that fresh ayr may come if Snow and water be set about the bed if the walls be compassed about with Willow leaves or with linnen cloaths dipt in vinegar and Rose-water if the floor be sprinkled and fountains made to run in the chamber if beds saith Avicenna be made over a pit of water If beds be made of Camels hair or of linnen laying the skin under them If the Bed be strewed with herbs and lastly if fragrant fruits be placed near the bed Heurn lib 2. Medic. c. 18. CHAP. III. Of the Water Artic. 1. Of the quantity and colour of Waters SO much for Ayr Now followes the Element of Water And first we shall consider the quantity and the colour of it In the Country of the great Cham near the City Simqui there is the River Quian which is 10 miles broad and waters 200 Cities and it is so long that it cannot be sailed in 100 dayes Polus writes That he told in the Haven of it 50000 Ships Also in Moscovia the Duina is so great by the melting of the Snow that it cannot be passed over in a whole day with a well sayling Ship it is at least 50 miles broad Jovius a Lake of Genebar the Portingalâ—s call it January Thuan. histor l. 16. is so large under Capricorn that men write who have sailed thither That all the Ships in the World may well harbour there As for Colours they are different in many waters Danubius is white as milk and water which divides Noricum and Windelicia from Germany Agricol de Natur. effluent The Waters of the Mayn especially where it hath passed the Francks and is fallen into the Rheyn are yellowish The Fountain Telephus is muddy near Patâ—ra and mingled with blood In Ethiopia there are red Waters that make one mad that drinks them At Neusola in the Mountain Carpathâ—s waters runing out of an old passage under ground are green At Ilza that which comes forth of the Mountains of Bohemia and runs into Danubius is black Artic. 2. Of the Taste of Water THere is no lesse variety of Waters in their tastes Some are sweet some taste like wine you shall find every where salt Allom tasted sharp bitter waters every where The Waters of Eleus Chocops Rivers are sweet The Kings of Persia drank of them and transported them to far Countries The water of Cardia in a field called Albus is sweeter then warm milk Pausanias So is Vinosa near Paphlagonia whence so many strangers come thither to drink of it In the bosome of the Adriatick Sea where it turns to Aquileia there are 7. Fountains and all of them except one are salt Polyb. in Hist. At Malta there is one that the waters running above are very sweet but the lower waters are brackish Aristobul Cassand The small River Exampeus is so bitter that it taints the great River Hypanis in Pontus In the Lake Ascanium and some Fountains about Chalcis the upper waters are sweet and the lower taste of nitre Plin. in Hist. The Fountains are sowr about Culma and because the water though it be cold boyls they seem to be mad Agricol lib. cit In the same place there is a Mineral water which they call Furious because it boyls and roars like thunder In Cepusium at Smolâ—icium it not onely eats iron but turns it into brasse But the water about Tempe in Thessaly of the River Styx can be contained in no vessel of silver brasse iron but it eats through them nothing but a hoof can hold it Artic. 3. Of the Smell of Water and of the first and second qualities THe hot Baths that are distant from Rhegium the Town of Lepidus Aemilius 26 miles smell of so gallant Bitumen that they seem to be mingled with Camphir There was a Pit in Peloponnesus near the Temple of Diana whose water mingled with Bitumen smelt as pleasant as the unguent Cyzicenum In Hildesham there are two Fountains the one flowes out of Marble that smells like stinck of rotten Eggs and taste sweet but if any man drinks of it fasting he will belch and smell like the Marble pownded The other is from Brimstone and smells like Gun-Powder The water of this brook covers with mud the stones that lie in the channel of it scrape it off and dry it and it is Brimstone Agric. lib. cit Arethusa a Fountain of Sicily is said to smoke at a certain time At Visebad there is a Spring in the Road-way the water whereof is so hot that you may not onely boyl Eggs in it but scall'd chicken and hoggs for it will fetch off feathers or hair if you dip them in or pour it upon them Ptolomy Comment lib. 7. affirms That at Corinth there is a Fountain of water which is colder than Snow Near the Sea-Banks at Cuba there is a River so continual that you may sayl in it yet it is so hot that you cannot touch it with your hands Martyr Sum. Ind. Near the Province Tapala it runneth so hot that one cannot passe over it Ramus tom 3. At Segesta in Sicily Halbesus suddenly growes hot in the middle of the River Pontus is a River that lyes between the Country of the Medes and the Scythians wherein hot burning stones are rolled yet the water it self is cold These if you move them up and down will presently cool and being sprinkled with water they shine the more bright Lastly near the City Ethama there is a River that is hot but it is good to cleanse the Lepers and such as are ulcerated Leonius Also some waters swim above others Arsanias swims above Tigris that is near unto it so often as they both swell and overflow their banks Peneres receiveth the River Eurôta yet it admits it not but carrieth it a top of it like oyl for a short space and then forsakes it Plin. hist. Natural Artic. 4. Of the Diverse running of the Water IT is said of Pyramus a River of Cappadocia which ariseth from Fountains that break forth in the very plain ground that it presently hides it self in a deep Cave and runs many miles under ground and afterwards riseth a Navigable River with so great violence that if any man put a sphear into the hole of the Earth where it breaks forth again the force of it will cast out the sphear Strabo l. 12. Not far from Pompeiopolis in the Town Coricos in the bottom of a Den of wonderfull depth a mighty River riseth with incredible force and when it hath ran with a great violence a short way it sinks into the Earth again Mela. l. 1. c. 6. The Water Marsia after it hath run along tract from the utmost Mountains of the Peligni passing through Marsius and the Lake Fucinus it disemboggs into a Cave then it opens it self again in Tiburtina and is brought 9 miles with Arches built up into Rome Plin. l. 31. c 3. The Sabbaticall River was wont to be empty every seventh day and was dry but all the six dayes it was
the Indians use They saw a place in Aprill and May abounding with all sorts of flowers The Duke of Moscovia heard of this afterwards and triall was made but the Duke died in the interim and this noble designe was hindred It is supposed that those places are nere the Indies and therefore if the River Peisida can be overpassed the passage to Cathay and Sinae were not difficult Artic. 3. Of the depth freesing and â—oloâ—ys of the Sea COncerning the depth of the Sea there are many opinions Burgensis saith it is deeper than the Earth 〈…〉 Plin. l. â— c. 22. and Solinus c. 54 that in many 〈…〉 no borrow can be found But there speak of a certain Sea in the 〈…〉 and they speak according to their days when navigation was 〈…〉 known Priscianus reports that Julius Caesar found by his Searchers 15 furlongs others give 30. But the English Portugalls 〈…〉 who now a days use most Navigation reckon 2 Italian miles and a time Olaus Magnus l. 2. Histor. septent c. 10. weâ—â—es that at the shoâ—es of Norway it is so deep thay not open can 〈…〉 but that is by reason of the hollow shores and full of cracks every where And though there be such a wonderfull force of waters in the Sea yet certain it is that it is somtimes frozen Strabo l. c. Geograph writes that in the mouth of Maeotis so great Ice was seen that in the place that King Mithridates Generall overcame the Enemy in the Ice the same he passed over with his Fleet. When 〈…〉 four the Sea of Pontus was so frozen for a 100. â—â—les that it 〈…〉 hard as a stone and was above 30 Cubiâ—s 〈…〉 Vintent l. 〈…〉 But Olaus l. 11. c. 25 saith that in the North Sea they 〈…〉 and draw along their Engins for Warts and â—aires 〈…〉 kept The condition of the Ice there is very strange Being carried on the shore it presently thawes no man furthering it Ziglerus l. â— 8. In Islandra if it be kept it vanisheth and he affirms that some will turn to a stone The Sea hath many colours Andreaâ— Causalius saith that neer the Inhabitants of the East-Indies there is a milk 〈…〉 that is seen for 300 miles Martyr also attests the same in his Sumâ—lâ—â— That which washes the Island Cabaque is somtimes green and sometimes of the yeare red for the Shel-fish every where poure much blood Petrus Hispan The red Sea though it be so called because it is rinctured with red waters yet it is not of that nature 〈…〉 for but the water is tainted by the shores that are neer and all the land about it is red and next to the colour of blood 〈…〉 l. 13. c. 1â— The Sea useth frequently to change its colour Aulâ—â—ell noct Atâ—â—l 2. c. 30 gives the cause It is faith he observed by the best Philosophers that when the South wind blows the Sea is blewish and â—â—eyish but when the North blows it is blacker and darker c. When the Doâ— days are it is troublesome Men ascribe that to the Sun that pierceth the inward parts of the Sea with its beams and stirrs the grosseâ— parts but consumes them not But this is strange that is said that the Sea Parium in the New Word is so intangled with so many green herbs that Men cannot fall in it the long branches of herbs like nâ—ts hindring them That Sea is so like a Medow that as the Waves turn all the herbs turn with it also that the storms are lesse from the Waves than from the grasse This endangers Sea-Men and first Columbus Ovetan l. 2. c. 2. For the Ships are held by the bendings of little branches that they cannot turn It is deep enough for Galleys to row in but the herbs rise from the bottom and grow together on the top and are 15 hand-breadth higher sometimes Pliny l. 13. c. 25. reports that in the red Sea Woods flourish chiefly â—he Laurel and the Olive bearing Olives and if it rain Mushromâ—â— which when the Sun shines are converted into a Pumex-stone The sprouts themselves are 3 cubits great and are stored with abundance of dog fish that it is scarse safe to look out of the Ship and they will set upon the very oars oft times The Souldiers of Alexander that sailed from India reported that the boughs of Trees in the Sea were green but taken out of the Sea were presently changed by the Sun into dry salt Also Polâ—bius reports that in the Sea of â—ortingal Oakes grow that the Thynni fishes feeding on their Acorns grow fat Athenaeus l. 7. Artic. 