matrix CHAP. V. 1. Strange but not miraculous births 2. Strange and strong imaginations 3. Poison inward and outward 4. Poison of mad Dogs 5. Cantharides 6. Poison how it worketh 7. Why birds not poisoned as men 8. Amphiam Opium Mandrakes 9. The Plague no Hectick nor putrid Fever 10. Epidemical diseases CHAP. VI. 1. Antipathies to some meats 2. The force of Fear 3. Blood voided by the Gums and Navil 4. Black hairs suddenly gray 5. Violence of passions 6. Defects in nature recompensed 7. A Fly voided by Vrine 8. Monethly bloud in men 9. The causes of Monsters 10. Horns on mens heads and heels CHAP. VII 1. The effects of blood being drunk 2. Some strange diseases 3. Plie ca Polonica 4. Some eat poyson without hurt 5. Stones in th intestines 6. Old men come young 7. Some strange monsters CHAP. VIII 1. Of divers and strange spleens 2. Black urine 3. One lives without sleep 4. The Tarentula's effects and cure The force of Musick 5. Serpents begot of dead brains 6. Of Tiberius his sight Alexanders sweat Strabo's eyes The Second Book Of the strange diseases and Accidents of MANS Body CHAP. I. 1. Divers ways to resist burning 2. Locust eaters the lowsie disease the Baptist fed not on Locusts 3. Mans flesh most subject to putrifaction and the causes thereof How putrifaction is resisted Mumia 4. The strength of affection and imagination in dying men Strange presages of death 5. Difference of dead mens skuls and why CHAP. II. 1. The benefits of sleep and reasons why some sleep not 2. Why dead bodies after the ninth day swim Why dead and sleeping men heavier then others why a blown bladder lighter then an empty 3. Strange Epidemical diseases and deaths The force of smels The Roses smell 4. Strange shapes and multitudes of worms in our bodies 5. The French disease and its malignity The diseases of Brasil CHAP. III. 1. Câ—ntaurs proved what they were 2. Why the sight of a Wolf causeth obmutescency 3. Pigmies proved Gammadim what 4. Giants proved they are not monsters 5. The strange force of Fascination The sympathies and antipathies of things The Loadstones attraction how hindred Fascination how cured Fascination by words CHAP. IV. 1. Strange stones bred in mens bodies 2. Children nourished by Wolves and other Beasts 3. Poison taken without hurt Poison eaters may infect how How Grapes and other Plants may bee poisoned 4. Of strange Mola's Bears by licking form their Cubs the Plastick faculty still working CHAP. V. 1 Divers priviledges of Eunuchs The Fibers Testicles 2. Dâ— versities of Aliments and Medicaments the vertue of Peacheâ— Mandrakes the nature of our aliments 3. A strange story 〈◊〉 a sick Maid discussed and of strange vomitings and Monsters and Imaginations 4. Men long lived the Deers long life 〈◊〉 serted 5. That old men may become young again proved CHAP. VI. 1. Of many new diseases and causes thereof 2. Different colours iâ— our bodies the causes of the Ethiopian blackness 3. The 〈◊〉 Vnicorn with his horn and vertues asserted 4. Some born blind and dumb recovered A strange Vniversal Fever A strange Fish and strength of Imagination CHAP. VII 1. The diversities and vertues of Bezar stones 2. A woman conceived in a Bath of an Incubus 3. Strange actions performed by sleepers and the causes thereof Lots Incest in his sleep 4. Some Animals live long without food The Camelions food is only 〈◊〉 the contrary reasons answered Air turns to water and is theâ— pabulous supply of fire CHAP. VIII 1. Divers animals long-lived without food The Camelion lives on air only 2. Divers creatures fed only by water 3. Chilification not absolutely necessary Strange operations of some stomachs The Ostrich eats and digests Iron 4. How Bees Gnats c. make a sound Of Glow-worms and Grains bit by Pismires the vegitable Lamb and other strange plants 5. The Tygers swiftnesse The Remora stays ships CHAP. IX 1. Lions afraid of Cocks Antipathies cause fear and horror in divers animals 2. Spiders kill Toads the diversities of Spiders 3. The Cocks Egge and Basilisk Divers sorts of Basilisks 4. Amphisbaena proved and the contrary objections answered 5. The Vipers generation by the death of the mother proved and objections to the contrary refuted CHAP. X. 1. Moles see not and the contrary objections answered 2. The opinions of the Ancients concerning divers animals maintained 3. The right and left side defended 4. The true cause of the erection of mans body and the benefit we have thereby 5. Mice and other vermin bred of putrefaction even in mens bodies 6. How men swim naturally the Indian swimmers CHAP. XI 〈◊〉 The Pictures of the Pelican Dolphin Serpent Adam and Eve Christ Moses Abraham and of the Sybils defended 2. The Pictures of Cleopatra of Alexander of Hector of Caesar with Saddle and Stirrops maintained CHAP. XII 1. The Picture of Iephtha sacrificing his daughter maintained 2. The Baptist wore a Camels skin 3. Other pictures as of S. Christopher S. George c. defended 4. The antiquity distinction and continuance of the Hebrew tongue of the Samaritans and their Letters CHAP. XIII 1. There is not heat in the body of the Sun 2. Islands before the Flood proved 3. The seven Ostiaries of Nilus and its greatness The greatness of old Rome divers ways proved Nilus over-flowing how proper to it the Crocodiles of Nilus its inundation regular CHAP. XIV 1. The cause of Niles inundation 2. Lots wife truly transformed into a salt Pillar 3. Hels fire truly black brimstone causeth blackness 4. Philoxenus a glutton and his wish not absurd How long necks conduce to modulation CHAP. XV. 1. Heavy bodies swim in the dead sea and the Ancients in this point defended 2. Crassus had reason to laugh at the Ass eating Thistles Laughter defined in laughter there is sorrow in weeping joy 3. That Christ never laughed proved 4. Fluctus Decumans what CHAP. XVI 1. Epicurus a wicked and wanton man impious in his opinions Seneca's judgement of him 2. Twelve of his impious and absurd opinions rehearsed CHAP. XVII Epicurus his Atomes rejected by nineteen reasons CHAP. XVIII 1. That Chrystal is of water proved and the contrary objections answered how it differs from Ice 2. The Loadstone moves not its Antipathy with Garlick Of the Adamant Versoria Amber c. CHAP. XIX What the Ancients have written of Griffins may be true Griffins mentioned in Scripture Grypi and Gryphes Perez and Ossâ—frage what CHAPr XX. 1. The Navigation of the Ancients by the stars they knew not the compass 2. Goats bloud softneth the Adamant Gold loseth its vertue and gravity with its substance Iron may grow hot with motion Coral is soft
flowes from it when it is hurt 2. By the fat which is about it this would consume if the eye were fiery 3. By the watrish humour which is in the cavities of the face in the new formed Embryo 4. By the reception and conservation of the species for the fire can neither receive nor confer any image or species as the water doth VI. Though there be two eyes there is but one sight or one object seen 1. Because the optick nerves are united in one before they reach to the eyes 2. Because there is but one fantasie and one common sens which judgeth of the external object VII The eye in respect of its grosse and solid parts is a patient in seeing by receiving the species or shape not the substance into the chrystalline humor but in respect of the spirits in the eye it is an agent by perception of the species and partly a patient for there is some impression in the spirits or else by them the species could not be conveyed into the common sense and phantasie The spirits then are agents not outwardly upon the object but inwardly upon the spirits received from the object and when they are employed about som other thing in the phantasie the eye seeth not its object though the species be impressed in the chrystalline because there is required for sight not only the impression in the chrystalline but also a perception and apprehension in the spirits in which action properly and formally vision consisteth And though the spirits be no part of the eye as it is a solid substance yet they are part as the eye is the instrument of sight VIII There are in the eye when it seeth two lights the one from without whereof there is greatest quantity in the white of the eye the other from within which is most prevalent in the chrystalline disposing it to receive the species as the outward light disposeth the air The outward light if it bee not proportionable to the inward makes this unfit for vision not by extinguishing or destroying it for one light cannot destroy another but by too much extending or destroying the mean and proportion of the inward light There is besides these two a third light in the eies of owls cats such creatures as live by preying in the dark which light is not immanent in the eye but transient into the air that the medium being illuminate the species of the object might be raised IX The eye hath not such colours as are made by the mixture of the four elements or prime qualities but such only as are made by the mixture of the light and the diaphanous or perspicuous body The first sort of colours are in the dark in respect of their existence or quality the second sort hath no existence at all in the dark And though the light give not the first act or beeing to colours yet it giveth the second act in making them visible and actuating them to work upon the eye by sending their species thither CAP. III. 1. A twofold Heat in living things 2. The Primitive Heat where and how tempered 3. Our spirits are not celestial several Reasons 4. Our natural heat what it is no substance in six Reasons 5. Many excellencies of mans body 6. The Head why the noblest part and highest as Galen thinks THAT there is in living creatures besides the elementary heat another called celestial is manifest because the fire or elementary heat neither in part nor in whole is the cause of generation 2. Because the elementary heat remains after the celestial is gone as may be seen in spices which retain or rather increase their elementary heat as they grow drier being separate from the Tree and yet they want that celestial heat by which they did live and had vegetation for now being dead nutrition attraction vegetation growth and other functions of life cease which were the effects of the celestial heat 3. Because in Mandrakes and other cold herbs there is this celestial heat by which they live and yet no elementary heat at all for they are cold both actually and vertually II. As in living creatures there be divers dissimular parts so there be temperaments and diversity of heat all which are united in the heart the fountain of heat which it communicates to all parts by the bloud and spirits this primitive heat is in perfect creatures compacted within the heart in Trees and Plants within the root in Insects it is diffus'd through all the body without any union in one part more then another which is the cause that when snakes and worms are cut in pieces every piece moves which is not so in the hand or foot of perfect animals if they be cut off so wee see in some twigs of Trees that being set in the ground grow and take root which shews That the original heat and substance of the root is in every part of the Tree and that the primitive heat of the creature might bee brought to a temper refrigeration is required which in terrestrial animals is performed by the air in fishes by the water in herbs by the earth moistned by which they are nourished and refreshed III. The animal and vital spirits in our bodies are not a celestial substance as some have thought For 1. The Heavens are not subject to generation and corruption as these are 2. The Heavens are a quintessence but these are elementary or aerial 3. The Heavens cannot be diminished which they must needs be if our spirits be heavenly bodies for they are as they say pieces of that great body which at last will be quite spent except they be repaired either by a new addition or by the reuniting of the same spirits to it again 4. Seeing the Heavens have but one motion which is circular how can any part therof come down into our bodies except it hath also a strait motion 5. Gravity and levity are elementary qualities whereof the Heaven is not capable and therefore cannot descend 6. Our spirits must either be united to the bodies of the Heavens and so continuated bodies with them or else separated and divided both which are absurdities 7. These spirits did either move them selves downward or else they had some other mover the first we cannot grant except wee make the celestial bodies living creatures for only such move themselves neither can we grant the second except we know what this mover should be it cannot be natural for the motion is violent nor can the mover be violent for the work of generation is natural it remains then that these spirits are aerial in their nature and substance but the instruments of the soul in regard of their function in which regard only we consider them as they are in our bodies for many actions proceed from them as they are the souls instruments which cannot be effected by the air as air IV. The natural or primogenial heat in living creatures is not a substance made up of seed
