I mean the heating of quick-Lime in cold water I confess I cannot but admire the Laziness and Credulity of Mankind which have so long and generally acquiesc'd in what they might so easily have found to be false This I say because I was possibly the first that has had both the curiosity and boldness to examine so general and constant a Tradition yet I doubt not that you will soon be brought to take it as well as I for as great as popular an error For to let you manifestly see how little the Incalescence of the quick-Lime needs be allowed to proceed from the coldness of the ambient water if instead of cold water you quench it with hot water the Ebullition of the liquor will not only be as great as if the water were cold but oftentimes far greater As I have sometimes for curiosity removed boiling water from the fire and when the liquor had left of boiling but was yet scalding hot I put into it a convenient quantity of quick-Lime and after a while the water which as I said had ceas'd from boiling began to boil afresh with so much vehemence and such large and copious bubbles that it threatned to run over the Pot of which before the effervescence a considerable part was left unfill'd And this was no more then what I might well look for hot water being much fitter then cold to pervade nimbly the body of the Lime and hastily dissolve and set at liberty the igneous and saline parts wherewith it abounds And how much a greater interest salts may have in such incalescencies then Cold I have also taken pleasure to try by pouring Acid spirits and particularly spirit of salt upon good quick-Lime For by this means there would be a far greater degree of heat excited then if I had instead of spirit of Salt used common water And this whether I imploy'd the spirit cold or hot For in either case so small a portion as about the bigness of a Walnut of Lime put into a small glass would by the addition of a little spirit of Salt put to it by degrees both hiss and smoak and boil very surprizingly and notwithstanding the small quantity of the matter would conceive so great a heat that I was not able to hold the glass in my hand And to show some friends how little heat excited in quick-Lime by cold water proceeds barely from the coldness of that liquor I caus'd a parcel of good Lime to be beaten small and putting one part of it into a glass vessel I drench'd it plentifully with oyl of Turpentine more then it would imbibe and the other portion of the Lime I likewise drench'd with common water both these liquors having stood in the same room that they might be reduc'd by the same Ambient Air to a like degree of coldness the event of this Trial was what I look'd for that the oyl of Turpentine notwithstanding its actual coldness and the great subtilty and piercingness of parts which it has in common with other Chymical oyls being of an incongruous Texture seem'd not to make any dissolution of the powdered Lime and did not for several hours that I kept it produce that I perceived any sensible heat in the Lime Whereas to show that 't was not the fault of the Lime that part of it on which common water had been poured did after a little while conceive so strong a heat that it broke a large openmouth'd-glass into whose bottom it was put and not only grew so hot that I could not endure to hold it in my hand but sent out at the mouth of the glass though that were considerably distant from the Lime a copious white fume so hot that I could not well suffer the holding of my hand over it And to prevent a possible though invalid objection which I foresaw might be drawn against the Experiment made with oyl of Turpentine from the Oleaginous Nature of that liquor I covered a piece of the same sort of quick-Lime I have been speaking of with highly rectified spirit of Wine but though I left them together all night yet I perceived not that the liquor had at all slack'd the Lime which continued in an intire lump till upon the substituting of common water it did as I remember quickly appear to be slack'd since it fell assunder into a kind of minute white powder which was bating the colour almost like mud and would easily by a little shaking be disperst like it through the water 15. Eleutherius I ingeniously confess to you Carneades that what you say surprizes me for I thought it superfluous to try my self so acknowledged an Experiment being not able to imagine that so many learned men for so many Ages should so unanimously and confidently deliver a matter of fact of which if it were not true the falsity could be so easily discovered 16. Carneades For my part Eleutherius I confess I am wont to doubt of what they teach that seldom or never doubt And I hope you will forgive me if having found an assertion so general and uncontroul'd of a falsity so easie to be disprov'd I be inclinable to suspect the Truth of their other inferior Traditions about Antiperistasis and of these I will mention the two chiefest I have met with among the moderns for being contriv'd Experiments I presume you will easily believe they came not from Aristotle nor the Ancienter Schoolmen that commented upon Him 17. The first of these is the freezing a Pot to a Joynt-stool by a mixture of snow and salt by the fires side in which case 't is pretended that the fire does so intend the cold as to enable it to congeal the water that stagnated upon the surface of the stool betwixt That and the bottom of the Pot. But how little need there is of Antiperistasis in this Experiment you may guess by this that I have purposely made it with good success in a place in which there neither was nor ever probably had been a fire the room being destitute of a Chimney And this Trial of mine I could confirm by divers other Experiments of the like nature but that this one is sufficient 18. I proceed therefore to the other Experiment which is delivered by very learned men and for whom I have a great respect according to these if you take a somewhat large Pot and having fill'd it almost with snow place in the midle of the snow a Vial full of water this Pot being put over the fire the coldness of the snow will be so intended by the heat from which it flies into the water that it will turn that liquor into ice But though I several times tri'd this Experiment yet neither in earthen nor in silver vessels could I ever produce the promised ice And I remember that an eminently learned man that wondered to find me so diffident of what he said he knew to be true readily undertook to convince me by an Ocular proof but with
glass been broken I exposed another lesser Tube with the same oyl which became frozen throughout and required very much relaxation in the air to return to its former fluidity I had set a mark on these Tubes as on all the rest to observe their several risings and the oyl of Vitriol when coagulated sunk more then half an inch below it and being dissolved at the fire returned to its first station as you also saw And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is peculiar to this oyl alone all other liquors rising higher then the mark I now come to my stronger liquors of Beer Ale and Wines I exposed at the same time a flask of small Beer and another of strong Ale the former whereof was frozen throughout in 38. hours but three pints of the Ale continued unfrozen after six days continuance of very hard weather And the air then disposed to thawing I broke the flask and with the unfrozen liquor made an excellent mornings draught at four in the morning This Ale in colour strength and quickness seemed to me and the other three tasters that sate up with me much better then when 't was first put into the flask and by comparing it with some other in the house of the same barrel we plainly found the said difference After this I took the icy part of the Ale and thawed it at a fire which was in all a pint of liquor though the flagon containing three pints of liquor was fill'd with that ice very pale and of a quick and alish taste very much resembling that drink which the brewers call blew John This ice was not so firm as that of water but fuller of bubbles I assayed the same a second time but could not by reason of the changableness of the Weather attain so great a thickness of ice as in the former And in this also I found the same changes as before A beer-glass of Hull Ale in 24. hours contracted a crust of ice as thick as an ½ Crown and proceeding as in Sea-salt water the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were the very same all the Laminae taken off appeared of the same colour and taste and the lowest ice was the most tender Another glass of the same Ale exposed did not freez throughout no crust being taken off in five days when my own Ale did in a like glass both being set out together Now the taste and colour appeared the same or at least had no sensible difference when they had been thawed of themselves and when first exposed Hull Ale hath a brackish taste Claret very strong exposed in a spoon in 35. hours hard freezing became an ice all of it it was soft kept its former colour and taste soon discovering to the tongue of one who knew not whence it was its nature quality and kind Canary at the same time in a spoon exposed in 38. hours acquired on its surface an exceeding thin plate of ice as thin as the finest paper and proceeded no farther in four days following Neither Claret nor Canary would shew the least sign of congelation in Tubes much less in Bottles Two ounces of the best spirit of Wine exposed in an earthen pan did all evaporate in less then 12. hours but the same quantity of Brandee left near a spoonful of insipid ice without any taste of the spirit which cast into the fire flamed not at all I could discern no bubbles in this phlegmatick ice but having 〈◊〉 it betwixt mine eye and a candle it manifested many bubbles by its shadows Quaere whether this may not turn to profit in colder Countries in rectifying spirits of