4. Of the Saltnesse of the Sea THe Works of God are wonderfull in Nature but two are most wonderfull the saltnesse of the Sea and its flowing and ebbing It is said that there is an Island in the Southern Ocean that is waterâ—d by a sweet Sea which also Diodorus Siculus seems to testifie and assert concerning the Scythian Sea Pliny l. 6. c. 17. But that is ascribed to the great running of Rivers into it and how small is this in respect of the other Sea Yet Philosophers argue concerning the saltnesse of the Sea Aristotle l. 2. Meteor c. 1. calls for the nature of the Sea and efficacy of the Sun to assist him For the Sea-waters by the mixture of the ground and the shores is thicker and the Sun by its heat calls forth thinner parts and resolves them into vapours which being burnt with heat and mingled with the water cause its saltnesse Mans body will help us in this wherein the native heat dissolves the sweetest meats into the saltest humours which being collected in the Reins is cast forth by urine Experience confirms it that shews us that the Sea is more salt in Summer than in Winter and more toward the East and South than elsewhere Lydiat likes not this opinion but brings another That Youth may more exactly comprehend the sense of this brave man We will set it down here in a few Propositions I. The vehement heat of the Sun doth not boyl the Sea to be salt For 1. Why is not the same done in a little water in a bason 2. The same cause of saltnesse should work upon the subject with lesse resistance II. A hot dry earthly exhalation carried by rain into the Sea iâ— not the cause of its saltnesse For 1. Why is not the same done in Fountainsâ— 2. It is too little 3. Why is it not onely salt in the superficies but in the deep For though Scaliger Exercit. 51. denyes that saying that the â—â—â—nators have proved it to be sweet yet Patricius saith it was found otherwise in the 〈…〉 between Crete and Egypt when it was very calm Philip 〈…〉 witnesseth the same III. The Sea is salt by the mixture of something with it That is clearâ— because all tasting is oâ— mixt bodies IV. That which is mingled with the Sea hath the nature of a hot and dry exhalâ—â—ion That is apparent 1. Because the Sea is such 〈…〉 will
fable for they could hardly sleep there when their senses are bound up For all their exercise is a tonick motion It is like to that That there is a hole in their back in the muscles where the Female that hath a hollow belly lays her eggs Aldrovandus who saw these Manucodiatae never found any such thing And that is like this that they feed on dew because they flye so high that they cannot alwaies meet with Dew But that must alwaies be restored that alwaies wasts Bellonius saith that the Janissari people of India deck themselves with their feathers They think that under their protection they shall be out of danger in the head of the battel The Mahumetans Marmin perswaded their Kings that they came from Paradise as tokens of the delights of that place The Cormorants are taken in the East to catch fish with In a certaine City saith Odoricus à Foro Julii scituate by the great River in the East we went to see our host fish I saw in his little ships Cormorants tied upon a perch and he had tied their throat with a string that they should not swallow the fish they took In every bark they set three great panniers one in the middle and at each end one then they let loose their Cormorants who presently caught abundance of fish which they put into the Panniers so that in a short time they fill'd them all Then mine â—ost took off the straps from their necks and let them fish for themselves when they were fulâ— they came back to their pearches and were tied up againe Scaliger writes that the same was done at Venice They put their heads deep into the water and perceive the change of the Ayre under the waves and when they perceive any tempest they flye to the land making a 〈…〉 Isidore l. 12. c. 7 Mizaldus saith that Vapours rise up from the waters that cause rainie Clowds and they cunningly observe it The liver of them boyld and eaten with Oyle and a little Salt is so present a remedy against the biting of a mad dog that the sick will presently desire water Aetius The same continued with Salt and drank with Hydromel two spoonfulls will drive forth the Second 〈…〉 Dioscorides CHAP. XXIV Of the Owl and Musket OWls were formerly plentifull in Athens in Gandie they neither breed nor will live brought thither Also in Mountain Countries of Helvetia there are none They sit close 60 dayes in Winter They are not hurt by fasting 9 dayes Plin. l. 10. c. 17. Eustatius says they see in the dark when the Moon is hid but hardly for want of a Medium Crescent l. 10. c. 16. yet they cannot see in the day by reason of too dry and thin substance of the humour which â—s dissipated by the fiery substance of the light He makes a double noise the one is Tou Tou the other noise they call Howling She is at great enmity vvith Crovvs Pausanias reports that the Crovvs snatcht avvay the picture of an Ovvl that vvas to be sold and earings of Gold out of ones hand that vvere made like Dates It is commonly observed that if the Ovvl forsake the Woods it signifies a barren yeare Ovvls egs given for three days in Wine to drunkards vvill make them loath it Plin. The Musket in Winter sits in Woods that use to be lopt and comes not to her place till Sun set When she looks upon any thing the black of the pupill of her eye grovvs greater then ordinary We read of this bird in the Salick lavvs that he vvho should steal ouâ— if he be taken must pay 120 denarii CHAP. XXV Of Onocrotalus and Rhinoceros ONocrotalus is from the tip of his bill to the bottom of his feet ten spans and more in magnitude Aldrovandus His vvings stretched forth make ten spans under his lower mandibule there is a receptacle like a bladder as long as it that hangs down at length And that is so great that a very great man thrust in his leg as far as his knee with a boot on into his Jaws and pull'd it out again without harme Perottus Sanctius reports that a little Blackmore was found in one At Mechlin there was one of 80 yeares old and for some yeares he went before the camp of the Emperour Maximilian as if he would determine the place for them Afterwards he was fed by an old woman at the Kings cost who was allowed for him 4 Stivers the day she fed him 56 yeares when he was young he would somtimes fly so high into the Ayre that he seemed no greater than a Swallow Gesner Also the cubit bones of his wings were covered with a membrane out of which there arose 24 Tendons that were so firmely set into them that there was no way to part them Gesner writes that he heard he was wont to come once a yeare about Lausanna by the Lake Lemannus Rhinoceros is a bird whereof one was kild in the Ayre flying at what time the Christians conquered the Turk in a Sea fight The head was about two spans adorned with black tufts of feathers very long and that hung downwards The Beack is almost a span long bent backward like a bow A horn grows out of its forehead and sticks to the upper part of his Bill of a great magnitude For about the forehead it was a hands breadth Aldrovandus thinks it is Pliny his Tragopanada CHAP. XXVI Of the Parrot THe Antients knew but one kind of Parrots but those that have seen the Indies have found above a hundred kinds different in colour and magnitude Vesputius writes that in a Country above the promontory of good hope that hath its name from Parrots they are so high that they are a cubit and halfe long Scalig. exerc 236 saith he saw one so great that he almost fill'd up the space of the lattice of a Window Some are no bigger than a Thrush or Pigeon or Sparrow No man could hitherto paint sufficiently all its colours they are so many In burning Aethiopia and the farthest Indies they are all white in Brasil red in Calecut they are all Leek green Watchet or Purple coloured Scalig. Exerc. 59. s. 2. The Antients esteemed the Green best The head and beck of it are extreme hard wherefore when they teach him to speak it feels not unlesse you strike iâ— with a wand of Iron woodden rods will do no good and it is dangerous to do it with Iron ones The Parrot alone with the Crocodile moves his upper mandible also his Beck which is common to no other where it is joyned to his neck is open beneath under his chops His tongue is broad like to a mans and represents the forme of a gourd seed the feet are like Woodpickers feet In the desertâ— of Presbyter John they are found with two Claws He puts his meat in his mouth like as men do He not only cuts in sunder the Almonds but by rowling them in the hollow of his Beck and
to intreat and leaping in the nets strive to free themselves Oviedus and Plutarch say that with their sharp backs they will cut the line and free their captive fellowes The Dace of Phalera is so soft and fat a fish that if it be held long in the hand it will melt or if many of them be carried in Ships they will drop fat which is gathered to make Candles with Apitius as Suidas reports set the pictures of these Fishes with Rape roots cut into long and slender pieces boyl'd with oyl and strewed with pepper and salt before Nicomedes the King of Bithynia CHAP. II. Of the Eele ALl know that Eeles are found in many fresh Waters yet Nauclerus writes That in the Danube there are none but in the Rhein there are Albertus makes the cold of Danubius to be the cause thereof and this proceeds because it runs before the mouth of the Alps from West to East and receives the greatest part of its water from thence These onely contrary to other fishes do not flote being dead Pliny The reason is given by Aristotle from the small belly it hath and little fat The swimming of Lampreys Congers and Muraenas that abound with fat confirm this to be true They are so lusty that being devoured whole by a Cormorant they will come forth of his guts nine times one after another and when they are grown weak then he retains them Gesner Held in a mans bosome especially great eels will twist about a mans neck and choke him Cardanus On the Land they dye if the Sun shine on them otherwise very hardly as you may see them living when their skin is pull'd off Athenaeus Aelianus and Plutarch do testifie that in Arethusa of Chalcidon there are tame ones adorned with ear-rings of gold and silver that will take their meat