its fixation in spirits of wine as may be observed in Ice injected therein Againe the concretion of Ice will not endure a dry attrition without liquation for if it be rubbed long with a cloth it melteth but Crystall will calefy unto electricity that is a power to attract strawes or light bodies and convert the needle freely placed which is a declarement of very different parts wherein wee shall not at present inlarge as having discoursed at full concerning such bodies in the Chap of Electricks They are differenced by supernatation or floating upon water for Chrystall will sinke in water as carrying in its owne bulke a greater ponderosity then the space in any water it doth occupy and will therefore only swim in molten mettall aâ—d Quicksilver But Ice will swim in water of what thinnesse soever and though it sinke in oyle will float in spirits of wine or Aqua vitae And therefore it may swim in water not only as being water it selfe and in its proper place but perhaps as weighing no more then the water it possesseth And therefore as it will not sinke unto the bottome so will it neither float above like lighter bodies but being neare or inequality of weight lye superficially or almost horizontally unto it And therefore also an Ice or congelation of salt or sugar although it descend not unto the bottome yet will it abate and decline below the surface in thin water but very sensibly in spirits of wine For Ice although it seemeth as transparent and compact as Chrystall yet is it short in either for its atoms are not concreted into continuity which doth diminish its translucency it is also full of spumes and bubbles which may abate its gravity And therefore waters frozen in pans and open glasses after their dissolution do commonly leave a froth and spume upon them They are distinguisht into substance of parts and the accidents thereof that is in colour and figure for Ice is a similary body and homogeneous concretion whose materiall is properly water and but accidentally exceeding the simplicity of that element but the body of Crystall is mixed its ingredients many and sensibly containeth those principles into which mixt bodies arâ— reduced for beside the spirit and mercuriall principle it containeth a sulphur or inflamable part and that in no small quantity for upon collision with steele it will actually send forth its sparkes not much inferior unto a flint Now such bodies only strike fire as have a sulphur or ignitible parts within them For as we elsewhere declare these scintillations are not the accension of the ayre upon the collision of two hard bodies but rather the inflamable effluencies discharged from the bodies collided For diamonds marbles heliotropes and agaths though hard bodies will not strike fire nor one steele easily with another nor a flint easily with a steele if they both be wet for then the sparkes are quenched in their eruption It containeth also a salt and that in some plenty which may occasion its fragility as is also observable in corall This by the art of Chymistry is separable unto the operations whereof it is lyable with other concretions as calcination reverberation sublimation distillation And in the preparation of Crystall Paracelsus hath made a rule for that of Gemms as he declareth in his first de praeparationibuâ— Briefly it consisteth of such parts so far from an Iciâ— dissolution that powerfull menstruums are made for its emolition whereby it may receive the tincture of minerals and so resemble Gemms as Boetius hath declared in the distillation of Urine spirits of wine and turpentine and is not onely triturable and reduceable into powder by contrition but will subsist in a violent â—ire and endure a vitrification Wherby are testified its earthy and fixed parts For vitrification is the last worke of fire and when that arriveth humidity is exhaled for powdered glasse emits no fume or exhalation although it bee laid upon a red hot iron And therefore when some commend the powder of burnt glasse against the stone they fall not under my comprehension who cannot conceive how a body should be farther burned which hath already passed the extrâ—amest teste of fire As for colour although crystall in his pellucide body seems to have none at all yet in its reduction into powder it hath a vaile and shadow of blew and in its courser peeces is of a sadder hue then the powder of Venice glasse which complexion it will maintaine although it long endure the fire which notwithstanding needs not move us unto wonder for vitrified and pellucide bodyes are of a clearer complexion in their continuities then in their powders and Atomicall divisions So Stibium or glasse of Antimony appears somewhat red in glasse but in its powder yellow so painted glasse of a sanguine red will not ascend in powder above a murrey As for the figure of crystall which is very strange and forced Plinie to the despaire of resolution it is for the most part hexagonall or six cornerd being built upon a confused matter from whence as it were from a root angular figures arise as in the Amethists and Basaltes which regular figuration hath made some opinion it hath not its determination from circumscription or as conforming unto contiguities but rather from a seminall root and formative principle of its owne even as we observe in severall other concretions So the stones which are sometime found in the gall of a man are most triangular and pyramidall although the figure of that part seems not to cooperate thereto So the Asterâ—a or Lapis Stellaris hath on it the figure of a Starre and so Lapis Iudaâ—cuâ— that famous remedy for the stone hath circular lines in length all downe its body and equidistant as though they had been turned by Art So that we call a Fayrie stone and is often found in gravell pits amongst us being of an hemisphericall figure hath five double lines arising from the center of its basis which if no accretion distract them doe commonly concur and meet in the pole thereof The figures are regular in many other stones as in the Belemnites Lapis anguinus Cornu Amnâ—onis and divers beside as by those which have not the experience hereof may be observed in their figures expressed by Mineralogistes But Ice receiveth its figure according unto the surface wherein it concreteth or the circumambâ—â—ncy which conformeth it So is it plaine upon the surface of water but round in hayle which is also a glaciacion and figured in its guttulous descent from the ayre And therefore Aristotle in his Meteors concludeth that haile which is not round is congealed nearer the earth for that which falleth from an high is by the length of its journey corraded and descendeth therefore in a lesser magnitude but greater rotundity unto us They are also differenced in the places of their generation for though Crystall be found in cold countries and where Ice remaineth long and the ayre exceedeth in cold
acknowledge that nothing proceedeth from gold in the usuall decoction thereof Now the capitall reason that led men unto this opinion was their observation of the inseperable nature of gold it being excluded in the same quantity as it was received without alteration of parts or diminution of its gravity Now herein to deliver somewhat which in a middle way may be entertained we first affirm few I beleeve will deny it that the substance of gold is indeed invincible by the powerfullest action of naturall heat and that not only alimentally in a substantiall mutation but also medicamentally in any corporeall conversion as is very evident not only in the swallowing of golden bullets but in the lesser and foliate divisions thereof passing the stomack and guts even as it doth the throat that is without abatement of weight or consistence so that it entereth not the veynes with those electuaries wherein it is mixed but taketh leave of the permeant parts at the mouthes of the miseraicks and accompanieth the inconvertible portion unto the siege nor is its substantiall conversion expectible in any composition or aliment wherein it is taken And therefore that was truly a starving absurdity which befell the wishes of Midas And little credit there is to be given to the golden Hen related by Wendlerus And so likewise in the extinction of gold we must not conceive it parteth with any of its salt or dissoluble principle thereby as we may affirme of Iron for the parts thereof are fixed beyond division nor will they seperate upon the strongest test of fire And this we affirme of pure gold for that which is currant and passeth in stampe amongst us by reason of its allay which is a proportion of copper mixed therewith it is actually dequantitated by fire and possibly by frequent extinction Secondly although the substance of gold be not sensibly immuted or its gravity at all decreased yet that from thence some vertue may proceed either in substantiall reception or infusion we cannot safely deny For possible it is that bodyes may emit a vertue and operation without abatement of weight as is most evident in the Loadstone whose effluencies are both continuall and communicable without a minoration of gravity And the like is observable in bodies electricall whose emissions are lesse subtile So will a Diamond or Saphire emit an effluvium sufficient to move the needle or a straw without diminution of weight Nor will polished amber although it send forth a grosse and corporall exhalement be found a long time defective upon the exactest scales Thirdly if amulets doe worke by Aporrhoias or emanations from their bodies upon those parts whereunto they are appended and are not yet observed to abate their weight if they produce visible and reall effects by imponderous and invisible emissions it may be unjust to deny all â—fficacie of gold in the non omission of weight or deperdition of any ponderous particles Lâ—stly since Stibium or glasse of Antimony since also its Regulus will manifestly communicate unto water or wine a purging and vomitory operation and yet the body it selfe though after iterated infusions cannot be â—ound to abate either vertue or weight I dare not deny but gold may doe the like that is impart some efâ—luences unto the infusion which carry with them the subtiler nature and separable conditions of its body That therefore this mettall thus received hath any undeniable effect upon the body either from experience in others or my selfe I cannot satisfactorily affirm That possibly it may have I not wil at all deny But from power unto act from a possible unto an actuall operation the inference is not reasonable And therefore since the point is dubious and not yet authentically decided it will be discretion not to depend on disputable remedies but rather in cases of knowne danger to have recourse unto medicines of knowne and approved activity for beside the benefit accruing unto the sicke hereby may be avoyded a grosse and frequent error commonly committed in the use of doubtfull remedies conjoyntly with those which are of approved vertue That is to impute the cure unto the conceited remedy or place it on that whereon they place their opinion whose operation although it be nothing or its concurrence not considerable yet doth it obtaine the name of the whole cure and carryeth often the honour of the capitall energie which had no finger in it 4. That a pot full of ashes will still containe as much water as it would without them although by Aristotle in his problems taken for granted and so received by most is surely very false and not effectible upon the strictest experiment I could ever make For when the ayery intersticies are filled and as much of the salt of the ashes as the water will imbibe is dissolved there remaines a grosse and terreous portion at the bottome which will possesse a space by it selfe according whereto there will remaine a quantity of water not receiveable and so will it come to passe in a pot of salt although decrepitated and so also in a pot of snow For so much it will want in reception as its solution taketh up according unto the bulke whereof there will remaine a portion of water not to be admitted So a glasse stuffed with peeces of spunge will want about a sixt part of what it would receive without it So suger will not dissolve beyond the capacity of the water nor a mettall in Aqua-fortis bee corroded beyond its reception And so a pint of salt of tartar exposed unto a moist aire untill it dissolve will make far more liquor or as some tearm it oyle then the former measure will contain Nor is it only the exclusion of ayre by water or repletion of cavitiâ—s possessed thereby which causeth a pot of ashes to admit so great a quantity of water but also the solution of the salt of the ashes into the body of the dissolvent so a pot of ashes will receive somewhat more of hot water then of cold for as much as the warme water imbibeth more of the salt and a vessell of ashes more then one of pindust or filings of Iron and a glasse full of water will yet drinke in a proportion of salt or suger without overflowing 5. Of white powder and such as is discharged without report there is no small noise in the world but how far agreeable unto truth few I perceive are able to determine Herein therefore to satisfie the doubts of some and amuse the credulity of others We first declare that gun-powder consisteth of three ingredients that is Salt-peter Smal-coale and Brimstone Salt-peter although it be also naturall and found in severall places yet is that of common use an artificiall salt drawn from the infusion of salt earth as that of Stals Stables Dovehouses Cellers and other covered places where the raine can neither dissolve nor the sunne approach to resolve it Brimstone is a Minerall body of fat and inflamable parts and this is
