though themselves be entire bodies, and not comminuted, as sand and ashes, nor apparently porous metals themselves do receive in readily strong waters; and strong waters likewise do readily pierce into metals and stones: and that strong water will touch upon gold, that will not touch upon silver, and e converso. And gold, which seemeth by the weight to be the closest and most solid body, doth greedily drink in quicksilver. And it seemeth, that this reception of other bodies is not violent: for it is many times reciprocal, and as it were with consent. Of the cause of this, and to what axiom it may be referred, consider attentively; for as for the petty assertion, that matter is like a common strumpet, that desireth all forms, it is but a wandering notion. Only flame doth not content itself to take in any other body, but either to overcome and turn another body into itself, as by victory; or itself to die, and go out. CENTURY IX. Experiments in consort touching perception in bo- | comitants, you may judge of the effect to follow : dies insensible, tending to natural divination subtile trials. or It is certain, that all bodies whatsoever, though they have no sense, yet they have perception: for when one body is applied to another, there is a kind of election to embrace that which is agreeable, and to exclude or expel that which is ingrate; and whether the body be alterant, or altered, evermore a perception precedeth operation; for else all bodies would be alike one to another. And sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it: we see a weather-glass will find the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold, when men find it not. And this perception also is sometimes at distance, as well as upon the touch; as when the loadstone draweth iron, or flame fireth naphtha of Babylon, a great distance off. It is therefore a subject of a very noble inquiry, to inquire of the more subtile perceptions: for it is another key to open nature, as well as the sense, and sometimes better. And, besides, it is a principal means of natural divination; for that which in these perceptions appeareth early, in the great effects cometh long after. It is true also, that it serveth to discover that which is hid, as well as to foretell that which is to come, as it is in many subtile trials; as to try whether seeds be old or new, the sense cannot inform; but if you boil them in water, the new seeds will sprout sooner: and so of water, the taste will not discover the best water; but the speedy consuming of it, and many other means, which we have heretofore set down, will discover it. So in all physiognomy, the lineaments of the body will discover those natural inclinations of the mind which dissimulation will conceal, or discipline will suppress. shall therefore now handle only those two perceptions, which pertain to natural divination and discovery; leaving the handling of perception in other things to be disposed elsewhere. Now it is true, that divination is attained by other means; as if you know the causes, if you know the con We tie ourselves here to that divination and discovery and the like may be said of discovery; but we chiefly, which is caused by an early or subtile perception. The aptness or propension of air, or water, to corrupt or putrefy, no doubt, is to be found before it break forth into manifest effects of diseases, blastings, or the like. We will therefore set down some prognostics of pestilential and unwholesome years. 801. The wind blowing much from the south without rain, and worms in the oak-apple, have been spoken of before. Also the plenty of frogs, grasshoppers, flies, and the like creatures bred of putrefaction, doth portend pestilential years. 802. Great and early heats in the spring, and namely in May, without winds, portend the same; and generally so do years with little wind or thunder. 803. Great droughts in summer lasting till towards the end of August, and some gentle showers upon them, and then some dry weather again, do portend a pestilent summer the year following: for about the end of August all the sweetness of the earth, which goeth into plants and trees, is exhaled, and much more if the August be dry, so that nothing then can breathe forth of the earth but a gross vapour, which is apt to corrupt the air: and that vapour, by the first showers, if they be gentle, is released, and cometh forth abundantly. Therefore they that come abroad soon after those showers, are commonly taken with sickness: and in Africa, nobody will stir out of doors after the first showers. But if the showers come vehemently, then they rather wash and fill the earth, than give it leave to breathe forth presently. But if dry weather come again, then it fixeth and continueth the corruption of the air, upon the first showers begun; and maketh it of ill influence, even to the next summer; except a very frosty winter discharge it, which seldom succeedeth such droughts. 