Wine We now come to consistent bodies and shall begin with animals and their parts Two eyes the one of an Ox the other of a Sheep in one night were both totally frozen the three humors very hard not separable one from another neither of them Diaphanous as naturally they are and the Chrystalline was as white as that of a whitings boil'd The Tunicles Fat and Muscles were also frozen as appeared by their stifness and by putting them into cold water The ice of the waterish and glassy humors seemed to be made of flakes A pint of Sheeps blood did freez at the top and all the sides of the dish wherein 't was put and was nothing else but the serum of the blood This ice being separated from the blood and thaw'd at the fire and then again exposed congealed into a seeming membranous substance and was taken for such by some that saw it and so continued in a warm season and appeared in all respects a membrane This also was seen and registred in the Journal The blood remaining gave me no signs that frost had taken it I dissected a Dog and a Cat having lain dead in the open air and found their entrails nay the very heart stiff and some little ice in the Ventricles of their hearts and their Vena Cava Milk soon freezeth into most white flakes of ice retaining the proper taste of Milk these flakes are soft and manifest not many bubbles Several Eggs were exposed and both yolk and white in one night were hard frozen They require a longer time to freez then Apples do The best way to thaw them both is to lay them on Newcastle-coal or in a deep Cellar Whether Eggs once frozen will produce Chicken or no I cannot say but have been told by good house-wives they will Some affirm that Eggs and Apples put into water the ice will be thawed within them and the ice appear on the shell and skin 'T is true if you hold either of them near the surface of the water they will soon gather a very thick crust upon their outsides but if you then break the one or cut the other you shall see them full of ice and the Eggs then poched will taste very tough So that this ice seems to be gathered from without and not to come from within And besides if it did so they must needs lose their weight the contrary whereof will anon appear But for the more surety I proceeded to this farther experiment I immersed in my Cistern an Egg and an Apple two foot deep into water and there suspended them with strings tied about them to keep them from sinking for the space of 24. hours and then took them out and opened them I could never observe in that time though I often looked at them any ice on their outsides and the one being broken and the other cut were found both of them full within of ice The next order shall be Vegetables and of them a 〈◊〉 instances 〈◊〉 of those which are of a biting or sowre taste Now for the first I employed the roots of horse-raddish and Onions for other edible roots and plants every one knows will freez which 〈◊〉 the frost had taken them by their taste and ice was found betwixt each of the skins of the Onions 〈◊〉 the taste of the root yet I have observed Beer wherein
proceed may keep the ill operations of Cold upon the violated Textures of Bodies from appearing yet when once that 〈◊〉 is removed divers bodies make haste to discover that their Texture was discompos'd if not quite vitiated by the excessive cold I might alledge on this occasion that I have shown divers ingenious Men by an Experiment I have taught in another Treatise that the change produc'd in the Textures of some Bodies by glaciation may be made manifest even to the sight For by freezing an Oxes Eye the Crystalline humour which in its natural state is transparent enough to deserve its Name of Crystalline though not fluid enough to deserve the Name of humour lost with its former Texture all its Diaphancity and being cut in two with a sharp knife appeared quite throughout very white But for confirmation of this I shall rather add that I remember that the person formerly mention'd that had made trial of the two Cheeses confess'd to me That though that which had been thaw'd in Cold water was very much the less spoil'd yet they were both of them manifestly impair'd and the other of them was so in its very consistence by the Frost though the Bulk of the Cheeses was very considerable and though they were both of them of a more then ordinarily good and durable sort 22. The next thing I shall alledge to this purpose is the Observation of the Hollanders even by such a degree of cold as they met with in Nova Zembla before the middle of October at which time their strong Beer by being partly frozen had its Texture so vitiated that the reunion of its unfrozen to its thaw'd parts could not restore it to any thing near such a spirituous Liquor as it was before We were forc'd says Gerad de Veer that wrote the story to melt the Beer for there was scarce any unfrozen Beer in the Barrel but in that thick yeast that was unfrozen lay the strength of the Beer so that it was too strong to drink alone and that which was frozen tasted like water and being melted we mix'd one with the other and so drank it but it had neither ftrength nor taste And in the next Moneths Journal he tells us that their best Beer was for the most part wholly without any strength so that it had no savour at all But a more remarkable instance to our present purpose is afforded us by our Countrey-man Captain James because it manifests the Cold to have the same effect upon a much stronger and more spirituous Liquor I ever doubted says he in his Journal that we should be weakest in Spring and therefore had I reserved a Tun of Alegant Wine unto this time Of this by 〈◊〉 seven parts of water to one ofWine we made some weak Beverage which by reason that the Wine by being frozen had lost his virtue was little better then water 23. And I remember that a learned Man whom I ask'd some questions concerning this matter told me that in a Northern Countrey less colder then Muscovy he had observed that Beef having been very long frozen when it came afterwards to be eaten was almost insipid and being boil'd afforded a Broth little better then common water 24. If I had not wanted opportunity I should here subjoyn an Account of some Trials for which I made provision as thinking them not absolutely unworthy the making though extravagant enough not to be likely to succeed For I had a mind to try not only whether some plants and other Medicinal things whose specifick virtues I was acquainted with would lose their peculiar Qualities by being throughly congeal'd and several ways thaw'd and whether thaw'd Harts-horn of which the Quantity of Salt and Saline spirit of such a determinate strength should beforehand be tri'd by distillation would after having been long congeal'd yield by the same way of distillation the same Quantity of those actual substances as if the Harts-horn had not been frozen at all But I had also thoughts to try whether the Electrical faculty of Amber both the Natural and that factitious imitation of it I elsewhere teach and whether the attractive or directive Virtue of Loadstones especially very weak ones would be either impair'd or any ways alter'd by being very long exposed to the intensest degrees of Cold within my power of producing But to have nam'd such extravagancies is that which I think enough and others I fear may think too much 25. Yet some few things I shall subjoyn on this occasion because it will add somewhat not impertinent to the Design of this Treatise which is to deliver the Phaenomena of Cold as well as countenance what I have been proposing and those things are That I can by very credible Testimony make it appear that an intense Cold may have a greater operation upon the Texture even of solid and durable Bodies then we in this temperate Climate are commonly aware of I shall not urge that even here in England ' t is generally believ'd that Mens Bones are more apt to break upon falls in Frosty then in other Weather because that may possibly be imputed to the hardness of the frozen Ground Nor that I remember when I was wont to make use of Stone-Bows I found it a common observation that in Frosty Weather the Laths though of Steel would by the Cold be made so Brittle that unless extraordinary care were had of them or some Expedients were us'd about them they would be apt to break Nor yet that an Ingenious Overseer of great Buildings has informed me that those that deal in Timber and other Wood find it much more easie to be cleft in hard Frosts then in Ordinary Weather These and the like instances I do as I was intimating forbear to urge because these effects of Cold are much inferior to those that have been met with in more intemperate Regions 26. And to begin with its Operation upon what we were last treating of Wood. Of Charleton-Island Captain James has this passage about the Timber they imploy'd upon their work The Boys says he with Cuttle axes must cut Boughs for the Carpenter for every piece of Timber that he did work must first be thaw'd in the fire And a little before he tells us that even when they found a standing Tree They must make a fire to it to thaw it otherwise it could not be cut 27. And I remember that two several persons both of them Scholars and strangers to one another that had occasion to travel as far as Mosco assur'd me that they Divers times observ'd in extreme frosts that the Timber-work whether the Boards or the Beams of some Houses which according to the Custom of that Countrey were made of wood and perhaps not well seasoned would by the operation of the Cold be made to crack in divers places with a Noise which was surprizing enough to them especially in the Night 28. I remember also that a Physician who liv'd for
