because the air hath no place to get forth when therefore any man drinks when the water is drank up as far as the hole of the spire end by the air pressed within is the water thrust violently forth and flies in the face of him that drinks Also there is a vessel that no man can drink out of it but he who knows the art Make an earthen or metal vessel in form of a Bottle or Flagon and make it full of holes from the neck to the middle of the belly From the bottom let a pipe ascend by the handle of the vessel and the handle being round about it let it come above the brims of the vessel empty under the handle in a place not seen make a little hole that any man holding the vessel by the handle may with his finger stop and unstop this hole when he please under the brim of the vessel where you set it to your mouth let there be another secret hole Then pour water into the vessel if now any man put the bottle to his mouth and raiseth it to drink the water will run forth at the neck that is open and at the belly but he that knows the trick taking the vessel by the handle shuts the hole with his thumb and not moving the vessel he draws the air with his mouth for the water follows the air and so he drinks it all up but if any man suck and shut not the hole the water will not follow CHAP. VI. That we may use the Air in many Arts. VVE may use Air in many Artifices I shall set down some that I may give a hint to others to invent more And chiefly How wind may be made in a chamber that guests may almost freeze Make a deep pit and put in a sufficient quantity of river or running water let the pit be close stopt onely let a pipe convey it through the walls that it may be brought into the chamber Let the water be let down into the pit by a kind of Tunnel lest the air should come forth at the place where it goes in by the water is the air of the pit expelled and comes by the pipe into the chamber that not onely those that sleep there but such as converse there are extream cold and benummed I will shew How Air may serve for Bellows I saw this at Rome Make a little cellar that 's close on all sides pour in by a Tunnel from above a quantity of water on the top of the wall let there be a little hole at which the air may break forth with violence for it will come so forcibly that it will kindle a fire and serve for bellows for Brass and Iron-melting furnaces the Tunnel being so made that when need is it may be turned and water may be put in THE TWENTIETH BOOK OF Natural Magick The Chaos wherein the Experiments are set down without any Classical Order THE PROEME I Determined at the beginning of my Book to write Experiments that are contain'd in all Natural Sciences but by my business that called me off my mind was hindred so that I could not accomplish what I intended Since therefore I could not do what I would I must be willing to do what I can Therefore I shut up in this Book those Experiments that could be included in no Classes which were so diverse and various that they could not make up a Science or a Book and thereupon I have here heaped them altogether confusedly as what I had overpassed and if God please I will another time give you a more perfect Book Now you must rest content with these CHAP. I. How sea-Sea-water may be made potable IT is no small commodity to mankinde if sea-Sea-water may be made potable In long voyages as to the Indies it is of great concernment For whilst Sea men by reason of tempests are forced to stay longer at Sea than they would for want of water they fall into great danger of their lives Galleys are forced all most every ten days to put in for fresh water and therefore they cannot long wander in enemies countries nor go far for enemies stop their passages Moreover in sea Towns and Islands when they want water as in our days in the Island Malta and in the Syrses Souldiers and Inhabitants endured much hardness and Histories relate many such things Hence I thought it necessary to search curiously whether Sea-water might be made potable But it is impossible to finde out any thing for this how it may be done unless we first finde out the cause of its saltness and what our Ancestors have said concerning that matter especially since Aristotle saith That the salt may easily be taken from the Sea because the sea is not salt of its own Nature but by the Sun that heats the water which draws out of it cold and dry earthly exhalations to the top of it and these being there burnt cause it to be salt when the moist subtile parts are resolved into thin vapors We therefore imitating Nature by raising the thin parts by Chymical Instruments may easily make it sweet For so the Nature of the Sea makes sweet waters for the Rivers There are also veins of the Sea in the deep parts of the earth that are heated by the Sun and the vapours are elevated to the tops of the heighest Mountains where by the cold superficies they meet with they congeal into drops and dropping down by the vaulted roots of Caves they run forth in open streams We first fill a hollow vessel like a great Ball with Sea-water it must have a long neck and a cap upon it that live coles being put under the water may resolve into thin vapors and fill all vacuities being carryed aloft this ill sented grossness when it comes to touch the coldness of the head or cap and meets with the Glass gathers like dew about the skirts of it and so running down the arches of the cap it turns to water and a pipe being opened that pertains to it it runs forth largely and the receiver stands to receive it as it drops so will sweet water come from salt and the salt tarryeth at the bottom of the vessel and three pound of salt water will give two pounds of fresh water but if the cap of the limbeck be of Lead it will afford more water yet not so good For Galen saith That water that runs through pipes of Lead if it be drank will cause an excoriation of the intestines But I found a way How to get a greater quantity of fresh water when we distil salt water Make a cap of earth like to a Pyramis all full of holes that through the holes Urinals of Earth or Glass may be brought in Let their mouths stick forth well luâ—ed that the vapor may not exhale the cap after the fashion of the limbeck must have its pipe at the bottom running round and let it crop forth at the nose of it Set this upon a
waters strew in powder of Penniroyal Leo Baptista Albertus when they take up the water of Nilus muddy if they do but rub the edge of the vessel with an Almond it presently grows clear I tried this to and found it false when common salt is cast into Aqua fortis that parts Gold from Silver the Silver will presently descend We see also that in the making of that they call read Alac casting but Alom into Lye the salt and colour will presently precipitate to the bottom and nothing will remain but clear water We see that milk will curdle with many Herbs which we speak of elsewhere We shall use therefore for this purpose coagulaters and astringents Cooks say That a Spunge put into a pot of salt-water will draw the salt to it but pressed forth again and cast in once more will take it all out So wood wrapt about with fillets of linnen and put into the pot will draw the salt to it Others binde in a clout Wheat-meal and put it into the pot and draw forth the salt Palladius where he speaks of seasoning of wines saith The Greeks bid men keep sea-water that is clean and taken out of the calm sea the year before whose Nature is that in this time it will lose its saltness or bitterness and smell sweet by age It remains to shew How sweet waters may be mended Leo Baptista saith If you place a glazed vessel full of salt and well stopt with lime putting oyl under that no water may penetrate into it that it may hang in the middle of the waters of a Cistern these waters will in no time corrupt Others adde also Quick-silver If water begin to corrupt cast in salt to purge them and if salt be wanting put in some sea-water for so at Venice they draw water from St Nicolas Well for Marriners that go long voyages because it stands so neer the sea and salt lyes hid in it by communicating with those waters We read in Scripture that Elizeus did this who at Jericho or Palestina cast in salt into a Fountain and made it potable water which was before bitter and corrupt If water breeds worms cast in quick Lime and they will dye When we would make wine clear beat the white of an Egge and the troubled wine will descend if you put it in Others cast in the dust that is on the catlings of small nuts and the Spaniards cast in Gyp to make in clear and all these we may use in waters CHAP. II. How to make water of Air. IF all other means fail we may make water of air onely by changing it into air as Nature doth for she makes water of air or vapors Therefore when we want water we may make it of air and do as Nature doth We know when the Sun heats the earth it draws forth the thinnest vapors and carrieth them on high to that region of the air where the cold is those vapors are condensed into drops and fall down in Rain Also we see in summer that in Glass vessels well rinced and that are full of cold water the air by coming to the outermost superficies will presently clow'd the the Glass and make it lose its cleanness a little after it will be all in a dew and swell into bubbles and by degrees these will turn to drops and fall down which have no other reason for them but because the cold air sticking to the Glass grows thick and is changed into water We see also in Chambers at Venice where there windows are made of Glass when a gross and thick vapor sticks to the Glass within and a cold vapor prevails without that within will turn to dew and drop down Again in winter in Brass Guns which are always very cold and are kept in Cellars and vaulted places where men also use to be that the air will grow thick and lighting upon the cold superficies of them they will be all of a dew and drop with water But to say no more Make a large round vessel of Brass and put into it Salt-Peter unrefined what will fill it men call it Solazzo mingled with Ice for these two mixed as I said in this Book make a mighty cold and by shaking them with the wondeful force of the cold they gather air about the vessel and it will presently drop into a vessel underneath A deligent Artist will adde more that he may get a greater quantity of water It sufficeth that I have shewed the way CHAP. III. How one may so alter his face that not so much as his friends shall know him SUch as are taken prisoners or shut up close and desire to escape and such as do business for great men as spies and others that would not be known it is of great moment for them to know how to change their Countenances I will teach them to do it so exactly that their friends and wives shall not know them Great men do not a little enquire for such secrets because those that can dissemble theirown persons have done great matters and lovers have served their Mistresses and Parents have not suspected it Ulisses attempting to know what the Trojans did clothed in counterfeit garments and his face changed did all he would and was not discovered Homer With many scars he did transform his face In servants clothes as from a beggars race He went to Troy And when he desired to know what Penelope and her suters did he transformed himself again I shall shew how this may be done many ways by changing the Garments Hair Countenance Scars Swellings we may so change our Faces that in some places it may rise in bunches in other places it may sink down And first How to dye the Flesh. But to begin with the colouring of the Flesh. The Flesh may be dyed to last so long or to be soon washed out If you will have it soon wash'd off Steep the shells of Walnuts and of Pomegranates in Vinegar four or five days then press them forth by a Press and dye the face for it will make your face as black as an Ethiopian and this will last some days Oyl of honey makes a yellow colour and red and it will last fourteen days or more The fume of Brimstone will discolour the face that it will shew sickly as if one had long kept his bed but it will be soon gone But if you will have it last many days firm and very hardly to come off Use water of Depart that seperates Gold from Silver made of Salt-Peter and Vitriol and especially if it have first corroded any Silver this will last twenty days until the skin be changed But if you will Change the Hair I taught elsewhere how to do this yet I will take the pains to do it again Oyl of honey dyes the Hair of the head and beard of a yellow or red colour and this will hold a moneth But if they be hoary white or yellow we may dye them black with
Sanders and Lignum Aloes an ounce of Spikenard let these all be grossly beaten and boyled in a vernished earthen Pipkin over a gentle fire for the space of an hour then let them cool Strain them through a Linen-cloth and set it up in a Glass close stopt But tye up the Cinnamon Cloves Lignum Aloes and Sanders in a thin Linen-cloth and so put them into the pot and boyl them as I said before and afterwards take out the bundle for after the boyling of the water the remaining dust may be formed into Pills and made into Cakes which may be used in perfuming as I shall teach hereafter This Water is made divers ways but I have set down the best yet in the boyling it will turn coloured and become red so that Hankerchiefs or white Linen if they be wetted in it are stained although they are made wonderfully sweet which maketh many forbear the use of it Wherefore if we would have Aqua Nansa clarified Take the former Water and put it into a Glass-Retort and set it in Balneo over a gentle fire the VVater will become clear and almost of the same sent onely a little weaker keep the Water and lay aside the rest of the Foeces for sweet Cakes CHAP. II. To make sweet Water by Infusion NOw I will teach how to make perfumed Liquors and what Liquors they are which will receive odors best for VVater is unapt to keep sent Oyl is better and VVine we may assign the reason out of Theophrastus for VVater is thin â—oid of taste or sent and so fine that it can gather no sent and those Liquors which are thick savory and have a strong sent VVine although it be not sweet of it self yet being placed nigh any odour it will draw it because it is full of heat which doth attract VVater being cold by Nature can neither attract nor receive nor keep any sent for it is so fine slender and thin that the odour flieth out again and vanisheth away as if there were no foundation whereon it could fix and settle as there is in VVine and Oyl who are more tenacious of sent because they are of a denser and callous Body Oyl is the best preserver and keeper of sent because it is not changeable wherefore Perfumers steep their perfumes in Oyl that it may suck out their sweetness We use Wine to extract the sent of Flowers and especially Aqua Vitae for Wine unless distilled infecteth the Water too much with his own senâ— Musk Water This VVater setteth off all others and maketh them richer wherefore it is first to be made Take the best Aqua Vitae and put into it some Grains of Musk Amber and Civet and set them in the hot Sun for some dayes but stop the Vessel very close and lute it for that will very much add to the frangrancy of it A drop of this put into any other water will presently make it smell most pleasantly of Musk. You may do the same with Rose-water and Fountain-water often distilled that it may obtain a thinness and heat which is very necessary for the extraction of Essences Water of Jasmine Musk-Roses Gilliflowers Violets and Lillies is extracted the same way for these Flowers send forth but a thin odour which dwelleth not in the substance of them but onely lieth scattered on the superficies so that if they remain too long on the fire or in their Menstruum their sweetness degenerateth from its former pleasantness and is washed off by the mixture of the stinking ill-savoured part of their substance VVherefore we must lay their Leaves onely in the best Aqua Vitae that is the Leaves of Lillies Jasmine Musk-Roses and the rest hanging them on a threed that when the VVater hath sucked out their odour we may pluck them out because their odour lieth onely on their superficies so that if they should remain long in the Aqua Vitae it would penetrate too deep into them and draw out a sent which would not onely destroy their former sweetness but taint them with an ill savour which accompanieth those inward parts After these Leaves are taken out supply them with fresh until you perceive their sent is also extracted But take out the Violets and the Gilliflowers sooner then the rest lest they colour the VVater This VVater being mixt with others taketh away the scurvy sent of the VVine A sweet compounded Water Take a great Glass-Receiver and fill the third part almost of it with Aqua Vitae put into it Lavender-Flowers Jasmine Roses Orange and Lemmon-Flowers Then add Roots of Iris Cypress Sanders Cinnamon Storax Labdanum Cloves Nutmegs Calamus Aromaticus with a little Musk Amber and Civet Fill the Glass and stop it well But after you have filled the Glass with the Flowers they will wither and sink down wherefore fill it up with more Set it in a very hot Sun or in Balneo until their sweetness be all extracted Then strain out the Water and one drop of it in Rose-water or of Myrtle-Flowers will perfume it all with a most fragrant smell CHAP. III. How to make sweet Oyls HOw to extract Oyl out of Spices and sweet things is declared before now I will shew how to draw sents out of other things with Oyl or as I said before to make Oyl the ground in which odours may be kept and preserved a long time which is done either by imbibing the Oyl with odors or the Almonds out of which we afterwards express the Oyl How to make Oyl of Ben which is the sweetest Oyl of all used by the Genois take an ounce of Ben a drachm of Amber as much Musk half a drachm of Civet put them in a Glass-bottle well stopt and set it in the Sun for twenty days then you may use it But be sure that it be close stopt for the Nature of odors being volatile and fugitive it quickly decayeth loseth his fragrancy and smelleth dully A way to make odoriferous Oyl of Flowers it is a common thing but very commodious for Perfumers and may be used for other things he that knoweth how to use it rightly and properly will finde it an Oyl very profitable to him Blanch your Almonds and bruise them and lay them between two rows of Flowers When the Flowers have lost their sent and fade remove them and add fresh ones Do this so long as the Flowers are in season when they are past squeeze out the Oyl with a press and it will be most odoriferous You may draw a sent with this way out of those Flowers from whom you cannot draw sweet Water Oyl of Jasmine Violets Musk-Roses Lillies Crows-foot Gilliflowers Roses and Orange-Flowers and of others being made this way smelleth most fragrantly Oyl of Amber Musk and Civet may be thus made also Cut the Almonds being blanched from the top to the bottom into seven or eight slices and enclose them in a Leaden Box with these perfumes for six days until they have imbibed the sent then press
end of the Pipe and he that is at the other end shall do the like the voice may be intercepted in the middle and be shut up as in a prison and when the mouth is opened the voice will come forth as out of his mouth that spake it but because such long Pipes cannot be made without trouble they may be bent up and down like a Trumpet that a long Pipe may be kept in a small place and when the mouth is open the words may be understood I am now upon trial of it if before my Book be Printed the business take effect I will set it down if not if God please I shall write of it elsewhere CHAP. II. Of Instruments Musical made with water OLd Water-Instruments were of great esteem but in our days the use is worn out Yet we read that Nero took such delight in them that when his Life and Empire were in danger amongst the seditions of Souldiers and Commanders and all was in imminent danger he would not forsake the care of them and pleasure he took in them Vitruvius teacheth us how they were made but so obscurely and mystically that what he says is very little understood I have tryed this by many and sundry ways by mingling air with water which placing in the end of a Pipe or in my mouth where the breath of the mouth strikes against the air and though this made a pleasant noise yet it kept no tune For whilst the water bubbles and trembles or warbles like a Nitingale the voice is changed in divers tunes one note is sweet and pleasant two squele and jar But this way it will make a warbling sound and keep the tune Let there be made a Brass bottom'd Chest for the Organ wherein the wind must be carried let it behalf full of water let the wind be made by bellows or some such way that must run through a neck under the waters but the spirit that breaks forth of the middle of the water is excluded into the empty place when therefore by touching of the keys the stops of the mouths of the Pipes are opened the trembling wind coming into the Pipes makes very pleasant trembling sounds which I have tried and found to be true CHAP. III. Of some Experiments by Wind-Instruments NOw will I proceed to the like Wind-Instruments but of divers sorts that arise by reason of the air and I shall shew how it is dilated contracted rarified by fire condensed by cold If you will That a vessel turned downwards shall draw in the water do thus Make a vessel with a very long neck the longer it is the greater wonder it will seem to be Let it be of transparent Glass that you may see the water running up fill this with boiling water and when it is very hot or setting the bottom of it to the fire that it may not presently wax cold the mouth being turned downwards that it may touch the water it will suck it all in So such as search out the nature of things say That by the Sun beams the water is drawn up from the Concave places of the Earth to the tops of Mountains whence fountains come forth And no small Arts arise from hence for Wind-Instruments as Heron affirms Vitruvius speaks the like concerning the original of Winds but now it is come to be used for houses For so may be made A vessel to cast forth wind You may make Brass Bowles or of some other matter let them be hollow and round with a very small hole in the middle that the water is put in at if this be use the former experiment when this is set at the fire it grows hot and being it hath no other vent it will blow strongly from thence but the blast will be moist and thick and of an ill savour You may also make A vessel that shall cast forth water There is carried about with us a Glass vessel made Pyramidal with a very narrow long mouth with which it casts water verâ— faâ— off That it may draw water suck out the air with your mouth as much as you can and presently thrust the mouth into the water for it will draw the water into it do so until a third part of it be filled with water When you will spouâ— the water afar off fill the vessel with air blowing into it as hard as you can presently take it from your mouth and incline the mouth of the vessel that the water may run to the mouth and stop the air and the air striving to break forth will cast the water out a great way But if you will without attraction of Air make water fly far with it heat the bottom of the vessel a little for the air being rarefied seeks for more place and striving to break forth drives the water before it Thus â—runkard making a little hole in a vessel of wine because the wine will not run out the mouth beinâ— stopt whereby the air might enter they will blow hard into that hole then as they leave off the wine will come forth in as great quantity as the air blowed in was Now I will shew How to make water ascend conveniently We can make water rise to the top of a Tower Let there be a leaden Pipe that may come from the bottom to the top of the Tower and go down again from the top to the bottom as a Conduit let one end stand in the water that we desire should rise the other end that must be longer and hang down lower must be fastned into a vessel of wood or earth that it may take no air at all let it have a hole above the vessel whereby the vessel may be filled with water and then be stopt perfectly Set a vessel on the top of the Tower as capacious as that beneath and the leaden pipe now spoke of must be fastned at one end of the vessel and go forth at the other end and must be in the upper part of the vessel and let the pipe be divided in the middle within the vessel and where the pipe enters and where the pipe goes out they must be joynted that they take no air when therefore we would have the water to ascend fill the vessel beneath with water and â—â—op it close that it take no air then opening the lower hole of the vessel the water will run forth for that part of water that runs out of the vessel will cause as much to rise up at the other end by the other leaden pipe and ascend above the Towâ—r the water drawn forth is filled up again we may make out use of it and the hole being stopt the lower vessel may be filled again with water and so doing we shall make the water to escend a ways We may also By heat alone make the water rise Let there be a vessel above the Tower either of Brass Clay or Wood Brass is best let there be a pipe in the middle of it that may
brass Cauldron that will hold much water fill it with salt water after that the Urinals and putting on their caps when fire is put under both the Urinals will drop and the cap that contains others by its pipe will drop out water also for the vapors rising from the Cauldron of hot water will make the Urinals drop and the cap will drop withal But if at Sea the commodity of such a vessel cannot be had We may Distil salt water otherwise though but little Dioscorides shews the old way of distillation we may that way distil sea water in ships which Pliny shews also Fleeces of wool extended about the ship are made wet by the vapors rising from the Sea and sweet water is pressed out of them But let us see whiter Salt water may be made fresh another way Aristotle saith it and Solomon before him That all Rivers came from the Sea and return to the Sea for by the secret passages under ground the waters that are sent forth leave their earthly and dry parts mixed with the earth and they come forth pure and sweet He saith The cause why the salt water comes not forth is because it is ponderous and settles and therefore onely hot-waters of salt-waters can run forth for they have a lightness that oversways the weight of the salt for what is hot is lightest Adde that waters running through the earth are much strained and therefore the heavior and thicker they are the more do they continually sink down and are left behind and the lighter they are the more pure do they come forth and are severed For as Salt is heavy so sweet water is light and so it comes that they are sweet waters that run forth This is the very cause why salt-salt-water when it moves and is changed is made the sweeter for motion makes it lighter and purer Let us see now if we can imitate Nature Fill then great vessels with earth and set them so one above another that one may drean into another and thus salt-water dreaning through many vessels may leave the salt behinde I tried it through ten vessels and it remain'd still salt My friend said that he made it sweet through twenty vessels Yet thus I thought to warn you of that all earth is not fit for this use Solinus saith That sea-water strain'd through clay will grow sweet and it is proved that the salt is taken away if you strain it often through thin sand of a River Earth that lies in covered places and under roots is naught for that is commonly salt as also where Cattle are sâ—alled which Columella saith is naught for Trees for that it makes salt-water what is strain'd from it Black earth is naught for it makes the waters sharp but clay grounds make sweet waters Paxamus Anaxagoras said That the saltness of the sea came from the Rivers running through salt places and communicating that quality to the sea Some approve River-gravel for this use and their reason is because always sweet waters are found by the shores and they say this happens because they are strain'd through the sand and so grow fresh coming from the salt-sea for the sweet water that is found neer the sea is not of the sea but such water as comes from the tops of hills through the secret channels of the earth thither For waters that drean forth sweet are sweet though they lye even with the sea and in plain places as Apuila where the waters drean not from the hills they are salt So on the shores of Africa But Aristotle brings an experiment from a vessel of wax for if one make a Ball of wax that is hollow and shall dip it into the sea it being of a sufficient thickness to contain he shall finde it full of fresh water because the corpulent saltness cannot get in through the pores of the wax And Pliny by letting down little nets into the sea and hollow balls of wax or empty vessels stopt saith they will draw in fresh water for sea-water strain'd through clay will grow fresh But I have found this to be false For I have made pots of clay as fine and well as I could and let them down into salt-water and after some days I found salt-water in them Also if it were true it is of no use when as to sweeten one pound of water a thousand Balls of wax a day were not sufficient But for this many vessels might be invented of porous wood and stones A vessel of Ivy that parts as I said wine from water will not part salt from water if it drean through it But stones are brought from Portingal made into vessels into which sea water put will drean forth sweet if not the first yet the second time they use it to break the stone also for that many pumex and porous stones may be tried Leo Baptista Albertus saith That an earthen pot well stopt and put into the sea will fill with potable water But I have tried all earthen vessels and I always found salt-water Aristotle in his Problems saith It may be done Another way If salt-water cannot be drank cold yet hot and cool again it is better to drink It is because a thing useth to change from contrary to contrary and salt-water is contrary to fresh and when it is boil'd the salt part is boil'd off and when it is cold stays at the bottom This I tried and found it false and more salt for by heat the thin vapors of the water that are sweet exhale and the salt stay behinde and in lesser water the same quantity of salt makes it salter as I said in my distillations I wonder such a wise man would relate such falsities Florentinus borrowing it from him saith If water be not good nor poâ—able but ill let it be boiled till a tenth part of it be consumed then purge it and it will be good For sea-sea-water so boil'd will grow sweet Let me see whether it can be made so Another way and that in great quantity There is a thing that being cast into large vessels filled with sea-water by fastning the salt will make it fall to the bottom or by curdling it and so it frees the water from it Wherefore we must think on things that have a stiptick quality the Antients tried this the Moderns have effected it Pliny Nitrous of bitter waters if you put Barley-flower dried to them they are tempered that you may drink of them in two hours therefore is Barley-flower put into wine sacks and elswhere Those that go to the Red-sea through the Desarts make nitrous and salt and bitter waters fit to drink in two hours by putting in of Barley-meal and they eat Barley-meal The like force hath the Chalk of the Rhodes and our Clay Also Cooks with Catlings and Meal of Wheat will take salt out of very salt meaâ— I tried this oft but found it false yet some of the saltness was taken away Pliny If you must drink ill
must be as well seen also in the nature of Metals Minerals Gems and Stones Furthermore what cunning he must have in the art of Distillation which follows and resembles the showers and dew of heaven as the daughter the mother I think no man will doubt of it for it yeelds daily very strange inventions and most witty devices and shews how to finde out many things profitable for the use of man As for example to draw out of things dewy vapours unsavoury and gross sents or spirits clots and gummy or slimy humours and that intimate essence which lurks in the inmost bowels of things to fetch it forth and sublimate it that it may be of the greater strength And this he must learn to do not after a rude and homely manner but with knowledge of the causes and reasons thereof He must also know the Mathematical Sciences and especially Astrologie for that shews how the Stars are moved in the heavens and what is the cause of the darkning of the Moon and how the Sun that golden planet measures out the parts of the world and governs it by twelve Signes for by the sundry motions and aspects of the heavens the celestial bodies are very beneficial to the earth and from thence many things receive both active and passive powers and their manifold properties the difficulty of which point long troubled the Platonicks mindes how these inferiour things should receive influence from heaven Moreover he must be skilful in the Opticks that he may know how the sight may be deceived and how the likeness of a vision that is seen in the water may be seen hanging without in the air by the help of certain Glasses of divers fashions and how to make one see that plainly which is a great way off and how to throw fire very far from us upon which sleights the greatest part of the secrecies of Magick doth depend These are the Sciences which Magick takes to her self for servants and helpers and he that knows not these is unworthy to be named a Magician He must be a skilful workman both by natural gifts and also by the practise of his own hands for knowledge without practice and workmanship and practice without knowledge are nothing worth these are so linked together that the one without the other is but vain and to no purpose Some there are so apt for these enterprises even by the gifts of Nature that God may seem to have made them hereunto Neither yet do I speak this as if Art could not perfect any thing for I know that good things may be made better and there are means to remedy and help foward that which lacks perfection First let a man consider and prepare things providently and skilfully and then let him fall to work and do nothing unadvisedly This I thought good to speak of that if at any time the ignorant be deceived herein he may not lay the fault upon us but upon his own unskilfulness for this is the infirmity of the scholar and not of the teacher for if rude and ignorant men shall deal in these matters this Science will be much discredited and those strange effects will be accounted hap-hazard which are most certain and follow their necessary cause If you would have your works appear more wonderful you must not let the cause be known for that is a wonder to us which we see to be done and yet know not the cause of it for he that knows the causes of a thing done doth not so admire the doing of it and nothing is counted unusual and rare but onely so far forth as the causes thereof are not known Aristotle in his books of Handy-trades saith that master-builders frame and make their tools to work with but the principles thereof which move admiration those they conceal A certain man put out a candle and putting it to a stone or a wall lighted it again and this seemed to be a great wonder but when once they perceived that he touched it with brimstone then saith Galen it ceased to seem a wonder A miracle saith Ephesius is dissolved by that wherein it seemed to be a miracle Lastly the professor of this Science must also be rich for if we lack money we shall hardly work in these cases for it is not Philosophy that can make us rich we must first be rich that we may play the Philosophers He must spare for no charges but be prodigal in seeking things out and while he is busie and careful in seeking he must be patient also and think it not much to recal many things neither must he spare for any pains for the secrets of Nature are not revealed to lazie and idle persons Wherefore Epicharmus said very well that men purchase all things at Gods hands by the price of their labour And if the effect of thy work be not answerable to my description thou must know that thy self hast failed in some one point or another for I have set down these things briefly as being made for wrtty and skilful workmen and not for rude and young beginners CHAP. IV. The opinions of the antient Philosophers touching the causes of strange operations and first of the Elements THose effects of Nature which oft-times we behold have so imployed the antient Philosophers minds in the searching forth of their causes that they have taken great pains and yet were much deceived therein insomuch that divers of them have held divers opinions which it shall not be amiss to relate before we proceed any farther The first sort held that all things proceed from the Elements and that these are the first beginnings of things the fire according to Hippasus Metapontinus and Heraclides Ponticus the air according to Diogenes Apolloniates and Anaximenes and the water according to Thales Milesius These therefore they held to be the very original and first seeds of Nature even the Elements simple and pure bodies whereas the Elements that now are be but counterfeits and bastards to them for they are all changed every one of them being more or less medled with one another those say they are the material principles of a natural body and they are moved and altered by continual succession of change and they are so wrapt up together within the huge cope of heaven that they fill up this whole space of the world which is situate beneath the Moon for the fire being the lightest and purest Element hath gotten up aloft and chose it self the highest room which they call the element of fire The next Element to this is the Air which is somwhat more weighty then the fire and it is spread abroad in a large and huge compass and passing through all places doth make mens bodies framable to her temperature and is gathered together sometimes thick into dark clouds sometimes thinner into mists and so is resolved The next to these is the water and then the last and lowest of all which is scraped and compacted together out of the
Likewise the pulse called Lupines still looks after the Sun that it may not writhe his stalk and this watcheth the Suns motion so duly that like a Dial it shews the Husband-man the time of the day though it be never so cloudy and they know thereby the just time when the Sun setteth and Theophrastus saith that the flower of the herb Lotum is not onely open and shut but also sometimes hides and sometimes shews her stalk from Sun-set to midnight and this saith he is done about the River Euphrates So the Olive-tree the Sallow the Linden-tree the Elm the white Pople-tree they declare the times of the Suns standing when it turns back again from the Poles for then they hide their leaves and shew only their hoar-white backs In like manner winter-Cresses or Irium and Penyrial though they begin to wither being gathered yet if you hang them upon a stick about the time of the Solstice they will for that time flourish The stone Selenites as much as to say the Moon-beam called by others Aphroselinon contains in it the Image of the Moon and shews the waxing and waining of it every day in the same Image Another stone there is that hath in it a little cloud that turns about like the Sun sometimes hiding sometimes shewing it self The Beast Cynocephalus rejoiceth at the rising of the Moon for then he stands up lifting his fore-feet toward heaven and wears a Royal Ensign upon his head and he hath such a Sympathy with the Moon that when she meets with the Sun as betwixt the old and new Moon so that she gives no light the male or He-Cynocephalus never looks up nor eats any thing as bewailing the losse of the Moon and the female as male-content as He all that while pisseth blood for which causes these beasts are nourished and kept in hallowed places that by them the time of the Moones meeting with the Sun may be certainly known as Oruâ— writes in his Hieroglyphicks The star Arcturus at his rising causeth rain Dogs are well acquainted with the rising of the Canicular star for at that time they are commonly mad and so are vipers and serpents nay then the very standing pools are moved and wines work as they lye in the Cellar and other great and strange effects are wrought upon earth when this star riseth Basil-gentle waxeth whiterish and Coriander waxeth dry as Theophrastus writeth The rising of this star was wont to be diligently observed every year for thereby they would prognosticate whether the year following would be wholesome or contagious as Heraclides Ponticus saith for if it did rise dark and gloomy it was a sign that the Air would be thick and foggy which would cause a pestilence but if it were clear and lightsome it was a sign that the Air would be thin and well purged and consequently healthful In ancient times they much feared this Star so that they ordained a dog to be offered in sacrifice to it as Columella saith that this star is pacified with the blood and entrails of a sucking whelp and Ovid likewise saith that a dog bred on the earth is sacrificed to the Dog-star in Heaven The Beast or wilde Goat which in Egypt is called Oryx hath a sense or feeling of this Star before it riseth for then he looks upon the Sun-beams and in them doth honour the Canicular star Hippocrates saith it is good either to purge or let blood before or after this star riseth and Galen shews that many very necessary operations of this Star must be observed in Critical dayes and likewise in sowing and planting Moreover the greater stars and constellations must be known and at what time they go out of the signs whereby are caused many waterish and fiery impressions in the Air. And whosoever is rightly seen in all these things he will ascribe all these inferiours to the stars as their causes whereas if a man be ignorant hereof he loseth the greatest part of the knowledge of secret operations and works of nature But of this argument we have spoken in our writings of the knowledge of Plants CHAP. IX How to attract and draw forth the vertues of superiour Bodies WE have shewed before the operations of celestial bodies into these inferiours as also the Antipathy and Sympathy of things now will we shew by the affinity of Nature whereby all things are linked together as it were in one common bond how to draw forth and to fetch out the vertues and forces of superior bodies The Platonicks termed Magick to be the attractions or fetching out of one thing from another by a certain affinity of Nature For the parts of this huge world like the limbs and members of one living creature do all depend upon one Author and are knit together by the bond of one Nature therefore as in us the brain the lights the heart the liver and other parts of us do receive and draw mutual benefit from each other so that when one part suffers the rest also suffer with it even so the parts and members of this huge creature the World I mean all the bodies that are in it do in good neighbour-hood as it were lend and borrow each others Nature for by reason that they are linked in one common bond therefore they have love in common and by force of this common love there is amongst them a common attraction or tilling of one of them to the other And this indeed is Magick The concavity or hollownesse of the Sphere of the Moon draws up fire to it because of the affinity of their Natures and the Sphere of the fire likewise draws up Air and the centre of the world draws the earth downward and the natural place of the waters draws the waters to it Hence it is that the Load-stone draws iron to it Amber draws chaff or light straws Brimstone draws fire the Sun draws after it many flowers and leaves and the Moon draws after it the waters Plotinus and Synesius say Great is nature everywhere she layeth certain baits whereby to catch certain things in all places as she draws down heavy things by the centre of the earth as by a bait so she draws light things upward by the concavity of the Moon by heat leaves by moisture roots by one bait or another all things By which kind of attraction the Indian Wisards hold that the whole world is knit and bound within it self for say they the World is a living creature everywhere both male and female and the parts of it do couple together within and between themselves by reason of their mutual love and so they hold and stand together every member of it being linked to each other by a common bond which the Spirit of the World whereof we spake before hath inclined them unto For this cause Orpheus calleth Jupiter and the Nature of the World man and wife because the World is so desirous to marry and couple her parts together The very order of the Signs
