A General Idea OF THE EPITOMY OF THE WORKS OF Robert Boyle, Esq; To which are Added General HEADS FOR THE Natural HISTORY OF A COUNTRY.

By R. BOƲLTON, Of Brazen-Nose College Oxon.

LONDON: Printed in the Year, 1700.

THE PREFACE.

HAving already Epitomized the Honu­rable Author's Works, I thought it might not be amiss to give the Reader a short View of what hath been taught in the foregoing Epitomy; for tho' I question not but that most Readers are sufficiently able to remember what is contained in those Vo­lumes, yet it may be of use to some to recol­lect their Memories, by putting them in mind of the most General Doctrines contained therein: I say, the most General, because in this short Abstract the Reader must not expect that I should comprize the Contents of the whole Epitomy, since the greatest part of that consists of Experiments laid down as Proofs of what the Author hath, upon par­ticular Occasions, asserted; which Experi­ments could not be decyphered in much fewer Words than I have made use of: All there­fore that I now pretend to, is, to shew what is generally taught in those Papers, without laying down any Proofs at all, and without [Page]making use of more Words than are sufficient to express his General Assertions. So that if the Reader questions the Truth of any thing contained in these Sheets, he is desired to turn to the Epitomy, where he will find the same things laid down more largely, and abundantly proved by Particular Experi­ments.

Note, That every Chapter contains a Book of the Epitomy, and every Se­ction the Contents of a distinct Chapter.

As for the General Heads laid down for the Promoting of the Natural History of a Country, the Reason why I have annex'd them to this General Idea, is, That they might be bound up alone without the Epito­my, for the sake of those who go beyond Seas, and desire only to carry along with those Di­rections General Notions of Mr. Boyle's Philosophy: Which if it may be of use to such, it will answer the Design of the Reader's

Humble Servant, R. BOƲLTON.

A General Idea OF THE WORKS Of the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE, Esq; EPITOMIZ'D.

CHAP. I.

SECT. I.

HAVING already so far Epitomized the Honourable Author's Works, that the Reader might have an en­tire View of what that Learned Promoter of Useful Knowledge had writ, with­out being at the Pains and Trouble to read over so many distinct Tracts, and those less useful Digressions and Prolixities which most People complain rendered that Author's Works too tedious; I shall now, for Reasons already of­fered [Page 2]in my Preface, proceed to give a General Idea of that Epitomy.

And first he teaches, That the Matter of all Natural Bodies is the same, viz. A divisible, impenetrable, and extended Substance.

And since, were all the Parts of Matter per­petually at rest, there could be no Change in Matter, in order to form a Variety of Natu­ral Bodies, it was requisite there should be a variously determined Motion in all the Parts of it, or at least some of them; and Matter being naturally divided into Parts by Motion, the Parts divided must have a peculiar Size and Shape, and either Rest or Motion; so that Mat­ter hath these Three, Primary Affections, Mag­nitude, Shape, and either Rest or Motion. And

These Primary Affections of Matter being allowed, it will follow, that there must be a certain Position or Situation of the Parts of Bo­dies so divided; and the Disposition and Con­trivance of the Parts of the Whole may rea­sonably be called their Texture or Modifica­tion; and consequently as that Texture or Mo­dification is different, the Qualities of that Bo­dy will vary; for as the Disposition of the Parts of a Body are peculiarly adapted to cause such or such Effects, its Power to cause them gives us Reason to say it is endowed with such Qualities, in reference to the Bodies acted on.

And as for the Forms of Bodies, so much disputed by Philosophers, we may easily sup­pose them to be owing to an Association of Ac­cidents requisite to compose a Body of this or [Page 3]that kind, the Texture of which, united, may reasonably be call'd their Form; and that a Convention of Accidents is capable of per­forming what we usually ascribe to a Form, is evident, since they are sufficient to discriminate it from all other Species of Bodies.

Nor will it be difficult to explain Genera­tion, Alteration, and Corruption by the afore­mentioned Doctrine; for when there is such a Concurrence of Accidents as are requisite to constitute any Species, a new Species is said to be genreated, pre-existent Matter acquiring a new kind of Existence or Modification; and when that Essential Modification is dissolved, the Body is said to be corrupted: And as for Putrefaction, it seems to be but a slower kind of Corruption, where the essential Qualities of a Body are only more slowly altered, but not destroyed.

SECT. II.

These things premised in General, concern­ing the Origin of all mixed Bodies, it may be seasonable to note farther, in Reference to Par­ticular Qualities, That in Compound Bodies they are very much different from those be­longing to the seperate Ingredients; so that Qualities may result from Mixtures as well as from an Alteration of the Texture, and Mo­tion of the Parts of the Ingredients.

But we are not always to consider the Ef­fects of mixed Bodies as the bare Result of the Parts of Matter of such a determinate Texture, but placed amongst other Bodies, on which [Page 4]they may variously act and be acted on, as the Agents and Patients differ amongst each other, in respect of their Size, Shape, Posture, Or­der, Texture, Pores, or Effluviums, Rest or Motion; upon which accounts they are able to produce a great Variety of Effects: For we see a strange Variety of Sounds produced alone by Musical Instruments, not to mention a vast Number of other Accidents owing to it. But there are not only Qualities very various in Effects in several Bodies, but even in the same that are homogenious as to sense. Instances of which are at large produced in the Second Chapter of the Epitomy, Vol. I. p. 26.

SECT. III.

In the Third Chapter of the Epitomy, Vol. I. Book I. Reasons are offered against the Aristo­telian Doctrine of Forms; from whence it ap­pears, That the substantial Forms urged by the Schools are not the Causes of the various Forms of Mixed Bodies, but that they really depend on the different Textures and Modifications of the Compound.

SECT. IV.

Chap. IV. shews, That tho' the Ingredients of a Compound uniting, make one Form, yet each of the Ingredients retain their peculiar Attributes and Qualities, and have each their peculiar Forms; which tho' they are subordi­nate to the General Form of the Composition, [Page 5]yet they are nevertheless Specifick, in respect of those Ingredients they belong to, as each Part of a Tree hath its peculiar Forms, distinct from the Form of the Whole, accordingly as the Juices and Virtues of the Salt of those Parts differ, and as their essential Textures vary.

And in this Chapter we are farther told, That the Faculties and Virtues of Animals and Plants depend not wholly on the Forms of mixed Bo­dies, considered as such, since the Effects of a Compound Body may be attributed to the mixed Action of the Compound Ingredients, each of those Bodies co-operating and modifying each others Actions; and this is evident, since, up­on a Dissolution of that Union, each Body hath its determinate Form and Virtue.

But here we must take notice, That some­times, when the Specifick Form of a Body is destroyed, the Qualities remaining may not al­ways be the Result of united, subordinate Forms, but depend on the determinate Forms of parti­cular Parts of that Body; and sometimes seve­ral new Qualities may be added to a Body up­on the Abolition of a specifick Form, by the Influence of external Agents.

And to what hath been said concerning sub­ordinate Forms, we may add the following Par­ticulars.

I. That it is no difficult Matter to determine the Nobleness of Forms.

II. Tho' several Alterations are made in Bo­dies by a Recess or Access of Qualities, yet they retain the same Denomination, and are said to [Page 6]have the same Form, by reason of some Emi­nent Quality or Use.

III. Several Effects will be produced by Com­pound Bodies, upon the account of the Union and Joint-Action of their Ingredients.

IV. Sometimes a superadded Form is acciden­tal to a pre-existent; yet it modifies the Opera­tion of it, without altering its Nature.

V. Besides the Operations of a Body, which are specifick, in respect of the whole, it may have several Effects depending on the seperate and particular Properties of an Ingredient.

VI. That is often called the specifick Form in Bodies, which is not the presiding, but the most eminent.

VII. The Forms of a Body, generally called Subordinate, may with more Reason be called Concurrent, since upon their Coalition depends the Form of the Whole.

SECT. V.

The Fifth Chapter shews, That a slight Va­riation of Texture produced by Motion, is able to discriminate Natural Bodies, and to cause them to have different Effects; as Ice and Salt will freeze other Liquors, tho' Water and Salt will not: Where it is also made to appear, that the Productions of Art are really the Effects of Nature, since the Artist only puts Natural Bodies together, but their Effects are really pro­duced according to the Laws of Nature.

SECT. VI.

The Sixth Chapter teaches, That the curious and various Figures of Salts may be produced without the Assistance of a Plastick Power, and may result from a bare Connexion of Metalline and Saline Bodies; and their Figures may vary according to the different Quantities of Liquors, or the Space of Time they shoot in. And as for Acids, they are observed to shoot into Chry­stals, variously figured, according to the Na­ture of the Menstruum, or the Bodies it works upon; and that by slight Alterations, without the Assistance of substantial Forms, Salts may be obtained, appears from several Experiments laid down in that Chapter.

SECT. VII.

The Eighth and Ninth Chapters, containing several Experiments, from whence it appears, consonant to what hath been already delivered, That by Alteration of Texture, and a new Modification of Matter, several Changes may be wrought in Bodies, without the Help of sub­stantial Forms: From which Experiments seve­ral Inferences are drawn to shew the Absurdity of the Aristotelian Principles.

SECT. VIII.

The Tenth Chapter contains several Expe­riments, to shew, That by an Alteration of the Textures of Bodies, several Qualities may be destroyed in a Body, and regained again, and particularly in Salt-petre: As also, That the same Particles of Matter may have different Ef­fects, when in a fluid Form, from what they have when solid. And in the same Chapter it is made to appear, That Chymistry rather de­stroys than discovers the Principles of Natural Bodies.

SECT. IX.

In the Eleventh Chapter, which contains the History of Fluidity, we are told, That a Body is said to be fluid, because it consists of Parts which easily slip upon one another's Surfaces, to which they are inclined by their porous In­terstices; and because, by the Motion of their Parts, they spread and diffuse themselves on every side, till opposed by some solid Body, to the Superficies of which they adapt themselves.

And in the same Chapter we are farther taught, That in order to render a Body fluid, it is requisite the Parts of them should be very minute, as also of a determinate Figure; That there should be Pores betwixt their Parts, and that their Parts should be in a perpetual and a variously determined Motion. It also shews us how a Fluid may be obtained from a Con­sistent [Page 9]Body; and having illustrated the Do­ctrine of Fluidity by Experience, it farther makes it evident, That the Reason why some Fluids will not mix with others, is only their particular Textures, and peculiar Motion of their Parts.

SECT. X.

The Twelfth Chapter shews, That the Su­perficies of Liquids pressing one against another, give each other different and determinate Fi­gures.

SECT. XI.

The Thirteenth Chapter gives us the History of Firmness, and tells us, That Solidity consists in this, viz. That the gross Parts of solid Bo­dies are so interwoven together, that they are unapt to diffuse themselves several ways, like Fluids; and that the Figure of their Superficies is chiefly owing to the Connexion of the Parts that compose them, rather than to outward Bodies; so that these Three Things seem chiefly to be the Causes of Solidity, Grossness of Parts, Rest, and the Implication of their Constituent Parts.

In this Chapter he also teaches, That a Juxta-Position of Parts is not the only Cause of Co­hesion, but that the weight and spring of the Air is one great Cause; nevertheless a Juxta-Position of the Parts of Glass seems requisite and sufficient to make so compact a Substance, the Parts of the Matter of which it is composed [Page 10]being first minutely divided by the Fire before their Union. And

In this Chapter he farther teaches us, That the Figures and Textures of the Parts of a Bo­dy may not only contribute to their Solidity, but that some Liquids may become solid upon the Interposition of the minute Parts of ano­ther Body; and that a Liquor may become so­lid upon the Addition of a Powder only. And

In the same Chapter we are farther taught, That fluid Bodies consist not of Parts divisible into Fluid, as Quantity into Quantity; That there is a Plastick Power inherent in several Bodies, and that Mixture is sufficient to pro­duce Petrification.

SECT. XII.

The Fourteenth Chapter contains several In­stances, to shew, That there is a Motion in the Parts of Consistent and even Solid Bodies.

SECT. XIII.

The Fifteenth Chapter, treating of the great Effects of languid and unheeded Motion, brings several Instances and Observations to prove

I. The great Efficacy of Celerity in Bodies very small, especially if the space they move through be but small, as in Lightning.

II. That the insensible Motion of so soft Bo­dies [Page 11]as Fluids, may have a sensible Operation upon solid Bodies, as in Sounds, when they shake the Windows of a House, &c. at a con­siderable distance.

III. The Number of the insensible Parts of Matter put into Motion, enables them to per­form several things.

IV. That Local Motion may be propagated through several Mediums, and even Solid Bo­dies.

V. The Effects of particular Modifications of the Invisible Motions of Fluids on Animal Bodies disposed to be worked upon by them, are very considerable, as when a particular Note of a Musical Instrument hath a peculiar Effect upon particular Animals.

VI. The Effects of Fluids upon inanimate Bo­dies, upon the account of a particular Texture and Modification of the Agent and the Patient, are also considerable.

VII. Some Bodies are looked upon to have their Parts absolutely at rest when they are only in a State of Tension or Compression.

VIII. We are too apt to take notice of the visible Effects of Bodies one upon another, with­out considering the intestine Motion of their Parts.

CHAP. II.

SECT. I.

THE First Chapter of the Second Book, treating of the Cosmical Qualities of Things, teaches us, That Cosmical Qualities depend partly on the Influence of external A­gents, as well as the primary Affections of Mat­ter. So that

I. Some Bodies are altogether inactive, till they are acted on; and that others are put into Action chiefly by the Influence of Catholick and unheeded Agents.

II. There are several Bodies, which, when put into Action, are subtle enough to insinuate themselves into the Pores of other Bodies, which they are forced to act on by the established Laws of Nature; an Instance of which we have in the Expansive force of Beans soaked with Water.