the Bubbles wont to abound in Ice be filled with common Air and even this question though it seem but one comprizes two for to resolve it we must determine whether there be any true Air contained in those Cavities and whether in case there be they be adequately filled with that Air by true Air I mean such an invisible fluid as does permanently retain a spring like the common Air. 7. The former of these two Questions I must confess my self not yet resolved about my Experiments having not hitherto succeeded uniformly enough to satisfie so jealous an observer But yet I shall annex our trials not only because the thing has not been that we know of somuch as attempted by others and our ways of Experimenting if they be duly prosecuted seem as promising and hopeful if the Question be reducible to any certain Decision as perhaps will be easily lighted on but because also we have if we mistake not resolved the second Question by shewing that there is but a small part of true Air contained in the Bubbles of Ice whatever Ingenious men that rely upon probable Conjectures without consulting Experience have been pleas'd to believe to the contrary That the bubbles observed in Ice cannot all be filled with the Aerial particles lurking in the water seems evident enough by the expansion of the water and the Quantity of space taken up by those bubbles which how the interspers'd and formerly latitant Air can adequately fill unless the same parcel of Matter could truly 〈◊〉 much more space at one time then at another which I take to be physically impossible I do not yet apprehend But two ways of trial there are which we imployed to shew that the Icy bubbles are nothing near filled with true Air whether Men will have that pre-existent in the water or stollen in from without or generated anew the former of the two ways of trials probably arguing that these bubbles proceed not only for that they may proceed partly we do not at all deny from the Air pre-existent in the water and the latter concluding more generally that but a small part of the icy bubbles are filled with genuine Air. 8. And 1. we were invited to conjecture both that sometimes or in some cases the Air latitant in the water might contribute to generate icy bubbles though it was unable adequately to fill them and again that sometimes or in other cases such bubbles would be almost as numerously generated notwithstanding the recess of far the greatest part of that latitant Air by the three following Experiments taken verbatim out of our Collections I. We took fair water and having kept it in the exhausted Receiver of our Pneumatical Engine for a good while till we perceived it not to send up any more bubbles we presently transferred it into snow and salt where it was long enough before it began to freez and then we observed that the water did not swell near so much as common water is wont to do and the ice seemed to have few or no bubbles worth taking notice of but when I afterwards placed it between my Eye and the vigorous flame of a Candle I could perceive that it was not quite destitute of bubbles though they were extremely small in comparison of those that would probably have appeared in ordinary water Thus far the first Experiment the second follows which was made at another time II. The water that had been freed from the bubbles in the Receiver though it afforded an ice that seem'd to have smaller bubbles yet this ice being thaw'd part of the water was gently poured into a pipe of glass wherein being frozen it swell'd considerably enough above its first level and besides burst the glass being also very opacous by reason of the bubbles The third Experiment was more industriously prosecuted as may appear by this ample Narrative of it transcribed out of our Collections III. We took a small Egg with a pretty long neck and pouring in water till it reach'd an inch within the stem conveyed it into a long slender Cylindrical Receiver provided on purpose to make trials with such tall glasses the Air being by degrees drawn out of the bubbles appeared from time to time greater and greater and when the Receiver was well exhausted the water seemed to boil a longer time then one would have expected and sometimes the bubbles ascended so fast and great that we were in doubt whether the water did not boil over the top of the Pipe the exhausted Receiver was permitted to be so for a good while till the water had discharged it self in bubbles of its Air and then the glass-Egg was removed into a vessel furnished with ice and salt and there left ten or twelve hours that all the water save that in the neck might be throughly frozen and then we found it to have risen a great way above its first height and removing it into an Air temper'd like that wherein the first part of the Experiment was made having left it there in a quiet place for ten or twelve hours to thaw leisurely lest too warm an Air or too much stirring the glass might be an occasion of generating new bubbles in the exterior part of the ice near the glass we saw pretty store of bubbles but when that was thaw'd the rest of the ice appeared of a peculiar and unusual texture having no determinate bubbles that I could easily distinguish but seeming almost like a piece of frosted glass where the Parts that made the Asperity were exceeding thick set but this ice swam in the water whereinto the rest had been dissolved before it was all thawed when there yet remained a lump about the bigness of a small Walnut we reconveyed it into the Receiver to try whether upon the exuction of the Air the ice would be presently melted but the alteration produced was so small if any that we durst not ground any thing upon it The Receiver being exhausted there did at length appear some bubbles in the water but they were not numerous and a hundred of them seem'd not to amount to one of those larger ones the same water had yielded us the first time it was put in in the ice also some small bubbles disclosed themselves which we did not perceive there before wherefore we took out the Egg and found the ice being now thaw'd that the water was subsided to the mark we had made before it was expos'd to congelation if not some very little way beneath it Then we went about to find the Proportion wherein this dispirited water was expanded by glaciation but in pursuing this there hapned a mischance to the glass which kept the Experiment from being so accurate as we designed And therefore though it seemed to us that it amounted to about the twelfth part which is less then that of the undispirited water yet we designed the repetition of the Experiment Only in this we could not be mistaken that the
a very frosty night to the cold Air and the next morning the water appeared to have burst the Bottle though its matter were metalline and though purposely for this trial we had chosen it quite new the crack appeared to be in the very substance of the Pewter This Experiment we repeated and 't was one of those bottles fill'd with Ice that had crack'd it which a Noble Virtuoso would needs make me who should else have scrupled to amuse with such a Triffle so great a Monarch and so great a Virtuoso bring to his Majesty to satisfie him by the wideness of the crack and the Protuberance of the Ice that shewed it self in it that the water had been really expanded by Congelation 3. We also tried whether or no a much smaller Quantity of water would not if frozen have the like Effect and accordingly filling with about an ounce of water a scru'd Pewter box such as many use to keep Treacle Salves in quite new and of a considerable thickness we found that upon the freezing of the included water the vessel was very much burst Afterwards filling a Quart Bottle if I mistake not the capacity with a congealable liquor and tying down the Cork very hard with strong Packthread we found that the frost made the liquor force out the stopple in spite of all the care we had taken to keep it down But afterwards we so well fastned a Cork to the neck of a quart bottle of Glass that it was easier for the congealing liquor to break the vessel then to thrust out the stopple and having for a great many hours expos'd this to an exceeding sharp Air we found at length the bottle burst although it were so thick and strong that we were invited to measure the breadth of the sides and found that the thinnest place where it was broken by the Ice was 3 16 of an inch and the thickest ⅜ that is twice as much 〈◊〉 we also by the help of the frost broke an earthen bottle of strong Flanders metal of which the thinnest part that was broken was equal by measure to the thinnest part of the other 4. But the above mention'd Instances serving only to declare in general that the Expansion of water by Cold is very forcible I thought fit to attempt the reducing of the Matter somewhat nearer an Estimate less remote from being determinate and because the water expos'd to congelation may be probably supposed to be Homogeneous we judg'd that the quantity of it may very much vary its degree of Force and because some may suspect that the Figure also may not be inconsiderable in this matter we thought fit to make our Trials in a Brass vessel whose Cavity was Cylindrical and which to make it stronger had an orifice but at one of its ends and whose thickness was such that we had reason to expect that whilest the top remained covered but with a reasonable weight the included water would find it more easie to lift up that weight then break the sides To this Cylinder we fitted a cover of the same mettal that was flat and went a little way into the Cavity leaning also upon the edges of the sides for the more closer stopping of the orifice the cavity of this Cylinder was in length about five inches and in breadth about an inch and three quarters This Cylinder being fill'd top full with water and the cover being carefully put on was fastned into an Iron frame that held it erected and allowed us to place an iron weight amounting to 56. pound or half a hundred of common English weight which circumstance I mention because the common hundred that our Carriers c. use exceeds five score by