there is a just and due quantity required for their working then put in the other ingredients as sauce and seasoning to help the principal to work more easily and in due time So we mingle sweet things with unsavory and with bitter that it may smell and taste well for if we should mingle onely unsavoury and bitter receits they that we give it unto would loath it and their animal spirits would so abhor it that though they took it yet it could not work in them So we meddle soft and hard things together that they may go down more pleasantly Sometimes there is so little in a receit that the heat of the body wastes it before it can work here then is required a greater quantity for this doth not hinder the working but gives the natural heat somewhat to feed upon that in the mean space the receit may have fit time to work As for example If we would catch birds by bringing them to sleep here we must take the Nut Methella which is of that force as to cause sleep and heaviness of brain and let this be the ground of our mixtion then to make it more lively in working put thereto the juice of black Poppie and the dregs of wine If it be too hard and we would have it more liquid that so it may fill out the pulse or other baites which we lay for them put thereto the juice of Mandrakes and Hemlock and an Ox gall and that it may not be bitter or unsavoury put hony cheese or floure amongst it that so it may be fitter to be eaten and when once the birds have tasted of it they lie down to sleep on the ground and cannot flie but may be taken with hands The like must be observed in other things CHAP. XIX How to find out the just weight of a mixture WE must also have a special care to know the right ministring of a compound and how to find out the just proportion of weight therein for the goodness of the operation of things consists chiefly in the due proportion and measure of them And unless the mixtion be every way perfect it availeth little in working Wherefore the Antients were wont to observe not only in compounds but also in Simples due weight and measure and their experience hath left it unto us If then then bestowest thy pains in this faculty first thou must find out the weight of a simple Medicine how much of it would serve such a purpose as thou intendest and to that thou must proportionably frame thy compound observing a due proportion both in the whole and every part thereof Let thy chief Simple the ground of thy mixture be half the weight and the other ingredients altogether must be the other half but how much of each of these other ingredients that thou must gather by thy own conjecture So then thy whole compound must be but as much as if it were onely a simple receit for we do not compound things to make the receit greater either in quantity or in vertue but only because it should be more speedy in operation It must also be considered that the weights of mixtures and medicines must vary proportionably as the Countries and Climates vary for this alters their operation as we shewed before Thou must therefore work advisedly and as the operation of the Simples altereth so thou must alter their weight by putting to and taking from and wittily fitting all things that they may effect that which thou wouldest This is the reason why in our experiments which we have set down hereafter we have described the parts thereof by their several weights and lest the divers names of weights should hinder thy working we have used those weights and names which Cornèlius Celsus used before us for so it is fittest for all mens satisfaction CHAP. XX. How to prepare Simples HAving shewed the way how to compound and find out the just weight of our composition it now remains we teach how to prepare Simples which is a matter chiefly necessary for this work and greatest skill is seen in it For the operations of Simples do not so much corsist in themselves as in the preparing of them without which preparation they work little or nothing at all There be many wayes to prepare Simples to make them fitter for certain uses The most usual wayes are Steeping Boiling Burning Powning Resolving into ashes Distilling Drying and such like To macerate or steep any thing is to drench and to soak it in liquor that it may be throughly we both within and without so that the more subtil and intimate part of it may be drained and squeezed out and the grosser and earthly part be left behind to receive that humour in the very middle which we would have in it Boiling we then use when we cannot otherwise well get out the juice of any thing for by boiling we draw out of the centre into the circumference when we cannot do it by steeping though thereby the slighter vapours may be resolved So we use to burn to roste to pown things that we may take away all their moisture from them for by this means they may the more easily be resolved and the sooner converted into liquor and the better mingled with other things to be put to them So we roste or broil things when otherwise we cannot break them that they might become dust yet alwayes we must take heed that we do not so burn them as they may lose their strength nor so boil things but only as they may be fitter to receive that subtil humor and quality which we would convey into them Distillation of things is used as well to get out water that may be of greater strength therby to work more easily handsomly as also because the slighter and more subtile parts of Medicines are fittest for us the grosser parts must be cast away as being an hindrance to our purpose and the like we must conceive of other operations These things I thought fittest for this work He that would be instructed more at large herein let him look into the books of Physitians But let us now proceed to further matters THE SECOND BOOK OF Natural Magick Shewing how living Creatures of divers kinds may be mingled and coupled together that from them new and yet profitable kinds of living Creatures may be generated The PROEME HAving wandred beyond my bounds in the consideration of Causes and their Actions which I thought fit to make the Subject of my first book it will be time to speak of those Operations which we have often promised that we may not too long keep off from them those ingenious men that are very desirous to know them Since that we have said That Natural Magick is the top and the compleat faculty or Natural Science in handling it we will conclude within the compass of this Volume whatsoever is High Noble Choice and Notable that is discovered in the large field of Natural
do they ever breed without rain though they have never so much water otherwise for it is the rain both that begets and nourishes them as Aristotle writes They are also generated of putrified things Experience hath proved that a dead horse thrown into a standing pool hath brought forth great store of Eeles and the like hath been done by the carcases of other creatures Aristotle saith they are generated of the garbage of the earth which he saith ariseth in the Sea in Rivers and in pools by reason chiefly of putrefaction but it arises in the Sea by reason of reeds in Pools and Rivers it arises by the banks-side for there the heat is more forcible to cause putrefaction And a friend of mine filled certain wooden vessels with water and Reeds and some other water-herbs and set them in the open Air having first covered them with a weighty stone and so in short time generated Eeles Such is the generation of Groundlings out of some and froth which fish the Greeks call Aphya because rain breeds it Many of them breed of the fome that rises out of the sandy chanel that still goes and comes at all times till at last it is dissolved so that this kind of fish breeds all times of the year in shadowy and warm places when the soyl is heated as in Attica neer to Salamnia and in Marathon where Themistocles got his famous victory In some places this fish breeds of fome by the help of the rain and swims on the top of the water in the fome as you see little wormes creep on the top of mud Athenaeus saith This fish is consecrated to Venus because she also comes of the froth of the Sea whence she is called Aphrodites Aelianus saith These fishes neither do beget nor are begotten but only come of mud for when dirt is clotted together in the Sea it waxes very black and slimy and then receives heat and life after a wonderful manner and so is changed into very many living Creatures and namely into Groundlings When the waves are too boistrous for him he hides himself in the clift of some rock neither doth he need any food And Oppianus makes the very same description of them and of their generation There is a kind of these fishes called a Mullet-Groundling which is generated of mud and of sand as hath been tried in many marish places amongst the rest in Gindus where in the Dog-daies the Lakes being dried up so that the mud was hard as soon as ever they began to be full of rain-water again were generated little fishes a kind of Mullets about the bigness of little Cackrels which had neither seed nor egge in them And in some parts of Asia at the mouth of the Rivers into the Sea some of a bigger size are generated And as the Mullet-groundling comes of mud or of a sandy lome as Aristotle writes so it is to be thought that the Cackrel-groundling comes thereof also It seems too that A Carpe is generated of putrefaction Especially of the putrified mud of sweet water for it is experienced that in certain Lakes compassed about with Hills where there is no Well nor River to moisten it but only the rain after some few showers there hath been great store of fish especially Carps but there are some of this kind generated by copulation There are also in certain particular Lakes particular kinds of fishes as in the Lemane and the Benacian Lakes there be divers kind of Carpes and other such fishes Likewise there are certain Earthly fishes generated of putrefaction Pliny reports that in Paphlagonia they dig out of deep ditches certain earthly fishes very good to be eaten and it is so in places where there is no standing water and he wonders that they should be generated without copulation but surely it is by vertue of some moisture which he ascribes to the Wells because in some of them fishes are found Likewise Shel-fish are generated of the forthy mud or else meerly of the salt-water for they have neither seed nor male nor female the hardnesse and closenesse of their shels hindering all things from touching or rubbing their inward parts which might be fit for generation Aristotle saith they breed all of themselves which appears by this that oft-times they breed in Ships of a forthy mud putrified and in many places where no such thing was before many shel-fishes have bred when once the place waxed muddy for lack of moisture And that these fishes emit no seed or generative matter it appears because that when the men of Chios had brought out of Lesbos many Oysters and cast them into Lakes neer the Sea there were found no more then were cast in onely they were somewhat greater So then Oysters are generated in the Sea in Rivers and in Lakes and therefore are called Limnostrea because they breed in muddy places Oppianus writes also that they have neither male nor female but are generated of themselves and their own accord without the help of any copulation So the fish called Ortica and the Purple and Muscles and Scallops and Perwinkles and Limpins and all Shel-fish are generated of mud for they cannot couple together but live only as plants live And look how the mud differs so doth it bring forth different kinds of fishes durty mud genders Oysters sandy mud Perwinkles the mud in the Rocks breedeth Holoturia Lepades and such-like Limpins as experience hath shewed have bred of rotten hedges made to fish by and as soon as the hedges were gone there have been found no more Limpins CHAP. V. That new kinds of living Creatures may be generated of divers beasts by carnal copulation WE have shewed that living Creatures are generated of putrefaction now we will shew that sundry kinds of beasts coupling together may bring forth new kinds of Creatures and these also may bring forth others so that infinite monsters may be daily gendred for whereas Aristotle saith that Africk alwayes brings forth some new thing the reason thereof is this because the Country being in most places dry divers kinds of beasts come out of sundry quarters thither where the Rivers were and there partly for lust and partly by constraint coupled together and so gendred divers monstrous Creatures The Antients have set down many such generations and some are lately devised or found out by chance and what may be hereafter let men of learning judge Neither let the opinions of some Philosophers stay us which hold that of two kinds divers in nature a third cannot be made unlike to either of the parents and that some Creatures do not gender at all as Mules do not for we see that contrary to the first of these their positions many Creatures are generated of kinds divers in nature and of these are generated others to the perpetual conservation of this new kind as hath been tried in many Villages that divers kinds coupling together have brought forth other new kinds differing from their progenitors every
day more and more as they multiply their copulations till at length they are scarce in any thing like the former And against their second Position we must not think that the one example of Mules not gendring should prejudice the common course of other creatures The commistions or copulations have divers uses in Physick and in Domestical affairs and in hunting for hereby many properties are conveyed into many Creatures First we will rehearse those experiments which the Antients have described and then those which new Writers have recorded and our selves have seen in divers Countries And by this the ingenious Reader may find out others But first I will relate certain observations which Aristotle and others have prescribed that this kind of generation may be more easily wrought First the creatures thus coupled must be of an equal pitch for if there be great oddes in their bignesse they cannot couple a dog and a wolf a Lion and a Panther an Asse and a Horse a Partridge and a Hen are of one bignesse and therefore may couple together but a Horse and a Dog or a Mare and an Elephant or a Hen and a Sparrow cannot Secondly they must have one and the same space to bring forth in for if one of them bring forth in twelve moneths and the other in six then the young will be ripe by one side when it is but half ripe by the other A dog must have two moneths and a horse must have twelve and the Philosopher saith no creature can be born except he have his full time So then a dog cannot be born of a man nor a Horse of an Elephant because they differ in the time of their bearing Again the creatures which we would thus couple must be one as lustful as the other for a chaste creature that useth coition but once a year if he have not his female at that time he loseth his appetite before he can fancy any other mate but those which are full of lust will eagerly couple with another kind as well as their own Among four-footed beasts a dog a goat a swine an ass be most lascivious among birds partridges quailes doves sparrows Moreover they must be coupled at such a time as is fit for generation for Nature hath prescribed certain times and ages fit for that work The common time is the Spring for then almost all Creatures are prone to lust The ages of them must likewise be fit for the generative power comes to creatures at a set age Neither of them must be barren nor weak nor too young for then their seed is unfit for generation but both of them if it may be in the prime of their best age and strength If any creatures want appetiâ—e thereunto there be many slights whereby we may Make them eager in lust And if the female do cast out the seed there be means to make her hold in it Provokements to lust there are many set down by Writers and some usual with us Aelianus writes that keepers of sheep and goats and Mares do besmear their hands with salt and nitre and then rub the generative parts of them in the time of their coition for their more lustful and eager performance of that action Others besmear them with pepper others with nettles seed others with myrrh and nitre all of them kindle the appetite of the female being well rubbed therewith and make her stand to her male The He-goats if you besmear their chin and their nostrels with sweet ointment are thereby much enclined to lust and contrariwise if you tie a thred about the middle of their tail they are nothing so eager of copulation Absyrtus sheweth that if you wipe off some nature of seed of a mare and therewith besmear the nostrils of a Stallion horse it will make him very lustful Dydimus saith that if Rams or any other beasts feed upon the herb Milk-wort they will become both eager to lust and stronger for the act of copulation Pliny sheweth that Onions encrease desire of copulation in beasts as the herb Rotchet doth in men The She-ass holds the seed within her the better if presently after copulation she be well beaten and her genitories besprinkled with cold water to make her run after it Many such helps are recorded by those who have written the histories of living creatures CHAP. VI. How there may be Dogs of great courage and divers rare properties generated of divers kinds of Beasts WE will first speak of Dogs as being a most familiar creature with us and suiting with many beasts in bignesse in like time of breeding and besides being alwayes ready for copulation and very lecherous oft-times coupling with beasts of a far divers kind and so changeth his shape and fashion leaveth the bad qualities of his own kind and is made fitter to hunt to keep any thing from spoil to play or make sport and for divers other uses And first how A strong Indian-dog may be generated of a Tygre This is called by some a Mastive by others a Warrior or a Hircan-Dog Aristotle calls them Indian-dogs and saith they are generated of a Dog and a Tygre and elsewhere of a dog and another wilde beast but he names it not Pliny writes that the Indians intending to generate dogs of Tygres tie the She-tygres in the woods about rutting time and dogs coupling with them engender young but the first and second births they care not for as being too fierce but the third they bring up as being milder and fitter fot their uses Aelianus relates the story of this kind of Dogs out of Indian Writers that the stoutest Bitches and such as are swiftest to run and best to hunt are by the shepherds tied to certain Trees within the Tygres walk as soon as the Tygres light upon them if they have not before met with their prey they devour them but if they be full of meat and hot in lust then they couple with the Bitches and so generate not a Tygre but a dog their seed degenerating into the mothers kind And these dogs thus gendred scorn to hunt a Boar or an Hart but a Lion they will set gallantly upon A Noble man of India made trial of the valor of these dogs before Alexander the Great on this manner first he set an Hart before him but the Dog scorning the Hart stirred not at him next a Boar but neither stirred he at the Boar after that a Bear but he scorned the Bear too last of all a Lion then the Dog seeing that he had an even match in hand rose up very furiously and run upon the Lion and took him by the throat and stifled him Then the Indian that shewed this sport and knew well this Dogs valour first cut off his tail but the Dog cared not for his tail in comparison of the Lion which he had in his mouth next he cut off one of his legs but the Dog held fast his hold still as if it had been none of his
making the Winter to be as the Summer and the Spring-time as the Winter Amongst other means engraffing is not a little helpful hereunto Wherefore let us see how we may by engraffing Produce Grapes in the Spring-time If we see a Cherry-tree bring forth her fruit in the Spring-time and we desire to have Grapes about that time there is fit oportunity of attaining our desire as Tarentinus writeth If you engraffe a black Vine into the Cherry-tree you shall have Grapes growing in the Spring-time for the Tree will bring forth Grapes the very same season wherein it would bring forth her own fruit But this engraffing cannot be without boring a hole into the stock as Didymus sheweth You must bore the Cherry-tree stock through with a wimble and your Vine growing by it you must take one of the next and goodliest branches thereof and put it into the aâ—ger-hole but you must not cut it off from the Vine but place it in as it grows for so the branch will live the better both as being nourished by his own mother the Vine and also as being made partaker of the juice of that Tree into which it is engraffed This sprig within the compasse of two years will grow and be incorporated into the Cherry-tree about which time after the skar is grown over again you must cut off the branch from the Vine and saw off the stock of the Cherry-tree wherein it is engraffed all above the boring place and let the Vine-branch grow up in the rest for so shall neither the Vine be idle but still bring forth her own fruit and that branch also which was engraffed doth grow up together with it being nothing hurt by that engraffing We may also by the help of engraffing procure A Rose to shew forth her buds before her time If we pluck off a Rose-bud from the mother and engraff by such an emplastering as we spake of before the same into the open bark of an Almond-tree at such time as the Almond-tree doth bud the Rose so engraffed will bring forth her own flowers out of the Almond bark But because it is a very hard matter to engraffe into an Herbe and therefore we can hardly produce flowers sooner then their time by that means we will shew another means hereof And namely How Cucumbers may hasten their fruits Columella found in Dolus Mendesius an Aegyptian an easie way whereby this may be done You must set in your Garden in some shadowy place well dunged a rank of Fenel and a rank of Brambles one within another and after the aequinoctial day cut them off a little within the ground and having first loosed the pith of either of them with a wooden puncheon to convey dung into them and withal to engraffe in them Cucumber-seeds which may grow up together with the Fenel and the Brambles for by this means the seeds will receive nourishment from the root of the stalk into which they are engraffed and so you shall have Cucumbers very soon But now let us shew how we may accomplish this thing by counterfeiting as it were the seasons of the year and first how we may procure that Cucumbers shall be ripe very timely The Quintiles say you must take panniers or earthen pots and put into them some fine â—â—â—ed earth mixed with dung that it may be somewhat liquid and preventing the ordinary season you must plant therein Cucumber-seeds about the beginning of the Spring and when the Sun shines or that there is any heat or rain they bring the panniers forth into the Air and about Sun-setting they bring them into a close house and this they do daily still watering them as occasion serveth But after that the cold and the frost is ceased and the Air is more temperate they take their panniers and digge a place for them in some well-tilled ground and there set them so that the brims thereof may be even with the earth and then look well to them and you shall have your desire The like may be done by Gourds Theophrastus sheweth that if a man sow Cucumber seeds in the Winter-time and water them with warm water and lay them in the Sunne or else by the fire and when seed-time cometh put whole panniers of them into the ground they will yield very timely Cucumbers long before their ordinary season is to grow Columella saith that Tiberius the Emperour took great delight in the Cucumbers that were thus ripened which he had at all times of the year for his Gardners every day drew forth their hanging Gardens into the Sun upon wheels and when any great cold or rain came they straightwayes carried them in again into their close hovels made for the same purpose Didymus sheweth Roses may bud forth even before Winter be past if they be used after the like manner namely if you set them in hampers or earthen vessels and carefully look unto them and use them as you would use Gourds and Cucumbers to make them ripe before their ordinary season Pliny sheweth How to make Figs that were of last years growth to be ripe very soon the next year after and this is by keeping them from the cold too but yet the device and practice is not all one with the former There are saith he in certain Countries as in Maesia Winter Fig-trees a small tree it is and such as is more beholding to Art then to Nature which they use on this manner After the Autumn or Fall they lay them in the earth and cover them all over with muck and the green Figs that grew upon them in the beginning of Winter are also buried upon the Tree with them Now when the Winter is past and the Air is somewhat calmer the year following they dig up the Trees again with the fruit upon them which presently do embrace the heat of a new Sun as it were and grow up by the temperature of another year as kindly as if they had then new sprung up whereby it cometh to passe that though the Country be very cold yet there they have ripe Figs of two years growth as it were even before other Fig-trees can so much as blossom But because we cannot so well practise these experiments in the broad and open fields either by hindering or by helping the temperature of the Air therefore we will assay to ripen fruit and flowers before their time by laying warm cherishers as lime or chalk and nitre and warm water to the roots of Trees and herbs If you would have A Cherry ripe before his time Pliny saith that you must lay chalk or lime to the root of the Tree before it begin to blossom or else you must oftentimes pour hot water upon the root and by either of these means you may procure the ripening of Cherries before their time howbeit afterward the Trees will be drie and wither away If you would procure the ripening Of a Rose before his time Dydimus saith you may effect it by covering the
Rose-bush with earth a foot above the root of it and there pour in wam water upon it whilst the slippe beginneth to shoot up and before any blossom appeareth Likewise if you would have A Vine to bring forth before her time you must take nitre and pown it and mix it with water so that it be made of the thicknesse of hony and as soon as you have pruned the Vine lay good store of your nitre upon the Vine-buds and so shall your buds shoot forth within nine days after But to procure the Grapes to be timely ripe you must take the mother of the wine before it is become sowre and lay the same upon the root of the plants when you set them for at that time it is best so to use them as Tarentinus and Florentinus both affirm Moreover if you would have any thing to bud forth very timely Theophrastus saith you may procure it by setting the same Into the Sea-onion for if a Fig-tree be set but neer it it will cause the speedy ripening of Figs. And to be brief there is nothing set in the Sea-onion but will more easily and speedily shoot forth by reason of the strong inward heat which that herb is endued withal Democritus sheweth another means whereby you may cause The Fig-tree to bring forth hasty Figs namely by applying the same with pepper and oyle and Pigeons dung Florentinus would have the duâ—g and the oyle to be laid upon the Figs when they be raw and green Palladius counselleth that when the Figs begin to wax somewhat red you should then besmear them with the juice of a long Onion mixed with pepper and oyle and so the Figs will be the sooner ripened Our practice is this when the Figs begin to wax ripe we take a wooden needle and anoint it over with oyle and so thrust it through both ends of the Figs whereby in few dayes the fruit is ripened Others effect this by heaping up a great many Rams horns about the root of the Tree Pliny shews How to make Coleworts branch before their time and this is by laying good store of Sea-grasse about it held up with little props or else by laying upon it black nitre as much as you can take up with three fingers or thereabouts for this will hasten the ripening thereof We may also cause Parsley to come up before his time Pliny saith that if you sprinkle hot water upon it as it begins to grow it will shoot up very swiftly And Palladius saith that if you pour vineger upon it by little and little it will grow up or else if you cherish it with warm water as soon as ever it is sown But the mind of man is so bold to enter into the very secret bowels of Nature by the diligent search of experience that it hath devised to bring forth Parsley exceeding timely It grows up easily of it self for within fifty or fourty daies it is wont to appear out of the earth as Theophrastus and others affirm as by their writings may be seen Our Country-men call it Petroselinum In the practising of this experiment you must shew your self a painful workman for if you fail or commit never so small an error herein you will misse of your purpose You must take Parsley seeds that are not fully one year old in the beginning of Summer you must dip them in the vineger suffering them to lie a while in some warm place then wrap up the seeds in some small loose earth which for this purpose you have before meddled with the ashes of burned bean-straw there you must bedew them oftentimes with a little warm water and cover them with some cloth that the heat get not from them so will they in short time appear out of the earth then remove the cloth away and water them still and thereby the stalk will grow up in length to the great admiration of the beholders But in any case you must be painful and very diligent for I have assayed it and by reason of some error and negligence I obtained not my desire howbeit many of my friends having made diligent trial hereof found it to be a very true experiment Likewise may Lentiles be hastened in their growth if they be smeared over with dry Ox-dung a little before they are sown but they had need lie in that dung four or five daies before they be cast into the ground So Melons may be hastened in their fruit for if in the Winter-time you lay a parcel of earth in mixens that are made of hot dung and in the same earth sow Melon-seeds the heat of the dung will cause them soon to sprout forth you must keep them warm with some covering from the snow and the cold of the night and afterward when the Air is more calm you must plant them in some other place for by this means we have hastened the fruit hereof And by this same device of preventing their seed-time we may cause Cucumbers to hasten their fruit But Theophrastus setteth down another practice Cucumber-roots if they be carefully lookt into will live long Therefore if a man cut off a Cucumber close by the ground after it hath brought forth fruit and then cover the roots over with earth the very same roots the year following will bring forth very timely fruit even before others that were most seasonably sown Theophrastus also sets down another way Of hastening Cucumbers and that is by macerating the seed before it be sown or else by supplying it with continual moisture after it is sown So also we may procure Pease or Vitches to be timely ripe If we sow them before their ordinary season in Barley time as Florentinus sheweth But Theophrastus saith this may be done by macerating them in the water before seed-time but especially if you macerate them shales and all for there is but a little of it will turn to putrefaction and the shale feeds the kernel well at the first howsoever afterward it turn to nothing The same Theophrastus sheweth also How the Rape-root may be hastened in growth If the Gardner saith he do hide the same in an heap of earth it will cause it to bring forth very timely fruit the year following There may other fruits also be timely ripened as A Quince may be hastened in ripening if you daily bedew them with continual moisture as Palladius sheweth And Democritus saith you may have Roses growing in the moneth of January if you water the slip twice a day in the Summer-time We may likewise procure that Gourds shall bring forth very timely by underpropping and holding up their young tender sprigs In like manner we may cause The forward Fig-tree to hasten her fruit by renting or scarifying the body of the Tree that the milky juice may there swell and find issue out of it that when the superfluous humor is gone forth that which is left behind may be the more easily concocted and so the fruit will be sooner ripened
better filled and the larger grown Likewise Florentinus sheweth how to make Pease of a bigger growth If saith he you take Pease and steep them in warm water the day before you sow them they will grow the greater Some men take more pains then needeth who because they would have a greater Pease growing they steep them shells and all and put Nitre into the water wherein they are steeped and sow them in their shells Vitches may be made bigger if they be set with a little pole to grow up thereby for this will cause them to thicken as Theophrastus saith So also Onions may be thickned as Sotion sheweth About some twenty days before you translate them from the place where they first grew you must dig away the earth about them and let them lie a drying that all moisture may be kept from them and then plant them again and they will grow much bigger But if withal you pill of the top-skin and so plant them they will be far greater Likewise we may cause Artichocks to bear a fuller fruit as Varro sheweth If you plant them in a well-soiled place and cover them with old dung and water them often in the summer-time you shall by this means have a fuller and a more tender Artichock We may also practise another Device whereby to make greater fruit which Theophrastus hath set down and he brings an Example how to make Pomegranates to grow greater then ordinary for Art may cause the greatness of Fruit. When the first buds be formed upon the boughs they must be put into an earthen vessel that is made with a hole quite thorow and the bough whereon they grow must be swayed downward without hurting it then cover the pot with earth and so you shall have exceeding great Pomegranates The reason whereof is this The pot preserves the fruit from the vapours that would otherwise annoy it and besides the earth ministreth some moisture unto it so that the bigness thereof is increased by the store of nourishment It receives no more help from the tree then if it were out of the earth and therefore the kernels are no greater then ordinary but the pill is much thicker the proper juice of it is somewhat wasted and consumed for which cause the taste of this fruit so handled is waterish and worse then others but the rine receives outward nourishment and spends none for which cause that is much thicker The like practise Palladius and Martial use thereby to procure A great Citron They take a Citron when it is young and shut it up fast in an earthen vessel for the Citron will increase continually till it come to be of the bigness and fashion of the vessel wherein it is put but there must be a hole made thorow the vessel whereby the air may get in unto it By the like device Theophrastus assays to produce Cucumbers and Gourds greater then ordinary by hiding them while they are young both from Sun and from Winde that nothing may come at them to hinder their growth Like to this Device is the setting of them in Fennel-stalks or in earthen Pipes whereby the natural Juyce and Nourishment is kept in to the increasing of their growth We will also shew out of Theophrastus a like Device whereby the Herb Alisander or Parsley may be made greater You must dig the Alisander round about the root and cover it with Cachryl and then heap earth upon it For the roots spend all the moisture themselves and suffer no nourishment to ascend into the buds This Cachryl is hot and thick and as by the thickness it draws nourishment to it so by vertue of the heat it doth concoct and digest that which it hath attracted and therefore seeing this doth both draw more nourishment to the Alisander and also concoct it there must needs be a greater augmentation of that herb This practice he borrowed of Aristotle This herb may also be made bigger by another means namely if when you plant it you make a hole for it in the ground with a great stake for the root will at length fill up the hole So there is a means to make A Radish-root grow bigger if it be planted in a cold ground as Pliny sheweth For Radishes are much cherished and delighted with cold as in some cold places of Germany there be Radishes growing as big as a little childe Some have reported that if you drive a stake into the ground six inches deep and put chaff into the pit which the stake hath made and then put in the Radish-seed covering it over with earth and muck the Radish will grow up to the bigness of the pit By a Device not much unlike to this Florentinus sheweth how to Make great Lettise You must remove them and water them well and when they are grown half a handful high you must dig round about them that the roots may be seen then wrap them in Ox-dung and cover them over again and water them still and when they are waxen bigger cut the leaves cross with a sharp knife and lay upon them a little barrel or tub that never was pitcâ—ed for Pitch will hurt the herb that so it may grow not in height but onely spread forth in breadth So the herb Beet may be made greater as Sotion sheweth To make Beet grow in bigness saith he thou must cover the roots over with some fresh Ox-dung and divide the leaves or buds and lay a broad stone or a tyle upon it to cause it to spread forth in bredth You may also make Leeks greater by removing them and laying a great stone or a broad tyle upon them but in no case must they be watered By the very same Device Anatolius sheweth how to make Garlick greater by laying tyles upon the roots thereof as upon Leeks Theophrastus sheweth another kinde of Device whereby to make Radishes greater and he saith that the Gardeners of his time were wont to practise it They took away the leaves in the Winter-time when they flourish most and cast the Radishes into the ground covering them over with earth and so they lasted and grew till Summer came again never shooting forth either into buds or leaves except it were where the earth was gone that they lay uncovered The like Experiment doth Palladius teach concerning the Rape-root whereby to make Rape-roots greater Assoon as you have plucked them up you must strip off all the leaves and cut off the stalk about half an inch above the root then make certain furrows for them in the ground for every one of them a several furrow and there bury them asunder about eight inches deep and when you have cast earth upon them tread it in and by that means you shall have great Rape-roots By the like means Theophrastus thinks we may procure The herb Wake-robbin to grow greater When it is most full of leaves and when the leaves be at the broadest we must bow them downward winding them round about the root
within the earth that so the herb may not bud forth but all the nourishment may be converted to the head of the herb So may we make Onions to grow bigger as Theophrastus supposeth if we take away all the stalk that the whole force of the nourishment may descend downwards lest if it should be diffused the chief vertue thereof should spend it self upon the seeding Sotion saith that if a man plant Onions he must cut off both the tops and the tails thereof that so they may grow to a greater bigness then ordinary Palladius saith that if we desire to have great-headed Onions we must cut off all the blade that so the juyce may be forced down to the lower parts In like manner if we would have Garlick-heads greater then common we must take all the greenish substance thereof before it be bladed and turn it downward that so it may grow into the earth There is yet another Device whereby to make herbs and roots grow bigger then ordinary but yet I like not so well of it howsoever many ancient Writers have set it down and first How to make Leeks grow greater Columella hath prescribed this course you must take a great many Leek-seeds and binde them together in thin linen clouts and so cast them into the ground and they will yeeld large and great leeks Which thing Palladius also confirms by his authority in the very same words But both of them had it out of Theophrastus who putteth it for a general Rule That if a man sowe many seeds bound up together in a linen cloth it will cause both the root to be larger and the buds to be larger also and therefore in his time they were wont to sow Leeks Parsly and other herbs after the same manner for they are of more force when there be many seeds together all of them concurring into one nature Moreover it makes not a little to the enlarging of fruits to take the seeds which we would sow out of some certain part of the former fruit As for example we shall procure A Gourd of a greater or larger growth if we take the seed out of the middle of a Gourd and set it with the top downward This course Columella prescribes in his Hortulus Look saith he where the Gourd swells most and is of the largest compass thence even out of the middle thereof you must take your seed and that will yeeld you the largest fruit And this is experienced not in Gourds onely but also in all other fruits for the seeds which grow in the bowels or belly as it were of any fruit are commonly most perfect and yeeld most perfect fruit wheras the seeds that grow in the outward parts produce for the most part weak unperfect fruit Likewise the grains that are in the middle of the ear yeeld the best corn whereas both the highest and the lowest are not so perfect but because Gourds yeeld great increase therefore the experience hereof is more evidently in them then in any other Cucumbers will be of a great growth as the Quintiles say if the seeds be set with their heads downward or else if you set a vessel full of water under them in the ground that so the roots may be drenched therein for we have known them grow both sweeter and greater by this Device CHAP. XII How to produce fruit that shall not have any stone or kernel in it IT is a received thing in Philosophy especially amongst those that have set forth unto us the choicest and nicest points of Husbandry that if you take Quicksets or any branches that you would plant and get out the pith of them with some ear-picker or any like instrument made of bone they will yeeld fruit without any stone and without any kernel for it is the pith that both breedeth and nourisheth the substance of the kernel But the Arcadians are of a quite contrary opinion for say they every tree that hath any pith in it at all will live but if all the pith be taken out of it it will be so far from yeelding any stoneless fruit that it cannot chuse but die and be quite dried up The reason is because the pith is the moistest and most lively part of any tree or plant for the nourishment which the ground sends up into any plant is conveyed especially by the pith into all the other parts for Nature hath so ordained it that all the parts draw their nourishment as it were their soul and their breath thorow the marrow or pith of the stock as it were thorow a Squirt or Conduit-pipe Which may appear by experience seeing any bough or stalk so soon as the marrow is gone returns and crooks backward till it be quite dried up as the Ancients have shewed But I for my part must needs hold both against Theophrastus and against others also that have written of Husbandry both that trees may live after their marrow is taken from them and also that they will bring forth fruit having stones or kernels in them though there be no pith in the trees themselves as I have shewed more at large in my books of Husbandry Notwithstanding lest I should omit any thing belonging to this argument I have thought good here to set down the examples which those Ancients have delivered in writing that every man that lists may make trial hereof and haply some amongst the rest using greater diligence in the proof hereof then I did may finde better success herein then I have found There be many means whereby Plants may be deprived of kernels as namely by engraffing by taking out their pith by soiling with dung or by watering and by other Devices We will first begin as our wonted manner is with engraffing and will shew how to produce A Peach-apple without a stone Palladius saith he learned this new kinde of engraffing of a certain Spaniard which he saith also he had experienced in a Peach-tree Take a Willow-bough about the thickness of a mans arm but it must be very sound and two yards long at the least bore it thorow the middle and carry it where a young Peach-tree grows then strip off all the Peach-tree-sprigs all but the very top and draw it thorow the hole of the Willow-bough then stick both ends of the Willow into the ground that it may stand bending like a bowe and fill up the hole that you bored with dirt and moss bind them in with thongs About a year after when the Peach-tree and the Willow are incorporated into each other cut the plant beneath the joyning place and remove it and cover both the Willow-bough and the top of the plant also with earth and by this means you shall procure Peaches without stones But this must be done in moist and waterish places and besides the Willow must be relieved with continual watering that so the nature of the wood may be cherished as it delights in moisture and it may also minister abundant