by hand Nymphodorus reports the same of the River Elorus CHAP. III. Of the Whale and the Barbel THe Whale is the greatest and chief of all Fishes Pliny calls this the greatest creature in the Indian Sea which was four Acres in bignesse Massarius interprets this to be 960 foot long Nearchus saith that there are Whales of 23 paces in length and reports that in the Island before Euphrates he saw a Whale cast forth of the Sea that was 150 cubits That Whale which was taken in the Scald ten miles from Antwerp Anno 1577 on the second day of July was of a blackish blew colour he had a spout on his head wherewith he belched up water with great force he was 58 foot long and 16 foot high his tail was 14 foot broad from his Eye to the top of his nose the distance was 16 foot His lower chap was 6 foot of each side armed with 25 Teeth and there were as many holes in the upper chap where there were no teeth yet so many might have stood there The longest of his Teeth was not above 6 thumbs long A Whale not long since was taken at Sceveling a Village near the Hague in Holland was 60 foot long His head was about 3. cubits long I saw him there Platina observes that the Barbels eyes are venomous chiefly in May. Antonius Gazius found it so For when he had eaten but two bits thereof at Supper time his belly was so inflated that he looked as pale as ashes he was distemper'd all over at last he fell into the cholerick passion Nor did these symptomes abate â—ill the eyes were voided upward and downvvard CHAP. IV. Of the Carp the Clupaea and the Conger THe Carp saith Gesner hath a little white hard stone in his head near his tongue and in the middle of his head a thick substance like to a heart that is flexible while it is new but afterwards it grows hard Sometimes it is found 20 pound weight Jovius saith That there was one found in the River Latium two hundred pound weight When the Female finds her self great with young when the time of bringing forth is past by moving her mouth she rouseth the male who casts on his milt and then she bringeth forth In Polonia broad Carps being put into a fish-pond by one when the waters were frozen though he sought them diligently he could not find them when the Spring came and the waters were thawed they all appeared Gesner Clupaea is a great fish In Sagona a River in France when the Moon increaseth it is white but black when it decreaseth When the body is but a little augmented it is destroy'd by its own prickles In the head of it there is found a stone like a barley corn which when the Moon decreaseth some think it will cure the quartan Ague if it be bound to the left side Calisthenes Sybarita citante Stobaeo Congers contain their off-spring within them but it is not equally so in all places nor doth their increase appear in a fat grosse matrix but it is contain'd in it in a long rank as in Serpents which is manifest by putting it into the fire For the fat consumes but the eggs crackle and they leap forth Aristotle 6. Hist. c. 17. CHAP. V. Of the Dogg-fish THe men of Nicea saith Gellius took a Dogg-fish that weighed 4000 pound a whole man was found in the belly of it Those of Massilia found a man in Armour Rondeletius saw oâ—e on the shore at Xanton the mouth and throat were so wide that they would take in a fat man Bellonius saith that each side of the mouth had 36 teeth wherefore some think the Prophet Jonas was swallowed by this fish and that this is that they call the Whale it being so vast a creature The same Bellonius writes that this Fish at divers times brings forth 6 or 8 young ones and somtimes more each of a foot long perfect with all their parts and oft times the young one coming forth there are eggs yet raw in the matrix and some hatcht lying in the upper part toward the midriff and some of them are contained in the right turning of the matrix some in the left In her Whelps this is chiefly wonderfull that they were covered with no secondine and they are fed from some part of the Navell that hath Veins For since saith he she doth not put forth her eggs and they are tied by certaine bands to the matrix they seem to need no other coat than the Amnios whereby the Whelp being now formed and by a chink in the sternon that passeth between the fins that are toward the gills it receiveth nourishment from the matrix by a band or the middle of it that is so slender as a Lute string But this nutriment by that slender string is carried into a little bag which you would say were the stomach which is alwaies full of it like to the yolk of an egge the position of it is in the middle of the belly and under the two laps of the Liver And that this is true if you cut a Whelp taken out of the dams belly through the
within and sends forth smoak in many places and very hot brooks the shore smoaks at the foot of the Mountain the sand is hot the Sea boyles Agricol l. c. In the same place there are many ditches covered with sand into which some that have viewed these things carelesly have sunk in and were stifled This is in Europe In India there are no lesse burnings by fire In Ciapotulan a Province of the Kingdome of Mexico a Mountain casts forth stones as big as houses and those stones cast forth have flames of fire in them and seem to burn and are broke in pieces with a great noise Petrus Alvarad ad Cortesium In the province Quahutemallan of the same Country two Mountaines within two Leagues one of the other vomit out fire and tremble Petrus Hispalens p. 5. C. 23. In Peruacum also out of the Mountain Nanavata the Fire flies out at many holes and out of one boyling water runs of which salt is made In the same Peruacum in the Town Molahaâ—o fire is vomited forth and ashes is cast out for many dayes and covers many Towns There is an Island next to great Java in the middle of which land there burns a perpetuall fire Odoard Barbosa In the Island Del Moro there is a Fire cast forth with such a noise that it is equall to the loudest Cannon and the darknesse is like Night The Ashes so abound that houses have sunk down under them and Trees have been barren for three yeres their boughs being lopt off all places are fild with Ashes and living Creatures destroyed with hunger and pestilence also sweet waters have been changed into bitter Diat Jesuita Also there are concealed Fires namely there where the waters run forth hot warm or sower or where exhalations break forth good or bad and where places seem adust Strab. in Geograph There is a Country in Asia which is called Adust which is 500 furlongs long and 50 broad whether it should be called Misia or Meonia saith Strabo In this there grows no Tree but the Vine that brings forth burnt Wine so excellent that none exceeds it You may not think that those Fires stay only in one straight place for they pass many miles under ground Agricol l. 4. de nat Effl. c. 24. in Campania from Cunae thorough Baianum Puteoli and Naples Also out of Campania they seem to come as far as the Islands Aenaria Vulcania c. Hence Pindarus elegantly faigned that the Gigant Typâ—o being stricken with a Thunder-Bolt lay buried under these places Artic. 4. Of the Original of Subterraneall Fire WEe will now search out the original of these Fires and what it is that kindles and nourisheth them The Poets speak Fables concerning Aetna but of this more in the 4th Chapter Hyginius Mytholog cap. 152. Hell of the Earth begat Typhon of a vast magnitude and a wonderfull shape who had 100 Dragons heads that sprang from his shoulders He challenged Jupiter to strive for his Kingdome Jupiter hit him on the breast with a burning Thunder-bolt and having fired him he cast Mount Aetna upon him which is in Sicilia and from that time it is said to burn yet Isidor l. 14. c. 8. ascribes it to Brimstone that is kindled by the blasts of winds Justinus affirms that it is nourished by water Bleskenius relates of Hecla that no man knowes by what fire or what matter it burneth but since that brimstone is dug forth of all Islandia it should appear that a brimstony matter was sometimes kindled there Not far from Hecla are Pits of brimstone saith Bertius in Islandia That is certain that brimstone affords nourishment for this fire under ground and it is such as will burn in water For in these Mountains Writers make mention of waters and we have shew'd that it hath sometimes burned in the Sea But Lydiat L. de orig font thinks That in the gulfs of the Sea a most violent fire is contained and he demonstrates this by Earth-quakes Therefore the food of it cannot be dry and like to the Earth which we call Dorfa for that is quickly consumed by fire and is quenched by water Nor is it Marle for that will not burn unlesse it be sulphureous and bituminous Brimstone burns indeed but it is soon put out with water therefore it is Bitumen and this seems to be the subject of it Strabo writes That there are under this Cave Fountains of water and Pliny addes l. 2. c. 106. that it burns with water running from Bitumen Burning Bitumen sends forth fire in Hecla a Mountain in Islandia which consumes water The stones of Rivers and the sand burn at Hephestios a Mountain of Lycia and they are bituminous Naphta is very near akin to fire and it presently flames Pliny l. c. Wherefore we think Bitumen to be the food for these fires and they are kindled by a fiery vapour that takes fire if but cold thrust it forth as the Clowds thrust ouâ— lightnings or drives it into some narrow places where rolling it self up and down and seeking to come forth it burns in the conflict and flames Agricol lib. cit Artic. 5. Of the Miracles of Fire in duration burning and in being Extinguished SOme Fires are perpetuall The stone Asbestos once lighted can never be extinguished therefore Writers say it was placed in Idol Temples and the Sepulchres of the dead Solinus c. 12. There was a Monument once dug up wherein was a Candle that had burned above 1500 years when it was touched with the hands it went to fine ashes Vives ad lib. 21. de Civitat Dei Vives saw wicks at Paris which once lighted were never consumed In Britany the Temple of Minerva had a perpetual fire when it consumed it was turned into balls of stone Solinus c. 24. Polyhist The same thing is written of a certain Wood near to Urabia in the New-found World There are some fires that burn not either not at all or in some certain matter or else miraculously In Pythecusis saith Aristotle admirand c. 35. there is a fervent and hot fire that burns not An Ash that shadowes the Waters called Scantiae is alwayes green Plin. lib. 2. c. 107. In the Mountain of Puteoli consisting of Brimstone there is a fire comes forth that is neither kindled nor augmented by oyl nor wax or any fat matter nor is it quenched with water or kindled and it will not burn towe cast into it nor can any Candle be lighted by it Mayolus Colloq 22. he conceives it is not fire but fiery water Near Patara in Lycia flame is cast forth of a field you shall feel the heat if you put your hands to it but it will never burn The parts of the ambient ayr that are cold and moist are said to be the cause of it that by their thinnesse entring into the fire do hinder the burning of it Some napkins made of a kind of Flax will not burn and being durty they are never washed but being cast