twelve But this vessel being exposed in a frosty night to the cold Air the contain'd water did not the next morning appear to be frozen and the trial was another time that way repeated with no better success as if either the thickness or clearness of the mettal had broken the violence of the external Airs frigefactive Power or the weight that oppressed the Cover had hindred that Expansion of the water which is wont to accompany its Glaciation Wherefore we thought it requisite to apply to the outside of the vessel a mixture of salt with ice or snow as that which we had observed to introduce a higher degree of Cold then the Air alone even in very frosty nights and though this way it self the glaciation proceeded very slowly and sometimes scarce at all yet at length we found that the water was by this means brought so far to freez that on the morrow the ice had on one side swelled above the top of the Cylinder and by lifting the cover on that side had thrown down the incumbent weight but in this trial the cover having been uniformly or every where lifted up above the upper orifice of the Cylinder we repeated the Experiment divers times as we could get opportunity sometimes with success and sometimes without it and of one of the chief of our Experiments of this sort we find the following account among our Collections 5. The hollow brass weight being about one inch and thee quarters in Diameter and the brass cover put on was loaded with a weight of 56. pound upon the cover and expos'd to an excessively sharp night the next morning the cover and the weight were found visibly lifted up though not above that we could discern a small Barley-corns breadth but the thickness of the brass cover was not here estimated which was much less then half an inch which according to former observations one might exspect to see the ice ascend But that which we took particular notice of was that the inclosed Cylinder of ice being by a gentle thaw of the superficial parts taken out appear'd so full of bubbles as to be thereby made opacous Also when in the morning the Cylinder was brought into my Chamber before the fire was made the 56. pound weight being newly taken off at a little hole that seemed to be between the edge of the Brass and Ice there came out a great many drops of water dilated into numerous bubbles and reduced into a kind of sroth as if upon the removal of the oppressing weight the bubbles of the water had got liberty to expand themselves but this lasted but a very little 6. After this the difficulty we have often met with in the placing of great weights conveniently upon the cover of a Cylinder and the Expectation we had to find the Quantity of the water we made use of capable upon its Congelation to lift up a much greater weight invited us to make trial of its Expansive force by some what a differing way which was to fit a wooden plug to the Cavity of the Cylinder after we had suffered it to soak a convenient time in water that swelling as much as it would before it might be made to swell no more by the water which would lye contiguous
not find that his great earthen pots which are made up with as little water as is possible are deservedly famous for their durable Texture had not that Texture alter'd and impair'd by very piercing frosts he assur'd me that if he did not take care to keep the frost as they speak from getting into them those great and solid vessels wherein he us'd to keep his glass in fusion would in the fire scale or crack and perhaps fly and become unserviceable no less then some weeks sooner then if they had never been impair'd by the frost And when I inquired whether also glass it self would not be much prejudiced thereby he affirmed to me that oftentimes in very hard frosts many glasses that had continued intire for many weeks for that circumstance I was sollicitous to ask about would as it were of their own own accord crack with loud noises But whatever prove to be the issue of such Trials it will not be amiss to confirm the Phaenomenon it self by the testimony of an illiterate but very experienc'd French Aurhor who on a certain occasion tells us as I also take notice in another Treatise That he knows the stones of the mountains of Ardenne famous enough in France are harder then Marble and yet the inhabitants of that Countrey do not draw them out of the Quarry in winter because they are subject to the frost And it has been divers times seen that upon thaws the rocks without being cut have fallen down and kill'd many But it may yet seem far more unlikely that frosts should get into mettals themselves and yet having ask'd the newly mention'd Polonian whether he had observ'd any thing of that kind he answer'd that he had often by drawing out his sword and pulling out his pistols when he had been long in the field and came into a hot room found them quickly almost whitened over by a kind of small hoar frost But whether this were as he conceiv'd any thing that was drawn out of the Steel and setled on the surface of it I want circumstances enough to make me willing to determine But if we will credit Olaus Magnus it must be confess'd that considerably thick pieces of Iron and Steel it self will in the Northern Regions be render'd so brittle by the extreme frost that they are fain to temper their instruments after a peculiar manner his words which being remarkable I forbear to alter are these Videntur praeterea ferrei ligones certa ratione fabricati quia his spissa atque indurata glacies caeteris instrumentis ferreis non cedens facilius infringitur dum aliae secures chalybe permixtae in vehementi frigore ad solum glaciei vel virentis arboris ictum instar vitri rumpuntur ubi ligones praedicti sive ferreae hastae fortissimi manent Which testimony notwithstanding what some have written to this Authors disparagement does not seem to me at all incredible For I remember that even here in England I have had the curiosity to cause trials to be made in very frosty weather whereby if an expert Smith I then us'd to imploy did not gratis deceive me in the Irons I imploy'd that 〈◊〉 may by such degrees of cold as even our Climate is capable of be rendered exceeding brittle as he several times affirm'd to me that there are some kinds of iron which he could hammer and turn as they phrase it cold in open weather which yet in very hard frosts would become so brittle as by the same way of working easily to break if not to flye asunder And this he affirm'd both of Iron and Steel of which latter mettal another very skilful workman whom I also consulted certifi'd the like but though this disagreed not with trials purposely made on Iron rods had inform'd me yet presuming that in such a nice piece of work as a spring some further satisfaction about this matter might be obtain'd I inquired of a very dexterous Artificer that was skill'd in making springs for others whether or no he found a necessity of giving springs another temper in very frosty weather then at other seasons and he answered me that in such 〈◊〉 if he gave his springs the same temper that he did in mild and open weather they would be very apt to break And therefore in very sharp seasons he us'd to take them down lower as they speak that is give them a softer temper then at other times which as it makes it probable that the cold may have a considerable operation upon bodies upon which most men would not suspect it to have one so that discovery may afford a hint that may possibly reach further then we are yet aware of touching the interest that cold may have in many of the Phaenomena of nature I should here subjoyn that in prosecution of what is deliver'd in the XX. Section about the weight of solid bodies that I there wish'd might be expos'd to a congealing Air I did cause some Trials of that kind to be made in a very frosty night especially with Bricks but something that happened to the only Scales I then had fit for such an Experiment made me doubt whether some little increase of weight that seem'd to be gain'd by congelation were to be reli'd upon though there did not appear any hoar frost or other thing outwardly adhering to which the effect could be ascrib'd It is a Tradition which the Schools and others have receiv'd with great veneration from their Master Aristotle that hot water will sooner freez then cold but I do not much wonder that the learned 〈◊〉 as I find him quoted by Bartholinus should contradict this Tradition though he be himself a commentator upon that Book of Aristotle wherein 't is deliver'd For I could never satisfie my self that there is at least with our water and in our Climate any truth in the Assertion though I have made trial of it more ways then one but it may very well suffice to mention a few of the plainest and easiest Trials with whose success I am well satisfi'd as to the main as the Reader also will I doubt not be though not having for want of health been able to have so immediate an inspection of these as of the rest of my Experiments I was sometimes fain to trust the watchfulness of my servants whom I was careful to send out often to bring me word how long after the first freezing of the cold water it was before the other began to be congeal'd We took then three pottingers as near of a size as we could and the one we fill'd almost to the top with cold water the other with water that had been boil'd before and was moderately cool'd again and the third with hot water these three vessels were expos'd together in the same place to the freezing Air. In the Entry of one of the Trials I find that being all three put out at half an hour after eight of the clock That the