kind of Nut which we now speak of I have growing in my own Orchard and it hath such a tender shell and so thin that as soon as ever it is but touched the shell falls off and the fruit is bare and naked Florentinus assayed to produce An Almond without a shell on this manner He break the shell very charily so that the kernel was kept whole then he took wool and sometimes green leaves of the Vine or of the Plane-tree and wrapt about the kernel lest if he should have set it without my covering about it the Emots or such like vermine should have gnawn it Columella sheweth another device whereby we may procure A Filberd to become a Tarentine Nut. When you have made your pit wherein you purpose to set your Nut put into it a little earth about half a foot deep and there plant the feed of Fennel-gyant and when the Fennel is come up cleave it and within the pith of it put your Filberd without any shell upon it and so cover it all over with earth this if you practise before the Calends of March or betwixt the Nones and the Ides of March you shall have your purpose They prescribe likewise another device whereby Gourds may bring forth fruit without any seeds within them The Gourd say they will grow seedless if you take the first branch or sprig of a Gourd when it is a little grown up and bury it in the earth as they use to deal by Vines so that onely the head thereof may appear and so soon as it is grown up again to bury it so again but we must have a special care that the slips which grow up out of the stalk be cut away and none but the stalk left behind so shall the fruit that grows upon it whether it be Gourds or Cucumbers be destitute of all seed within Likewise they will grow without seeds in them if the seeds which are planted be macerated or steeped in Sea-famine oyle for the space of three dayes before they be sowed CHAP. XIIII How to procure fruits to be of divers colours such as are not naturally incident to their kinde NOw we will shew how to colour fruits to the effecting whereof there have been divers means devised as waterings and engraffings which can never be sufficiently commended or spoken of and other like practises To begin with engraffing If we would colour any fruit we must engraffe it upon a plant that flourishes with the same colour which we would borrow As for example If we would produce Red Apples we must engraffe them upon a Plane-tree and the fruit will be red as Diophanes Didymus and Palladius affirm So we may procure that the fruit Rhodacen shall grow red if we engraffe it upon a Plane-tree as Africanus witnesseth Of whom Palladius learned that the way to make Rhodacens look red is to engraff them into a Plane-tree If you would have Citrons of a red scarlet-colour Avicenna shews you may effect it by engraffing them into a Pomegranate-tree for we shewed before that such an engraffing may well be made But if you would have Citrons to be blood-red Florentinus sheweth that you may effect this by engraffing them into a Mulberry-tree which experiment Deophanes approveth Likewise he that desires to have Red Pears must engraffe them into a Mulberry-tree for by this means the Pears will grow red as Tarentinus and Diophanes do witnesse So also you may procure A white Fig to become red by engraffing it upon a Mulberry-tree as the same Diophanes witnesseth By the same means Apples may be of a blood-red colour if they be engraffed into a Mulberry-tree as Avicenna sheweth But Beritius and Diophanes write that the Mulberry-tree it self which makes all other Apple-fruit to become red may be caused to bring forth White Mulberries if it be engraffed into a white Poplar tree for this will alter the colour of the fruit But Palladius procures this effect by another means not by engraffing the Mulberry into a white Poplar but into the Fig-tree for this also will alter their colour and cause White Mulberries as he shews in his verses wherein he saith that the Fig-tree doth perswade Mulberries to change their own colour and to take hers whereof I my self have seen the experience Likewise of A white Vine may be made red Wine if we engraffe a white Vine into a black for the stock into which it is engraffed will alter the colour much as I have seen by experience in hony-grapes those which we call Greek-grapes for the Vines which have been engraffed upon those Greek-Vines have yeelded a blackish juice or wine and the oftner such engraffing hath been made the blacker juice was yeelded In the places about the Hill Vesuvius the white-wine grape which grows upon her own stalk that is engraffed into the Greek-vine yeelds a more high-coloured wine then others do Another way to make Apples grow red is by diligent and cunning dressing even by applying them with hot and fat receipts for there are two chief Elements or principles of colours white and black or dark coloured now by dressing them and applying fat things unto them we may procure every flower or fruit that is blackish to become brighter and fresher coloured whereas on the other side if they be neglected that we do not bestow pains and care in trimming them their colour will not be so lively but degenerate into a whiterish hew for all colours that begin to fade wax somewhat whitish Beritius therefore endeavouring to make Apples grow red watered them with Urine and so obtained his purpose But Didymus To procure red Pomegranates watered the Tree with bath-Bath-waters sodden into Lye and some other water mixed therewith But there is yet another device whereby we may procure Apples to grow red by opposing them directly to the greatest force of the Sun-beams for this will make them red Beritius that â—e might cause the reflex of the Sun-beams to be more forcible upon the fruit used this sleight He fastened certain stakes into the ground and weighing down the boughs that had fruit upon them he bound them charily without hurting the fruit to those stakes and neer thereunto he digged certain ditches filling them with water or else would place some other vessels full of water neer the boughs casting this in his conjecture that surely the heat of the Sun lighting upon the water would cause hot vapours which being reflected together with the heat of the Sun into the places neer adjoyning where the fruit hangs and so reflected upon the fruit would procure them to be of a reddish and a goodly colour Beritius assayed to procure Red Apples by another devise by a secret kind of operation Under the Tree he was wont to set Roses which did lend their goodly hew to the Apples that grow upon the Tree above them Democritus practised the like device not upon Apples but upon Rhodacens and made Red Rhodacens by planting Roses underneath the
which is called Murex and when you have powned them together cast the ashes thereof upon the Ivy-berries or else if you cast upon them beaten Alome as Cassianus teacheth Theophrastus mentions an experiment that is very strange whereby to make Cumin grow flourishingly and that is by cursing and banning of the seeds when you sow them and Pliny reporteth the same out of Theophrastus and he reporteth it likewise of Basile that it will grow more plentifully and better if it be â—owed with cursing and banning If you desire to produce long Cucumbers and such as are not waterish you may effect it by this means If you take a morter or any other like vessel filled with water and place it neer the Cucumbers about five or six inches distant from them the Cucumbers will reach the vessel within a day or two and extend themselves to that length The reason is because Cucumbers have such a great delight in moisture so that if there be no water in the vessel the Cucumbers will grow backward and crooked To make them that they shall not be waterish when you have digged a ditch to plant them in you must fill it up half full with chaffe or the twigs of a Vine and then cover them and fill up the pit with earth but you must take heed you do not water them when they are planted By all these things which have been spoken we may learn to procure A Tree which of it self may yield you the fruit of all Trees A thing which I have seen and in merriment have oft-times called it the Tree of Garden-dainties It was a goodly height and thickness being planted within a vessel fit for such a purpose the mould which was about it being very faâ— and moist and fruitful that so every way as well by the liveliness and strength of the plant it self as also by the moistness and thriftiness of the ground all things that were engraffed into it received convenient nourishment It was three-forked upon one bough or arm it bare a goodly grape without any kernels in it party coloured very medicinable for some of the grapes were good to procure sleep and other some would make the belly loose The second bough or arm carries a Peach a middle kind of fruit differing both from the ordinary Peach and the Peach-nut without any stone in it and the smaller branches thereof bearing here a Peach and there a Peach-nut If at any time there were any stone in the fruit it was commonly as sweet as an Almond and it did resemble sometimes the face of a man sometimes of other living creatures and sundry other shapes The third arm carries Cherries without any stone sharp and yet sweet withal and Orenges also of the same relish The bark of this Tree was every where beset with flowers and Roses and the other fruits all of them greater then ordinary and sweeter both in taste and in smell flourishing chiefly in the Spring-time and they hung upon the Tree growing even after their own natural season was past but there was a continual succession of one fruit after another even all the year long by certain degrees so that when one was ripe there was another budding forth the branches being never empty but still clogged with some fruits or other and the temperateness of the air served every turn so well that I never beheld a more pleasant and delightful fight CHAP. XX. How divers kinds of fruits and likewise Wines may be made medicinable THe Ancients have been very careful and painful in seeking out how to mix Wine with divers kinds of Antidotes or preservatives against poison and how to use it best in such receipts if need should be A thing that might very well be practised for indeed there is nothing more convenient for that purpose And therefore they have tried and set down more curiously then need required many things concerning this argument strang to be reported yet easie to be effected which Theophrastus hath copiously set down About Heraclia in Arcady there is a kind of wine which makes the men that drink of it to become mad and the women to become barren And the like Athenaeus recordeth of that wine which they have in Troas a place in Greece And in Thrasus there is a kind of wine which if it be drunk will procure sleep and there is another kind of wine made in that sort that it will cause a man to be watchful and there are divers confections of wines which you may read of in the most exact Writers of Physick and of matters of Husbandry which are easie both to be learned and also practised by those that are well acquainted with the operations of Simples and they are such as a mans own conjecture may well lead him unto and indeed they are nothing else almost but such qualities operative as the property of the place where their Simples grow doth endue them withal And surely I would counsel that these kinds of confections should be ministred to those that are timorous and queazie in the taking of any medicinal receipts that so they may be swallowed down pleasantly before they should seem loathsom And first How a Vine may be made to bring forth grapes that shall be medicinal against the biting of venemous beasts Florentinus bids you in the first and second book of his Georgicks to set a Vine-branch and to cleave it in the lower part about the root that the cleft may be some four inches long there you must pluck out the pith and istead of the pith put Hellebore into it and binde it fast about with some pliant twig and so cover it with earth and by this means it will yeeld you grapes that being eaten will make your body soluble Or if you would have the grapes to be more operative in this kind you must supple the Vine-branches in some Antidote or counter-poyson and then set them in the head of a Sea-onion and so cover them with earth but you must still poure upon it the juice of that counter-poyson that the sets may drink their fill of it and so the strength and vertue of the grape will last a great deal longer If you would have a Vine to yield the grapes whereof the confections called Propomata are made Palladius shews you You must take the Vine-branches and put them in a vessel that is half full of Hippocras or else of Conserves of Roses or Violets or worm-wood and the earth that grows about the root you must resolve into a kind of Lye as it were made of Ashes then when the branch that grows up out of the bud beginneth to bear a leaf you must take it away set it as you set other Vines in any other place and the fruit will be such a grape as you desire Pliny saith that if you plant Hellebore about the roots of the Vine it will yield a grape fit for such a purpose Cato saith that the herb Scammony hath a
the lid of the vessel upon them and there let them lie without troubling them And Palladius reports the same Green Figs saith he may be preserved in Honey if you place them so that they may not touch each other Florentinus also sheweth That Cherries may be preserved in Honey if you put them into a vessel that is strawed in the bottom with Savory and so cast some honey upon them but your honey must be somewhat sharpe So likewise Medlars may be preserved in Honey to last a great while without rotting as Palladius sheweth but then they must be gathered before they be throughly ripe Martial sheweth also That Nuts may be preserved in Honey to be green all the year long and he speaks it of his own trial and experience You must take green Nuts and pluck them out of their shells and so let them be sowsed in honey and the honey wherein they are sowsed will become very medicinable insomuch that if you make a potion of it it will be very helpful to cure the Arteries and the Jaws Palladius saith That Peaches may be preserved in Honey if you take out the stone before you sowse them and besides that they will last long this will also make them to be very well relished He saith also that they may be well preserved in the liquor Oxymel To be brief Columella saith plainly that there is no kind of fruit but may be well preserved in honey But he prescribes it for a general rule in this case that every kind of fruit should be preserved in several by it self for if you lay up divers kinds of fruits together one of them will corrupt and marre the other So also Grapes may be preserued in Honey and they will last long without any blemish in them if they be so preserved as Didymus writeth But we will shew now What kinds of fruits are best preserved in Honey For I have endeavoured my self in this Practise how to keep fruits without putrefaction and for this cause I laid up all kinds of fruits in vessels of glass filled with honey that so I might prove which might be preserved longest and I found great difference among them some kinds lasting long and some but a little while For the fruits that were by their own kind full of moisture did attaint the honey so that the honey being it self attainted was not possibly able to preserve the fruit from putrefaction Grapes Figgs and Peaches are soon putrified by reason of their moistness Quinces Apples and Pears do last longer uncorrupted but Nuts will will last green and sound a whole year together CHAP. X. How fruits may be long preserved in ordinary wine or sodden wine or new wine or else in wine-lees THe Ancients likewise perceiving that wine would keep all things and that grapes-stones lighting into the wine as it was barrelled up did continue whole in the barrels for the space of a whole year thence they gathered that those fruits which were laid up in wine would be well preserved from putrefaction Neither did they stay there but also proceeded to use sodden wine new wine vinegar and wine-lees for that purpose because all these have a smatch of the substance of wine it self But we considering that there may be a very pure and durable liquour extracted out of the substance of wine for wine as it is of it self will sooner be corrupted have therefore used the help of that extraction whereby to preserve things sound and good time out of mind But to return to them and set down their examples Palladius sheweth That Quinces may be preserved in wine For if we lay them up in vessels filled with very good wine half with ordinary wine and half with new wine we shall by this means preserve Quinces a great while Others sowse them in barrels of new wine onely and so close them up whereby they cause the wine to yield a very fragrant smell So Democritus makes choice of the fairest and soundest quinces and putteth them into barrels of new wine and thereby doth preserve his quinces and better his wine So Apples may be preserved floating in wine as the same Author sheweth You must put some few apples into a barrel of wine that they may float up and down and so shall you also better the wine Democritus would have them to be put into earthen pots but Apuleius would have them put into barrels and so closed up and thus saith he shall you procure an admirable sweetness and pleasantness in the wine Others would have them put into a new pot and the pot to be drenched into a barrel of wine so that they may there swim and then the barrel to be made up close for this will be best both for the wine and also for the apples Likewise Figgs may be long preserved in wine as Africanus sheweth You must make a new earthen pot not altogether round but rather somewhat square having a good sound bottom then you must gather your figs with their sprigs and stalkes and that before they be through ripe then put them fresh into your vessel and place them so that they may lie from each other a pretty distance and so put them in a barrel full of wine and there let them swim but the barrel must be very well closed up that the air get not in and until the wine change and become sowrish the figs will never change but continue in the same estate as when they were put in Palladius doth report the very same experiment out of the very same Author Beritius sheweth That Mulberries may be preserved in wine But it must be such wine as is made of Mulberries and the vessells wherein they are put must be made up very close Likewise Pamphilius sheweth That Damosins may be preserved in wine if they be put into Hogsheads either of sweet wine or else new wine there to swim up and down and the Hogsheads well covered Palladius also teacheth That the fruit Ziziphum may be preserved in wine so that it shall not have any screwls or wrinkles for if it be fresh gathered and suppled with drops of new wine it will continue plumpe and full without any wrinkles Didymus sheweth How Grapes may be preserved in wine You must take a barrel that is half full of new wine and therein hang up your grapes in such sort as the clusters may not touch each other nor any of them touch the wine for by this means they will continue as sound as they were upon the Vine Some do preserve them in wine that is alayed with water Grapes thus preserved in wine have been in great request among the Ancients Athenaeus makes mention of them out of Eubulus in Agglutinatâ— you must saith he minister unto him good store of grapes preserved in wine And Pherecrates among other things that are to be eaten makes mention of grapes that were taken out of wine Cato sheweth That Pears may be long preserved in sodden wine especially
carefully closed up must needs last unputrified even for a whole age nay for all eternity At Rome I saw a fish that was drenched in the water that had been distilled out of the Vine and she was preserved five and twenty years as fresh as while she was alive and at Florence I saw the like of fourty years continuance the vessel was made of glass and made up with the seal of Hermes And I make no question but that all things that are sowced in this kind of liquor will last sound and good for many ages How many sorts of things I have preserved by this one means it were too long here to rehearse CHAP. XI That fruits may be very well preserved in salt-waters NExt after wine salt-water is of special use for preserving from putrefaction for such things as have been drenched therein have lasted long very sound and good The Ancients saw that whatsoever was preserved in salt was kept thereby from putrifying wherefore that they might preserve fruits from corruption they have used to drench them in salt-waters Homer calls salt a divine thing because it hath a special vertue against putrefaction and by it bodies are preserved to all eternity Plato calls it the friend of God because no sacrifices were welcome to him without salt Plutark saith that the Antients were wont to call it a divine influence because the bodies of creatures that were seasoned with salt from above were thereby acquitted from corruption Salt binds and dries and knits together and doth priviledge bodies from putrefaction that in their own nature must needs putrifie as the Aegyptians custome manifestly sheweth who were wont to season their dead bodies with salt as Herodotus writeth But let us come to examples Beritius saith that Pomegranates are preserved in salt-waters You must take sea-water or else brine and make it boil and so put your Pomegranates into it and afterward when they are thorough cold dry them and hang them up in the Sun and whensoever you would use them you must steep them in fresh-water two dayes before Columella rehearses the opinion of a certain Carthaginian touching this matter Mago would have saith he that Sea-water should be made very hot and Pomegranates being tied together with thread or broom-twigs to be drenched in it till they change their colour and then to be taken forth and dried in the Sun for three dayes and afterward to be hanged up and when you would use them you must steep them in fresh and sweet water for the space of four and twenty hours before and so they will be fit for your use Pliny also reports out of the same Author that Pomegranates are first to be hardened in hot Sea-water and then to be dried in the Sun three dayes and so to be hung up that the evening dew come not at them and when you would use them to steep them first in fresh-water Palladius writes the same out of Pliny and he sheweth also that Damosins may be preserved in salt-salt-waters They must be fresh gathered and then drenched either in brine or else in sea-water scalding hot and then taken forth and dried either in the Sun or else in a warm Oven Columella would have them drenched in new wine sodden wine and vineger but he gives a special charge also to cast some salt amongst them lest the worm or any other hurtful vermine do grow in them Palladius likewise sheweth that Pears will last long in salt-water first the water is to be boiled and when it begins to rise in surges you must skim it and after it is cold put into it your Pears which you would preserve then after a while take them forth and put them up in a pitcher and so make up the mouth of it close and by this means they will be well preserved Others let them lie one whole day and night in cold salt-water and afterward steep them two dayes in fresh-water and then drench them in new wine or in sodden wine or in sweet wine to be preserved Others put them in a new earthen pitcher filled with new wine having a little salt in it and so cover the vessel close to preserve them Likewise Modlars may be preserved in salt-water They must be gathered when they are but half ripe with their stalks upon them and steeped in salt-water for five dayes and afterward more salt-water poured in upon them that they may swim in it Didymus sheweth also that Grapes may be preserved long in salt-water You must take some sea-water and make it hot or if you cannot come at that take some brine and put wine amongst it and therein drench your clusters of grapes and then lay them amongst Barley straw Some do boil the ashes of a Fig-tree or of a Vine in water and drench their clusters therein and then take them out to be cooled and so lay them in Barley straw The grape will last a whole year together if you gather them before they be thorough ripe and drench them in hot water that hath Allome boiled in it and then draw them forth again The Antients were wont To put salt to Wine to make it last the longer as Columella sheweth They took new wine and boiled it till the third part was wasted away then they put it into vessels there to preserve it for their use the year following they put a pinte and a half of this liquor thus boiled into nine gallons of new wine unboiled and after two dayes when these liquors are incorporated together they wax hot and begin to spurge then they cast into them half an ounce of salt beaten small and that made the wine last till the next year Theophrastus and Pliny write that The fruits of those Palm-trees which grow in salt places are fittest to be preserved as those which grow in Judaea and Cyrenian Africk because those Countries especially do afford salt and sandy grounds for salt is a great nourisher of these kinds of fruits and they are preserved long even by their own saltnesse so that the salter the places are where they grow the better will the fruit be preserved So likewise that kind of Pulse which is called Cicer is preserved by its own saltness without any other dressing for the nature thereof is to have a saltish juice within it whereby it cometh to pass that whereas all other Pulse are subject to corruption and have some vermine or other breeding in them onely this kind doth not engender any at all because of the bitter and sharp saltish juice that is in it as Theophrastus writeth Didymus likewise writeth that Beans will last long in salt-water for if they be sowced in sea-water they will continue long without any blemish Pliny also sheweth that Garlick may be preserved in salt-water for if you would have Garlick or Onions to last long you must dip the heads thereof in warm salt-water so will they be of longer continuance and of a better taste So Cucumbers are preserved in
a spung dipped in vinegar and aqua vitae then let it dry which done strew it with unquenched Lime Alome and Salt let it hang so two days in the smoak of Myrrhe Bay Rosemary and Cypress in a dry and open place Then make a mixture of unquenched Lime five pound of burnt Alome one pound good Salt two pound of Aloes and Myrrhe half a pound of Aloes-wood half a pound of the Oyl of Spicknard three onces of the powder of Rosemary-flowers five of burnt Green-brass and Calcanthum two of the best Theriack four of the dust of Cypress half a pound of dryed Saffron one once of the seeds of Coloquintida three and a half of Antimony beaten to powder one and an half of the ashes of Wine-lees five and a half of Musk half a dragm of Amber two Let all be diligently brayed and mixed together and strewed upon the Body which must be for three days together strongly rubbed in an open and dry place This also we admonish that in fat Bodies the fat of the Abdomen Buttocks Hips Muscles of the Leggs thighs and all other places must be first abstracted Things may be also preserved by Balsom But seeing we can compass no true Balsom or if there be any it is exceeding dear we are glad to make artificial Balsoms as we shall shew in due place CHAP. XVI How divers sorts of Bread may be made WE have spoken of preserving fruits and other things It remains to shew how we may use those we have kept Amongst the rest we shall teach you concerning those things that are most necessary for dayly use as for many kinds of Bread Wine Vinegar and Oyls that not onely the Housholder may provide for his family with small cost but when provision is dear he may provide for himself with small pains in Mountains and Desarts of all those things almost we have spoken of But we will begin with Bread and see what our fore-fathers used in case of necessity I shall let pass those common things as Spilt and Bean-corn Amel-corn Typh-wheat Panick Sesamum being all well known But first To make Bread of Wall-nuts Dioscorides saith there is a kind of Thistle commonly found in the waters that onely in Rivers brings forth a certain seed as big as a Ches-nut with three points membranous full of white pith that tastes like Ches-nuts they call them water ches-nuts vulgarly and the Inhabitants use them in meats as they do Ches-nuts Pilgrims make Chapelets of them The Thracians that dwell by the River Strimon fat their horses with this Thistle when it is green and of the same seed they make Bread to eat Moreover in places where they grow amongst us the Inhabitants when provision is dear make Bread of them as at Ferrara they do of Ches-â—uts and the Brutii rost them in the embers and eat them for juncates Almost in the same manner To make Bread of the Lote tree Theophrastus teacheth it The Lote-tree grows in plain ground where the Countries are overflowed with water The fruit is like a Bean naturally but less and more slender That which grows on the head comes forth promiscuously as Beans do many and very thick together When the Sun sets it closeth and opens when he riseth and springs up above the water The head is as great as a Poppy-head where it grows in Euphrates The Egyptians lay those heads on heaps to putrefie and when the shells are putrefied they wash them in a River and part the fruit from them and dry it and break it and make bread of it and eat it Pliny There is also bread made of the seed of it like to Millet seed in Egypt by the Shepherds and they knead it with water especially or with milk They say that nothing is more wholesom then that bread or lighter whil'st it is hot but cold it is harder to digest and becomes heavy It is certain that those who live upon that are never troubled with Dysenteries Tenasmus or any diseases of the belly And therefore it is one of their remedies For it was of old a custom To make bread of Dates which Pliny writes of Dates that are very dry of Thebes and Arabia that are slender and very lean with a continual vapour they are terrified and are covered rather with a Shel then a Skin In Ethiopia it is crumbled so great is the draught and like meal it is made into bread Bread of the Mulberry-figtree In Caria and Rhodes there is a great Fig of Egypt or increase of the Sycamore-tree and in the neighbouring places where there is little wheat the people for want of corn use it for bread and for all bread corn So great and continual plenty is there of that Apple and abundance of bread is made of it pleasing to the stomach but it affords but little nutriment and we might make the same if we would We find it in Writers of husbandry How we may make bread without leaven Out of Didymus some adde Nitre for Nitre makes bread more crumbly as it doth flesh also Some the day before they make their bread cast Grapes into the water and the next day when they will make their bread they take them away for they swim above the water and they press them out and use the moisture pressed forth for leaven and so they make their bread more pleasing If you would have leaven last you all the year when the new wine hath boiled in the vessels Skim off the froth that boils on the top and mingle with it Millet-meal and work it well together and make morsels of it which dry in the Sun and lay up in a moist place and you may take a sufficient quantity and use it for leaven CHAP. XVII Divers sorts of Bread made of Roots and fruits NOw we shall proceed to other kinds of bread found out in our days that are no small profit to us when corn is dear How to make bread of the Roots of Cuckow-pint the root of Wake-Robin when it is not too acrimonious is eaten and desired in meats Dioscorides saith The decoction was drank as not being over sharp Galen That it was eaten as Rape-roots and in some Countries it grows more corroding To prepare it rightly pour out the water of the first boyling and presently cast it into other hot water In Cyrene those Roots are otherwise then amongst us for there it is no Physical root and is not acrimonious at all so that it is more profitable then a Rape-root Also our forefathers when Corn was dear used this Root in meats with great profit Caesar de bello civili Also there is a kind of Root found by them that were with Valerius which is called Chara which mingled with milk releived a Souldier that was hungry and it was made up like to bread There was great plenty of this Root and of it bread was made when those of Pompey his side objected to our Souldiers that they wanted food they would commonly
meal Do this thrice or four times and so you may increase it continually and this must be done in a stove that the dewy spirit may be fostered I thought good to tell you also before that you must not prick the lump lest the generative blast should breath forth and flie into the air for so you will lose your labour and there must not want presently a dewy vapour which being carried into the air and made to drop may moisten the lump so you will rejoice at the wonderful increase but you must be cunning in the manual application Pray do not destroy by your negligence what was invented by the careful ingenuity of those that tried it CHAP. XX. How we may long endure hunger and thirst THe Antients had some compositions to drive away hunger and thirst and they were very necessary both in times of Famine and in wars Pliny saith some things being but tasted will abate hunger and thirst and preserve our forces as Butter Licoris Hippace and elsewhere Scythia first produced that root which is called Scythia and about Baeotia it grows very sweet And another that is excellent against Convulsions also it is a high commendation of it that such as have it in their mouths fell nor hunger nor thirst Hippace amongst them doth the same which effects the same in horses also And they report that with these two herbs the Scythians will fast twelve dayes and live without drink also all which he translated out of Theophrastus first book The Scythian Hippace is sweet also and some call it Dulcis it grows by Maeotis Amongst other properties it quencheth thirst also if it be held in the mouth For which cause both with both with that and with the other called equestris men say the Scythians will endure hunger and thirst twelve dayes Hence it appears that Pliny translated all this out of Theophrastus But I think he erred for Hippace signifies Cheese made of Mares milk and is no herb Theodorus translated it Equestrem as it were a root like Licoris fit to drive away hunger and thirst For Hippocrates saith the Scythian shepherds eat Hippace but that is Mares Cheese and elsewhere The Scythians pour Mares milk into hollow vessels of wood and shake it and that froths with churming and the fat of it they call butter which swims on the top that which is heavy sinks to the bottom they separate this and dry it when it is dry they call it Hippace the reason is because Mares milk nourisheth exceedingly and is as good as Cows milk Dioscorides The west Indians use another composition also To endure hunger and thirst Of the herb called Tobacco namely of the juice thereof and the ashes of Cockle shells they make little balls and dry them in the shade and as they travel for three or four dayes they will hold one of them between their under lip and their teeth and this they suck continually and swallow down what they suck and so all the day they feel neither hunger thirst nor weariness but we will teach another composition which Heron mentions and it was called The Epimenidian composition to endure hunger and thirst For it was a medicament that nourished much and abated thirst and this was the food the besiegers of Cities and the besieged also lived on It was called the Epimenidian composition from the Sea-onion called Epimendium that is one of the ingredients of that composition it was made thus The squil was boiled and washt with water and dryed and then cut into very small pieces then mingle sesamum a fift part poppy a fifteenth part make all these up with honey as the best to make up the mass to mitigate it divide the whole as into great Olives and take one of these about two of the clock another about ten and they felt no hurt by hunger that used it There is another composition of the same that hath of Athenian sesamum half a Sextarius of honey a half part of oyle a Cotyle and a Chaenice of sweet Almonds mundified the sesamum and Almonds must be dried and ground and winowed then the squil must have the outsides taken off and the roots and leaves must be cut into small pieces and put into a morter and bruised till they be well mollified then you must make up the squils with the like quantity of honey and of oyle and put all into a pot and set them in cold and stir them well with a wooden ladle till they be well mingled when the lump is firm it is good to cut it into little morsels and he that eats one in the morning another at night hath meat enough This medicament is good for an Army for it is sweet and so fills a man and quencheth thirst we had this in an old Scholiast a Manuscript upon the book of Heron in the Vatican Library I saw the same composition in Philo in his fifth book of wars where he describes such like other things CHAP. XXI Of what fruits wines may be made NOw we shall speak of fruits of which wines may be made And first our Ancestors did do thus but they had two wayes for some were for Physicks which are found plentifully in Physick books others again were for ordinary use and they were divers and almost infinite according as the differences of places and Nations are for what is granted to one is denyed to another First Wine of Dates Pliny saith that in the East they make wine of Dates and he reckons up fifty kinds of Dates and as many different wines from them Cariotae are the chief full of juice of which are made the principal wines in the East they are naught for the head and thence they have their name The best are found in Judaea chiefly about Jericho yet those of Archelaiis are well esteemed and of Phaselis and of Libias valleyes of the same Country The chiefest property they have is this they are full of a white fat juice and very sweet tasting like wine with honey The wine will make one drunk and the fruit also eaten largely Dioscorides teacheth thus Put ripe Dates called Chydeae into a pitcher with a hole at bottom and stopt with a pitched reed shut the hole with linnen and to fourty Sextarii pour on three gallons of water If you would not have it so sweet five gallons will be sufficient to pour on after ten dayes take away the reed with the linnen take the thick sweet wine and set it up Also wine is made Of Figs. Sotion relates it thus Some make wine of green figs filling half the vessel with them and the other half to the brim they fill with fair water and they try still by tasting for when it tasts like wine they strain it and use it It is made faith Dioscorides of ripe figs and it is called Catorchites or Sycites Chelidonian or Phaenician figs called Caricae are steeped in a pot with a hole in the bottom with a pitched reed