full of water But that ceased when the sacrifice ceased Joseph l. 7. c. 24. There is a certain River Bocatius speaks of every ten years it makes a mighty noyse by the stones striking together and this is suddenly in a moment and the stones ran downwards for 3. dayes and 3 or 4 times a day though it be fair weather and after three dayes all is quiet Strabo writes of the Rivers of Hircania l. 11. There are in the Sea high shores that are prominent and are cut forth of Rocks but when the Rivers run out of the Rocks into the Sea with great violence they passe over a great space as the fall betwixt the Sea and the Rocks that Armies may march under the fall of the waters as under Arches and receive no hurt Trochlotes in North Norway makes such a noyse when it runs that it is heard 20 miles Olaus l. 2. c. 28. Beca in Livonia runs forth of the Rocks with such a fall that it makes men deaf Ortel in Livon Tâ—nais by a very long passage from Scythia falling into the Lake Meotis it makes it so long and broad that those that are ignorant of it take it for a great Mountain Boccatius In Solomon's Temple there ran a Spring great in Summer small in Winter Euseb. praeparat Evangel l. 9. c. 4. If you ask the cause it is taken from the Time All things are wet in Winter then are the Channels full and for want of evaporation the waters are kept in But in Summer all things are dry and the Suns heat penetrates Hence it is that they are congregated in their Fountains and run out by the Ayr inforcing them Maeander is so full of windings and turnings that it is often thought to run back again c. He that seeks more concerning Nilus and other Waters let him read Geographerrs Artic. 5. Of the change of quantity and of qualities in Waters THis great variety in Waters that I have set down is a token of the wisdome and power of God and it is no lesse wonder that the same waters should be so diversly changed It is certain that they are changed A Fountain in the Island Tenedos alwayes from 3. at night till 6. after the Summer Solstice overflowes There is another in â—odon that hath its Name from Jupiter it fails always at Noon-day And the River Po in Summer as if it took its rest growes dry saith Pliny In Italy Tophanus a Fountain of Anagnania is dry when the Lake Fucinus is frozen at other times of the year it runs with great quantity of water Agricol l. cit passim The Waters of the Lake of Babylon are red in Summer Boristhenes at some times of the year seems to be died with Verdigrease The water of the Fountain of the Tungri is boyling hot with fire subterraneal and is red The Waters of the River Caria by Neptunâ—s Temple were sweet and are now salt But in Thrace when Georgius Despota ruled a sweet Fountain grew to be bitter intolerably and whole rivers were changed at Citheron in Beotia as Theophrastus writes Men report that of the Mineral Waters which run by the Pangaeus a Mountain of Thrace an Athenian cotyle weighs in Summer 64 grains and in Winter 96. In the Province of Cyrene the Fountain of the Sun is hot at midnight afterwards it cooles by degrees and at Sun-rising it is cold and the higher the the Sun riseth the colder it is so that it is frozen at mid day then again by degrees it growes warm it is hot at Sun-set and the more the Sun proceeds the hotter it becomes The same Fountain every day as it growes cold at mid-day so it is sweet as it growes hot at midnight so it growes bitter Artic. 6. Of some other things admirable in Waters THey were wonders that are passed but greater follow In those it is easy to assign a cause mixture or some such like if you rightly consider it but here it is difficult for though you may in some yet commonly we must fly to hidden qualities I will briefly rehearse them Some drops of a Fountain of the Goths powred upon the Earth cease to move and are thickned by the ayr The waters of Cepusia in Pitchers turn into a Stone those of Rhaetid make people foolish they pull out the teeth in two years and dissolve the ligaments of the sinews which Pliny writes to be in Germany by the Sea-side Those of Islandia change things that are hollow into stones Tybur covers Wood with stone covers Zamenfes in Africa makes clear voyces Soractes when the Sun riseth runs over as though it boyled birds that then drink of it die He growes temperate who drinks of the Lake Clitorius and he forgets who drinks of a well nere the River Orchomenus sacred to the God Trophonius Philarch. He proves dull of wit that drinks of a Fountain in the Island Cea Agricola de reb 〈…〉 terra effluent gives a cause for it as for the former by reason of the bitumen For saith he the seeds of wild Parsnips wrapt in a linnen clout and put into Wine as also the powder of the flowers of Hermodactylus which the Turks use being drunk with it are the cause that it will make a man sooner and more drunk so some kind of Bitumen mixt with water is wont to make men drunk The horses drinking Sebaris are troubled with sneesing whatsoever is sprinkled with it is couloured black Clitumnus of Umbria drank of makes white Oxen and Cesiphus of Beotia white sheep but a River in Cappadocia makes the hair whiter softer and longer In Pontus Astaces waters the fields in which Mares are fed that feed the whole Countrey with black milk The waters in Gadaris make men bald and deprive Cattle of hair hooffs and horns Cicero writes that in the Marshes of Reate the hoofs of beasts are hardned The hot baths at the Fort of New-house colour the Silver Rings of such as wash in them with a Golden colour and make Gold Rings more beautifull Aniger that runs out of Lapithum a Mountain of Arcadia will nourish no fish in it till it receive Acidan and those that go then out of it into Aniger are not edible but they in Acidan are Pausanias Agrigentinum a Lake of Sicily will beare those things that do not swim in the waters In Aethiopia there is one so thin that it will not carry up leaves that fall from the next Trees In the lake Asphaltiâ—es a man bound hand and foot cannot sink The cause is held to be the great quantity of Salt Hieronymus Florentinus saw a Bankrupt bound and cast headlong from the Tower into it and it bore him up all the night Posidonius observed that bricks in Spain made of Earth with which their Silver plate is rub'd did swim in the waters Cleon and Goon were two Fountains in Phrygia either of their waters made men cry There were two in the fortunate Island they that tasted of one laught till they died
doth not lye upon the waters but contrarily where the Conduits are not full the lower part is not empty but the upper part IV. Nor the Bulk of the Sea Scaliger thinks that the Waters being pressed in the channels by the Sea lying upon them do seek to get forth His Example is of a stone in a vessel But two things are here assumed 1. That the gravity is every where the same as in the weight of a stone 2. That a great part of the Sea water is out of its place V. Nor yet vapours redoubled into themselves and so drawing nor the spungy Nature of the Earth nor the veins of the Earth whereby the moysture of the water may be drawn forth For 1. attracting forces would be more fit for Champion ground than for Mountains 2. If they should attract it were for that purpose that they might have the fruition of it but from whence are there such Rivers 3 The veins of waters are no where found so full as that reason requireth whether it be for blood in living creatures or for squirts VI. The water is raised out of the Caves of the Earth to the Tops of Mountains as the Sea is raised above the middle Region of the Ayr. VII But this Elevation is made by the force of heat resolving the water into vapours Aristotle himself intimates that heat is required but that water may be made of a vapour there needs no cold but a more remisse heat VIII The heat of the Earth proceeds not from the heat of the Sun namely of the Earth in its Intralls For first it can penetrate but two yards deep and therefore the Troglodites make their Caves no deeper 2. In the hottest Summer a woodden post that is but one or two Inches thick is not penetrated 3. The entralls of the Earth about 8 or 10 yards deep are found colder in Summer then in Winter IX The Antiperistasis of the cold Ayr in the superficies of the Earth is nothing to the purpose 1. It is more weak than the cold of the firm Earth 2. What ever of the Suns heat is bred within passeth out by the pores and vanisheth 3. It perisheth being besieged by both colds to which it bears no proportion X. The heat that is in the bowells of the Earth is from a double cause For in the parts nearest the superficies it proceeds from the Sun beams but in the bowels of the Earth from other causes That passeth out by the pores of the Earth in Summer being opened by the Sun and therefore it vanisheth when as being removed from its original it is weaker but in winter it is bound in by the cold XI The heat in the bowels of the Earth is known by the heat of the Waters but these are neither hot by the Sun nor from brimstone or quicklime in the conduits but only from a subterraneal fire Not from the Sun For. 1. That cannot penetrate so far 2. If it were from thence it would be most in Summer Not from brimstone or quick lime for brimstone heats not unlesse it be actually heated and quick-lime only then when it is resolved by Water Also the vast quantity of it would be resolved in a short time and would make a change in the Channels But it may be understood some ways how it may be heated by a subterraneal fire 1. As it is actuall and so the Channels being solid stone cannot derive it 2. As it is more remote but sends forth Vapours by pipes as in Baths so also not for Vapours cannot have so great force as to make it boil 3. That the Water may run amongst the burning fire as in bituminous Channels But here the question may