Lastly the necks of animals doe vaâ—y according to the parts that are contained in them which are the weazon and the gullet Such as have no weazon and breathe not have scarce any neck as most sorts of fishes and some none at all as all sorts of pectinals Soales Thornback Flounders and all crustaccoâ—â— animals as Crevises Crâ—â—â— and Lobsters All which considered the Wish of Pâ—â—loxenus will hardly consist with reason More excusable had it beene to â—ave wished himselfe an Ape which if common conceit speake true is exacter in taste then any Rather some kinde of granivorous bird then a Crane for in this sense they are so exquisite that upon the first peck of their bill they can distinguish the qualities of hard bodies which the sence of man discernes not without mastication Rather some ruminating animall that he might have eate his meate twice over or rather as Theophilus observed in Athenaeus his desire had been more reasonable had hee wished himselfe an Elephant or an Horse for in these animals the appetite is more vehement and they receive their viands in large and plenteous manner And this indeed had beene more sutable if this were the same Philoxenus whereof Plutarch speaketh who was so uncivilly greedy that to engrosse the messe he would preventively deliver his nostrils in the dish As for the musicall advantage although it seeme more reasonable yet doe we not observe that Cranes and birds of long necks have any musicall but harsh and clangous throats But birds that are canorous and whose notes we most commend are of little throats and short necks as Nightingales Finches Linnets Canary birds and Larkes And truly although the weazon throtle and tongue be the instruments of voice and by their agitations doe chiefly concurre unto these delightfull modulations yet cannot we assigne the cause unto any particular formation and I perceive the best thereof the Nightingale hath some disadvantage in the tongue which is not acuminate and pointed as in the rest but seemeth as it were cut off which perhaps might give the hint unto the fable of Philomela and the cutting off her tongue by Tereus CHAP. XV. Of the Lake Asphaltites COncerning the Lake Asphaltites the Lake of Sodome or the dead Sea that heavy bodies cast therein sinke not but by reason of a salt and bituminous thicknesse in the water floate and swimme above narrations already made are of that variety we can hardly from thence deduce a satisfactory determination and that not onely in the story it selfe but in the cause alledged For as for the story men deliver it variously some I â—eare too largely as Pliny who affirmeth that bricks will swim therein Mandevill goeth farther that Iron swimmeth and feathers sinke Munster in his Cosmography hath another relation although perhaps derived from the Poem of Tertullian that a candle burning swimmeth but if extinguished sinketh Some more moderately as Josephus and many other affirming onely that living bodies â—loate nor peremptory avâ—rring they cannot sinke but that indeed they doe not easily descend Most traditionally as Galen Pliny Solinus and Strabo who seemes to mistake the Lake Serbonis for it few experimentally most contenting themselves in the experiment of Vespasian by whose command some captives bound were cast therein and found to floate as though they could have swimmed divers contradictorily or contrarily quite overthrowing the point Aristotle in the second of his Meteors speaks lightly thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and esteemeth thereof as a fable Biddulphus devideth the common accounts of Judea into three paâ—ts the one saith he are apparent truths the second apparent falshoods the third are dubious or betweene boâ—h in which forme hee ranketh the relation of this Lake But Andrew Thevet in his Cosmography doth ocularly overthrow it for hee affirmeth he saw an Asse with his saddle cast therein and drowned Now of these relations so different or contrary unto each other the second is most moderate and â—aâ—est to be embraced which saith that living bodies swim therein that is they doe not easily sinke and this untill exact experiment further determine may be allowed as best consistent with this quality and the reasons alledged for it As for the cause of this effect common opinion conceives it to bee the salt and bituminous thicknesse of the water This indeed is probable and may bee admitted as farre as the second opinion conceadeth For certaine it is that salt water will support a greater burden then fresh and we daylie see an egge will descend in salt water which will swimme in brine But that Iron â—hould floate therein from this cause is hardly granted for heavy bodies will onely swim in that liquor wherein the weight of their bulke exceedeth not the weight of so much water as it occupieth or taketh up But surely no water is heavy enough to answer the ponderosity of Iron and therefore that metall will sinke in any kinde thereof and it was a perfect miracle which was wrought this way by Elisha Thus wee perceive that bodies doe swim or sinke in different liquors according unto the tenuity or gravity of those liquors which are to support them So salt water beareth that weight which will sinke in vineger vineger that which will fall in fresh water fresh water that which will sinke in spirits of Wine and that will swimme in spirits of Wine which will sinke in cleere oyle as wee made experiment in globes of waxe pierced with light sticks to support them So that although it be conceived an hard matter to sinke in oyle I beleeve a man should finde it very difficult and next to flying to swimme therein And thus will Gold swim in Quicksilver wherein Iron and other metals sinke for the bulke of Gold is onely heavier then that space of Quicksilver which it containeth and thus also in a solution of one ounce of Quicksilver in two of Aqua fortis the liquor will beare Amber horne and the softer kinds of stones as we have made triall in each But a private opinion there is which crosseth the common conceit maintained by some of late and alledged of old by Strabo that is that the â—loating of bodies in this Lake proceeds not from the thicknesse of the water but a bituminous ebullition from the bottome whereby it wafts up bodies injected and suffereth them not easily to sinke The verity thereof would be enquired by ocular exploration for this way is also probable so we observe it is hard to wade deep in baths where springs arise and thus sometime are bals made to play upon a spouting streame And therefore untill judicious and ocular experiment confirme or distinguish the assertion that bodies doe not sinke herein at all we doe not yet beleeve that they not easily or with more difficulty descend in this then other water we shall already assent but to conclude an impossibility from a difficulty or affirme whereas things not easily sinke they doe not drowne at all beside the fallacy is
lead them into a nearer apprehension of many things delivered will friendly accept if not countenance our endeavours Nor can we conceive it may be unwelcome unto those honoured Worthies who endeavour the advancement of Learning as being likely to finde a clearer progression when so many rubbes are levelled and many untruths taken off which passing as principles with common beliefes disturb the tranquility of Axiomes which otherwise might bee raysed And wise men cannot but know that Arts and Learning want this expurgation and if the course of truth bee permitted unto its selfe like that of Time and uncorrected computations it cannot escape many errours which duration still enlargeth Lastly wee are not Magisteriall in opinions nor have wee Dictator-like obtruded our conceptions but in the humility of Enquiries or disquisitions have only proposed them unto more ocular discerners And therefore opinions are free and open it is for any to thinke or declare the contrary And wee shall so farre encourage contradiction as to promise no disturbance or reoppose any Penne that shall Elenchically refute us that shall onely lay hold of our lapses single out digressions Corollaries or ornamentall conceptions to evidence his own in as indifferent truths And shall only take notice of such whose experimentall and Iudicious knowledge shall solemnly looke upon it not onely to destroy of ours but to establish of his owne not to traduce or extenuate but to explaine and dilucidate to adde and ampliate according to the laudable custome of the Ancients in their soâ—er promotions of Learning Vnto whom notwithstanding wee shall not contentiously rejoyne or onely to justifie our owne but to applaud or confirme his maturer assertions and shall conferre what is in us unto his name and honour Ready to bee swallowed in any worthy enlarger as having acquired our end if any way or under any name wee may obtaine a worke so much desired at least desiderated of truth T. B. A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS THE FIRST BOOKE Containing the Generall part OF the first cause of common Errours the common infirmity of humane nature Chapter 1. A farther illustration of the same chap. 2. Of the second cause of popular Errors the erroneous disposition of the people chap. 3. Of the neerer causes of common errours both in the wiser and common sort misapprehension fallacy or false deduction credulity supinity adherence unto Antiquity Tradition and Authority contained in the following Chapters Of mistake misapprehension fallacy or false deduction chap. 4. Of credulity and supinity chap. 5. Of obstinate adherence unto Antiquity chap. 6. Vnto Authority chap. 7. Of Authors who have most promoted popular conceits chap. 8. Of others indirectly effecting the same chap. 9. Of the last and great promoter of false opinions the endeavours of Satan chap. 10 11. THE SECOND BOOKE Beginning the particular part concerning Minerall and Vegetable bodies THe common Tenent that Crystall is nothing else but Ice strongly congealed Chap. 1. Concerning the Loadstone of things particularly spoken thereof evidently or probably true of things generally beleeved or particularly delivered evidently or probably false Of the Magneticall vertue of the earth Of the fouâ—e motions of the stone that is its verticity or direction its coition or Attraction its Declination variation and also of its Antiquity chap. 2. A Rejection of sundry opinions and Relations thereof Naturall Medicall Historicall Magicall chap. 3. Of bodies Electricall in generall Of let and Ambâ—r in particular that they attract all light bodies 〈◊〉 Bâ—sil and bodies oyled chap. 4. Compendiously of severall other Tenents That a Diamond is made soft or broke by the blood of a Goate That Glasse is poyson Of the cordiall quality of Gold in substance or Decoction That a pot full of ashes will containe as much water as it would without them Of white powder that kils without report That Corall is soft under water but hardeneth in the Ayre That Porcelliane or China dishes lye under the earth an hundred yeares in preparation with some others chap. 5. Of sundry Tenents concerning Vegetables That the roote of Mandrakes resembleth the shape of man That they naturally grow under Gallowes and places of execution That the roote gives a shreeke upon eradication That it is fatall or dangerous tâ— dig them up That Cinnamon Ginger Cloves Mace are but the parts or fruits of the same tree That Misseltoe is bredupon trees from seeds which birds let fall thereon Of the Rose of Ierico that flowreth every yeâ—re upon Christmas Eve That Sferra Cavalâ—o hath a power to breake or loosen Iron That Bayes preserve from the mischiefe of Lightning and Thunder That bitter Almonds are preservatives against Ebâ—iety with some others chap. 6. THE THIRD BOOK Of popular and received Tenents concerning Animals THat an Elephant hath no joynts chap. 1. That an horse hath no Gall. chap. 2. That a Pigeon hath no Gall. chap. 3. That a Bever to escape the hunter bites off his Testicles or stones chap. 4. That a Radger hath the legs of one side shorter then of the other chap. 5. That a â—eare bringâ— forth her cubs informous or unshaped chap. 6. Of the Basilisk chap. 7. That a Wolfe first seeâ—ng a man begeâ—s a dumbnesse in him chap. 8. Of the long life of Deere chap. 9. That a Kings fisher hanged by the bill sheweth where the winde is chap. 10. Of Gryphins chap. 11. Of the Phaenix chap. 12. Of the pissing of Toads of the stone in their head and of the generation of Frogs chap. 13. That a Salaâ—ander lives in the fire chap. 14. Of the Amphisbaena or Serpent with two heads moving either way chap. 15. That young Vipers force their way through the bowels of their dam. chap. 16. That Hares are both male and female chap. 17. That Moles are blinde and have no eyes chap. 18. That Lampries have many eyes chap. 19. That Snayles have two eyes and at the ends of their hornes chap. 20. That the Chamaeleon lives onely by Aire chap. 21. That the Ostridge digesteâ—h Iron chap. 22. Of the Vnicornes horne chap. 23. That all Animals in the land are in their kinde in the Sea chap. 24. Compendiously of some others Of the musicall note of Swans before their death That the flesh of Peacocks corruptâ—th not That Storkes will onely live in Republicks and free States Of the noyse of a Bâ—tterâ—e by putting the bill in a Reed Thâ—t Whelps are bâ—ind nine dzâ—â—es and then begins to see Of the antipathy betweene a â—oade and a Spider a Lion and a Cock. That â—n Eaâ—â—â—g hath no wings Of â—â—â—mes That 〈◊〉 make that humming noyse by their mouths or wings Of tâ—e â—ainct or small red Spâ—der Of the Glowâ—worme Of the providence of Pismires in biting off the ends of Corn. chap. 25. THE FOVRTH BOOK Of many popular and received Tenents concerning Man THat man hath onely an erect figure and that to looke up to Heaven chap. 1. That the heart of a man is seated on the left side chap. 2.