804. The lesser infections, of the small-pox, purple fevers, agues, in the summer precedent, and hovering all winter, do portend a great pesti K lence in the summer following; for putrefaction either by the nature of the earth, or by the situadoth not rise to its height at once. 805. It were good to lay a piece of raw flesh or fish in the open air; and if it putrefy quickly, it is a sign of a disposition in the air to putrefaction. And because you cannot be informed whether the putrefaction be quick or late, except you compare this experiment with the like experiment in another year, it were not amiss in the same year, and at the same time, to lay one piece of flesh or fish in the open air, and another of the same kind and bigness within doors: for I judge, that if a general disposition be in the air to putrefy, the flesh, or fish, will sooner putrefy abroad where the air hath more power, than in the house, where it hath less, being many ways corrected. And this experiment would be made about the end of March for that season is likeliest to discover what the winter hath done, and what the summer following will do, upon the air. And because the air, no doubt, receiveth great tincture and infusion from the earth; it were good to try that exposing of flesh or fish, both upon a stake of wood some height above the earth, and upon the flat of the earth. 806. Take May-dew, and see whether it putrefy quickly or no; for that likewise may disclose the quality of the air, and vapour of the earth, more or less corrupted. 807. A dry March, and a dry May, portend a wholesome summer, if there be a showering April between: but otherwise it is a sign of a pestilential year. tion of woods and hills, the air is more unequal than in others; and inequality of air is ever an enemy to health; it were good to take two wea ther-glasses, matches in all things, and to set them, for the same hours of one day, in several places, where no shade is, nor enclosures; and to mark when you set them, how far the water cometh; and to compare them, when you come again, how the water standeth then; and if you find them unequal, you may be sure that the place where the water is lowest is in the warmer air, and the other in the colder. And the greater the inequality be, of the ascent or descent of the water, the greater is the inequality of the temper of the air. 812. The predictions likewise of cold and long winters, and hot and dry summers, are good to be known, as well for the discovery of the causes, as for divers provisions. That of plenty of haws, and hips, and brier-berries, hath been spoken of before. If wainscot, or stone, that have used to sweat, be more dry in the beginning of winter, or the drops of the eaves of houses come more slowly down than they use, it portendeth a hard and frosty winter. The cause is, for that it showeth an inclination of the air to dry weather, which in winter is ever joined with frost. 813. Generally a moist and cool summer portendeth a hard winter. The cause is, for that the vapours of the earth are not dissipated in the summer by the sun; and so they rebound upon the winter. 808. As the discovery of the disposition of the 814. A hot and dry summer, and autumn, and air is good for the prognostics of wholesome and especially if the heat and drought extend far into unwholesome years; so it is of much more use, September, portendeth an open beginning of winfor the choice of places to dwell in at the least, ter; and colds to succeed toward the latter part for lodges, and retiring places for health for of the winter, and the beginning of the spring: mansion-houses respect provisions as well as for till then the former heat and drought bear the health, wherein the experiments above-mentioned sway, and the vapours are not sufficiently multimay serve. plied. 809. But for the choice of places, or seats, it is good to make trial, not only of aptness of air to corrupt, but also of the moisture and dryness of the air, and the temper of it in heat or cold; for that may concern health diversely. We see that there be some houses, wherein sweetmeats will relent, and baked meats will mould, more than in others; and wainscots will also sweat more; so that they will almost run with water; all which, no doubt, are caused chiefly by the moistness of the air in those seats. But because it is better to know it before a man buildeth his house, than to find it after, take the experiments following. 810. Lay wool, or a sponge, or bread, in the place you will try, comparing it with some other places; and see whether it doth not moisten, and make the wool, or sponge, &c., more ponderous than the other: and if it do, you may judge of that place, as situated in a gross and moist air. 811. Because it is certain, that in some places, 815. An open and warm winter portendeth a hot and dry summer; for the vapours disperse into the winter showers; whereas cold and frost keepeth them in, and transporteth them into the late spring and summer following. 816. Birds that use to change countries at certain seasons, if they come earlier, do show the temperature of weather, according to that country whence they came: as the winter birds, namely, woodcocks, feldfares, &c., if they come earlier, and out of the northern countries, with us show cold winters. And if it be in the same country, then they show a temperature of season, like unto that season in which they come as swallows, bats, cuckoos, &c., that come towards summer, if they come early, show a hot summer to follow. 