III. An Alteration of the Mechanical Tex­ture of a Body, is enough to dispose it, or ren­der it unapt to be worked on by those unheed-Agents.

SECT. II.

In the Second Chapter he proposes the follow­ing Suspicions or Conjectures.

I. That there are several Parts of Matter in the Aether, which are variously disposed to work upon Bodies, according to the various Textures of those Bodies they chance to work upon, or according to the difference of the A­gents they work concurrently with.

II. He tells us, That several People have dis­covered Pestilential Steams in the Air, before they began to act as such upon other Bodies.

III. He suspects, That there have been Chan­ges considerable enough in the Internal Parts of the Earth, from whence may be deduced a Reason of the irregular Variation of the Mari­ners Needle.

IV. He supposes the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea, and such like Phaenomena, to proceed from some Cosmical Law of Nature; or that the Planetary Vortex may be not a little con­cerned in the producing such Effects.

V. He supposes all Endemical and Epidemical Distempers to be chiefly owing to the Influence of those Globes which move about vs, and the Terrestrial Effluvia of our own Globe.

SECT. III.

The Third Chapter, treating of the Tem­perature of Subterraneal Regions, as to Heat and Cold, divides them into Three Regions, and tells us, That the Bounds, as well as Tem­perature of the First, are very different.

That the Temperature of the Second seems to be colder than that above or that below it, [Page 14]being remoter both from the Influence of Exter­nal as well as Subterraneal Heat.

In several Places, which may be referred to this middle Region, the Temperature of the Air is different at the same Seasons of the Year; besides, the different Temper of Subterraneal Regions may be varied by the Soil.

And farther, The Temper of the Third Region is warm, which Warmth varies in se­veral Places.

SECT. IV.

In the Fourth Chapter he only assigns Two Regions to the Sea, the one extended from the Superfices of the Water, as far as the Sun-Beams penetrate, and the other from thence to the utmost Depth of the Water; so that the upper-Region must vary, as to its Extent, ac­cording to the Difference of the Climate, and the Heat of the Sun, or the Nature of the Soils about the Shore; as for the lower-Region it is generally cold.

SECT. V.

The Fifth Chapter informs us, That the bot­tom of the Sea is very rough and unequal; That the Water gravitates considerably upon Bodies immersed in it; That the Bottom of the Sea is not disturbed with Storms, but that the Water almost stagnates.

SECT. VI.

The Sixth Chapter gives the following Ac­count of Coral, viz. That when first taken up, it is soft, flexible, and very pale; but when the Bark is taken off, and it hath been exposed to the Air, its natural Redness presently appears. It is much paler on the Inside, than on the out­ward Superfices.

This Chapter likewise informs us, That se­veral Trees in Africa are observed to grow un­der Water.

SECT. VII.

The Proportion of Salt to Water in Sea-Water, is observed to be as One to Forty; which Salt is supplied by Salt-Rocks, contigu­ous, or near the Water; or by Salt washed away and carried along by Springs and Rain-Water, which float into the Ocean, or by La­tent-Springs.

As for the Bitterness commonly observed in Sea-Water, it probably proceeds from some bi­tuminous Bodies, carried along with Spring-Water into the Sea. And to these Observa­tions he adds, That Agitation is very requisite to keep Sea-Water from stinking; and as to its Saltness, That it is observed to differ much in the Degrees of its Saltness.

SECT. VIII.

The Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and the Eleventh Chapters, chiefly consists of Queries proposed for the Natural History of Mineral Waters: Therefore I shall only take Notice here, that he gives the following Directions in trying Mine­ral Waters.

1. To observe the Changes of Colours made by Tinctures, in a good Light, which may help to distinguish what Mineral Tinctures they are impregnated with.

2. To vary the Shades of Colours produced by Mineral Waters, either by dropping such Waters upon Paper, whose Pores are salurated with powdered Vitriol, or tinged with a Deco­ction of Logwood. Several Variations in Co­lours may be also made by dropping other Me­dicinal Liquors either into the Mineral Wa­ters, or the Infusion of Galls, either before or after.

3. He recommends for such Trials, not only the Parts of Astringent Plants, but Animal, and especially Mineral Substances.

SECT. IX.

In the Twelfth Chapter he tells us, That the Natural States of Bodies vary according to the Difference of Climates; so that it is the Natu­ral State of Water in some Parts and Seasons, [Page 17]to be froze, and turned into Ice, and in others to be always fluid. And he farther adds, That all violent States of Matter are not preternatu­ral; and that it is a common Error, That no­thing violent is durable, since it is evident, that the Atmosphere we live in is always in a forced or a compressed State.

SECT. X.

The Thirteenth Chapter contains a Descrip­tion of Mr. Boyle's Pneumatick Engine, as also several Experiments tried with it; from whence it appears, That the Air acts upon most Bodies, by virtue of its Springiness, by which it is in­clined always to expand; and by its Weight, by which it in its Gravitation presses upon Bo­dies below it, proportionably to the Weight of an incumbent Pillar of Air: And by virtue of this Weight it is that Mercury is raised in Weather-Glasses, and Water in Pumps.

And by several other Experiments made in an exhausted Receiver, it appears, That tho' Gun­powder will not explode when the Air presses not upon it, nor will Fire burn: Yet in the ex­hausted Receiver it is observed, That a Load­stone hath, externally applied, considerable Effects on Bodies contained in it; but Sounds are not propagated in vacuo.

In this Chapter he likewise farther teaches why two flat polished Marbles adhere to each other, viz. By the Compression of the Atmo­sphere. As also, he tells us, That the Weight of the Atmosphere was able to raise a Hundred [Page 18]Pound Weight, tied to the Sucker of the Pump, depressed, when the Receiver was exhausted.

And in this Chapter he farther adds Experi­ments, which shew, That the Pressure of the Air is the Chief Cause of Filtration: And as for the Distinction of the Proportion betwixt the Weight of Air and Water, he proves it to be but as 1 to 938; That the Proportion of Quick-silver is as 14000 to 1.

And besides these, he hath made several Ex­periments and Observations, which prove what Effects the Exhausted Receiver hath on Animals included in it, and how long they are able to continue alive without Air.

SECT. XI.

The Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Chapters, only contain a Defence of what hath been delivered in the foregoing Chapter; or Objections against what other Men have taught. And the Subjects of the follow­ing Chapters, to the Twenty ninth, being of the like nature, I shall not here tell what Noti­ons he hath confuted; but since he hath taught nothing, but only defended his former Asserti­ons, I shall refer the Reader to the Epitomy.

SECT. XII.

The Nineteenth Chapter only contains a De­scription of an Engine made use of in the Ex­periments which fill up the next Chapter; where [Page 19]it is made to appear, That Air is able barely by its Spring to raise Mercury in a Tube; as also, That Heat may be caused by a bare Attrition in an exhausted Receiver; That the Spring of the Air is able to burst Bladders, and to raise a considerable Weight; as also, That such one is able to raise Mercury no higher than the Weight of the Atmosphere is able to impel it; and like­wise to what heighth Mercury and Water may be raised proportionably to their Specifick Gra­vity.

And in this Chapter we are farther told how to discover the Pressure of the Air by the Touch, and how to make portable Baromelers; as also we are here taught, That in an exhausted Re­ceiver a Spring may be raised without any diffi­culty; yet when the Air is let in, it will be violently depressed again, and not be raised again so easily.

And in the same Chapter it is likewise made to appear, That Cupping-Glasses are caused to stick by the Pressure of the Air.

There are several other Particular Experi­ments contained in this Volume, which I shall not here take notice of, for Reasons offered in my Preface.

CHAP. III.

SECT. I.

THE First Chapter of the Third Book, beginning the Second Volume, contains several Experiments to prove farther the Weight and Spring of the Air; from whence it appears, That the Cause of the Ascent of Water in Syringes is to be derived from the Pressure of the Air; That Light may be produced in vacuo Boyliano; That by a small Quantity of included Air 50 or 60 Pound, or a greater Weight, may be raised in the exhausted Receiver.

SECT. II.

The Second Chapter contains Descriptions of several Engines made use of in succeeding Expe­riments.

SECT. III.

The Third Chapter shews, That the Produ­ctions of Air may be helped several ways, and that it may be obtained from Bread, Grapes, Raisins, Plumbs, Mustard, boiled Apples, &c.

In this Chapter we are likewise told how the Production of Air may be hindred, as by Cold, by making use of Spirit of Wine along with the [Page 21]Body included in vacuo; or by employing Vine­gar, by Compression; by Water, or Leaven.

And in this Chapter we are farther taught, That the Effects of Artificial Air are different from the Effects of Common Air; as also, That the Effects of Compressed Air are different from those of Common Air; That Animals cannot live in Artificial Air; That the Consumption of Combustible Matter is promoted by the Con­densation of the Air; That Air is produced from dried Fruits, without any Regularity; That Bodies afford as much Air as they can be­fore they putrifie; That Artificial Air may be destroyed; That Liquors may acquire a Sour­ness, tho' no Spirits evaporate; That fermen­ted Liquors may preserve Fruit; That Beer may preserve Beef; and, That tho' Fishes yield not so much Air as Flesh, yet they will corrupt, tho' not affected by the outward Air; That Butter may be preserved a long time, if kept from the Contact of the outward Air; That Sugar does not preserve Fruit as well as fer­mented Liquors; Flesh may be kept fresh, if kept in a strong compressed Air, in a Receiver.

SECT. IV.

The Fourth Chapter shews, That Bodies may be preserved a long time in Vacuo Boyliano, without boiling.

SECT. V.

The Fifth Chapter shews, That Air may be­come unfit for Respiration, and yet retain its usual Pressure; and also several Experiments, to shew how long some sort of Animals may live without Air longer than others.

SECT. VI.

The Sixth Chapter contains Animadversions on Mr. Hobbe's Problemata de Vacuo; and proves, That the Atmosphere is the chief Cause of the Rise of Water upon Suction.

SECT. VII.

The Seventh Chapter delivers the Cause of Attraction by Suction, and tells us, That it chiefly depends on the external Pressure of the Air, when it is taken off the Internal Surface of the Liquor in a Tube: And farther,

I. That a Liquor may be raised by Suction, when the Pressure of the Air, neither as it hath Weight, nor Elasticity, is the Cause of its Ele­vation.

II. That the Weight of the Atmospherical Air is sufficient to raise up Liquors by Suction.

SECT. VIII.

The Eighth Chapter contains Observations and Directions about the Barometer; and the Ninth contains only a Description of a new kind of Baroscope.

SECT. IX.

The Tenth Chapter contains a Discovery of the admirable Rarifaction of the Air, without Heat, it being rarified so as to possess 8232 times, its former Dimensions, and sometimes to 10000.

SECT. X.

The Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Chapters, shew, That the Duration of the Spring of expanded Air is very considerable; That the Air may be compressed into an eighth part of its former Space; That the Proportion, as to the Degrees of Rarification and Condensation, is as 1 to 70.

SECT. XI.

The Fourteenth Chapter gives us a brief Ac­count of the Utilities of Higgroscopes, and tells us, That the General Use is to estimate the Changes of the Air, as to moisture and driness; and the particular Uses of them is to know the [Page 24]differing Variations of Weather in the same Month, Day, and Hour; To know how much one Season is drier or moister than another; To discover and compare the Changes of the Tem­perature of the Air, made by Winds, strong or weak; Frosty, Snowy, and other Weather; To compare the Temperature of differing Hou­ses and differing Rooms in the same House; To observe in a Chamber the Effects of the Presence or Absence of Fire in a Chimney or Stove; To keep a Chamber at the same Degree or assigned Degree of Driness.

SECT. XII.

The Eighteenth Chapter shews the Efficacy [...] the Air's Moisture, in contracting Ropes, [...]elling of Timber, and bursting of Marca­ [...]s.

SECT. XIII.

The Nineteenth Chapter contains an Account of some unheeded Causes of the Insalubrity and Salubrity of the Air, under the following Pro­positions:

I. That it seems probable, that in divers Places, the Salubrity or Insalubrity of the Air, considered in General, may be in good part due to the subterraneal Expirations, especially those called Ordinary Emissions.

II. It is probable, that in divers Places some Endemical Diseases do chiefly or partly depend on Subterraneal Steams.

III. It is likely that divers Epidemical Disea­ses are in great part produced by Subterraneal Effluvia.

IV. It is probable that most of the Diseases that Physicians call New ones, are caused either chiefly or concurrently by Subterraneal Steams.

SECT. XIV.

The Twentieth and Twenty first Chapters shew, That there are several Latent Qualities in the Air, which arise from the Union and Conjunction of other Bodies with it, some of which may possibly be raised by the Heat of the Sun Beams; and also, That the Air seems to contain in it all sorts of Seminal Principles.

SECT. XV.

The Twenty second Chapter contains an En­deavour to Improve Artificial Magnets. And the Twenty third and fourth Chapters shew, That Magnetical Qualities depend on a Me­chanical Construction of the Constituent Parts of a Body, since that Quality may be altered by the Effects of Fire, and other Concurrent Ac­cidents, which can only Mechanically affect it.

SECT. XVI.

The Twenty fifth Chapter proves, by several Experiments, That Electricity may be Mecha­nically produced or destroyed.

SECT. XVII.

The Twenty sixth Chapter contains a Gene­ral History of the Air; in which, since nothing is contained but what is Historical, it is not possible to relate the Substance in less room than it is there contained.

CHAP. IV.

SECT. I.

THE First Chapter of the Fourth Book proves, That Tastes may be Mechanical­ly produced.

SECT. II.

The Second and Third Chapters prove, That Odours and Colours depend on a Mechanical Texture of the Body endowed with them.