drowned hath his spirits extinguished he that dieth of sicknesse hath his spirits wasted Thus the flame in the candle by the wind is extinguished by the defect of wax it is wasted the quantity remains in that it is lost in this II. The Animal Vital and Natural spirits are distinct in their originals for the animals are from the brain the vital from the heart the natural from the liver 2. In their Vessels for the animal are in the nerves the vital in the arteries the natural in the veins 3. In their operations from the animal we have sense and motion from the vital life from the natural auction and nutrition 4. The vital spirits remain when the animal and natural are gone In a Palsie there is neither sense nor motion in an Atrophy there is neither auction nor nutritition and consequently neither animal nor natural spirits and yet there is life and vital spirits 5. The Natural spirits are in every part of the body so are not the Animal and Vital but in their proper vessels 6. The motion of the Animal spirits is voluntary and in our power so is not the motion of the other spirits 7. The Animal spirits rest in sleep the Vital and Natural are then most active 8. The Animal spirits are subject to fatigation and cessation the others not 9. In Vegitables there are Natural and Vital spirits but not Animal in imperfect Animals there are all three but grosser and colder therefore not so apt to be dissipated III. That there is no active seed in the female for generation but that she is meerly passive in furnishing only the Matter or Menstruous bloud with the place of conception is according to Aristotle manifest because if the females seed were active she may conceive of her self without the help of the male seeing she hath an active and a passive principle to wit seed and bloud and where these principles are there will be action and passion If the Galenists object that the females seed is colder then the males and therefore not procreative without it I answer That though it be colder then the males yet it is hotter then the bloud and therefore active the bloud being meerly passive Again the heat of the males seed is but an accident no ways concurring essentially to generation but only by way of fomenting and cherishing the females seed as the heat of the Hen doth to the generation or production of the Partridg wheras the whole power and faculty of generation was in the Egg not in the Hen so by this opinion the males seed affords nothing but heat or fomentation 2. If the females seed bee active and the males too it will follow that two efficients numerically different and having no subordination to each other do produce one effect which is absurd 3. It will follow that there are three material causes to wit the males seed the females and the bloud and therefore must be three forms for one form hath but one matter 4. It will follow that the female is perfecter then the male as having more principles of generation to wit the seed the bloud and the place or matrix 5. And in this respect that the male will stand more in need of the female then she of him he being more indigent of these principles of generation then she and having a greater desire to perpetrate the species then she 6. The Galenists are mistaken in thinking those glandulous substances in the female to bee testicles containing seed whereas they are kernels to receive the superfluous moisture of the matrix 7. The arteries nerves and veins are not spermatical parts for of the seed no parts are procreated but they are sanguineal as the flesh differing from the flesh in this that being cut they do not unite again as the flesh because of their hardnesse and drinesse and want of that moisture which is in the flesh 8. The males seed being received into the menstruous bloud doth evaporate and turn into spirits animating the informed masse 9. The child sometimes resembleth the Father sometimes the Mother according to the predominancy of the seed or the bloud 10. As the bloud nourisheth the nerves veins c. so it may be transformed into them 11. The bloud may be called seed because the seed is begot of it and as in Vegitables Hearbs and Trees are begot of seed so in animals procreation is of the bloud Hence Christ is called the Seed of the Woman IV. The Adeps or fat in our bodies is generated not by heat for heat dissolves and melts it 2. Coldest temperaments are fattest as Women are fatter commonly then men in Winter creatures are fatter then in Summer in cold more then in hot Climats men are fatter English and Dutch are fatter then Italians or Spaniards 3. Fat adheres only to the colder parts as the membranes Nor is it generated by cold For 1. No part of our body is actually cold but hot 2. The Kidneys and heart which are very hot have far adhering to them 3. Melancholy men and old men who are cold have little or no fat It remains then that the Adeps is begot of a temperate heat which in respect of a greater heat may be called cold as the brain in respect of the heart And nature hath placed the fat next to the cold membranous parts for cherishing of them so the far of the Cawle was chiefly ordained for fomenting of the stomach which is oftentimes wasted by the excessive heat of the liver Hence it is that a hot liver is accompanied with a cold stomach for the hot liver like a cupping glafse sucks and draws the heat of the neighbouring parts to it V. When we consider the cold flegm with which the lungs are still infested 2. The office of them which is to refrigerate the heart 3. Their colour which is whitish we would think that they were of a cold constitution On the other side when we 1. look upon their light and spongy substance 2 on their office which is to temper and warm the cold air that it may not offend the heart 3. On their nutriment which is the cholerick or bilious bloud we would think they were hot of constitution and indeed so they are and cold only by accident by reason of the external air and water from the brain and other parts CAP. V. 1. The prerogative of the heart 2. The actions of our members 3. There are no spermatical parts 4. The bones nerves veins c. why not easily reunited 5. The spermatical parts hotter then the sanguineal 6. The brains and scull bones and teeth compared THE Heart hath divers prerogatives above other members 1. It is the Fountain of our natural heat 2. Of the Vital spirits from whence the Animal have their Original 3. It is placed in the midst of the breast 4. It is the first that lives and the last that dies 5. It is of that absolute necessity that the welfare of the sensitive
of the matrix as we see the outward skin of fruits by the heat of the Sun For nature providently fences the seed with these walls that the inward spirits may work the more powerfully and be the lesse subject to dissipation III. Besides the umbilical vein and the two umbilical arteries nature hath made a vessel called Vrachos by which the child in the matrix conveys the urine into the membran for it reacheth from the bottom of the bladder to the navel and in those in whom the navel is not well bound at first and this Vrachos dried upon any stoppage of the bladder the urine will flow out by the navel IV. The similitude of the parents is impressed on the children partly by reason of the formative power in the seed and partly by the imagination of the parent moving the spirits which being mixed with the blood on which the child is fed makes the impression upon the tender flesh of the infant 2. The childe resembleth the grand-fathers or grand-mothers sometimes as the Load-stone communicates its power to the third or fourth needle so doth the formative faculty of the grand-father which is potentially in the seed of the grand-childe oftentimes show it self V. Twins are oftentimes begot partly because of the abundance of seed partly by reason of the scattering thereof into divers parts of the matrix which â—oments each part of it for though the matrix hath no cells yet it hath a right and a left side in the right males in the left females are begot or if the seed be strong vigorous or masculine males if weak and feminine females if one part masculine the other feminine then male and female are ingendred but the female is seldome strong or lively because the time of conformation is not alike in both â—0 days being required for the forming of the male and 40 for the female 2. Twins are like each other because they are wrapped within the same membran are conceived at the same time they feed on the same blood and enjoy the same maternal spirits VI. The infant in the womb is not fed by the mouth but by the navel for there are no vessels that reach to the mouth neither is there need of chylification or sanguification neither is there any other excrement found in the intestins of new born infants except the excrement of blood therefore as they breath by the umbilical arteries so they are fed by the umbilical vein VII Sometimes there is superfetation for we read of second births some days weeks and moneths after the first which shews that the matrix after conception is not so fast bound but that it openeth again in copulation but seldome is the second birth either strong or lively because the first conception groweth strong and big drawing the blood or nutriment to it by which means the second conception is starved VIII The infant doth not cannot should not breath whilst it is in the womb but is content with transpiration by the umbilical arteries For if there were inspiration there must be air within the membrane where the child lieth but there is nothing except the child and that watrish substance in which it swimâ— this must needs be â—uck'd in with the air and so the childe be choaked Besides the rednesse and grossenesse of the lungs whilst the childe is in the womb shews that it breaths not for the lungs of those creatures that breath are of a whitish colour and of a ratified substance for the better reception of the air IX Whilst the child is in the womb the heart is not idle as some Galenists imagine but according to Aristotle it then moveth and giveth life to the body otherwise the childe should live all the while the life of a plant not of an animal if it had no other life then what it hath from the mother by the umbilical arteries 2. How could the heart having no air to refresh it within that narrow membran in which the child lieth receive refrigeration if it did not move some answer that the heart is refrigerate by the water in which the child lieth I should like this answer well if that water were cold or if the child were a fish which with its gils might receive water for refrigâ—ration of the heart 3. The arteries of the child movâ— but how can they move without the heart move also If they say that they are moved by the Arteries of the mother I would know how they can move after the mother is dead for some children have been cut out alive from the dead mothers womb 4. Although the umbilical arteries convey the material spirits â—o the child yet they give not life no more then the aire which we breathe till they be refined by the heat and motion of the heart 5. The animal spirits of the childe are begot in its brain whilst it is in the womb but the animal spirits have their original from the vital CHAP. XIV 1. Child-bearing how caused 2. Why the eight months birth not lively 3. The sensitive Soul how derived and the reasonable introduced when it exerciseth its functions it brings with it all its perfections The Embryo not capable of three specifical forms THE birth oâ— the child is caused partly by its calcitration breaking the membranes in which it lieth having now need of more food and spirits by reason it is grown bigger and stronger and partly by the contraction of the matrix endeavouring to be rid of the burthen if either of these fail the birth will be the more painful and difficult but the Mola having neither life nor motion and not standing in need of air and food remains in some many years together before it be expelled 2. The causes of difficult child-bearing are partly the â—igness of the child partly the narrowness of the neck of the matrix or the weakness of the child or the mother or inflammations or tumors and such like infirmities whether natural or adventitious II. The reason why the childe which is borne the seventh moneth is for the most part lively whereas that which is born in the eigâ—th moneth is not because the seventh moneth the child having attained the perfection of parts and so much strength as to break the membrans doth live but if it cannot break the membran till the 8 month all the time iâ— remains froÌ„ the first attempt it made of going forth it doth not prosper but decays in strâ—ngth being as it were against its will kept in prison III. The sensitive Soul is derived with the seed from the parents which soul is potentially in the seed but actually in the Embryo where the members are formed But in the fourth month after the heart and brain are perfected the reasonable soul is introduced which if it were taken out of the matter it should in reasoning and understanding depend altogether on the matter which were absurd to think 2. The rational soul doth not exercise its functions untill