secrets there are in nature of difficult discovery unto man of naturall knowledge unto Satan whereof some his vain-glory cannot conceale others his envy will never discover Againe such is the mystery of his delusion that although he labour to make us beleeve that he is God and supremest nature whatsoever yet would he also perswade our beleefes that he is lesse then Angels or men and his condition not only subjected unto rationall powers but the action of things which have no efficacy on our selves thus hath hee inveigled no small part of the world into a credulity of artificiall Magick That there is an Art which withouâ— compact commandeâ—h the powers of hell whence some have delivered the policy of spirits and left an account even to their Provinciall dominions that they stand in awe of charmes spells and conjurations that he is afraid of letters and characters of notes and dashes which set together doe signifie nothing and not only in the dictionary of man but the subtiler vocabulary of Satan That there is any power in Bitumen pitch or brimstone to purifie the aire from his uncleannesse that any vertue there is in Hipericon to make good the name of fuga Demonis any such magick as is ascribed unto the root Baaras by Josephus or Cynospastus by Aelianus it is not easie to beleeve nor is it naturally made out what is delivered of Tobias that by the fume of a fishes liver he put to flight Asmodeus That they are afraid of the pentangle of Solomon though so set forth with the body of man as to touch and point out the five places wherein our Saviour was wounded I know not how to assent if perhaps he hath fled from holy water if he cares not to heare the sound of Tetragrammaton if his eye delight not in the signe of the Crosse and that sometimes he will seem to be charmed with words of holy Scripture and to flye from the letter and dead verbality who must only start at the life and animated interiors thereof It may be feared they are but Parthian flights Ambuscado retreats and elusory tergiversations whereby to confirme our credulities he will comply with the opinion of such powers which in themselves have no activities whereof having once begot in our mindes an assured dependence he makes us relye on powers which he but precariously obeyes and to desert those true and only charmes which hell cannot withstand Lastly to lead us farther into darknesse and quite to lose us in this maze of error he would make men beleeve there is no such creature as himselfe and that hee is not onely subject unto inferiour creatures but in the ranke of nothing Insinuating into mens mindes there is no divell at all and contriveth accordingly many wayes to conceale or indubitate his existency wherein beside that hee anihilates the blessed Angels and spirits in the ranke of his creation hee begets a security of himselfe and a carelesse eye unto the last remunerations And therefore hereto he inveigleth not only the Sadduces and such as retaine unto the Church of God but is also content that Epicurus Democritus or any of the heathen should hold the same And to this effect he maketh men beleeve that apparitions and such as confirme his existence are either deceptions of sight or melancholy depravements of phancy Thus when he had not only appeared but spake unto Brutus Cassius the Epicurian was ready at hand to perswade him it was but a mistake in his weary imagination and that indeed there were no such realities in nature Thus he endeavours to propagate the unbelief of witches whose concession infers his coexistency and by this means also he advanceth the opinion of totall death and staggereth the immortality of the soul for those which deny there are spirits subsistent without bodies will with more difficulty affirme the separated existence of their own Now to induce and bring about these falsities he hath laboured to destroy the evidence of truth that is the revealed verity and written word of God To which intent he hath obtained with some to repudiate the books of Moses others those of the Prophets and some both to deny the Gospell and authentick histories of Christ to reject that of John and receive that of Judas to disallow all and erect another of Thomas And when neither their corruption by Valentinus and Arrian their mutilation by Marcion Manes and Ebion could satisfie his designe he attempted the ruine and totall destruction thereof as he sedulously endeavoured by the power and subtilty of Julian Maximinus and Dioclesian But the longevity of that peece which hath so long escaped the common fate and the providence of that Spirit which ever waketh over it may at last discourage such attempts and if not make doubtfull its mortality at least indubitably declare this is a stone too bigge for Saturnes mouth and a bit indeed Oblivion cannot swallow And thus how strangely hee possesseth us with errors may clearely be observed deluding us into contradictory and inconsistent falsities whilest he would make us beleeve That there is no God That there are many That he himselfe is God That he is lesse then Angels or Men. That he is nothing at all Nor hath hee onely by these wiles depraved the conception of the Creator but with such riddles hath also entangled the Nature of our Redeemer Some denying his humanity and that he was one of the Angels as Ebion that the Father and Sonne were but one person as Sabellius That his body was phantasticall as Manes Basilides Priscillian Jovinianus that hee onely passed through Mary as Eutichus and Valentinus Some deny his Divinity that he was begotten of humanâ— principles and the seminall sonne of Joseph as Carpocras Symmachus Photinus That hee was Seth the sonne of Abraham as the Sethians That hee was lesse then Angells as Cherinthus That hee was inferiour unto Melchisedech as Theodotus That he was not God but God dwelt in him as Nicolaus And some embroyled them both So did they which converted the Trinity into a quaternity affirmed two persons in Christ as Paulus Samosatenus that held he was man without a soul and that the word performed that office in him as Apollinaris That he was both Sonne and Father as Montanus That Jesus suffered but Christ remained impatible as Cherinthus And thus he endeavours to entangle truths And when he cannot possibly destroy its substance he cunningly confounds its apprehensions that from the inconsistent and contrary determinations thereof collective impieties and hopefull conclusion may arise there 's no such thing at all CHAP. XI A further Illustration NOw although these wayes of delusions most Christians have escaped yet are there many other whereunto we are dayly betrayed and these we meet with in visible and obvious occurrents of the world wherein he induceth us to ascribe effects unto causes of no cognation and distorting the order and theorie of causes perpendicular to their effects he drawes them aside unto
THE SECOND BOOK Of sundry popular Tenents concerning Minerall and vegetable bodies generally held for trueth which examined prove either false or dubioâ—â— CHAP. I. Of Crystall HEreof the common opinion hath been and still remâ—ineth amongst us that Crystall is nothing else but Ice or Snow concreted and by duration of time congealed beyond liquation Of which assertion if the prescription of time and numerositie of Assertâ—rs were a sufficient demonstration we might sit downe herein as an unquestionable truth nor should there need vlterior disquisition For indeed few opinions there are which have â—ound so many friends or been so popularly received through all professions and ages And first Plinie is positive in this opinion Crystallus sit gelu vehemâ—ntius concrâ—to the same is followed by Seneca and Elegantly described by Claudian not denyed by Scaliger and some way affirmed by Albertus Brasavolus and directly by many others The venerable Fathers of the Church have also assented hereto As Basil in his Hexameron Isidore in his Etymologies and not onely Austin a Latine Father but Gregory the great and Jerom upon occasion of that terme expressed in the first of Ezekiel All which notwithstanding upon a strict enquiry we finde the matter controveâ—â—ible and with much more reason denyed then is as yet affirmed For first though many have passed it over with easie affirmatives yet are there also many Authors that deny it and the exactest Mineralogists have rejected it Diodorus in his eleventh booke denyeth it If Crystall be there taken in its proper acception as Rhodiginus hath used it and not for a Diamond as Salmatius hath expounded it for in that place he affirmeth Crystallum esse lapidem ex aqua pura concrâ—tum non tamen frigore sed divini caloris vâ— Solinus who transcribed Plinie and therefore in almost all subscribed unto him hath in this point dissented from him Putant quidam glaciem coire in Crystallum corporari sed frustra Mathiolus in his Comment upon Dioscorides hath with confidence and not without reason rejected it The same hath been performed by Agricola de Natura fossâ—lium by Cardan Boeâ—ius de Boot Caesius Bernardus Senuertus and many more Now besides authoritie against it there may be many reasons deduced from their severall differences which seeme to overthrow it And first a difference is probable in their concretion For if Crystall be a stone as in the number thereof it is confessedly received it is not immediatly concreted by the â—fficacy of cold but rather by a Minerall spirit and lapidâ—ficall principles of its owne and therefore while it lay in solutis principiis and remained in a fluid body it was a subject very unapt for proper conglaceation for Minerall spirits doe generally resist and scarce submit thereto So wee observe that many waters and springs will never freez and many parts in rivers and lakes where there aâ—e Minerall eruptions will still persist without congelation as we also visibly observe in Aqua fortis or any Minerall solution either of Vitrioll Alum Salpeter Ammoniac or Tartar which although to some degree exhaled and placed in cold conservatories will Crystallise and shoot into white and glacious bodyes yet is not this a congelation primarily effected by cold but an intrinsecall induration from themselves and a retreat into their proper solidityes which were absorbed by the licour and lost in a full imbibition thereof before And so also when wood and many other bodies doe petrifie either by the sea other waters or earths abounding in such spirits doe wee usually ascribe their induration to cold but rather unto salinous spirits concretive juyces and causes circumjâ—cent which doe assimilate all bodyes not indisposed for their impressions But Ice is only water congealed by the frigidity of the ayre whereby it acquireth no new forme but rather a consistence or determination of its diffluency and amitteth not its essence but its condition of fluidity neither doth there any thing properly conglaciate but water or watery humidity for the determination of quick-silver is properly fixation that of milke coagulation and that of oyle and unctious bodies onely incrassation And therefore Aristotle makes a triall of the fertility of humane seed from the experiment of congelation for that sayth hee which is not watery and improlificall will not conglaciate which perhaps must not be taken strictly but in the germe and spirited particles for egges I observe will freeze in the generative and albuginous part thereof And upon this ground Paracelsus in his Archidoxis extracteth the magistery of wine after foure moneths digestion in horsedunge exposing it unto the extremity of cold whereby the aqueous parts will freeze but the Spirit retyre and be found uncongealed in the center Againe the difference of their concretion is not without reason collectible from their dissolution which being many wayes performable in Ice is not in the same manner effected in Crystall Now the causes of liquation are contrary to those of concretion and as the atoms and indivisible parcels are united so are they in an opposite way disjoyned That which is concreted by exsiccation or expression of humidity wil be resolved by humectation as earth dirt and clayi that which is coagulated by a fiery siccity will suffer colliquation from an aqueous humidity as salt and sugar which are easily dissoluble in water but not without difficulty in oyle and well rectified spirits of wine That which is concreated by cold will dissolve by a moist heat if it consist of watery parts as Gums Arabick Tragacanth Ammoniac and others in an ayrie heat or oyle as all resinous bodies Turpentine Pitch and Frankincense in both as gummy resinous bodies Masticke Camphire and Storax in neither as neutralls and bodies anomalous hereto as Bdellium Myrrhe and others Some by a violent dry heat as mettalls which although corrodible by waters yet will they not suffer a liquation from the powerfullest heat communicable unto that element Some will dissolve by this heat although their ingredients be earthy as glasse whose materialls are fine sand and the ashes of Chali or Fearne and so will salt runne with fire although it bee concreated by heat and this way alone may bee effected a liquation in Crystall but not without some difficulty that is calcination or reducing it by Arte into a subtile powder by which way and a vitreous commixture glasses are sometime made hereof and it becomes the chiefeâ—t ground for artificiall and factitious gemmes but the same way of solution is common also unto many stones and not only Berylls and Cornelians but flints and pebbles are subject unto fusion and will runne like glasse in fire But Ice will dissolve in any way of heat for it will dissolve with â—ire it will colliquate in water or warme oyle nor doth it only submit to an actuall heat but not endure the potentiall calidity of many waters for it will presently dissolve in Aqua fortis sp of vitrioll salt or tartar nor will it long continue