SECT. III.

The Fourth Chapter contains an Experimen­tal History of Colours; from whence it ap­pears, That Diversity of Colours frequently de­note different Properties in Bodies, and that the Perception of Colours depends on a parti­cular Motion given to the Spirits in the Retina, and communicated to the Brain.

As for the Cause of Colours, it depends on the various and differently modified Superficies of Bodies, or the various Figures of the super­ficial Parts, and their Situation, and sometimes the Motion of a Body, by which it is enabled to reflect the Rays of Light variously to the Eye.

As to Particular Colours, in the Fifth Chap­ter we are told, That Whiteness depends on such a Superficial Texture as reflects the Rays of Light, not upon one another, but upon the Spectator's Eye, by reflecting them without Re­fraction; and that the Surfaces of White Bodies are Specular, and by a Change of the Texture of its Parts, a Body may be deprived of that Colour.

Blackness differs from White, in as much as the Rays of Light are reflected inwards, and not upon the Eye, the Pratuberant Parts yield­ing to the Impression of those Lucid Rays.

The Sixth and Seventh Chapters contains se­veral Experiments, which prove, That White­ness and Blackness may be Mechanically altered or produced.

CHAP. V.

SECT. I.

IN the First Chapter of the Appendix to the Fourth Book, he teaches, That Cold may be Mechanically produced or destroyed, by a bare Change of Texture, or Alterations other­wise Mechanically brought on, without the As­sistance of the Aristotelian substantial Forms, or the Hypostatical Principles of the Chymists.

SECT. II.

Shews us, That not only Weather-Glasses but our Senses may misinform us about Cold, and the account of several Predispositions and the Temper of our Sensories; as we feel it colder in the Air, when we come out of a hot Bath, than when only out of a warm Room, &c.

SECT. III.

The Third Chapter contains Observations about the Deficiencies of Weather-Glasses, &c. which since they teach us only how to learn to improve the use of them, and since they can­not be expressed in fewer Words, I must take no farther notice of them.

SECT. IV.

Tells us, That the Cause of the Condensa­tion of the Air in Weather-Glasses, and the Ascent of Water by Cold, depend on the Pres­sure of the external Air gravitating upon the Surface of the Water without the Pipe, and over-powering the Spring of the Internal Air, weakened by Cold.

SECT. V.

The Fifth Chapter contains a Natural Histo­ry of Cold, which, since it will not admit of being otherwise related than Historically, I must refer the Reader to the Epitomy.

SECT. VI.

The Sixth Chapter contains a Confutation of the Received Notion of Antiperistasis. The Seventh, an Examination of Mr. Hobbe's Do­ctrine of Cold; which being only Controver­sial, I must pass it by. And as for the Eighth and Ninth Chapters, they likewise containing bare Historical Truths, which admit of no Contraction, and this small General Recapitu­lation will not admit of Transcribing the whole Epitomy.

SECT. VII.

The Tenth Chapter teaches us, that Cold is only a Privative Quality, depending on a Privation of the Motion of the Parts of a Bo­dy cooled.

SECT. VIII.

The Eleventh Chapter shews, That the Ex­pansive Force of freezing Water is so great, as to be able, when froze in a Brass Cilinder, to raise 254 Pounds, tho' the Cilinder was none of the largest. And in the same Chapter we are likewise told, That a cold Ebullition, or (if one may so speak) Effervescence, depends purely upon the Texture of the fermenting Liquor.

SECT. IX.

The Twelfth Chapter contains several Expe­riments, which prove, That Heat depends up­on, and is caused by a variously determined and a rapid Motion of this minute Parts of the Body esteemed hot.

SECT. X.

Contains an Account of a particular sort of Mercury which grows hot with Gold.

SECT. XI.

From several Experiments made and contain­ed in the Fourteenth Chapter, it appears, That the Particles of Fire may be detained in Metal, and by that means add to the Weight of it. And the Fifteenth Chapter contains Experi­ments which have the same Tendency.

SECT. XII.

The Sixteenth Chapter contains a Discove­ry of the Perviousness of Glass to ponderable Parts of Flame; and also proves, That Flame may act as a Menstruum, and make Coalitions with the Bodies it works upon.

SECT. XIII.

The Seventeenth Chapter contains new Ex­periments concerning the Relation betwixt Flame and Air, from which it appears, that it is very difficult to produce Flame without Air, and impossible to preserve it.

SECT. XIV.

The Eighteenth Chapter contains Experi­ments about the Relation betwixt Air and the Flamma Vitals of Animals; from whence it [Page 33]appears, That it is as impossible to preserve Animals without Air as Flame.

SECT. XV.

The Twentieth, Twenty first and second Chapters, contain several Experiments which shew, That shining Flesh and Fish, as well as Worms, cease to become lucid, if deprived of the Contact of the Air.

SECT. XVI.

The Twenty third Chapter contains several Experiments made with a Diamond which shone in the Dark.

SECT. XVII.

The Twenty fourth and fifth Chapters give an Account of an Aerial and Icy Noctiluca, whose Lucidness depend on Fumes raised by the Saline Parts of the Air, which being united with the Air, affect the Eye jointly.

CHAP. V

SECT. I.

THE Five first Chapters of the Fifth Book, and the First Part, shew, That Bodies have only a Relative Levity under Wa­ter; That the Air, by virtue of its Spring, presses on Bodies under Water; and that the Effects of the Air on such Bodies vary accord­ing to the differing Weight of the Atmosphere; and likewise contain an Invention for estima­ting the Weight of Water in Water.

SECT. II.

The Sixth Chapter contains the following Hydrostatical Paradoxes made out by several Experiments.

I. That in Water, and other Fluids, the lower parts are pressed by the upper.

II. That a lighter Fluid may weigh upon a heavier.

III. That if a Body contiguous to the Wa­ter, be altogether or in part lower than the highest Level of the said Water, the lower part of the said Body will be pressed upwards by the Water that touches it beneath.

IV. That in the Ascension of Water in Pumps, &c. there needs nothing to raise the Water but a competent weight of an exter­nal Fluid.

V. That the Pressure of an external Fluid is able to keep an Heterogeneous Liquor, suspen­ded at the same height in several Pipes, tho' those Pipes be of very different Diameters.

VI. If a Body be placed under Water with its uppermost Surface parallel to the Horizon, how much soever Water there may be on this or that side above the Body, the direct Pres­sure sustained by the Body is no more than that of a Column of Water having the Hori­zontal Superficies of the Body for its Basis, and the prependicular depth of the Water for its Heighth.

And so likewise

If the Water that leans upon the Body be contained in Pipes, open at both ends, the Pressure of the Water is to be estimated by the weight of a Pillar of Water, whose Basis is equal to the lower Orifice of a Pipe, and its heighth equal to a Perpendicular reaching thence to the top of the Water, tho' the Pipe be much inclined towards the Horizon, or tho' it be irregularly shaped, and much broader in some Parts than the said Orifice.

VII. That a Body immersed in a Fluid su­stains a lateral Pressure from the Fluid; and that increases as the Depth of the immersed Body below the Surface of the Fluid increases.

VIII. That Water may be made to depress a Body lighter than it self, as well as to buoy it up.

IX. That a parcel of Oil, lighter than Wa­ter, may be kept in Water, without ascend­ing in it.

X. That the Cause of the Ascent of Water is Syphons, and of flowing through them, may be explained without having recourse to Na­ture's Abhorrency of a Vacuum.

XI. That a solid Body, as ponderous as any yet known, tho' near the top of the Water, will sink by its own weight; yet if it be pla­ced in a greater depth than that of Twenty times its own thickness, it will not sink, if its Descent be not assisted by the weight of in­cumbent Water.

SECT. III.

The Eighth Chapter contains a Description of a new Hydostratical Instrument, to estimate the difference of Metals in goodness.

SECT. IV.

The Ninth Chapter contains a short Ac­count of the Increase and Growth of Metals. And the remaining Chapters of the First Part of the Fifth Books, lays down a Method to esti­mate the Goodness of Ores, and also of Medi­cinal Substances; by which it may easily ap­pear, That if a Body be heavier than Chrystal, it must contain more or less of a Metalline In­gredient, as it exceeds that in weight.

CHAP. VI.

SECT. I.

THE Second Part of the Fifth Book con­tains several solitary Observations and Experiments, both Chymical, Medicinal, and Physical; which, since nothing can be inferred from them, but what hath been already taught, it will be needless to mention what is contained therein, especially since Historical Relations cannot be more contracted than in the Epitomy.

CHAP. VI.

SECT. I.

THE First and Second Chapters of the Third Part of the Fifth Book, teach, That all Gems have been once in a fluid Form, and that they receive their Virtues and Colours from Mineral Tinctures.

SECT. II.

The Second Chapter shews, That even solid Bodies continually emit Effluvia.

SECT. III.

The Fourth Chapter shews the strange Sub­tlety of Effluvia; a Grain of Silver Wyre, con­sisting of 64800 true Metalline Parts, and a Grain of Leaf-Gold being capable of being di­vided into 2000000 Squares. And Fillings of Copper will give a Tincture to 613620 times their Bulk of Water.

SECT. IV.

The Fifth Chapter shews the great Efficacy of Effluviums, as in Lightning; and other Ef­fluviums which affect Humane Bodies.

SECT. V.

The Sixth Chapter proves, That the Efflu­viums of Bodies act according to the determi­nate Nature of the Body they come from.

SECT. VI.

The Seventh and Eighth Chapters shew, That not only Animal, but other solid Bodies are porous.

SECT. VII.

The Ninth and Tenth Chapters contain a Natural History of Humane Blood; for which I must refer the Reader to the Epitomy, it not admitting of a Recapitulation of the Contents in much less room than they are there contained in.

SECT. VIII.

The last Chapter of the Third Volume shews, That the Operations of Specifick Medicines [Page 41]are Reconcilable to the Conpuscular Philoso­phy.

What he hath delivered concerning the man­ner of their acting, it may be comprized un­der the following Heads.

Prop. I. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may cure by discussing or resolving the Morbifick Matter, and thereby making it fit for Expulsi­on by the greater common-Shoars of the Body, and the Pores of the Skin.

Prop. II. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may mortifie the over-acid, or other immoderate Particles that infect the Mass of Blood, and de­stroy their Coagulatory, or other Effects.

Prop. III. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may help the Patient, by precipitating the Morbi­sick Matter out of his Blood, or the other Li­quors of the Body in which it harbours.

Prop. IV. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may work by peculiarly strengthening and cherish­ing the Heart, the Part affected, or both.

Proy. V. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may act, by producing in the Mass of Blood such a Disposition as may enable Nature, by correct­ing, expelling, or other fit Ways, to surmount the Morbifick Matter, or other Cause of the Di­sease.

Prop. VI. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may unite with the Morbifick Matter, and compose a quid Nutrum, which may be less offensive to Nature, tho' not so easily expelled.

SECT. IX.

The First Chapter of the Fourth Volume contains the Invitation of the use of Simple Me­dicines: First, Because their Effects may more easily be foreseen than the Effects of a Compo­sition, and therefore safer. Secondly, A great­er Quantity of a good Medicine may be taken, without being offensive. And, Thirdly, Be­cause the Effects of the Materia Medica may be sooner brought to a Certainty. The Second Chapter contains Historical Observations about Vitiated Sight.

CHAP. VII.

SECT. I.

THE First Chapter of the Fourth Book contains the Author's Chymical Works, in which it is made to appear, that Chymical Principles are transmutable; That a Substance looked upon to be Homogenious, and a Chymi­cal Principle, may afford very differing Sub­stances, when acted on by the Fire; That Fire is not the True and Genuine Analizer of Bo­dies; That the Pipe does not separate the Prin­ciples of a Body, but variously compound and alter the Texture of Body a exposed to its A­ction; That Bodies obtained from Substances exposed to the Fire, were not pre-existent in those Substances in the same Form.

SECT. II.

The Second Chapter shews the Insufficiency of the Arguments used by the Chymists and Aristotelians, in favour of their Doctrine; and the remaining part of the Fifth Book in Gene­ral shews, that Chymical Principles are pro­ducible, and depend on a Mechanical Structure and Texture of Parts.

And farther, That the differing Substances into which Bodies may be divided by Fire, are not of a pure and elementary Nature; nor is [Page 44]their Number either precisely 3 or 5. And, lastly, That there are divers Qualities which cannot be referred to any of these Substances.

SECT. III.

And in one of the Chapters belonging to the Fourth Part of the Fifth Book, he consi­ders and confutes the Doctrine of Acids and Alkali, shewing the Insufficiency of that Do­ctrine.

SECT. IV

The Sixth Book, which makes up the Re­maining Part of the Epitomy, contains an Ab­stract of some of his Phisiological Essays of the Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy: But it is impossible to give any shorter Account of them than what is contained in the Epitomy.

General Heads FOR THE Natural HISTORY OF A COUNTRY.

COnsidering the great Improvements that have been made in Natural History by the Travels of Gentlemen, Seamen, and Others; And the great Disadvantage ma­ny Ingenious Men are at in their Travels, be­cause they know not before-hand what things they are to inform themselves of in every Coun­try they come to, or by what Method they may make Enquiries about Things to be known there, I thought it would not be unacceptable to such, to have Directions in General, relating to Par­ticular Countries, in as little Bounds as possi­ble, presented to their View.

As for the General Heads, I shall offer them to your Consideration in the following Order, [Page 46] viz. As they respect the Heavens, or concern the Air, the Water, or the Earth.

First. Under the first kind may be reckon'd the Longitude and Latitude of the Place, and that in respect to the Changes made in the Air; the Climate, together with the Length of the longest and shortest Days, and the Parallels come here to be considered; the Retrogradation of the Sun upon Dials, within the Tropicks, and that naturally; what fix'd Stars, and what not seen there, &c.