be why it doth not cast out the Bitumen as in Samosata a City of Comagenes Pliny saith l. 2. c. 104. and 107 that a certain lake cast forth flaming mud and fire came out at the Waters of Scantium 4. The fourth way is the truth Art doth some wayes imitate Nature but in Stills the water by the force of heat is resolved into Vapours and the Vapours fly upwards to the heads where they stick and being removed from the violent heat they return to Water again so also in the bowells of the Earth XII But Fountains that boyl seem not to be of those Waters that run but that stand still Namely Wells that have formerly been opened by the quakings of the Earth which it is no wonder that they are joyned to the Sea In a small Island against the River Timevuâ— Pliny l. 2. c. 103. writes that there is a hot spring that ebs and flows with the Sea In the Gades it is contrary Pliny l. 2. c. â—2 But if any of these hot springs do runâ— we must observe of them that their Channels are so scituated that when the Sea flowes it comes unto them or if it were come into them before it powreth forth the more And so the heat of the fire will be either proportionable and the exhalation greater or not and so lesse XIII But what Agricola writes of bituminous Waters and that yeeld a smell must be ascribed to their neernesse but it vanisheth at a farther distance The same is observed in artificiall distilled waters that in time the burntness of them will vanish away XIV But because this fire by the shaking of the Earth can do much in the superficies it can then do more in the place it is It can therefore stop up old Channels open new ones in divers caves of the Earth without sending forth of the matter combustible or propagation of fire or conflict of Vapours it can rayse new fires from whence new Rivers may be produced yet somtimes also it useeth to be extinguished or sunk so deep that it cannot send its force to the superficies This is the opinion of Lydiat which we have set down more amply that being better known it might be more exactly weighed CHAP. V. Of hot Baths THe heat of hot Baths is diversly spoken of by Authours Aristotle thought it proceeded from Thunder which is false for the force of Thunder is pestilentiall any man may know it that beholds Wine corrupt by Thunder It makes men mad or dead but these are healthfull as experience daily shews Also there are many places that were never touched with Thunder for that never descends above five foot Sennert Scient natural l. 4. c. 10. thinks it comes from two waters that are cold to be felt but grow hot in their meeting from repugnancy of the Spirits as we see in oyle of Tartar and Spirit of Vitrial and in Aquafortis and Tartar and of the butter of Antimony and Spirit of Nitre all which though they are cold to the touch yet if you mingle them they grow hot and so that if you suddenly powre oyle of Tartar into Aquafortis wherein Iron is dissolved it will not only boyle but the mixture will flame which also happeneth if you pour fast the spirit of Nitre into the
hardly extinguish flames and it is easily 〈…〉 that are washed in it are quickly dryed 3. 〈…〉 as Britanny and France hotter V. The Sea is not onely salt but bitter therefore it is 〈…〉 called Mare than Sâ—â—um VI. The salt and bitternesse of the Sea iâ— from a subterraneal 〈…〉 fire 1. Bitumen is perceived so bitter in taste that it may be known to be the first subject of it 2. Bitumen hath great force to cause iâ— salt and bitter taste The bituminous Lake of Palestina is so salt and bitter that no Fish is bred in it it scours cloaths if one wet them and shake it well out 3. Pliny reports that a bituminous water thaâ— is also salt at Babylon is cast out of their Wells into salt Piâ—â— and is thickned partly into Bitumen partly into Salt VII A salt Exhalation proceeding froâ—â—hose Deâ—pâ— iâ— easily divided by the body of the Sea For as fine flower or 〈…〉 thing else casâ— into 〈…〉 boyling liquor is cast from the place that boyls unto other parts 〈…〉 on one side to the other if in the middle to the circumference 〈…〉 bituminous Exhalation from thence where it boyleth most and the Sea is most hot is cast and dispell'd into the whole body of it So 〈…〉 Artic. 5. Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea ANother great miracle of Nature is the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea When the Philosopher sought for the cause of it hâ— grew desperate Possidonius in Strabo l. 3. Geograph makes 3. Circuits of the Sea's motion The diurnall monethly and yearly The first is when the Moon is risen above the Horizon but one sign of the Zodiack or is gone down under the Horizon then the Sea swells untill the Moon comes to the midst of the Heaven 〈…〉 it above or beneath the Earth When it declines from thence the Sea begins to retire untill the Moon is but one sign distant from the East or West and then it stops Pliny assents thus far to him that the flowing of the Sea begins about two equinoctiall hours after the rising or setting of the Moon and ends just so long before its setting or rising He determines the other to be monethly in the conjunction when he saith That the greatest and quickest returnings of the Sea do happen about the new and full Moon the mean about the Quarters of the Moon And Marriners approve this when they call it the Living Sea by reason of the great ebbings and flowings in the new and full Moons but the dead Sea in the half Moons because of the lesser and slower motions of it Possidonius addes more That one Sâ—leucus observed a Sea that was derived from the red Sea and was different from it that kept the monethly course of returning namely according to the Lunar moneth which men call periodicall For he had observed in the Moon being in the Equinoctiall signs that the Tides were equall but in the solstices they were unequall both for quantity and swiftnesse and the same inequality held in the rest so far as any of them happened â—ear to the foresaid places Lastly Possidonius saith That he learned the yearly motions from the Mariners of Gades For they say that about the summer Solstice the ebbing and flowing of the Sea increaseth much and that he conjectured the same did diminish as far as the Equinoctial and again to increase untill Winterâ— from 〈…〉 to decrease untill the spring Equinox â— and so increase again untill the Summer solstice Pliny determines the contraâ—◠〈…〉 reason of the Equinox But Patricius witnesseth That iâ— Libâ—â—â—ia in January great part of the strandâ— are naked and continue dry for some dayes The same Pliny l. â— c. 97. observes That in every eight years in the Moons 100 circumvolution the Tides are called back to their first motions and like increasings that is to say the Sun and Moon then returning to a conjunction in the same sign and degree wherein they were in conjunction eight years before But for the daily Tides there is a differeâ—â—e amongst Writers In the Sicilian Sea 〈…〉 and flowings are twice a day and twice in the night 〈…〉 in the Sinâ—s of Aegeum repeats its motion 7. times a day and sometimes is seen thrown down from the highest Mountains and so steep down that no ships can be safe there Basil iâ— Hexaemex In England at Bristoll the Ebb is daily twice and so great that the ships that were in the Sea stand dry and are twice on dry Land twice in the Sea Pitheas Massiliensis as Pliny testifies l. 2. c. 67. writes that it swâ—lls fourscore cubits higher than Britanny In the Southern part of the New World the Sea rising flowes two Leagues Ovetan summ c. 9. But in a certain Northern Sea there iâ— no flowing or ebbing observed by the waves of it Petrus Hispan p. 5. c. 1. Not far from Cuba Promontory and by the shores of Margaret Island and Paria the Sea flowes naturally nor can ships by any means though they have a prosperous gale sayl against the floods nor make a mile in a whole day Petrus Martyâ—â—â—n sum Indiae In the Adriatick Sea formerly there was wont to be a very great flowing forth early in the morning the Sea being so advanced into the Continent that it went as far up as a strong man could run in a day Procop. l. 1. Belli Gothici â—ut singular was that Tide and a wonder of the World which in particular which proceed from whirlepools by which the waters are suckt up and spued out again by turns It is very probable this happens in Charybdis the Syrtes and Chalcydis about Eubaea This represents a true flowing and comes from winds breaking forth of the Caves of the Earth and forcing forward the waters or to the Waves running back again and sinking down But the fourth is 〈…〉 true ebbing and flowing which runs neither Eastward nor Westward but begins from the Navel of the Sea and that boyls up and as the waters rise thus they are powred forth toward the Banks more or lesse as the cause is more or lesse violent unlesse something hinder the cause whereof we shall seek last of all And true it is that Marriners in the straights of Magellan where the South Sea is seperated from the North by a notable difference marking diligently the Tydes of both Seas have observed what they could not do in the vast Ocean namely that both Seas do not begin to flow at the same time And that it is not moved by any outward cause not from the Heavens nor is it brought in from the East or West but comes from the bottom of it and boyles out from thence the superfluity running toward the Land variously as the swelling is great or small the shores high or low and the cause that moves it from the bottom upwards weaker or stronger This is confirmed by the nature of the water which casts up from the bottom whatsoever it sucks in if it be not