817. The prognostics, more immediate of weather to follow soon after, are more certain than those of seasons. The resounding of the sea upon the shore; and the murmur of winds in the woods, without apparent wind, show wind to follow; for such winds breathing chiefly out of the earth, are not at the first perceived, except they be pent by water or wood. And therefore a murmur out of caves likewise portendeth as much. 818. The upper regions of the air perceive the collection of the matter of tempests and winds, before the air here below; and therefore the obscuring of the smaller stars is a sign of tempest following. And of this kind you shall find a number of instances in our inquisition De ventis. 819. Great mountains have a perception of the disposition of the air to tempests, sooner than the valleys or plains below: and therefore they say in Wales, when certain hills have their night-caps on, they mean mischief. The cause is, for that tempests, which are for the most part bred above in the middle region, as they call it, are soonest perceived to collect in the places next it. 820. The air, and fire, have subtile perceptions of wind rising, before men find it. We see the trembling of a candle will discover a wind that otherwise we do not feel; and the flexuous burning of flames doth show the air beginneth to be unquiet; and so do coals of fire by casting off the ashes more than they use. The cause is, for that no wind at the first, till it hath struck and driven the air, is apparent to the sense; but flame is easier to move than air and for the ashes, it is no marvel, though wind unperceived shake them off; for we usually try which way the wind bloweth, by casting up grass, or chaff, or such light things into the air. 821. When wind expireth from under the sea, as it causeth some resounding of the water, whereof we spake before, so it causeth some light motions of bubbles, and white circles of froth. The cause is, for that the wind cannot be perceived by the sense, until there be an eruption of a great quantity from under the water; and so it getteth into a body: whereas in the first putting up it cometh in little portions. 822. We spake of the ashes that coals cast off; and of grass and chaff carried by the wind; so any light thing that moveth when we find no wind showeth a wind at hand; as when feathers, or down of thistles, fly to and fro in the air. For prognostics of weather from living creatures it is to be noted, that creatures that live in the open air, sub dio, must needs have a quicker impression from the air, than men that live most within doors; and especially birds who live in the air freest and clearest; and are aptest by their voice to tell tales what they find, and likewise by the motion of their flight to express the same. 823. Water-fowls, as sea-gulls, moor-hens, &c., when they flock and fly together from the sea towards the shores; and contrariwise, land-birds, as crows, swallows, &c., when they fly from the land to the waters, and beat the waters with their wings, do foreshow rain and wind. The cause is, pleasure that both kinds take in the moistness and density of the air; and so desire to be in motion, and upon the wing, whithersoever they would otherwise go; for it is no marvel, that water-fowl do joy most in that air which is likest water and land-birds also, many of them, delight in bathing, and moist air. For the same reason also, many birds do prune their feathers; and geese do gaggle; and crows seem to call upon rain: all which is but the comfort they seem to receive in the relenting of the air. 824. The heron, when she soareth high, so as sometimes she is seen to pass over a cloud, showeth winds: but kites flying aloft show fair and dry weather. The cause may be, for that they both mount most into the air of that temper wherein they delight: and the heron being a water-fowl, taketh pleasure in the air that is condensed; and besides, being but heavy of wing, needeth the help of the grosser air. But the kite affecteth not so much the grossness of the air, as the cold and freshness thereof: for being a bird of prey, and therefore hot, she delighteth in the fresh air, and many times flieth against the wind, as trouts and salmons swim against the stream. And yet it is true also, that all birds find an ease in the depth of the air, as swimmers do in a deep water. And therefore when they are aloft, they can uphold themselves with their wings spread, scarce moving them. 825. Fishes, when they play towards the top of the water, do commonly foretell rain. The cause is, for that a fish hating the dry, will not approach the air till it groweth moist; and when it is dry, will fly it, and swim lower. 826. Beasts do take comfort generally in a moist air: and it maketh them eat their meat better; and therefore sheep will get up betimes in the morning to feed against rain: and cattle, and deer, and conies, will feed hard before rain; and a heifer will put up her nose, and snuff in the air against rain. 827. The trefoil against rain swelleth in the stalk; and so standeth more upright: for by wet, stalks do erect, and leaves bow down. There is a small red flower in the stubble-fields, which country-people call the wincopipe; which if it open in the morning, you may be sure of a fair day to follow. 828. Even in men, aches, and hurts, and corns, do engrieve either towards rain, or towards frost: for the one maketh the humours more to abound; and the other maketh them sharper. So we see both extremes bring the gout. 829. Worms, vermin, &c., do foreshow likewise rain: for earthworms will come forth, and moles will cast up more, and fleas bite more, against rain. 830. Solid bodies likewise foreshow rain. As stones and wainscot, when they sweat: and boxes and pegs of woods, when they draw and wind hard; though the former be but from an outward | Certain it is, that bay-salt, which is but a kind cause; for that the stone, or wainscot, turneth of water congealed, will sometimes smell like and beateth back the air against itself; and the violets. latter is an inward swelling of the body of the wood itself. Experiment solitary touching the nature of appetite in the stomach. 