Secondly, The Temperature of the Air is to be considered, as to Heat, Driness and Moi­sture, and the Measures of them, its Weight, Clearness, Refractive Power, its Subtilty or Grosness, its abounding with, or wanting an Esurine Salt; its Variation according to the se­veral Seasons of the Year, and the Times of the Day: How long the several kinds of Weather continue, what sort of Meteors it breeds most commonly; in what Order they are generated, and how long they usually last: Especially what Winds 'tis liable to; whether any of them be stated, and ordinary, &c. What other Diseases are Epidemical, that are suppos'd to flow from the Air: What other Diseases the Country is subject to, wherein that had a share, e.g. the Plague and contagious Sicknesses: What is the usual Salubrity or Insalubrity of the Air: And with what Constitution it agrees better or worse than others. As also the Specifick Gravity of the Air, compar'd with the other foregoing Qualities: For this Effect it will be convenient [Page 47]the Traveller be provided with a Travelling-Baroscope, having the Divisions usual in the other Baroscopes, mark'd upon a sliding Ruler, which being once exactly mark'd for London, may serve for other Places; and for observing the Difference between the Air here and in other Places, and in most differing Climates, as in the Torrid and Frigid Zone, it has ano­ther Ruler coming out perpendicular from the lower end of the Sliding-Ruler, that it may mark the heighth of the Mercury in the lower Leg of the Syphon; so the Divisions of the up­per end will shew you the Specisick Gravity of the Air at that time.

Thirdly, About the Water are to be conside­red: 1. The Sea, its Depth, specifick Gravity, Difference of Saltness in different Zones, the Plants, Insects, and Fishes to be found in it, Tides, with respect to the adjacent Lands, Cur­rents, Whirl-pools, &c. 2. Rivers, their Big­ness, their Course, their Inundations, their Saltish Taste, as they report observable in Jor­dan, Subterraneous Passages, Fruitfulness of their Waters, &c. Their Lakes, as that of Schernitzer in Carniola, Ponds, Springs, and espe­cially Mineral Waters, what sorts of Earth they run through, their Kinds, Qualities, and Ver­tues, and how examin'd; the sorts of Fishes, their Bigness and Goodness, compared with the Ground at the bottom, their Plenty, their Sea­sons, their ways of Breeding, their Haunts, and the ways of Taking them, especially those that are not purely Mechanical.

Fourthly, In the Earth may be observed,

  • I. It Self.
  • II. Its Inhabitants, and its Productions, and those Internal or External.

I. As to its Self: What are its Dimensions, Situation, East, West, South, or North; its Figure, its Plains, Hills or Valleys, their Ex­tent, the Heighth of the Hills, either in re­spect of the neighbouring Valleys, or the Le­vel of the Sea; as also whether the Mountains lie scatter'd or in Ridges, and whether those run North or South, East or West, &c. What Promontories, Fiery or Smoaking Hills, &c. the Country has or hath not; whether subject to Earthquakes or not. Whether the Country is coherent, or much broken into Islands. What Declination the Magnet has in several Places at the same Time, and how much it varies in dif­rent Times at the same Place: Whether before the Turnados or Hurricanes, the Magnetical Needle loses its Direction towards the North, and turns to all the Points of the Compass; and if this Declination is influenced by Subterra­neous Fire, destroying it within, or by Water overflowing the Surface of it, or by its Vicinity to Iron Mines. What kinds of Soils are there, whether of Clay, Sand, Gravel, &c. What are its Products, as to Minerals, Vegetables or Animals: And moreover, how all these are or may be farther improved for the Benefit of Man, what are the Qualities of that Soil peculiar to it.

II. The Inhabitants themselves are to be con­sider'd, both Natives and Strangers, that have been long settled there; particularly their Sta­ture, Shape, Features, Strength, Ingenuity, Diet, Inclination, that seem not due to Educa­tion. As to their Women, their Fruitfulness or Barrenness, their easie and hard Labour, with their Exercises and Diet; the Diseases both Men and Women are subject to, peculiar to themselves, compared with their Diet, Air, &c. that do influence them.

The Products External are Plants, Trees, Fruits, &c. with the Peculiarities observable in them ( e. g. that of the Poison-wood, call'd Machenil in New-England, with its Cures) and what Soils they thrive best in. What Animals, Terrestrial or Volatile, or Insects of all sorts they produce, and to what use applied by the Inhabitants, as to Meat, Physick, Surgery, or Dying, &c.

By the Internal Production of the Earth are to be understood here, Things procreated in the Bowels of the Earth, either for the Benefit or Hurt of Man; where Notice is to be taken what way the one may be best found out, and the other most easily avoided or cured. Under these are comprehended Metals, Minerals, Stones Precious or Common, and how these Beds lie in reference to North or South, &c. What Clays and Earths it affords, e. g. Tobacco pipe-Clay, Marles, Boles, with their Physical or other U­ses, Fullers Earth, Earth for Potters Ware, Soap, Earths, Axungiae, &c. What Coals, Salts, or [Page 50]Salt-Mines, as Allom, Vitriols, Sulphures, &c. it yields. As for Mines, you are to consider their Number, Situations, Depths, Signs, Wa­ters, Damps, Quantities of Ore, extraneous things, and ways of reducing their Ores into Metals, &c. Where, by the way, you may in­form your selves of the Truth of what is re­ported by Agricola, Kircher, &c. of Appariti­ons, and their Operations under Ground.

To these General Articles of Enquiries (saith their Proposer) should be added Enquiries about Traditions, concerning all particular things re­lating to that Country, as either peculiar to it, or at least uncommon elsewhere.

II. Enquiries that require Learning or Skill in the Answerer; to which should be subjoin'd, Proposals of Ways to enable Men to give An­swers to these more difficult Enquiries.

After the General Heads now propos'd, we shall mention those that concern Navigators into Remote Places.

The First agrees with what has been said be­fore, viz. The Observing the Declination of the Compass, in the different Longitudes and Lati­tudes the Ship comes to, and setting down the Method by which the Observation was made.

2. To take notice of the Dipping-Needles, and their Observations in the like manner.

3. To observe the Odours, Colours, Tastes in Sea-water, and what are the Particularities of that Sea-Water, where Ships do soonest rot, as in the Streights of California the Sea looks red, with innumerable Worms that are in it.

4. To remark, if (as is reported by Kircher) there be near the South Pole a constant Current, setting from the South, so forcibly, that Ships with a stiff Gale are hardly carried up against it; and near the North a Current forcibly car­rying Ships towards the Pole, or if this Motion reciprocate once in half a Year.

5. To observe what subterraneous Passages there are, whereby Seas communicate with one another, as the Caspian is supposed to do with the Black Sea; and the Dead Sea with the Red Sea.

6. To examine the Map made of the Straits by Captain Bolland, and the Account of the Tides he there gives.

7. The Effect the Winds have upon the Seas, and how far down from the Surface they agi­tate the Waters.

8. To take notice of the Tides, of the Eb­bings and Flowings, with the Age of the Moon when the Neap and Spring-Tides do happen, to what heighth it does ebb and flow at these Times upon the Coast of the Terra Firma, or upon the Islands far off in the Sea, as at St. He­lena, [Page 52]and if it flow there with difference from the Tides near the main Land, and how much sooner it begins at one side than another.

9. To take notice of the Coast, and to make narrowly the way of coming into particular Creeks and Harbours, with their Bearings and Distances from the neighbouring Places, as you come in.

10. Not forgetting at the same time to sound all along as you come in, and to mark the Depths and Shallows near the Shoar, or farther off from the Coast, near Shelves or Banks, and whether it increases or decreases in any Order.

11. To mark in the Sounding all Grounds, whether Clayie, Sandy or Ousie, &c.

12. To take Notice of the Winds, their Changes, or set Times of Blowing, and in what Longitude and Latitude, especially the Trade-Winds; upon what Coast the Trade-Winds are most frequent, and by what Signs they may be foreseen.

13. To Observe and Record all extraordi­nary Meteors, Lightnings, Thunders, and their Effects, Ignes Fatui, Comets, &c. marking the Places of their Appearing and Disappearing.

14. To be provided with a nice pair of Scales, and exact Weights, for examining the Weights of the several Waters that occur, which I think may be most exactly done after [Page 53]the Method proposed by the Incomparable Mr. Boyle, in his Medicina Hydrostatica, viz. weighing a Viol close stopp'd with a Glass Stop­per first in the Air, then in Liquor: If the Vi­al be about two Ounces in the Air it will do the better: For the whole Method, because 'tis too long to insert into the Tract, I refer you to the Book it self. This I propose as the most sub­tile and accurate. If you like a plainer way, you may use the Method practised by the Noble Author elsewhere, viz. To fill a Glass Vial of four Ounces or more, with a small Neck, full of the Water to be try'd, and to examine the Weight of it, which you may compare with another.

15. 'Twill be convenient both for the Na­vigator and Philosopher, to be provided with an Instrument for fetching up Water from the Bottom of the Sea, first publish'd by the Inge­nious Mr. Hooke, and transferr'd hither for the Benefit of the Curious Traveller; for by this he may know whether the Water at the Bottom be heavier and salter than at the Top; or whether there be fresh Water at the Bottom, occasion'd by Springs of fresh Water there, as some pre­sume there are, having observ'd in some Pla­ces Springs of fresh Water a great way within the Sea-marks. The Contrivance is this: A Wooden Bucket is fastened to an Iron Rod, with a Weight to sink it; this Bucket is shut at top and bottom with two Valves or Clacks, so contriv'd, that when it descends, it may open and let the Water pass through; but when 'tis pull'd up again from the Bottom, it may shut [Page 54]so close as to keep in all the Water it has at that time, by the under Valve, and the ambient Wa­ter over it, from getting in by the upper Valve.

Having gone through the General Directions both for Sea and Land, we come to more Parti­cular ones, and shall begin first with those that concern Mines; the Knowledge of which, tho' it began very early, and has been continu'd to our Times, yet is still found improveable by Hu­mane Industry, as Experience has taught us, and therefore worthy to be consider'd in the next Place, especially seeing the Arts and In­ventions most useful for Man's Life, depend more upon this than any other; and that with­out it, the World should want little of return­ing to its former Barbarity. All shall be redu­ced to Six General Heads, as has been done by the worthy Patron of Ingenious Arts, the Ho­nourable Robert Boyle, now in Glory.

The First, The Neighbouring Country about the Mines.

The Second, The Soil where the Mines are.

The Third, The Sign of Mines.

The Fourth, The Structure, and other Parti­culars relating to the Mines themselves.

The Fifth, The Nature and Circumstances of the Ore.

The Sixth, The Reduction of the Ore into Metal.

QƲERIES about the First Title.

I. Whether the Country be Mountainous, Plain, or distinguish'd with Valleys? And in case it be Mountainous, what kind of Hills they are, whether high or low, or indifferently ele­vated? whether almost equal, or very unequal in heighth? whether Fruitful or Barren, Cold or Temperate; Rocky or not; Hollow or So­lid? whether they run in Ridges, or seem con­fusedly plac'd; and if the former, what way the Ridges run, North or South, &c.? And whe­they run any thing parallel to one another?

II. What the Country produces, and what is most plenty?

III. What Cattle it produces? whether they have any thing peculiar in point of Bigness, Colour, Longevity, Fitness or Unfitness to make good Meat, and other Things, which may ra­ther be attributed to the peculiar Nature of the Place, than the Barrenness of the Soil, or other manifest Causes?

IV. What Health the Inhabitants enjoy? what Diseases they are subject to, and to what not? for 'tis said, that such as dwell near Quicksilver Mines are seldom troubled with the Plague: [Page 56]And lastly, what Remedies are found for the Epidemick Diseases of the Place?

V. What plenty of Rivers, Brooks, Lakes, Springs, N. B. Mr. Boyle says some­where, That a Reddish Mineral Water has been drunk to satisfie Thirst, without any Hurt. &c. in these, and how these are in Co­lour, Taste, &c. and how they affect the Health of those that use them?

VI. How the Air is disposed, as to Heat or Cold, Calms or Winds; and whether these Winds do proceed from, or are infected with Subterraneous Steams? whether Clear or Foggy?

About the Second Title.

VII. Whether the Soil that is near the Sur­face of the Earth be stony; and if so, what sort of Stones it abounds with, whether it be Clayie, Marly, or Chalky? and of how many kinds this is, and by what Properties they are distinguish'd?

About the Third Title.

VIII. By what Signs they conjecture a Mine to be in a Place?

IX. And seeing these Signs are either above or beneath the Surface of the Earth, Quaer. Whe­ther [Page 57]the Ground be barren where these Metal Mines are?

X. What Trees or Plants do most plentifully grow in these Places, and do thrive well or ill in these Places? whether they be more dwarfish, more discolour'd in the Leaves, or have any preternatural Colour in them?

XI. What Alteration is produc'd in the Wa­ters that run from them, either as to their Colour, Taste, Smell, Ponderousness, or the Matter that they leave upon the Stones they run over.

XII. Whether Snow or Ice continue as long in these Places as they do in the neighbouring Places?

XIII. Whether the Dew that falls on the Ground will discolour a white Linnen Cloth, spread on the Surface of the Earth? and whe­ther the Rain brought thither from other Places will discolour such Cloaths, or afford any Re­sidence of a Mineral Nature?

XIV. Whether Thunder, Lightnings and Storms do abound there? and if there be any Fiery Meteors and Nocturnal Lights observed there?

XV. Whether Mists do arise from such Mi­neral Grounds; what is observable in them; what Minerals they signifie, and may be sup­pos'd to be produc'd by?