melted lead so you do it quickly with swift motion Lemnius l. 2. de occult c. 34. It is heavier than silver yet will swim upon it being melted It may be the volatil parts of evaporating Lead fly away by the fire but the silver not evaporating sinks down Libavius l. 2. Epist. Chym. Ep. 98 It is said to increase in weight and magnitude if it be hid in Câ—llars where the Ayr is troubled so that what is put there presently gathers rust The Leaden bands of Statues that bind their feet are sometimes found to grow and to swell sometimes so much that they will hang like Crystal out of the stones Experience hath proved it to be unfit for Medicament Fernel lib. de lue Vener c. 7. For when as one by the advice of an Emperick had eaten half a pound of the powder of it with his meat in 15 dayes to cure the joynt Gout those things that were taken in had a nidorous taste of Lead and what was voided by stool looked of Lead colour Yet it is found also to be for externall medicinal use For it cools Wherefore both Mortars and Pessels are wont to be made of it in which if Liquors are beaten what comes by the mixture of both is very cooling The plates are good to lay to the loyns over-heat with venery and against nocturnal pollutions in dreaming Calvus the Orator did prevent lust therewith that he might preserve his strength for his study Pliny Musicians were wont to lay them upon their breasts to sing the lowder Isidorus Nero had a plate of Lead to lay upon his breast when he slept to preserve his voice Suetonius in Nerone CHAP. XXXI Of Iron THe Mine of Iron is the greatest of all Mettals On that part of Cantabria which the Sea passeth by there is a Mountain high and cragged it is incredible to speak it it is all of Iron Ore Plin. l. 34. c. 14. It is rare in India Hence they write that 14 pounds of Iron at the Island of Zabur have been bartred for 250 pounds of Gold Pegaffetta It was formerly found in China called Azzalum Indicum of such an excellent temper in the edg that it would cut any Iron Pancirol l. de novis repertis Digged up in Sicilie and Lusatia it grows again and the earth and stocks of Trees as it grows become Iron First it is like a thick liquor and by degrees it grows hard Agricola in observat metal When it is boyled it becomes moyst like water afterwards it is broken into Spunges The more tender Iron instruments are steeped in oyle to quench them lest they should grow too hard and brittle with water Plin. lib. citat But in the Island Palmosa it cannot be melted also in Aethalia Strabo l. 15. Bertius in Descript Ilvae Smeared with Alum and Vineger it becomes like brasse At Smolnicium it is a Town of the Mount Carpathum water is drawn out of a pit and it is powred into Pipes laid in a threefold order and that pieces of Iron in them turn into brasse Agricol de metal But the piece of Iron that is put into the end of the Pipes is eaten by this water that it becomes like mud that afterwards boyled in a furnace becomes good Brasse It is most agreeing with all Copper that it will mingle with it in melting The Poets call these Mars and Venus in their Fables Minder de Vitriolo c. 1. Aristonides when he would expresse the fury of Athamas who would throw down headlong his Son Clearchus and when he had don so the manner of his sorrow he mingled Brasse and Iron that the rust of it shining through the brighter Brasse might expresse his shame and bashfullnesse Plin. lib. citat Plunged fiery hot in water it becomes Steel in Vinegar it will endure no hammering but will sooner break than draw Hence the Lacaedonians who were wont to make their coyn of Iron Rods steeped them red hot in Vinegar that being brittle they might never be put to any other use Plutarch in Lycurgo If you seek a reason we say that Vinegar goes into the heart of the Iron Bodin l. 2. Theatr In Furnaces where they make it into bars there rise such Vapours from it when it is hammerd that a certain powder increaseth sensibly and multiplyes sticking to the walls Albert. Mag in lib. de Animal It is so strong that it can never be consumed by fire In the new World there is an herb called Cabuja or Hentquen of the leavs of it there is a reddish string that with sand will cut Iron Ovetan Histor. l. 7. c. 10. Iron scales are very drying they put it in their shoos that have sweating feet The best Iron is most white and light and hath little branches somtimes like to Corall somtimes bound together with very fine strings They make bullets of it for great Guns CHAP. XXXII Of Fossil Flâ—sh ANdreas Libavius a Man exceedingly deserving in Philosophy and Physick saith that it was reported on the credit of the Jevenses Schroterori that at the rampire of Erfurd by the port of St. Andrews upon occasion of raising the Bulwark higher that great pieces of raw flesh were dug out of ground and that it was brawny much like to Oxe-flesh only it had no bones Hubnerus affirms this in Epistol ad Libavium But because those that dug it up prated that they could find it only upon Thursdays wise men began to suspect the matter and having discovered the fraud the deceivers were cast into Prison Though fraud here may be objected yet it is not against reason to say with Libavius that there may be fossil flesh Most true it is that the Earth I add the water also is the Mother of some living Creatures and of those imperfect ones that came by aequivocall generation and by the mixture of both these Clay may be made fit for the breeding of an animall principle which somtimes becomes a perfect Creature and somtimes is deficient As in the kinds of perfect Creatures somtimes rude lumps are bred somtimes provided with that supplies their defect If that be first and yet helps being present it is not frustrated of its motion it is likely that a Mole of clotted blood or somthing like flesh should be made no otherwise than as matter disposed with it for a bone becomes a bone which is called Fossil Horn. So Histories relate that shell fish have been found in the tops of the highest Mountaines of sand from Marle and Marble putrified which though some think they are the reliques of the General flood yet is it not probable that they could last so long by reason of the injury of time For Marble it self will at last dissolve And if you think it absurd that a Creature with blood should proceed from matter that is without blood I could by examples shew your absurdity When Nilus sinks down living Creatures are bred of the mud by heat of the Sun some perfect some half perfect sticking to
between two stones it will grow hot and the juice of it mingled with Wine and milk is excellent against the Quinsie Mathiol in l. 3. c. 115. They that shall taste of it will never be troubled with that disease Some think that part of this herb is put into birds nests and that keeps their young ones from being strangled when they eat so greedily Juniper is hard hence it is that the wood will not corrupt in an hudnred years Therefore Annibal commanded to build the Temple of Diana at Ephesus with Juniper beams Plin. l. 15. c. 40. A light cole of it covered with its own ashes will keep fire a whole year if we will credit the Chymists An admirable Bath is made of it for the Gowt thus Take 12. pound of Juniper wood cut in pieces boyl it in water in a great Cauldron till but a third part remain then pour forth the decoction with the wood into a Fat let the sick go into it and sit there up to the navel and bathe his limbs but he must first purge Mathiol l. 1. Dioscor c. 87. Many Gouty people have been made whole by this Bath that were forced to keep their beds before The pith of it in Numidia is white in Aethiopia black in Lybia purple coloured Scalig. Exerc. 181. s. 9. Also the African Physitians raspir and use it successefully for Guaicum against the Indian disease I say by the by that this disease was carried by the Jews out of Spain into Africa and cannot there be cured without a remedy But if the Patients go into Numidia or Aethiopia by Nigris there the Climate onely will cure them Of the Ashes of Kaly Salt is made this is dissolved with powder of stones and a kind of clammy substance swims a top to make glasse when it is cold it growes hard and is called commonly Axungia Vitri being powdred it makes the teeth wonderful clean Plater l. 2. de Vit. CHAP. XXV Of the Bay-Tree Mastick-Tree and Flax. THe Bay-Tree will yield fire of it self and if you rub the dried boughes often together strewing powder of brimstone thereon it will take fire Mathiol in l. 1. c. 90. It is alwayes with green leaves and so great is the force of it that but stick some of the boughs in the fields and the corn will never be hurt with smut which is the plague of Corn for it will take hold of the leaves At Rome they held antienly that Jupiter sent it from heaven Plin. l. 15. c. 30. For an Eagle from aloft let fall a white hen into the lap of Livia Drusilla who afterwards was called Augusta being married to Caesar whom she was espoused to she wondred at it but was not afraid the miracle was that she had in her beak a Bayâ—bough that was full of Bay-berries The Southsayers commanded to keep the Hen and her Chickens and to set the Bay bough and take care of it which was done in the Mannour of the Caesars that was by the River Tibur about 9 miles from Rome in the way Flaminia and therefore is called ad Gallinas and it grew into a great wood Caesar afterward in triumph held a Bay-bough in his hand and had a Crown of bayes on his head Amongst all Trees this onely is never stricken with thunder unlesse it be for a sign of future calamity no houses are thunder-stricken as they say where the boughs are Therefore Tiberius fearing thunder when it did thunder put on his Lawrel Crown Theophrastus writes 4. de Plâ—nt c. 8. that they are stony in the red Sea The Mastick-Tree beats little bladders bowed in like to horns wherein there is contain'd a clear liquor which with age is turned into little Creatures like to those that fly out of Elm and Turpentine bladders In the Island Chios of the Egean Sea from the Mastick Tree cut runs forth Mastick it growes in ground that is ramâ—d fast together and paved Mathiol l. 1. c. 45. If you oft-times distill Linseed oyl saith Bapt. Porta l. 10. mag c. 9. it will be so ready to take fire that you can scarce shut it up in a Vessel but it will draw fire to it and if the vessel be open it is so thin that it will fly into the Ayr and evaporate and if the light of a candle or fire touch it the ayr will kindle and the oyl will flame so violently at a great distance that it is almost impossible to put it out In the Desarts of India it growes red that will endure the fire and be purified by it It growes out of stones springing and rising upward the hair is short and is therefore hard to be spun Libav l. 2. c. 7. de Bombyâ— CHAP. XXVI Of the Larch-Tree Lilly Loostrife and the Lote-Tree SOme of the best Writers say That the Larch-Tree will not burn and we alledged it before out of Lemnius but that is found to be false In the Mountains of Trent Iron is made and the Furnaces are heat with Larch-wood and no wood will better melt mettals And if stones will burn that have a Bituminous matter in them what shall we conclude of a Rosâ—â—ous kind of wood Lillies will hold green all the year if when they are shut and have not opened themselves they be cropâ— and put into new unglased pots and kept close covered Mathiol ex Anatolio in l. 3. Dioscor c. 99. When in the mean time you take them out for your use bring them to the Sun and by warmth of it they will open themselves Loosstrife is a notable remedy against the Plague the Country people found this Plant amongst the Coenomani bound something high upon a man it will drive the poyson of the plague downwards and keeping it there will not let it rise up any more Ruel de natur stirp l. 3. c. 78. If Oxen disagree lay this on their yokes and they will be quiet The Lote-Tree is a vaâ—t spreading Tree full of large boughes Domitius valued 6. of them at a thousand Sestertia Plin. l. 17. c. 1. They lasted untill such time as Nero burnt the City 180 years There is also an herb in Egypt call'd by â—â—i ' Name that when the waters of Nilus go back that water'd the ground it comes up like a bean Plin. l. 13. c. 17. The fruit of it is like a Poppy head dented in and the seeds are in it The Inhabitants putrefie the heads in heaps then they wash them apart when they are dry they bruise them and eat them for bread When the Sun sets these Poppy heads close and are covered in leafes when the Sun riseth they open till they grow ripe and the white flower fall off That bread is Physical Plin. l. 22. c. 21. They that feed on it are never troubled with a Dysentery nor Tenasmus nor any diseases of the belly When it is hot it is the most easie of digestion but cold it is harder for the stomach CHAP. XXVII Of Malabathrum Punic and Assyrian Apples