the Plane-Tree Pliny For want sometimes they are forced to make Oyl for candles of the Plane-tree berries soaked in water and salt but it is very little as I proved Pliny saith the Indians make Oyl of Ches-nuts which I think very difficult for but a little will come from them as you shall find if you try He said also That Gallia Cisalpina made Oyl of Acorns of the Oak to serve for lights but we can make very little Also the Ancients used to make Oyl of Wallnuts that they pressed from the Wallnuts unsavoury and of a heavy taste for if there be any rottenness in the kernel the whole manner is spoil'd Now Gallia Cisalpina makes it for to eat and for lights also For lights by parting the naughty Nuts from the sound but the best serves for to eat at second courses These therefore are to eat and those for lights they burn cleer and there is nothing that yields more Oyl For it turns almost all to Oyl for one pound of cleansed Nuts will yield almost ten ounces of Oyl Now follows Oyl of sweet Almonds Oyl of sweet Almonds is best for food and of bitter for Physick and of old it was made with great diligence Dioscorides shews the way how half a bushel of bitter Nuts cleansed and dried are pounded in a morter with a wooden pestle into lumpâ— then a sextarius of seething water is poured on and when for half an hour the moisture is drunk in they are beaten more violently then before then is it pressed between boards and what sticks to the fingers is collected with shells The Nuts being pressed again a Hemina of water is sprinkled on them and when they have drank that up they do as before every bushel yields an Hemina With us it is commonly drawn out the same way These are the Oyls of the Antients Now we shall proceed with our Oyls Next follows Oyl of small Nuts They yield abundance of sweet sented excellent Oyl which all may use also for meats one pound of the cleansed Nuts will yield eight ounces of Oyl which former times were ignorant of Oyl of Pistaches serve for Meat and Physicks Out of Pine kirnels Oyl is made They are cull'd and the naughty ones serve for lights but the Oyl that comes from the best is for to eat and for Physick very much is extracted I saw it at Ravenna But Oyl of Beech The best of all is pressed out in abundance for meats and for lights It burns very cleer and tastes as sweet Almonds and the whole Nut almost goes into Oyl as the Wallnut doth The elder the Mast is the more Oyl it yields and the Lees of the Oyl is excellent to far Oxen and Hogs They are soon gathered cleansed bruised and pressed We pressed also Oyl from the bastard Sycomore as they call it for it is abundant in seed and in winter the boughs of it are seen loaded with seed onely In February we collected it and crumbled it the shell is broken into six or seven parts the kernels are like a Pear they are bruised and heated in a pan then put into a press and they yield their Oyl They make clear light in lamps and the seed yields a fourth part of Oyl There is drawn Oyl out of the Sanguine-Tree for lights About the middle of September the ripe berries are taken forth of the clusters let them dry a few days bruise them and let them boyl in water in a brass kettle for one hour then put them into the press you shall have green coloured Oyl about a seventh part of the seed The Mountainous people use it There is pressed Oyl out of the Grapes or Raisins The Greeks call'd these Gigarta Cisalpina Gallia makes oyl of them bruised heat and pressed in a press but it is very little fit for lights because it burns exceeding cleer There is much in Egypt Oyl of Radish-seed made they use it to season their meats and boil it with them But Cisalpina Gallia presseth Oyl out of Radish-seed and Rape-seed Rapes are pulled up onely in Novembâ—r but they are covered with sand together with their leaves They are planten in March that they may seed in May. For unless they be pulled up they freeze with winter cold But there is another kind of Rape that is sowed in July it is weeded it comes forth in the spring in May it yields seed out of a quarter of a bushel of it eighteen pounds of Oyl are drawn it is good for lights and for common people to eat If you sow a whole Acre with this seed you shall have five load of seed and of every load you may make two hundred pounds of Oyl it is onely plow'd and weeded Also Oyl is made of the seed of Cameline It is made for lights but those of Lombardy make great plenty of a golden-coloured Oyl of a seed like to this called Dradella It hath plaited leaves as wild Rochet which they sowe amongst Pulse The same may be said of the seeds of Nettles Mustard Flax Rice CHAP. XXV How a Housholder may provide himself with many sorts of Thread NOw shall I speak of many sorts of Yarn because this may much help the Household for the Houswife hath always need thereof Our Ancestors used Hemp and Flax for thus they made Yarn of Flax yet there needs no example the Thread is so common I will speak of those that follow and of other inventions Pliny Flax is known to be ripe two ways when the seed smells or looks yellow then it is pulled up and bound in handfuls and dried in the Sun letting it hang with the roots upwards for one day Then five of these bundles standing with their tops one against another that the seed may fall in the middle Then after Wheat-harvest the branches are laid in the water that is warm with the Sun they are kept down by some weight and soaked there and again as before turn'd up-side down they are dried in the Sun Then being dried they are bruised on with a flax-hammer that which was next the rind is call'd hard or the worst flax and it is fit for to make weiks for Candles yet that is kemmed with hackes till all the membrans be pilled clean The art of kembing and making of it is out of fifty pound of Flax-bundles to make fifteen pound of Flax. Then again it is polished in Thread it is often beat upon a hard stone with water and when it is woven it is bruised again with Beetles and the more you beat it the better it is Also there is made Thread of Hemp Hemp is excellent for ropes Hemp is plucked up after the Vintage but it is cleansed and pill'd with great labour There are three sorts of it that next the rind is the worst and that next the pith the middlemost is the best which is called Mesa Another To make Thread of Broom It is broken and pull'd from the Ides of May until the Ides in June
and be first throughly boiled it turneth into Lead This experiment is observed by Dioscorides who saith That if you take Antimony and burn it exceedingly in the fire it is converted into Lead Galen sheweth another experiment concerning Lead namely How to procure Lead to become heavier then of it self it is For whereas he had found by his experience that Lead hath in it self an aethereal or airy substance he brings this experiment Of all the Mettals saith he that I have been acquainted with only Lead is encreased both in bigness and also in weight for if you lay it up in sellars or such other places of receipt that are under the ground wherein there is a turbulent and gross foggy air so that whatsoever is laid up in such rooms shall straightways gather filth and soil it will be greater and weightier then before it was Yea even the very clamps of Lead which have been fastened into carved Images to knit their parts more strongly together especially those that have been fastened about their feet have been divers times found to have waxed bigger and some of those clamps have been seen to swell so much that whereas in the making of such Images the leaden plates and pins were made level with the Images themselves yet afterwards they have been so swoln as that they have stood forth like hillocks and knobs very unevenly out of the Christal stones whereof the Images were made This Lead is a Mettal that hath in it great store of quick-silver as may appear by this because it is a very easie mastery To extract Quick-silver out of Lead Let your Lead be filed into very small dust and to every two pounds of Lâ—ad thus beaten into powder you must put one ounce of Salt-Peter and one ounce of ordinary common Salt and one ounce of Antimony Let all these be well beaten and powned together and put into a sieve and when they are well sifted put them into a vessel made of glass and you must fence and plaister the glass round about on the outward side with thick loam tempered with chopt straw and it must be laid on very fast and that it may stick upon the vessel the better your glass must not be smooth but full of rigoles as if it were wrested or writhen When your vessel is thus prepared you must settle and apply it to a reflexed fire that is to a fire made in such a place as will reflect and beat back the heat of it with great vehemency to the best advantage and underneath your vessels neck you must place a large pan or some other such vessel of great capacity and receipt which must be half full of cold water then close up all very fast and sure and let your fire burn but a little and give but a small heat for the space of two hours afterward make it greater so that the vessel may be throughly heated by it even to be red hot then set a blower on work and let him not leave off to blow for the space of four whole hours together and you shall see the quick-silver drop down into the vessel that is half full of water being flighted as it were out of the Mettal by the vehement force of the fire Commonly the quick-silver will stick to the sides of the vessels neck and therefore you must give the neck of the vessel a little jolt or blow with your hand that so the quick-silver may fall downward into the water-vessel By this practice I have extracted oftentimes out of every pound of Mettal almost an whole ounce of quick-silver yea sometimes more then an ounce when I have been very diligent and laborious in performing the work Another experiment I have seen which drew me into great admiration Lead converted into quick-silver A counterfeiting practice which is the chief cause that all the quick-silver almost which is usually to be had is but bastard stuff and meerly counterfeit yet it is bought and sold for currant by reason of the neer likeness that it hath with the best Let there be one pound of Lead melted in an earthen vessel and then put unto it also one pound of that Tinny mettal which is usually called by the name of Marchasite and when they are both melted together you must stirre them up and down and temper them to a perfect medley with a wooden ladle In the mean space you must have four pounds of quick-silver warmed in another vessel standing by to cast in upon that compounded Mettal for unless your quick-silver be warm it will not close nor agree well with your Mettals then temper your quick-silver and your Mettal together for a while and presently after cast it into cold water so shall it not congeal into any hard lump but flote on the top of the water and be very quick and lively The onely blemish it hath and that which onely may be excepted against it is this that it is somewhat pale and wan and not all things so nimble and lively as the true quick-silver is but is more slow and slimy drawing as it were a tail after it as other viscous and slimy things are wont to do But put it into a vessel of glass and lay it up for a while for the longer you keep it the quicker and nimbler it will be CHAP. III. Of Brass and how to transform it into a worthier Mettal WE will now alledge certain experiments concerning Brass which though they are but slight and trivial yet we will not omit to speak of them because we would fain satisfie the humour of those who have a great desire to read of and be acquainted with such matters And here we are to speak of such things as are good to stain the bodies of Mettals with some other colour then naturally they are endued withal Yet I must needs confess that these are but fained and counterfeit colourings such as will not last and stick by their bodies for ever neither yet are they able to abide any trial but as soon as ever they come to the touchstone they may easily be discerned to be but counterfeits Howbeit as they are not greatly to be desired because they are but deceivable yet notwithstanding they are not utterly to be rejected as things of no value And because there are very few Books extant which Treat of any Argument of like kind as this is but they are full of such experiments and sleights as here offer themselves to be handled by us for they are very common things and in every mans mouth therefore we will in this place speak onely of those things which are easily to be gotten and yet carry with them a very goodly shew insomuch that the best and sharpest censure may be deluded and mistaken by the beautiful gloss that is cast upon them and it may gravel the quickest and skilfullest judgement to define upon the suddain whether they are true or counterfeit Yet let them be esteemed no better then they deserve
of brass you may make Iron to become white If you put amongst it some silver though it be not much it will soon resemble the colour of silver for Iron doth easily suffer it self to be medled with gold or silver and they may be so thoroughly incorporated into each other that by all the rules of separation that can be used you cannot without great labour and very much ado separate the one of them from the other CHAP. V. Of Quick-silver and of the effects and operations thereof IN the next place it is meet that we speak something concerning Quick-silver and the manifold operations thereof wherein we will first set down certain vulgar and common congelations that it makes with other things because many men do desire to know them and secondly we will shew how it may be dissolved into water that they which are desirous of such experiments may be satisfied herein First therefore we will shew How Quick-silver may be congealed and curdled as it were with Iron Put the quick-silver into a casting vessel and put together with it that water which the Blacksmith hath used to quench his hot Iron in and put in also among them Ammoniack Salt and Vitriol and Verdegrease twice so much of every one of these as there was quick-silver let all these boil together in an exceeding great fire and still turn them up and down with an Iron slice or ladle and if at any time the water boil away you must be sure that you have in a readiness some of the same water through hot to cast into it that it may supply the waste which the fire hath made and yet not hinder the boiling thus will they be congealed all together within the space of six hours After this you must take the congealed stuff when it is cold and binde it up hard with your hands in leather thongs or linnen cloth or osiers that all the juice and moisture that is in it may be squeesed out of it then let that which is squeesed and drained out settle it self and be congealed once again till the whole confection be made then put it into an earthen vessel well washed and amongst it some spring-water and take off as neer as you can all the filth and scum that is upon it and is gone to waste and in that vessel you must temper and diligently mix together your congealed matter with spring-water till the whole matter be pure and clear then lay it abroad in the open air three days and three nights and the subject which you have wrought upon will wax thick and hard like a shell or a tile-sheard There is also another congelation to be made with quick-silver Congeailng of Quick-silver with balls of Brass thus make two Brass half circles that that may fasten one within the other that nothing may exhale put into them quick-silver with an equal part of white Arsenick and Tartar well powdred and searced lute the joynts well without that nothing may breathe forth so let them dry and cover them with coles all over for six hours then make all red hot then take it out and open it and you shall see it all coagulated and to stick in the hollow of the Brass ball strike it with a hammer and it will fall off melt it and project it and it will give an excellent colour like to Silver and it is hard to discern it from Silver If you will you may mingle it with three parts of melted Brass and without Silver it will be exceeding white soft and malleable It is also made another way Make a great Cup of Silver red Arsenick and Latin with a cover that sits close that nothing may exhale fill this with quick-silver and lute the joynts with the white of an Egg or some Pine-tree-rosin as it is commonly done hang this into a pot full of Linseed Oyl and let it boil twelve hours take it out and strain it through a skin or straw and if any part be not coagulated do the work again and make it coagulate If the vessel do coagulate it slowly so much as you find it hath lost of its weight of the silver Arsenick and Alchymy make that good again for we cannot know by the weight use it it is wonderful that the quick-silver will draw to it self out of the vessel and quick-silver will enter in Now I shall shew what may be sometimes useful To draw water out of Quick-silver Make a vessel of potters earth that will endure the fire of which crucibles are made six foot long and of a foot Diameter glassed within with glass about a foot broad at the bottom a finger thick narrower at the top bigger at bottom About the neck let there be a hole as big as ones finger and a little pipe coming forth by which you may fitly put in the quick-silver on the top of the mouth let there be a glass cap fitted with the pipe and let it be smeered with clammy clay and bind it above that it breathe not forth For this work make a furnace let it be so large at the top that it may be fit to receive the bottom of the vessel a foot broad and deep You must make the grate the fire is made upon with that art that when need is you may draw it back on one side and the fire may fall beneath Set therefore the empty vessel into the furnace and by degrees kindle the fire Lastly make the bottom red hot when you see it to be so which you may know by the top you must look through the glass cap presently by the hole prepared pour in ten or fifteen pounds of quick-silver and presently with clay cast upon it stop that hole and take away the grate that the fire may fall to the lower parts and forthwith quench it with water Then you shall see that the water of quick-silver will run forth at the nose of the cap into the receiver under it about an ounce in quantity take the vessel from the fire and pour forth the quick-silver and do as before and always one ounce of water will distil forth keep this for Chymical operation I found this the best for to smug up women with This artifice was found to purifie quick-silver I shall not pass over another art no less wonderful than profitable for use To make quick-silver grow to be a Tree Dissolve silver in aqua fortis what is dissolved evaporate into thin air at the fire that there may remain at the bottom a thick unctious substance Then distil fountain-water twice or thrice and pour it on that thick matter shaking it well then let it stand a little and pour into another glass vessel the most pure water in which the silver is adde to the water a pound of quick-silver in a most transparent crystalline glass that will attract to it that silver and in the space of a day will there spring up a most beautiful tree from the bottom and hairy as
may be red hot take it off and plunge it in urine and it will regain the colour If it shine too much and you would have it of a lower colour the remedy is to wet it in urine and let it stand on a plate red hot to cool But thus you shall make vitriol very red put it into a vessel covered with coles and boil it till it change to a most bright red take it out and lay it aside and do not use it for an ill purpose We may with the fragments of brass Do this business otherwise That shall supply the place of silver and it shall become too weighty Or otherwise melt two parts of brass with silver then make it into small thin plates in the mean while make a powder of the dregs of aqua fortis namely of salt-peter and vitriol and in a strong melting vessel put the plate and the powder to augment gold fill the vessel in a preposterous order Then lure the mouth of it and set it in a gentle fire half a day take it off always renewing the same till it come to the desired weight We have taught how to increase the weight and not hurt the fashion or stamp Now I shall shew how without loss in weight nor yet the stamp being hurâ— Gold and Silver may be diminished Some use to do it with aqua fortis but it makes the work rough with knots and holes you shall do it therefore thus Strew powder of brimstone upon the work and put a candle to it round about or burn it under your work by degrees it will consume by burning strike it with a hammer on the contrary side and the superficies will fall off as much in quantity as you please as you use the brimstone Now shall I shew how To separate gold from silver Cups that are gilded For it is oft-times a custome for Goldsmiths to melt the vessels and cast them away and to make new ones again not knowing how without great trouble to part the gold from the silver and therefore melt both together To part them do thus Take salt Ammoniack brimstone half a part powder them â—ne and anoint the gilded part of the vessel with oyl then strew on the powder and take the vessel in a pair of tongs and put it into the fire when it is very hot strike it with an iron and the powder shaken will fall into the water in a platter under it and the vessel will remain unaltered Also it is done Another way with quick-silver Put quick-silver into an earthen vessel with a very wide mouth and let it heat so long at the fire that you can endure the heat of it with your finger put into it put the gilt plate of silver into it and when the quick-silver sticks to the gold take it out and put it into a Charger into which the gold when it is cold will fall with the quick-silver Going over this work again until no more gold appears in the vessel Then put the gold with the quick-silver that was shaken into the Charger into a linnen clout and press it out with your hands and let the quick-silver fall into some other receiver the gold will stay behind in the rag take it and put it into a cole made with a hole in it blow till it melt make it into a lump and boil it in an earthen vessel with a little Stibium and pour it forth into another vessel that the gold may fall to the bottom and the Stibium stay atop But if you will Part Gold from a vessel of Brass wet the vessel in cold water and set it in the fire when it is red hot quench it in cold water then scrape off the gold with latin wire bound together CHAP. IX To part Metals without aqua fortis BEcause waters are drawn from salts with difficulty with loss of time and great charges I shall shew you how to part gold from silver and brass and silver from brass without aqua fortis but by some easie operations with little cost or loss of time And first I shall shew how To part Gold from Silver Cast a lump of gold mixt with silver into an earthen vessel that will hold fire with the same weight of Antimony thus when the vessel is red hot and the lump is melted and turned about with the force of the fire cast a little Stibium in and in a little time it will melt also and when you see it cast in the rest of the Stibium and cover the vessel with a cover let the mixture boil as long as one may repeat the Lords-prayer take away the vessel with a pair of tongs and cast it into another iron Pyramidal vessel red hot called a Crucible that hath in the bottom of it rams fat shaking it gently that the heavier part of gold separated from the silver may fall to the bottom when the vessel is cold it is shaken off and the part next the bottom will be gold the upper part silver and if it be not well parted refuse not to go over the same work again but take a less quantity of Stibium Let therefore the gold be purged again and let the Stibium be boiled and there will be always at the bottom a little piece of gold And as the dregs remain after the same manner purge them again in the copple and you shall have your silver without any loss of the weight because they are both perfect bodies but the silver onely will lose a little But would you have your silver to lose less do thus adde to two pound and half of Stibium wine-lees two pounds and boil them together in an earthen vessel and the mass will remain in the bottom which must be also boil'd in a copple then adding pieces of lead to it purge it in a copple wherein the other things being consumed by the fire the silver onely will remain but if you do not boil your Stibium in wine-lees as I said part of the silver will be lost and the copple will draw the silver to it The same may be done Another way Take three ounces of brimstone powder them and mingle them with one ounce of common oyl and set them to the fire in a glazed dish of earth let the fire be first gentle then augment it till it run and seem to run over take it from the fire and let it cool then cast it into sharp vinegar so the oyl will swim above the vinegar the brimstone will fall down to the bottom cast away the vinegar and let the brimstone boil in strong vinegar and you shall see the vinegar coloured you shall strain the vinegar through a wisp into a glased vessel to which adde more brimstone boil it again and again strain out the lye into the vessel doing this so oft till the Lixivium comes forth muddy or of a black colour Let the Lixivium settle one night again strain it through a wisp and you shall
find the brimstone almost white at the bottom of the vessel adde that to what you had before and set it again to boil with three parts as much distilled vinegar till the vinegar all evaporate and dry the brimstone take heed it burn not when it is dry put it again into distilled vinegar working the same way so often until putting a little of it upon a red hot plate of iron it will melt without flame or smoke Then cast it on a lump of gold and silver and the gold will sink to the bottom presently but the silver will remain on the top For if brimstone be boil'd in a Lixivium so strong that it will bear an egg until it will not smoke and will melt on a fire-cole if it be projected on a mass of gold and silver mingled when they are melted it will part the gold from the silver Also there is an ingenious and admirable way To part silver from brass with certain powders The best are those are made of powdred lead half so much quick brimstone and arsenick and common salt double as much salt-peter one half powder those fine each by themselves then mingle them Take the mixt metal with half so much more of the powder and in a vessel that will endure fire strew it in by turns and set the vessel fil'd at a strong fire till all melt take it out and cast it into another vessel that is broad atop narrow at bottom and hot as we said and smeered with ram or sowes grease clarified let it cool for you shall find the silver at the bottom and the brass on the top part one from the other with an iron rasp or file if you will you may purge your silver again in a copple But the silver must be made into thin plates that when it is strewed interchangeably with the powders they may come at it on all sides then cover the vessel with its cover and lute it well But the salt must be decrepitated that it leap not out and the brimstone prepared and fixed But we may thus Part gold from brass Make salt of these things that follow namely Vitriol Alom Salt-peter quick Brimstone of each a pound Salt-ammoniack half a pound Powder them all and boil them in a lye made of ashes one part as much quick lime four parts of beech-ashes melt them at the fire and decant them and boil them till the Lixivium be gone then dry it and keep it in a place not moist lest it melt and mingle with it one pound of powder of lead and strew on of this powder six ounces for every pound of brass made not in a melting vessel and let them be shaken and stirred vehemently with an iron thing to stir it with when the vessel is cold break it you shall find a lump of gold in the bottom Do the rest as I said CHAP. X. A compendious way to part gold or silver from other Metals with aqua fortis WE shall teach thus compendiously to part gold from silver and silver from other metals and it is no small gain to be got by it if a man well understood what I write for I have known some by this art that have got great wealth For example take a mixture of brass and silver dissolve it in common aqua fortis when it is consumed cast fountain-fountain-water into it to remove the sharpness of the water and that it can no more corrode the metal Put the water into a great mouthed earthen vessel and plunge plates of brass therein for the silver will stick to them like a cloud the brass is best in the water put the water into a glass retort with a large belly and make a soft fire under and the fountain-water will distil forth by degrees When you know that the whole quantity of fountain-water is distilled out or the belly of the retort looks of a yellow colour and the sent of the salts pierceth your nostrils take away the receiver and put another that is empty to it and lure it well that nothing break forth Augment the fire and you shall draw off your aqua fortis as strong as before and the brass will be at the bottom of the retort The aqua fortis will be as good as it was and you may use it oft-times THE SIXTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of counterfeiting Precious Sones THE PROEME FRom the adulterating of Metals we shall pass to the counterfeiting of Jewels They are by the same reason both Arts are of kin and done by the fire And it is no fraud saith Pliny to get gain to live by and the desire of money hath so kindled the firebrand of luxury that the most cunning artists are sometimes cheated They are counterfeited by divers ways either by cutting Jewels in the middle and putting in the colours and joyning them together or else by giving a tincture to Crystal that is all one piece or counterfeiting Crystal by many ingredients or we shall attempt to make true Jewels to depart from their proper colour and all of them to be so handsomly coloured that they may shew like natural Jewels Lastly I shall shew how to make Smalt of divers colours CHAP. I. Of certain Salts used in the composition of Gems WE wil first set down certain operations which are very necessary in the making of Gems lest we be forced to repeat the same thing over again And first How to make Sal Soda The herb Kali or Saltwort is commonly called Soda grinde this Soda very small and sift it into powder put it into a brass Cauldron and boil it pouring in for every pound of Soda a firkin of water Let it boil for four hours till the water be consumed to a third part Then take it from the fire and let it stand twelve hours while the dregs settle to the bottom and the water becomes clear then drain out the water with a linnen cloth into another vessel and pour fresh water into the Cauldron Boil it again and when it is cold as before and all the dross setled filtrate the clear water out again Do as much the third time still having a care to try with your tongue whether it be still salt At last strain the water and set it in an earthen vessel over the fire keeping a constant fire under it until the moisture being almost consumed the water grow more thick and be condensed into salt which must presently be taken out with an iron ladle and of five pound of Soda you will have one pound of salt How to make Salt of Tartar Take the lees of old wine and dry it carefully it is commonly called Tartar put it into an Alimbeck made in such sort that the flame may be retorted from the top and so augment the heat There let it burn you will see it grow white then turn it with your iron tongs so that the upper part which is white may be at bottom and turn the back up to the
flame when it hath ceas'd smoaking take it out and break part of it to see whether it be white quite through for that is an argument of the sufficient burning because it oftentimes happens that the outside onely is burned and the rest of it remaineth crude Therefore when it hath gained the colour of chalk it must be taken out and when it is cold grinde it and lay it in water in some wide-mouth'd vessel a quarter of a day When the water is grown clear filtrate it and strain it into another vessel and then pour water again unto the settlement observing the same things we spoke before until the water have taken out all the salt which will come to pass in the third or forth time Pour your waters which you saved into a vessel of glass and all things being ready put live coles under it and attend the work until the water be consumed by the force of the fire which being done the salt will stick to the bottom it being thus made preserve it in a dry place lest it turn to oyl CHAP. II. How Flint or Crystal is to be prepared and how Pastils are boiled THe matter of which Gems are made is either Crystal or Flint from whence we strike fire or round pebbles found by river sides those are the best which are taken up by the river Thames white clear and of the bigness of an egge for of those are made best counterfeit Gemms though all will serve in some sort Some think that Crystal is the best for this purpose because of the brightness and transparency of it but they are deceived The way of making Gems is this Take riverpebbles and put them into a fornace in that place where the retorted flame is most intense when they are red hot take them out and fling them into water then dry them and powder them in a mortar or a hand-mill until they are very fine put them into a wide-mouthed vessel full of rain water and shake it well in your hands for so the finest part will rise to the top and the grossest will settle to the bottom to that which swims at top pour fresh water and stir the dust again and do this oftentimes until the gross part be quite separated and sunk down Then take out the water and let it settle and in the bottom there will lie a certain slimy matter gather together and reserve the refined powder But whil'st the stone is ground both the morter and the mill will lose somewhat of themselves which being mixt with the powder will foul the Gem wherefore it will be worth the labâ—r to wash that away to which end let water be often poured into the lavel and stirred about the dust of the morter will rise to the top by reason of its levity and the powder of the pebbles will retire to the bottom by reason of its weight skim the lavel and separate them with a spoon till all that sandy and black dust be taken off then strain out the water and reserve the powder dry These being done we must teach How Pastils are boiled Artificers call those pellets which are made of the salts and the forenamed powder and water Pastils Take five parts of salt of Tartar as many of salt of Soda double the quantity of these of the forespoken powder of pebbles and mix them very well in a stone morter sprinkle them with water wet them so that they may grow into a past and make Pastils of them in bigness of your fist set them in the sun and dry them well Then put them into a fornace of reverbaration the space of six hours encreasing the fire by degrees that at last they may become red hot but not melt wherefore use no bellows when they are baked enough let them cool and they will become so hard that they will endure almost the hammer CHAP. III. Of the Fornace and the Parts thereof NOw the Fornace is to be built which is like to that of glass-makers but less according to the proportion of the work Let your fornace be eight foot high and consist of two vaults the roof of the lower must be a handful and a half thick the vault it self must have a little door by which you may cast in wood to feed the fire there Let it also have on the top and in the middle of its roof a hole about a foot in breadth by which the flame may penetrate into the second vault and reach to the upper roof whence the flame being reverberated doth cause a vehement heat In this upper vault there must be cut out in the wall small holes of a handful in breadth which must open and shut to set the pots and pans in on the floor and to take them out again Artificers call these pots Crucibles they are made of clay which is brought from Valencia and doth very strongly endure fire They must be a finger thick and a foot and a half deep their bottom somewhat thicker lest they should break with the force of the fire All things being thus provided cast in your wood and fire and let the fornace heat by degrees so that it may be perfectly hot in a quarter of a day Your workmen must be diligent to perform their duty then let the Pastils being broken into pieces about the bigness of a wall-nut be put into crucibles and set in the holes of the fornace built for that purpose with a pair of iron tongs to every pot When they melt they will rise up in bubbles and growing greater and greater must be pricked with sharp wires that the vapor passing out the bubbles may sink down again and not run over the mouth of the crucibles Then let other pieces be put in and do as before until the pots be filled to the top and continue the fire for a whole day until the matter be concocted Then put an iron hook into the pots and try whether the matter have obtained a perfect transparency which if it have take it out of the pots with iron instruments for that purpose and cast it into clear water to wash off the filth and stains and to purge out the salt for when the Gems are made on a suddain the salt breaks forth as it were spued out and overcast them like a cloud Yet there must be a great deal of diligence used whilâ—st you draw out this vitrified matter lest it touch the sides of the fornace for it will cleave thereto like birdâ—ime hardly to be pulled off without part of the wall as also lest it fall into the vessels for it is very difficult to separate it and it prejudices the clearness of the glasâ— When it is cold put it again into the crucibles and let it glow for two days until it be concocted into perfect glass When this vitrified matter hath stood so for two days some to make it more fine and bright lest it should be specked with certain little bubbles
remain Then lay the cloth over the mouth of the vessel which must receive it and tie it slack on so strain it that you may be the more sure that nothing but what is very fine can pass through then press cut the water and reserve the chalk Lay this clay thus prepared upon the Copper and rub it with a poplar stick till it shine like gold then wash it with water over a wide-mouthed pan that may receive the water After this have a blood-stone ready very well polished upon a plate of lead with the dust of Emerald it will become most exquisitely smooth therefore lay your rays of copper upon the copper and spread it abroad with the thumb of your left hand then cast on the clay and pour water on to wash it and then wipe it off and let onely the water remain to fasten them upon the copper Then take into your hands the stone being fastened to a stick and polish the plates with it having a great care that they do not run into wrinkles for then they are quite spoiled but when they begin to move pour on some of the water and that will fix them again Continue this till you have made it all over as bright and smooth as a looking-glass A token of their perfect polishing is when no marks of the running of the stone is seen upon them Then taking them off from the wood cast them into a pot of water until the rest are all finished and then wrap them in a clean linnen cloth dry them and lay them up in boxes free from all dust and filth but bend them like a half-pillar so that the polished side may be inward and tie them so with a string CHAP. XII Of building a fornace for the colouring Plates NOw we will shew how to colour them but first let us describe the fornace wherewith it must be done Therefore let a Fornace be made of iron plates of a convenient thickness let it be a foot in height and as much in the diameter of the length let it be covered on the top with a circular plate In the centre of the roof of it cut a round hole a handful in breadth and set another fornace upon it of the same length and breadth and make a hole in that also which must be set against the other and joyn them close together Make a little door in the lower fornace close to the ground let it be made with an arch four fingers wide and jet out half a foot like the mouth of an oven and be joyned in the same manner to the great fornace Then kindle your coals in another place until they cease moking and with iron tongs cast them into the foresaid fornace Heat it very well and let the outward fornace or mouth of the oven be fill half way with live coals These being thus disposed fall to colouring the plates And first I will teach you How to colour plates with a purple colour Take the plates tyed about with thread as I told you and fit them upon a pair of iron tongs which you must fasten at the fore-end with an iron ring that they may not open hold them upon the hole of the upper fornace that they may receive the ascending smoak and turn them about until by degrees you shall perceive them gather a purple colour without any other smoak then what ariseth from the heat of the coals when you think them coloured enough remove them from the smoke and lay them aside How to make them of a Saphire colour It is done much after the same way for taking the rays in an iron tongs and holding them over the hole of the fornace cast upon the coals through the low arched door the feathers of a goose which grow upon her brest and then lay upon them a red hot iron rod. For the smoke of the feathers arising through the tunnell of the fornace will beat upon the rays and make them of a sky-colour when the iron rod groweth cold take another and put in It is very admirable how on a suddain these copper rays will change into several colours wherefore when they have obtained the colour which you desire take them off the fornace presently for otherwise they will alter into another How to make them of a silver colour Take a little silver and dissolve it with aqua fortis then pour some fountain-water into it and your copper rays presently the water will be troubled and will stick upon the copper like silver fleeces cast away the water and wash the silver and dry it in the Sun and when it is dry lay it upon a marble and mix with it an ounce of Tartar and as much ordinary salt grinde them together till they be well mixed This being made into powder lay it on copper and rub it with your fingers and it will make it shine like silver then spread the rays upon the round wood and the copper wet them with the water lay the powder on them and rub them with your thumbs that they may become of a silver colour steep them in water and levigate them with the blood-stone upon the foresaid copper then set them in the smoke and they will shine with a sky-colour How to make them of the colour of an Emerald It is very difficult and there scarce is one of very many that will prove right First make your rays of a sky-colour as before then take those which have not took that colour rightly and lay two of them upon the hole of the fornace and through the vault of the little door fling some leaves of Box upon red hot plates of iron where they will crackle like day-leaves and send up a smoke through the hole which will colour the rays But before they come to be of a green colour they must pass through many other colours as yellow red and sky-colour but they must continue some time before they obtain a perfect green How to make them red like a Ruby Fling some flocks of Scarlet upon the live coles and lay the thin plates over the hole and the arising smoke will colour them red How to make them of the colour of the Amethist When it is made of a sky-colour it passeth through the colour of the Amethist take it therefore off in time and you have your wish CHAP. XIII How rays are to be coloured by a mixture of Metals I will now shew how rays may be coloured by mixture with other metals which is of more difficulty but of longer continuance The former cost but little labour but they easily lose their colour these are harder to be made but keep their colour longer Take half a pound of copper and melt it in a melting pot put thereunto half a crown of gold and when it is well melted and mixed adde some tartar that when it cooleth the top of it may be plain and smooth after it is cold set it aside Then take another half pound of