XVI. Whether the Virgula Divinatoria be us'd for the finding out the Mines, and with what Success.

As for those Signs that are beneath the Sur­face.

XVII. Quaer. Whether there be any Clays, Marles, or other Mineral Earths, and of what Consistence they are that give Notice of the Ores; and if there be more than one, and at what Depth they lie, in respect of one ano­ther, and how thick they are.

XVIII. What Stones, Marcasites, &c. there are to be found near or not far from the Sur­face, which give Signs of those Mines, as it happens in the Tin-Mines of Cornwal, where Marcasites are often found above the Ore; what is the particular Shapes, Bigness, Colour and Weight of such Stones, whereby they are distinguishable from others.

XIX. Whether Heat or Damps are a Sign of a Mine.

XX. Whether Water found in Digging be a Sign of a Mine.

XXI. By what Signs the Nearness of a Mine is known; and whether by any Sign one may know whether he is above, beneath, or at the side of the Mine.

XXII. By what Signs the determinate Kinds of Metals are known, with their Plenty or Goodness.

XXIII. What Signs there are of the Depth of the Mines; what Signs there are of the Mines being hopeless, or at least unlikely, to find a Vein in the Place where 'tis digged for, and what these are.

About the Fourth Title.

XXIV. What is the Depth of the Shaft or Groove, till you come at the Vein or Ore; whe­ther the Vein run or lie horizontal or dip; and if it dip, what Inclination it hath, how deep the lowest part lies, and consequently how much deeper than the uppermost.

XXV. As also what its Flexures, if it have any, are; and whether it runs directly North or South, East or West, or seem rather to have a casual Tendency than any Determination by Nature, and how far it reaches in all.

XXVI. What is the wideness of the Groove at the top and elsewhere; whether the Groove be perpendicular or crooked, and if crooked, after what manner, and with what Distance it winds.

XXVII. How the Groove is supported; what are the kinds, length, bigness, and way of pla­cing [Page 60]the Timber, Poles, &c. that are imploy'd to support it; and how long the Wood lasts, without being spoil'd by the Subterraneous Fumes and Waters, and what Wood lasts longest.

XXVIII. What Air-shaft belongs to the Mine; whether it be single or more than one; of what Breadth the Air-shaft is at the Ori­fice; whether it be convenient enough or not; how near 'tis plac'd to the Groove, and in what Position; if there be several Air-shafts, what their Distances and Situation are, in reference to the Groove, and to each other; and how Air is supply'd, if there be no Air-shafts.

XXIX. Whether they meet with Waters, and what Plenty there is of them; at what Depth they are found, and how qualified, and what way they spring, &c.

XXX. Whether they are constant or tempo­rary; whether they increase or diminish nota­bly in Summer, or at any time of the Year; and what that Season is, how long it lasts, and the Proportions of Increase and Decrease.

XXXI. What Engines or Contrivances are made use of for drawing up the Water, and con­veying it away, the Materials they are made of, the Parts, the Bigness, the Coaptation, and in short the whole Structure, number and way of applying the Instruments that are made use or to free the Mines from the Water.

XXXII. What are the Conditions, Num­ber, &c. of the Adits.

XXXIII. Whether the Mines be troubled with Damps, and of what kind they are; whether they come often or seldom at any Time of the Year, or altogether irregularly.

XXXIV. What Signs forerun them; what Mischief they do; what Remedies are the most successfully employed against them, as well in reference to the Clearing of the Mine, as to the Preservation and Recovery of the Men.

XXXV. What Methods the Mine-men use in following of the Vein, and tracing their Passa­ges under Ground (which they call Plumming and Dyalling) according to the several Exigen­cies; and whether they imploy the Instruments made with the Help of the Loadstone, the same way that is usual; and, if not, wherein they differ in the Use of the same Instruments; and what Instrument they substitute in their place.

XXXVI. What ways they secure themselves against the Uncertainty that the Magnetical Needle is subject to when it comes near to Iron Ore, of which yet perhaps there is not so great Danger as one may imagine, as far as I could find by a Trial purposely made by a Groove, where I was sure there wanted not Iron Ore;) and what other ways may be used, besides a Load-stone, to help a Miner.

XXXVII. How the Miners deal with the Rock and Spar they meet with before they come at the Ore; and how they use Fire to soften, calcine, or crack them; with what Success they imploy it.

XXXVIII. By what means they free the Mines and the Workmen from the Inconvenien­ces arising from the much use of the Fire.

XXXIX. With what Instruments they break the Rock, how long they are used, and how long they last.

XL. How the Miners work, whether cloathed or naked, and what Lights they use to work by; what Materials they are made of, and what Light they give; how long they last, and by what ways they are kept burning in that thick and foggy Air.

XLI. How Veins are followed, lost, and re­cover'd; and how several Miners work on the same Vein, and what is the best way of getting all the Ore in a Vein, and most conveniently.

XLII. How they convey out their Ore, and other Things that are to be carried out of the Mine; whether they do it in Baskets drawn up by Ropes, or upon Mens Backs; and if this last kind of way, what kind of Vessels they use for Matter, Shape and Capacity, and whether the Workmen deliver them one to another, or the same Workmen carry them all the way; and [Page 63]whether they descend and ascend by Ladders of Wood or Ropes, &c.

About the Fifth Title.

XLIII. Whether the Ore runs in a Vein, or lie dispers'd in scatter'd Pieces, or be divided partly into a Vein, partly into loose Masses, or like a Wall between two Rocks, as it were in a Cleft, or be interspers'd in the firm Rock, like speckled Marble, or be found in Grains like Sand or Gravel, as store of excellent Tin is said to be found in some Parts of Cornwal, at the Sides and in the Channels of Running Waters, which they call — or whether the Ore be in a softer Consistence, like Earth or Lome, as there is Lead Ore in Ireland, holding store of Silver and Iron Ore in the North Parts of Scot­land, and elsewhere, and what is observable in it, as to Weight, Colour, Mixture, &c.

XLIV. Whether any part of the Metal be found in the Mine perfect and compleat (as I have had presented me good valuable Copper, and pieces of perfect Lead, that were taken up, the one at Jamaica, and the other by an. Ac­quaintance of mine, that took them out of the Ground himself, in New-England.)

XLV. Whether the Mine affords any parcels of Metal that seem to grow like Plants, (as I have sometimes seen Silver grow, as it seemed, out of Stone or Spar, almost like Blades of Grass, as also great Grains of Metal, which ap­pear'd to me, and which those that try'd some of it, affirm'd to be Gold, abounding in a stony Lump, that seem'd chiefly to consist of a pecu­liar kind of Spar.

XLVI. Whether the Vein lie near the Sur­face of the Earth, and at what Depth; whether the Vein have not any peculiar concomitant Coats, (if I may so call them,) and if any, what they are, and in what Order they lie, as the Veins of Lead Ore with us have frequently an­nexed to them a Substance called Spar, and next to that another call'd Caulk.

Whether (besides these Coats) they have be­longing to it any other Heterogeneous Substance, (as in Tin-Mines we often find that yellow Sub­stance they call Mundick)

XLVII. What are the principal Qualities of these extraneous Substances, (as that Spar is white, but almost transparent, like course Cry­stal, heavy, brittle, easily divisible into Flakes, &c. Caulk is of a different Texture, white, opa­cous, and like a Stone, but much more ponde­rous. Mundick I have had of a fine golden Co­lour; but tho' it be affirm'd to hold no Metal, yet I found it in weight and otherwise to differ [Page 65]from Marcasites, and the Mine-men think it of a poisonous Nature.

XLVIII. Whether the Vein be inclos'd every way in its Coats, or whether it lie only between them.

XLIX. Whether the Vein be every way of an uniform Breadth and Thickness; and if it be, what these Dimensions are; and if not, in what Places it varies, and in what Measures; (the like Questions are to be made concerning the Spar, Caulk, and other Mixtures of the Ore.)

L. Whether the Vein be uninterrupted, or in some Places broken off; and whether it be abruptly or not; and whether it be by Vales, Brooks or Gullets, &c.

LI. How wide the Interruptions are; by what Signs the Veins are to be found again; whether the ulterior part or division of the Vein be of the same nature and hold on in the same course, as to its tendency upwards and downwards, or horizontally, Northward or Southward, &c. with the Vein from which 'tis cut off.

LII. Whether in case the last end of the Vein be found, it terminate abruptly, or else end in some kind of Rock or Earth, which does as it were close or seal it up, without leaving any Crack or Cranny, or otherwise; and whether the terminating part of the Vein tends either upward or downwards, or neither. Or whe­ther [Page 66]in the Places where the Vein is interrupted, there be any peculiar Stone or Earth that does, as it were, seal up the Extremity of it.

LIII. Whether it be observ'd that the Ore in Tract of Time may afford any Gold or Silver, which it doth not afford, or more than it would afford if it were not so ripe; and whether or not it have been found that the metalline part of the Vein grows so, that some part of the Ore will afford Ore or Metal in Tract of Time, that did not so before; and whether to this Maturation of the Mine, the being exposed to the free Air be necessary; or whether at least it conduce to the acceleration of it, or other­wise.

LIV. Whether all the Ore contain'd in the Mine be of the self-same Nature and Goodness, and if not, what are the differing kinds, and how to be discriminated and estimated.

LV. What is the Fineness and Goodness, by which the Mine is wont to be estimated. And,

LVI. What are the Marks and Characters that distinguish one sort from another.

LVII. What Proportion of Metal it affords; (as in our Iron Mines is observ'd, that about three Tons of Iron Stone will afford one Ton of Metal: And I have had Lead Ore, which an Ingenious Man, to whom I recommended such Trials, affirmed to me to afford three parts in four of good Lead)

LVIII. Whether the Ore be pure in its kind from other Metals; and if not, of what Metals it participates, and in what Proportion, which is especially to be enquir'd into, especially if the Mine be of a base Metal, that holds a noble Metal, (as I have known it observ'd, That Lead Ore, that is poor in its own Metal, affords more Silver than other; and I remember, that the Ore lately mentioned, being rich in Lead, scarce afforded us, being cupell'd) an Atome of Sil­ver. And Mathesius informs us, That a little Gold is not unfrequently found in Iron Ore: And I have by me some fine Gold that never endur'd the Fire, taken out of Tin Ore.

About the Sixth Title.

LIX. What Preparations are us'd before the melting of the Ore, as Beating, Grinding, Washing, Tosting, or Parting, as is most fre­quently us'd in Copper Ore, and sometimes in Iron Ore; if they use this Burning more than once, how often they do it, (for Copper Ore is in some Places wash'd eight or ten times, and in other twelve or fourteen,) and with what Cir­cumstances, as how long the Ignition lasts at a time; whether the Ore be suffer'd to cool of it self, or be quenched; whether it be wash'd be­twixt each Ignition; or whether the Ore re­quires no such Preparations, as it often happens in Lead Ore, and sometimes in Iron.

LX. Whether Mercury is made use of in se­parating the Nobler from the Baser Metals, (as in Peru, &c.

LXI. Whether (as I have seen done in Iron Stone) the Ore be expos'd to the Air, as a Pre­parative.

LXII. What Flux-Powders they use for redu­cing their Ores in small Quantities.

LXIII. Whether in reducing or melting great Quantities they use any Addition of Flux-pow­der, (or Fondant, as the French term it,) or only by the Force of the Fire, or in any way between both, (as throwing in of Charcoals when they melt Iron Stone, does not only serve to feed the Fire, but by the Alkali of the Ashes to promote the Fusion: So Lime-stone, &c.) What is the Contrivance of the Furnaces, and if they be all of one sort or bigness, or differ­ing; what Tools are used in Smelting, and how contriv'd.

LXIV. What Fewel they use, and how much is spent in a Day or Week, and what Returns they have in Metal, in a proportionate Time.

LXV. Whether the Ore be melted in a Wind Furnace, made by the Fire's own Motion, or by Bellows; what their Dimensions are, and what way u [...]'d.

LXVI. What way they take or let out the Me­tal that is in Fusion, to cast it into Bars, Sows, Pigs; and what Clay, Sand, or Mould they let it run or pour it through; and after what man­ner they refrigerate it.

LXVII. Whether or not, to facilitate the Fusion, they mix several Ores of the same sort together, (as in some Places 'tis usual to mix rich and poor Ore, and at Mendip they mix two or more of these differing kinds of Lead Ores, that they call Firm Ore, Steel Ore, Pot­tern Ore, &c.)

LXVIII. Whether or not, after 'tis once mel­ted, they melt it again, to make it more pure; and if so, with what Circumstances they per­form it.

LXIX. Whether they have Signs to know when the Fusion is well or ill perform'd, and the Metal have obtain'd a Perfection requisite in such a Fusion, and in such a Furnace.

LXX. Whether they observe any difference in the Goodness of the Metal that comes first, from that which comes last; and whether the Rule holds constantly, (for though they observe in the Tin Mines, that the best Metal comes first, yet an industrious Friend of mine informs me, that the best Metal comes last.)

LXXI. Whether the produc'd Metal be all of the same Goodness; and if it be, how good it is in reference to the Metals of other Mines, or other Parts of the same Vein; and if it be not, what difference are between the produced Por­tions of Metal, and what disparity that amounts to in the Price.

LXXII. What are the ways of distinguishing them, and estimating their Goodness.

LXXIII. Whether there be not elevated Flow­ers to the upper parts of the Chimney, and whether they are barely Excrementitious or Me­talline; (as in the Cornish Tin Mines, after some Years they pull down the Thatched Houses, in which the Ore has been melted, to get the Stuff that adheres to the insides of the Roof, out of which they melt store of excellent Tin.)