reparation by generation of spirits 5. It differs from the animal motive faculty because it is necessary and perpetual the animal is voluntary and sometimes ceaseth VII The vital spirits are ingendred in the left ventricle of the heart partly of aire prepared in the lungs and conveyed to the heart by the Arteria venosa and partly of the purest blood powred out of the mouth of Vena cava into the right ventricle where it is prepared and attenuated a part whereof is conveyed for nourishing of the lungs by the Vena arteriosa the other part sweats through the partition that divides the heart and in the left ventricle is mingled with the aire and turned into spirits by its excessive heat VIII The Diastole and Systole that is the dilatation and contraction of the heart and arteries is all one and at the same time for the heart and arteries are so united that they make but one body so there is but one pulsifick vertue in both and the end of their motion is the same to wit the vegitation and life of the body the suddenness of the motion in the remotest arteries from the heart and the strong beating of the pulse and heart in Feavers and anger do shew the identity of motion in both 2. The arteries are moved by the spirits of the heart conveyed by their tunicles rather then their cavity for upon the pressing of the tunicles the pulse ceaseth but not when the cavity is stuffed or stopped They are not then moved by their heat and blood but by the heart as may be seen by binding the arteries whose motion beneath the binding saileth the commerce between it and the heart being intercepted 3. The heart is first dilated by receiving the aire then it is contracted by expelling the fuliginous vapours 4. The heart strikes the breast in its dilatation not in its contraction or Systole because the left ventricle which is the originall of the Arteries is distended in the Diastole and so toucheth the breast about the left pap IX The motion of the heart is not voluntary because we cannot command it nor sensitive because it is not performed by the nerves and muscles nor simple because there are two motions nor compounded because they are contrary and of contrary motions can be no compositions nor is it violent because it is not repugnant to its nature nor is it caused by an externall agent as the trembling of the heart is by distempers vapours or humours but the hearts motion is natural yet not caused by the elementary form for so there should be more agents in our bodies then one and its motion should be â—itâ—eâ— upward or downward but it is natural in respect of the soul which is the chief nature that works in animal bodies and in respect of the fibers heat and spirits of the heart which are natural organs and in respect of the natural use or end of this motion for the heart dilates it self to receive aire and blood it contracts it self to be emptied of its fumes and to communicate its spirits to the nerves which ends are naturall X. When Aristotle saith that the motion of the heart is caused by heat and cold he contradicts not the Physitians in affirming the soul or its vital faculty to be the cause of this motion for heat and cold are subordinate instruments to the soul which by the heat of the blood and spirits dilates the heart and by the attraction of the cold air contracteth it as we see water by the heat of the fire swel and dilate it self but upon the breathing of cold air to contract and fall down again CHAP. XVI 1. The Lungs how moved the air is not the spirits nutriment 2. Respiration not absolutely necessary 3. The Lungs hot and moist 4. Respiration a mixed motion as that of the bladder and intestins 5. No portion of our drink passeth into the Lungs ARistotle differs from the Galenists about the motion of the Lungs he will have them moved by the heart whose heat listeth up the Lungs upon which motion the air enters for avoiding vacuity which being entred the Lungs fall The Galenists will have their motion to depend on the motion of the breast but both are in the right For the motion of the Lungs is partly voluntary and so it depends on the moving of the muscles of the breast and partly natural and so it is moved by the heart 2. When Aristotle denies that the air is the nutriment of the spirits which the Galenists affirm his meaning is that the air doth not properly nourish the spirits as meat doth our bodies for there is no assimilation or conversion of the substance of the air into our spirits which are properly nourished by blood but only a commixtion of the air and spirits for refrigeration And indeed if the spirits were properly fed by the air there would not come out the same air that went in For the spirits would not part from their food the air then nourisheth the spirits as it doth the fire by refrigeration and preserving it from suffocation II. Respiration is not so necessary for preservation of life as the motion of the heart for histerical women can live without that but they cannot live without this Neither is the motion of the arteries of absolute necessity for the member is not deprived of life though the arterie be stopped or tied and deprived of its motion 2. The motion of respiration is more noble then the motion of the heart because this is meerly natural that is also animal and voluntary yet as the motion of the Lungs is subservient to the motion of the heart that is more noble then this for the end excels the means III. The Lungs are hot and moist hot that they mighâ— temper and alter the cold air therefore the substance is fleshy light and spongy and fed with hot and spirituous blood from the right ventricle of the heart It is also moist as appears by its soft and loose substance It is also moist accidentally by receiving the flegme and rhumes that fall from the brain 2. The Lungs refrigerate the heart not because their substance is cold but because the air is cold which they attract IV. Respiration is a motion partly voluntary as it is performed by the muscles nerves and diaphragma which are the organs of voluntary motion and as it is in our power to breath or not to breath to hasten or retard it And it is partly natural as it is performed by the Lungs which are organs of natural motion as it is not subject to fatigation as it is performed in our sleep when we have no command over our selves and the sensitive faculties then cease as it is not performed by election or apprehension of the object as voluntary motions are And lastly as in Apoplexies when the senses fail the brains and nerves are hurt yet respiration continues it is then a mixt action as the expulsive actions of the
Marius The Leprosie called Elephantiasis appeaâ—ed first in Italy in the time of Pompey He speaks also of other diseases which not long before his time sprung up in Italy A kind of Fever called Coqueluche by the French invaded their country anno 1510. England was plagued with a new sweating sicknesse anno 1529 The French malady appeared first at Naples anno 1492. The Scorbutus is but a new disease in those parts Many strange kinds of vermin have been bred in mens bodies in this last Age not known before in this part of the world Of these and many more new diseases Fernelius Fracostorius Sebizius and others do write Now it is no wonder that there are new diseases seeing there are new sins 2. New sorts of foods and gluttony devised 3. New influences of the Stars 4. New Earthquakes and pestiferous exhalations out of the Earth 5. New temperaments of mens bodies 6 Infections of waters malignant meteors and divers other causes may be alledged for new diseases but none more prevalent then the food which is converted into our substance therefore in eating and drinking wee should regard the quantity quality and seasons II. It is strange to consider the diversitie of colours caused in the same Individual body of man by the same heat the chylus milk sperm and bones are white the blood and liver red the choler yellow the melancholy green the spleen blew a part of the eye black the hairs of divers colours and yet none blew or green And as strange it is that in some the skin is tauny in others white and in others black all which is effected by one and the same Sun which as it produceth all things by its heat so it giveth colour to all things for what giveth the essence giveth also the consequences yet Dr. Brown Book 6. c. 10. will not have the Sun to be the caus of the Negro's blacknesse 1. Because the people on the South-side of the River Senaga are black on the other only tauny 2. Other animals retain their own colours in that clime 3. In Asia and America men are not so black I answer that it will not follow that the Sun is not the cause of blacknesse for he doth work upon each Subject according as it is disposed to receive his impression and accordingly produceth diversity of colours Hence in the same hot climat men are black Parrets and leaves of trees are green the Emmets as some report are white the Gold is yellow and every thing there hath its own peculiar colour and yet all are produced by the same Sun nay the same man that hath a black skin hath white teeth the same Sun at the same time in the same Garden doth cloath the Lily in white the Rose and Cherry in red and divers fruits in black it is observed that the Sun whiteneth those things which are inclined to be hard and blackneth soft things so he makes the Ethiopians teeth white the skin black he makes the green corn turn white and hard with his heat and at the same time makes the plumb black and soft women that blanch or whiten their linnen in the Sun know that he can â—an their skins but whiten their cloth â—gain the air may be more temperate and greater store of refreshing windes and exhalations on the one side of the river Niger then on the other and so the Suns operation may bee hindred which is the cause that in America and Asia under the same parallel men are not so black as in Africk where there is more heat and greater drought For it wants those fresh Winds and great Lakes and Rivers which are in Asia and America The Suns heat then is the cause of blacknesse in such as are capable of it whether the clime be torrid or frigid Hence in cold countries we finde black crowes and in hot white Swans Besides this narration is suspicious for on both sides of the River men have been seâ—n equally black and there be some in Asia as black as in Affrica He objects again That Nigro's transplanted into cold countries continue their hue therefore the Sun is not the sole cause of this blacknesse Ans. The question is not if the Sun be the sole cause but whether a cause at all which the Doctor in his former objections seemed to deny 2. I say that the Sun is the sole primary cause if there be any other causes they are secâ—ndary and subordinate to the Suns heat and influence 3. Hee may as well infer the Sun is not the cause of greennâ—sse in leaves grasse or plants in the Torrid Zone because these being transplanted into cold climats retain their hues Book 6. c. 12 And indeed he seems to make the spirit of Salt peter in the Earth the cause of viridity because in a glasse these spirits project orient greens I should like his reasons well if the verdure of the plant were not more real then that of Salt-peter in the glasse but what will he say to that Earth where is no Salt-peter at all and yet the â—earbs are green Or is there Salt-peter in a glasse of pure water where I have seen green leaves bud out of the stem of an hearb Besides I finde urine out of which Salt-peter is made to spoil the greennesse of the hearbs 4. If the impression of black which the Sun causeth in a hot clime must alter in a cold then may the other qualities also which the Sun by his heat procureth be lost in a cold countrey and so what is hard in Ethiopia must bee soft in England and the heat of Indian spices must here grow cold He objects again that there are Negroes under the Southern Tropick and beyond which are colder countries I answer that these Negroes were colonies out of hotter countries and not Aborigines or Natives at first And he confesseth there be Plantations of Negroes in Asia all which retain their original blacknesse Lastly he objecteth That in the parts where the Negroes possesse there be rivers to moisten the air and in Lybia there are such dry and sandy desarts as there is no water at all but what is brought on camels backs and yet there are no Negroes therefore drinesse cannot cause blacknesse I answer 1. It cannot be proved that the Neâ— groes who dwell neere rivers had their originall there 2. Though there may be some moist exhalations yet it seems they are not so abundant as to qualifie the Suns heat 3. Though the desarts of Lybia be dry yet they are not so hot as under the Line It is the excesse of heat and siccity together that causeth blacknesse and not one of these alone 4. We see men grow tauny here by conversing much in the Sun And further South more tauny and still as the heat increases the degrees of blacknesse increase also to deny this were to deny our senses and we see dead bodies hung in the Sun grow black the same would befall to living bodies if they continued
all bodies at all times alike The means to discriminate the true Unicorns horn from the false are two to wit if it cause the liquor in which it is put to bubble and secondly if it sweat when the poison is near it as Baccius tells us IV. I have read of some who were born blind and dumb and yet have been cured Seidelus de morb incur but in these there could not be a totall privation of the organ or faculty of sight and speech for such cannot be cured by Nature nor Art And so Iohn 6. it was held impossible for one born blind to see In those then was only a privation of the act and so the eye-lids only shut up and agglutinated which by Art might be cut and opened And so the strings by which the tongue is tied are often cut I have also read in Seidelius of one who lived till he was an old man and every year from his birth till his dying day had a fever which took him still upon his birth-day This anniversary Fever held him still fourteen days and at last killed him The seeds of this Fever he got doubtlesse in his mothers womb and what impressions the seed or Embryo receiveth then can never be eradicated such is the force of the formative power upon our first materials Sâ—â—liger speaks of a certain Fish in the Island of Zeilam which if one hold fast in his hands puts him in a shaking fit of an Ague This effect I suppose proceeds from the excessive cold of the Fish which by the hand being communicated to the muscles and nerves causeth shaking and convulsion fits And no lesse strange is that which is mentioned by Libavius of one who hearing his kinsman being in a remote country was dead of the plague fell sick himself of the same disease though the place where he was then dwelling was free from any infection Libavius de veneno c. 8. Corollarii This proceeded from a deep apprehension or sudden fear a weaknesse in nature and an aptitude to fall into that disease and how powerful apprehension fear and fancies are â—pon our bodies may be seen in that story mentioned by Libavius de veneno c. 8. of one who ate a snake in stead of an Eel without any hurt till a good while after he was told it was a Snake and upon this he fell sick and pined away CHAP. VII 1. The diversities and vertues of Bezar stones 2. A woman conceived in a Bath of an Incubus 