Criterion then the bare touch to judge of the coldness of liquors these being reduc'd to the same temper were expos'd to a very sharp Air and there watch'd by the person whom being not well and unable to support such weather my self I appointed to attend the Experiment and he according to direction finding them begin to freez as 't were at the very same time brought me in the two pottingers in each of which I saw the beginnings and but the beginnings of congelation where the upper surfaces of the waters were contiguous to the containing vessels so that having made this Experiment with much greater exactness then probably Berigardus did or for want of such instruments as I us'd could make it I cannot but suspect supposing the common waters he and I us'd to be of the same nature that he was either negligent or over-seen in affirming that heated and refrigerated water will cool so much sooner as he would perswade us then other And as I am not convinc'd by experience that it will freez sooner at all so till he have better made out the reason he seems to give of the Phaenomenon I must question whether he rightly ascribe after Cabaeus if I much misremember not the congelation of water to a certain Coagulum distinct from the cold spirits that plentifully mingle with the water which Coagulum it seems for his style is not wont to be very perspicuous that he would have to consist of certain dry Corpuscles no less necessary to conglaciate water then Runnet to curdle Milk And for what this Author says that he must have imploy'd boiling or scalding water who affirms it to be less congealable then other that mistake may be sufficiently disprov'd by the several above recited Trials wherein we found water moderately refrigerated to freez much later then cold and whereas Berigardus intimates that the person whoever he be that he dissents from does unskilfully suppose warm salt-water to be the less dispos'd to congelation for being salt our Author is therein also mistaken for though it be true what he alledges that salt outwardly appli'd promotes the congelation of water yet that dissolv'd in water it has a contrary effect may appear by the familiar observation that Sea-water is much more difficult to be congeal'd then fresh water and to show that 't is not a property of Sea-water but a water impregnated with common Salt I have several times tri'd that a strong solution of such salt in ordinary water will not at all be congeal'd by the being expos'd to the Air even in very sharp frosts as may be easily collected from some of the Experiments mention'd in the former part of this Book Another particular there is about the use of Allume in reference to freezing in this often cited passage of Berigardus which I might here examine if my hast and my indisposedness to ingage in a controversie of small moment did not injoyn me to defer it till a fitter occasion To confirm the power ascrib'd in the VI. Section to cold as to the long preservation of bodies from corruption 't will not be amiss to add these two remarkable passages the latter of which affords a good instance of the improvement that may be made of some degrees of cold to the uses of humane life The first observation is afforded us by some of our Countrey-men in a Voyage extant in Purchas where the writer of it speaks thus Of the Samojeds whose Countrey he visited Their Dead they bury on the side of the hills where they live which is commonly on some small Islands making a pile of stones over them yet not so close but that we might see the dead Body the Air being so piercing that it keepeth them from much stincking savour so likewise I have seen their Dogs buried in the same manner The other observation is given us in the description of Iceland made by one that visited it to be met with in the same Purchas's Collections where among other things he gives us this Account which if I mistake not I have had confirm'd by others of their strange way of ordering and preserving their Fish Having taken them they pluck out the bones and lay up their bowels and make Fat or Oyl of them They heap up their Fish in the open Air and the purity of the Air is such there that they are hardned only with the Wind and Sun without Salt better surely then if they were corned with Salt And if they kill any Beast they preserve the flesh without stinck or putrefaction without Salt hardned only with the Wind. I know not whether 't will be worth while to add to the fifth and sixth Numbers of the VII Title that for further confirmation of our opinion that 't is not Natures abhorrencie of a Vacuum but the distension of the water that breaks glasses when the contain'd liquors come to be congeal'd I did on set purpose fill several vials some at one time and some at another to the lower parts of their necks most of which were purposely made long with common water and though they were all left unstopp'd that the external Air might come in freely to them yet not only one of them that I stirr'd up and down in a mixture of beaten ice salt and water was hastily broken upon the congelation of the contain'd water but several others that were expos'd to be frozen more leisurely by the cold Air only were likewise broken to pieces by the expansion of the freezing water as appear'd both by the gaping cracks and also by this that the ice was considerably risen in the necks above the waters former stations which had been noted by marks before and if it had been more easie for the included water to make it self room either by stretching the glass or rather leaving the superficial ice congeal'd at first in the neck or by both those ways together then to break the vessel the vial would probably have remained intire I say probably because I am not sure that there may not sometimes intervene in these Experiments somewhat that may need further observation and inquiring For as it seems that what I have been lately saying may be confirmed by an unstopp'd vial which was expos'd at the same time to congelation with this success that without breaking the vial the water was frozen and the ice in the neck impell'd up a good way above the height at which the liquor rested before it began to congeal so on the other side I remember that I have sometimes had a good store of liquor frozen in a vial without breaking the glass though a vial were stopp'd as if the difference that I have on other occasions observed betwixt glasses whereof some are very brittle and others more apt to yield might have an influence on such Experiments or that some peculiar softness or other property of the ice that afforded me my observation or else some other thing not yet
another Treatise to which such matters more properly belong 'T is known that the Schools define cold by the property they ascribe to it of congregating both Heterogeneous and Homogeneous things I thought it not amiss to attempt the making some separations in bodies by the force of Cold. For if that hold true in this climate which has been observ'd by Travellers and Navigators in Northern Regions that men may obtain from Beer and Wine a very strong spirit and a phlegme by congelation it seems probable that in divers other liquors the waterish part will begin to freez before the more spirituous and saline and if so we may be assisted to make divers separations as well by cold as by heat and dephlegme if I may so speak some liquors as well by congelation as by distillation but I doubt whether the ordinary frosts of this Countrey can produce a degree of cold great enough to make such divisions and separations in bodies as have been observ'd in the more Northern Climates For though having purposely hung out a glass-bottle with a quart of Beer in it in an extraordinarily sharp night I found the next morning that much the greatest part of the Beer being turn'd into ice there remain'd somewhat nearer the middle but nearer the bottom an uncongeal'd liquor which to me and others seem'd stronger then the Beer and was at least manifestly stronger then the thaw'd ice which made but a spiritless and as it were but a dead drink yet in some other Trials my success was not so considerable as some would have expected For having put one part of high rectifi'd spirit of Wine to about five or six parts if I misremember not of common water and having put them into a round glass and plac'd that in beaten ice and salt though the mixture were in great part turn'd into ice yet I could not perceive that even two liquors so slightly mingled were any thing accurately severed from one another although once to enable my self the better to judge of it the spirit of Wine I imploy'd was beforehand deeply tincted with Cochinele and therefore I the less wonder that in Claret Wine I could not make any exact separation of the red and the colourless parts However I thought it not amiss to try how far in some other liquors this way of separating the waterish and more easily congealable part from the rest would or would not succeed And I remember that a large glass vessel wherein spirit of Vinegre was exposed to the cold a considerable part was turned into ice whose swimming argued it to be lighter then the rest of the liquor but though I put some of this ice in a glass by it self to examine by its weight and taste when thaw'd how much it differ'd from the uncongeal'd part of the spirit my hopes were disappointed by a misfortune which was not repaired by my exposing afterwards a smaller quantity of spirit of Vinegre to the Nocturnal Air for that proved so cold that the whole was turned into ice wherefore I must reserve for another opportunity the prosecuting that Experiment as also the trying whether a separation of the Serous or the Oleaginous parts of Milk may be effected For though once the frost seem'd to have promoted a separation of Creme notwithstanding that heat also may do it and though another time there seem'd to be another kind of divulsion of parts made by congelation yet for want of leisure to prosecute such Trials they prov'd not satisfactory no more then did some attempts of the like nature that I made upon blood by freezing it But notwithstanding these discouragements I resolv'd to try what I could do upon Brine For calling to mind the Relations mentioned