LXXIV. Whether, when the Ores are brought to Fusion, they have any Recrements, (as Iron Stone affords store of a dark Glass or Slag, the like does Tin; and if it do, what these Recre­ments are, and how to be separated from the baser Metal)

LXXV. Whether after the Metal has been melted, the remaining part of the Ore will in Tract of Time be impregnated with more Me­tal; (for this is affirm'd to me of the Cornish Tin-Ore; and what remain'd after the Fusion of the Iron Ore in the Forest of Dean, is so rich in Metal, that a Tenant of mine in Ireland, [Page 71]though he had on the Land he held for me an Iron Mine, found it less profit to work it, than to send to the Forest of Dean for this already us'd Ore, which having lain for some Ages since it was thrown aside, in great Heaps, exposed to the Air, he affirm'd to yield a very great store of Iron and very good; though I some­what doubt.

LXXVI. Whether this be totally to be ascrib'd to the Air, and length of Time, or to the leaving of Metal in the Slags in old Times, before great Furnaces were in use.)

LXXVII. Whether the Air appears really to be cold in Summer, and hot in Winter, by more evident Truths than the Testimony of our Touch.

LXXVIII. Whether they find the Stones and Ground actually hot, so that sometimes they can hardly stand upon the Place, as Glauber says, and from whence that proceeds.

LXXIX. Whether there be Mineral Jucies that harden into Stones or Metals, upon the Touch of the Air called Gur; of this Helmont relates an Observation.

LXXX. What Laws, Constitutions and OEco­nomy is observ'd among the Miners.

LXXXI. What way the Trees and their Leaves are affected by the Mineral Fumes and Juices, and if they be gilded or silver'd as along the River Meine in Germany is observ'd; and if these Trees be more ponderous than others; if they have any Metals or Metaline Concretes lodg'd in their Pores.

LXXXII. Whether there be Waters and Springs observ'd to rise near the Mines, and run their whole Course under the Ground, with­out ever appearing above it.

LXXXIII. Whether Subterraneous Springs do rise with any Wind, or determinate Change of Weather.

LXXXIV. How much heavier the Atmo­sphere is at the Bottom than the Top; and whe­ther Damps considerably increase the Weight of it.

LXXXV. Whether they find any strange Sub­stances in the Mines, as Vessels, Anchors, Fishes inclos'd in Spar or Metal.

Having gone through what belongs to the Mi­neral Kingdom, in as full a Method as we could, the next Head of Enquiries shall be about the Vegetable Kingdom, which though more pro­per for one that has his Abode fix'd, may yet be acceptable and useful also to the curious Tra­veller.

I. What Vegetables there are which, having the wrong end of them set down into the Ground, will yet grow, as 'tis said Elders and Briars will.

II. Whether the Branch of a Plant (as of a Vine or Bramble) being laid into the Ground, whilst yet growing on the Tree, and there ta­king Root, being cut off from the Tree whilst so growing, will shoot out forward and back­ward.

III. In Tapping, Cutting or Boring of any Tree, whether the Juice that vents at it comes from above or below.

IV. What part of the Juice ascends or de­scends by the Bark; whether what so ascends, ascends by the outward or inward part of it.

V. Whether if a Zone of about two or three Inches be cut off about the bottom of a Branch, that Branch will die or cast its Leaves, or bleed out a Juice from the upper or lower part of the Bark so cut, or be apt to shoot out Leaves or Branches, or Knobs, either above or below that boring.

VI. What the use of the Pith is; whether the Juice ascend or descend by it; and what Effects will follow, if the Trunk be bor'd to the Pith, and a Peg droven hard into the Hole of the Pith, both above and below; this to be tried in the most pithy Plants.

VII. Whether the Points or Ends of the Roots being cut off, will bleed as copiously as Branches of the Trunks do, when bor'd.

VIII. What side of the Tree affords most Sap.

IX. Of What Age Trees afford most Sap.

X. What are the best Seasons of the Air for taking the Sap of every kind of Tree in greatest Quantity, and how long that Season lasteth.

XI. Whether the Sap comes more copiously at one Time of the Day or Night than at ano­ther.

XII. Whether Trees afford any considerable Juice in the Fall.

XIII. What Effect, Copiousness, or Scarcity of Rain hath upon the Saps of Trees.

XIV. Whether or no the Nature of a Tree may be changed by Applications of Juices or Liquors to the Roots, or other Parts.

XV. Whether a Tree, whose Root is covered from Rain, and not watered, if the Branches of it be exposed to the Air, will grow.

XVI. Whether inoculated Roots of a Tree will grow.

XVII. How short the Arms of the Roots of a Tree may be cut, and the Tree still grow.

XVIII. How deep the several kinds of Trees are to be set in the Ground to grow.

XIX. Whether or no, a Seed being planted either way, it will grow equally.

XX. Whether the Stem of a Tree being set in the Earth, and the Root turn'd up into the Air, the Tree will grow, &c.

Enquiries concerning the Ʋse and Culture of the Kitchen-Garden and Winter-Greens.

I.

What
  • Roots
  • First Shoots
  • Sprouts
  • Stalks
  • Buds
  • Flowers
  • Fruits
  • Kernels
  • Seeds
 to
  • Eat Raw
  • Boil
  • Roste
  • Bake
  • Pickle
  • Preserve
  • Candy
  • Dry whole
  • Dry to Powder, serving for Spice
  • make Wine
  • —Cyder
  • —Perry
  • —Ale and other va­rious Drinks
  • —Vinegar & Verjuice
  • —Thick Juices like Honey
  • —Concrete Juices like Sugar
  • —Bread
  • —Cakes, Puddings & bak'd Meats.
  • —Broths
  • give pleasant Colours to Meats and Drinks
  • what Herbs are fit to make Sallads, and how to be order'd for that pur­pose.

II. The best Season to sow every sort of Seed.

III. How often every sort of Seed ought to be sown for the Use of the Kitchen-Garden.

IV. How the Earth is compounded and or­dered for several kinds of Seeds and Plants.

V. What to be sow'd on Cold Grounds.

VI. What to be sow'd on Hot Beds.

VII. Several ways of making Hot Beds, and their Attendance.

VIII. How and what to be transplanted either into Cold Ground, or into New Hot Beds, and how order'd after.

IX. What Observations on the Sun, Moon and Weather, for Sowing, Planting and Trans­planting.

X. How to water and shade Plants new plan­ted and Seeds sowed.

XI. What thrives best in the Sun.

XII. What thrives best in the Shade.

XIII. What and how such as will not prosper in the Green-House, may be covered and pre­served abroad.

XIV. The several Names of Worms, Ver­mine and Insects that are noxious to the Gar­dens.

XV. The Remedies.

XVI. The best Form and Dimension of the Green-House; as also of what to build and co­ver it.

XVII. What to be housed in Winter.

XVIII. How to order the Pots or Tubs before they are used.

XIX. When and in what Weather to open and close the Green-House.

XX. What Observations at the first setting abroad of the Winter-Greens in the Spring.

XXI. How to Prune and Dung the Winter-Greens.

XXII. What may be increased by the Root.

XXIII. What by Layers.

XXIV. What by Slips or Cuttings.

XXV. What grows best of Seeds that shed and sow themselves.

XXVI. What to be Grafted and Inoculated.

XXVII. The several ways of Ingrafting and Inoculating.

XXVIII. How to alter the Shape, Smell, Taste and Colour of Vegetables, by joining different Roots together.

XXIX. How and what may be changed by Grafting, Joining or Inoculating Shoots or Buds on different Stocks or Cyons.

XXX. How to compound several Liquors to Water, and feed Vegetables, whereby they may be much altered.

XXXI. Of what Roots, Stalks, Barks, Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, Seeds or Downs, may be made either Cups, Boxes, Baskets, Mats, Callicoes, Cloths, (as Nettle Cloth) and the like, all which will be most useful for the Life of Man, from the Garden.

XXXII. How to prune Vines, how many Joints to leave, and of what Age the Vine must be that is cut away.

XXXIII. How to prune Standard-Trees.

XXXIV. How to prune Wall-Trees, and with what to be best fastned.

XXXV. The Places from whence the best of the Vegetables, that are either Winter-Greens, [Page 80]or fit for the Kitchen-Garden, may be had, and the Marks of their Goodness.

XXXVI. How to discern good Seeds from bad.

XXXVII. The Times of Gathering, and the Ways of Preserving them.

Though we have by Journal-Books a fuller Ac­count given us of Turkey than of many other Countries, yet because there are in these but imperfect Relations of many Things, which yet are needful to be known, it will not be amiss to make known here the Account of these Things, that the Curious Traveller may inform himself of them, as he shall find conveniency for it.

1. In what Part of Turky the Rusma is to be found, and in what Quantity; whether the Turks employ it to any other Uses besides that of taking off the Hair; whether there be differing kinds of it; how it is used to take off Hair, and how to get store of it.

2. Whether the Turks do not only take Opium themselves for Strength and Courage, but also give it to their Horses, Camels and Dromeda­ries, for the same purpose, when they find them tired and faint in their Travelling; what is the greatest Dose any Men are known to have taken of Opium, and how prepared.

3. What Effects are observed from their Use of Opium, as also of Coffee, Bathing, Shaving [Page 81]their Heads, using Rice, and why they prefer that which grows not, unless watered, before Wheat, &c.

4. How their Damasco Steel is made; and,

5. What is their way of Dressing Leather, which, though thin and supple, will hold out Water.

6. What is the way they breed those excellent Horses they are so much famed for.

7. Whether they be so skilful in poisoning, as is said, and how their Poisons are curable.

8. How the Armenians keep Meat fresh and sweet so long as it is said they do.

9. What Arts or Trades they have worth learning.

10. Whether there be such a Tree about Da­mascus called Moustac, which every Year, about the Month of December, is cut down close by the Root, and within four or five Months shoots up again apace, bringing forth Leaves, Flowers and Fruit also, and bearing but one Apple, an excellent Fruit, at once.

11. Whether at Reame, in the South Parts of Arabia Foelix, there be Grapes without any Grains; and whether the People of that Coun­try live, many of them, to an Hundred and twenty Years in good Health.

12. Whether in Candia there be no poison­ous Creatures; and whether those Serpents that are there are without Poison.

13. Whether all Fruits, Herbs, Earths and Fountains are naturally saltish, in the Island of Cyprus; and whether those Parts of this Isle, which abound naturally in Cyprus-Trees, are more or less healthful than others.

14. What store of Amianthus there is in Cy­prus, and how they work it.

15. Whether Mummies be found in the Sands of Arabia, that are the dried Flesh of Men, bu­ried in those Sandy Desarts in Travelling; and how they differ in their Virtue from the embalm­ed ones.

16. Whether the Parts about the City of Constantinople, or Asia Minor, be as subject to Earthquakes now as they have been formerly; and whether the Eastern Winds do not plague the said City with Mists, and cause that Incon­stancy of Weather it is said to be subject to.

17. Whether the Earthquakes in Zant and Cephalonia be so frequent, as to happen now and then nine or ten times in a Month; and whe­ther these Isles be not very Cavernous.

18. What is the Heighth of Mount Cacasus, its Position and Temper in several Parts, &c.

19. With what Declivity the Water runs out of the Euxian Sea into the Propontis, with what Depth; and if the Main Tides and Ed­dies, so famous by the Name of Euripi, have any certain Period.

20. If in the Euxine Sea there can be found any Sign of the Caspian Sea's emptying it self into it by a Passage under Ground; if there be any different Colour or Temper, as to Heat or Cold, or any great Emotion in the Water, that may give Light to it.

21. By what Inland Passages they go to China, there being now a Passage for Caravans through­out those Places, that would formerly admit of no Correspondence, by reason of the Barbarism of the Inhabitants.

22. Whether in the Aqueducts they make, they line the Inside with as good Plaister as the Ancients did, and how theirs is made.

23. To enquire after the excellent Works of Antiquity, with which that Country is full, and which by the Ignorant are not thought worth Notice or Preservation; and particularly what is the Structure and Bigness of the Aqueducts made in several Places about Constantinople by So­lyman the Magnificent.

24. To enquire whether the Relations of a whole City's being turned into Stone be true; and if not, what gave the first Rise to it; and [Page 84]whether it lie so near the Sea that those Bodies so metamorphosed may be easily brought into Europe. Here I beg the Reader's Leave to digress a little, and give him the Information I had of it from one who was upon the Place, did see this strange Metamorphosis, and had an Account of it from one who lived near to it, which I the rather adventure to do, because I have had good Proofs of his Veracity in other Relations, and also because I had the same confirm'd to me in great measure by a Gentleman who had been long a Chaplain to the Factory at Smyrna, who assured me, That there's no doubt of it. 'Tis this: Being obliged to go with the Army sent by the Bassa of Tripoly to reduce a City that had rebelled against him, in the way, he and some others, after Leave got from their Commander, did turn aside to see this so strange Metamorpho­fis; at his first coming into the Place he saw a Sheep lying upon her Belly, as if it were chew­ing the Cud, whose Head he broke off from her Neck with a Stone, and in the Gullet he could perceive some remainder of the chew'd Grass all petrified, which he took up, and sold afterwards to one of his Fellow-Slaves, who, having sent it to the Pope, had his Ransome returned for it. A little farther they saw a Woman sitting on her Knees, with her Hands in a Trough, as if she were kneading Dough, her Mantle that was clasp'd about her Neck being cast backward, and all turned to Stone, so hard, that they could lift her and the Trough in which the Hands were, without parting them or breaking any thing. When he asked a Priest that was sent from the City to treat with the Commander, what way [Page 85]this did happen; he answered him, That all the Inhabitants of that Place were Sodomites, and that God rained down Fire and Brimstone from Heaven upon them; upon the which they were all turned to Stones: And for Proof of this, he desired him to dig in the Sand, with his Hand, a Foot deep, which he found like blue Ashes; which, said the Priests, were the Re­mainders of that Fire.