3. Strange actions performed by sleepers and the causes thereof Lots Incest in his sleep 4. Some Animals live long without food The Camelions food is only air the contrary reasons answered Air turns to water and is the pabulous supply of fire MOnardes in historia Bezoaris speaks of some who were poisoned by drinking out of a puddle where Toads Snakes and other virulent vermin had laid their spawn but were cured by taking Bezar two or three times Bauhinus c. 34.36 speaks of divers diseases cured by this stone and it is known by daily experience that it is used with good successe in pestilential Fevers as Synertus shews Syn. l. 4. de Feb. c. 8. It is also good in divers other maladies both to cure and prevent them Yet Doctor Brown thinks we are daily gulled in the Bezar whereof many are false Book 3. c. 23. I deny not but some adulterat Bezars there are yet we must not think all fals or that we are gulled because we do not see the wished effects For Synertus l. 4. de Feb. c. 8. shews that the best Bezar faileth if the just dose be not given For some out of fearfulness give but a grain or two whereas he hath given eight or ten grains with good successe Again the operation of it is hindred oftentimes by mixing it with other Simples It proves also ineffectual if any thing else be given too soon after or if the stomach be not clear when it is exhibited For as the spirit of Tartar and Vitriol by themselves will work powerfully but being mixed lose their operative qualities and taste so doth Bezar many times mixed with other things Now this stone is bred in a bag under the stomach of some beasts which in form resemble our Goats In the Eâ—st-Indies they have horns but in the West none The Oriental stones are the best a grain whereof hath been sold for four Ducats Some of them are as big as a Goose Egg they have divers forms and divers colours some yellow some green some black the best are bred in those beasts that feed on the hils and on aromatick hearbs which are not found in the valleys they grow like Onions wrapt about with many tunicles or crusts Acosta l. 4. c. 42. sheweth that in the midst of some of them are sound pins straws or sticks about which matter doth gather vvhich by degrees increaseth and hardneth till it come to a just magnitude In the midst of those stones are found sometimes odoriferous hearbs Mathiolus and Renodaeus hold those for the best stones in the midst of which are found dust or gravel The Indians use the pouder of Bezar not only against inward diseases but also with it they cure their wounds and Carbuncles or Boils Acosta l. 4. c. 42. relates the observation of the Peruans vvho say that the best stone is bred in a beast called Vieugne vvhich feeds upon a poisonable hearb by which it preserves it self from the grasse and vvaters that are poisoned by venomous beasts He that will see more of this stone lâ—t him read those above named and likewise Boutius Baccius Toll and others II. That story is strange of the Woman vvhich conceived in a Bath by attracting the mans sperm who bathed in the same place This is affirmed by Averroes Anat. l. 8. quaest 11. but denied by Laurentius del Rio and some others vvhom Doctor Brown in this followeth Hee that denyeth a matter of fact must bring good witnesses to the contrary or else shew the impossibility of the fact which they do not For we shall find this conception possible if either we consider the nature of the Matrix vvhich by a strange instinct and appetite attracteth the sperm to it for which cause Plato calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the stomach attracteth meat and drink though in some distance from it Or if wee consider that the seminal spirits in the vvarm vvater might be a vvhile preserved from evaporating and therefore what they say of the longitude of the organ in which the seed is refrigerated is not to the purpose except they could prove it to be so in all But the contrary is found in the long organ of great breasts wherein the sperm is no vvays damaged Besides the heat of the bath might have some proportion to that of the Matrix vvhereas the organ of emission is not so hot as consisting most of nervous and spermatical parts Again vve see that the sperm of Fishes in
vvhich there are seminal spirits is not prejudiced by the vvater vvhere it is shed but the male fishes cast their seed upon the spawâ— vvhich the females leave in the vvater as Aristotle Pliny AElian Albertus and others do shew Lastly vvee must not think all the stories false vvhich are written of the Incubi vvhich vvere evil spirits conveying the masculine seed to the place of generation of vvhich there have been conceptions For to deny this saith Augustine lib. 15. de Civit. Dei cap. 23. doth argue impudence considering the many testimonies and examples of the same yet I deny not but the imagination is sometimes deluded but not still as Wierus thinks and I know also that Incubus is the same disease with Ephialtes yet it will not follow that there are no evill spirits called Incubi and Succubi For to deny such vvere to accuse the ancient Doctors of the Church and the Ecclesiastick Histories of falshood vvhich affirm that the Catecbumeni vvere much troubled vvith these Incubi This vvere also to contradict the common consent of all Nations and experience There is then a double Incubus the one natural called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhich is caused in sleep by a frigid grosse vapour filling the ventricles of the brain and prohibiting the animall spirits to passe through the nerves vvhereby the imagination is hurt so that they think they are oppressed vvith a great vveight This disease is much like the Epilepsia but somwhat milde The other Incubus is Diabolical III. That some men can in their sleep perform those actions which they neither could nor durst do when awaked is known by Histories and experience Marianus cap. ad audientiam witnesseth that he had a Maid vvho in her sleep could rise and make bread as if she had been awaked Francis Mendoza l. 6. de Flor. knew one vvho vvould rise in his sleep and in the night time vvalked out vvith his naked sword vvith vvhich hee struck some of the City guard but at last being vvounded vvas awaked Tirannel in Mendoza speaks of an English man in Paris vvho rose in his sleep vvent down towards the river Sene vvhere having met vvith a Boy he killed him and so returned being all this vvhile asleep to his bed Horstius de noctambulis vvrites of one vvho in his sleep usually vvould arise go up and down the stairs lock and unlock his chests He speaks of another vvho dreamed he vvas to ride a Journy riseth puts on his cloaths boots and spurs gets up into the Window vvhere he sate stradling beating the vvals vvith his spurs till hee vvas awaked And he sheweth that at Helmstad one rose in his sleep vvent down the stairs into a Court from thence toward the Kitchin neer vvhich vvas a deep Wel into this he went down holding fast to the stones by his hands and feet but when hee touched the vvater with the cold thereof he vvas awaked and finding in what danger he was gave a pitiful out-cry which awaked those in the house who having found him got him out and brought him to his bed where he lay many days speechlesse and immoveable being extreamly weakned with fear cold and crying Another story he hath no lesse strange then this of a young Gentleman vvho in his sleep arose naked carrying his shirt in his hand and by the help of a rope clambers up to a high Turret in the Castle where he then was Here he findes a nest of Mag-pies which he robs and puts the young ones in his shirt and so by the same rope comes down again and returns to his bed The next morning being awaked tells his brother how he dreamed that he had robb'd a Pies nest and withal wondring what was become of his shirt riseth and findes it at his beds feet with the young birds wrapt up in it To these examples wee may add that of Lot who in his sleep begot his two daughters with childe This Dr. Brown Book 7. c. 6 will not admit though he hath a direct Text of Scripture against him For there it is said Gen. 19. That Lot neither knew when his daughters lay down nor when they rose up Which words are expounded by Irenaeus c. 51. cont Haeres That Lot had neither pleasure nor consent nor sense nor knowledge of this act Chrysostome affirms the same expounding these words Lot saith he Hom. 44. in Genes was so intoxicated with wine that he knew not at all what he did lest he should be guilty of so great a crime acting in this neither wittingly nor willingly S. Austin is of the same minde Cont. manic l. 22. and other Expositors Now if one ask how sleeping men can do such things I answer it is partly by the strength of Imagination which is more active in sleep then when we are awake 2. All sleepers are not apt for such actions but such whose natures are melancholy or cholerick whose spirits are more fervent subtil and agile then others moving the bmuscles and by them the body though the outward senses be ound up by sleep 3. They catch not that hurt in their sleep which they would do if awaked because their senses are not avocated by other objects they have no apprehension of fear their imagination is more intent in sleep and withal their Genius or good Angel is carefull of them IV. I read of divers both beasts and men which have lived a long time without meat or drink We know that Swallows Cuckows Dormice diuers other animals sast all the Winter The like is recorded of Lizards Serpents Water-Crocodiles Bears and other ravenous beasts whose bodies by reason of their humidity and rapacity are full of crudiâ—les by which they are fed in the Winter Mendosa dâ— Flor. Philos. Probl. 24. speaks of a Hen in his time which lived eighty dayes without food and vvater Cardan de subtil l. 10. writes that the Indian bird called Manucodiata lives only in the aire upon dew as Grashoppers do Rondâ—letius l. 1. de Piscib c. 12. shews that his wife kept a fish three years in a glasse without any other food but water and yet the fish grew so big that the glasse could not at last contain it And I have kept Spiders my self in a glasse which I dismissed after they had fasted nine months The Camelion also liveth upon the air Oscitans vescitur follicans ruminat de vento cibus saith Tertullian in Pallio I have seen a Camelion which was brought hither from Africa by sea and kept in a box which all the while was never seen to feed on any thing else but air Yet D. Brown Book 3 c. 21. will not have air to be his food for these reasons 1. Because Aristotle and AElian speak nothing of this Ans. Neither do they speak any thing against it which likely they would have done if they had thought their feeding on aire had been fabulous They do not speak of what food each animal is sustained and though they doe
absolutely necessary Strange operations of some stomachs The Ostrich eats and digests Iron 4. How Bees Gnats c. make a sound Of Glow-worms and Grains bit by Pismires the vegitable Lamb and other strange plants 5. The Tygers swiftnesse The Remora stays ships THAT divers animals even men and women can subsist without food is plain by these examples A certain maid in the Diocesse of Spire anno 1542. lived three years without meat or drink In the year 1582. in the Palatinat there lived a maid nine years together without food who afterward married and had children Rondeletius l. 1. de pis c. 13. writes of a maid in France and of another in Germany who lived divers years without food and of another whom hee saw that had no other food but air ten years together Ficinus saw a man who had no other food but what the air and Sun afforded him In the year 1595. a maid lived at Colen three years without food another at Bern lived eighteen years on the air alone anno 1604. Other examples I could alledge out of Citesius Physitian of Padua Lentulus of Bern Ioubertus and others but these may suffice to let us see that nutrition doth not consist meerly in meat and drink I will not here alledge examples of miraculous fasts or of Diabolical and Magical but such as are meerly natural as these which I have named for in them the natural heat was weak and not able to master the humidity with which they abounded So then where there is a weak heat and much sweet phlegm which is imperfect blood as Physitians call it there the life may bee prolonged without food I have read Mendoza in Flor. phil of a Venetian who fasted forty six years being of a cold constitution and abounding with thick phlegme we see this in the hearb Semper-vivum which many years together liveth and is green without earth or water having much natural humidity within it So the Camelion is onely fed by air as is said which appears to be true however Dr. Brown Book 3. c. 21. writes to the contrary by these reasons 1. The testimonies both of ancient and modern Writers except a few and the witnesses of some yet living who have kept Camelions a long time and never saw them feed but on air 2. To what end hath Nature given it such large Lungs beyond its proportion Sure not for refrigeration lesse Lungs would serve for this use seeing their heat is weak it must be then for nutrition 3. There is so little blood in it that we may easily see it doth not feed on solid meat The Doctor saith That Frogs and divers Fishes have little blood and yet their nutriment is solid But he doth not prove the nutriment to be solid Besides they have more blood then is in the Camelion 4. To what end should it contnually gape more then other animals but that it stands more in need of air then they towit for nutrition as well as refrigeration The Doctor imputeth this gaping to the largenesse of his Lungs This is but a shift for other animals whose Lungs doe exceed both the Lungs and whole bodies of many Camelions do not gape as this doth and yet they stand more in need of refrigeration as having more blood and heat then ten thousand Camelions 