north part For when it is equally balanced it will turn to these points in the heavens But that it may do it more forcibly and do its office more exactly I shall lay down some rules fit to instruct you If you strike both ends of the stone with the hammer that hairs may appear on both parts that you touch the needle at both ends for so the needle will sooner do its office Moreover you must observe very carefully that when the iron rub'd against the Loadstone hath received these hairs that you touch it with no other iron or Loadstone but keep it far distant from them and lock it up in a box for by touching of others the iron will grow dull and lose its vertue that it will never point out the parts of heaven perfectly For the iron coming within the Compass of the vertue of another Loadstone will receive that as we said So the needle must be proportionable to the stone For from a little Loadstone a great iron will not receive much vertue nor shew the pole also a little piece of iron cannot receive much vertue for it consumes by the great force of the Loadstone Moreover the point that shews the pole must not be sharp but fâ—at a little that it may receive those vertues of the Loadstone exactly and hold them for in a very sharp point scarce any vertue will abide Iron the purer it is the better will it hold the vertue For it will hardly take upon foul and rusty iron wherefore Mariners make it of pure steel for steel is made of the best iron If you observe this iron once rubbed will hold the vertue a hundred years and will certainly without failing point exactly at the poles in the heavens for so long time CHAP. XXXVII Of the divers uses of Mariners Compasses ANd the needle touched doth not onely shew the poles for the Mariners use but almost it serves for infinite uses as all men know that it is dayly spoken of every where I shall speak of some of the chief The use of the Loadstone upon the needle is well known in Sun-dials for when the needle stands still over the line that is made from north to south we are so directed by it to know the hours by the shadow falling from the Gnomon Also those that work in Mines use the needle to find the veins of the metals which way they run for in caves under ground in that posture the needle stands that is touched with the Loadstone they know the veins of the metals run on that side of the heavens Also it doth serve very much for those that describe platforms of buildings cities countries whilst the situation of the corners are taken and described upon the paper We use it also in making passages for to bring water under ground in digging pits in making Mines and Trenches wherewith they use with great skill to blow up Forts Castles Rocks and Walls by putting Gunpowder into them and stopping all places of vent the Compass guides them how to go on Lastly how to level the discharging of Canon both by night and day it is of singular vertue and for many other uses too tedicus to relate here CHAP. XXXVIII How the Longitude of the world may be found out by help of the Loadstone I Will not omit that amongst the principal uses of the Loadstone by the help of it the Longitude of the world may be found out Which notable work hath employed the wits of the most knowing men It hath been observed a long time by our men that the needle touched with the Loadstone will not always rest upon the Meridian line but sometimes will decline nine degrees from it to the east nor will it hold the same posture in all places but in divers places it hath divers declinations But this errour seems to follow this order that the neerer it is to the east the more it will decline from the Meridian line toward the east and the neerer it comes to the west the point of the needle will decline the more to the west For finding the Meridian line as Ptolomy and other Geometricians teach how and setting up a point thereon that the steel needle may turn freely upon the top of it in Italy it declines toward the east nine degrees of which there is ninety in a quadrant of a circle as it is observed in Sun-dials that are brought out of Germany and it is so described Moreover many famous travellers report that amongst the Fortunate Islands one is called the Azores where the needle set in the Compass will rest directly upon the Meridian line without any variation at all Also they that sail to the west-Indies observe that the point of the needle will decline to the west Therefore laying down these for true Maxims we may easily know the longitude of the world for if we make a very great Compass about five foot diameter and divide the degrees and minutes into seconds and thirds c. and sailing under the Equator we do observe the chief motions of the Needle and the declinations of it and shall accommodate the same to the proportion of our Voyages we shall easily know the Longitude of the World beginning from the Fortunate Islands Whence both Longitude and Latitude in dark nights and the greatest Tempests may be certainly discovered Wherefore it is false that Cardanus saith That the Needle in the Compass declines from the Meridian Line because it inclines to the Pole Star in the little Bears Tail whereas the Needle declines nine Degrees and the Polar Inclination is not so much CHAP. XXXIX If the Mariners Needle stand still and the Loadstone move or contralily they will move contrary ways IF the Loadstone lie on the Table and you put the North point of the Mariners Needle to the South point of the stone and shall carry it round about by the right hand the Needle will draw to the left but moving the Box to the left hand the Needle will run to the right and it will go so far until it stand in the middle between those two opposite points The same will be seen in a Sun-Dial if that stand and the Loadstone be carried about for if you decline to the right hand the Needle will follow the same part and likewise if you turn to the left Hence it is apparent That the Needle in the Compass is drawn by the North-Pole for those that sail toward the East have it turned toward the East and so contrarily to the West it will move to the same point of the Heaven and if the Loadstone be turned about the Iron will turn about also as a pair of Compasses about the Centre CHAP. XL. The Loadstone imparts a contrary force to the Needle NOw I will speak of the Needle touched with the Loadstone and of the wonderful operations of it The first is That when the Iron is touched by the Northern point of the Loadstone and equally balanced
and run out with great cries Then may he take away their Gold and chink The reason is Because the Loadstone is melancholick as you may conjecture by the colour of it the fumes whereof rising into the brain will cause those that are a sleep to have melancholick phantasms presented unto them and Coles will do the like The weight Davic with Serpents fat and juice of Metals given to one to drink will make him mad and make him run out of his House Country and Nation and this is doth by exaggeration of black Melancholy or it will make people lunatick and melancholick if they do but hold it in their mouths and by its drawing out of iron Physitians think it will help well to draw an Arrow-head out of ones body But we use the Loadstone in making Glass Pliny After Glass was found out as it is a very cunning invention men were not content to mingle Nitre but they began to add the Loadstone thereunto because it is supposed that it will attract the liquor of the Glass into it self and into iron also Hence it is that in making Glass we add a little piece of Loadstone to it for that singular vertue is confirmed by our times as well as former times it is thought so to attract into it self the liquor of the Glass as it draws iron to it and being attracted it purgeth it and from green or yellowish Glass it makes it white but the fire afterwards consumes the Loadstone Out of Agricola We read also That a Loadstone laid to ones head will take away all the pains Galen saith It hath purging faculties and therefore it is given to drink for the Dropsie and it will draw forth all the water in the Belly Lastly I shall not pass by the error of Hadrian concerning the Loadstone for he saith That the iron by its weight makes the Loadstone never the heavier For the Naturalists report That if a great Loadstone were weighed in a Scale and after that should draw iron to it it would be no heavier then it was when it was alone though they be both together so the weight of the iron is as it were consumed by the Loadstone and hindred by it from any effect or motion which I finde to be false It is like that jear in Aristophanes of a Clown that rid upon an Ass and carried his Coulter at his back that he might not load the Ass too much THE EIGHTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of Physical Experiments THE PROEME I Intended to pass by these following Experiments in Physick because I have everywhere mentioned them in my History of Plants and we have not omitted any thing that was certain and secret in them that we knew unless iâ— be such things as could not be brought into that rank And though other things shall be described in my Book of Distillations yet that this place of Physick be not left empty I changed my opinion and have set down some of them here CHAP. I. Of Medicines which cause sleep THat we may in order set down those Experiments of which we intend to speak we will begin with those Diseases which happen in the Head and first with Sleep for Soporiferous Receits are very requisite to be placed amongst these Arcana and are of very great esteem amongst Physitians who by Sleep are wont to cheat their Patients of pain and not of less amongst Captains and Generals when they practice Stratagemes upon their Enemies Soporiferous Medicines do consist for the most part of cold and moist things Plutarch in Simpos saith That Sleep is caused by cold and therefore Dormitives have a cooling quality We will teach first how To cause Sleep with Mandrake Dioscorides saith That men will presently fall asleep in the very same posture wherein they drink Mandrake losing all their senses for three or four hours after and that Physitians do use it when they would burn or cut off a member And skilful men affirm That Mandrake growing by a Vine will transmit its Soporiferous quality into it so that those who drink the Wine that is made thereof shall more easily and readily fall asleep Here we will relate the pleasant stories of the Mandrake out of Authors of Stratagems Junius Frontinus reports That Hannibal being sent by the Charthagenians against some Rebels in Africa and knowing they were a Nation greedy of Wine mixed a great quantity of Mandrake with his Wines the quality of which is between poysonous and sleepy then beginning a light Skirmish he retired on purpose and in the middle of the Night counterfeited a flight leaving some Baggage in his Camp and all the infected Wine Now when those Barbarians had took his Camp and for joy had liberally tasted of that treacherous Wine he returned took and slew them all as they lay dead as it were before Polinaeus the same And Caesar sailing towards Nicomedia was taken about Malea by some Cilician Pirates and when they demanded a great Ransome for his Liberty he promised them double what they asked They arrived at Miletum the people came out of the Town to see them Caesar sent his Servant being a Milesian named Epicrates to those of the Town desiring them to lend him some money which they presently sent to him Epicrates according to Caesar's command brought the money and with it a sumpâ—uous Banquet a Water-pot full of Swords and Wine mixed with Mandrake Caesar paid to the Pirates the promised sum and set the Banquet before them who being exalted with their great Riches fell freely to it and drinking the infected Wine fell into a sleep Caesar commanded them to be killed sleeping and presently repaid the Milesians their own money Demosthenes intending to express those who are bitten as it were by a sleepy Dragon and are slothful and so deprived of sense that they cannot be awakened saith They seem like men who have drunk Mandrake Pliny affirmeth That smelling to the Leaves of it provoketh sleep For the same with Nightshade We may make the same of Nightshade which is also called Hypnoticon from the effect of it a Drachm of the Rinde drank in Wine causeth sleep but gently and kindely This later Age seemeth to have lost the knowledge of Solanum Manicon for in the very description of it Dioscorides seems to be mad But in my judgement as I have elsewhere said he describes two several Plants in that place Fuschius his Stramonium and the Herb commonly called Bell a Donna whose qualities are wonderfully dormitive for they infect Water without giving it either taste or sent so that the deceit cannot be discovered especially considering it must be given but in a very small quantity I prepared a Water of it and gave it to a Friend for certain uses who instead of a Drachm drank an Ounce and thereupon lay four days without meat or motion so that he was thought dead by all neither could he be awakened by any means till at last when the vapours were digested he arose
pure and good and become cool and allayed then pure and unmixed and pleasant visions appear Wherefore I thought it not irrational when a man is overwhelmed with drink that vapors should arise participating as well of the Nature of what he hath drank or eat as of the humours which abound in his body that in his sleep he should rejoyce or be much troubled that fires and darkness hail and putrefactions should proceed from Choler Melancholy coâ—d and puâ—rid humors So to dream of killing any one or being besmeared with Blood shews an abundance of Blood and Hippocrates and Galen say We may judge a man to be of a sanguine Complexion by it Hence those who eat windy meats by reason thereof have rough and monstrous dreams meats of thin and small vapours exhilarate the minde with pleasant phantasms So also the outward application of simples doth infect the species while they are a going to the Heart For the Arteries of the body saith Galen while they are dilated do attract into themselves any thing that is next them It will much help too to anoynt the Liver for the Blood passeth upward out of the Stomack by evaporation and runneth to the Liver from the Liver to the Heart Thus the circulating vapors are infected and represent species of the same colour That we may not please the Sleepers onely but also the Waking behold A way to cause merry dreams When you go to bed to eat Balm and you cannot desire more pleasant sights then will appear to you Fields Gardens Trees Flowers Meadows and all the Ground of a pleasant Green and covered with shady Bowers wheresoever you cast your eyes the whole World will appear pleasant and Green Bugloss will do the same and Bows of Poplar so also Oyl of Poplar But To make dark and troublesome dreams we eat Beans and therefore they are abhorred by the Pythagoreans because they cause such dream Phaseoli or French Beans cause the same Lentiles Onyons Garlick Leeks VVeedbine Dorycnium Picnocomum new red VVine these infuse dreames wherein the phantasms are broken crooked angry troubled the person dreaming will seem to be carried in the Air and to see the Rivers and Sea flow under him he shall dream of misfortunes falling death cruel tempests showers of Rain and cloudy dayes the Sun darkned and the Heavens frowning and nothing but fearful apparitions So by anointing the aforesaid places with Sooâ— or any adust matter and Oyl which I add onely to make the other enter the easier into the parts fires lightnings flashings and all things will appear in darkness These are sufficient for I have already shewed in my Book Phytognom how to procure true dreams CHAP. IV. Excellent Remedies for the Eyes HEretofore being much troubled with sore Eyes and become almost blinde when I was given over by Physitians of best account a certain Empyrick undertook me who putting this VVater into my Eye cured me the very same day I might almost say The same hour By Gifts Entreaties Cunning and Money I gained the Secret which I will not think much to set down that every one may use it at their pleasure It is good for Inflammations Blearness Mists Fistula's and such-like and cureth them certainly the second day if not the first If I should set down all those whom I have cured by it I should be too tedious Take two Bottles of Greek-VVine half a Pint of White-Rose-Water of Celendine two Ounces of Fennel Rue Eye-bright as much of Tutty half an Ounce of Cloves as much Sugar-Candy of Roses one Drachm Camphire half a Drachm and as much Aloes Tutty is prepared after this manner Let it be heat and extinguished six times in Rose-water mixed with Greek-Wine but let the water at last be left out powder what are to be powdered finely and mix them with the waters Aloes is incorporated with waters thus because it will not be powered let it be put into a Morâ—ar with a little of the forementioned waters and beat together until it turn to water and swim about in ropings and mix with the waters then put it to the rest Set them all in a Glass-Bottle close covered and waxed up that it do not exhale abroad in the Sun and Dew for forty dayes still shaking them four times in a day at last when it is well sunned set it up and reserve it for your use It must be applied thus In Inflammations Blood-shots and Fistula's let the Patient lie flat on his back and when a drop of this water is put upon his Eye let him open and shut his Eye-lids that the water may run through all the cavities of his Eve Do this twice or thrice in a day and he shall be cured But thus it must be used for A Pearl in the Eye If the Pearl be above or beneath the Cornea make a Powder of Sugar-Candy of Roses burnt Allome and the Bone of a Cuttle-Fish very finely beat and searched exactly and when the Patient goeth to Bed sprinkle a little of this Powder upon his eye and by and by drop some of this water into it and let him shut his Eyes and sleep for he will quickly be cured CHAP. V. To fasten the Teeth I Could finde not any thing in all this Physical Tract of greater value then this Remedy for the Teeth for the water gets in through the Gumms even to the very Nerves of the Teeth and strengthens and fasteneth them yea if they are eaten away it filleth them with Flesh and new cloaths them Moreover it maketh them clean and white and shining like Pearls I know a man who by this onely Receit gained great Riches Take therefore three handfuls of Sage Neâ—tles Rosemary Mallows and the rinde of the Roots of Wall-nut wash them well and beat them also as much of the Flowers of Sage Rosemary Olive and Plantaine Leaves two handfuls of Hypocistis Horehound and the tops of Bramble one pound of the Flower of Mirtle half a pound of the Seed two handfuls of Rose-Buds with their Stalks two drachms of Saunders Coriander prepared and Citron-Pill three drachms of Cinnamon in powder ten of Cypress Nuts five green Pine-Apples two drachms of Bole-Armenick and Mastick Powder them all and infuse them in sharp black Wine and let them macerate three dayes then slightly pressing the Wine out put them into an Alembick and still them with a gentle fire then boyl the distilled water with two ounces of Allome till it be dissolved in a Vâ—ssel close stopt When you would use it suck up some of the water and stir it up and down your mouth until it turn to Forth then spit it out and rub your Teeth with a Linen-cloth It will perform what I have promised for it fasteneth the Teeth and restoreth the Gums that are eroded Now we will deliver other Experiments To fasten the Teeth Macerate the Leaves of Mastick Rosemary Sage and Bramble in Greek-Wine then distil it with a gentle fire through a Retort take a mouthful
Traganth Mastick and Champhire it is good also for flagging Brests For a wrinkled Face When Eggs are boyled hard in water cut them in the middle fill the holes where the yelks were with Powder of Myrrh then cover one with the other half and binde them with a Thread that they come not asunder then take a glazed earthen Vessel with a broad mouth and lay sticks across it that the Eggs may lie upon them hanging neer the bottom let the cleft of the Eggs hang toward the bottom put the earthen Vessel into a chest of Osiers and set it in a Well let it hang one foot from the water by the moysture whereof the Myrrh will dissolve into Oyl of water anoynt your Face with it The juice of the green Canes of the Pine-Tree but it is weaker then the distilled water being applied to the Face with a Linnen-cloth wet therein will take away all wrinkles from the Face excellently well You have Another Steep Kidney-Beans in Malmsey one day then take away the black whence they sprout and distil them with Lemmons and Honey Take a quantity of old Cow-Beef and distil that also mingle the waters and set them in the open Air in a Glass-Vessel in the Sun for fifteen days and wash your Face morning and evening therewith Another Crop in the morning the Flowers of Mullens and steep them in Greek-Wine with the Roots of Solomons-Seal then receive the water distilled in Glass-stills and if a woman when she riseth out of her bed wash her face with this she will be very fair and if you would take off the wrinkles with the same water add distilled water of Lemmons thereunto and it will make you glad to see the effect But this is the best Water to whiten plain and beautifie the Face Take equal parts of the Root of Solomons Seal greater Dragons and lesser Sparagrass Bryony and white Lillies as much as you please bruise them a little and cast them into an earthen pot with a large mouth let it be glazed pour on Greek Wine that may cover all add to these juice of Lemmons a fourth part ten new Eggs bruised with their shells and Land-Snails without shells let them infuse a while then distil them at a gentle fire and keep the first water a part then augment the fire and keep the second that will be stronger for this wipes all spots and red pimples from the Face Some mingle with this water of Bean-Flowers Elder Poppy Honey-Suckles and the like so do they take away all wrinkles and spots coming from the Sun and all the rest But you may thus take off The wrinkles of the Belly after child-birth Untipe Services are long boyled in water with these mingle whites of Eggs and water wherein Gum-Arabick is dissolved wet a Linen-cloth in such water and lay on the Belly or mingle the Powders of Harts Horn burnt the Stone Amiantus Salt-Ammoniac Myrrh Frankincense Mastick with Honey and it takes away all wrinkles CHAP. XXV Of Dentifrices DEntifrices are used amongst things to beautifie women for there is nothing held more ugly then for a woman to laugh or speak and thereby to shew their rugged rusty and spotted Teeth for they all almost by using Mercury sublimate have their Teeth black or yellow and because they stand in the Sun when they would make their Hair yellow their Teeth are hurt thereby and grow loose ready to fall out and do oft-times I shall shew first how to make black Teeth white as Pearls then how to make flesh grow about such as are weak and bare of Gums and to make them strong But of old were made Dentifrices of the shells of Purples and others like trumpets burnt The Arabian-stone it is like the spotted Ivory burned it is good for Dentifrices Also of Pumex-Stone very profitable Dentifrices were made Pliny So with the Powder of Ivory rubbed on the Teeth were made as white as Ivory Ovid. That Teeth may not grow black forborn With Fountain-water wash them every morn I shall add Another that I use The Crums of Barley-Bread burnt with Salt sprinkled on and Honey will not onely make the Teeth white but makes the Breath sweet Also with red Coral Cuttle bone Harts Horn and such-like whereof every one will well polish and wipe the Teeth clean so doth also the Grains of Cochinele Also there is made a water of Allom and Salt distilled that whiteneth the Teeth exceedingly and confirms them but the Oyl of Sulphur doth it best for it smooths them and wipes away all spots and if any one think it is too strong it may be qualified with the water of Myrtle flowers Make a Tooth-scraper after the fashion of a Tooth and pour on Oyl and rub the spots therewith but he careful it touch not the Gums for it will whiten and burn them rub so long till the spots be gone and they be very white I have now described the most perfect Remedy CHAP. XXVI To hinder the brests from augmenting AMongst the Ornaments of women this is the chief to have after Child-bearing round small solid and not flagging or wrinkled Brests So we may Hinder the augmenting of the Brests if we will Bruise Hemlock and lay a Cataplasm thereof with Vinegar to womens Brests and it will stay them that they shall not increase especially in Virgins yet this will hinder milk when it should be seasonable But if you will Curb soft and loose Brests Powder white Earth the white of an Egg sowre Galls Mastick Frankincense and mingle them in hot Vinegar and smeer the Brests therewith let it stay on all night If it do not effect it do the same again The Stones of Medlars are good for this also unripe Services Sloes Acacia Pomegranate Pills Balanstia unripe Pine-nuts Wilde Pears and Plantain if they all boil in Vinegar and be laid to the Brests or some of them The Antients commended for this purpose a Whetstone of Cypress that we sharpen Iron upon to restrain Virgins Brests and not let them grow big Dioscorides But Galen saith That it not onely stops the encrease of the Brests but will hinder childrens Testicles from growing but I use the juice of Ladies Mantle from the Leaves of it and I wet Linen in it and lay it on the Brests and renew it for it will not onely hinder Virgins Brests from increasing but will fallen the loose Brests of Matrons and make them firm It is more effectual to use the decoction of the Herb and if you joyn any of the forementioned thingâ— therewith as Hypocistis Pills of Pomegranates and the like So water distilled from green Pine-Apples will draw in loose Brests and make them like the round hard solid Brests of Virgins CHAP. XXVII How the Hand may be made white THe Hands must not be forgotten but we must make them white also smooth and soft that are Ornaments of the Hands to be desired But how whiteness and smoothness may be obtained I have shewed already
softness remains which is onely given to fat Hands To make the Hands as white as Milk Take things that are Milk-White as Almonds Pine-Kernels Melon and Gourd-Seeds and the like Therefore bruise bitter Almonds Pine-Kernels and Crums of Bread then make Cakes of them with Barley-water wherein Gum Traganth hath been soaked You may use this for Sope when you wash your Hands for they scowre them and make them white I For the same use oft-times bitter Almonds half a pound put them in hot water to blanch them then beat them in a Marble-Morter Afterwards take the lesser Dragons two ounces Deers Suet and Honey of each as much mingle them all in an earthen Pot with a large mouth set them at the fire and let them be stirred gently with a wooden-stick that they mingle well put it up in Boxes for your use If you will have Your hands white wash fresh Butter nine times in sweet water and last of all in sweet-sented Rose-water to take off the ill smell and that it may look as white as Snow then mingle white wax with it and a good quantity of Oyl of sweet Almonds Then wash your gloves in Greek-Wine as the manner is and smeer on the foresaid mixture put on these when you go to bed that all night they may grow soft by the help of fat things Then take Peach-Kernels with the skins picked off Seeds of Gourds Melons white Poppy Barley-meal of each one ounce and half the juice of two Lemmons rosted in the Embers mingle these with as much Honey as will make them thick as an Oyntment and to make them smell well you may add a little Musk or Civet when you go to bed but in the morning wash them with Fountain-water and for Sope use the Lees of Oyl of Nuts well pressed forth or Lees of Oyl-Olive Others use this Liniment onely Press the Cream out of Lemmon-Seeds with two ounces of it mingle one ounce of Oyl of Tartar and as much Oyl of Almonds When at night you go to bed wash your Hands in Fountain-water dry them and anoynt them with this Liniment and put on your Gloves Take Another For one weeks-time infuse the Marrow of Ox-bones in cold water but change the water four or five times a day and for every pound of Marrow take six excellent Apples and cut them in the middle and cast forth the Seeds and Core then beat them small in a Marble-Morter and put them into a new Morter that they may smell the sweeter adding a few Cloves Cinnamon Spikenard let them boyl in Rose-water When they are all very soft take them forth and strain them and again add a sharp Lixivium and let them boyl at a gentle fire until all the water be washed Then set them up in a Glass-Vessel for your use or make them into morsels That which follows is good For the same Make a hole in a Lemmon and put into it Sugar-Candy and Butter and cover it with the Cover wet Hards of Hemp and wrap it up in and boyl it in hot Embers and that it grow soft by rosting when you go to Bed anoynt your hands with it and put on your Gloves CHAP. XXVIII How to correct the ill sent of the Arm-pits THe stink of the Arm-holes makes some women very hateful especially those that are sat and fleshy To cure this we may use such kinde of Experiments The Ancients against the stink of the Arm-pits used liquid Allome with Myrrh to anoynt them or the Secrets and Arm-holes were strewed with the dry Leaves of Myttles in powder The Roots of Artichoaks smeered on doth not onely cure the ill sent of the Arm-pits but of the whole Body also But Zenocrates promiseth by Experiment That the faultiness of the Arm-pits will pass forth by urine if you take one ounce of the pith of the Root boyled in three Lemina's of Muskadel to thirds and after bathing fasting or after meat drink a cup thereof But I am content with this I dissolve Allome in waters and I wash the Feet and Arm-pits with it and let them dry so in some days we shall correct the strong smell of those parts But it will be done more effectually thus Pown Lytharge of Gold or Silver and boyl it in Vinegar and if you wash those parts well with it you shall keep them a long time sweet and it is a Remedy that there is none better CHAP. XXIX How the Matrix ovar-widened in Child-birth may be made narrower TRotula saith we may honestly speak of this because Conception is sometimes hindred by it if the Matrix be too open and therefore it is fit to lend help for such an impedient For some women have it stand wide-open by reason of their hard labour in Child-birth and if their Husbands be not content with it that the men may not abhor the women it is thus remedied Take Dragons-Blood Bole-Armeniac Pomegranate-shells white of an Egg Mastick Galls of each one ounce powder them and make them all up with hot water Put some of this Confection into the hole that goes into the Matrix Or Galls Sumach Plantain great Comfrey Allome Chamaelaea take equal parts of them all and boyl them in Rain-water and foment the Privities Or beat sowre Galls very finely mingle a little of the Powder of Cloves with them Let them boyl in sharp red Wine wet a woollen cloth in it and apply to the part Or thus may you restrain that part of common whores with Galls Gums whites of Eggs Dragons Blood Acacia Plantain Hypocistis Balanstia Mastick Cypress-nuts Grape-skins Akorn-cups Or in that hollow part where the Glans breaks forth and gaping shews the Nucleus with Mastick and Terra Lemnia If all these be boyled in red Wine or Vinegar and the Matrix be often wet therewith it will come very close and be much straighter Or else powder all these and cast them in through a Reed or make a fume under them Great Comfrey will be excellent for this purpose for flesh boyl'd with it will grow together And the other also if it be boyl'd will very well glew together fresh Wounds The Decoction of Ladies Mantle or the juice or distilled water of it cast into the Matrix will so contract it that Whores can scarce be known from Maids or if they sit in the Decoction of it especially if we mingle other astringent things with it and wet the Secrets therewith The distilled water of Starwort being often injected into the Matrix will make one scarce know which is corrupted and which is not But if you will have A woman deflowred made a virgin again Make little Pills thus Of burnt Allome Mastick with a little Vitriol and Orpiment make them into very fine Powder that you can scarce feel them when you have made them Pills with Rain-water press them close with your fingers and let them dry being pressed thin and lay them on the Mouth of the Matrix where it was first broken open change it every
it self straitned in the narrow cavities it will seek some other vent and so tear the Vessels in pieces which will flie about with a great bounce and crack not without endamaging the standers by and being at liberty will save it self from further harm But if the things be hot and thin you must have Vessels with a long and small neck Things of a middle temper require Vessels of a middle size All which the industrious Artificer may easily learn by the imitation of Nature who hath given angry and furious Creatures as the Lion and Bear thick bodies but short necks to shew that flatulent humours would pass out of Vessels of a larger bulk and the thicker part settle to the bottom but then the Stag the Estrich the Camil-Panther gentle Creatures and of thin Spirits have slender bodies and long necks to shew that thin subtile Spirits must be drawn through a much longer and narrower passage and be elevated higher to purifie them There is one thing which I must especially inform you of which is that there may be a threefold moysture extracted out of Plants The Nutritive whereby they live and all dried Herbs want it differeth little from Fountain or Ditch-water The Substantial whereby the parts are joyned together and this is of a more solid Nature And the third is the Radical humor fat and oyly wherein the strength and vertue lieth There is another thing which I cannot pass over in silence it being one of the Principles of the Art which I have observed in divers Experiments which is that some mixt bodies do exhale thin and hot vapors first and afterwards moyst and thick on the contrary others exhale earthy and phlegmatick parts first and then the hot and fiery which being fixed in the inmost parts are expelled at last by the force of the fire But because there can be no constant and certain Rule given for them some I will mark unto you others your own more quick ingenuity must take the pains to observe CHAP. II. Of the Extraction of Waters THe Extraction of Waters because it is common I will dispatch in a few words If you would extract sweet Waters out of hot Plants and such as are earthy and retain a sweet savour in their very substance these being cast into a Stillatory without any Art and a fire made under them yield their odors as you may draw sweet Waters out of Roses Orange-flowers Myrtle and Lavender and such-like either with Cinders or in Balneo Mariae but onely observe to kindle the fire by degrees lest they burn There are also in some Plants sweet Leaves as in Myrtle Lavender Citron and such-like which if you mix with the Flowers will no way hinder the savour of them but add a pleasantness to the Waters and in places where Flowers cannot be gotten I have seen very sweet Waters extracted out of the Tendrils of them especially when they have been set abroad a sunning in a close Vessel for some dayes before There is a Water of no contemptible sent drawn out of the Leaves of Basil gentle especially being aromatized with Citron or Cloves by the heat of a gentle Bath heightened by degrees and then exposing it to the Sun for some time There is an odoriserous Water extracted out of the Flowers of Azadaret or bastard Sicamore very thin and full of savor The way to finde out whether the odor be settled in the substance of a Plant or else in the superficies or outward parts is this Rub the Leaves of Flowers with your fingers if they retain the same sent or cast a more fragrant breath then the odour lieth in the whole substance But on the contrary if after your rubbing they do not onely lose their natural sent but begin to stink it sheweth that their odour resideth onely in their superficies which being mixed with other ill savoured parts are not onely abated but become imperceptible In distilling of these we must use another Art As for example To extract sweet Water out of Gillâ—flowers Musk Roses Violets and Jasmine and Lillies First draw the juice out of some wilde Musk Roses with a gentle heat in Balneo then remove them and add others for if you let them stand too long the sent which residâ—th in the superficies is not onely consumed but the dull stinking vapour which lieth in the inward parts is drawn forth In this water let other Roses be infused for some hours and then taken out and fresh put in which the oftner you do the sweeter it will smell but stop the Vessel close lest the thin sent flie out and be dispersed in the Air and so you will have a most odoriferous Water of Musk-Roses The same I advise to be done with Jasmine Gilliflowers Lillies and Violets and Crows-toes and the like But if you are not willing to macerate them in their own waters the same may be done in Rose-water By this Art I have made Waters out of Flowers of a most fragrant smell to the admiration of Artists of no small account But because it happeneth sometimes by the negligence of the Operator that it is infected with a stink of burning I will teach you How to correct the stink of burning Because that part which lieth at the bottom fâ—eleth more heat then the top whence it cometh to pass that before the one be warm the other is burnt and oftentimes stinketh of the fire and offendeth the nose Therefore distil your Waters in Balneo with a gentle fire that the pure clear Water may ascend and the dregs settle in the bottom with the Oyl a great cause of the ill savour How to draw a great quantity of Water by Distillation Fasten some Plates of Iron or Tin round the top of the Stillatory set them upright and let them be of the same height with it and in the bottom fasten a Spigget When the Stillatory waxeth hot and the elevated vapors are gathered into the Cap if that be hot they fall down again into the bottom and are hardly condensed into drops but if it be cold it presently turneth them into Water Therefore pour cold Water between those plates which by condensing the vapours may drive down larger currents into the Receiver When the Cap and the Water upon it begin to be hot pull out the Spigget that the hot Water may run out and fresh cold Water be put in Thus the Water being often changed that it may always be cold and the warm drawn out by the Spigget you will much augment the quantity of your Water CHAP. III. Of extracting Aqua Vitae IT is thus done Take strong rich Wine growing in dry places as on Viseuvius commonly called Greek-wine or the tears or first running of the Grape Distil this in a Glass-Retort with Cinders or in Balneo or else in a long necked Still Draw out the third part of it and reserve the rest for it is turned into a perfect sharp Vinegar there remaining onely the carcase of
untwine themselves again put one of these into the mouth of each Glass to binder the Herbs from falling out when the Glasses are turned downwards Then thurst the necks through the holes of the Form into the Receivers which are placed underneath and admit them into their bellies fasten them together with linen bands that there may be noâ—vent and place the Receivers in dishes of water that the vapor may the sooner be condensed All things being thus provided expose them to most violent heat of Sun-beams they will presently dissolve them into vapors and slide down into the Receivers In the evening after Sun-set remove them and fill them with fresh Herbs The Herb Polygonum or Sparrows-tongue bruised and thus distilled is excellent for the inflammation of the eyes and other diseases Out of S. Johns-wort is drawn a water good against cramps if you wash the part affected with it and others also there are too long to rehearse The manner of Distilling this Figure expresseth CHAP. V. How to draw Oyl by Expression VVE have treated of Waters now we will speak of Oyls and next of Essences These require the industry of a most ingenious Artificer for many the most excellent Essences of things do remain in the Oyl as in the radical moysture so close that without the greatest Art wit cunning and pains they cannot be brought to light so that the whole Art of Distillation dependeth on this The cheifest means is by Expression which though it be different from the Art of Distillation yet because it is very necessary to it it will not be unnecessary to mention here The general way of it is this Take the Seeds out of which you would draw Oyl blanch them and strip them of their upper Coats either by rubbing them with your hands or picking them off with your nails When they are cleansed cast them into a Marble-Morter and beat them with a wodden Pestle then sprinkle them with Wine and change them into a Leaden-Morter set them on the fire and stir them with a wooden-Spoon When they begin to yield forth a little Oyliness take them from the fire and prepare in readiness two plates of Iron of a fingers thickness and a foot-square let them be smooth and plain on one side and heated so that you can scarce lay your finger on them or if you had rather that they may hiss a little when water is cast upon them wrap the Almonds in a linen-cloth being wetted squeeze them between these plates in a press save the Expression and then sprinkle more Wine on the pressed Almonds or Seeds allow them some time to inbibe it then set them on the fire stir them and squeeze them again as before until all their Oyl be drawn out Others put the Seeds when they are bruised and warmed into a bag that will not let the Oyl strain thorow and by twining two sticks about press them very hard and close then they draw the Oyl out of them when they are a little settled To draw Oyl out of Nutmegs Beat the Nutmegs very carefully in a Morter put them into a Skillet and warm them and then press out the Oyl which will presently congeal Wherefore to make it fluide and apter to penetrate distil it five or six times in a Retort and it will be as you desire or else cast some burning Sand into it and mix it and make it into Rolls which being put into the neck of a Retort and a fire kindled will the first time remain liquid To extract Oyl out of Citron-seed we must use the same means Blanch and cleanse them an Oyl of a Gold-colour will flow out they yield a fourth part and it is powerful Antidote against Poyson and Witchcraft and it is the best Menstruum to extract the sent out of Musk Civet and Amber and to make sweet Oyntments of because it not quickly grow rank Oyl of Poppy-Seed is extracted the same way and yields a third part of a Golden-colour and useful in dormitive Medicines Also thus is made Oyl of Coloquintida-Seeds The fairest yield a sixth part of a Golden-colour it killeth Worms and expelleth them from Children being rubbed on the mouth of their Stomach Also Oyl of Nattle-Seed An ounce and a half may be extracted out of a pound and a half of Seeds being picked and blanched it is very good to dye womens Hair of a Gold-colour Oyl of Eggs is made by another Art Take fifty or sixty Eggs boyl them till they be hard then peal them and take out the yelk and set them over warm Coals in a tinned Posnet till all their moysture be consumod still stirring them with a wooden-spattle then encrease the fire but stir them uncessantly lest they burn You will see the Oyl swet out when it is all come forth take away the fire and skim off the Oyl Or when the Oyl beginneth to swet out as I said put the Eggs into a press and squeeze then very hard they will yield more Oyl but not so good CHAP. VI. How to extract Oyl with Water NOw I will declare how to extract Oyl without Expression and first out of Spices Seeds Leaves Sticks or any thing else Oyl being to be drawn out onely by the violence of fire and very unapt to ascend because it is dense considering also That Aromatick Seeds are very subtile and delicate so that if they be used too roughly in the fire they will stink of smoak and burning therefore that they may endure a stronger fire and be secure from burning we must take the assistance of water Those kinde of Seeds as I said are endued with an Airy thin volatile Essence and by the propriety of their Nature elevated on high so that in Distillation they are easily carried upward accompanied with water and being condensed in the Cap of the Stillatory the oyly and the waterish vapours run down together into the Receiver Chuse your Seeds of a full ripeness neither too new not too old but of a mature age beat them and macerate them in four times their weight of water or so that the water may arise the breadth of four fingers above them then put them into a Brass-pot that they may endure the greater fire and kindle your Coals unto a vehement heat that the Water and Oyl may promiscuously ascend and flow down separate the Oyl from the Water as you may easily do As for example How to draw Oyl out of Cinnamon If you first distil fountain-Fountain-water twice or thrice you may extract a greater quantity of Oyl with it for being made more subtile and apt to penetrate it pierceth the Cinnamon and draweth the Oyl more forcibly out of its Retirements Therefore take CXXXV pound of Fountain-water distil it in a Glass-Alembick when forty pound is drawn distil that until fifteen flow out then cast away the rest and draw five out of those fiftteen This being done macerate one pound of Cinnamon in five of Water and distil them in a