in the XV. Title and elsewhere which seem to argue that in some cases the ice of the Sea-water may being thaw'd yield fresh water and being the more inclin'd to think it worth Trial by a Physician I since happened to discourse with about this matter who affirm'd to me that sailing along the coast of Germany he had taken out of the Sea ice that being thaw'd he found to afford good fresh water I began to consider whether we might not by cold free salt water at some seasons of the year from a great deal of the phlegme which 't is wont to cost much to free them from by fire and other means For a little help towards the diminution of the fresh water is look'd upon as so useful an Experiment by many that boil salt out of the salt springs that in some Countries that are thought the skilfullest in that trade they make their salt-salt-water fall upon great bundles of small brush-wood that being thereby divided and reduc'd to a far greater superficies there may in falling through some of the purely Aqueous parts exhale away wherefore dissolving one part of common salt in 44. times its weight of common water that it might be reduc'd either exactly or near to the degree of saltness that has been by several writers observed in the water of our neighbouring Seas and having likewise caus'd another and much stronger Brine to be made by putting in to the water a far greater proportion of salt for so there is in many of our salt springs we expos'd these several solutions to the congealing cold of the Air in frosty weather where the last mention'd solution being too strongly impregnated with the salt continued some days and nights altogether uncongeal'd but that weaker solution which emulated Sea water being expos'd in a shallow and wide mouth'd vessel that shape being judg'd the most proper we could procure for our design the large superficies that was expos'd to the Air did as we expected afford us a cake of ice which being taken off and the rest of the liquor expos'd again to the Air in the same vessel we obtain'd a second cake of ice and taking the remaining which seem'd to be indispos'd enough to congelation we found that by comparing it with that which was afforded us by the first cake of ice permitted to thaw there appear'd a very manifest difference betwixt the water whereinto the ice was resolv'd scarce tasting so much as brackish whereas the liquor that had continued uncongeal'd was considerably salt in taste And if I had had the conveniency of examining my self these two liquors Hydrostatically as I was fain to have them examin'd by another I doubt not but by their weight I should have discovered precisely enough the difference between them which the person I employ'd found to be considerable and consequently should have been assisted to make an estimate of the advantage that might be afforded by the operation of the cold towards the freezing of the Brine from its superfluous water But though I had not a quantity of ice great enough to satisfie me whether that little brackishness of taste I have mention'd proceeded from some saline Corpuscles that concurr'd to the constituting of the ice it self or did only adhere
fires shining in the night sometimes in one place sometimes in another which were suppos'd to be kindled by the sulphurous and other subterraneous exhalations and that when they perceiv'd those fires especially if any number appear'd in several places those that were well acquainted with the coast would not continue long out at Sea but rather quit an opportunity of catching Fish then not make seasonably to the shore having often observed and particularly this last year that bold and unexperienced Mariners by slighting these forerunners of storms were in few hours shipwrack'd by them 48. To this I shall add what happened some years since upon the Irish coast near a strong Fortress called Duncannon where divers of the ships Royal of England lying at anchor in a place where they apprehended no danger from the wind there seem'd suddenly to ascend out of the water not far from them a black cloud in shape and bigness not much unlike a Barrel which mounting upwards was not long after follow'd as the most experienced Pilot foretold so hideous a storm as forc'd those ships to go to Sea again and had like to have cast them away in it And this account was both written by the principal officers of the Squadron to their superiors in England and given soon after it happened by the chief of those eye-witnesses and particularly by the Pilot to a very near kinsman of mine well vers'd in Maritine affairs that commanded the land forces in those parts as a truth no less known then memorable 49. And on occasion of what I was saying about the eruption of hot steams in several parts of the Earth I now call to mind something that I have met with in a very small but curious Dissertation De admirandis Hungariae aquis whose Anonymous Author I gather from some passages in the Tract it self to have been a Nobleman Governor of Saros and some other places in Hungary and to have written this discourse both for and to that inquisitive German Baron Sigis mundus Liber famous for the account he gave the world of the Ambassy whereon he was sent by the German to the Russian Emperor This Anonymous but noble writer tells us then that in that part of Hungary which he calls Comitatus Zoliensis there is a gaping piece of ground which does emit such mortal exspirations that they suffocate not only Cats and Dogs purposely held at the end of long poles over the cleft but kill even Birds that attempt to fly over it And in other places of the same Tract I have met with many other relations which if I had time to make a particular mention of would much countenance what I have been lately saying but though I pretermit several other instances I cannot but take especial notice of one which together with what I lately mention'd to have happened near Duncannon may make it probable that not only under the surface of the dry ground but in that part of the Terrestrial Globe that is covered with water there may arise streams and consequently Exhalations actually and that considerably hot For in one place he takes notice that not far from the well known City of Buda there is a hot Spring which they call Purgatory which the waters of Danubius it self are not able to keep from being hot nay within the very Banks betwixt which that great River runs there boil up hot Srings where those that will go deep enough into the water may commodiously bath themselves And elsewhere speaking of the River Istrogranum in the same County he adds That not only the Banks of it but within the very River it self one may discover hot Springs by removing the Sand at the bottom with ones feet To this I shall add That having heard of a Ditch in the North of England in some regards more strange though less famous then the sulphureous Grotta near Naples whence not only subterraneal steams but those so sulphureous as to be easily Inflamable did constantly and plentifully ascend into the Air I had the curiosity to make inquiry about it of the Minister of the place a very learned Man and conversant in Mines who then happened to be my neighbour and he attested the truth of the relation upon his own knowledge And it was confirm'd to me by a very ingenious Gentleman who went purposely to visit this place and found it true That a lighted Candle or some such actually burning body being held where this Exhalation issued out of the Earth would kindle it and make it actually flame for a good while and if I misremember not as long as one pleas'd And as this place was but few years since taken notice of so there may be probably very many others yet undiscovered that may supply the Air with store of Mineral exhalations proper to generate fiery Meteors and Winds I remember that having lately ask'd an inquisitive Gentleman that is a great searcher after Mines whether he did not observe some meteors near those places where he is most conversant he told me that 't is very usual in some of them to see certain great fires moving in the Air which in those places diggers because of some resemblance real or imaginary are wont to call Draggons And the Russian Emperors Physician you were speaking of inform'd me a while since that he had not long ago observ'd in Winter a River in Muscovy where though the rest of the surface was frozen there was a part of it near a mile long that remain'd uncovered with ice which probably was kept from being generated there by those subterraneous Exhalations since he says he saw them ascend up all the way like the smoak of an Oven And in case the matter of fact delivered by Olaus Magnus be true concerning the strange thaws that sometimes happen with terrible noises in the great Lake Veter those wonderful Phaenomena may not improbably be ascrib'd to the ascent of great store of hot subterraneal steams which suddenly cracking the thick and solid ice in many places at once produce the hideous Noises and the hasty Thaw that he speaks of And this suspicion may be countenanced partly by this circumstance that before these sudden thaws the Lake begins with great noise to boil at the bottom and partly by what is related by a more Authentick writer I mean that learned Traveller the Jesuite Martinius who witnesses that at Peking the royal City of China 't is very usual that after the Rivers and Ponds have continued hard frozen over during the Winter the Thaw is made in one day which since the freezing of the waters as he tells us required many makes it very probable That the sudden thaw is effected as he also inclines to think by subterraneal steams which I may well suppose to be exceeding copious and to diffuse themselves every way to a very great extent since they are able so soon to thaw the Rivers and Ponds of a large Territory and