5. He that kept the Camelion which I saw never perceived it to void excrements backwards an argument it had no solid food and what wonder is it for the Camelion to live on air when Hay a beast of Brasil as big as a Dog was never seen to feed on any thing else as Lerius witnesseth The Doctor concludes That the Camelion is abstenious a long time but not still because divers other animals are so He may as well infer that the Camelion is cornuted because divers other animals are so Each species hath its property which is not communicable to other species otherwise it were no property II. That water is the aliment of divers creatures is plain 1. By the vegetables for hearbs trees and plants are nourished by it 2. By animals for it is the food of many fishes as was shewed by that fish which Rondeletius his wife kept three years in a glasse Grashoppers feed upon dew which is water I have read Mendoza Prob. 23. of Worms in Armenia which feed only on Snow and of some birds whose aliment is only water 3. By men for Albertus Magnus speaks of one who lived seven weeks together only upon water I know Aristotle l. 7. de anim Galen and Averroes are against this opinion But we must understand they speak of the pure element of water which is not nutritive not of that which is impure mixed or compounded for such may nourish Doctor Brown will not have water an aliment 1. Because some creatures drink not at all Answ. To such water indeed can be no aliment and so indeed his argument is good but to say that water is no creatures aliment because some creatures do not drink at all is as much as if he should infer that no man eats bread because some men never ate any 2. He saith That water serves for refrigeration and dilution therefore it is no aliment Answ. Why may not the same thing serve both Doe we not many times eat cooling hearbs which both refrigerate and feed us 3. If the ancients saith he had thought water nutritive they would not have commended the Limpid water for the best but rather turbid streams where there may be some nutriment Answ. If the Ancients had spoken of Waters fittest to feed Eels Frogs and such as live on mud they would have commended the turbid streams but they spake of such Waters as are fittest for our bodies and therefore they commended the Limpid for the best and yet he confesseth in the purest water there is much terreous residence and consequently some nutriment III. Chilification is an action of the stomach but not absolutely necessary because many creatures in the Winter live without it And this act is not to be ascribed to the heat of the stomach for though heat as heat doth concoct yet it doth not chilifie for neither fiery nor feverish nor any other heat of the body can perform this but that of the stomach therefore this action must proceed from the specifical form and proper quality of the stomach which turns all it receives into a white creamy substance but cannot produce several substances as the Liver doth because it is not so hot as the Liver or rather it hath not that specifical form which the Liver hath Besides that the stomachs work is to master the aliment to concoct it and to prepare it for the Liver But besides this quality of the stomach there is another more strange when som can eat and digest coals sand lime pitch ashes and such like trash This is called by Physitians a disease under the name of Pica Citta Malacia but I think it proceeds not only from a
in the air because one who went down a hundred fathom into the sea returned with Coral in each hand affirming it was as hard at the bottom as in the air Answ. Boetius in his second Book of stones and gems c. 153. tels us that Coral doth not harden or grow stony till it be dead it seems then whilst it is alive its soft under water and therefore this Diver lighted upon a dead Coral but because that was hard it will not follow that all Coral under water is hard except all under water be dead There is also a difference between old and young plants the older the plant grows the harder it is perhaps this was not only dead but also an old plant It s no wonder then if Coral petrifie when taken out of the sea for then it dieth being separated from its matrix and element in which it had life and vegâ—tation and it seems by the same Boetius that the substance of Coral at first is wood for he saw some which was partly wood and partly stone not being throughly petrified which might proceed from some internal impediment it is therefore no more wonder for a sea-plant to petrifie in the air then for a landplant to petrifie in the sea or other waters This is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say ston-tree or stone-plant and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it petrifieth when it is touched by the hands and because the Gorgons were turned into stones therefore in Pliny Coral is called Gorgonia 5. He likes not the opinion of the Ancients concerning the generation of Viscum or Misseltoe to wit that it is bred upon trees from seeds let fall there by thrushes and ring-doves his reasons are because it grows only upon some trees and not in Ferrara where these birds are found and because the seed thereof being sown it will not grow again and in some trees it groweth downwards under the boughs where seed cannot remain Answ. That Viscum is begot of seeds let fall by birds as the Ancients thought may be true and that it is an excreâ—cence of viscous or superflous sap as Scaliger writes may be true also Many things are procreated both with and without seeds there is an equivocall generation both in vegitables and animals which the learned Poet knew when he writ of this Viscum saying Soletfronde vivere nova quod non sua seminat arbos Now the reason why it groweth not upon all trees and in all Countries is because as the same Poet saith Non omnia fert omnia tellus there is not a disposition in the matter of all trees to receive this form nor in the climate or soile to animate this seed Yet Mathiolus observes that in Hetruria where is greatest store of Thrushes there is greatest pleny of Misseltoe which shews that this plant hath its originall from the seeds mixed with the excrements of those birds and therefore the old proverb was not untrue Turdus sibi malum cacat even in the literall sense and so where this Viscum is meerly an excrescence it may grow downwards under boughes where no seeds can come or remain 6. He can deny that a Snake will not endure the shade of an Ash Pliny and other ancients affirm it perhaps upon surer grounds then the Doctor denies it for though here in these cold Countries our Snakes may accord with our Ashes yet it may be otherwise in hot Regions where the Serpents are more venemous and the Ash-leaves more powerfull why may there not be somewhat in the shade of an Ash repugnant to the Serpent whereas the leaves and juice thereof are such Antidotes against poyson as Dioscorides and Mathiolus shew Cardan tels us That in Sardinia the shadow of the Rododaphne is pernitious to those that sleep under it making them mad He instanceth the dangerous qualities proceeding from the shadowes of some other trees and Lucretius affirms That the shade of some other trees procure pains in the head and other dangerous effects Arboribus primum certus gravis umbra tributa est Vsque adeo capitis faciant ut saepe dolores Si quis eas subter jacuit prostratus in herbis CHAP. XX. What the Ancients have written of Griffins may be true Griffins mentioned in Scripture Grypi and Gryphes Perez and Ossiâ—rage â—haâ— THe Doctor denies there be Griffins that is dubious animals in the fore part resembling an Eagle and behind a Lion with erected ears foure feet and a long tail being averred by AElian Solinus Mela and Herodotus Answ. AElian tells us That Griffins are like Lions in their pawes and feet and like Eagles in their wings and head Solinus saith onely that they are very fierce fowls Mela that they are cruell and stubboâ—n animals Herodotus onely mentions their names when hee shewes the Arimaspi takes away their gold from them Sâ— Philostrates shewes That in strength and bignesse they are like Lions So Pausanius speaks of them but neither he nor the others named tell us in plain terms that they are like Lions behind and Eagles in the fore-part For Pliny and somâ— others doubt of this as fabulous 2. Suppose they had thus described Griffins as mixt and dubious animals yet this is not sufficient to prove them fabulous for divers such animals there are in the World Acosta tells us of the Indian Pacos which in some parts thereof resemble the Asse in others the Sheep Lerius speakes of the Tapiroussou in â—rasill which resembles both an Asse and an Heifer Many other sorts of mixt animals we read of as flying Cats and flying Fishes and some kind of Apes with Dogges heads therefore called Cynocephali Our Bats are partly birds and partly beasts They flye like a bird with two feet they walk like a beast with four They flye with their feet and walk with their wings saith Scaliger And which is a greater wonder there are Plant-animals or Zoophits partly plants and partly animals But he saith In Bats and such mixed animals there is a commixtion of both in the whole rather then an adaptation of the one lâ—to the other Here he is deceived for in Bats and such like Animals it is easily â—een what parts are of the bird what of the beast which we could not discern if there were a commixtion it is rather an adaptation then This is most apparant in that Indian beast which hath the forepart of a Fox the hinder part of an Ape the eares of an Owl and a bag or purse under its belly wherein its young ones hide themselves in time of danger Neither is it fabulous that these Griffins are greedy of gold which they preserve hide in the earth for I â—â—ve seen Magpies doe the like I have observed one which stole money and hid it in a hole and perhaps it may be from this that Plautus calls Griffins Mag-pies Picos divitiis qui colunt aureos montes supero In Aulul And yet I am
to Maximilian the Emperor These fishes were called anciently Tritons Nerâ—ides and Sirenes one of those Scaliger saw at Parma about the bignesse of a childe of two years old In some part of Scythia Pliny shewes that men did feed upon these fishes which some condemned for Canibals but injuriously for it is not the outward shape but the soul which makes the man neither doth the soul or essence of man admit degrees which it must needs do if those Tritons were imperfect men neither is it unlikely what is written of the River Colhan in the Kingdom of Cohin among the Indians That there are some human shaped fishes there called Cippe which feed upon other fishes these hide themselves in the water by day but in the night time they come out upon the banks and by striking one flint against another make such a light that the fishes in the water being delighted with the sparkles flock to the bank so that the Cippae fall upon them and devour them This I say is not improbable if we observe how many cunning ways nature hath given to the fox and other creatures to attain their prey Scaliger wonders why these Cippae do not rather catch their prey in the water then to take so much pains on the bank but the reason may be that either these Cippae are not so nimble and swift as those other fishes or else that these fishes will not come near them being afraid of their human shape which is formidable to all creatures V. That Fishes are not dull and stupid creatures as Cardan and some others do think is manifest by their sagacitie and cumming they have both to finde out their prey and to defend themselves from their enemies The fish called Uranioscopus deceives the other fishes by a membran which he thrusts our of his mouth like a worm which they supposing to be so lay hold on it and so are catch'd Herrings being conscious of their own infirmitie never swim alone but in great shoals and the whales who prey upon the herrings by a natural instinct frequent those seas most where there be most herrings and I have observed in the Northern seas for a mile or two in compasse the sea covered with herrings flying from their enemies the whales which were in pursuit of them tumbling like hills on the sea but by reason of their huge bodies and slow motion could not overtake them and when the herrings are in any danger they draw as near to the shore as they can that the whales pursuing them may run themselves on the sand where they stick as often times they do and so become a prey themselvs to man thus in one year 80 whales run on the Islâ—nds of Oâ—kney where I have been a whole year together so that the Bishop of those Islands had 8 whales for his Tithe that year There are also in the Northern seas fishes about the bigness of an oxe having short legs like a beaver and two great teeth sticking out of which they make handles for knives these fishes are called Morsse they sleep either on the ice or upon some high and sâ—eep place on the shore when they sleep they have their Ceâ—tinel to watch who in danger by a sound he makes awakes them they presently catch their hindmost feet in their mouth and so roule down the hill into the sea like round hoops or wheels The cunning also of the Cuttle fish or Sepia may be alledged here who to delude the fisherman thickneth the water with his black ink and so escapeth The Torpedo and other fishes may be produced for examples of their cunning and the Dolphins for their docilitie but these may suffice VI. Though God hath given to some fishes feet and wings as well as fins yet not in vain for these Amphibia that were to live on the land as well as in the water stood in need of feet for walking as well as of fins for swimming and those winged fishes being not such swift swimmers as to escape the dangers of their enemies the Ducades by their sins were to avoid them by their wings hence being pursued in the water they fly in the air till they be weary or far