principall parts and the heart The Gyrsaulcons are of divers kinds They are some white found in Moscovy Norway Ireland They are bold If one of them be let fly at five Cranes he will follow them all till he have killed them The food of it reserved in its Cave it will take in order She never wets her self with water but onely with sand She loves the cold so well that she will alwayes delight to stand upon ice or upon a cold stone sometimes untaught she is sold for 50 Nobles There is a Faulcon called Ruâ—eus because the spots that are white in the rest are red and black in this kind yet they seem not to be so but when she stretcheth forth her wings The cause of this rednesse is a feeble colour infused into the superficies of the body and inflaming the smoaky moysture which is put forth to breed the feathers CHAP. XVII Of a Hen and Cock HEns in the Kingdom of Senega are thrice greater than ours there are many near to Thessalonica some lay two eggs that is with two yolks which are parted by a partition that they may not be confounded Aristot. in mirabil reports that some have laid â—â— double ones and to have hatcht them one chicken was greater than another and at last it became a Monster In Macedonia there was one Hen which once laid 18 eggs and hatcht two young chickens at once saith Pierius l. 24. Hieroglyph But their eggs as also dâ—uer birds eggs are first conceived above where the partition is where first it is seen to be faint and white as Aristot. writes than red and bloody and as it increaseth it becomes all yellow but as it more increaseth it is distinguished so that the yellow part is inward and the white goes outwardly about it when it is perfect it is finished and comes forth of the shell soft at first hatching but presently it growes hard The place of its perfection is the Matrix it self into which they fall Aldrovand l. 14. Ornithol Some report also that a Cock layes an egge when he is 9. or 14. years old and they suppose it proceeds from seed putrified or ill humours concurring together It is thought to be round and to be laid about the rising of the Dog-star For the expulsive faculty being then weak is helped in an aged Cock by the outward heat With Ferrans Imperatus an Apothecary one was seen that was long fashioned Aldrovand The Cocks are wonderful falacious for they will tread the Hens 50 times a day and they have been seen to ejaculate their seed when they but saw the Hen or heard her note Aelian There was an old Law as Plutarch saith in Libro Num bruta ratione careant That if one Cock trod another he should be burnt alive When he finds he is too full of blood he will scratch his comb till he fetch blood All men know he Crowes in the morning Some say the cause is the Love he hath to the Sun some to his venery others to his desire of meat The Mahumetans say they answer a Cock that crowes in heaven Keckerm in Physicis The first reason seems something for he will crow when he is full also and after copulation also he crowes when the Hen is present but when he is gelt he crowes no more Plin. Yet l. 29. c. 4. he saith That a circle of Vine-twigs tied about his neck he will not sing Albertus saith if his head and forehead be anointed with oyl He is at great Amity with the Kings-Fisher that if they be both in the same house and the Kings-Fisher dye the Cock will dye with hunger They that have fed on Fox flesh boyl'd are free for two moneths from their Treachery Boetius As for a Dung-hill Cock Gesner saith he found it in a German Manuscript that a Noble-man having tryed all remedies for pains of the Collick and finding none at length he drank a small cup of Capons-grease unsalted boyl'd in water But saith he you must drink the fat that swims on the top as hot as you can CHAP. XVIII Of the Crane and the Woodwall THe Cranes travell all over the World Yet Aldrovandus saith he scarce believes that they will live willingly in all Countries l. 20. The Aspera arteria of them is set into the flesh on both sides at the Breast-bone whence you may hear a Crane afar off They travel but no time is set yet how swiftly they fly is manifest by the example of Cyrus who was said so to have disposed of his Posts at certain stages that when one was weary another should proceed night and day that they out-went the Cranes that flew When they fly they keep a triangular sharp angled figure that they may the easier pierce through the Ayr that is against them That Crane that gathers the rest together will correct them as Isidorus saith When one is hoarse another succeeds When they light upon the Earth to feed the Captain of them holds up his head to keep watch for the rest and they feed securely Before they take rest they appoint another Sentinel who may stand and ward with his neck stretched forth whilest the rest are asleep with their heads under their wings and standing upon one leg The Captain goes about the Camp and if there be any danger he â—laries Lest they should sleep too soundly they stand upon one foot and hold a stone in the other above ground that if at any time being weary they should be oppressed with sleep the stone falling might awaken them They love their young ones so much that they will fight whether shall give them their breeding Albertus saw a maleâ—Crane cast down a female and kill her giving her eleven wounds with his bill because she had drawn away his young ones from following of him This fell out at Colen where tame Cranes use to breed Those are fables that men relate of the Battels between the Pigmies and the Cranes The Woodwall hangs up her nest on the boughs like a Cup that no four-footed beast can come at it The nest is like to the fashion of a Rams-stones Albert. Magn. Some say there is Silk â—ound in it and that rhe nest is built not far from the water made of moss and the cords it hangs by are horse hairs She leaves Italy when Arcturus ariseth As she hangs down she sleeps upon her feet hoping for more safety thereby Plin. l. 10. c. 32. When she comes into Germany there is great hopes that Winter for Snow and Frost is gone CHAP. XIX Of the Chough IT is thought that the Choughs feed on Locusts besides Corn because the Inhabitants of the Island Lemnos were reported to worship these birds because they flew to destroy the Locusts Plin. l. 10. c. 29. The males will rather lose their lives than part with their females They fly at the eyes of him that holds them The reason is rendred by Nicolaus Leonicus because the eyes are shining and very
Crabs will hang about it Some say that in June they will go forth to feed in the fields catch Frogs and feed on grasse Fed with milk without water he will live many dayes Gesner kept one alive in water 13 days put into distilled wine burnt he presently growes red and may be set on the Table alive amongst those that are boyl'd Georg. Pictorius The Males are easily discerned from the females For they where their tail is joyn'd to their body underneath have four long rods sticking forth but these have none Also their tail is rounder plainer and thicker Leonellus Faventinus commends the powder of their eyes drank with water of peach leaves after opening a vein against a bastard Pleurisie The powder of them rubb'd on the teeth cleanseth and whiteneth them In India a Shell-fish that breeds Pearl is sometimes found so great as they report that in the Island Borneus in the Sea there was one taken that the meat within it weighed 47 pound yet methinks it is questionable CHAP. VIII Of the Snail THe Snails which Dioscorides calls Garden Snails are found in abundance in the Mountains of Trent and they are the best In Winter they are dug up out of the Earth and in Gardens with some iron hooks near to the roots of herbs the Earth being dug forth They are covered with a white shell against the cold it is like to Gip so they lye under ground hid and afterwards they are more pleasant meat Matthiolus They have eyes in the top of their horns and they pull them in when any thing comes near to them and put their horns into their heads their heads into their bodies Albertus They lay white eggs as great as the Pikes eyes and in May they are found to sit upon them Gesner Albertus saith they are bred of corruption and clammy dew and that that dew hardneth into a shell Porta saith the same Phytol l. 5. c. 4. Pliny l. 9. c. 5. saith they are bred in Winter Fulvius Hirpinus made Caves of them in Tarquinis a little before the Warr with great Pompey c. Pliny l. 9. c. 56. In the Island Scyathos the Partridges feed on them but those that are call'd Ariones deceive them For going out of their shells they feed leaving their empty houses to the Herns and Partridges Aelian l. 10. c. 5. Andreas Fulnerus Gallus relates That a Remedy is made of them to multiply hair Take 300 Snails out of their shells and boyl them in water and take them out again and gather the fat that swims a top and put that into a glazed vessell and pour a Sextarius of water upon it wherein Bay leaves have been boyled with three spoonfulls of oyl one spoonfull of Honey Saffron one scruple and a little Venice Soap and a spoonfull of common Soap