831. Appetite is moved chiefly by things that are cold and dry; the cause is, for that cold is a kind of indigence of nature, and calleth upon supply; and so is dryness: and therefore all sour things, as vinegar, juice of lemons, oil of vitriol, &c., provoke appetite. And the disease which they call appetitus caninus, consisteth in the matter of an acid and glassy phlegm in the mouth of the stomach. Appetite is also moved by sour things; for that sour things induce a contraction in the nerves placed in the mouth of the stomach, which is a great cause of appetite. As for the cause why onions, and salt, and pepper in baked meats, move appetite, it is by vellication of those nerves; for motion whetteth. As for wormwood, olives, capers, and others of that kind, which participate of bitterness, they move appetite by abstersion. So as there be four principal causes of appetite; the refrigeration of the stomach joined with some dryness, contraction, vellication, and abstersion; besides hunger; which is an emptiness; and yet over-fasting doth, many times, cause the appetite to cease; for that want of meat maketh the stomach draw humours, and such humours as are light and choleric, which quench appetite most. Experiment solitary touching sweet smells. 833. To sweet smells heat is requisite to concoct the matter; and some moisture to spread the breath of them. For heat, we see that woods and spices are more odorate in the hot countries than in the cold: for moisture, we see that things too much dried lose their sweetness: and flowers growing, smell better in a morning or evening than at noon. Some sweet smells are destroyed by approach to the fire; as violets, wallflowers, gillyflowers, pinks; and generally all flowers that have cool and delicate spirits. Some continue both on the fire, and from the fire; as rosewater, &c. Some do scarce come forth, or at least not so pleasantly, as by means of the fire; as juniper, sweet gums, &c., and all smells that are enclosed in a fast body: but generally those smells are the most grateful, where the degree of heat is small; or where the strength of the smell is allayed; for these things do rather woo the sense, than satiate it. And therefore the smell of violets and roses exceedeth in sweetness that of spices and gums; and the strongest sort of smells are best in a weft afar off. Experiment solitary touching the corporeal substance of smells. 834. It is certain, that no smell issueth but with emission of some corporeal substance; not as it is in light, and colours, and in sounds. For we see plainly, that smell doth spread noExperiment solitary touching sweetness of odour thing that distance that the other do. It is true, from the rainbow. that some woods of oranges, and heaths of rosemary, will smell a great way into the sea, perhaps twenty miles; but what is that, since a peal of ordnance will do as much, which moveth in a small compass? Whereas those woods and heaths are of vast spaces; besides, we see that smells do adhere to hard bodies; as in perfuming of gloves, &c., which showeth them corporeal; and do last a great while, which sounds and light do not. odours. 832. It hath been observed by the ancients, that where a rainbow seemeth to hang over or to touch, there breatheth forth a sweet smell. The cause is, for that this happeneth but in certain matters, which have in themselves some sweetness; which the gentle dew of the rainbow doth draw forth: and the like do soft showers; for they also make the ground sweet: but none are so delicate as the dew of the rainbow where it falleth. It may be also that the water itself hath some sweetness; for the rainbow consisteth Experiment solitary touching fetid and fragrant of a glomeration of small drops, which cannot possibly fall but from the air that is very low; and therefore may hold the very sweetness of the herbs and flowers, as a distilled water; for rain, and other dew that fall from high, cannot preserve the smell, being dissipated in the drawing up neither do we know, whether some water itself may not have some degree of sweetness. It is true, that we find it sensibly in no pool, river, nor fountain; but good earth, newly turned up, hath a freshness and good scent; which water, if it be not too equal, for equal objects never move the sense, may also have. 835. The excrements of most creatures smell ill; chiefly to the same creature that voideth them: for we see, besides that of man, that pigeons and horses thrive best, if their houses and stables be kept sweet, and so of cage birds: and the cat burieth that which she voideth and it holdeth chiefly in those beasts which feed upon flesh. Dogs almost only of beasts delight in fetid odours, which showeth there is somewhat in their sense of smell differing from the smells of other beasts. But the cause why excrements smell ill is manifest; for that the body itself rejecteth to the more general axioms by scale. And of these kinds of processes of natures and characters of matter, we