enough our of danger then they fall down into the water again 'T is commonly thought that they fly so long as their wings are moist and fall down when they are drie but I see no reason why moisture should help their flight when it hinders the flying of birds which fly swiftest when their wings are driest Swallows indeed and other birds do sometimes wet their wings not to help their flight but to cool and refresh their heat VII That there are many monstrous fishes in the sea is not to be denied in a grammatical sense nor in a Philosophical if we speak of individuals for in such both by land and sea there be divers aberrations of nature though there can be no specifical monsters except we will make the first cause to haye erred in his own work and first production of things yet in a grammatical sense even the species of some fishes may be called monsters à monstrando for their hidious and uncoth shapes demonstrate Gods greatnesse and power and his goodnesse also in that he makes them to serve our uses and they may also demonstrate what should be our dutie to God when we look on them even to praise and honour him who hath not made us like one of them The whale then to us is a monstrous creature when we look upon his huge bulk and strange shape and motion the quantity of water and manner of spouting it like flouds out of his head for each whale hath a prominent spout on his head and some have two though Dr. Brown denies it yet Olaus an eye-witnesse proves it by these pipes they breath and send out the water which they drink in and it is none of the least wonders that these vast creatures should be caught and subdued by the art of man In Norway they are taken by the smell of Castoreum which stupifieth their senses in the Indies they are taken by stopping their holes and vents by which they breath so that being stifled they submit to the poor naked conquering Indian who sits upon him as on horseback and with a cord drawes him to the shore Acosta tels us of a strange fish called Manati which ingenders her young ones alive hath tears and doth nourish them with milk it feeds on the grasse but lives in the water it is of a green colour and like a cow in the hinder parts the flesh is in colour and taste like veal The Shark or tiburon is a strange fish out of whose gullet he did see drawn a butchers great knife and great iron hook and a piece of an oxes head vvith one vvhole horn their teeth are as sharp as rasors for he savv Sharks leap out of the vvater and vvith a strange nimblenesse snap off both the flesh and bone of a horses
original from eggs which if true then that is no fiction of the Poets concerning Leda's two eggs out of which were procreated Pollux and Helena Castor and Clytemnestra but I conceive the Doctor in this speaks rather tropically then properly for simile non est idem and what may in some sort resemble an egge is not an egge however his book is full of excellent learning and observation yet I have been bold in some thingâ— to dissent from him as may be seen in the former Chapter The other book I lately viewed is my Lord Bacon's Natural History a Piece fraughted with much variety of elegant learning but yet wherein are divers passages that deserve animadversionâ— I never had leasure to run over the book till now though I had seen it before and now my distractions are such that I cannot exactly examine it but onely ut canis è nilo here and there touch a little First then I finde him mistaken in thinking that the French-pox is begot by eating of mans flesh Cent. 1. Sect. 26. His reasons are A story of mans flesh barrelled up like tunny eat at the siege of Naples the other is because the Canibals who feed on mans flesh are subject to that disease 3. Because the blood or fat of mans flesh is mixed with poysons And lastly because Witches feed on mans flesh to aid their imaginations with high and foul vapors Answ. These reasâ—ns are of small validity For 1. it was not the eating of mans flesh at the siege of Naples that brought this disease into Europe but it was procured by some of Columbus his Company who had carnal commerce with soul Indian women which with the pox they brought along with them 2. Mans flesh of all other animals is counted the most temperate therefore cannot produce such a venomous distemper so repugnant to mans body 3. This is a peculiar disease of the Indians both East and West for divers Countries have their divers maladies 4. Neither can this or any disease be counted new in respect of their subjects original causes or seminaries for this disease is as old as mans flesh though in this part of the world it did not break out so generally as of late and who knows but that the ancients had it but under another name being a kind of Leprosie 5. The Canibals among the Indians are not more subject to this disease then others who never tasted of mans flesh for in all ages there have been men eaters yet not tainted mith this malady and millions of latter years among us who are infected with this poyson and yet never eat of mans flesh 6. It is against reason to imagine that the flesh of a man should rather breed this disease then of an ox or a sheep seeing mans flesh is sooner convertible into nutriment then of any other animal because of the greater simpathy and specifical unity 7. Though ignorant Indians do mix mans blood or fat with poyson it will not therefore follow that these are poyâ—â—nable no more then wine can be called poyson because poysonable materials may be mixed with it so we mix sugar and butter with rats bane which we know have no venemous quality in them 8. Witches who are silly fools may eat mans flesh hoping thereby to aid their imaginations but there is no such vetue in mans flesh as they conceive so they use many spels charms and canting words in which there is no more vertue then in a pibble stone or a piece of rotten wood 9. Mans flesh can afford no soul vapors except it befoul it self and putrified and so indeed it may breed loathsome diseases as all other corrupt and putrified meats do which is done as it is corrupted not as it is mans flesh neither can it afford high vapors except it were full of spirits which cannot be in a piece of dead flesh he that will have high vapors must drink sack not eat mans flesh the blood of the vine not of the vein can breed high vapors Indeed the drinking of mans blood and eating of his flesh may inure a man to cruelty which Catelin knew by causing his associates to drink humane blood hence the Judaical law forbids eating of blood at all shewing us hereby how much God abhors cruelty or that which may induce a man to it II. His Lordship calls it A crude and ignorant speculation to make the dilatation of the fire the cause of the expulsion of the pellet out of the Gun but he will have the cause to be the crude and windy spirits of nitre dilated by heat which bloweth abroad the flame as an inward bellows But I would know what difference there is between dilatation and between the flame and spirit of the nitre He affirms dilatation to be the cause of this expulsion therefore his exception against the former opinion was needless and whereas he grants the flame to be the immediate expeller of the pellet he unawares affirms what he rejects neither can I see any difference between the flame of the nitre and the spirit of the nitre inflamed onely he was pleased to make shew of a new reason by altering somewhat the words of the former whereas the sense is one and the same the speculation then is not crude but the spirit of his nitre is crude which without the flame can do nothing 3. From a wax candle burning in a porringer full of spirit of wine set on fire he infers Cent. 1.31 strange conculsions As 1. That the flame of the candle becomes bigger and globular and not in pyramis and consequently that the pyramis of the flame is accidental I answer the flame of the candle becomes bigger and globular accidentally because the air about it is heated by the flame of the wine therefore as in all things like draws to like so one flame dilates it self to enjoy the other as a drop of water will contract it self upon a drie but dilate it self upon a wet table 2. He infers That the flame of itself would be round if it were not for the air that quencheth the sides of it But I say that the air is so far from quenching that it cherisheth and maintaineth the flame without which it would quickly vanish and that the flame would not be round of it self if the air round about were not inflamed for the same cause it rouls and turns not of its own nature but because the ambient flame draws it 3. He â—nfers hence That the celestial bodies are true fires for they are igâ—obular and have rotation and have the colour and splendor of flame These are weak arguments that from common accidents prove specifical identities for if the stars be true fires because globular then we may infer that water drops are fire because round and that every thing which hath rotation is fire and if that be fire which hath the colour of fire or that a flame which hath the splendor of flame we may say that rotten
sticks and glow-worms or cats eyes are fire or flames and if stars be flames because in colour they are like to flames let us say that the Heaven is water for in colour it is like water IV. It seems saith he Cent. 1.45 that the parts of living creatures that lie more inwards nourish more then the outward flesh except it be the brain which the spirits prey too much upon to leave it any great vertue of nourishment This is not so for experience shews the contrary that the outward flesh of sheep and so of other animals nourish more then the heart lungs liver kidney and spleen Therefore Galen l. de cibis reckoneth these amongst his meats of bad juyce and indeed this stands with reason for that nourisheth most which is easiest of concoction and softest and most abounding in benign and nutritive juyce but such is the outward flesh not the heart kidney c. which are harder and drier and not so apt to be converted into blood It is true the Romans made much of the gooses liver more to please their palate then out of any good nutriment it offorded so they preferred moshromes and such like trash to the best nutrive meates as for the brains they are less nutritive then the flesh not because the spirits prey upon them for the animal spirits in the brain do not prey more upon it then the vital spirits do upon the heart which notwithstanding his lordship acknowledgeth to be more nourishing then the outward flesh because more inward but because the brain is less sanguineal then the flesh for those parts which they call spermatical are less nutritive what is more inward then the Spinalis medulla or pith in the back bone on which the animal spirits do not prey and yet it is little nutritive V. The fift cause of cold saith he Cent. 73. is a quick spirit inclosed in a cold body as in nitre in water colder then oyle which hath a duller spirit so show is colder then water because it hath more spirit so some insects which have the spirit of life as snakes c. are cold to the touch so quick silver is the coldest of all mettals because fullest of spirits Answ. No spirit can be the cause of cold for all spirits in vigitable animals produce heat and are produced of heat therefore we finde that where there are most spirits there is least cold 2. Nitre which is mentioned by the Ancients is hot and not cold and therefore both Dioscorides Pliny and Galen adscribe to it the qualities of heat to cut extennat discuss and purge gross and cold humors and if that nitre which we use at this day be not the same yet it is not much unlike as Mathiolus shews as having divers qualities of the old nitre besides it is a kinde of salt and is begot of hot things as pigeons dung and the urins of animals therefore Brun. Seidelius makres it hot 3. I deny that water is colder then oyl to the outward touching for hot waters as he said before are in this regard cold and if oyl hath a dulâ—er spirit then water how comes it to mount upward and swim above the water sure this ascendant motion cannot produce from the earthy and gross substance but from the quick spirits thereof therefore we finde that water is cold and oyl hot in operation because more full of spirits then water 4. I deny that snow is colder then water because it hath more spirit but because it is more condensed for heat and cold are more active in a dense and solid then in a thin atternated substance so ice is colder then water and yet who will say that there is more spirits in the ice then in water besides the snow is colder then the water because begot of colder winds and in colder clymats 5. I deny that insects are cold to the touch for having in them the spirit of life because they are colder when that spirit is gon as we see in all dead bodies which are colder then when they were alive therefore death is called by the Poets frigida more and gelidum frigus the spirit of life is that which is both begot of heat and begets heat and preserveth it that when that spirit leave suâ— heat also for sakes us caler ossa relinquit saith the Poet It is not therefore the spirit of life but the temperament and constitution of the body of divers earthy and watrish animals which argue cold and we see that for this cause womens bodies are colder then mens and some men of colder constitutions then others because they have fewer spirits and more of earth and water in them We know also how dull and stupid our hands are in cold frosts till the spirits in them be quickned by heat 6. I deny also that quicksilver is the coldest of metals because fullest of spirits for it is much doubted whether Mercury be cold at all for agility proceeds from heat not from cold and such a quality became the messenger of Iupiter by whom all things receive life and vigour Indeed Mercury may be called the Monster of Nature for sometimes it refrigerats sometimes it califieth it cures sometimes cold sometimes hot diseases take it hot it produceth cold take it cold it produceth hot effects and it hath this quality of heat that nothing is more penetrating then it is Christopher Encelius de re metalica makes it hot and moist in the fourth degree Quercitan in his answer to Aubert makes it rather aerial then aquiall we know that heat is one of the qualities of air Renodaeus in Pharmac makes it both hot and cold Keckerman in Sist. Phy. sayth That it is hot as it is full of spirits but cold as these spirits are congealed Croclius in Bas. Cly. prescribes it in defluxions of the head and in hydropsies which shews it is hot And Poterius in Pharm Spagir tells us That by reason of its different operations no man can tell whether heat or cold be most predominant but it is certain saith he that it is both for is known by our senses that it is cold it is known by its effects and operations that it is hot for it cuts atâ—enuates dissolves and purges which are the effects of heat and so his Lordship doth acknowledge in the next following leaf That heat doth attennate and by atenuation sendeth forth the spirit In his following discourses he hath phrases not to be tolerated in Phylosophy as when he saith Cent. 1.80 That tangible bodies have an antipathy with air Belike then the air is no tangible body but experience shews the contrary that air is tangible both actively and passively our bodies are sensible enough of this tangibility both in hot and cold weather Again if by tangible bodies he mean grosse and dense bodies how can air have an antipathy with them seeing air is one of the ingredients of which all mixed bodies are compounded can it â—e contrary or antipatheticall