of some liquors will shew none in a greater The method I shall follow in delivering my observations shall be first to run over the various liquors or bodies whether fluid or consistent simple or compound c. used in this work Secondly what figures observable in those ices Thirdly some effects arising 〈◊〉 Fourthly some properties and qualities Fifthly some lets or helps both to freezing and thawing Sixthly some uses 〈◊〉 ice In pursuance of which particulars I had recourse to those ingenious 〈◊〉 of Mr. 〈◊〉 registred in your Cimelia and then to Bartholinus his late Book De Nive and to my own collected notes from various Authors adding whatsoever trials I thought meet And in all these I have barely set down matter of fact neither mentioning the Authors nor their errors which would have been both nauseous and tedious nor 〈◊〉 I endeavour to render a reason of the various 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot be done without a volume but shall leave that province to an Honourable person of this Society who hath had much experience and reflections on this subject And now to my task As to my first head of things used I shall begin with common water which I exposed in a triple 〈◊〉 in like quantities and in open 〈◊〉 viz. first cold secondly boiling hot thirdly an equal mixture of both the former The effect was this the cold was frozen in one hour the boiling hot in two hours and the mixt in hour 1 and ½ but with this difference that the cold did freez first at the top and sides and had a large thick crust before there was any shew of ice in the boiling hot but the mixt and boiling hot began to freez first at the bottom of the vessels and when the top was cold then it freezed there also leaving betwixt the bottom and top of the vessel a cavity for the water which in time was wholly converted to ice The same succeeded most manifestly in these waters powred on a smooth table where the cold water was presently frozen before the boiling hot water could become cold at the bottom Water exhausted of air in Mr. Boyles engine was frozen almost as soon as a like quantity expos'd in an open pan The ice whereof appeared white and to consist purely of bubbles The glass used was a four ounce round vial and a small Tube one foot long half filled with water Fair water wherein Arsnick had been infused eight moneths congealed much sooner then a like quantity of water into very white ice Solutions of all the sorts of Vitriols freezed sooner in pans and Tubes then water or any other solution of the other salts by much though that of Alume came very little short of it The ice kept both colour and taste upon the least touch of the tongue in all of them A solution of Alume did freez into an ice whiter then milk and stuck so close to the sides of the pan that it could hardly be separated from it this was the firmest ice offered to me in all my trials next to which in both these qualities were the Vitriols especially the Roman Sandever quickly freezeth Frit sooner then it and Kelp then them both all of them into lumps very white and consequently not Diaphanous Sal Armoniac shewed some variety in point of time for in the same pan quantity and place with the other salted waters 't would for the most part freez long after the former though once it did freez before them Common salt two drachms dissolved in four ounces of common water for that proportion I observed in all my solutions did in 30. hours space in the hardest season turn to pretty hard and white ice whereas the former solutions became so in two or three hours at the most A beer-glass was filled with stinking Sea-water full of salt which within 26. hours acquired at the top a plate of ice of the thickness of an ½ a Crown piece with few bubbles in it This tasted salt and stinking as before but being dissolved at the fire or thaw'd of its self the stinking taste was gone but the saltish continued The residue in the glass within four days the season continuing and plates taken off once in 24. hours was frozen throughout but that at the bottom of the glass seem'd to have a much brisker taste then that at the top neither was it so firm and friable as that I tried another beer glass with the same water which froze most part of it but the season continued not so constantly sharp so long together as in the former experiment and therefore I could conclude nothing therefrom But in small broad earthen-pans set in ice in 36. hours the same water became ice throughout and with the addition of a parcel of ice or snow much sooner Some water was impregnated with as much bay-salt some with as much Salt Petre some with as much Sal Armoniac as the water was capable to receive and neither of these did congeal with the highest degree of cold continued six days together A solution of salt of Tartar soon converted into ice but in much longer time then common water I observed that it began to freez in a Tube at the top bottom and sides first leaving the liquor in the middle unfrozen whereas other solutions and liquors congealed uniformly by descending or ascending or both at the same time from side to side through the middle of this I made but one Trial. Salt Peter required 28. hours in a very cold season and in that time became in the open pan a most pure white ice perfectly like Sal Prunellae which an Apothecary mistook it for This ice thrown into the fire after the aqueous humidity was evaporated did sparkle as that salt useth to do A strong Lixivium made hereof with an addition of Copperas or Alume singly or mixt set in snow and salt or snow alone was froze in one night Sal Gem alone of all the salts though snow and ice were mixed with it in great proportion and though the pan was set in salt and snow could not all that time be brought to congelation an odd experiment Phlegm of Vitriol did freez sooner then the solutions before mentioned Oyl of Vitriol begins congelation or coagulation rather near as soon as fair water A pretty large Tube was fill'd ¾ full with this oyl and about ¼ thereof was frozen the rest remaining at the bottom uncongealed This Tube was broken in the presence and by the command of this Honourable society the coagulated part whereof was tasted by many then present and concluded by all those that it was a strong Vitriolate taste This coagulated part was of a paler colour then the other and both these mixed and powred into a vial-glass heated it so hot that none there could hold it This coagulated part kept so in the air a week after all my other liquors had been thaw'd and would in probability have continued so much longer had not the
Cochanele was boiled in water to a very high tincture and frozen and to twice four ounces of this decoction was added in one glass a little spoonful of spirit of Wine and in another as much Sea salt-water All these were frozen throughout and every part of this ice seemed to me of an equal colour though the edges as thinner and nearer the light appeared of a brighter colour as they do unfrozen but the glasses being broken shewed no discernable difference in any of them neither as to colour nor taste The like trials were made with Maddes weed and Indico and the success was the same Secondly I exposed a pint Porringer full of the decoction of soot which the air relaxing did only freez an inch thick this continued above a week consistent in a thawing season and very solid Some that saw it judged it to be brown Sugar Candy the taste whereof was near if not altogether as strong as the uncongealed liquor remaining at the bottom And in another trial when the whole was frozen no concentration was seen But though it was not my hap to find this effect my trials having been made in Vials square Cylindrical or round yet Mr. Hauk a worthy fellow of this Society happily lighted on it as you may perceive by his relation and Schemes of his Glasses hereunto annexed Some affirm as an effect of freezing an addition of weight made in the bodies frozen but this affirmation answers not my trials For in four Eggs and four Apples fully frozen I found the weight of them the same when frozen and thawed as they had before they were exposed each of the Eggs and Apples being weighed in this triple state both severally and joyntly with the particular weights I shall not trouble you Besides that freezing adds no weight 't is apparent in sealed Glasses from whence nothing can expire and by exact ponderation of them I could not perceive any the least difference in weight in the said triple state This I tried several times with as much exactness as possibly I could and still found the same event Another property of freezing is to render many bodies more friable and brittle as most woods as also Iron and Steel as every one knoweth that hath used Crosbows in frosty seasons and so likewise the bones of animals and 't is commonly observed by Chirurgions that more men break their legs and arms in such seasons then at any other time of the year especially such who have been tainted with the Lues venerea as Hildanus somewhere notes I shall now conclude the effects of freezing by ranging them into good and bad The good are the long preserving bodies most subject to putrifaction healthiness and confirming the tone of all animals and thickning the hairs and furs of such as have them fatten some Besides it exceedingly clears the air and other bodies as 't is manifest by the stinking Seasalt-water before mentioned as also by this that follows namely I took six of the most musty stone-Bottles I could procure and competently fill'd them with water which after freezing and thawing again became as sweet as ever they were before Bad effects are the killing and destroying animals and vegetables by congealing and stopping their vital and nourishing juices rendring them totally immovable 'T is observable that in Greenland and Nova Zembla nothing but grass grows as also what was told me by Dr. Collins the present Physician of the Emperor of Russia that no thorny plant nor thistles grow in that Countrey And this present