Retort or Alembick First a Milky water will flow out with Oyl next cleer Water cast the Water in over the Oyl and separate them as we shall teach you Of a pound of Cinnamon you will scarce receive a drachm of Oyl How to draw a greater quantity of Oyl out of Cinnamon I do use to do it in this manner to the wonder of the best and subtillest Artists Provide a Descendatory out of the Bath the making of which I will shew hereafter and put your Cinnamon being grossly beaten into a Glass-Retort set it in its proper place and put water into the Bath the heat of the fire by degrees will draw a little water in many days receive it careful and pour it again into the Cinnamon that it may re-imbibe its own water so let it remain a while afterwards kindle the fire and you shall receive a little Water and Oyl Do this third and fourth time and you will gain an incredible quanity You may try the same in other things Oyl of Cloves may be extracted in the same manner To every pound of Cloves you must add ten of Water distil them as before so shall you have both Water and Oyl It will yield a twelfth part The Oyl is good for Medicines and the VVater for Sawces So also is made Liquid Oyl of Nutmegs If you bruise them and put them with the VVater into a Vessel and distil them as before they will yield a sixth part Oyl of Mace and Pepper is drawn in the same manner much stronger but in less quantity Oyl of Aniseed may be thus extracted an ounce out of a pound It congealeth in VVinter like Camphire or Snow in the Summer it dissolveth Let the Seeds be macerated in the VVater for ten days at least for the longer they lie there the more Oyl they will yield Oyl of Fennel is extracted in the same quantity when the Seeds are ripe and fresh they have most Oyl for they yield as much more Oyl of Coriander yieldeth but a small quantity and is of very hard extraction there is scarce one drachm drawn out of a pound new Seeds yield most And to be short in the same manner are extracted the Oyls out of the Seeds of Carrot Angelica Marjoram Rue Rosemary Parsely Smallage and Dill and such-like Oyl of Rosemary and Lavender-flowers and such-others which being dried afford no Oyl may be thus extracted Put the Flowers into a Receiver and set it close stopt in the hot Sun for a month there will they dissolve into Liquor and flie up to the sides of the Glass then being condensed again fall down and macerate in themselves at a fit time add VVater to them and distil them as the former so shall you draw forth with the VVater a most excellent sweet Oyl Oyl of Juniper and Cypress-Wood may de drawn out by the same Art if you macerate the dust of them in their own or in Fountain-water for a month and distil them in the same manner the Oyl will come out by drops with the water of a strong sent and excellent vertue These I have tried the rest I leave to thee CHAP. VII How to separate Oyl from Water VVHen we extract Oyls they run down into the Receiver together with the VVater wherefore they must be separated left the flegm being mixed with the Oyl do weaken the vertue of it that it may obtain its full vigour it must be purified by Distillation and Separation for being put into a Retort or broad Still over a gentle fire the VVater will run out the remaining Liquor will be clear Oyl This work of Separation is very laborious yet there are very artificial Vessels invented by the help of which all the VVater may be drawn off and the flegm onely pure Oyl will remain Prepare a Glass-Vessel let it be broad and grow narrower by degrees downwards until it come to a point like unto a Tunnel Put the distilled VVater which consisteth of the flegmatick VVater and Oyl into this Vessel let it stand a while the Oyl will swim on the top and the VVater will sink down to the bottom But stop the mouth of it with your finger so that removing it away the VVater may first run out and the Oyl sink down by degrees VVhen it is descended into the narrow part so that the Oyl becometh next to your finger stop the hole and let the Orifice be but half open for the VVater to pass out when it is all run out empty the Oyl into another small Vessel There is another very ingenious Instrument found out for to separate Oyl with a great belly and a narrow neck which a little nose in the middle Pour the Oyl mixed with Water into the Vessel the Water will possess the bottom the Oyl the neck Drop Water gently into it until the Oyl ascend up unto the nose then encline the Vessel downward and the Oyl will run out pure and unmix'd When you have emptied out some drop in more Water until the Oyl be raised again unto the nose then stop it down and pour out the rest of the Oyl But if the Oyl settle to the bottom and the Water swim on the top as it often hapneth filtrate it into a broad dish or any other Vessel with a cotten-cloth the Water will run out and the Oyl will remain in the bottom very pure CHAP. VIII How to make an Instrument to extract Oyl in a greater quantity and without danger of burning VVE may with several sorts of Instruments use several kindes of Extractions among the rest I found out one whereby you may draw Oyl with any the most vehement fire without any danger of burning and a greater quantity then by any other and it is fit for many other uses also Prepare a Vessel in the form of an Egg of the capacity of half an ordinary Barrel let the mouth of it be of a convenient bigness to receive in your arm when there shall occasion to wash it or to fill it with several sorts and degrees of things to be distilled Let it be tinned within then set a brass head upon it of a foot high with a hole in the bottom fit to receive the neck of the lower Vessel and stop the mouth of it exactly Out of the top of the head there must arise a pipe of Brass fifteen or twenty foot long bended into several angles that it may take up less room and be more convenient to be carried The other end of this Pipe must be fastened into the belly of another Vessel which must be of less capacity then the former but of the same figure Fix a head upon this also with a Pipe of the same length and bended like the former whose lower end shall be received into another straight Pipe which passing through the middle of a Barrel at last falls into the Receiver The manner of using it is this Put your Leaves Stalks or Seeds being beaten small into the Brass-pot and
pour as much Fountain-water on as will cover them a handful or five large fingers over then set on the head and stop the joynts very close Put the other end of the Pipe into the other Pot and joynt them exactly then set on the other head and fasten the lower end of its crooked Pipe into that straight one which passing through the Barrel runneth into the Receiver If the joynts be anywhere faulty stop them with Flax and paste them with Wheat-flour and the white of an Egg then rowl them about and tie them close with Fillets cut out of a Bladder for when the vapors are forced by the heat of the fire they are so attenuated that they will break forth through the least rime or chink in spite of all your endeavors Fill the Barrel with cold water and when it beginneth to grow hot draw it out through a Cock at bottom and supply fresh water that the Pipe may always be kept cool At length make the Pot boyl at first with a gentle fire then encrease it by degrees until the vehemency of the heat doth make the vapors hiss as it were ready to break the Pipes as they run thorow them so they will be elevated thorow the retorted Pipes and leave the phlegmatick water in the lower Vessel till passing through the cold Pipe they be condensed into Liquor and fall down into the Receiver If the water do consume away in the boyling pour in more being first warmed thorow a little Pipe which the Pot must have on one side with a Spigget to it for this purpose but be sure to stop the Spigger in very close that there may be no vent Afterwards separate the Oyl from the Water sublime and purifie it in another Vessel Of all the Instruments that ever I saw not any one extracteth a greater quantity of Oyl and with less labour and industry then this Thus you may without any fear of burning draw Oyl out of Flowers Leaves Spices Gums and VVood with the vehementest fires as also out of Juniper and Laurel-Berries CHAP. IX The Description of a Descendatory whereby Oyl is extracted by Descent I Cannot refrain from discovering here an Instrument found out by my own private experience which I hope will be of no small profit to the Ingenious by which they may draw Oyl out of any the least things without any fear of burning For there are many tenuous oyly Flowers as of Rosemary and Juniper and other things as Musk Amber Civet Gum and such-like out of which may be drawn Oyls very sweet and medicinable but they are of so thin a substance that there is a great hazard of burning them when they are forced by the heat of the fire without which neither fat things will be elevated nor Oyl extracted Therefore to remedy these inconveniences I have invented an Instrument by which Oyl shall descend without any labour or danger of burning Let a Vessel be made of Brass in the form of an Egg two foot high and of the same breadth let it be divided towards the top of which the upper part must serve for a cover and be so fitted to be received into the lower part that the joynts may closely fall in one another and be exactly stopt In the lower part towards the middle about half a foot from the mouth let there be a Copper-plate fitted as it were the midriff so that it may easily be put and taken out in which must be made three hollow places to receive the bottom of three retorted Vessels the rest of the plate must be pervious that the boyling VVater and hot Spirits may have passage to rise upwards Out of the sides of the Vessel there must be three holes through the which the necks of the Retorts may pass being glued and fastned to their Pipes with Flax and tied with Fillets of Bladders so that not the least Air much less any VVater may flie out VVhen you prepare to work fill the Glass-Retorts with the things you intend to still thrust the necks thorow the holes outward and lay their bodies in the prepared hollowness of the cross-plate somewhat elevated If there remain any void space between the necks and the sides of the holes they pass through stop it with Flax and tie it about with Fillets of Bladder and fill the Vessel with with water within three fingers up to the cross-plate The Vessel being covered and the joynts well stopt and glued and bound about so that the force of the vapours arising may not burst it open and scald the Faces of the by-standers kindle the fire by degrees until it become very vehement then wil the vapors make a great nose almost sufficient to terrifie one and first VVater then VVater and Oyl will distil out I cannot contain my self from relating also another Instrument invented for the same purpose Make an oval Brass-Vessel as I advised before with a hole bored thorow the bottom to which fasten a pipe that may arise up to the mouth of the Vessel let the mouth of it be wide like a trumpet or tunnel so that the long neck of a Gourd-Glass may pass through the Pipe of it and the wide mouth of the Vessel under may by degrees receive the swelling parts of the neck Adapt a cover to this Vessel that it may be close stopt and luted as we said before You must make a Furnace on purpose for this use for the fire must not be made in the bottom but about the Vessel The use is this Fill the Glass with Flowers or other things put in some wire Lute-strings after them that they may not fall out again when the Glass is inversed Thrust the neck thorow the Brass-Pipe set the Vessel on the Furnace and fill it with Water round about the arising Pipe put on the Cover and plaister it about set the Receiver under the Furnace that it may catch the dropping Water and Oyl then kindle the fire about the sides of the Pot the violence of which will elevate vapors of burning water which beating against the concave part of the Cover will be reverberate upon the bottom of the Gourd-Glass whose fervent heat will turn the Water and Oyl into vapor and drive it down into the Receiver I will set down some examples of those things which I made trial of my self As How to extract Oyl out of Rosemary Flowers Fill the Retorts with the Leaves and Flowers of Rosmary and set them in the Brass-Furnace the fire being kindled will force out first a Water and afterward a yellow Oyl of a very strong and fervent odor a few drops of which I have made use of in great sicknesses and driving away cruel pains You may extract it easier if you macerate the Flowers or Leaves in their own or Fountain-water for a week In the same manner Oyl of Citron-Pill is extracted When Citrons are come to perfect ripeness shave off the peal with a gross Steal-File put the Filings into a Pot
tempered body and free from corruption in which there is nothing deficient nor superfluous so compact and close that it will not onely endure the fire without consumption but will become more bright and refined by it It will also lie under Ground thousands of yeers without contracting any rust neither will it foul the hands like other Metals or hath any ill sent or raste in it Wherefore say they being taken into our Bodies it must needs reduce the Elements and humors into a right temper allay the excessive and supply the defective take away all putrefaction refresh the natural heat purge the blood and encrease it and not onely cure all sicknesses but make us healthy long-lived and almost immortal Rainoldus Raimundus and other Physitians of the best esteem do attriâ—ute to Gold a power to corroborate and strengthen the Heart to dry up superfluities and ill humors to exhilarate and enliven the Spirits with its Splendor and Beauty to strengthen them with its Solidiry temper them with its Equality and preserve them from all diseases and expel Excrements by its Weight by which it confirmeth Youth resâ—oreth Strength retardeth old Age corroborateth the principal Parts openeth the Urinary Vessels and all other passages being stopt cureth the Falling-sickness Madness and Leprosie for which cause Osiander the Divine wore a Chain of Gold about his neck and also Melancholy and is most excellent against Poyson and Infections of the Plague We will now examine whether the old or new Physitians knew the way to prepare it aright to perform these admirable Effects Nicander doth mightily cry up for an Antidote against Poyson Fountain-water in which Gold hath been quenched supposing that it imparteth some of its Vertue to the Water in the extinction Dioscorides Paulus Aegineta and Aëtius affirm the same Avicenna saith That the filings of it helpeth Melancholy and is used also in Medicines for the shedding of the Hair in liquid Medicines or reduced into very fine Powder it is used in Collyriums or Medicines for the Eyes for the pain and trembling of the Heart and other passions of the Minde Pliny useth it burnt in an earthen Pipkin with a treble quantity of Salt whereby it will communicate its Vertue but remain entire and untouched it self He also makes a Decoction of it with Honey Marsilius Ficinus saith It is of a solid substance and therefore must be attenuated that it may penetrate the Body But he is ignorant of the way of it onely he adviseth to give it in Cordial-waters being beaten out into thin Leaves for so the Water will suck out the Vertue of it or else by extinguishing it in Wine There are some of Pliny's Scholars who would have the parts of a Hen laid in melted Gold until it consume it self for the parts of a Hen are Poyson to Gold Wherefore Ficinus mixeth Leaf-Gold in Capon-broath Thus far the Grecians Latines and Arabians have discoursed concerning the Extraction of the Tincture of Gold but they have erred far from the Truth for what a vanity is it to imagine that quenching it in Water can extract the Vertue of it or that the heat of Man's Body though it be liquified and be made potable can draw any thing from it when the force of the most vehement fire is ineffectual and cannot work upon it I have made trial of it in a most violent fire for the space of three months and at last I found it nothing abared in weight but much meliorated in colour and goodness so that the fire which consumeth other things doth make this more perfect How then can it be concocted by the heat of Man's Body which is scarce able to concoct Bread And how can it impart its Vertue by Extinction when neither Aqua Vitae nor any strong Waters can alter the colour or taste of it I will set down what I have seen The later learned Men and curious Inquirers into Nature affirm That the Magistery Secret and Quintessence of Gold consisteth in the Tincture so that the Vertue Power Life and Efficacy of it resideth in the Colour Wherefore it will be no small Secret to know how to extract the Tincture no small labor and pains for those who pretend to speak of it do it so intricately and obscurely that they rather seem to obscure it or not to understand it then to discover or teach it Know therefore that the Tincture cannot be extracted but by perfectly dissolving it in Strong Waters and that it cannot be dissolved as the work requireth in common Aqua Fortis or Royal Waters because the corrosive Salts in them are not perfectly and absolutely dissolved into Water Wherefore you must learn by continual solution and immistion so to distil them that the whole substance of the Salt may be melted which must be done by reiterating the Operation I have informed you what Salts are easie to be separated the which must onely be used in this Work After perfect solution cast in that Menstruum or Water which I have often mentioned for the Extraction of Essences or Colors I have with great joy beheld it attract to it self the Golden Yellow or Red-colour and a white dust settle down to the bottom We must then separate the Salt from the Menstruum dissolve it and let the liquor evaporate away and there will remain true potable Gold the right Tincture and that great Arcanum of Philosophers disguised with so many Riddles so thin that it will easily penetrate the Body and perform those wonders which Antiquity could only promise Tincture of Roses Cut Red Rose-Leaves with a pair of Shears into small pieces lay them in Aqua Vitae and they will presently dye it with a sanguine color After three hours change those Leaves and put in fresh ones until the water become very much coloured then strain it out and let the Liquor evaporate quite away and in the bottom will remain the Tincture of Roses The same may be done with Clove-Gilliflowers We may also do it another more perfect way without Aqua Vitae Fill a wide-mouthed Glass with Red-Rose Leaves set iâ— into a Leaden-Limbeck and fill it with other Roses then set on the Head and kindle the fire whereupon the vapours will arise and fall into the Glass of a sanguine-colour This is a new way of extracting Tinctures which may be used in any coloured Flowers So the Tinctures of Marigolds Violets Bugloss and Succory-Flowers If you extract them the former way the Tincture of Marygolds will be yellow of Bugloss Violets and Succory-Flowers Red because the colours of those Flowers is but thin and superficiary so that it expireth with a little heat and is red underneath Tincture of Orange-Flowers of an excellent sent Cut the Orange-Flowers into small pieces macerate them in Aqua Vitae and when the Water is turned yellow and Flowers have lost their sent change them and put in fresh until the Water become very sweet and well-coloured and somewhat thick then strain it and
the whole work depended on it let it circulate in Balneo a whole month take off the yellow Oyl or Quintessence of all with a Silver-Spoon and add to it a drachm of Musk and Amber and set it by for your use in a Glass-bottle close stopt Distil the remainder and it will afford a yellow cleer water but you cannot extract the Oyl without a stink of burning I have very exactly extracted Oyl of Gums Roots and Seeds of the forementioned and mixing them together have effected strange things with them Most of their operations are against Poysons and Pestilential Contagions especially those that are apt to seize on the Spirits for a drop of it being anoynted on the Lips or Nostrils reviveth the Soul and keepeth it in perfect Senses at least six hours CHAP. XVIII Of a Clyssus and how it is made THat there may nothing be omitted I will now shew what a Clyssus is and how it may be made A Clyssus is the Extraction of the Spirits of every part of a Plant united in one common entity There are in a Plant the Root Leaf Flower Fruit and Seed and in every one of these parts there is a peculiar Nature The Operation is thus Dig the Roots when they are full of juice the Leaves when they are fresh and green the Flowers when they are blown the Fruit and Seeds in their due time Extract the Spirits or Essences out of all these by Distillation Maceration or Calcination or any other of the former wayes But when they are all extracted severally one in the form of Oyl another of Salt or Liquor then mix them all together so that the may be conjoyned and united in one body which is called a Clyssus Some mix them in Distillation in Vessels made for the purpose in this manner They put the Water Salt and Oyl in three several Curbicles of equal height and bigness and tying their three necks together and put them into one common Head which may be fit to receive them all close them lute them and kindle the fire under The heat will elevate the thinnest substance in all of them which will meet and mix in the Head and run down by the Nose or Spout into the Receiver so set them by for use This Congregation of Essences doth penetrate and search all the remote passages of the Body and is very useful in Physick CHAP. XIX How to get Oyl out of Salts I Have declared many ways of extracting Oyl now I will shew how to draw it out of Salts that they may be more penetrative and work more powerfully which can be done no other way They seem to have some kinde of fat in them yet will not burn so that it cannot be called a perfect Oyl How to extract Oyl of Tartar Burn the Tartar and reduce it into a Salt as I shewed before then lay it on a Marble in a moyst place and in a few days it will turn to Oyl and run down into a dish which you must set underneath to receive it Thus you may easily make it into Salt Beat the Tartar into Powder and mix an equal quantity of Salt-Peter with it when they are mixt in Iron Mortar set them in the fire until they be quite burned grind the remaining Foeces and dissolve them in a Lye strain it and let the Lye evaporate away and the Salt will settle to the bottom then boyl some Eggs hard take ouâ— the yelks and fill up their place with Salt and in a little time it will dissolve into Oyl Oyl of Sal Sodae Dissolve the Salt in Water and strain it through a cloth then dry it lay it on a Marble and set it in a moyst place and it will run down in an Oyl So The famous Oyl of Talk is extracted onely by the vehement heat of fire yet I knew not at first what it was useful for But I perceive it is much accounted of by women in their Fâ—cus Beat it into fine Powder in an Iron-Morter and put it into a very strong thick Pot fasten the cover on with wire plaiâ—â—er it with Potters Clay and set it in the Sun for three days then thrust it into a Potters Furnace where the flames are most violent After three or four days take it out break open the Pot and if you finde it not sufficiently calcined make it up and set it in again When it is burned perfectly white lay it on a Marble and place it in a moyst room or in a hole dug in the earth and there let it stand for a good while until it dissolve into Oyl then reserve it in a Glass-bottle So also is made Red Oyl of Sulphur Grinde live Sulphur into a small Powder and mix it with an equal quantity of the former Oyl of Tartar boyl it three hours in a Glass-bottle and when it is dissolved strain it through a Linnen-cloth into another Glass and set it over a Gentle fire till it thicken like clotted blood and so dry Then powder it and lay it on a Marble in a moist Cellar there it will dissolve and run down into the under-placed dish Set this Liquor being first strained thorow a cloth in a Glass-bottle over warm Ashes until the moysture be consumed and there will remain a red Oyl of Sulphur Oyl of Myrrh Boyl some Eggs hard cut them in the middle take out the yelks and fill their places with Myrrh powdered and seirced lay them in an earthen Pan upon long cross-sticks that the Eggs may not imbibe the Oyl again and shut them in a moist Cellar so the Oyl will drop down into the Pan. CHAP. XX. Of Aqua Fortis NOw I will recite those Distillations which draw out neither Water nor Oyl but a middle between both for the terrene parts are forced up turned into Water by the vehemency of the fire from whence they do acquire so great a heat that corrode and burn most violently They are extracted onely in igne reverberationis and with great care and labour How to draw Aqua Fortis or Oyl out of Salt It is a piece of Art discovered to very few Take Pit-Salt put into a Glass-Retort treble luted over and dried set it in igne reverberationis where the flames do struggle most violently the first time you will get but little moysture Break the Retort and remove the Foeces into another and pour the extracted Water into them and distill them again the second time thou wilt get more Do the same a third time and so to the tenth until the Salt be all turned into Liquor which is a most precious Jewel and worth thy labor Some quench hot Bricks in the liquified Salt and then distil them with a most intense fire as in Oyl of Bricks A Water for the Separation of Silver Take Salt-Peter and Alom in equal quantity beat them in a Morter and put them into a Glass-Retort luted over three double when it is well dried set it in the circulating-fire that is which
is reverberated on the top and below too Stop it close and set a large Receiver under it for if it be too narrow the strong Spirits will break out with a great bounce crack the Vessel and frustrate your labour Distil it six hours if you calcine the Alome-fire the VVater will be stronger A Water for Separation of Gold Mix with the equal parts of Salt-Peter and Alom as much Vitriol and distil it as before there will proceed a VVater so strong that it will even corrode the â—iâ—cture of Gold Wherefore if this seem too violent take nine pounds of the former Salts being dissolved in VVater and two ounces of Sal Ammoniacum when they are melted set them two days in Fimo and with hot Ashes you may distil a VVater that will corrode Gold If you refund the VVater upon the Foeces let them macerate and distil it again the VVater will be much stronger How to purge the phlegm from these Waters without which they are of no force cast a little Silver into a litle of this VVater which being overcharged with phlegm will not corrode it But set it to heat over the fire and it will presently do it pour all this VVater into another Pot and leave the Foeces behinde in the former so the VVater will be clarified Oyl of Vitriol Dissolve Vitriol in an earthen Pan with a wide mouth let the phlegm evaporate then encrease the fire and burn it till it be all red and the fourth part be consumed Put it into a Glass-Retort luted all over thrice double and well dried and set in igne reverberationis continually augmenting the fire and continning it for three days until the Vessel melt and an Oyl drop out without any VVater Every three pounds will â—ield one ounce of Oyl Put it into a Glass-bottle and set it in hot Embeâ—s that the VVater if any be in the Oyl may evaporate for so it will be of greater strengh The sign of a perfect extraction is if it make a piece of VVood being cast into it smoak as if it burned it Oyl of Sulphur This is the proper way to extract Oyl of Sulphur Take a Glass with a large mouth in the form of a Bell and hang it up by a wire place a large Receiver under it that it may catch the Oyl as it droppeth out of the Bell. In the middle between these hang an earthen Vessel full of Sulphur kindle the fire and make the Sulphur burn the smoak of which ascendeth up into the Bell condenseth it self and falls down in an oyly substance When the Sulphur is consumed put in more until you have the quantity of Oyl which you desire There is also another way to extract it in a greater quantity Prepare a great Glass-Receiver such as I described in the Extraction of Oyl of Tartar and Aqua Fortis cut a hole thorow it with an Emerauld and indent the edges of it that the smoak may pass out set this upon an earthen Pan in which you burn the Sulphur Above this set another Vessel of a larger size so that it may be about a handful distant from the first cut the edges of the hole in deeper notches that the vapor ascending thorow the first and circulating about the second may distil out of both so you may add a third and fourth Pour this Oyl into another Glass and let the phlegm evaporate over hot Embers it will become of that strength that it will dissolve Silver and I may say Gold also if it be rightly made The fume of Sulphur is congealed in Sal Ammoniacum for I have gathered it in the Mountains of Campania and condensed it into Salt nothing at all differing from that which is brought out of the Eastern Countries Thus Sal Ammoniacus which hath so long lain unknown is discovered in our own Country and is nothing but Salt of Sulphur and this Oyl is the Water of Sal Ammoniac or Salt of Sulphur I would fain know how Learned Men do approve this my Invention I take the Earth thorow which the smoak of Sulphur hath arisen and dissole it in warm Waters and purge it thorow a hanging Receptacle described before then I make the Water evaporate and so finde a Salt nothing different as I hope from Ammoniacum CHAP. XXI Of the Separation of the Elements IN every Compound there are four Elements but for the most part one is predominant the rest are dull and unprofitable Hence when we speak of separating the Elements of a Compound we mean the separating that predominant one In the Water-Lilly the Element of Water is chief Air Earth and Fire are in it but in a small proportion Hence there is but a small quantity of heat and driness in it because VVater overwhelms them all The same must be understood in other things also But do not think that we intend by the separation of the Elements to divide them absolutely the Air from the VVater and the VVater from the Fire and Earth but onely by a certain similitude as what is hotter then the rest we call Fire the moister VVater Stones participate more of Earth VVoods of Fire Herbs of VVater VVe account those Airy which fill the Vessels and Receivers and easily burst them and so flie out VVhen the Elements are thus separated they may afterwards be purified and attenuated The manner of extracting them is various according to the diversity of natural things for some must be calcined some sublimated others distilled I will set down some examples How to separate the Elements of Metals Lay your Metal in Aqua Fortis as I shewed before till it be dissolved then draw out the Aqua Fortis by a Bath and pour it on again and so again until it be turned into an Oyl of a light Red or Ruby-colour Pour two parts of Aqua Fortis unto the Oyl and macerate them in a Glass in Fimo for a month then distil them on Embers till the VVater be all drawn out which you must take and still again in Balneo until it ascend so will you have two Elements By the Bath the Air is elevated the VVater and Earth remain in the bottom the Fire continueth in the bottom of the former Vessel for it is of a fiery substance this Nature and the Affusion of Water and the Distillation in Balneo will reduce into an Oyl again in which you must correct the Fire and it will be perfect You may lay Metal in Embers then by degrees encrease the fire the VVater will first gently ascend next the Earth In Silver the first Oyl is blewish and in perfect separation settleth to the bottom and the VVater ascendeth but in Balneo the Elements of Fire and Earth for the substance of it is cold and moist in Balneo the Elements of Fire and Earth remain first the Earth will come out afterwards the Fire So of Tin the first Oyl is yellow in Balneo the Air will remain in the bottom the Fire Earth and
either white or black or brown The white is made of Crude Parâ—er washed in Rose-water or other sweet Water and adding Musk Amber Civet and such-like it will smell at a good distance CHAP. VII How to make sweet Compounds THere may be made divers kindes of sweet Compounds of which are made Beads which some use to reckon their Prayers by and others to trim their clothes with also wash-Balls to cleanse and sweeten the hands And first How to make sweet Balls with small charge which yet shall seem to be very costly and sweet Take one ounce of Cyprian Powder and Benjamin of the best mixture which is brought out of Turky half an ounce of Cloves a sufficient quantity of Illyrian Iris. First melt some Gum Tragacantha in Rose-water then with the former powder make it into a Mass and rowl it up in little Balls bore them thorow and fix every one on a several tent upon the Table then take four Grains of Musk dissolve it in rose-Rose-water and wash the outside of the Balls with it then let them dry afterwards wet them again for three or four times so will they cast forth a most pleasant sent round about which they will not quickly lose But if you would bestow more cost and have a greater sent I will shew How to make them another way Take one ounce of Storax of Amber half one a fourth part of Labdanum cleansed one drachm of Lignum aloes and Cinnamon an eighth part of Musk. Beat the Gum Storax and Amber in a Brass Morter with an Iron Pestle being both hot when these are well mixed cast in the other powders and mix them all together at last add the Musk and before they grow cold from what you please of them I will add also Another Compound very necessary in a time of Plague which will not onely refresh the Brains with its sweet odour but will preserve it against infection Take three ounces of Labdanum as much Storax one of Bejamin an ounce and a half of Cloves an ounce of Sanders three of Champhire one of Lignum Aloes Calamus Aromaticus and juice of Valerian a drachm of Amber mix all these in the juice of Balm Rose-water and Storax dissolved But to wash the Face and Hands I will set down a most Noble Composition Of washing Balls or Musk-Balls Take the fat of a Goat and purifie it in this manner Boyl a Lye with the Pills of Citron in a Brass Kettle let the fat remain in it for an hour then strain it thorow a Linen-cloth into cold water and it will be purified Make the Lye of two parts of the Ashes of the Ceruss-Tree one of Lime and half a Porringer of Alom mingle them and put them in a wooden Bowl with two holes in the bottom stopt with Straw then pour in water that it may cover them three fingers over and strain it out thorow the holes when the first is run out add another quantity of water and so the third time whilst the water doth receive any saltness Keep these several runnings asunder and add some of the second third unto the first while a new Egg will swim in it for if it sink and go to the bottom it will be too weak therefore add some of the first running If it swim on the top and lie upon the surface of the Water put in some of the second and third running until it descend so that scarce any part of it be seen above the Water Heat twenty pound of this Water in a Brass Kettle and put into it two of the fat then strain it out into broad Platters and expose it to the hot Sun mixing it often every day When it is grown hard make Pomanders of it and reserve them You may thus perfume them Put two pound of the Pomanders into a Bowl and with a VVooden Spoon mix it with Rose-water till it be very soft when it hath stood still a while and is grown hard add more water and set it in the Sun do this for ten days Then take half a drachm of Musk somewhat less Civet and as much of Cinnamon well beaten mix them and if you add a little Rose-powder it will smell much sweeter then judge of it by your nose If the sent be too weak add more of the Perfumes if too strong more of the Soap How to make Soap and multiply it Since we are fallen upon the discourse of Soap we will not pass it over this Take Soap Geta and reduce it into a small Powder set it on the fire in a Brass Kettle full of Lye of a moderate strength so that in three hundred pound of Lye you may put fourscore of Soap When the Water beginneth to boyl up in bubbles stir it with a wooden Ladle and if the Lye do fail in the boyling add new When the Water is evaporated take the Kettle from the fire and cast in six pound of ordinary Salt well beaten and with an Iron Ladle empty it out and let it cool all night In the mean time prepare a brine so sharp that it will bear an Egg. In the morning cut the Soap into slices and put it into a broad Vessel and pour the brine on it there let it stand one quarter of a day and it will become very hard If you put some Sal Alchali into the brine it will make it much harder CHAP. VIII How to make sweet Perfumes IT remaineth that we speak of Perfumes for they are very necessary for the senting of Skins Clothes and Powders and to enrich Noble mens Chambers with sweet odors in Winter they are made either of Waters or Powders How to make Perfumes of Waters Take four parts of Storax three of Benjamin of Labdanum Lignum Aloes and Cinnamon one an eighth part of Cloves a little Musk and Amber Beat them all grossly and put them in a Brass Pot with an ounce and a half of Rose-water Set the Pot over the fire or hot Ashes that it may be hot but not boyl it will cast forth a pleasant odor when the Water is consumed put in more You may also add what you have reserved in the making Aqua Nanfa for it will send out a very sweet fume Another way Take three parts of Cloves two of Benjamin one of Lignum Aloes as much Cinnamon Orange-Pill and Sanders an eight part of Nutmeg Beat them and put them into a pot and pour into them some Orange-flower-water Lavender and Myrtle-water and so heat it Another way Express and strain the juice of Lemmon into which put Storax Camphire Lignum Aloes and empty Musk-Cods macerate them all in Balneo for a week in a Glass-Bottle close stopt When you would perfume your Chamber cast a drop of this Liquor into a Brass Pot full of Rose-water and let it heat over warm Ashes it will smell most pleasantly Excellent Pomanders for perfuming Take out of the Decoction for Aqua Nanfa Lignum Aloes Sanders Cinnamon and Cloves and of the
remaining Powders make a mass which you may form into cakes which being burnt on hot Ashes smell very sweetly I take out the Cinnamon and the Woods because in burning they cast forth a stink of smoak Another way Take one pound and a half of the Coals of Willow ground into dust and seirced four ounces of Labdanum three drachms of Storax two of Benjamin one of Lignum Aloes mix the Storax Benjamin and Labdanum in a Brass Morter with an Iron Pestle heated and put to them the Coal and Lignum Aloes powdered Add to these half an ounce of liquid Storax then dissolve Gum Tragacantha in Rose-water and drop it by degrees into the Morter When the powders are mixed into the form of an Unguent you may make it up into the shape of Birds or any other things and dry them in the shade You may wash them over with a little Musk and Amber upon a Pencil and when you burn them you will receive a most sweet fume from them Another Perfume Anoynt the Pill of Citron or Lemmon with a little Civet stick it with Cloves and Races of Cinnamon boyl it in Rose-water and it will fill your chamber with an odorifeous fume CHAP. IX How to adulterate Musk. THese Perfumes are often counterfeited by Impostors wherefore I will declare how you may discern and beware of these Cheats for you must not trust whole Musk-Cods of it there being cunning Impostors who fill them with other things and onely mix Musk enough to give its sent to them Black Musk inclining to a dark red is counterfeited with Goats blood a little rosted or toasted bread so that three or four parts of them beaten with one of Musk will hardly be discovered The Imposture may be discerned onely thus The Bread is easie to be crumb'd and the Goats blood looketh clear and bright within when it is broken It is counterfeited by others in this manner Beat Nutmegs Mace Cinnamon Cloves Spikenard of each one handful and seirce them carefully then mix them with the warm blood of Pigeons and dry them in the Sun Afterward beat them again and wet them with Musk-water and Rose-water dry them beat them and moysten them very many times at length add a fourth part of pure Musk and mix them well and wet them again with Rose-water and Musk-water divide the Mass into several parts and rowl them in the hair of a Goat which groweth under his Tail Others do it Another way and mingle Storax Labdanum and Powder of Lignum Aloes add to the Composition Musk and Civet and mingle all together with Rose-water The Imposture is discovered by the easie dissolving of it in water and it differeth in colour and sent Others augment Musk by adding Roots of Angelica which doth in some sort imitate the sent of Musk. So also they endeavour To adulterate Civet with the Gall of an Ox and Storax liquified and washed or Cretan Honey But if your Musk or Amber have lost their sent thus you must do To make Musk recover its sent hang it in a Jakes and among stinks for by striving against those ill savours it exciteth its own vertue reviveth and recovereth its lost sent THE TWELFTH BOOK OF Natural Magick Of Artificial Fires THE PROEME BEfore I leave off to write of Fire I shall treat of that dangerous Fire that works wonderful things which the vulgar call Artificial Fire which the Commanders of Armies and Generals use lamentably in divers Artifices and monstrous Designs to break open Walls and Cities and totally to subvert them and in Sea-fights to the infinite ruine of mâ—rtal men and whereby they oft-times frustrate the malicious enterprizes of their Enemies The matter is very useful and wonderful and there is nothing in the world that more frights and terrifies the mindes of men God is coming to judge the world by Fire I shall describe the mighty hot Fires of our Ancestors which they used to besiege places with and I shall add those that are of later Invention that far exceed them and lastly I shall speak of those of our days You have here the Compositions of terrible Gun-powder that makes a noise and then of that which makes no noise of Pipes that vomit forth deadly Fires and of Fires that cannot be quenched and that will rage under Water at the very bottom of it Whereby the Seas rend asunder as if they were undermined by the great violence of the flames striving against them and are lifted up into the Air that Ships are drawn by the monstrous Gulphs Of Fireâ—Balls that flie with glittering Fire and terrifie Troops of Horse-men and overthrow them So that we are come almost to eternal Fires CHAP. I. How divers ways to procure Fire may be prepared VItruvius saith That it fell out by accident that sundry Trees frequently moved with Windes and Tempests the Bows of them rubbing one against another and the parts smiting each other and so being ratified caused heat and took fire and flamed exceedingly Wilde people that saw this ran away When the Fire was out and they durst come neerer and found it to be a great commodity for the Body of man they preserved the Fire and so they perceived that it afforded causes of civility of conversing and talking together Pliny saith It was found out by Souldiers and Shepherds In the Camp those that keep watch found this out for necessity and so did Shepherds because there is not always a Flint ready Theophrastus teacheth what kindes of Wood are good for this purpose and though the Anger and the handle are sometimes both made of one sort of Wood yet it is so that one part acts and the other suffers so that he thinks the one part should be of hard Wood and the other of soft Example Wood that by rubbing together will take Fire They are such as are very hot as the Bay-Tree the Buck-thorn the Holm the Piel-Tree But Mâ—estor adds the Mulberry-Tree and men conjecture so because they will presently blunt the Ax. Oâ— all these they make the Auger that by rubbing they may resist the more and do the business more firmly but the handle to receive them is to be made of soft Wood as the Ivy the wilde Vine and the like being dried and all moisture taken from them The Olive is not fit because it is full of fat matter and too much moysture But those are worst of all to make Fires that grow in shady places Pliny from him One Wood is rub'd against another and by rubbing takes Fire some dry fuel as Mushroomes or Leaves easily receiving the Fire from them But there is nothing better then the Ivy that may be rubbed with the Bay-Tree or this with that Also the wilde Vine is good which is another kinde of wilde Vine and runs upon Trees as the Ivy doth But I do it more conveniently thus Rub one Bay-Tree against another and rub lustily for it will presently smoak adding a little Brimstone put your fuel