to it selfe He saith Sect. 91. That paper or wood oyled last long moist but wet with water dry or putrifie sooner the cause is for that air medleth little with the moisture of oyle Answ. He should have told us the cause of this cause for why doth not air medle with oyle as well as with water The reason is because oyle is a more tenacious and dense substance then water and therefore resisteth the heat of the air longer and cannot be so soon evaporated and indeed it is not the air but the heat in the air that works both on water and oile for the cold air drieth up neither it may well harden them Take then two papers the one moystned with water the other with oyle and hold them near the â—re we shall see the one dried up long before the other so that his saying is erroneous when he inferreth Sect. 91. That fire worketh upon oyle as air upon water For indeed the air doth not work upon water but heat in the air or fire nor doth the fire work so soon upon the oyle as on the water when they are at a distance Again he saith That white is a penurious colour and where moisture is scant Answ. There are many things which want moisture and yet are black as divers dry stones and coals many bodies are not scant of moisture and yet are white as Lilies Milk Snow There is as much moisture in a white Swan as in a black Raven But when he saith Sect. 93 That Birds and Horses by age turn white and the gray hairs of men come by the same reason he is mistaken for it is not want or scant of moisture but want of heat rather that is the cause of whitenesse for old men abound more in watrish moisture then young men and therefore we see that cold climats produce white complexions and skins whereas they are black and swarthy in hot Countries Snow is not bred in hot Summers but in cold Winters and hoar frost is ingendred in cold Scithia not in hot Ethiopia Again he is mistaken when he saith Sect. 96 97. That the soals of the feet have great affinity with the head and mouth of the stomach so the wrists and hands have a sympathy with the heart For there is no more affinity between these parts then any other the feet have as great a sympthy with the heart and the wrists with the head as these with the heart and the other with the head If there be any affinity between the head and the feet it is by reason of the nerves and so the same affinity may be to the hands If there be any sympathy between the heart and the wrists it is because of the arteries and so the sympathy may be to the feet It 's true that the heart is affected in Agues by things applied to the wrists not because there is any sympathy between the skin muscles nerves and bones of the wrists with the heart but because the arteries which have their originall from the heart lie more open and are more tangible there then in many other parts of the body and yet in the temples and divers other parts of the body you shall find the pulse as well as in the wrists and things applied to these parts will work as powerfully on the heart as if applied to the wrists His Lordship is angry Sect. 98. Because we call the spirits of Plants and living Creatures Soules such superficiall speculations saith he they have But he should for the same reason be angry with the Scriptures which ordinarily calls the spirits of beasts birds and fishes Souls He must also be angry with all wise Nomenclators which have called living and sensitive creatures Animals because they have animal soules For animal is from anima Again I would know if this word likes him not how he will call these spirits of animals If he call them nothing but spirits then he makes no difference between them and all other tangible bodies For according to his doctrine there are spirits in stocks and stones as well as in plants and animals but I hope the spirits of these deserve another name then of the others which indeed according to the old and true Philosophy are meer qualities which word also he rejects as Logicall as though forsooth Logick or Logicall terms were needlesse whereas no knowledge is more usefull and necessary as being the hand-maid to all Sciences the want of which hath occasioned multitudes of whimzicall conceits and Chimera's in mens brains Again if he will not have these chiefe acts agents or movers in animals to be called souls or spirits but air or vapour or wind he will find that all these three are called by the word Anima 1. Aire is Anima in the Prince of Poets Eclog. 6. Namque canebat uti magnum pir inaâ—e coacta Semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent 2. Vapour is called anima too in the same Poet AEn 8. Quantum ignes animaeque valent 3. The wind is anima also in Horace Impellunt animae lintea Thracie and animus in the Poet AEn 1. Mollitque animos temperat iras So then call the Spirits of animals what you will air vapour wind or spirit you will still find anima or soul is the term most proper for them and that this is no superficiall speculation My Lord in his second Century sect 11. Makes pictures and shapes but secondary objects to the eye but colours and order the things that are pleasing to the sight If he had said That colours are the chief objects of the eye he had spoken more properly then to say they are pleasing to the eye for some colours are very displeasing to some eyes As for order that is not at all the object of the sight for it is a relation and relations incurre not into the senses Again he saith sect 114. That the sense of hearing striketh the spirits more immediatly then the other senses This is a very improper saying for the senses are patients in receiving the species of their objects not agents upon their objects If there be any action of dijudication that is the work of the phantasie rather then of the outward sense and though I should yeeld that there were some actions of the eye yet the sense of hearing is meerly passive and therefore it is not the sense of hearing that striketh the spirits but the species of the sound which is received by the spirit in the auditory nerve and so conveyed into the phantasie so it is not the smelling as he saith that worketh on the spirits but the object that worketh on the sense of smelling Again when he saith sect 117. That dores in fair weather give no sound he speakes by contraries for if by fair weather he means dry weather then dores give the greatest sound I know not what kind of dores his were but mine sound much in dry Summers and but little in moist weather And this stands
convert any other metall into gold which were to introduce by Art a specificall form into the matter which is the work ofâ— Nature alone He saith It is a vain opinion to think the starre is the denser part of his Orb. This is spoken both Lordly and maâ—esterially but he had done well to tell us why this opinion is vain and to have delivered an opinion void of vanity which he doth not but his bare word is not sufficient to make this a vain opinion which the learned of so many Ages have approved and stands so much with reason I confesse we know but little of those quintessentiall natures for we are as the Poet saith Curvae in terris animae coelestium inanes Yet of all opinions this is most consonant to reason that the starre is homogeneall with its spheare so that the starre is the heaven contracted and the heaven in which the starre moveth is the starre dilated for otherwise wee must make the heaven an heterogeneall body and consequently organicall which will prove the vainer opinion of the two He tells us That Oyl is almost nothing else but water digested I may say it is any thing else rather then water from which it is so averse that it will not be united or incorporated with it and the effects are clean opposite for water is cold oyle hot in operation water putrifieth oyle resisteth putrifaction water makes Iron rust oyle keeps it from rusting water quencheth the fire oyle kindles and feeds it water is heavy oyle light for it vvill still be uppermost vvater is thin oyle thick water is quickly up by heat and turned into vapours so is not oyle water is the food of plants oyle of men oyle is apt to be inflamed so is not water therefore oyle is rather air or fire then vvater digested He gives us a strange cause of mans indisposition to motion when Southern winds blow The cause saith he is that the humours do melt and wax fluid and so flow into the parts How humours should melt I know not except they were congealed like butter wax or ice and where be the parts into which they flow he tells us not but indeed the true cause is the giving as we call it or relaxation of the muscles nerves and tendons by the warm and moâ—st air which in dry and cold weather are more firm compacted and united and therefore the apter for motion It is saith he commonly seen that more are sick in Summer and more die in Winter This is to me a Riddle for if more die in Winter then in Summer it must follow That more are sick in Winter then in Summer for men usually die not till they be sick and so he contradicts himselfe Much like to this is that saying of his Diseases are bred chiefly by heat the contrary whereof is apparent that multitudes of diseases are bread by cold neither can I yeeld to him in saying That it is a superficiall ground that heat and moisture cause putrifaction because there have been great plagues in dry years But by his Lordships leave the plagues were not bred by the drynesse of the yeare but by the precedent heat and moisture of the Winter or Spring which break out upon the hot and dry Summer or Autumne and this hee acknowledgeth in his next Section where he sheweth That the cause of diseases is falsly imputed to the constitution of the air at that time when they break forth whereas it proceeds from a precedent sequence and series of the seasons of the year and so when he saith That in Barbary their plagues break up in Summer when the weather is hot and dry If this be so then it is no superficial ground to say that heat and moysture cause putrifaction seeing it is resisted by hot and dry weather and indeed it were absurd to think otherways seeing both experience and reason tells us that heat and moysture are â—he breeders of putrifaction and that frigidity and â—â—ccity are its greatest enemies therefore in cold climats and seasons putrifaction is not so frequent as in hot Countries and Summers so he confesseth that the Country about Cap Vorde is pestilent through moysture neither are drie things so apt to putrifie as moist so the flesh putrifieth and not the bones the apple or the pear will putrifie when the seed within remains unputrified whereas those bodies which have little or no moysture resist putrifaction both in themseves and others as Salt Brimstone Myrrhe Aloes and such like He makes Refrigeration of the tongues the cause of stuttering If this were so then old men should stutter more then young men for old men are colder But we know the contrary that not the coldnesse but rather the over-heating of the tongue causeth stuttering and this he acknowledgeth in the same Section that many stutterers are very cholerick men But choler is hot then it seemes that both heat and cold is the cause of stuttering But indeed the true cause in some is a bad habit or custom contracted from their infancy in others eagernesse of disposition for hasty and eager natures usually stutter and whilst they make the more haste they use the lesse speed in others again stuttering proceeds from some infirmity or impedimâ— in the tendon muscles or nerves of the tongue As for drinking of wine moderatly which he saith will cause men stut lesse is a thing I could never yet observe in those stutterers I have bin acquainted with He saith That men and beasts move little after their headss are off but in birds the motion remains longer because the spirit are chiefly in the head brain which in men beasts are large but birds have smal heads therfore the spirits are more dispersed in the sinewes That the spirits are chiefly in the head brain I deny for the vital spirits are chiefly in the heart And if the spirits be chiefly in the head and brain why doth the body separated from the head move more and longer time then the head Again though birds have lesser heads then men and beasts yet they have heads proportioned to their bodies and the spirits proportionably are as much in their heads as in mens or beasts heads Moreover though some men and beasts move little after the head is off yet some move much for I saw one beheaded whose body after it was laid in the coffin and carried a pretty way from the place of execution with a violent fit of motion was like to beat the coffin out of the hands of the bearers therefore the true causes of this difference are these as I conceive 1. The spirits of birds are more aeriall and fervent then of men and beasts and in some more in some lesse therefore the body of a Cock beheaded will flutter more then of a Goose or Turkie and so in beasts a Cat beheaded will move more violently then of many others for this reason some men move