yet is it also found in regions where Ice is seldome seen or soon dissolved as Plinie and Agricola relate of Cyprus Caramania and an Island in the Red-sea it is also found in the veynes of Mineralls in rocks and sometime in common earth But as for Ice it will not concrete but in the approachment of the ayre as we have made tryall in glasses of water covered halfe an inche with oyle which will not easily freeze in the hardest frosts of our climate for water concreteth first in its surface and so conglaciates downward and so will it doe although it be exposed in the coldest mettall of lead which well accordeth with that expression of God Job 38. The waters are hid as with a stone and the face of the deep is frozen They have contrary qualities elementall and uses medicinall for Ice is cold and moyst of the quality of water But Crystall is cold and dry according to the condition of earth the use of Ice is condemned by most Physitians that of Chrystall commended by many For although Dioscorides and Galen have left no mention thereof yet hath Mathiolus Agricola and many other commended it in disenteries and fluxes all for the encrease of milke most Chymistes for the stone and some as Brassavolus and Boetius as an antidote against pâ—oyson Which occult and specificall operations are not expectible from Ice for being but water congealed it can never make good such qualities nor will it reasonably admit of secret proprieties which are the affections of formes and compositions at distance from their elements Having thus declared what Chrystall is not it may afford some satisfaction to manifest what it is To deliver therefore what with the judgement of approved Authors and best reason consisteth It is a minerall body in the difference of stones and reduced by some unto that subdivision which comprehendeth gemmes transparent and resembling glasse or Ice made of a lentous colament of earth drawne from the most pure and limpid juyce thereof owing unto the coldnesse of the earth some concurrence or coadjuvaâ—cy but not its immediate determination and efficiency which are wrought by the hand of its concretive spirit the seeds of petrification and Gorgon within it selfe as we may conceive in stones and gems as Diamonds Beryls Saphires and the like whose generation we cannot with satisfaction confine unto the remote activity of the Sun or the common operation of coldnesse in the earth but may more safely referre it unto a lapidificall â—uccity and congelitive principle which determines prepared materials unto specificall concretions And therefore I feare we commonly consider subterranities not in contemplations sufficiently respective unto the creation For though Moses have left no mention of minerals nor made any other description then sutes unto the apparent and visible creation yet is there unquestionably a very large Classis of creatures in the earth farre above the condition of elementarity And although not in a distinct and indisputable way of vivency or answering in all points the properties or affections of plants yet in inferiour and descending constitutions they do like these containe specificall distinctions and are determined by seminalities that is created and defined seeds committed unto the earth from the beginning Wherein although they attaine not the indubitable requisites of Animation yet have they a neere affinity thereto And though we want a proper name and expressive appellation yet are they not to be closed up in the generall name of concretions or lightly passed over as onely Elementary and Subterraneous mâ—xtions The principle and most gemmary affection is its Tralucency as for irradiancy or sparkling which is found in many gems it is not discoverable in this for it commeth short of their compactnesse and durity and therefore it requireth not the Emeâ—ry as Diamonds or Topaze but will receive impression from steele more easily then the Turchois As for its diaphanity or perspicuity it enjoyeth that most eminently and the reason thereof is its continuity as having its earthly salinous parts so exactly resolved that its body is left imporous and not discreted by atomicall terminations For that continuity of parts is the cause of perspicuity is made perspicuous by two wayes of â—xperiment that is either in effecting transparency in those bodyes which were not so before or at least far short of the additionall degree So snow becomes transparent upon liquation so hornes and bodyes resolveable into continued parts or gelly The like is observable in oyled paper wherein the interstitial divisions being continuated by the accession of oyle it becommeth more transparent and admits the visible rayes with lesse umbrosity Or else by rendring those bodies opacus which were before pellucide and perspicuous So glasse which was before diaphanous being by powder reduced into multiplicity of superficies becomes an opacus body and will not transmit the light and so it is in crystall â—owdered and so it is also evident before for if it be made hot in a câ—usible and presently projected upon water it will grow dim and abate its diaphanity for the water entring the body begets a division of parts and a termination of Atoms united before unto continuity The ground of this opinion might be first the conclusions of some men from experience for as much as Crystall is found sometimes in rockes and in some places not much unlike the stirious or stillicidious dependencies of Ice which notwithstanding may happen either in places which havee been forsaken or left bare by the earth or may be petrifications or Minerall indurations like other gemmes proceeding from percolations of the earth disposed unto such concretions The second and most common ground is from the name Crystallus whereby in Greeke both Ice and Crystall are expressed which many not duly considering have from their community of name conceived a community of nature and what was ascribed unto the one not unsitly appliable unto the other But this is a fallacy of Aequivocation from a society in name inferring an Identity in nature By this fallacy was he deceived that drank Aqua fortis for strong water By this are they deluded who conceive sperma Coeti which is a bituminous superfluitance on the Sea to be the spawne of the Whale Or take sanguis draconis which is the gumme of a tree to be the blood of a Dragon By the same Logick we may inferre the Crystalline humor of the eye or rather the Crystalline heaven above to be of the substance of Crystall below Or that Almighty God sendeth downe Crystall because it is delivered in the vulgar translation Psal. 47. Mittit Crystallum suum sicut Buccellas which translation although it literally expresse the Septuagint yet is there no more meant thereby then what our translation in plaine English expresseth that is hee casteth forth his Ice like morsels or what Tremellius and Junius as clearly deliver Deâ—icit gelu suum sicut frusta coram frigore eius quis consistet which proper and Latine
expressions had they been observed in ancient translations elder Expositers had not beene misguided by the Synonomy nor had they afforded occasion unto Austen the Glosse Lyranus and many others to have taken up the common conceit and spoke of this text conformably unto the opinion rejected CHAP. II. Concerning the Loadstone Of things particularly spoken thereof evidently or probably true Of things generally beleeved or particularly delivered manifestly or probably false In the first of the Magneticall vertue of the earth of the foure motions of the stone that is its Verticity or direction its Attraction or Coition its declination its Variation and also of its Antiquity In the second a rejection of sundry opinions and relations thereof Naturall Medicall Historicall Magicall ANd first we conceive the earth to be a Magneticall body A Magnetical body we term not only that which hath a power attractive but that which seated in a convenient medium naturally disposeth it self to one invariable and fixed situation And such a Magnetical vertue we conceive to be in the Globe of the earth whereby as unto its naturall points and proper terms it disposeth it self unto the poles being so framed constituted ordered unto these points that those parts which are now at the poles would not naturally abide under the Aequator nor Green-land remain in the place of Magellanica and if the whole earth were violently removed yet would it not foâ—goe its primiâ—ive points nor pitch in the East or West but return unto its polary position again For though by compactnesse or graviâ—y it may acquire the lowest place and become the center of the universe yet that it makes good that point not varying at all by the accession of bodyes upon or secession thereof from its surface pertuâ—bing the equilibration of either Hemiâ—pheare whereby the altitude of the starres might vary or that it strictly maintaines the north and southerne points that neither upon the motiâ—ns of the heavens ayre and winds without large eruptions and dâ—vâ—sion of parts within its polar paâ—ts should never incline or veere unto the Aequator whereby the latitude of places should also vary it cannot so well be salved from gravity as a magneticall verticity This is probably that foundation the wisdome of the Creator hâ—th laid unto the earth and in this sense we may more nearly apprehend and sensibly make out the expressions of holy Scripture as that of Ps. 93. 1. Firma vit orbem terrae qui non commovebitur he hath made the round world so sure that it cannot be moved as when it is said by Jâ—b Extendit Aquilonem super vacuo c. Hee stretcheth forth the North upon the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing And this is the most probable answer unto that great question Job â—8 whereupon are the foundations of the earth fastened or who laid the corner stone thereof Had they been acquainted with this principle Anaxagoras Socrates and Democritus had better made out the ground of this stabiliâ—y Xenâ—phanes had not been faine to say it had no bottome and â—hâ—les Milesius to make it swim in water Now whether the earth stand still or moveth circularly we may concede this Magneticall stability For although it move in that conversion the poles and center may still remaine the same as is conceived in the Magneticall bodies of heaven especially Jâ—piter and the Sunne which according to Galileus Kepler and Fabrâ—cius are observed to have Dineticall motions and certaine revolutions abouâ— their proper centers and though the one in about the space of ten dayes the other in lesse then one accomplish this revolution yet do they observe a constant habitude unto their poles and firme themselves thereon in their gyration Nor is the vigour of this great body included only in is selfe or circumferenced by its surface but diffused at indeterminate distances through the ayre water and bodyes circumjacent exciting and impregnating magneticall bodyes within it surface or without it and performing in a secret and invisible way what we evidently behold effected by the Loadstone For these effluxions penetrate all bodyes and like the species of visible objects are ever ready in the medium and lay hold on all bodyes proportionate or capable of their action those bodyes likewise being of a congenerous nature doe readily receive the impressions of their motor and if not fettered by their gravity conforme themselves to situations wherein they best unite unto their Animator And this will sufficiently appeare from the observations that are to follow which can no better way bee made out then this wee speake of the magneticall vigour of the earth Now whether these effluviâ—ms do flye by streated Atomes and winding particles as Renatus des Cartes conceaveth or glide by streames attracted from either pole and hemispheare of the earth unto the Aequator as Sir Kenelme Digby excellently declareth it takes not away this vertue of the earth but more distinctly sets downe the gests and progresse thereof and are conceits of eminent use to salve magneticall phenomena's And as in Astronomy those hypotheses though never so strange are best esteemed which best do salve apparencies so surely in Philosophy those principles though seeming monstrous may with advantage be embraced which best confirme experiment and afford the readiest reason of observation And truly the doctrine of effluxions their penetrating natures their invisible paths and insuspected effects are very considerable for besides this magneticall one of the earth severall effusions there may be from divers other bodies which invisibly act their parts at any time and perhaps through any medium a part of Philosophy but yet in discovery and will I feare prove the last leafe to be turned over in the booke of Nature First therefore it is evidently true and confirmable by every experiment that steele and good Iron never excited by the Loadstone discover in themselves a verticity that is a directive or polary faculty whereby conveniently they do septentrionate at one extreme and Australize at another this is manifestible in long and thin plates of steel perforated in the middle and equilibrated or by an easier way in long wires equiponderate with untwisted silke and soft wax for in this manner pendulous they will conforme themselves Meridionally directing one extreame unto the North another to the South The same is also manifest in steele wires thrust through little spheres or globes of Corke and floated on the water or in naked needles gently let fall thereon for so disposed they will not rest untill they have â—ound out the Meridian and as neere as they can lye parallell unto the axis of the earth Sometimes the eye sometimes the point Northward in divers Needles but the same point alwayes in most conforming themselves unto the wholâ— earth in the same manner as they doe unto every Loadstone For if a needle untoucht be hanged above a Loadstone it will convert into a parallel position thereto for in this situation it can best