year most of the Rosemary and Sage about London was wholly destroyed besides most of the more tender Plants My fourth proposal was the properties and qualities of ice some whereof my task engageth me to enumerate only such are its slipperiness smoothness hardness whereby and by its bulk and motion it breaks down bridges c. its firmness and strength to bear carriages and burdens its diaphaneity which is much less then the liquor of which 't is made For I could never discern any object though but confusedly a foot beyond the clearest piece of ice by reason of the many bubbles and luminous parts within it Which bubbles shew only shadows but the ice its self interposed betwixt your eye and a candle appears in many round circles from which proceeds many rays of light four or five or more in the form of a Star of about a ¼ of an inch in diameter which so glase your eyes you can scarcely see any thing but bright light and shadow As for its penetration and thickness something hath been said above to which I shall add that I have seen the Thames ice of the thickness of eight inches or more near the middle of the River and on the sides much more And in Garden walks the earth frozen near two foot deep whereas on the sides of the same walks on a richer mould the frost did not reach much above one foot and ¼ and Pipes of Lead have been broken above a foot under the surface of the ground I shall not mention the huge mountains of ice found in the most Northerly Seas but proceed to its weight 'T is generally known that ice swims upon the water But I have seen snow-balls moistened only with water and then compressed with a strong force and afterwards frozen to sink besides the congealed oyl of Vitriol descends in water and common ice is frequently observed under water whether the solutions of salts frozen will sink was by me forgotten to observe and whether coagulated oyl will sink in unfrozen as Bartholine affirms Some affirm that snow-balls hard pressed without addition of water will sink but experience teacheth me the contrary As for its tactile qualities every one knows 't is colder then water which you may increase by adding salt unto it or rather snow Smell it hath none but it binds up that quality in all but most spirituous bodies which it also in some degrees refracts in them Lastly ice yields both reflection and refraction whereof I shall speak when I come to its uses My fifth head was lets and helps in freezing which I shall 〈◊〉 dispatch Those besides the North and North-east winds the absence of the Sun and the highest parts of houses or mountains are the mixture of snow and salt then which there 's nothing more painfully and unsufferably cold to my feeling as is apparant by the trick of freezing with snow and salt by the fire side as also by the ingenious way of making cups of ice invented by an incomparable person Add hereunto that water falling or thrown upon ice or snow soon becomes congealed A mixture also of ice beaten into powder and mixed with common Sea-salt which is best or with Kelp Alume Vitriol or Nitre And here note that vessels fill'd with water and set in these mixtures begin their freezing at the bottom of the liquor and consequently are not so subject to be broken as those are which are not set in these
a far deeper colour and bitterer taste in the middle and towards the bottom then towards the outsides of it And whereas Barclay relates that King James being in Denmark to fetch his Queen thence in the Winter season had his nose and ears in danger of Gangreening which being timely perceived by some of the King of Denmarks Nobility they caused the parts to be rubbed with snow and so the danger was avoided the same travellers affirm that in the Northern parts where men become stiff with cold and almost frozen to death that they rub the frozen parts with snow or else cast the whole body into water by which means the whole body is crusted over with ice as Eggs and Apples are as if the freezing Atoms did pass from the body frozen into the water or snow and this way of curing Gangreens from cold Sennertus doth prescribe To make some Experiment hereof I exposed flesh and fish and found that by immersing them into water they soon became more limber and flexible and more easily yielding to the knife and compassed with a crust of ice of the thickness of about half a crown manifest tokens of their thawing and being cut they discovered nothing of ice in them This for more certainty I often reiterated as also in Eggs and Apples above a dozen times and never failed of unthawing them by this way 'T is to be noted if you immerse the flesh fish eggs or apples deep into the water no ice will appear on their outsides but only when you hold them neer the surface of the water As to the Persian Experiment mentioned by Olearius of making huge heaps of ice to be preserved for cooling of their drinks I observed that by pouring water into an open Pan or into a Flask gradually some at one time some at another I could quickly freez by this way a whole Flaskfull when near half of a Flask filled at one though helped by art was unfrozen I observed also that the ditches betwixt Southwark and Redderiff had acquired an exceeding thickness of ice caused by the flowing of the water in them at full Tide for new water being brought in by the Tide was there congeal'd to the thickness of some inches every ebbing and flowing I observed also the ice on the banks of Thames above two yards thick the inhabitants told me they had seen it three or four yards thick which thus came to pass the Tide flowing in and meeting with great flakes of ice drove them to the banks and lodged them on the ice there frozen which flakes uniting there with the former ice raised it to that excessive height or thickness Besides every one may observe in London Streets and elsewhere in Chanels where no constant current is that water coming from the houses soon fill the Chanels with thick ice for running but a little at a time it freezeth almost as fast as it cometh thither Nay I have seen ice of some yards thickness in such places where a small rill or stream of water gently falls on the side of a hill Amongst those things that will freez Mortar and Plaister of Paris were omitted and thence 't is that Plaisterers and Bricklayers play all the Winter My Lord Verulam in his natural History and some from him have affirmed to me that Apples and Eggs covered with a wet cloath will not freez but I find no difference in those that are thus covered and them that are not Add to those that sink upon congelation all oyls from Animals and from Vegetables that are extracted by expression or boiling Add to those that freez not water and Sugar boiled to the consistence of a Syrup and also all other Syrups none whereof I could ever take notice or learn by others that they would freez 'T is true that water having an equal quantity of Sugar dissolved in it will freez but with a little more mixed therewith freezeth not To try the effect of cold upon Loadstones I exposed several of them in the open Air and also within rooms in the most severe weather the needle being kept in a warm place At other times I exposed the needle to the cold air keeping the stones warm at other times both were exposed but in none of my Experiments could I conclude any thing certain to their attractive faculty for the sphere of their activity was found to be sometimes greater and sometimes less to a considerable difference in ten several good stones imployed for this purpose I essayed also to find out a standard of cold whereby to fit the tinged spirit of Wine for the Weather-glasses and to that end made use of Conduit water and the distilled waters of Plantane Poppies Black-Cherry Nightshade Scurvigrass and Horse-raddish all which were first placed in the same room where a fire was kept and then removed and measured out into spoons in equal quantities and also a drop of them dropt on the same bench but though this was often tried I could not make any sure inference from them only I observed that the black-Cherry water did for the most part freez first but the other with very great uncertainty The Horse-raddish and Scurvigrass waters were for the most part froze last The best way to discover the very beginning of freezing of liquors is to move a Pin or Needle through the liquors whereby the ice will be raised and become discernable when the naked eye can discover none at all FINIS Figure 1. Page 9 10 11 â— 98. A the Ball or Egg. B C the Stem D the little Aqueous Cylinder Figure 2. the open Weather glass mentioned pag. 24 43 Figure 3. the seal'd Weather-glass or Thermoscopâ—mentioned pag. 24 55 56. Figure 4. the Barometer oâ— Mercurial Standard placed in Frame B B mentioned pag. 25 Figure 5. an Instrumenâ— mentioned pag. 93. A the Vial. B C the Pipe cemented in t the neck of the Vial open at â— and seal'd at B. Figure 6. pag. 97. A the Bolt-head B the small Stem B C the Cylinder of wateâ— inclos'd Figure 7. pag. 101. * It was thought needless to insert Mr. Hobs's Scheme touching this subject because it only shews that Wind is the cause of Cold. Sceptical Chymist * Chapter the fifth of that Treatise * The two Essays of the Unsuccesfulness of Experiments * Another remarkable instance of the variable success of the Experiments of Cold I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with in an Experiment 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Dr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of oyl of 〈◊〉 For though I 〈◊〉 that Liquor in smal ' vessels of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the Air in 〈◊〉 nights 〈◊〉 extraordinarily sharp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Salt would 〈◊〉 the Experiment succeed 〈◊〉 that we tri'd it with several parcels of Oyl of Vitriol And yet that the Learned Doctor by the help of the Air alone for he uses not our 〈◊〉 mixture did bring that Liquor either to