moderately stirred boyl them altogether With this liquor anoint your hair often and wash it with a Lye made of the Ashes of burnt Colewort stalks the place is obscure or corrupted and you shall find your hair increase daily CHAP. IX Of the Gnat. IN Aegypt there are great store of Gnats whence Herodotus calls it Conopaeam and Bellonius observat l. 2. c. 35 writes that he was so vexed with them the first night that the next day he seemed to have the Measils In divers parts of India there are kinds of Gnats whereof some in Summer time especially when the fields are cleansed do lye in the Woods others lye about the shores At Myon a City of Jonia there was a creek of the Sea not very great which when Maeander a River of that Country running into it that was very muddy had stopped the mouth of it with mud brought along with it so that in time it made a Lake there bred from thence such abundance of Gnats that the people of Myon left their City and went to Miletus When the Northern people would hinder their biting they sprinkle a decoction of Wormwood or Nigella on their heads and the rest of their body Olaus Yet he makes a difference in their bitings For they that have their blood pure and not corrupted bite them they not They meddle not with fruit before they grow sharp by corruption and they most delight in sowre things Leoâ—h Jaâ—hin But because they chiefly suck mans blood they are called the spowts of the blood of Man It is not proved that they will suck things that are sweet For the sweeter part of the blood that is most pure is consumed for nourishment and lyeth inwardly that which is rawest comes next to the skin whence it is that Pushes break forth of the body CHAP. X. Of the Urchin the Ephemera and the Catterpillar SEa-Hedge-hogs so often as they are tossed with the flowing water make themselves heavy with ballast lest they should be tossed too much being light or carried away with a tempest and so they stick fast to the Rocks Plutarch l. Utr. Animal The parts of the live ones covered with their shell and armed with their prickles if they be broken and cast into the Sea they will come together again and will know the part that is next to them and being applyed they will joyne and unite by a natural sympathy Aldrovandus As for the Ephemara the River Hypanis in Cammerius Bosphorus under the Solstice produceth little bladders greater than grape stones out of which flying creatures proceed with four feet This kind of creature lives till the afternoon the same day when the Sun departs it decays and presently dies when the Sun sets from hence it hath the name of Ephemer or a creature that lives but one day Aldrovand As for Catterpillars Hieracles testifieth that if Horses rowle themselves upon them black and blew spots will arise their skins will grow hot their eyes will be distorted and the cure is to bray vitriol one quarter of a pound Vinegar half a pound They feed on pot hearbs but if a rocket seed be sowed amongst them they will not touch them But that those hearbs may breed no noysome creatures dry all the seeds you mean to seâ— in a Tortis shell or sow mint in many places especially amongst Coleworts Prasocurides saith Cardan are such living Creatures that use to do hurt in Gardens Men say that if you bury the panch of a Wether with the dung in it not deep within the earth in the place where they abound in two days you shall find them all in heaps in that place in twice or thrice so doing you may destroy them all Paulus Aegineta writes that herb rocket annoynted with oyle will preserve men safe from the bitings of Venemous creatures CHAP. XI Of the Pismire IN the Kingdom of Senega there are white Pismires and naturally they build low houses For they carry earth in their mouths and cement it without lime you would say that they are like Ovens or little Country houses Scaliger exerc 367. In the Province of Mangu they are red and they eat them with Pepper Scalig.
exceedingly and makes men drink out of measure Also divers sorts of men eat bread wherein there is contain'd Nigella seed Darnell when they eat brown bread or mingled with Millet seed For these cause heavinesse and a passion like to drunkennesse by grosse vapours Canonher l. 3. de admirand Vini c. 1. Hitherto appertains refined wine poured from the Lees. For this though it be weaker to preserve it self and having no lees will sooner grow sowr for the Lees are the root to preserve the Wine yet because it is moyster and pierceth into all the Veins of those that drink it it sooner inflames the blood makes men drunk and overturns reason Jason Pratens de morb cerebri But women come not into this consideration nor such as drink sharp Wine after sweet or such as delight in new Wine For women are of a very moyst body are often purged have very open passages Macrob. in Saturnal Yet because they have a weaker brain and narrower sutures of their skull it is better to say with Alphonsus Lupeius that they are seldom so drunk that they rave but they are often sottish in their drink Sweet Wine stops the pores through which the Vapours of sharp Wines might ascend to the head Lastly sweetnesse so resists drunkennesse that Physitians cause such that are too much inflated with Wine first to vomit much and then they give them bread with honey to eat to repell the fumes that remaine of the Wine Macrob. Saturnal What concerns their divers gestures that is founded in the diversity of the parts and humours Fumes from Wine flye to the forepart of the head and fumes of Beer and Ale to the hinder parts Those that are drunk with this fall backwards but these with Wine fall forwards Those are clamorus and talkative these sleepy and forgetfull Lemnius l. 2. de occult c. 19. They see things lesse a farr off because the optick Spirits are made more thick The sanguine tempers laugh the cholerick prate and are mad the phlegmatique grow stupid the melancholique sad And because all of them have their opticks troubled with Vapours they all see a divers colour'd circle about the light of the Candle Gordon Libro Medic. part 2. c. 21. If they weep they delight in so doing Rhodig l. 12. c. 4. Moysture makes them stammer for by this the tongue is extended as a sponge with water and being swoln and thick cannot speak plain Jacob Pratens de natura vini Moreover experience hath found that Coleworts resist drunkennesse exceedingly chiefly raw and above all the red Cabbage Lemnius l. 2. c. 11. de occult But Galen saith L. 2. de composit medicam c. 5. hot Cabbage macerated and bound about the head And so great is the antipathy between it and Wine that if one powre Wine to it whil'st it boyls it will not boyle much If you desire a reason some say that by eating of it grosse Vapours ascend that thicken the Vapours of the Wine Aristotle saith that it draws the moysture of Wine down to the belly and cools the body Weckerus attributes the same force of the Ivy and Alexander saith that smallage nuts Lupins will do the like Pumanellus saith powder of Pumex-stone drank in water will do it Gratarolus speaks the same of Saffron de vini natura c. 5. Africanus of a Goats Lungs Amandus de Sancta Sophia l. 1. de veris secretis attributes as much to new Milk drank fasting Platerus prax medic Tom. 1. c. 3. prescribes pap made of Milk and Barley meal taken with Vinegar And he describes a certain powder thus Take Colewort seeds 1 dram Coriander seed 5 drams camphir 10 graiâ—s make a powder and give one spoonfull in sharp Wine But the dung of swallows powdred and drank will maka a man sober Pliny Rue eaten Merula The humour that first drops from the Vines at the beginning of the Spring bread that is made of darnâ—l dried and made into powder But that is superstitiously said That whosoever shall rehearse this verse before the first glasse of Wine he drinks Juppiter his alta sonuit clementer ab Ida. shall never be drunk Artic. 6. Of Bread THe chief foundation of mans preservation and nutriment and the staffe of life is bread well ordered Hence some say Panis Bread comes from pasco to feed some take it to be so call'd from Pan that is all because it answers all meat It is made of divers things The Aethiopians made it of the seed of Orindium The Icthyophagi made it of fish dried in the Sun Plin. l. 7. c. 1. The Aegyptian shepherds made it of the Lote-Tree seed Pliny l. 22. c. 21. Neer the Mountain Vogesus about the Town Burcken there is a fine white meale dug forth of a Mountain the Inhabitants make Bread of it and all sorts of Cakes Claudius Diodatus l. 2. Panther Hygiastici c. 4. But I say that can be no true meal but it must be miraculous I think it is some thick juyce that proceeds out of the earth and in time is congealed by heat of the Sun and so becomes fine meale Divers Medicaments are made of bread Aqua-vitae the most noble treasure of life is thus made Take the best bread cut into thin sippets what is sufficient put them into a hot Furnace that by degrees they may dry like red Bisquit then bruise it grosely and put it into a wide cauldron and for every pound of this Bread put in five pound of Fountain Water flowers of hops one handfull of anniseeds one ounce boyle them together till one part be consumed let them coole a little and then powre them forth and pass them through a basket or sieve then powre on some leaven first dissolved in warm water shut this up in a Vessel and let it ferment and work like new wine lastly part it as it grows clear distill it and rectifie it like Spirit of Wine Some distill the crumbs of white bread newly taken forth of the Oven putting it into glasse Stills four ounces of it are given successefully against the Epilepsie See Deodate how the quintessence may be extracted Artic. 7. Of wonderfull fasting THough nourishment be necessary for our life yet there have been many that have lived along time without it In Saint Augustine his days one lived 40 days without eating any thing Another in the time of Olimpiodorus the Platonist for so long as he lived he neither fed nor slept but only stood in the Sun to refresh himself The daughter of the Emperour Clotarius fasted eleven years Petrus Aponus saw one fasted 18 years Rondeletius saw one fasted ten and afterwards became a fruitfull Mother Hermolaus knew a Priest who lived in health 40 years without any thing but by sucking in the Ayr. Lastly one Nicolaus Helvetius under Waldensis Anno 1460 after that he had five Children by his Wife lived a solitary life and neither ate nor drank in 15 years Some dare affirm that he fasted 22 years and Bocatius saith that