needles which stood before upon their axis parallell unto the Horizon being vigorously excited incline and bend downeward depressing the North extreame below the Horizon that is the North on this the South on the other side of the Equator and at the very Lyne or middle circle of the Earth stand parallell and deflecteth neither And this is evidenced not only from observations of the needle in severall parts of the earth but sundry experiments in any part thereof as in a long steele wires equilibrated or evenly ballanced in the ayre for excited by a vigorous Loadstone it will somewhat depresse it s animated extreme and interest the horizontall circumference It is also manifest in a needle pierced through a globe of Cork so cut away and pared by degrees that it will swim under water yet sinke not unto the bottome which may be well effected for if the corke bee a thought too light to sinke under the surface the body of the water may be attenuated with spirits of wine if too heavy it may be incrassated with salt and if by chance too much be added it may againe be thinned by a proportionable addition of fresh water if then the needle be taken out actively touched and put in againe it will depresse and bow down its northerne head toward the bottome and advance its southerne extremity toward the brim This way invented by Gilbertus may seem of difficulty the same with lesse labour may be observed in a needled sphere of corke equally contiguous unto the surface of the water for if the needle be not exactly equiponderant that end which is a thought too light if touched becommeth even that needle also which will but just swim under water if forcibly touched will sinke deeper and sometime unto the bottome If likewise that inclinatory vertue be destroyed by a touch from the contrary pole that end which before was elevated will then decline this perhaps might be observed in some scales exactly ballanced and in such needles which for their bulke can hardly be supported by the water For if they be powerfully excited equally let fall they commonly sink down and break the water at that extream wherat they were septentrionally excited by this way it is conceived there may be some fraud in the weighing of precious commodities and such as carry a value in quarter grains by placing a powerfull Loadstone above or below according as we intend to depres or elevate one extrem Now if these magneticall emissions bee only qualities and the gravity of bodyes incline them only unto the earth surely that which moveth other bodyes to descent carryeth not the stroak in this but rather the magneticall alliciency of the earth unto which alacrity it applyeth it selfe and in the very same way unto the whole earth as it doth unto a single Loadstone for if an untouched needle be at a distance suspended over a Loadstone it will not hang parallel but decline at the north extreme and at that part will first salute its Director Again what is also wonderfull this inclination is not invariable for as it is observed just under the line the needle lyeth parallel with the Horizon but sayling north or south it beginneth to incline and increaseth according as it approacheth unto either pole and would at last endeavour to erect it selfe and this is no more then what it doth upon the Loadstone and that more plainly upon the Terrella or sphericall magnet geographically set out with circles of the Globe For at the Aequator thereof the needle will stand rectangularly but approaching northward toward the tropick it will regard the stone obliquely when it attaineth the pole directly and if its bulk be no impediment erect it self and stand perpâ—ndicularly thereon And therefore upon strict observation of this inclination in severall latitudes due records preserved instruments are made whereby without the help of Sun or Star the latitude of the place may be discovered and yet it appears the observations of men have not as yet been so just equall as is desirable for of those tables of declination which I have perused there are not any two that punctually agree though som have been thoght exactly calculated especially that which Ridley received froÌ„ Mr. Brigs in our time Geometry Professor in Oxford It is also probable what is delivered concerning the variation of the compasse that is the cause and ground thereof for the manner as being confirmed by observation we shall not at all dispute The variation of the compasse is an Arch of the Horizon intercepted between the true and magneticall meridian or more plainly a deflexion and siding East and West from the true meridian The true meridian is a major circle passing through the poles of the world and the Zenith or Vertex of any place exactly dividing the East from the West Now on this lyne the needle exactly lyeth not but diverts and varieth its point that is the North point on this side the Aequator the South on the other somtimes unto the East sometime toward the West and in some few places varieth not at all First therfore it is observed that betwixt the shore of Ireland France Spaine Guinie and the Azores the North point varieth toward the East and that in some variety at London it varieth eleven degrees at Antwerpe nine at Rome but five at some parts of the Azores it deslecteth not but lyeth in the true meridian on the other side of the Azores and this side the Equator the north point of the needle wheeleth to the West so that in the latitude of 36. neare the shore the variation is about eleven degrees but on the other side the Equator it is quite otherwise for about Capo Frio in Brasilia the south point varieth twelve degrees unto the West and about the mouth of the Straites of Magellan five or six but elongating from the coast of Brasilia toward the shore of Africa it varyeth Eastward and ariving at Capo de las Agullas it resteth in the Meridian and looketh neither way Now the cause of this variation may be the inequalitie of the earth variously disposed and differently intermixed with the Sea withall the different disposure of its magneticall vigor in the eminencies and stronger parts thereof for the needle naturally endeavours to conforme unto the Meridian but being distracted driveth that way where the greater most powerfuller part of the earth is placed which may be illustrated from what hath been delivered before and may be conceived by any that understands the generalities of Geographie For whereas on this side the Meridian or the Isles of Azores where the first Meridian is placed the needle varieth Eastward it may bee occasioned by that vast Tract of earth that is Europe Asia and Africa seated toward the East and disposing the needle that way For arriving at some part of the Azores or Islands of Saint Michaels which have a middle situation betweene these continents and
needles direction and conceiving the â—ffluxions from these mountaines and rockes invite the lilly toward the north which conceit though countenanced by learned men is not made out either by experience or reason for no man hath yet attained or given a sensible account of the pole by some degrees it is also observed the needle doth very much vary as it approacheth the pole whereas were there such direction from the rocks upon a nearer approachment it would more directly respect them Beside were there such magneticall rocks under the pole yet being so far removed they would produce no such effect for they that saile by the Isle of Flua now called Elba in the Thuscan sea which abounds in veynes of Loadstone observe no variation or inclination of the needle much lesse may they expect a direction from rocks at the end of the earth And lastly men that ascribe thus much unto rocks of the north must presume or discover the like magneticalls at the south For in the southern seas and far beyond the Aequator variations are large and declinations as constant as in the northerne Ocean The other relation of Loadstone mines and rocks in the shore of India is delivered of old by Plinie wherein saith he they are so placed both in abundance and vigor that it proves an adventure of hazard to passe those coasts in a ship with Iron nailes Sâ—rapion the Moore an Author of good esteeme and reasonable antiquity confirmeth the same whose expression in the word magnes in this The mine of this stone is in the Sea coast of India whereto when Ships approach there is no Iron in them which flyes not like a bird unto these mountains and therefore their Ships are fastened not with Iron but wood for otherwise they would bee torne to peeces But this assertion how positive soever is contradicted by all Navigators that passe that way which are now many and of our owne Nation and might surely have been controuled by Nearchus the Admirall of Alexander who not knowing the compasse was faine to coast that shore For the relation concerning Mahomet it is generally beleeved his tombe at Medina Talnabi in Arabia without any visible supporters hangeth in the ayre betweene two Loadstones artificially contrived both above and below which conceit is very fabulous and evidently false from the testimony of ocular Testators who affirme his â—ombe is made of stone and lyeth upon the ground as besides others the learned Vossius observeth from Gabriel Sionita Joannes Hesronita two Maronites in their relations hereof Of such intentionâ— and attempt by Mahometans we read in some relators and that might be the occasion of the fable which by tradition of time and distance of place enlarged into the story of being accomplished and this hath been promoted by attemps of the like nature for we read in Plinie that one Dinocrates began to Arche the Temple of Arsinoe in Alexandria with Loadstone that so her statue might be suspended in the ayre to the amazement of the beholders and to lead on our credulity herein confirmation may be drawne from History and Writers of good authority so is it reported by Ruffinus that in the Temple of Serapis there was an iron chariot suspended by Loadstones in the ayre which stones removed the chariot fell and dashed into peeces The like doth Beda report of Bellerophons horse which framed of iron and placed betweene two Loadstones with winges expansed hung pendulous in the ayre The verity of these stories we shall not further dispute their possibility we may in some way determine if we conceive what no man will deny that bodies suspended in the aire have this suspension from one or many Loadstones placed both above and below it or else by one or many placed only above it Likewise the body to be suspended in respect of the Loadstone above is placed first at a pendulous distance in the medium or else attracted unto that site by the vigor of the Loadstone and so we first affirm that possible it is a body may be suspended between two Loadstones that is it being so equally attracted unto both that it determineth it selfe unto neither but surely this position will be of no duration for if the ayre be agitated or the body waved either way it omits the equilibration and disposeth it selfe unto the nearest attractor Again it is not impossible though hardly feâ—sible by a single Loadstone to suspend an iron in the ayre the iron being artificially placed and at a distance guided toward the stone untill it find the newtrall point wherein its gravity just equalls the magneticall quality the one exactly extolling as much as the other depresseth and thus must be interpreted Fracastorius And lastly impossible it is that if an iron rest upon the ground and a Loadstone be placed over it it should ever so arise as to hang in the way or medium for that vigor which at a distance is able to overcome the resistance of its gravity and to lift it up from the earth will as it approacheth nearer be still more able to attract it and it will never remaine in the middle that could not abide in the extreams and thus is to be understood Gilbertus Now the way of Baptista Porta that by a thred fasteneth a needle to a table and then so guides and orders the same that by the attraction of the Loadstone it abideth in the aire infringeth not this reason for this is a violent retention and if the thred be loosened the needle ascends and adheres unto the Attractor The third consideration concerneth relations Medicall wherein what ever effects are delivered they are derived from its minerall and ferreous condition or else magneticall operation Unto the ferreous and minerall quality pertaineth what Dioscorides an ancient Writer and Souldier under Anthony and Cleopatra affirmeth that halfe a dram of Loadstone given with honey and water proves a purgative medicine and evacuateth grosse humors but this is a quality of great incertainty for omitting the vehicle of water and honey which is of a laxative power it selfe the powder of some Loadstones in this dose doth rather constipate and binde then purge and loosen the belly And if sometimes it cause any laxity it is probably in the same way with iron and steele unprepared which will disturbe some bodies and worke by purge and vomit And therefore what is delivered in a booke ascribed unto Galen that it is a good medicine in dropsies and evacuates the waters of persons so affected It may I confesse by siccity and astriction afford a confirmation unto parts relaxed and such as be hydropically disposed and by these qualities it may be usefull in Hernias or Ruptures and for these it is commended by Aetius Aegineta and Orbasius who only affirme that it containes the vertue of Haematites and being burnt was sometimes vended for it To this minerall condition belongeth what is delivered by some that wounds which are made with weapons excited by