Colophonia mingle all these sow them up in Coffins made of thick Cloth in fashion of Balls and put them into hollow half circles made in Wood and strike them with a wooden Hammer that they may be hard as stones then binde them about with cords and dip them in Tar three or four times they that may be well fenced about lest being discharged by the violence of a Brass-Gun they should break in pieces Lastly pierce them thrice thorow with a sharp stick in the centre and fill them with Gun-powder and dry them to be sent aloft When you would use them raise your Brass-Guns or more conveniently the but end of your Guns and take the Ball in a pair of Iron Pinchers and give Fire to the holes that it may take when your are certain that it is lighted with your right hand cast it into the hollow of the Gun and with your left give fire to the lowest touch-hole of the Gun when it is fired it rebounds and being carried up by force of the Fire it seems to run up and down in the Air as I often saw it at Rome and prepared it They are made also Another way Take Sea-pitch three parts Turpentine-Rosin two parts as much Brimstone one part Goats suet powder what must be powdered and melt in a Brass Vessel what will melt put them together and stir them with a wooden stick Then cast in Hards of Hemp or Flax so much as will drink up all the mixture then take the Brass Kettle from the fire and with your hands make Balls as big as you will that they may be shot forth of Brass-guns and before they grow hard thrust them through with wooden sticks making small holes then put in Gun-powder broken with Brimstone and rowl them about upon a Table strewed with Gun-powder and through the holes fasten cotton Matches rolled in the Powder as I shall shew let these dry and grow hard in the Sun The way to discharge them from a Brass Gun is this Chuse such as are commonly called Petrils that are fittest for this use The weight of the Gun-powder to be put into the Vessel must be one fifth part of the Ball or a little more or less for if you put in much they are either cast down by the too great violence of the Fire or else they are put out as they flie and do not answer our expectation The Powder being put into the Vessel lay neither Hards nor Hemp upon it but fit the Ball upon the Powder that as that fires it may fire the Ball and send it forth Here is a more noble Composition Another way Take five parts of Gun-powder three of Salt-Peter refined Brimstone two Colophonia one half part beaten Glass common Salt of Oyl of Peter and of Linseed Oyl and refined Aqua Vitae as much powder what must be powdered and pass it through a fine Cieve then melt it in a new earthen pot with burning coals without flame let them not sparkle for so the Composition may take fire Then cast in the Powders that they may incorporate well together then make round Coffins of Linen cloth as I said and fill them with the Gun-powder alone and binde them with cords about then wrap your Tow in the Composition and make a Ball of the bigness you would have it and if you will shoot it out of a Brass Gun binde it the thicker with little cords then pierce your Ball through in many places with wooden pricks that they may come at the powder that lieth in the middle then put cotton Match through that when it flies in the Air so violently they may preserve the fire In another earthen Pot melt Pine-Tree-Gum Gun-powder and Brimstone and dip in your Ball into that liquor that it may be all over-cast with it When you take it out lift up your cotton Matches with a stick and strew them with Gun-powder This Ball will sorely punish the Enemies with a great noise cracking and breaking asunder the Fire cannot be put out it will burn all kinde of Furniture Garments and what else till it be all consumed for it will burn Armour so mightily that unless they be taken off they will burn the man CHAP. VI. Of Compositions with burning Waters PHilosophers seeking the Reason of Waters that lie hid above and under the earth and are always hot they say Bitumen is the cause thereof which being once on fire hath this property that it will not only not be put out but if you cast on water it will burn the more The Mountain Chimaera burns always in Phaselis both night and day Gnidius Ctesias saith The fire of it is kindled by water and is put out with Earth or Hay In the same Lycia Vulcan's Mountains touched with a burning Torch will so burn that the very stones and sand in Rivers are consumed by them and will burn in the midst of the waters and that fire is maintained by water The hollow Cave in Nymphaeum foreshews terrible things to the men Apollonia as Theopompus writes it encreaseth by showres and it casts forth Bitumen that must be tempered with that Fountain that cannot be tasted otherwise it is more weak then any Bitumen is Now I shall search out the kindes of Bitumen The first kinde is liquid called Naphtha we call it Oyl of Peter which remains in stones and Kiâ—ram This hath great affinity with Fire and the fire will take hold of it every way at a great distance So some say That Medea burnt a whore who when she came to sacrifice at the Altar the fire laid hold on her Garland Another kinde is that men call Maltha for in the City of Comagenes Samosata there is a Lake sends forth burning mud when any solid thing toucheth it it will stick to it and being touch'd it will follow him that runs from it So they defended the Walls when Lucullus besieged them and the Soldier burned in his Armor Waters do kindle it and only Earth can quench it as experience shews Camphire is a kinde of it as Bitumen it draws fire to it and burns Pissaphaltum is harder then Bitumen both Amber and Jet are of this sort but these burn more gently and not so much in the waters Moreover in regard it burns in the Water it is Brimstone for no fatter thing is dug forth of the Earth To maintain this fire it self is sufficient it neither burns in the waters nor is it put out with water nor doth it last long but joyn'd with Bitumen the fire will last always as we see in the Phlegrean Mountains at Puteoli and as fire if Oyl be cast in burns the more so when Bitumen is kindled water cast on makes the flame the greater Wherefore I shall make use of those fires that burn in and above the waters But I shall bring some examples how is made A Ball that will burn under Water First prepare your Gun-Powder for this must be one Ingredient in all Compositions
and gives force to the rest to burn vehemently If it be in great corns pown it well and seirce it fine to seven parts of this add two parts of Colophonia three of Salt-Peter one of Brimstone pown them all together and mingle them sprinkling on of Naphtha or of liquid pitch Kitram moystning them so long until the powder pressed in your hand will stay together When these are well mingled make trial by them if it burn too vehemently add more Colophonia Salt-Peter and Brimstone but if but weakly more Gun-powder This mixture must be wrapt in straw or linen-rags or put into coffins made of the same things and binde it as close as you can with straw or little cords round about then dip it into scalding pitch and so let it dry then wrap it again with straw and smeer it over with pitch to keep it safe from water and that it may not break asunder by the violence of the fire When it is well dried and a little hole made in it put in Gun-powder and put fire to it and when it begins to burn stay but very little and cast it into the water It will by its weight fall to the bottom and the flames will strive with the water and drive them far from it so it will appear to burn above and is obscured with a black smoak that you will think you see the sulphureous waters at Puteoli burning there Being then made lighter by many turnings and windings it will seem to ascend to the superficies of the water which is a most pleasant sight for you will think that the water burns and you shall see two contrary Element fighting together yet to unite friendly until the matter be spent Others wrap in cloth nothing but Gun-powder a whole handful and this they binde in with cords then they dip it in melted scalding pitch and bound very fast and wrapt in many linen rags they make a small hole through it and they place this in the Centre of the Ball we even now spake of that when it comes to the superficies of the water the fire taking hold on the Powder within breaks the Ball in pieces and with a mighty noise wounds all those that stand neer it Some make it Otherwise They make a Composition of Brimstone Colophonia Salt-Peter Vernish and to this they add a fourth part of Gun-powder and they add Venice-Turpentine-Rofin Oyl of liquid Vernish Petroleum Linseed Oyl and the best refined Aqua Vitae with these they wet and sprinkle the dry Powders I have seen this take fire more vehemently and to cast the flames farther To do The same Take Mastick one part Frankincense two Grains of Vernish Brimstone Camphire Gun-powder of each three parts of Colophonia six Salt-Peter refined nine pown them all together and fift them onely pown the Camphire mingled with the Salt for that onely will not be powdered strew them all about upon an earthen dish with a large mouth and sprinkle them with Naphtha or Vernish or Linseed Oyl and mingle them with your hands Take out part of the Powder and put it into a hollow Cane and try it whether it will burn to your minde and if it burn too weak put in more Gun-powder if too vehemently more Colophonia always trying if it be as it should be For to these Compositions we add the same things to blunt the vehement burning of the Salt-Peter and the Gun-powder Then make Coffins of Canvas like Balls and fill them with your Composition and stuff it in well and binde them well with cords round about Then melt Brimstone and let there be in it one fourth part of Gun-powder stir them together with a wooden stick and lute the Ball over with that liquor that it may be well fenced and crusted Then with a wooden prick make a hole in it in the middle to the Centre and fill that with powder and so put in fire and it will burn under water it may also be shot forth of brass Engines I will shew you how to make Balls and Pots to be cast forth of Ships The Ancients write That Alexander the Great found out this Composition of Fires to burn Bridges Gates Ships and the like but it will work now more vehemently by reason of the Gun-powder added Take Gun-powder Salt-Peter Brimstone Pitch Pine-Tree-Gum Vernish in Grains Frankincense of each alike Camphire one half beat all these and mingle them Then take Oyl of Peter liquid Vernish Rosinous Turpentine equal parts and with these being liquid mingle all together and fill Pots with them to be cast among Ships and enemies or if you make a Ball of these binde it hard about the head of a hammer whose sharp-tooth'd end must be a foot long and the handle three foot If at a Sea-fight any one with a light Boat strike this into a Ship of the enemies with one blow he shall raise a mighty fire that neither water nor any other thing will put out CHAP. VII How Balls are made of Metals that will cast forth fire and Iron wedges I Shall shew you how to make brittle Balls of Metal that being filled with Gun-powder and all the places of vent stopt with the violence of the flame will flie into many pieces and strike through those they meet with and on all sides they will pierce through those who are not onely unarmed but armed men and these are to be used in besieging of Cities for cast amongst multitudes they will wound abundance The danger is seen among Herds of Cattle Make then Balls that will cast pieces of Iron a great way off Let a Ball of Metal be made a hand-breadth diameter half a finger thick the Metal is made of Brass three parts Tin one part to make it so brittle that by force of fire it may flie in small pieces To make the Ball more easily make it of two half circles for the charge is the less and let them joyn together like a box or let them screw one within another let it be equally thick that it may break in all parts alike Then with a Nail drove through the middle let it be fastened the better together a finger thick that it may break in all parts before it do in the joynts Then make a little Pipe as big as a finger and as long as ones hand that it may come to the Centre of the Ball and so stick forth beyond the Superficies like a Pyramis the Basis outward the Point inward sodder it fast to the Ball. The nail as I said must come forth on both sides and to this fasten wires that runs through iron piles that have a large hole through them that every wire may have thirty of them that when the ball is broken by force of the fire the wires of iron may break also and the piles of iron may be thrown about a great way with such force that they may seem to be shot forth Guns and Ordnance Lastly let the Ball be filled
with the best Gunpowder onely but the pipe with that mixture that burns more gently that when fire is put to it you may hold it so long in your hand until that slow composition may come to the centre and then throw it amongst the enemies for it will break in a thousand pieces and the iron wires and pieces of iron and parts of the Ball will fly far and strike so violently that they will go into planks or a wall a hand depth These are cast in by Souldiers when Cities are besiged for one may wound two hundred men and then it is worse to wound then to kill them as experience in wars shews But when you will fill the pipes hold one in your hand without a Ball full of the composition and try it how long it will burn that you may learn to know the time to cast them lest you kill your self and your friends I shall teach you how with the same Balls Troops of Horsemen may be put into confusion There are made some of these sorts of Balls that are greater about a foot in bigness bound with the same wire but fuller of iron piles namely with a thousand of them These are cast amongst Troops of Horsemen or into Cities besieged or into ships with slings or iron guns which they call Petrels and divers ways for if they be armed with iron pieces when they break they are cast forth so with the violence of the fire that they will strike through armed men and horses and so fright the horses with a huge noise that they cannot be ruled by bridle nor spurs but will break their ranks They have four holes made through them and they are filled with this said mixture that being fired they may be cast amongst Troops of Horsemen and they will cast their flames so far with a noise and cracking that the flames will seem like to thunder and lightning CHAP. VIII How in plain ground and under waters mines may be presently digged TO dig Mines to overthrow Cities and Forts there is required great cost time and pains and they can hardly be made but the enemy will discover it I shall shew how to make them in that champion ground where both armies are to meet with little labour and in short time To make Mines in plain grounds where the Armies are to meet If you would do this in sight of the enemy for they know not what you do I shall first teach how A little before night or in the twilight where the meeting shall be or passage or standing there may pits be made of three foot depth and the one pit may be distant from the other about ten foot There fit your Balls about a foot in bigness that you may fill the whole plain with them then dig trenches from one to the other that through them cotton matches may pass well through earthen pipes or hollow caâ—es but fire the Balls at three or four places then bury them and make the ground even leaving a space to give fire to them all at once Then at the time of war when the enemy stands upon the ground then remove at your pleasure or counterfeit that you fly from them and cast in fire at the open place and the whole ground will presently burn with fire and make a cruel and terrible slaughter amongst them for you shall see their limbs fly into the air and others fall dead pierced through burnt with the horrible flames thereof that scarce one man shall scape You shall make your Match thus In a new Test let the best Aqua vitae boyl with gunpowder till it grow thick and be like pap put your matches into it and role them in the mixture take the Test from the fire and strew on as much gunpowder as they will receive and set them to dry in the Sun put this into a hollow cane and fill it full of gunpowder or take one part refined salt-peter brimstone half as much and let it boyl in a new earthen pot with oyl of linseed put in your Match and wet them well all over with that liquor take them away and dry them in the Sun But if you will make Mines under the Water use this rare invention You shall make your Mines where the enemies Galleys or Ships come to ride you shall upon a plain place fit many beams or pieces of timber fastned cross-wise and thrust through or like nets according to the quantity in the divisions you shall make fit circles of wood and fasten them and fill them with gunpowder the beams must be made hollow and be filled with match and powder that you may set fire to the round circles with great diligence and cunning smeer over the circles and the beams with pitch and cover them well with it that the water may not enter and the powder take wet for so your labour will be lost and you must leave a place to put fire in then sink your engine with weights to the bottom of the water and cover it with stones mud and weeds a little before the enemy come Let a Scout keep watch that when their Ships or Galleys ride over the place that the snare is laid for fire being put to it the sea will part and be cast up into the air and drown'd the Ships or will tear them in a thousand pieces that there is nothing more wonderful to be seen or done I have tried this in waters and ponds and it performed more then I imagined it would CHAP. IX What things are good to extinguish the fire I Have spoken of kindling fires but now I shall shew how to quench them and by the way what things obnoxious to the fire will endure it and remain But first I will relate what our Ancestours have left concerning this business Vitruvious saith That the Larch-tree-wood will not burn or kindle by it self but like a stone in the furnace will make no coles but burn very slowly He saith the reason is That there is in it very little air or fire but much water and earth and that it is very solid and hath no pores that the fire can enter at He relates how this is known When Caesar commanded the Citizens about the Alps to bring him in provision those that were secure in a Castle of wood refused to obey his commands Caesar bade make bundles of wood and to light torches and lay these to the Castle when the matter took fire the flame flew exceeding high and he supposed the Castle would have fallen down but when all was burnt the Castle was not touched Whence Pliny writes The Larch-tree will neither burn to coles nor is otherwise consumed by fire then stones are But this is most false For seeing it is rosiny and oyly it presently takes fire and burns and being one fired is hard to put out Wherefore I admire that this error should spread so far and that the Town Larignum so called from the abundance of
When it is all soft that it is transparent as Crystal they fry them with butter and milk and bring them to the Table So Squils grow tender We must do as we did to Crabs for they cast their shells as Crabs do and Nature did this for some end for when their shells are grown too thick and weighty they can scarce crawl wherefore by the excrements that go into it that are consumed to make a new shell within the former that was made is broken and falls off CHAP. V. That living Creatures may be made more fat and well tasted I Shall endeavour to shew how living Creatures may be made more fat and well tasted that we may set more favory meats before our guests The Antients were not negligent in this matter Wherefore you shall find many ways not onely amongst Cooks but such as write concerning Husbandry Liccorish Gluttons found out the ways to fat Cattle that they might feed on them more plentifully and daintily Hence they called them cram'd because they were full fed and had gross bellies Those were called Bird pens where they fatted all sorts of Birds M. Lelius Strabo was the first that appointed this and he appointed Crammers to take care of them and ordered how much every crammed bird should eat They will fat better in winter than in summer because Birds at that time of the year are best being not so much wasted with yong and Cocks will fat better then Hens and such as never trod nor made eggs In summer when it is at an end and the sowre Grapes hang yet upon the Vines they are at the best I shall therefore teach How Hens and other Birds must be crammed Choose a place that is hot and obscure shut them all up apart and so close in their pens that they cannot come together nor turn and make two holes one for their heads to put forth and the other for their tails that they may both at their meat and shite it out again when it is digested Lay soft hay under them for if they lye hard they will never fat Pull off all the feathers from their heads thighs and 〈◊〉 under their wings there that it may breed no lice here that the dung corrupt it not For meat give them gobbets of Barley-Meal made up with water at the first for some time more sparingly then after give them as much as they can digest and you must give them no new meat till you feel their câ—ops that all the old is digested When the Bird is full let him go a while not to wander abroad but if there be any thing that urgeth him he may pick it off with his bill Let him not be set to fatting before five or after twenty Moneths old Yong Pigeons or Chickens will fat better with their dams if you pull off a few of their feathers and bruise their legs that they may stay in their places and if you give meat plentifully to their dams that they may feed themselves and their yong ones sufficiently Turtles are best fatted in summer give them nothing but meat especially Millet-seed for they much delight to eat that but Geese in winter They must be put up to fat four Moneths you need give them nothing else but Barley-Meal and Wheat-meal three times a day so that you give them water enough to drink and no liberty to walk about thus they will fat in two Moneths But tender Pullers will not be made fat in forty days Ducks will grow fat with all nutriment if it be abundance especially with Wheat Millet-seed Barley and with Water-squils Locusts and Creatures found in Lakes Columella Pheasants Partidges Heath-cocks and Turky-hens will fat being shut up and the first day they eat meat the next set them water or good strong wine to drink Let their meat be raw Barley-Meal made up with water giving them it by degrees or else broken and ground Beans and Barley sod with water and whole Millet-seed Linseed boil'd and dry mingled with Barley-meal to these you may add Oyl and make gobbets of them and give them to eat to the full and they will grow fat at longest in sixty days Now I shall shew how Four-footed Beasts are fatted The Sow will soonest fat for in sixty days she will be far First kept hungry three days as all the rest must be She grows fat with Barley Millet Acorns Figs Pears Cucumbers rest and not wandring But Sows will grow fatter by wallowing in the mire Figs and Chick-peason will fat them soonest and they desire change of meats Varro The Sow is fed with Beans Barley and other Grain for these will not onely fat them but give them a good rellish The Olive wilde Olive Tares Corn in straw Grass and they are all the better sprinkled with brine but the more effectual will they be if she fast three days before Aristotle Bean-husks and Coleworts are pleasant meat for them Salt put to them will make them have a stomack which in summer put into their troughs will season their meat and make them eat it up and by that seasoning of it they will drink and eat the more Colunmella Oxen will grow faâ— with Corn and Grass Tares ground Beans and Beanflalks Also with Barley whole or broken and parted from the hulls also by sweet things as pressed Figs Wine Elm-boughs and with a Lotion of hot water Aristotle We feed them at home with Wine of Surrentum or else we put Calfs to two Cows and thus being fed with abundance of Milk they can scarce go for fat Also in their craâ—ches we strew Salt stones that they may lick them and so drink and they will grow exceeding fat and tender CHAP. VI. How the flesh of Animals is made sweeter NOw shall I shew with some Meats and Arts How not onely the parts of Animals but their whole bodies are made fat tender and more delicate And first How to fat the Livers of Geese Out wise Ancestours saith Pliny who knew the goodness of a Goose liver taught how by cramming to make it grow great also taken forth it is augmented by sweet Milk And it is not without cause demanded who was the first man that found out so profitable a thing Whether it were Scipio Metellus that was Consul or Mar Sejus that in the same age was a Gentleman of Rome Palladius taught the way how when Geese have been fatting thirty days if you desire to have their livers tender you shall bruise old Figs and steep them in water and make gobbets of them and feed the Geese with them twenty days together But Quintilius way is when they grow fat you shall break dry wilde Radish in small pieces and tempering them with water give them this to drink for twenty days Some that the liver may be made great and the Geese fat feed them thus They shut up the Goose and cast to him Wheat sleeped in water or Barley the same way Wheat makes him fat quickly but Barley makes
the flesh white Let her be sed with the said grain but severally with them both for twenty days giving to her twice a day a moyst Medicament made thereof so that seven of those meats may be given her for the first five days and by degrees the days following increase the number of these meats until twenty five days be past that the days in the whole may be thirty and when they are over heat Mallows and in the decoction thereof being yet hot give her leaven moystned therewith do so for four days and in the same days give her water and honey changing it thrice every day not using the same again and do this the days following till sixty days mingle dry Figs bruised all this time with the said leaven and after sixty days you may eat the Goose and its liver that will be white and tender Which being taken forth must be put into a large vessel wherein there is hot water that must be changed again and again But the Bodies and Livers of the females are best but let them be Geese not of one year but from two years old to four Horace in Serm. speaks of this Fat Figs do make the Goose white Liver great And Juvenal Satyr 5. A Goose's Liver fed before him stood As big as a Goose and to eat as good And Martial The Liver 's greater then the Goose that 's true But now you l wonder where this Liver grew Athenaus writes That this was of great account at Rome When you kill the Goose take out the Liver quickly and cast it into cold water that it may be solid then fry it in Goose-grease in a frying pan and season it with spices It is a dish for a Prince and highly commended by many So is A Sows Liver fatted Pliny There is art used for Sows Livers as well as for Geese It was the invention of Marcus Apicius when they are fat with dry Figs give them sweet wine to drink and kill them presently Apicius Add to the Liver of a Sow fatted with Figs Wine-pickle Pepper Time Lovage Suet and a little Wine and Oyl Aetius If saith he any man feed that creature with dry Figs the Sows Liver is preferred before all meat I said out of Aristotle that Figs and Chick peason will fat a Sow best Galen As whilst Sows are living their Livers are fed for delight with dry Figs so for Geese I see their meats are moystned with milk that their Livers may be not onely most pleasant meat but may be fed exceedingly and be most delicate If you will That Cattle may be more excellent to eat Cattle that use to feed on Masterwort and to be first cleansed will grow very fat and their flesh will be exceeding sweet Pliny Whence it is that this Benjamin is not for many years to be found in Cyrene because the Farmers that hire the grounds finding more gain by it devour them by their Cattel Moreover in India and chiefly in the Country of the Prasil it rains liquid honey which falling down on the grass and the tops of Reeds in the Lakes is admirable food for Sheep and Oxen and the Shepherds drive them thither where most of this sweet dew falls from the Air and there they are feasted with it as with pleasant bankets and they recompence their Shepherds with a pleasant reward for they milk very sweet milk from them and they have no need as the Grecians do to temper honey with it Aelian But How Pullets are made most white tender and delicate Such as I use to set before my friends The way is I shut them up five days in chambers or cellars and I give them a dish full of chippins of bread wet with milk and sometimes with honey fed thus they will grow as fat as great Sappers in Fig time and so tender that they will melt in your mouth and they taste better by far then Pheasants Heath-cocks or Thrushes And it seems the Antients knew this For saith Pliny when a crammed Hen was forbid to eat at supper by the Laws of the Antients they found out this evasion to feed Hens with meats wet in milk and so they were far more delicate to set on the Table And Columella They that will make Birds not onely fat but tender they sprinkle the foresaid Meal with water and honey new made and so they fat them Some to three parts of water put one of good wine and wet Wheat-bread and fat the Bird which beginning to be fatted the first day of the Moneth will be very fat on the twentieth day CHAP. VII How the Flesh of Animals may be made bitter and not to be eaten AGain if we will that Flesh shall be rejected for the bitterness and ill taste of it we must do contrary to what hath been said Or if we will not take the pains we must wait the times that these creatures feed on such meats as will do it whereby sometimes they become venemous also As if we would have Deers flesh become venemous Simeon Sethi saith That Deers flesh that is catcht in summer is poyson because then they feed on Adders and Serpents these are venemous creatures and by eating of them they grow thirsty and this they know naturally for if they drink before they have digested them they are killed by them wherefore they will abstain from water though they burn with thirst Wherefore Stags-flesh eaten at that time is venemous and very dangerous Sometimes also Partridge are nought Namely when they eat Garlick The Chyrrhaei will eat no Partridge by reason of their food for when they have eaten Garlick they stink and their flesh is stinking meat that the Fowler will not eat them So also Quails and Stares are rejected at that time of the year that black Hellebour is the meat they like onely Wherefore when Quails feed on Hellebour they put those that feed on them into so great danger of their lives that they swell and suffer convulsions and are subject to vertigo's Wherefore Millet-feed must be boil'd with them Also Birds are not to be eaten when the Goose-berries are ripe for their Feathers will grow black thereby and men that eat them fall into scowrings Dioscorides The Eggs of the Barbel or Spawn not to be eaten in May because they are dangerous but the Eggs are not dangerous of themselves nor do they breed such mischiefs For they do not do it always for often you may eat them without danger but they are onely then hurtful when they feed on Willow-flowers that fall into the waters So are Snails to be rejected when they stick fast to briars and shrubs for they trouble the belly and the stomack and cause vomiting Dioscorides And not onely these Animals themselves cause this mischief but their excrements as milk honey and the like For Milk must not be eaten when Goats and Sheep feed on green food because it will loosen the belly the more but Goats-milk doth not try the belly so
much because these Cattle feed on binding meats as on the Oak Mastick Olive-boughs and Turpentine-tree But in such places where Cattle eat Scammony black Hellebore Perwincle or Mercury all their milk subverts the belly and stomack such as is reported to be in the mountains of Justinâ—â— for Goats that eat black Hellebore that is given them when the yong leaves come first out their milk drank will make one vomit and causeth loathing and nauseating of the stomack Dioscorides Also there is found Honey that is venemous That which is made in Sardinia for there the Bees feed on Wormwood At Heraclia in Pontus some times of the year by a property of the flowers there Honey is made that they which eat it grow mad and sweat exceedingly Dioscorides There are Eggs laid that stink When there are no fruits nor herbs to be seen then Hens feed on dung and so do other Birds that lay Eggs. But then those raste best that feed on fat things and eat Wheat Millet and Panick but such as eat Wormwood their Eggs are bitter CHAP. VIII How Animals may be boiled rosted and baked all at once I Have thus far spoken to please the palate Now I shall represent some merry conceits to delight the guests Namely How a Hog may be rosted and boiled all at once Athenaeus in his ninth Book of Dipnosophistae Dalachampius translates it more elegantly saying There was a Hog brought to us that was half of it well rosted and half of it was soft boil'd in water and the Cook had used great industry to provide it that it should not be seen in what part he was stuck for he was killed with a small wound under his shoulder and the blood was so let out all his intestines were well washed with wine and hanging him by the heels he again poured wine on him and rosted him with much Pepper He filled half the Hog with much Barley-flouer kneaded together with Wine and Barley and he put him into an Oven setting a brass platter under him and he took care to rost him so leasurely that he should neither burn nor be taken up raw for when his skin seemed somewhat dry he conjectured the rest was rosted He took away the Barley-meal and set him on the Table So A Capon may be boil'd and rosted Put a Capon well pulled and his guts taken out into a silver dish and fill the one half of him with broth and put him into an Oven for the upper part will be rosted by the heat of the Oven and the under part will be boiled Nor will it be less pleasant to behold A Lamprey fried boilâ—d and rosted all at once Before you boil your Lamprey take out his bones to make it more graceful for his flesh is full of bones which you shall do with two little sticks held in both hands and fastning the Lamprey in the middle you shall cut his back-bone in the middle then his head and end of his tail about which the bones are heaped by reason of the bones pulled out being cut off and his entrails taken forth put him on a spit and wrap about three or four times with fillets all the parts that are to be rosted and fried strewing upon the one Pepper and the fillets must be made wet in Parsley Saffron Mint Fennel and sweet wine or with water and salt or broth for the rosted parts for the fried parts with Oyl and so let him be turned always moystning the fillets with strewing on the decoction of Origanum When part of it is rosted take it from the fire and it will be gallant meat set it before your guests CHAP. IX Of divers ways to dress Pullets I Shall here set down divers ways to dress Chickens that will be very pleasant for the guests So that A boiled Peacock may seem to be alive Kill a Peacock either by thrusting a quill into his brain from above or else cut his throat as you do for yong kids that the blood may come forth then cut his skin gently from his throat unto his tail and being cut pull it off with his feathers from his whole body to his head cut off that with the skin and legs and keep it Rost the Peacock on a spit his body being strffed with spices and sweet herbs sticking first on his brest cloves and wrapping his neck in a white linnen cloth wet it always with water that it may never dry when the Peacock is rosted and taken from the spit put him into his own skin again and that he may seem to stand upon his feet you shall thrust small iron wires made on purpose through his legs and set fast on a board that they may rot be discerned and through his body to his head and tail Some put Camphire in his mouth and when he is set on the table they cast in fire Platira shews that the same may be done with Pheasants Geese Capons and other Birds and we observe these things amongst our Guests But it will be a more rare sight to see A Goose rosted alive A little before our times a Goose was wont to be brought to the Table of the King of Arragon that was rosted alive as I have heard by old men of credit And when I went to try it my company were so hasty that we eat him up before he was quite rosted He was alive and the upper part of him on the outside was excellent well rosted The rule to do it is thus Take a Duck or a Goose or some such luâ—â—y creature but the Goose is best for this purpose pull all the feathers from his body leaving his head and his neck Then make a fire round about him not too narrow left the smoke choke him or the fire should rost him too soon not too wide lest he escape unrosted Within-side set everywhere little pots full of water and put Salt and Meum to them Let the goose be smeered all over with Suet and well larded that he may be the better meat and rost the better put fire about but make no too much hast when he begins to rost he will walk about and cannot get forth for the fire stops him when he is weary he quencheth his thirst by drinking the water by cooling his heart and the rest of his internal parts The force of the Medicament loosneth and cleanseth his belly so that he grows empty and when he is very hot it rosts his inward parts Continually moysten his head and heart with a spunge But when you see him run mad up and down and to stumble his heart then wants moysture wherefore take him away and set him on the Table to your Guests who will cry as you pull off his parts and you shall almost eat him up before he is dead If you would set on the Table A yong Pigeon with his bones pulled out you shall take out his bones thus Put a yong Pigeon his entrails taken forth and well wash'd for
put into it a little musk stop the mouth close that it vent not set it in the summer-Sun two weeks always stirring the water The use is if you put a drop of this into a gallon of wine all the wine will smell of Musk and so for Cinnamon or other Spices So you may make Hippocras Wine Take the sweetest wine we call it commonly Mangiaguâ—rra and into four Vials full of that pour in two pounds of beaten Sugar four ounces of Cinnamon Pepper and grains of Paradise one ounce and half let them infuse one day then strain them adde in the end in a knot a little Musk and it will be excellent Wine or to powdred Sugar we put a little Aqua vitae wherein Cinnamon Pepper Grains of Paradise and musk have been infused as I said and it is presently provided for it draws forth the quintessence I shall shew how Wine may freeze in Glasses Because the chief thing desired at Feasts is that Wine cold as ice may be drunk especially in summer I will teach you how Wine shall presently not onely grow cold but freeze that you cannot drink it but by sucking and drawing in of your breath Put Wine into a Vial and put a little water to it that it may turn to ice the sooner then cast snow into a wooden vessel and strew into it Salt-peter powdred or the cleansing of Salt-peter called vulgarly Salazzo Turn the Vial in the snow and it will congeal by degrees Some keep snow all the summer Let water boil in brass kettles then pour it into great bowls and set them in the frosty cold Air it will freeze and grow harder than snow and last longer CHAP. XII To make men drunk and to make them loath Wine NOw we are come to speak of Wine before we pass from it I will shew you how to make your guests drunk for drunkenness at Feasts increaseth mirth and then how to keep them safe from drunkenness when they are often provoked to drink healths and to strive who shall drink most You may with these fruits Make men drunk The fruits of the Arbute and the Lote-tree being eaten will make men as though they were drunk also Dates eat in too great a quantity cause drunkenness and the pain of the head Sow-bread with Wine makes a man drunk Amber-greese or Musk put in Wine exasperate drunkenness The filth of a Dogs ear mingled with Wine makes one drunk as Albertus saith But Rhases out of whom he took it saith That Wine wherein the seeds of Ricinus are infused if any one drink it it will inebriate them Camels froth drunk with water by a drunken man will make him mad as possessed with a Devil Let these suffice for I said more in my description of Plants But on the contrary these things will Take away drunkenness Because Hemlock with Wine is the cause of death by its venome it hath been invented and found true that Hemlock is the cause of life to others Pliny seems to intimate as much Also venoms are prepared to drink some taking Hemlock before that they may drink and die If a man hath drunk too much Wine that doth him hurt he shall discuss it thus Cato bids that at the beginning and middle of Supper a man should eat four or five tops of raw Coleworts and it will take off his drunkenness and remove the hurt comes by Wine and will make a man as though he had neither eat nor drank The Egyptians before all meat did eat boil'd Coleworts and so provided themselves for drink Many to keep themselves sober take Colewort-seeds first The Tibaritae saith Simaeus before they drank fenced themselves by feeding on Coleworts Alexis Yesterday thou drank'st too much And now thy head doth ake but such Distemper fasting cures then Eat boil'd Coleworts drink agen And Amphis There is no means can half so well As sudden trouble drink dispel For that will wonderfully cure Eat else Radish that 's as sure They were wont in a vessel of Amethyst to make another remedy for drunkenness that they might drink Wine without danger Athenaeus If you would otherwise hinder the vapours of the Wine drink it well tempered with water for they are soonest drunk that drink strongest Wines Africaâ—â—â— saith If thou have drunk too much eat before meat three or four bitter Almonds they are drying and will drink up the moysture and drive away drunkenness Plutarch relates That there was a Physitian with Drâ—sâ—s who when he had first eaten five or six bitter Almonds he always conquered at the duel of drunkenness The powder of Pumex-stone will do as much if the drinker take that first Theophrastus saith it is dangerous unless he drink abundantly So Eâ—deâ—â—â— drank two and twenty Cups at last he went into a Bath and did not vomit and supped so as if he had drank nothing for by its drying quality it consumes all the moysture and being cast into a vessel of new Wine that works the heat of the Wine is strait allayed There are other things prepated by the Antients to extinguish drunkenness as to eat Lettice at the end of Supper for they are very cold we eat it now first to procure appetite whence Martial writes Why do we first our Lettice eat Our Fathers made it their last meat Dioscorides seems to call it Acrepula because it hinders drunkenness Leeks discuss drunkenness and he that takes Saffron before shall feel no drunkenness There are also Herbs and Flowers that if you make Garlands of them they will hinder drunkenness as Violets Roses and Ivy-berries The ashes of the Bill of a Swallow powdred with Myrrhe and strewed into the Wine you drink will keep you secure from being drunk Hâ—rus the King of Assyria found out this invention Pliny I have said how drunkenness may be disposed now I shall shew how men shall abstain That love Wine to refrain it There are many who when they have drank much Wine that is the worst thing in the world for them fall sick and die of it Now if you would refrain and abhor Wine and strong drink because the Fountain Clitorins is too far off let three or four live eels put into the Wine stay there till they die Let one drink of this Wine who is given to drunkenness and he will loath Wine and always hate it and will never drink it again or if he do he will drink but little and with much sobriety Another way wash a Tortois with Wine a good while and give one of that wine to drink privately half a cup full every morning for three days and you shall see a wonderful vertue Myrepsus VVhen one complained before the King of the Indians that he had Sons born to him but when once they began to drink a little wine they all died Jarchus answered him thus It is better for them that they died for had they lived they would have all run mad because they were begot of seed that was too cold Therefore
