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ingredient is bitumen, do not quench with water, is, for that the first concretion of bitumen is a mixture of a fiery and watery substance; so is not sulphur. This appeareth, for that in the place near Puteoli, which they call the court of Vulcan, you shall hear under the earth a horrible thundering of fire and water conflicting together; and there break forth also spouts of boiling water. Now that place yieldeth great quantities of bitumen; whereas Ætna and Vesuvius, and the like, which consist upon sulphur, shoot forth smoke, and ashes, and pumice, but no water. It is reported also, that bitumen mingled with lime, and put under water, will make as it were an artificial rock; the substance becometh so hard. Erperiment solitary touching plaister growing as

hard as marble. 784. There is a cement, compounded of flour, whites of eggs, and stone powdered, that becometh hard as marble: wherewith Piscina Mirabilis, near Cuma, is said to have the walls plaistered. And it is certain and tried, that the powder of loadstone and Alint, by the addition of whites of eggs, and gumdragon, made into paste, will in a few days harden to the hardness of a stone.

Experiment solitary touching judgment of the cure

in some ulcers and hurts. 785. It hath been noted by the ancients, that in full or impure bodies, ulcers or hurts in the legs are hard to cure, and in the head more easy. The cause is, for that ulcers or hurts in the legs require desiccation, which by the defluxion of humours to the lower parts is hindered; whereas hurts and ulcers in the head require it not; but contrariwise dryness maketh them more apt to consolidate. And in modern observation, the like difference hath been found between Frenchmen and Englishmen; whereof the one's constitution is more dry, and the other's more moist. And therefore a hurt of the head is harder to cure in a Frenchman, and of the leg in an Englishman.

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Experiment solitary touching the healthfulness or unhealthfulness of the

southern wind. 786. It hath been noted by the ancients, that southern winds, blowing much, without rain, do cause a feverous disposition of the year; but with rain, not. The cause is, for that southern winds do of themselves qualify the air, to be apt to cause fevers; but when showers are joined, they do refrigerate in part, and check the sultry heat of the southern wind. Therefore this holdeth not in the sea-coasts, because the vapour of the sea, without showers, doth refresh.

Experiment solitary touching wounds. 787. It hath been noted by the ancients, that wounds which are made with brass heal more easily than wounds made of iron. The cause is, for that brass hath in itself a sanative virtue; and so in the very instant helpeth somewhat: but iron is corrosive, and not sanative. And therefore it were good, that the instruments which are used by chirurgeons about wounds, were rather of brass than iron. Experiment solitary touching mortification by cold.

788. In the cold countries, when men's noses and ears are mortified, and, as it were gangrened with cold, if they come to a fire they rot off presently. The cause is, for that the few spirits that remain in those parts, are suddenly drawn forth, and so putrefaction is made complete. But snow put upon them helpeth : for that it preserveth those spirits that remain, till they can revive; and besides, snow hath in it a secret warmth: as the monk proved out of the text; qui dat nivem sicut lanam, gelu sicut cineres spargit. Whereby he did infer, that snow did warm like wool, and frost did fret like ashes. Warm water also doth good; because by little and little it openeth the pores, without any sudden working upon the spirits. This experiment may be transferred to the cure of gangrenes, either coming of themselves, or induced by too much applying of opiates; wherein you must beware of

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dry heat, and resort to things that are refrigerant, with an inward warmth, and virtue of cherishing.