forth its Magnalities who not from postulated or precarious inferences entreate a courteous assent but from experiments and undeniable effects enforce the wonder of its Maker CHAP. IV. Of bâ—dies Electricall HAving thus spoake of the Loadstone and bodies magneticall I shall in the next place deliver somewhat of Electricall and such as may seeme to have attraction like the other and hereof wee shall also deliver what particularly spoken or not generally knowne is manifestly or probable true what generally beleeved is also false or dubious Now by Electricall bodies I understand not such as are Metallicall mentioned by Pliny and the Ancients for their Electrum was a mixture made of gold with the addition of the fifth part of silver a substance now as unknowne as true Aurichalcum or Corinthian brasse and set downe among things lost by Pancirollus Nor by Electrick bodies do I conceive such onely as take up shavings strawes and light bodies in which number the Ancients onely placed Jet and Amber but such as conveniently placed unto their objects attract all bodies palpable whatsoever I say conveniently placed that is in regard of the object that it be not too ponderous or any way affixed in regard of the Agent that it be not foule or sullied but wiped rubbed and excitated in regard of both that they be conveniently distant and no impediment interposed I say all bodies palpable thereby excluding fire which indeed it will not attract nor yet draw through it for fire consumes its effluxions by which it should attract Now although in this ranke but two were commonly mentioned by the Ancients Gilbertus discovereth many more as Diamonds Saphyres Carbuncles Iris Opalls Amethistes Berill Chrystall Bristoll stones Sulphur Mastick hard Wax hard Rosin Arsenic Sal gemme roch Alume common Glasse Stibium or glasse of Antimony unto these Cabeus addeth white Wax Gum Elemi Gum Guaici Pix Hispanica and Gypsum And unto these wee adde gum Anime Benjamin Talcum Chyna dishes Sandaraca Turpentine Styrax Liquida and Caranna dryed into a hard consistence And the same attraction wee finde not onely in simple bodies but such as are much compounded as the Oxicroceum plaster and obscurely that ad Herniam and Gratia Dei all which smooth and rightly prepared will discover a sufficient power to stirre the needle setled freely upon a wel pointed pinne and so as the Electrick may be applyed unto it without all disadvantage But the attraction of these Electricks we observe to be very different Resinous or unctuous bodies and such as will flame attract most vigorously and most thereof without fâ—ication as Anime Benjamin and most powerfully good hard wax which will convert the needle almost as actively as the loadstone and wee beleeve that all or most of this substance if reduced to hardnesse tralucency or cleerenesse would have some attractive quality but juyces concrete or gums easily dissolving in water draw not at all as Aloe Opium Sanguis Draconis Lacca Galbanum Sagapenum Many stones also both precious and vulgar although terse and smooth have not this power attractive as Emeralds Pearle Jaspis Corneleans Agathe Heliotropes Marble Alablaster Touchstone Flint and Bezoar Glasse attracts but weakely though cleere some slick stones and thick glasses indifferently Arsenic but weakely so likewise glasse of Antimony but Crocus Metallorum not at all Saltes generally but weakely as Sal Gemma Alum and also Talke nor very discoverably by any frication but if gently warmed at the fire and wiped with a dry cloth they will better discover their Electricities No mettall attracts nor any concretian Animall wee know although polite and smoothe as wee have made triall in Elkes hooves Hawkes talons the sword of a Sword fish Tortoyse shels Sea-horse and Elephants teeth in bones in Harts horne and what is usually conceived Unicornes horne no wood though never so hard and polished although out of some Electricks proceed as Ebony Box Lignum vitae Cedar c. And although Jet and Amber be reckoned among Bitumens yet neither doe we finde Asphaltus that is Bitumen of Judea nor Seacole nor Camphire nor Mummia to attract although we have tried in large and polished pieces Now this attraction have wee tried in strawes and paleous bodies in needles of Iron equilibrated powders of wood and Iron in gold and silver foliate and not onely in solid but fluent and liquid bodies as oyles made both by expression and distillation in water in spirits of wine vitrioll and Aqua fortis But how this attraction is made is not so easily determined that t is performed by effluviums is plaine and granted by most for Electricks will not commonly attract except they grow hot or be perspicable For if they be foule and obnubilated it hinders their effluxion nor if they be covered though but with Linnen or Sarsenet or if a body be interposed for that intercepts the effluvium If also a powerfull and broad Electrick of wax or Anime be held over fine powder the Atomes or small particles will ascend most numerously unto it and if the Electrick be held unto the light it may be observed that many thereof will flye and be as it were discharged from the Electrick to the distance sometime of two or three inches which motion is performed by the breath of the effluvium issuing with agility for as the Electrick cooleth the projection of the Atomes ceaseth The manner hereof Cabeus wittily attempteth affirming that this effluvium attenuateth and impelleth the neighbour ayre which returning home in a gyration carrieth with it the obvious bodies unto the Electrick and this he labours to confirme by experiments for if the strawes be raised by a vigorous electrick they doe appeare to wave and turne in their ascents if likewise the Electrick be broad and the strawes light and chaffy and held at a reasonable distance they will not arise unto the middle but rather adhere toward the verge or borders thereof And lastly if many strawes be laid together and a nimble Electrick approach they will not all arise unto it but some will commonly start aside and be whirled a reasonable distance from it Now that the ayre impelled returnes unto its place in a gyration or whirling is evident from the Atomes or moates in the Sun For when the Sunne so enters a hole or window that by its illumination the Atomes or moates become perceptible if then by our breath the ayre bee gently impelled it may be perceived that they will circularly returne and in a gyration unto their places againe Another way of their attraction is also delivered that it is made by a tenuous emanation or continued effluvium which after some distance retracteth into it selfe as is observable in drops of syrups oyle and seminall viscosities which spun at length retire into their former dimensions Now these effluviums advancing from the body of the Electrick in their returne doe carry back the bodies which they have laid hold within the spheare or circle of their continuities
the report then common water as some doe promise I shall not affirme but may assuredly be more conduceable unto the preservation and durance of the powder as Cataneo hath well observed But beside the prevalent report from Salt-peter by some antipathie or incummiscibility therewith upon the approach of fire Sulphur may hold a greater use in the composition and further activitie in the exclusion then is by most conceived for sulphur vive makes better powder then common sulphur which neverthelesse is of as quicke accension as the other for Small-coale Salt-peter and Camphire made into powder will bee of little force wherein notwithstanding there wants not the accending ingredient for Camphire though it â—lâ—me well yet will not flush so lively or deâ—ecate Salt-peter if you inject it thereon like sulphur as in the preparation of Sal prunellae And lastly though many wayes may be found to light this powder yet is there none I know to make a strong and vigorous powder of Salt-peter without the admixion of sulphur Arsenick red and yellow that is Orpement and Sandarach may perhaps doe something as being inflamable and containing sulphur in them but containing also a salt and hydraâ—gyrus mixtion they will be of little effect and white or Cristaline aâ—senick of lesse for that being artficiall and sublimed with salt will not endure flamation And this antipathy or contention between saltpeter and sulphur upon an actuall fire and in their compleat distinct bodies is also manifested in their preparations and bodies which invisibly containe them Thus is the preparation of Crocus Metallorum the matter kindleth and flusheth like Gunpowder wherein notwithstanding there is nothing but Antimony and Saltpeter but this proceedeth from the sulphur of Antimony not enduring the society of saltpeter for after three or foure accensions through a fresh addition of peter the powder will flush no more for the sulphur of the Antimony is quite exhaled Thus Iron in Aqua fortis will fall into ebullition with noise and emication as also a crasse and fumide exhalation which are caused from this combat of the sulphur of Iron with the acide and nitrous spirits of Aqua fortis So is it also in Aurum fulminans or powder of gold dissolved in Aqua Regis and precipitated with oyle of Tartar which will kindle without an actuall fire and afford a report like Gunpowder that is not as Crollius affirmeth from any Antipothy betweene Sal Armoniac and Tartar but rather betweene the nitrous spirits of Aqua Regis commixed per minima with the sulphur of gold as in in his last De consensu chymicorum c. Sennertus hath well observed 6. That Corall which is a Lithophyton or stone plant and groweth at the bottome of the Sea is soft under water but waxeth hard as soone as it arriveth unto the ayre although the assertion of Dioscorides Pliny and consequently Solinus Isidore Rueus and many others and stands believed by most we have some reason to doubt not onely from so sudden a petrifaction and strange induration not easily made out from the qualities of Ayre but because we finde it rejected by experimentall enquirers Johannes Beguinus in his Chapter of the tincture of Corall undertakes to cleere the world of this errour from â—he expresse experiment of Iohn Baptista de Nicole who was Overseer of the gathering of Coral upon the Kingdome of Thunis This Gentleman saith he desirous to finde the nature of Corall and to be resolved how it groweth at the bottome of the Sea caused a man to goe downe no lesse then a hundred fathom into the Sea with expresse to take notice whether it were hard or soâ—t in the place where it groweth who returning brought in each hand a branch of Corall affirming it was as hard at the bottome as in the ayre where he delivered it The same was also confirmed by a triall of his owne handling it a fathome under water before it felt the ayre Beotius de Boote in his accurate Tract De Gemmis is of the same opinion not ascribing its concretion unto the ayre but the coagulating spirits of salt and lapidiâ—icall juyce of the sea which entring the parts of that plant overcomes its vegetability and converts it into a lapideous substance and this saith he doth happen when the plant is ready to decay for all Corall is not hard and in many concreted plants some parts remaine â—â—petriâ—ied that is the quick and livelier parts remaine as wood and were never yet converted Now that plants and ligneous bodies may indurate under water without approachment of ayre we have experiment in Coralline with many Coralloidall concretions and that little stony plant which Mr. Johnson nameth Hippuris coralloides and Gesner foliis mâ—nsu Arenosis we have our selfe found in fresh water which is the lesse concreâ—ive portion of that element We have also with us the visible petrification of wood in many waters whereof so much as if covered with water converteth into stone as much as is above it and in the ayre retaineth the forme of wood and continueth as before 7. We are not thorowly resolved concerning Porcellane or Chyna dishes that according to common beliefe they are made of earth which lyeth in preparation about an hundred yeares under ground for the relations thereof are not onely divers but contrary and Authors agree not herein Guido Pancirollus will have them made of Egge shells Lobster shells and Gypsum layed up in the earth the space of 80. yeeres of the same affirmation is Scaliger and the common opinion of most Ramuzius in his Navigations is of a contrary assertion that they are made out of earth not laid under ground but hardened in the Sunne and winde the space of fourty yeeres But Gonzales de Mendoza a man employed into Chyna and with an honourable present sent from Phillip the second King of Spain hath upon ocular experience delivered a way different from al these For enquiring into the artifice thereof hee found they were made of a Chalky earth which beaten and steeped in water affoordeth a cream or fatnesse on the top and a grosse subsidence at the bottome out of the cream or superfluiâ—ance the finest dishes saith he are made out of the residence thereof the courser which being formed they gild or paint and not after an hundred yeares but presently commit unto the furnace And this saith he is knowne by experience and more probable then what Odoardus Barbosa hath delivered that they are made of shels and buried under earth of hundred yeares And answerable unto all points hereto is the relation of Linschotten a very diligent enquirer in his Orientall Navigations Now if any man enquire why being so commonly made and in so short a time they are become so scarce or not at all to be had the answer is given by these last Relators that under great penalties it is forbidden to carry the first sort out of the Countrey And of those surely the properties must verified