and draw your lines upon the lines of the letters you see through We may Open letters and shut them without suspition We use to seal letters putting paper upon them which goes through the letter on one side and wax is put on the other side where it comes forth and there it is sealed You shall open the letter thus Break away that part of the paper that is put upon the place where it passeth through the letter and the hole is the letter opens presently read it and shut it again and put the paper torn off in its proper place first anoynting the crack with gum-traganth dissolved in water for the paper will be so glewed that it will be stronger there then elsewhere press it with a small weight till it grow dry the fraud cannot be discovered because the glew is white and is not known from the colour of the paper CHAP. XII How you may spâ—ak at a great distance THere are many way how we may speak at a very great distance with our friends that are absent or when they are in prison or shut up in Cities and this is done with safety and without any suspition as I shall shew Two things are declared here either to do it by open voice reâ—uplicated or else by a Trunk We may With open voyce shew some things to those that are confederate with us It is wonderful that as the Light so the Voyce is reverberated with equal Angles I shall shew how this may be done by a glass It is almost grown common how to speak through right or circular walls The voice passing from the mouth goes through the Air if it goes about a wall that is uniform it passeth uncorrupted but if it be at liberty it is beaten back by the wall it meets with in the way and is heard as we see in an Eccho I through a circular building that was very long and smooth spake words to my friend that heard them round the wall and the words came entire to his ears but one standing in the middle heard not any noise and yet I heard again what my friend answered to me In the morning whenas I walked by the sea shore I heard above a mile what my friends talked in a Boat the sea was very calm and scarce moved and the words came clearly to me carried on the plain superficies of the water I hear that at Mantua and other places a great Gallery is built wherein one speaking in the corner is heard by another that knows the business standing in another corner but those that stand in the middle perceive nothing of it But more exactly and clearly To signifie to friends all things by a Trunk Let the pipe be of Earth but lead is better or of any matter well closed that the voice may not get forth in the long passage for whatever you speak at one end the voice without any difference as it came forth of the speakers mouth comes so to the ears of him that hearkneth and I doubt not but this may be done some miles off The voyce not divided or scattered goes whole a long way I have tried it for above two hundred paces when I had no other convenience and the words were heard so clear and open as the speaker uttered them Upon this it came into my mind to intercept words spoken by the way with leaden pipes and to hold them so long as I pleased close in that when I opened the hole the words should break forth I perceive that the sound goes by degrees and that being carried through a pipe it may be shut up in the middle and if a very long Trunk should take away the convenience of it that many winding pipes might shut it up in a close place I read that Albertus made an Artificial head that spake at a set time I might hope to do the same by this invention yet I never tried this farther then I have said yet I have heard by my friends that lovers have spoke a long time through a leaden pipe from their Houses that stood far asunder CHAP. XIII By night we may make signs by fire and with dust by day IT remains to shew whether we can make signs in the night by fire and in the day by dust to declare our business That may fall out two ways For by fire of a sudden we shew to our confederate friends or when we please by certain numbers of Torches we represent letters fit to demonstrate what our purpose is that those that are far off seeing and observing the motions may perceive our intent The first way we read that Medea promised to the Argonauts that if she killed Pelias she would signifie so much unto them by night with fire from a watch-Tower and by day with smoke When therefore the business was effected as she would have it she counterfeited that she must pay her vows to the Moon by making a fire by lighting Torches in the open Air from the top of the place as she had promised and when the Argonauts understood it this way they invaded the Kings palace and killing the guard they made her to enjoy her wishes We read also that Maga having possession of Paretonium agreed with the watch that at night in the evening and again in the morning beâ—imes they should set up the light that was for confederacy and by that means signs were made that the messenger came as far as Clius Also to friends that live out of the City by fire we may signifie our revenew and the quality of provision It is apparent that Annibal as Polybius writes when the people of Agrigentum were besieged by the Romans by many and frequent fires by night did shew forth the intolerable famine of his Army and for that cause many of his Souldiers for want of victuals fell off to the enemy Also the Grecians compacted with Sinon that by night when the Trojans were asleep those that came to Troy should have a token when he should open the Trojan Horse to let forth the Souldiers that were within Whence Virgil When the Kings fleet lift up the flames just then Did Sinon let forth all the Grecian men Also by Torches letters may be signified as we find it in the Manuscript of Polybius Tops of buildings or Towers are very fit to set up the Torches on Let the letters be divided into two or three parts if there may be eleven or seven parts of each If they be seven the first letters are shew'd by single Torches the second by double ones the third by three Torches The number may be also divided into four parts but in representing them we must observe the variety of motion For one Torch once lifted up shall signifie A the same lifted up twice B thrice C so seven times the last of the first order G after that two once H so many twice I thrice signifies L and so of the rest of the same order Then Q by the
will not represent faces but pillars and spaces between and all ornaments Hence by the reciprocal reflection of the Glasses you shall see so many pillars basis and varieties keeping the right order of Architecture that nothing can be more pleasant or more wonderful to behold Let the perspective be the Dorick and Corinthian adorned with Gold Silver Pearls Jewels Images Pictures and such like that it may seem the more Magnificent the form of it shall be thus Let H G. be the place for the beholder to look the pillar against him shal be A in the Glass AB or AC the face of the beholder shall not be seen but AB is reflected into IH and IH into BD so by mutual reflections they are so multiplied that they seem to go very far inwardly so clearly and apparently that no spectator that looks into it unless he know it but he will thrust his hands in to touch the orders If you set a Candle in the middle it will seem so to multiply by the Images rebounding that you shall not see so many Stars in the skies that you can never wonder enough at the Order Symmetry and the Prospect I have raised and made this Amphitheatre divers ways and to shew other orders namely two ranks of pillars so that the one stuck to the Glasses the other stood alone in the middle bound with the chief Arches and with divers Ornaments that it may seem to be a most beautiful Perspective or Architecture Almost the same way is there made a little chest of many plain Glasses covered round this they call the Treasury on the ground arches and walls were there Pearls Jewels Birds and Monies hanging and these were so multiplied by the reflections of the Glasses that it reprsented a most rich Treasury indeed Make therefore a Chest of wood let the bottom be two foot long and one and half broad let it be open in the middle that you may well thrust in your head on the right and left hand erect the side-boards a foot long semicircular above that it may be arched but not exactly circular namely divided into five parts each a hand-breadth Cover this all about with Glasses where the Glasses joyn there put Pearls Precious-stones specious Flowers divers colour'd Birds above the bottom set heaps of Gold and Silver Meddals from the Arches let there hang Pearls fleeces of Gold for when the Câ—ffer is moved gently they will move also and the Images will move in the Glasses that it will be a pleasant sight CHAP. IV. Divers operations of Concave-Glasses BUt the operations of Concave-glasses are far more curious and admirable and will afford us more commodities But you can do nothing perfectly with it until you know first the point of inversion Therefore that you may do it the better and more easily Know the point of Inversion of Images in a Concave-glass Do thus Hold your Glass against the Sun and where you see the beams unite know that to be the point of Inversion If you cannot well perceive that breathe a thick vapour from your mouth upon it and you shall apparently see where the coincidence is of the reflected beams or set under it a vessel of boyling water When you have found the point of Inversion if you will That all things shall seem greater Set your head below that point and you shall behold a huge Face like a monstrous Bacchus and your finger as great as your arm So women pull hairs off their eye-brows for they will shew as great as fingers Seneca reports that Hostius made such Concave-Glasses that they might make things shew greater He was a great provoker to lust so ordering his Glasses that when he was abused by Sodomy he might see all the motions of the Sodomite behind him and delight himself with a false representation of his privy parts that shewed so great To kindle fire with a Concave-Glass This Glass is excellent above others for this that it unites the beams so strongly that it will shew forth a light Pyramis of its beams as you hold it to the Sun and if you put any combustible matter in the centre of it it will presently kindle and flame that with a little stay will melt Lead or Tin and will make Gold or Iron red hot and I have heard by some that Gold and Silver have been melted by it more slowly in winter but sooner in summer because the medium is hotter at noon rather than in the morning or evening for the same reason To make an Image seem to hang in the Air by a Concave-Glass This will be more wonderful with the segment of a circle for it will appear farther from the Glass If you be without the point of Inversion you shall see your head downwards That with fixed eyes and not winking at all you may behold the point until it comes to your very sight For where the Catheâ—us shall cut the line of reflection there the species reflected will seem almost parted from the Glass the neerer you are to the Centre the greater will it be that you will think to touch it with your hands and if it be a great Glass you cannot but wonder for if any man run at the Glass with a drawn sword another man will seem to meet him and to run through his hand If you shew a Candle you will think a Candle is pendulous lighted in the Air. But if you will That the Image of a Concave-Glass should go out far from the Centre when you have obtain'd the Image of the thing in its point if you will have it farther distant from the Centre and that the Picture of a thing shall be farther stretched forth then you shall decline from the point a little toward the right or left hand about the superficies of the Glass and the Image will come forth the farther and will come to your sight There namely where the Catherus doth the farthest off that is possible touch the line of reflection which few have observed from which principle many strange wonders may be done When you have this you may easily Reflect heat cold and the voice too by a Concave-Glass If a man put a Candle in a place where the visible Object is to be set the Candle will come to your very eyes and will offend them with its heat and light But this is more wonderful that as heat so cold should be reflected if you put snow in that place if it come to the eye because it is sensible it will presently feel the cold But there is a greater wonder yet in it for it will not onely reverberate heat and cold but the voice too and make an Eccho for the voice is more rightly reflected by a polite and smooth superficies of the Glass and more compleatly than by any wall I prove this because if a man turn his face to the Glass and his friend stand far behind his back when he beholds his face he shall decline his face
cannot satisfie your self unless you touch it with your hands whether it truly stick without the Glass or not So Letters are truly read that they will seem to be made in Silver upon the Crystal nor is the eye so quick but it may be deceived when it looks on Nor will I omit the Artifice To see in a plain Glass that which appears no where I have often much delighted my friends and made them admire with this Glass Provide thirty or forty little Tables ready of a foot and half long and two fingers broad and a third part of a finger thick so artificially hewed that the thickness may be upon the one side and the thinness on the other side like the edge of a knife Place all these boards together that the solid parts may stand altogether as to make a perfect plain Then paint your own Picture or of some other thing upon it yet by this artifice and great observation that if the Image be neer the Glass it must be drawn as it were afar off If you would have it far distant let the forehead be unmeasurably long the nose somewhat longer and the mouth and the chin likewise The manner how to draw this Form exactly in Tables I said in my Opticks When the Image is now described fasten the little boards upon a plain Table that the head may be set downwards and the chin upwards and place the first Table after the second and the second after the third till they be all fastned Hang the Table above a mans height that no man may see into it above the degrees of the Tables and place a Glass over this distant two foot from the Table so long lifting it up and putting it down till you see the perfect Image Now when any man comes neer the Glass to see his own Image he shall see the Image of some other thing that appears no where In the breadth of the Tables you may draw some Picture lest they should give some occasion to suspect CHAP. XXI How Spectacles are made VVE see that Spectacles were very necessary for the operations already spoken of or else lenticular Crystals and without these no wonders can be done It remains now to teach you how Spectacles and Looking-glasses are made that every man may provide them for his use In Germany there are made Glass-balls whose diameter is a foot long or there abouts The Ball is marked with the Emrilstone round and is so cut into many small circles and they are brought to Venice Here with a handle of Wood are they glewed on by Colophonia melted And if you will make Convex Spectacles you must have a hollow irondish that is a portion of a great Sphaere as you will have your Spectacles more or less Convex and the dish must be perfectly polished But if we seek for Concave Spectacles let there be an Iron-ball like to those we shoot with Gun-powder from the great Brass Canon the superficies whereof is two or three foot about Upon the Dish or Ball there is strewed white-sand that comes from Vincentia commonly called Saldame and with water it is forcibly rubbed between our hands and that so long until the superficies of that circle shall receive the Form of the Dish namely a Convex supreficies or else a Concave superficies upon the superficies of the Ball that it may fit the superficies of it exactly When that is done heat the handle at a soft fire and take off the Spectacle from it and joyn the other side of it to the same handle with Colophonia and work as you did before that on both sides it may receive a Concave or Convex superficies then rubbing it over again with the powder of Tripolis that it may be exactly polished when it is perfectly polished you shall make it perspicuous thus They fasten a woollen-cloth upon wood and upon this they sprinkle water of Depart and powder of Tripolis and by rubbing it diligently you shall see it take a perfect Glass Thus are your great Lenticulars and Spectacles made at Venice CHAP. XXII How upon plain Concave and Convex Glasses the foils are laid on and they are bâ—â—â—ed NOw it remains that I speak of some few things not to be overpassed of the banding of Convex Glasses and of foiling plain Glasses and Convex Glasses that so I may set down the perfect Science of Looking-glasses First for the terminating of Looking glasses that are made of Crystal and Glass then of other mixtures and polishings that a knowing Artificer may know and know how to make them For though amongst many things that shew the Images of things as water some Jewels and polished Metal do it yet nothing doth so plainly represent Images as Lead foil'd upon Glass Plain Looking-glasses are prepared of Crystal and of Glass those of Crystal are polished by wheels and require another Artifice But at Venice How Glass Looking-glasses are made I have seen it They take the melted Glass out with an Iron with their blast they frame an empty Pillar they open it on one side with their tongs and whilst it is red hot they lay it upon a plain plate of Iron that is equally made and they put it into the furnace again to make it softer and that it may get the perfect plainness of the iron plate they leave it over the furnace to cool by degrees When it is cool they do thus Polish plain Glasses They fasten it upon a plain Table with Gyp underneath lyeth a most polite plain plate of iron they cast upon it the foresaid sand they rub it with water by a stick leaning thereon until it be perfectly plain they take it from the Table and glew it on the other side to polish them both then they make them perspicuous as I said they did Now will I shew To terminate plain Glass Looking-glasses Glass or Crystal Looking-glasses when they are made plain and equal the Artist makes a foil of the same bigness of Tin that is level and thin as perfectly as he can For if Crystal or Glass had no foil of Lead behind it by its strength and thickness it could never terminate our sight nor stay the Image Printed upon it but it would let it slip away for Glass is pure and transparent and so would not contain it by reason of its brightness and so the Image would vanish in it as light in the Sun Wherefore upon this foil you shall wipe over with Quick-silver by the means of a Hares foot that it may appear all as Silver and when you see it fast on the superficies you shall put it upon a fair white paper and so upon the Glass but first made clean with a linen clout and polished for if you handle it with your hands the foil will not stick to it with your left hand press down the Glass and with the right take away the Paper that the foil may cleave every where and they bind fast together laying a weight upon it for
no place for the air to come in and that were against the second axiom wherefore by reason of vacuum and because the body is no heavior it falls not into the bowl beneath But should one make a hole in the bottom of the vessel A that the air might come in no doubt the water would not fall down into the bazon Also if the vessel A B were filled with any â—ight liquor and the broad bazon with one that is heavior they would not stir from their places Let therefore the vessel A B be filled with wine and the mouth of it turned downwards into a bazon full of water I say both liquors will keep their places and will not mingle for should the wine descend either vacuum must needs be in the body A or a heavy body must ascend out of the vessel C D which would be against the Nature of Gravity and the second axiom namely that heavy should ascend and light descend wherefore they will not remove from their places Hence comes that which is often done by great drinkers and gluttons who pour by drops into a cuphalf full of water so much wine as will fill the cup they come so close together that onely a line parts those liquors And those that would sooner cool their wine they dip a Vial full of wine into a vessel full of water with the mouth turned downward and hold it down under the water for when the water toucheth the superficies of the wine they cannot mingle and the wine grows sooner cool though it is necessary that the Vial should be lifted up to the superficies of the water and suddenly turned about poured forth and drank then fill them again and set in the bottle as before From this advantage I complain of those who first drink water then pour in wine for wine being the lighter and water the heavior they can hardly mingle wherefore some drink at first the strongest wine then mingled and last of all water At great mens Tables they first bring wine in a Glass then they pour in water that the water by its weight may mingle with the wine and get to the bottom and tast equally Theophrastus bids men first pour in wine then water CHAP. II. How we may by drinking make sport with those that fit at Table with us VVHen friends drink together if we would by such a merry deceit delude the guests that are ignorant of the cause hereof we may provoke them to drink with such a Cup Let there be a great Cup made like a tunnel let the mouth be broad above and beneath narrow Pyramidally and let it be joyn'd to a Glass-Ball by a narrow mouth First pour in water till the whole Ball be filled then put in wine by degrees which by reason of the narrowness of the mouth will not mingle and the water is heavy and the wine lighter He that drinks first shall drink the wine then give it your frind to drink for he shall drink nothing but water But if your friend shall challenge you to drink thus with him and will have you drink first fill the Ball of the Cup with wine and pour water upon it and stay awhile and hold him in discourse for the water will sink down by the narrow mouth and the wine by degrees will ascend as much and you shall see the wine come up through the middle of the water and the water descend through the middle of the wine and sink to the bottom so they change their places when you know that the water is gone down and the wine come up then drink for you shall drink the wine and your friend shall drink the water Hence it is that to great inconvenience of those that drink it when we plunge our wine into a well in vessels of earth or brass ill stopt to cool it the water being the heavior comes in at the least chink and forceth out the wine so in a little time the vessel is full of water and the wine is gone that there is not the least taste of wine in it wherefore stop the mouth very close CHAP. III. How to part wine from water it is mingled with FRom these I shall easily shew two things that a heavy body shut up in a Glass vessel having the mouth of it put within a lighter liquid body they will mutually give place the lighter will ascend the heavior will descend and that without any hindrance one of the other which I shall demonstrate from the former principals Let the Glass be turned downwards and full of water be A B the water is heavior than the wine Let the mouth of it B be put into the vessel C D that is full of wine These are bodies that will mutually yield one to the other as I shewed I say the water will descend into the vessel C D and the wine will ascend into the vessel A B where the water was before For the water because it was contain'd in the vessel A B it being heavy presseth the wine in the vessel C D that is lighter and because there is no body between them the water descends on one side into the vessel C D and the wine ascends on the other side into the vessel AB Now if the wine be red that you may see the difference or their colours you shall see the wine ascend through the middle of the water as far as he bottom of the upper vessel that is put downward into the other and the water to descend hastily to the bottom of the vessel C D and one descend as low as the other riseth high and if the liquors cannot be seen distinguished yet one goes without any hindrance of the other and without mingling into its own place and it will be a pleasant sight to behold the wine going up and the water falling down and when they rest they will be so well parted that not the least wine can remain with the water nor water with the wine Wherefore if you put into a Hogshead full of wine a long neck'd Glass full of water in a short time the vessel turned downwards will be full of wine and the water will go down into the Hogshhad By this any man may easily conjecture How to part water from wine because oft-time Country people and Vintagers use deceit and bring wine mingled with water to be sold to the Merchant we may easily prevent their craft by this Art Let there be underneath a vessel filled with wine that is mixed with water and we would separate the water from the wine But first there must be a vessel that can receive all the wine that is mingled in the other vessel and if we know not the quantity we must conjecture at it how much it may be of something less then fill the said vessel with water and set it with the mouth downwards on the other vessel that is full of wine and water mingled together and let the upper part of the
vessel turned downwards touch the upper part of the lower liquor that no Air may enter for then the water will presently descend into the vessel underneath and the lighter part of the mingled liquor will ascend and the water will sink down and if it be all wine it will all ascend no wine will stay with the water if any thing stay behind you must know that so much water was mingled with the wine which may easily be known by the smell and taste if you do it as it should be done Then take a vessel that will hold more of the same liquor and put it into a vessel underneath till it takes it all in whence by the proportion of the wine ascended and of the water any man may know easily how much water is mingled with the wine But for convenience let the Vial that shall hold the water be of a round belly and the hole not very great and let the vessel under that contains the wine have a narrow mouth that the upper round mouth may the better joyn with the undermost and no Air come in But because it happeneth oft that the upper Ball when it hath drank in all the wine the wine will not fill it and we would part the water from the wine take therefore the round Glass in your hand and turn it about with the mouth upwards then will the wine presently turn about and come uppermost which may be a tongue laid in be all call'd forth Be careful to see when the wine is all drawn out remove the tongue and the water will remain pure CHAP. IV. How otherwise you may part water from wine I Can do this another way not by levity and gravity as I said but by thinness and thickness for water is the thinnest of all liquors because it is simple but wine being coloured and colour comes from the mixture of the Elements it is more corpulent Wherefore to part wine from water we must provide a matter that is full of holes and make a vessel thereof into which the wine poured with the water may drean forth for the water will drean forth through the pores of the matter that is opened by a minglâ—â— and corpulent body And though many kinds of wood be fit yet Ivy is the best because it is full of pores and chinks wherefore if you make a vessel of Ivy wood that is green and pour into it wine mingled with water the water will in a short time drean out Yet I see that all the Antients and modern Writers thought the contrary yet both reason and experience are against them For Gaeto saith If you would know whether there be water put to your wine make a vessel of Ivy put your wine you think is mixed with water into it if there be any water the wine will run forth and the water stay behind for an Ivy vessel will hold no wine And Pliny from him The Ivy is said to be wonderful for proof of wine If a vessel be made of Ivy-wood the wine will run forth and the water will stay behind if any were mingled with it Whereupon both of them are to be noted for a two sold error because they say it comes from the wonderful faculty of the Ivy whereas every porous wood can do the same Again he saith that the wine will run forth and the water stay behind whereas it is the contrary But Democritus thought what was truest and more probable who used not an Ivy vessel but one full of holes saith he they pour it into a new earthen pot not yet seasoned and hang it up for two days the pot saith he will leak if any water be mingled with it Democritas used another Art for the same purpose Some stop the mouth of the vessel with a new Spunge dipt in Oyl and incline it and let it run forth if there be water in it onely the water will run forth which experiment also he useth in Oyl For the Spunge is full of holes and open enough and being dipt in Oyl that hinders that the liquor cannot run forth so easily Africanus adds another reason Put liquid Alom into a vessel of wine then stop the mouth with a Spunge dipt in Oyl and incline it and let it run forth for nothing but the water will run out For the Alom binds the liquors that they drean forth very slowly CHAP. V. Another way to part a light body mingled with a heavy I Have another Art to seperate a light body from a heavy or wine from water or by another way Make a linnen tongue or of bombast and dip it into the vessel where wine is mingled with water and let the tongue swim above without the liquor and ascend above it and so hang pendulous out of the vessel for the lighter liquor will ascend by the tongue and drop on the outside but when the lighter ascends it attracts the heavy also wherefore when you see the colour change take the vessel away for the water runs forth It is evident that the wine being lighter will always ascend to the top of the vessel and run forth by the tongue though all Vintners say the contrary that the water will run forth by the tongue and that the wine will stay within CHAP. VI. How light is mingled in heavy or heavy in light VVE can easily know whether any light matter is mingled with heavy or any heavy matter with light And I will expound the manner out of Archimedes his Book concerning thingâ— that swim above water the cause whereof is that if Wood stone or any heavy Metal be equal in weight to the same quantity of water the utmost superficies oâ— the body will be equal with the superficies of the water if it weigh heavior it will sink to the bottom if it be lighter the lighter it is then the water so much of it will swim above the watâ—â— Since therefore this is true and wine is heavior then water one and the same thing will sink more in wine than in water and in thicker water the less Wherefore vessels are more drown'd in River than in the Sea for Sea-water is thicker and more heavy by reason of its salt mingled with it as also we have it in Alexander If therefore you would know Whether water be mingled with wine Put the wine you suspect to be mingled with water into some vessel and put an Apple or Pear into it if the Apple sink the wine is pure but if it floâ—e the wine hath water mingled with it because water is thicker than wine Which Democritus saith is contrary and false He saith it is necessary sometimes to commit the Care of the wine of new wine to Stewards and Servants also the Merchant hath the like reason to try whether his wine be pure They use to cast an Apple into the vessel but wilde Pears are the best others cast in a Locust others a Grashopper and if they swim it is pure wine but
Chap 31 The Iron rubbed with the Northern point of the load-stone will turn to the south and with the south point to the north Chap 32 Iron touched with the load-stone will impart the force to other Iron Chap 33 The vertue received in the Iron is weakened by one that is stronger Chap 34 To discern in a Stone the South or North point Chap 35 To rub the Iron-needle of the Marriners compass Chap 36 The uses of Marriners Compasses Chap 37 The Longitude of the world may be found out by the help of the Load-stone Chap 38 If the Marriners Needle stand still and the Load-stone move or contrarily they will move contrary ways Chap 39 The Load-stone imparts a contrary form to the Needle Chap 40 Two Needles touching by the Load stone obtain contrary forces Chap 41 The force of the Iron that draws will drive off Iron by diversity of Situation Chap 42 The Needle touched by the Load-stone on one part doth not always receive vertue on both parts Chap 43 The Needle touched in the middle by the Load-stone sends forth its force at both ends Chap 44 An Iron Ring touched by a Load stone will receive both vertues Chap 45 An Iron plate touched in the middle will difits forces at both ends Chap 46 Filings Iron may receive force Chap 47 Whether Garlick can hinder the vertues of the Load-stone Chap 48 A Load-stone astonished may be brought to its self again Chap 49 To augment the Load-stones vertue Chap 50 That the Load-stone may lose its vertue Chap 51 How the Iron touched with the load stone loseth its force Chap 52 That the Diamond hindereth the load-stones vertue is false Chap 43 Goats blood doth not free the load-stone from the inchantment of the Diamond Chap 54 The Iron touched with a Diamond will turn to the North Chap 55 Forces and Remedies of the load-stone Chap 56 The eighth Book Of Physical Experiments MEdicines which cause sleep Chap 1 To make a man out of his senses for a day Chap 2 To cause several kinds of Dreames Chap 3 Excellent Remedies for the eyes Chap 4 To faâ—ten the teeth Chap 5 For other infirmities of mans body Chap 6 That a woman may conceive Chap 7 Remedies against the Pox Chap 8 Antidotes against Poyson Chap 9 the Plague Chap 10 Remedies for wounds and blows Chap 11 A secret medicine for wounds Chap 12 To counterfeit infirmities Chap 13 Of Fascination and preservatives against Inchantments Chap 14 The ninth Book Of Beautifying Women TO dye the hair Yellow or Gold-colour Chap 1 Red Chap Chap 2 Black Chap Chap 3 To make hairs part smooth Chap 4 How hair may grow again Chap 5 To take away sores and worms that spoil the hair Chap 6 To make hair curl Chap 7 To make the Eye-brows black Chap 8 To make the face white Chap 9 To make the face very clean to receive the colour Chap 10 To make the face very soft Chap 11 To make the face shine like silver Chap 12 To dissolve Talk for to beautifie women Chap 13 The preparation of sublimate Chap 14 How White-lead is prepared for the face Chap 15 The best Sopes for Women Chap 16 To make the face Rose-coloured Chap 17 Against redness of the face Chap 18 To make a Sun-burnt face white Chap 19 To take spâ—ts from the face Chap 20 To take off red Pimples Chap 21 To take letters from the face or elswhere Chap 22 To take away Warts Chap 23 To take wrinkles from the body Chap 24 Of Dentifrices Chap 25 To hinder the Brests from augmenting Chap 26 To make the hand white Chap 27 To correct the ill sent of the Arm-pits Chap 28 How the matrix over-widened in childe-birth may be made narrower Chap 29 Sports against women Chap 30 The tenth Book Of Distillation VVHat Distillation is how many sorts Chap 1 Extraction of Waters Chap 2 Extracting Aqua Vitae Chap 3 To distil with the heat of the Sun Chap 4 To draw Oyl by expression Chap 5 To extract Oyl with Water Chap 6 To separate Oyl from water Chap 7 To make an instrument to extract Oyl in a greater quantity and without danger of burning Chap 8 The description of a Descendatory Chap 9 To extract Oyl out of Gums Chap 10 To draw Oyl out of other things Chap 11 To extract Oyl by descent Chap 12 Extraction of Essences Chap 13 Magisteries what their extraction Chap 14 To extract tinctures Chap 15 To extract Salts Chap 16 Of Elixirs Chap 17 Of a Clissus how made Chap 18 To get Oyl out of Salts Chap 19 Of Aqua Fortis Chap 20 Of the separation of the Elements Chap 21 The eleventh Book Of Perfuming OF Perfuming waters Chap 1 To make sweet water by infusion Chap 2 To make sweet Oyls Chap 3 To extract Water and Oyl out of sweet Gums by infusion Chap 4 To perfume Skins Chap 5 To make sweet Powders Chap 6 To make sweet Compounds Chap 7 To make sweet perfumes Chap 8 To Adulterate Musk Chap 9 The twelfth Book Of Artificial Fires DIvers ways to procure fire Chap 1 The compositions for fire our Ancestors used Chap 2 Divers compositions of Gun-powder Chap 3 Pipes made to cast out fire Chap 4 To make fire-balls that are shot in Brass-guns Chap 5 Compositions with burning waters Chap 6 Balls made of Metals to cast forth fire and Iron wedges Chap 7 How in plain ground and under waters Mines may be presently digged Chap 8 Things good to extinguish fire Chap 9 Divers compositions for fire Chap 10 Fire-compositions for feastival days Chap 11 Experiments of fire Chap 12 How a Candle shall burn continually Chap 13 The thirteenth Book Of tempering Steel IRon by mixture may be hardened Chap 1 How Iron will wax soft Chap 2 The temper of Iron must be used upon soft Irons Chap 3 How for all mixtures Iron may be tempered most hard Chap 4 Liquors that will harden Iron Chap 5 The temper of a Tool shall cut a Porphyr Marble Stone Chap 6 To grave a Porphyr Marble without an Iron Tool Chap 7 How Iron by heating in the fire may be made tractable for works Chap 8 How Damask Knives may be made Chap 9 Polished Iron how preserved from rust Chap 10 The fourteenth Book Of Cookery HOw flesh may be made tender Chap 1 How flesh may grow tender by secret propriety Chap 2 How flesh may be made tender otherwise Chap 3 How Shell-creatures may grow more tender Chap 4 That living creatures may be made more fat and well tasted Chap 5 How the flesh of Animals is made sweeter Chap 6 How they are made too bitter to be eaten Chap 7 How Animals may be boiled rosted baked all at once Chap 8 Divers ways to dress Pullets Chap 9 How meats may be prepared in places where there is nothing to rost them with Chap 10 Divers confections of Wines Chap 11 To make men drunk and loath wine Chap 12 To drive Parasites from great mens Tables
Chap 13 The fifteenth Book Of Fishing Fowling Hunting c. VVHat meats allure divers animals Chap 1 How living creatures are drawn on with the baits of love Chap 2 Animals called together by things they like Chap 3 What noises allure Birds Chap 4 Fishes allured by light in the night Chap 5 By Looking glasses many creatures are brought together Chap 6 Animals are congregated by sweet smells Chap 7 Creatures made drunk catcht with hand Chap 8 Peculiar poysons of Animals Chap 9 Venomes for Fishes Chap 10 Experiments for hunting Chap 11 Tee sixteenth Book Of invisible Writing HOw a writing dipt in divers liquors may be read Chap 1 Letters made visible in the fire Chap 2 Letters rubâ—d with dust to be seen Chap 3 To write in an egge Chap 4 How you may write in divers places and deceive one that can reade Chap 5 In what place Letters may be inclosed Chap 6 What secret messengers may be used Chap 7 Messengers not to know that they carry Letters nor to be found about them Chap 8 Characters to be made that at set days shall vanish Chap 9 To take off Letters that are written on paper Chap 10 To counterfeit a Seal and Writing Chap 11 To speak at a great distance Chap 12 Signs to be made with fire by night and with dust by day Chap 13 The seventeenth Book Of Burning-glasses and the wonderful sights by them REpresentations made by plain Glasses Chap 1 Sports with plain Looking-glasses Chap 2 A Looking-glass called a Theatrecal-glass Chap 3 Operations of Concave glasses Chap 4 Mixt operations of plain Concave glasses Chap 5 Other operations of a Concave-glass Chap 6 How to see in the dark Chap 7 An Image may be seen to range in the air Chap 8 Mixtures of Glasses and divers operations of Images Chap 9 Effects of a Leuticular Crystal Chap 10 Spectacles to see beyond imagination Chap 11 To see in a Chamber things that are not Chap 12 The operations of a Cristal-pillar Chap 13 Burning-glasses Chap 14 A Parabolical Section which is of Glasses the most burning Chap 15 That may burn obliquely and at very great distance Chap 16 That may burn at infinite distance Chap 17 A Burning-glass made of many spiritural Sections Chap 18 Fire kindled more forcible by refraction Chap 19 An Image to be seen by a hollow Glass Chap 20 How Spectacles are made Chap 21 Foils are laid on Concave glasses and how they are banded Chap 22 How Metal Looking-glasses are made Chap 23 The eighteenth Book Of Things heavy and light THat heavy things descend and light ascend in the same degree Chap 1 By drinking to make sport with those that sit at table Chap 2 To part wine from water it is mingled with Chap 3 Another way to part water from wine Chap 4 To part a light body from a heavy Chap 5 To mingle things heavy and light Chap 6 Other ways to part wine from water Chap 7 The â—evity of water and air different and what may be wraught thereby Chap 8 The ninteenth Book Of Wind-Instruments VVHether material Statues may speak by an Artificial way Chap 1 Musical-Instruments made with water Chap 2 Experiments of Wind-Instruments Chap 3 A Description of Water-hour-glasses Chap 4 Of a Vessel casting forth water by reason of air Chap 5 How to use the air in many Arts Chap 6 The twentieth Book Of the Chaos HOw water may be made Potable Chap 1 To make water of air Chap 2 To alter the face that ones friends shall not know him Chap 3 That stones may move alone Chap 4 An Instrument whereby to hear at great distance Chap 5 To augment weight Chap 6 The wonderful proporties of the Harp Chap 7 To discover frauds in Impostors that work by natural means and pretend conjuration Chap 8 Experiments of a Lamp Chap 9 Some mechanical Experiments Chap 10 FINIS