will now set down some instances. tion. 836. All putrefactions come chiefly from the inward spirits of the body; and partly also from the ambient body, be it air, liquor, or whatsoever else. And this last by two means: either by ingress of the substance of the ambient body into the body putrefied; or by excitation and solicitation of the body putrefied, and the parts thereof, by the body ambient. As for the received opinion, that putrefaction is caused, either by cold, or peregrine and preternatural heat, it is but nugation: for cold, in things inanimate, is the greatest enemy that is to putrefaction; though it extinguisheth vivification, which ever consisteth in spirits attenuate, which the cold doth congeal and coagulate. And as for the peregrine heat, it is thus far true, that if the proportion of the adventive heat be greatly predominant to the natural heat and spirits of the body, it tendeth to dissolution, or notable alteration. But this is wrought by emission, or suppression, or suffocation, of the native spirits; and also by the disordination and discomposture of the tangible parts, and other passages of nature, and not by a conflict of heats. them; much more the spirits: and we see that those excrements that are of the first digestion, smell the worst; as the excrements from the belly; those that are from the second digestion less ill: as urine; and those that are from the third, yet less: for sweat is not so bad as the Experiment solitary touching the causes of putrefacother two; especially of some persons, that are full of heat. Likewise most putrefactions are of an odious smell: for they smell either fetid or mouldy. The cause may be, for that putrefaction doth bring forth such a consistence, as is most contrary to the consistence of the body whilst it is sound: for it is a mere dissolution of that form. Besides, there is another reason, which is profound and it is, that the objects that please any of the senses have all some equality, and, as it were, order in their composition; but where those are wanting, the object is ever ingrate. So mixture of many disagreeing colours is ever unpleasant to the eye: mixture of discordant sounds is unpleasant to the ear: mixture, or hotchpotch of many tastes, is unpleasant to the taste; harshness and ruggedness of bodies is unpleasant to the touch; now it is certain, that all putrefaction, being a dissolution of the first form, is a mere confusion and unformed mixture of the part. Nevertheless it is strange, and seemeth to cross the former observation, that some putrefactions and excrements do yield excellent odours, as civet and musk; and, as some think, ambergrease: for divers take it, though improbably, to come from the sperm of fish: and the moss we spake of from apple-trees is little better than an excretion. The reason may be, for that there passeth in the excrements, and remaineth in the putrefactions, some good spirits; especially where they proeeed from creatures that are very hot. But it may be also joined with a further cause, which is more subtile; and it is, that the senses love not to be over-pleased, but to have a commixture of somewhat that is in itself ingrate. Certainly, we see how discords in music, falling upon concords, make the sweetest strains and we see again, what strange tastes delight the taste: as red herrings, caviary, parmesan, &c. And it may be the same holdeth in smells: for those kind of smells that we have mentioned, are all strong, and do pull and vellicate the sense. And we find also, that places where men urine, commonly have some smells of violets: and urine, if one hath eaten nutmeg, hath so too. The slothful, general, and indefinite contemplations, and notions, of the elements and their conjugations; of the influences of heaven; of heat, cold, moisture, drought, qualities active, passive, and the like, have swallowed up the true passages, and processes, and affects, and consistences of matter and natural bodies. Therefore they are to be set aside, being but notional and ill limited; and definite axioms are to be drawn out of measured instances: and so assent to be made VOL. II.-15 Experiment solitary touching bodies unperfectly mixed. 837. In versions, or main alterations of bodies, there is a medium between the body, as it is at first, and the body resulting; which medium is corpus imperfecte mistum, and is transitory, and not durable; as mists, smokes, vapours, chylus in the stomach, living creatures in the first vivification; and the middle action, which produceth such imperfect bodies, is fitly called, by some of the ancients, inquination, or inconcoction, which is a kind of putrefaction: for the parts are in confusion, till they settle one way or other. Experiment solitary touching concoction and crudity. 838. The word concoction, or digestion, is chiefly taken into use from living creatures and their organs; and from thence extended to liquors and fruits, &c. Therefore they speak of meat concocted; urine and excrements concocted; and the four digestions, in the stomach, in the liver, in the arteries and nerves, and in the several parts of the body, are likewise call concoctions: and they are all made to be the works of heat; all which notions are but ignorant catches of a few things, which are most obvious to men's observations. The constantest notion of concoction is, that it should signify the degrees of alteration, K 2 |