the symatrie or assymatrie of the four humours and first qualities and the conformity of the organs As for the Suns absence that cannot be a cause of short life For 1. the Sun is never absent in his vertue efficacy and influence 2. Many creatures prosper best in shades as plants 3. In those Northern parts where the body and light of the Sun is not seen in many moneths together yet multitudes of creatures are generated and live there 4. It seems that the Ephemera are hurt rather by the Suns presence then absence for Scaliger writes Exer. 194.5 That those Ephemera flies which he had seen were always to be seen in the evening never at the Sun rising and one of them which he had caught lived all night but died in the morning The Suns presence then rather then his absence is the cause of this short life in the flye He saith That the motion of gravity is a meer motion of the matter and hath no affinity with the form If it be so what use is there of the form the form of every thing is the nature thereof and nature as the Philosopher tells us is the principle and cause of motion the matter is but the passive the motion is the active principle of motion When he tells us That over moisture doth somewhat extinguishthe heat as hot water quencheth the fire he speaks not like a Philosopher for there is not Physicall action but where there is a contrariety now there is no contrariety between moisture and heat but between moisture and driness heat and cold therfore the humidity of the warm water works upon the siccity of the fire and not upon its heat For if the one quality be taken away the other will fail Neither doth his Lordship speak like a Philosopher when he saith That the sperm of drunken men is unfruitfull because over moystned Lot who in his drunkenness got both his daughters with child of boyes can shew him the contrary and so can the Comick when he saith Sine Cerere libero friget Venus The Poets knew this vvhen they made Bacchus armour-bearer to Venus and a continuall companion of the Fauns and Satyrs And the Gentiles that still offered vvine in the sacrifices of Venus as I have shewed elsewhere In Mystagogo Neither is the sperm over-moistned as he saith for the drunkards vvine cannot get presently into the sperm to moisten it vvhich requireth time for elaboration in the spermaticall vessels Neither can I approve of his reason when he saith That Caterpillers breed upon Cabbages because they have fat leaves and apt to putrifie This contradicts his former assertion That the viscy substance of plants is most in the roots and the vvatrish in the leaves vvhich is the cause that the root is more nutritive then the leaves Neither doth fatnesse make a thing apt to putrifie but rather resisteth it it is the watrish moisture that is most apt to putrifie especially being mixed with a grosse and earthy substance He tells us That bones and teeth stand at a stay as for nails they grow continually This is not so for nature hath prefixed certain limits of growth to every thing which when it hath attained rests there nails then if they be not pared will grow to their prefixed length and there stay but if they be kept pared they will grow still aiming at their just magnitude which by paring them often we hinder Hence it is that they are still growing because still pared so doe the hairs of our head and beards and so do hedges and trees that are pruned He knoweth not how the eye worketh when it is placed in the grosser medium and the object in the finer This is easily known for if ever he had been in a mist he should have found that his eye being in the grosser medium could not well apprehend the object that was in the finer though the object be celestiall luminaries and so it is with those that are in the water they cannot see the object that is in the aire so well as they who being in the air behold the object in the water because the distance of the thicker medium from the eye dilateth the object which is contracted and made obscure if the eye be in the thicker medium for how can the species be received into the eye if the medium that should convey it hindereth it The cause why it raineth not in AEgypt saith he is For that Nilus hath a longer race and runneth swifter for such waters vapour not so much as standing waters or else there is a better concoction of that water for waters concocted vapour not so much as raw Besides the air there is thin and thirsty and imbibeth the moisture and suffereth it not to remain in vapours Here are divers causes alledged but none of them satisfactory For 1. there be rivers that have as long a race and run swifter which hinder not rain 2. If standing waters breed vapours then Nilus should when it stands 40 dayes together over AEgypt I deny that concocted waters breeds fewer vapours then raw waters for water over the fire will never cease to vapour till it be all spent and converted into vapours 4. The air of AEgypt is not so thin and thirsty as under the Line and yet there it raineth 5. The true cause then why it raineth not in AEgypt is because God and Nature doe nothing in vain but rain had been in vain and needlesse in AEgypt whereas Nile supplieth the effects thereof therefore by the Poet Nilus is called Iupiter AEgyptius My Lord speaketh against manifest experience when he writes That Iron red hot burneth and consumeth not That was the priviledge onely of the fire-bush which Moses saw We know that the fire by degrees wasteth the Iron and Steel also which is a harder metall But he saith That the increasing of the weight of the water will increase his power of bearing as brâ—in when it is salt enough will bear an egge In twenty gallons of water an egge will sink as well as in one so as the increasing of the weight is no-thing but it is the thickning of the water with salt that maketh it strong to bear So we see men in boats are better supported in Sea-water then in fresh How sight as hee saith coming into sudden darkness should induce an offer to shiver is a strange AEnigma for the sight in darknesse can neither act nor suffer as having no object nor visive species It is not the sight then but the imagination upon the sudden change apprehending danger that causeth the shivering Water he saith by a kind of appetite or thirst receiveth dry bodies and so dry bodies drink in waters and liquors It vvere strange that contraries should have an appetite or thirst to each other It were against nature simile simili gaudet like draws to like and contraries shun each other Hence it is that vvater vvill not
spread it selfe so soon on a dry board as on a wet upon a dry board a drop of vvater vvill contract it self into a globular form and rise into some height rather then joyn itselfe to its enemy whereas upon a vvet board it presently spreads it selfe So dry things will rather swim upon then sink in the vvater except their vveight force them downward He also contradicteth experience when he saith That Fish hating the dry will not approach the air till it grow moist For vve see that fish play most upon the top of the vvaters in hot and dry Summers and in the hottest and driest time of the day when the Sun is in his Meâ—idian So when he saith That Aches and Corns engrieve most towards rain or frost This is not as if they were sensible of future rain but because the extremity of heat and cold doe exasperate these infirmities For the same reason Moals vvork and Fleas bite more eagerly He tells That hunger is an emptinesse But this is not so for there is sometimes hunger without emptinesse and sometimes emptinesse without hunger It is therefore not emptinesse but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher tells us a desire or appetite of hot and dry things caused by the corrugation and sucking in the mouth of the stomach His Lordship is pleased to call the received opinion That putrifaction is caused by cold or preternaturall heat but nugation But if cold be not the cause of putrifaction how comes it that Apples and Cabbages doe rot in frosty vveather And if peregrine heat be not the cause how comes it that in hot and moist years and places pestilentiall Feavers and other putrid diseases doe reigne Besides abundance of vermin doubtlesse these are procreated of putrifaction and this of heat except we will forfeit our senses and reason of which he being afraid confesseth at last that such a heat tendeth to dissolution He will not have liquifaction to proceed from any of the foure prime qualities that he calls an inutile speculation but from his own phantomes For bodies saith he that are more turgid of spirit or that have their spirits more straitly imprisoned as metals or that hold them better pleased and content as butter are liquifiable How happy then are those spirits which dwell in butter where they have pleasure and content in comparison of those vvretched spirits vvhich are imprisoned in Irons and other metals and yet how these spirits should make the metall turgid I know not Surely these are but crasie fansies vvhereas it is apparent to all ntelligible men that these things are most liquifiable which aboundeth most with congealed moisture whether it be aeriall and oily as in pitch butter wax and grease or watrish alone as in Ice or of a middle nature between both or peculiar as the moisture of metals And to tell us That wood clay free-stone c. are not liquifiable because they are bodies jejune of spirits is ridiculous for there are more spirits in vegitables then in metals and it is plain that clay and stones melt not because they want moysture which is in metals So it is not the dilatation of the spirits as he saith by heat which causeth wax to melt at the fire but the rarefaction of the moysture by heat which was before contracted by the cold For this cause dry wood is more fragile then green stone then metall and fictile earth then crude because there is no moisture in the one comparable to the moisture of the other He tels us that the hardnes of body is caused chiefly by the jejuness of the spirits Indeed this Philosophy is somwhat jejun for I would fain know whether there be not more spirits and less jejune in the hard bodies of Cloves Nutmegs and Cinnamon then in the soft bodies of Wooll Silk and Cotton According to his Philosophy there is a greater quantity of Spirits in a pellet of butter because softer then in a Nutmeg which is harder he that beleeves this let him when he is troubled with flatulencies in his stomack use butter and not hard spices He saith That Moisture doth chiefly colour hair but driness turneth them gray and white In his Philosophy then gray and white are not colours nor indeed blacknes which he saith afterwards is but a privative and consequently hath no entity Aristotle indeed sometimes calls black a privation but there he useth the words in a large sense for if it were properly privative how could other colours be made of black and white seeing of habits and privations nothing can be made He saith That some fishes be greater then any beasts because these have not their moisture drawn by the air and sun-beams Also they rest always in a manner and are supported by the water If these be the reasons of fishes greatness then why are Smelts and other lesser fishes smaller then the beasts Or why are they not as big as Whales seeing neither air nor sun-beams draw away their moisture and are also supported by the water The true cause then of the bigness of fishes above the beasts is the predominance of moisture in them which is easily extendible And indeed it is a frivolous thing to give reasons for the different magnitudes of the creatures seeing Nature hath given to each creature a determinate magnitude and period of duration And whereas he thinks that fish doe rest in a manner when they swim because they are supported by the water he may as well say That beasts and men rest when they walk and run because supported by the earth they that swim find there is no rest but labour and motion Before my Lord told us That by heat in putrifaction the spirits are emitted suppressed and suffocated But now he saith That the spirits in putrifaction gather heat How the spirits at the same time should be destroyed by the heat and yet gather heat is so sublime a fansie that no fansie but his own can reach it Water saith he being contiguous with air cooleth it but moystneth it not except it vapour because heat cold have a virtuall transaction without communication of substance but moysture not He takes it for granted which no Philosophy will grant him to wit that accidents can passe from one subject to another without their substance which is to make accidents subsist by themselves and to be all one with the substance which is repugnant to sense and reason therefore without vapours neither can the water moysten nor cool the air He saith Air is not without some secret degree of heat He needs make no secret of it for it is manifest that the air is hot and moist as the fire is hot and dry but for any secret degree of light in the air I deny For though as he saith Cats and Owles see in the night this is not because there is any degree of light in the air for what light can