preserved from extinction and so the individuum supported in some way like nutrition And so when it is said by the same Author Pulmo contrarium corpori alimentum trahit reliqua omnia idem it is not to be taken in a strict and proper sense but the quality in the one the substance is meant in the other for ayre in regard of our naturall heat is cold and in that quality contrary unto it but what is properly aliment of what quality soever is potentially the same and in a substantiall identity unto it And although the ayre attracted may be conceived to nourish that invisible flame of life in as much as common and culinary flames are nourished by the ayre about them I confesse wee doubt the common conceit which affirmeth that aire is the pabulous supply of fire much lesse that flame is properly aire kindled And the same before us hath been denyed by the Lord of Verulam in his Tract of life and death also by Dr. Jorden in his book of Minerall waters For that which substantially maintaineth the fire is the combustible matter in the kindled body and not the ambient ayre which affordeth exhalation to its fuliginous atomes nor that which causeth the flame properly to be termed ayre but rather as he expresseth it the accention of fuliginous exhalations which containe an unctuosity in them and arise from the matter of fuell which opinion is very probable and will salve many doubts whereof the common conceit affordeth no solution As first how fire is strickeÌ„ out of flints that is not by kindling the aire from the collision of two hard bodies for then Diamonds and glasse should doe the like as well as slint but rather from the sulphur and inflamable effluviums contained in them The like saith Jorden we observe in canes and woods that are unctuous and full of oyle which will yeeld â—ire by frication or collision not by kindling the ayre about them but the inflamable oyle with them why the fire goes out without ayre that is because the fuligenous exhalations wanting evaporation recoyle upon the flame and choake it as is evident in cupping glasses and the artifice of charcoals where if the ayre be altogether excluded the 〈◊〉 goes out why some lampes included in close bodies have burned many hundred yeares as that discovered in the sepulchre of Tullia the sister of Cicero and that of Olibius many yeares after neare Padua because what ever was their matter either a preparation gold or Naptha the duration proceeded from the puritie of their oyle which yeelded no fuligenous exhalations to suffocate the fire For if ayre had nourished the â—lame it had not continued many minutes for it would have been spent and wasted by the fire Why a piece of â—laxe will kindle although it touch not the â—lame because the fire extendeth further then indeed it is visible being at some distance from the weeke a pellucide and transparent body and thinner then the ayre it self why mettals in their Equation although they intensly heat the aire above their surface arise not yet into a â—lame nor kindle the aire about them because them sulphur is more fixed and they emit not inflamable exhalations And lastly why a lampe or candle burneth onely in the ayre about it and inâ—lameth not the ayre at a distance from it because the flame extendeth not beyond the inflamable eâ—â—â—uence but closly adheres unto the originall of its inâ—lamation and therefore it onely warmeth not kindleth the aire about it which notwithstanding it will doe if the ambient aire be impregnate with subtile inflamabilities and such as are of quick accension as experiment is made in a close roome upon an evaparation of spirits of wine and Camphir as subterranâ—ous fires doe sometimes happen and as Creâ—sa and Alexâ—anders boy in the bath were set on â—ire by Naptha Lastly the Element of aire is so far from nourishing the bodie that some have questioned the power of water many conceiving it enters not the body in the power of aliment or that from thence there proceeds a substantiall supply For beside that some creatures drinke not at all unto others it performs the common office of ayre and seâ—ves for refrigeration of the heart as unto fishes who receive it and expell it by the gills even unto our selves and more perfect animals though many wayes assistent thereto it performes no substantiall nutrition in sâ—â—ving for refrigeration dilution of solid aliment and its elixation in the stoâ—macke which from thence as a vehicle it conveighs through lesse accessible cavities into the liver from thence into the veines and so in a â—oride substance through the capillarie cavities into every part which having performed it is afterward excluded by urine sweat and serous separations And this opinion surely possessed the Ancients for when they so highly commended that water which is suddenly hot and cold which is without all favour the lightest the thinnest and which will soonest boile Beanes or Pease they had no consideration of nutrition whereunto had they had respect they would have surely commended grosse and turbid streames in whose confusion at the last there might be contained some nutriment and not jejune or limpid water and nearer the simplicity of its Element All which considered severer heads will be apt enough to conceive the opinion of this animal not much unlike unto that of the Astomi or men without mouthes in Pliny sutable unto the relation of the Mares in Spaine and their subventaneous conceptions from the westerne winde and in some way more unreasonable then the figment of Rabican the famous horse in Ariosto which being conceived by flame and wind never tasted grasse or fed on any grosser provender then ayre for this way of nutrition was answerable unto the principles of his generation which being not ayrie but grosse and seminall in the Chameleon unto its conservation there is required a solid pasture and a food congenerous unto the principles of its nature The grounds of this opinion are many The first observed by Theophrastus was the inâ—lation or swelling of the body made in this animal upon inspiration or drawing in its breath which people observing have thought it to feed upon ayre But this effect is rather occasioned upon the greatnes of its lungs which in this animal are very large and by their backward situation afford a more observable dilatation and though their lungs bee lesse the like inflation is also observable in Toads A second is the continuall hiation or holding open its mouth which men observing conceive the intention thereof to receive the aliment of ayre but this is also occasioned by the greatnes of its lungs for repletion whereof not having a sufficient or ready supply by its nostrils it is enforced to dilate and hold open the jawes The third is the paucitie of blood observed in this animal scarce at all to be found but in the eye and about the heart which defect being observed inclined
some into thoughts that the ayre was a sufficient maintenance for these exauguious parts But this defect or rather paucity of blood is also agreeable unto many other animals whose solid nutriment wee doe not controvert as may bee observed in other sorts of Lizards in Frogges and divers Fishes and therefore an Horse-leech will hardly be made to fasten upon a fish and wee doe not read of much blood that was drawn from Frogges by Mice in that famous battaile of Homer The last and most common ground which begat or promoted this opinion is the long continuation hereof without any visible food which some precipitously observing conclude they eate not any at all It cannot be denyed it is if not the most of any a very abstemious animall and such as by reason of its frigidity paucity of blood and latâ—tancy in the winter about which time the observations are often made will long subsist without a visible sustentation But a like condition may bee also observed in many other animals for Lizards and Leeches as we have made triall will live some months without sustenance and wee have included Snailes in glasses all winter which have returned to feed againe in the spring Now these notwithstanding are not conceived to passe all their lives without food for so to argue is fallacious that is A minori ad majus A dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter and is moreover sufficiently convicted by experience and therefore probably other relations are of the same verity which are of the like affinity as is the conceit of the Rhinâ—ace in Persia the Cavis Levis of America and the Manucodiata or bird of Paradise in India To assigne a reason of this abstinence in animals or declare how without a supply there ensueth no destructive exhaustion exceedeth the limits of my intention and intention of my discourse Fortunius Licetus in his excellent Tract De his qui diu vivunt sine alimento hath very ingeniously attempted it deducing the cause hereof from an equall conformity of naturall heat and moisture at least no considerable exuperancy in either which concurring in an unactive proportion the naturall heat consumeth not the moisture whereby ensueth no exhaustion and the condition of naturall moisture is able to resist the slender action of heat whereby it needeth no reparation and this is evident in Snakes Lizards Snails and divers other insects latitant many moneths in the yeare which being cold creatures containing a weak hâ—at in a crasse or copious humidity doe long subsist without nutrition For the activity of the agent being not able to overmaster the resistance of the patient there will ensue no deperdition And upon the like grounds it is that cold and phlegmatick bodies and as Hippocrates determineth that old men will best endure fasting Now the same harmony and stationary constitution as it happeneth in many species so doth it fall out sometime in Individualls For wee read of many who have lived long time without aliment and beside deceites and impostures there may be veritable Relations of some who without a miracle and by peculiarity of temper have far outfasted Elias CHAP. XXII Of the Oestridge THe common opinion of the Oestridge Struthiocamelus or Sparrow-Camell conceives that it digesteth Iron and this is confirmed by the affirmations of many beside swarmes of others Rhodiginus in his prelections taketh it for granted Johannes Langius in his Epistles pleadeth experiment for it the common picture also confirmeth it which usually describeth this animall with an horshooe in its mouth notwithstanding upon enquiry we finde it very questionable and the negative seemes most reasonably entertained whose verity indeed wee doe the rather desire because hereby wee shall relieve our ignorance of one occult quality for in the list thereof it is accounted and in that notion imperiously obtruded upon us For my owne part although I have had the sight of this animall I have not had the opportunity of its experiment but have received great occasions of doubt from learned discoursers thereon For Aristotle and Oppianus who have particularly treated hereof are silent in this singularity either omitting it as dubious or as the Comment saith rejecting it as fabulous Pliny speaketh generally affirming onely the digestion is wonderfull in this animall Aelian delivereth that it digesteth stones without any mention of Iron Leo Africanus who lived in those Countries wherein they most abound speaketh diminutively and but halfe way into this assertion Surdum ac simplex animal est quicquid invenit absque delectu usque ad ferrum devorat Fernelius in his second booke De abditis rerum causis extenuates it and Riolanus in his Comment thereof positively denyes it Some have experimentally refuted it as Albertus Magnus and most plainly of all other Vlysses Aldrovandus whose words are these Ego ferri frusta devorare dum Tridenti essem observavi sede quae in cocta rursus excerneret that is at my being at Trent I observed the Oestridge to swallow Iron but yet to exclude it undigested againe Now beside experiment it is in vaine to attempt against it by Philosophicall argument it being an occult quality which contemnes the law of Reason and defends it selfe by admitting no reason at all As for its possibility we shall not at present dispute nor will we affirme that Iron ingested receiveth in the stomack of the Oestridge no alteration whatsoever but if any such there be we suspect this effect rather from some way of corrosion then any of digestion not any liquid reduction or tendance to chilification by the power of naturall heate but rather some attrition from an acide and vitriolous humidity in the stomack which may absterse and shave the scorious parts thereof so rusty Iron crammed downe the throate of a Cock will become terse and cleare againe in its gizard So the Counter which according to the relation of Amatus remained a whole yeare in the body of a youth and came out much consumed at last might suffer this diminution rather from sharpe and acide humours then the strength of naturall heate as he supposeth So silver swallowed and retained some time in the body will turne black as if it had beene dipped in Aqua fortis or some corrosive water but Lead will remaine unaltered for that mettall containeth in it a sweet salt and manifest sugar whereby it resisteth ordinary corrosion and will not easily dissolve even in Aqua fortis So when for medicall uses wee take downe the filings of Iron or steele we must not conceive it passeth unaltered from us for though the grosser parts be excluded againe yet are the volatile and dissoluble parts extracted whereby it becomes effectuall in deopilations and therefore for speedier operation we make extinctions infusions and the like whereby we extract the salt and active parts of the medicine which being in solution more easily enter the veynes And this is that the Chymists mainely drive at in the attempt of their Aurum