Experiment solitary touching weight. 789. WEigh iron and aqua fortis severally; then dissolve the iron in the aqua fortis, and weigh the dissolution; and you shall find it to bear as good weight as the bodies did severally: notwithstanding a good deal of waste by a thick vapour that issueth during the working; which sheweth that the opening of a body doth increase the weight. This was tried once or twice, but I know not whether there were any error in the trial. Experiment solitary touching the super-natation

of bodies. 790. Take of aqua fortis two ounces, of quicksilver two drams, for that charge the aqua fortis will bear, the dissolution will not bear a flint as big as a nutmeg : yet, no doubt, the increasing of the weight of water will increase its power of bearing; as we see brine, when it is salt enough, will bear an egg. And I remember well a physician, that used to give some mineral baths for the gout, etc. and the body, when it was put into the bath, could not get down so easily as in ordinary water. But it seemeth the weight of the quicksilver more than the weight of a stone, doth not compense the weight of a stone more than the weight of the aqua fortis. Experiment solitary touching the flying of unequal

bodies in the air. 791. Let there be a body of unequal weight, as of wood and lead, or bone and lead, if you throw it from you with the light end forward, it will turn, and the weightier end will recover to be forwards ; unless the body be over-long. The cause is, for that the more dense body hath a more violent pressure of the parts from the first impulsion ; which is the cause, though heretofore not found out, as hath been often said, of all violent motions; and when the hinder part moveth

swifter, for thatit less endureth pressure of parts, than the forward part can make way for it, it must needs be that the body turn over : for, turned, it can more easily draw forward the lighter part. Galilæus noteth it well, that if an open trough wherein water is, be driven faster than the water can follow, the water gathereth upon a heap towards the hinder end, where the motion began, which he supposeth, holding confidently the motion of the earth, to be the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the ocean; because the earth overrunneth the water. Which theory, though it be false, yet the first experiment is true. As for the inequality of the pressure of parts, it appeareth manifestly in this; that if you take a body of stone or iron, and another of wood, of the same magnitude and shape, and throw them with equal force, you cannot possibly throw the wood so far as the stone or iron. Experiment solitary touching water, that it may be

the medium of sounds. 792. It is certain, as it hath been formerly in part touched, that water may be the medium of sounds. If

you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound. So a long pole struck upon gravel in the bottom of the water maketh a sound. Nay, if you should think that the sound cometh up by the pole, and not by the water, you shall find that an anchor let down by a rope maketh a sound : and yet the rope is no solid body whereby the sound can ascend. Experiment solitary of the flight of the spirits upon

odious objects. 793. All objects of the senses which are very offensive, do cause the spirits to retire : and upon their flight, the parts are, in some degree, destitute ; and so there is induced in them a trepidation and horror. For sounds, we see that the grating of a saw, or any very harsh noise, will set the teeth on edge, and make all the body shiver. For tastes, we see that in the taking of a potion or pills, the head and the neck shake. For odious smells, the like effect followeth, which is less perceived, because there is a remedy at hand by stopping of the nose ; but in horses, that can use no such help, we see the smell of a carrion, especially of a dead horse, maketh them fly away, and take on almost as if they were mad. For feeling, if you come out of the sun suddenly into a shade, there followeth a chilness or shivering in all the body. And even in sight, which hath in effect no odious object, coming into sudden darkness, induceth an offer to shiver.

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Experiment solitary touching the super-reflection

of echos. 794. THERE is in the city of Ticinum in Italy, a church that hath windows only from above: it is in length a hundred feet, in breadth twenty feet, and in height near fifty; having a door in the midst. It reporteth the voice twelve or thirteen times, if you stand by the close end-wall over-against the door. The echo fadeth, and dieth by little and little, as the echo at Pont-Charenton doth. And the voice soundeth as if it came from above the door. And if you stand at the lower end, or on either side of the door, the echo holdeth ; but if you stand in the door, or in the midst just over-against the door, not. Note, that all echos sound better against old walls than new; because they are more dry and hollow. Experiment solitary touching the force of imagi

nation, imitating that of the sense. 795. Those effects which are wrought by the percussion of the sense, and by things in fact, are produced likewise in some degree by the imagination. Therefore if a man see another eat sour or acid things, which set the teeth on edge, this object tainteth the imagination. So that he that seeth the thing done by another, hath his own teeth also set on edge. So if a man see another turn swiftly and long, or if he look upon

wheels that turn, himself waxeth turn-sick.

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