But to return to our Subject, the next En­quiries shall be for Egypt. And,

1. Whether it rain at any time; and if so, at what time of the Year; and what Influences that Rain hath upon the Air, as to the making it Wholesome or Pestilential, or otherwise Un­wholesome.

2. To consider the Nitre that is made there, to try what Affinity there is between the Nitre we have and theirs, whether it discover an Al­kaly Nature by its Colluctation with Acids, as some report, and whether after dissolving in Water, Filtration and Evaporation, it give Chrystals like to Nitre.

3. Whether the Earth of Egypt, adjoining to the River Nilus, preserved and weigh'd, daily keeps the same Weight, till the seventeenth of June, and then grows daily heavier, with the Increase of the River.

4. Whether, if the Plague be never so great before, yet on the first Day of the Nile's In­crease, it not only not increaseth, but absolutely ceaseth, not one dying of it after; and whe­ther this be justly attributed to the swelling of the Nile, or the cool Winds that happen about that Time, and come from the dissolving of the Snows on the Riphaean Hills behind Greece, which being impregnated with the Nitrous Particles of the Snow, doth both fan the Air of Egypt, and communicate to it an Anti-pestilential Quality; which I the rather am inclin'd to believe, be­cause Judicious Men do attribute in part the swelling of the Nile to these Etesiae, that blow­ing hard on the Mouth of the Nile, force its Waters back again into its Channel, which meeting with the Land-flood, that is at the same time occasion'd by the great Rains hap­pening at that Time on the Mountains of the Moon, do make the River overflow its Banks.

5. To enquire particularly into the manner of hatching Eggs in Egypt; how the Camels Dung is prepar'd, wherein they are laid; how often the Eggs are turned; how covered; whether they hatch in one and twenty Days, as they do with us under a Hen; whether the Chickens be as perfect as ours; if imperfect, whether that may not happen to them with rough handling, while they are removed, being very tender, out of the Place where they are hatched; to take the Design of the manner, how by the Pipes the Heat is conveyed to several Rooms; how they [...]reat them betwixt the time of their Hatching [Page 87]and Taking away by the Owners; whether they do not also use to hatch Eggs under Hens.

6. To enquire if the Yellow Amber that is sold in Egypt in great quantity, be the Gum of a Tree growing in Egypt, or Ethiopia, as Bello­nius, after Diodorus Siculus, affirms; and whe­ther, besides several Animals, that are found in­closed in that Amber, there is frequently found some part of the Bark of a Tree sticking to it.

7. To enquire of a certain Tree, growing not far from Cairo, which bears a Fruit stuffed with Wool, that is finer than Silk, of which the Arabs make Linnen that is softer than Silk, and whiter than Cotton.

8. Whether Crocodiles that are found to be sometimes thirty foot long, are hatched of an Egg no bigger than a Turkey's.

9. Whether the Ichneumon, or Egyptian Water-Rat, can kill a Crocodile, by skipping into his Mouth, and gnawing his way out, as Old Writers affirm.

10. Whether it be true, That the Arabs can charm the Crocodiles, or whether there be on the Nile's side any Talismans, or Constellated Figures, beyond which the Crocodiles cannot pass, as some would make us believe.

11. To enquire at Cairo for several Druggs, which are common there, and much in use, yet not brought into Europe, as Acacia, Calamus [Page 88]Odoratus, Amomum, Costus, Ben Album, and di­vers such others.

12. Whether the Female Palm-Tree be not Fruitful, unless she be planted by the Male, as some would bear us in Hand.

13. To enquire whether the Appearance of Legs and Arms of Men, related to stand out of the Ground, to a great Number, at five Miles from Cairo, on Good-Friday, do still continue, and how that Imposture is perform'd.

14. Whether Children born in the Eighth Month do usually live there, contrary to what is believed to happen elsewhere.

15. To take an Account of the Wooden Locks there, which are said to be made with as great Art there, as our Locks here.

16. To observe the Course of the Waters both in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Enquiries for Guiney.

1. Whether the River Niger overflows the Country yearly, like Nilus.

2. Whether Rain, when it falls, be often very hot; whether it rots the Cloaths, if not pre­sently dried, and breeds Worms in them.

3. Whether the Gold there differs in the Fine­ness, and that which lies uppermost in the Mine be the finest.

4. Whether the Palm yields Wine, Oil, Vine­gar, Soap, and Bread; and whether out of the Leaves they pick Threads, making thereof very curious Works.

5. Whether they have besides their Palm­wine, a Drink made of Grain, like our Ale; what Grain that is, and how prepared.

6. Whether some People on the River Gam­bra be only Tawny, as others very Black.

7. Whether the Negroes have such sharp Sights, that they discover a Ship farther off at Sea than an European can.

8. What Reason there is to conclude, That the Common People being accustomed to drink Water, is the Cause that they are troubled with [Page 90]Worms in their Bodies, very painful to them, and difficult to get out.

Enquiries for Poland, and the adjacent Country, especially such as are more Nor­therly.

1. What is the way of making Pot-ashes in Poland.

2. What is to be observed about Succinum or Amber; whether it be an Exudation of the Sea; whether it be soft when 'tis first cast on Shore; at what Season of the Year, and in what man­ner 'tis taken up, &c.

3. What is to be observed in the digging of Sal Gemmae in Poland; and what is the Depth of the Mines stored with the Salt; and what their Distance from the Sea.

4. What Truth there is in that Relation, of Swallows being found under Waters congeal'd in Winter, and reviving, if they be fish'd and held to the Fire.

5. Whether there be in the Bodnick Bay a Whirl-pool, as is related to be in the Sea of Norway, which is commonly called the Meal­stroom; and whether ther be any Signs that re­late the Communication of these Gulphs with the Subterraneous Passages, as Kircher says in his Mundus Subter. T. 1. p. 146.

6. To what Depth the Cold in these Parts pierces the Earth and Water.

7. Whether their Watches go slower by the intense Cold.

8. Whether their Oil, in great Colds, is turned into true, that is to say, hard and brit­tle Ice.

9. Whether they can freeze there a strong Brine of Bay-Salt, a strong Solution of Sal Gemmae, or Soot, or a strong Solution of Salt of Tartar, or Sugar of Lead.

10. Whether they can congeal meer Blood, all the serous Part thereof being severed. Item, Canary Wine, Solutions of all Salts, and strong Solutions of Metals.

11. Whether an intense and lasting Frost makes any Alteration in Quicksilver, exposed very shallow, in a flat Vessel.

12. Whether the Purgative Virtue of Cathar­ticks be increased or diminished, or even total­ly destroyed by a strong continual Cold.

13. Whether Harts-Horns thawed will give the same Quantity of Spirits, by the same Me­thod of Distilling which they use to yield, when not frozen.

14. What Cold operates in the Fermentations of Liquors.

15. Whether Birds and wild Beasts grow white there in Winter-time, and recover their Native Colour in Summer.

16. Whether Colours may be concentred by Cold, e. g. a strong Decoction of Cochineal in a fit Glass.

17. Whether the Electrical Virtue of Amber, and the Attractive Force of the Magnet be chan­ged by a vehement Cold.

28. Whether Pieces of Iron and Steel, even thick ones, be made brittle by intense Frosts; and therefore Smiths are obliged, for Prevention, to give their Iron and Steel Tools a softer Tem­per.

19. Whether accurate Observations evince, That all Fishes die in frozen Waters, if the Ice be not broken; where it is diligently to be en­quired into, Whether the Cold it self, or the want of Changing or Ventilating the Water, or the Privation of Air, be the Cause of the Death of Fishes.

20. Whether any skilful Anatomist has en­quired, by Freezing to Death some Animals, (as Rabbets, Pullets, Dogs, Cats, &c.) after what manner it is that intense Cold kills Men; whether they have found Ice in the inward Parts, as the Brain and Heart, and in the great­er Vessels.

Enquiries into Hungary and Tran­silvania.

1. What is observable in Hungary, Transil­vania, and the neigh bouring Parts, as to Mi­nerals, Springs, Warm Bath, Earths, Quarries, Metals, &c.

2. Particularly, to enquire into the several sorts of Antimony, or Antimony Ore, to be found in Hungary, and to inform us of the se­veral Places whence they are digged, to the End they may be sent for.

3. To enquire where the best Hungarian Vi­triol is to be found, and the Cinnabaris Nativa.

4. To give us a right Account of the right Gold and Silver Earth-Ore, said to be found at Cranach in Hungary; whence the Gold is called Cranach Gold, first lighted upon by the Care of the Emperor Rudolphus, and chimically wrought by his Order and Inspection.

5. To enquire, and send over some of that kind of Vitriol, which by credible Persons is affirmed to be found Crystallized in Transilva­nia; as also after the Vitriol, said to yield Gold.

6. To inform us of the Salt-Pits in Transil­vania, said to yield two sorts of perfect Salt, [Page 95]the one being a Sal Gemmae, the other a common Table-Salt; to observe how deep these Salt-Mines lie from the Surface of the Ground; how deep they are digged hitherto, and what Damps are met with in them.

7. To enquire after the Veins of Gold and Quicksilver at Cremnitz in Hungary; and the Vein of Silver at Schemnitz in the same King­dom.

8. To enquire whether the Waters of the Thermae that pass by Schemnitz, depose a certain Sediment, which in time turns into a yellow Stone.

9. Whether in the Mines of Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, Lead in Hungary, there be ge­nerally found Quick-silver and Sulphur.

10. Whether it be true, That in the Copper-Mines of the Place called Herren-Ground in Hun­gary, there be found no Quicksilver at all.

11. Whether it be true, That in some Parts of the Ʋpper-Hungary the Ores of Copper, Iron and Lead, be sometimes so commixed, that there is often found in the upper of the Concrete Mat­ter of Iron, in the midst Matter of Copper, and in the lowermost Lead; and that in other Parts of the Country, Copperish Fluors are mixed with Leaden ones.

12. Whether it be true what Athanasius Kir­cher writes from Relation, That the Ductus of [Page 96]Metals do sometimes run North and South, and sometimes cross-ways.

13. Whether it is true what Busbequius re­ports, Of a River in Hungary, whose Water is so hot, and yet so full of Fish, that he saith one would expect that all the Fish drawn thence would come out boil'd.

14. Whether there be Springs about Buda, or Alba Regalis, that rise at the bottom of the River, so hot, that those who go to bathe, dare not put their Feet so low as the Sand, for fear of having them parboil'd.

15. Whether there be in Hungary an Avernus, that exhaleth always such poisonous Steams, that Birds flying over it do oftentime fall down, ei­ther stupified or quite dead; what are the Parti­culars of this, as to Taste, Smell, Colour, Heat or Cold; whether any Waters run into it, and what Minerals are found near about it, to which these Qualities can be mostly attributed.

16. Whether the Iron that is said to be turned into Copper by the Vitriolate Springs at Cremnitz or Schmolnitz in Hungary, do, after that Trans­mutation, or Precipitation, contain a pretty deal of Gold.

17. Whether the Depth of the Gold-Mines of Hungary be Two thousand four hundred Feet.

18. What Quantity of Gold is got out of an hundred weight of Ore, and whether it be got alone, or mixed with other Metals in the Ore.

19. Whether they find Trees, or any other Salt, in the solid Salt of their Salt-Mins.

20. Whether there be a great Lake in Mora­via, whence the Waters at a certain Time of the Year are all drawn away, by great Holes in the middle of it, leading through subterraneous Passes, and that so suddenly, that the Fish are left on the Ground, which afterward becomes good Pasture for another part of the Year, the Waters then returning by the same Passages they went out, and that with so much Force that it rises like a Jet of Water.

21. Whether it is true, That in some Parts of Hungary, near the Gold Mines, the Leaves of their Trees have their lower Superficies, if not their upper also, gilded over with yellowish Ex­halations.

22. What is the way said to be used in Hun­gary and Austria, of extracting the Perfect Me­tals out of their Minera's without Lead, per­formed by casting a Powder upon the Minera, which makes a quick and advantagious Separa­tion, Sulphur being supposed to be an Ingre­dient of it.

Enquiries for Suratte, &c.

1. Whether it be true, that Diamonds and other Precious Stones, do grow again after three Years, in the same Places where they have been digged out.

2. Whether the Quarries of Stone near Fet­tipore, not far from Agra, in the Mogul's Do­minions, may be cleft like Logs, and sawn like Planks to ciel Chambers and cover Houses there­with; likewise whether about Sadrapatan, on the Coast of Cormandel, there be a Stone of the like nature, so as setting a Wedge upon it, one may cleave it with a Mallet, as thick or as thin as one pleaseth; and whether it be of the Na­ture of our Fire-stone, that is prepared by the Stone-cutters for Ovens.

3. Whether upon the same Coast of Corman­del, about Toutoucourin, and that of Ceylan at Manar and Jafanapatan, they fish Pearls as good as those about Ormus; whether those Pearls are the better, the deeper they lie; what is the greatest depth they are known to have been ta­ken at; and whether it be true, that some of the Natives there can stay under Water half an Hour without any Art.

4. Whether the Iron in Pegu and Japan be far better than ours; and if so, what is to be [Page 99]observ'd in Melting, Forging and Tempering of it.

5. Whether in Sumatra there be a Fountain running a very Sanative Oil; and whether the Ignivomous Mountain in the same Country do burn continually, and cast out Stones so eaten by the Fire that they swim.

6. What is the Opinion of the more Inquisi­tive Men in these Parts of Ambergris, and whe­ther the greatest Quantities of it are found about the Isle Mauritius.