many hornes yet many there are which beare that name and currantly passe among us which are no hornes at all and such are those fragments and pieces of Lapis Ceratites commonly termed Cornufossile whereof Boetius had no lesse then twenty severall sorts presented him for Unicorns horn hereof in subterraneous cavities under the earth there are many to be found in severall parts of Germany which are but the Lapidescencies and petrifactive mutations of hard bodies sometime of horne of teeth of bones and branches of trees whereof there are some so imperfectly converted as to retaine the odor and qualities of their originals as he relateth of pieces of Ashe and Wallnut Againe in most if not all which passe amongst us and are extolled for precious hornes wee discover not one affection common unto other hornes that is they mollifie not with fire they soften not upon decoction or infusion nor will they afford a jelly or muccilaginous concretion in either which notwithstanding wee may effect in Goates hornes Sheepes Cows and Harts horne in the horne of the Rhinoceros the horne of the Pristis or Sword-fish Briefly that which is commonly received and whereof there be so many fragments preserved in England is not onely no horne but a substance harder then a bone that is the tooth of a Morse or Sea-horse in the midst of the solider part containing a curdled graine which is not to be found in Ivory this in Northerne regions is of frequent use for hafts of knives or hilts of swords and being burnt becomes a good remedy for fluxes but antidotically used and exposed for Unicornes horne it is an insufferable delusion and with more veniable deceit it might have beene practised in Harts horne Sixtly although we were satisfied we had the Unicornes horne yet were it no injury unto reason to question the efficacy thereof or whether those virtues which are pretended do properly belong unto it for what we observe and it escaped not the observation of Paulus Iovius many years past none of the Ancients ascribed any medicinall or antidotall virtue unto the Unicornes horne and that which Aelian extolleth who was the first and onely man of the Ancients who spake of the medicall virtue of any Unicorne was the horne of the Indian Asse whereof saith he the Princes of those parts make boales and drinke therein as preservatives against poyson Convulsions and the Falling-sicknesse Now the description of that horne is not agreeable unto that we commend for that saith he is red above white bâ—low and black in the middle which is very different from ours or any to bee seene amongst us And thus though the description of the Unicorne be very ancient yet was there of old no virtue ascribed unto it and although this amongst us receive the opinion of the same virtue yet is it not the same horne whereunto the Ancients ascribed it Lastly although we allow it an Antidotall efficacy and such as the Ancients commended yet are there some virtues ascribed thereto by Modernes not easily to be received and it hath surely falne out in this as other magnified medicines whose operations effectuall in some diseases are presently extended unto all That some antidotall quality it may have wee have no reason to deny for since Elkes hoofes and hornes are magnified for Epilepsies since not onely the bone in the heart but the horne of a Deere is Alexipharmacall and ingredient into the confection of Hyacinth and the Electuary of Maximilian wee cannot without prejudice except against the efficacy of this But when we affirme it is not onely Antidotall to proper venomes and substances destructive by qualities we cannot expresse but that it resisteth also Sublimate Arsenick and poysons which kill by second qualities that is by corrosion of parts I doubt we exceed the properties of its nature and the promises of experiment will not secure the adventure And therefore in such extremities whether there be not more probable reliefe from fat and oylie substances which are the open tyrants of salt and corrosive bodies then precious and cordiall medicines which operate by secret and disputable proprieties or whether he that swallowed Lime and dranke downe Mercury water did not more reasonably place his cure in milke butter or oyle then if he had recurred unto Peaâ—le and Bezoar common reason at all times and necessity in the like case would easily determine Since therefore there be many Unicornes since that whereto wee appropriate a horne is so variously described that it seemeth either never to have beene seene by two persons or not to have beene one animall Since though they agreed in the description of the animall yet is not the horne wee extoll the same with that of the Ancients Since what hornes soever they be that passe among us they are not the hornes of one but severall animals Since many in common use and high esteeme are no hornes at all Since if they were true hornes yet might their vertues be questioned Since though we allowed some virâ—tues yet were not others to be received with what security a man may rely on this remedy the mistresse of fooles hath already instructed some and to wisdome which is never too wise to learne it is not too late to consider CHAP. XXIV That all Animals of the Land are in their kinde in the Sea THat all Animals of the Land are in their kinde in the Sea although received as a principle is a tenent very questionable and will admit of restraint for some in the Sea are not to be matcht by any enquiry at Land and hold those shapes which terrestrious formes approach not as may be observed in the Moone fish or Orthragoriscus the severall sorts of Raia's Torpedo's Oysters and many more and some there are in the Land which were never maintained to be in the Sea as Panthers Hyaena's Camels Sheep Moll 's and others which carry no name in Icthyologie nor are to be found in the exact descriptions of Rondeletius Gesner or Aldrovandus Againe though many there be which make out their nominations as the Hedg-hog Sea-serpents and others yet are there also very many that beare the name of animals at Land which hold no resemblance in corporall configuration in which account we compute Vulpecula Canis Rana Passer Cuculus Asellus Turdus Lepus c. wherein while some are called the Fox the Dog the Sparrow or Frog-fish and are knowne by common names with those at land as their describers attest they receive not these appellations as we conceive from a totall similitude in figure but any concurrence in common accidents in colour condition or single conformation as for Sea-horses which much confirme this assertion in their common descriptions they are but Crotesco deliniations which fill up empty spaces in Maps and meere pictoriall inventions not any Physicall shapes sutable unto those which as Plinie delivereth Praxiteles long agoe set out in the Temple of Domitius for that which is commonly called a Sea-horse is
us for opening the abdomen and taking out the gall in cats and mice they did notwithstanding arise and because wee had read in Rhodiginus of a Tyrant who to prevent the emergencie of murdered bodies did use to cut off their lungs and found mens minds possessed with this reason we committed some unto the water without lungs which notwithstanding floated with the others and to compleat the experiment although we tooke out the guts and bladder and also perforated the Cranium yet would they arise though in a longer time from these observations in other animalls it may not be unreasonable to conclude the same in man who is too noble a subject on whom to make them expressely and the casuall opportunity too rare almost to make any Now if any shall ground this effect from gall or choler because it is the highest humor and will be above the rest or being the â—iery humor will readiest surmount the water wee must confesse in the common putrâ—scence it may promote elevation which the breaking of the bladder of gall so small a part in man cannot considerably advantage Lastly that women drowned float prone that is with their bellies downward but men supine or upward is an assertion wherein thâ— hoti or point it selfe is dubious and were it true the reason alleadged for it is of no validity The reason yet currant was first expressed by Pliny veluti pudori defunctarum parcente naturâ nature modestly ordaining this position to conceale the shame of the dead which hath been taken up by Solinus Rhodiginus and many more This indeed as Scaliger tearmeth it is ratio civilis non philosophica strong enough for morality or Rhetoricks not for Philosophy or Physicks for first in nature the concealment of secret parts is the same in both sexes and the shame of their reveale equall so Adam upon the taste of the fruit was ashamed of his nakednesse as well as Eve and so likewise in America and countries unacquainted with habits where modesty conceales these parts in one sex it doth it also in the other and therefore had this been the intention of nature not only women but men also had swimmed downwards the posture in reason being common unto both where the intent is also common Againe while herein we commend the modesty we condemne the wisdome of nature for that prone position we make her contrive unto the woman were best agreeable unto the man in whom the secret parts are very anterior and more discoverable in a supine and upward posture and therefore Scaliger declining this reason hath recurred unto another from the diffâ—rence of parts in both sexes Quod ventre vasto sunt mulieres plenolque intestinis itaque minus impletur subsidet inanior maribus quibus nates preponderant If so then men with great bellies will â—loat downward and only Callipygae and women largely composed behinde upward But Anatomists observe that to make the larger cavity for the Infant the hanch bones in women and consequently the parts appendant are more protuberant then they are in men They who ascribe the cause unto the breasts of women take not away the doubt for they resolve not why children â—loat downward who are included in that sex though not in the reason alleadged but hereof we cease to discourse lest we undertake to afford a reason of the golden tooth that is to invent or assigne a cause when we remaine unsatisfied or unassured of the effect CHAP. VII Concerning Weight THat men weigh heavier dead then alive if experiment hath not failed us we cannot reasonably grant for though the triall hereof cannot so well be made on the body of man nor will the difference be sensible in the abate of scruples or dragmes yet can we not confirme the same in lesser animalls from whence the inference is good and the affirmative of Pliny saith that it is true in all for exactly weighing and strangling a chicken in the Scales upon an immediate ponderation we could discover no sensible difference in weight but suffering it to lye eight or ten howres untill it grew perfectly cold it weighed most sensibly lighter the like we attempted and verified in mice and performed their trials in Scales that would turne upon the eighth or tenth part of a graine Now whereas some alledge that spirits are light substances and naturally ascending do elevate and wast the body upward whereof dead bodies being destitute contract a greater gravity although we concede that spirits are light comparatively unto the body yet that they are absolutely so or have no weight at all wee cannot readily allow for since Philosophy aâ—â—irmeth that spirits are middle substances betwâ—â—ne the soule and body they must admit of some corporiety which â—â—pposâ—th weight or gravity Beside in carcasses warme and bodies newly disaâ—imated while transpiration remaineth there doe exhale and breathe out vaporous and fluid parts which carry away some power of gâ—avitation which though we must allow we do not make answerable unto living expiration and therefore the Chicken or Mice were not so light being dead as they would have beene after ten houres kept alive for in that space a man abateth many ounces nor if it had slept for in that space of sleepe a man will sometimes abate forty ounces nor if it had beene in the middle of summer for then a man weigheth some pounds lesse then in the height of winter according to experience and the statick aphorismes of Sanctorius Againe whereas men affirme they percâ—ave an addition of ponderosity in dead bodies comparing them usually unto blocks and stones whensoever they lift or carry them this accessionâ—ll prepondâ—rancy is rather in appearance thâ—n reality for being destitute of any motion they conâ—erre no reliefe unto the Agents or Elevators which makes us meet with the same complaints of gravity in animated and living bodies where the nerves subside and the faculty locomotive seemes abolished as may be observed in the lifting or supporting of persons inebriated Apoplecticall or in Lipothymies and swoundings Many are also of opinion and some learned men maintaine that men are lighter after meales then before and that by a supply and addition of spirits obscuring the grosse ponderosity of the aliment ingested but the contrary hereof we have found in the triall of sundry persons in diffâ—râ—nt sex and ages and we conceave men may mistake if they distinguish not the sense of levity unto themselves and in regard of the scale or decision of tâ—â—tination for after a draught of wine a man may seeme lighter in himselfe from sudden refection although he be heavier in the balance from a corporall and ponderous addition but a man in the morning is lighter in the scale because in sleepe some pounds have perspired and is also lighter unto himselfe because he is refected And to speake strictly a man that holds his breath is weightier while his lungs are â—ull then upon expiration for a bladder blowne is weightier then