7. Whether it be Winter on the East-side of the Mountain Gates, which comes from the North Cape Comorin, whilst it is Summer on the West-side, and so vice versa.

8. Whether it be true, That upon the Coast of Coromandel, sixteen Degrees Northern Lati­titude, between Peleacate and Maselupatan, fifty Leagues in length, the hot Winds blowing from the Landward, from eight in the Morning till four in the Afternoon, with such a suffocating Heat, that the Inhabitants are not able to endure it, without extraordinary Helps and Refresh­ment: Every one, for his Provision of Drink, daily hangs his Bottle, made of common Pot-Earth, and filled with Well-water, or other po­table Liquor, upon some Post, Tree or Wall, in Places where the Sun and Wind are most pier­cing, leaving it all the Day long there in the scorching Heat; and then taking it up about four a Clock in the Evening, the Drink is more [Page 100]cool than any depth of Cellaridge can make it: And whether, on the contrary, the Bottles be­ing suffered to continue in the Air, as before; the cool Sea-Gales, which come in after the said Hour, and continue all Night, till eight in the Morning, to the Refreshment of all Creatures, the Liquors grow hot and unfit for Drink.

9. Whether the Tide, near Mindana, going from the Molucca's to the Philippina's, are so swift, that neither contrary Winds nor Anchors can save a Ship from being carried away by it; and that it rises about three or four Feet; and whether the like be observ'd in the Bay of Cam­baia, and in that between Martagan and Pegu: And particularly, whether in the said Bays the Tides come in with that Impetuosity and Swift­ness about the Quarters of the Moon, that the Watchmen from high Towers must give Warn­ing to the People to retire; and that a Horse, in his swiftest Course, when such a Tide comes upon it, as Isaac Vossius observes, lib. de motu Marium & Ventorum, c. 15. And what other Particulars are observable in all these Coasts about the Tides.

10. Whether there be any Discoveries newer than the newest Painted Maps of the Parts of the World North-East of Japan; and whether Japan be truly an Island, or no.

11. What is the true way of Making and Colouring China Dishes, and how in China and Japan they make the Black Varnish.

12. With what Materials, and how they paint on Cloth, commonly called Pintados, and likewise upon Canvas, &c.

13. Whether Lignum Aloes be the Wood or Root of a Tree; in what Country it is found; and how to know the best of the kind.

14. Whether the best Tea be that which comes forth at the first of the Spring, and are the Top-Leaves; in what manner 'tis dry'd, and whether the too hasting drying thereof hurts it.

15. Whether there grows a Wood in Java, that naturally smells like Humane Excrements; and if so, what kind of Ground it grows in.

16. Whether in the Malacca Islands there be a Red Wood, which burns, sparkles, and flames, without being consumed, yet may be reduced to Powder, by rubbing between ones Fingers.

17. Whether near the Fort of Ternate there be a Plant called by the Inhabitants Catopa, whence fall little Leaves, which are turned in­to Butterflies.

18. Whether in Pegu and other Places they use a Poison that kills by smelling, and yet the poisonous Smell is hardly perceived.

19. Whether it be true, That the only Anti­dote, hitherto known, against the Famous and Fatal Macassar Poison, is Humane Ordure taken inwardly; and of what Substance that Poison is made of.

20. Whether there be such a Vegetable in Java, called Mangas Bravas, that is so poison­ous, that it kills presently, and for which no Remedy hath been yet found.

21. Where the best Calumba Wood, or Palo d' Aquila; whether the Palo d' Aquila be much in­ferior to Calamba, and how they are distin­guish'd; whether the latter be the Pith of the former; whence the best sort comes; whether it be stored with a Rich and Gordial Balm, and that be the Cause of its great Rate, being much used in the Decay of Spirits, and the Lameness and Impotency of Nerves.

22. Whether they draw an Oil, resembling Oil of Camphire, from the Roots of the Cinna­mon-Tree, and how they draw it.

23. Whether the Camphire of Borneo be not the Exudation or Gum of a Tree.

24. Whether the Indians can so prepare that stupifying Herb, called Dutroa or Datura, that they make it lie several Days, Months and Years, according as they design it, in a Man's Body, without doing him any Hurt, and at the end kill him, without missing an Hour's time.

25. Whether the Betele hath such a Contrari­ety to the Durion, that a few Leaves of that, put to a whole Shopful of Durions, will make them all rot suddenly; and whether those that have surfeited on Durions, and thereby over­hearted themselves, do, by laying a Leaf or two of Betele upon their Breasts or Stomachs, immediately cure the Inflammations, and Reco­ver.

26. Whether the Papayat, which bear Fruit like a Melon, do not bear unless Male and Fe­male (as the Vulgar distinguishes them) stand together.

27. Whether there be two sorts of Trees cal­led Arbor Triste, one by the Name of Triste di Die, the other Triste die Notte, whereof the for­mer sheds his Flowers at the Rising, the other at the Setting of the Sun; and whether the distil­led Water thereof (called Aqua di Mogli by the Portugals) may not be transported into these Parts.

28. Whether one of these Trees, called Ar­bre de Rays, propagates it self into a whole Fo­rest, by shouting up and letting fall its Branches into the Ground, that spring up again, and so on; and whether there be any single ones of these Trees, that are above fifty Feet in Diame­ter, as some affirm.

29. What Particulars are observable in other Plants of those Parts.

30. Whether those Shel-fishes that are in those Parts plump and in Season at the Full Moon, and lean and out of Season at the New, are found to have contrary Constitutions in the East-Indies.

31. Whether the Animal that yields the true Musk, be like a Deer, horules, found in the high Country between Pegu and China; and whether the Musk grows in Bags, Blisters, or Swellings, which the Beast rubs off against Trees, it being affirmed to have been found in the Woods by the Scent; whether True Musk is discerned from the False by its Yellowness, when rubbed upon ones Hand, and by its keeping that Colour and the Scent.

32. Whether there be two sorts of Gum Lack, one produced by an Insect, a certain winged Ant, the other the exsudation of a Tree.

33. To enquire after the Fish called Cabala, said to be very powerful in staunching of Blood.

34. Whether at Java there be Oisters, or other Shell-fishes, of that bigness, as to weigh 300 Pounds.

35. Whether in Malacca there grows some­time a Stone in the Stomach of a kind of Porcu­pine, called Pedro Porco, esteemed for its Cor­dial Virtue above Bezoar.

36. Whether there be found in the Head of a certain Snake, a Stone, which laid upon a Wound [Page 105]of any venomous Creature, sticks fast to it, and draws away all the Poison; then, being put into Milk, voids its Poison, and turns the Milk blue; and then applied again, draws the rest of the Poison that may be behind, till the Wound be perfectly cured.

37. Whether the Rhinoceros have such an An­tipathy against Elephants, as is commonly re­ported.

38. Whether in the Island of St. Helena, the Tide be at the same time round in the several Coasts of it; and what is the Hour of full Sea, and what the Age of the Moon at the Time of Observation.

Enquiries for Persia.

1. What are chiefly the present Studies of the Persians, and what kind of Learning they now excel in.

2. What other Trades and Arts they are now skilled in, besides that of making of Silk and Tapistry.

3. Whether, there being already good De­scriptions in Words, of the excellent Pictures and Basse Relieves, that are about Persepolis at Chimilnar, yet none very particular, some may not be found sufficiently skill'd, in those Parts, that might be engaged to make a Draught of the Place, and the Stories there Pictured and Carved.

4. How they make that Plaister, wherewith in India and those Parts they line their Tanks or Cisterns, and which, when dry, shines like Marble, and is much harder.

Enquiries for Virginia and Bermudas.

1. Concerning the Varieties of Earths; 'tis said there is one kind of a Gummy, Clear Con­sistence, White and Clear; another White, and so light, that it swims upon Water; another Red, called Wapergh, like Terra Sigillata: Quaere, What other considerable Kinds are there, and to send over a Parcel of each.

2. What considerable Minerals, Stones, Bitu­mens, Tinctures and Drugs.

3. What Hot Baths, and of what Medicinal Use.

4. What is the Original of those large Navi­gable Rivers which empty themselves into the Bay Chesapeak; and whether on the other side of that Ridge of Mountains, from which they are supposed to proceed, there be not other Rivers that flow into the South Sea.

5. How the Silk-Grass is prepared.

6. To give a full Account of that Vulnerary Root called Wichacan of Pocone, a Root of a red Juice, a good Tincture: Of Musquaspem, a Root of a red Tincture: Of the Plant Mari­cock, whose Fruit is said to be fashioned like a Lemon, exceeding pleasant to the Taste, of a Blossom most beautiful: Of the Chincomen Tree, [Page 108]whose Fruit is said to have a Husk like a Ches­nut, Luscious and Hearty Meat, both Raw and Boiled.

7. Whether there be in the Bermudas a Poi­son-Weed, like our Ivy, whose Leaves do by the Touch cause Blisters; and a Reed whose Juice or Infusion causeth Vomit.

8. What kinds of Trees these Barks are taken from, that are used instead of Tile or Slate, in the Covering of their Houses, being cooler in Summer and warmer in Winter than Stone.

9. To give a particular Account of the Spi­der in the Bermudas, said to be Large and Beautiful for its Colours, weaving a Web be­twixt several Trees, which is affirmed to be for Substance and Colour like perfect raw Silk, so strong, that Birds like Snites are snared therein.

10. Whether Deer have generally their three or four Fawns at a Brood; and whether any of the Cattle, transported from hence, becomes there more Fruitful than they were here.

11. Whether the Relation be true, of a Glue made of Harts-horn, that will not dissolve in Water; and if so, how made.

12. Whether, at the Bottom of the Bay of Chesapeak, Northward, the Natives be still of [...]uch a Gigantick Stature, as has been reported; and whether there be another, not far from these, Easterly, of a Dwarfish Stature.

13. Whether round about the Coast of the Bermudas the Tides keep the same Time, and at what a Clock, precisely, it is High-water on the Days of Full and New Moon, and how high the Water rises then; and the like on the Coasts of Virginia and Florida.

Enquiries for Guaiana and Brasil.

1. Whether about Orabba, near Oronoque, some eight Degrees Northern Latitude, and about the Town Darien, Toads may be produ­ced, by throwing a kind of Moorish Water, found there, upon the Floors of their Houses. Linschotten.

2. Whether it be true that the Locust of Brasil, called Caayra, changeth in the Spring­Time into a Plant, and withers away like a Plant; and whether, in the same Country, that kind of Eruca, which is called by the Portugals Legartas des Verias, turns into a Bird, admira­ble for Colour and swift flying, the Change there­of being made so leisurely, that one may for a while see half of the Insect, and the other half of the Bird, which the Natives call Guianumbi, the Portugals Pegafrel. Piso.

3. Whether upon the Leaves of that Brasilian Tree, called Cereiba, there is, in a Sun-shiny Day, found a white Salt in that Quantity, that one may gather as much from two or three Leaves as will salt a good Pot of Broth. Piso.

4. Whether there be found about the Mouth of the River Amazones, a green Argilla, which, though very soft under Water, grows almost as hard as a Diamond, insomuch that the Na­tives make Hatchets of them, strong and sharp [Page 111]enough to cleave Wood; for which purpose al­so it is said those Indians are said to have used it, before they got Iron ones; and whether this Argilla become Stone, have a peculiar Virtue against the Epilepsie, when carried by the Pa­tient. Pelleprat, in his Relation of the Islands, and Terra Firma of the Southern America.

5. Whether the black Bees in Guaiana, about the River Orenoque, make black Honey and Wax; and whether they have no Stings, as the same Pelleprat affirmeth.

Enquiries and Directions for the Antisles, or Caribe Islands.

I. Of Vegetables.

1. Whether the Juice of the Tree Jumpa, being as clear as any Rock Water, yields a brown Violet Dye, and being put twice upon the same Place, maketh it look black; and whe­ther this Tincture cannot be got out with any Soap, yet disappears of it self in nine or ten Days; and whether certain Animals, particu­larly Hogs and Parrets, eating of this Fruit, have their Flesh and Fat altogether tinged of a Violet Colour.

2. Whether Ring-Doves, that feed upon the bitter Fruit of the Acomas Tree, have their Flesh bitter also?

3. Whether the Wood of the Acajou Tree, being red, light, and well-scented, never rots in the Water, nor breeds any Worms when cut in due Season; and whether the Chests and Trunks made thereof keep Cloaths, placed therein, from being Worm-eaten.

4. Whether the Leaves of a certain Tree, pe­culiarly called Indian Wood, give such a haut Goust to Meats and Sauces, as if it were a Com­position of several sorts of Spices.

5. Whether there be two such sorts of the Wood called Savomer or Soap-Wood, of the one of which the Fruit, of the other the Root ser­veth for Soap.

6. Whether the Bark of the Paretuvier-Wood, tans as well as Oak-Bark.

7. Whether the Root of the Tree Laitus be­ing brayed, and cast into Rivers, maketh Fishes drunk.

1. Whether the Root of the Manioc is so fer­tile, that one Acre planted therewith, yields so plentiful a Crop as shall feed more People than six Acres of the best Wheat.

9. What Symptoms do usually follow upon the taking the Juice of Manioc, or upon eating the Juice with the Root, and what Effects are thereby produced upon the Body, that infer it to be accounted rank Poison; whether worse Effects than these may be caused by meer Crudi­ty, as by Turnips and Carrets eaten raw, and much more by raw Flesh, in those that are not used thereto, or at most some nauseous or noxi­ous Quality, as might be corrected in the Taking or Preparation, which Correction, if effected, might perhaps render the Bread much heartier, the Juice being likely to carry off the Spirit and Strength, leaving the Remainder Spiritless.

10. The Palmetto Royal being said by Ligon to be a very tall and streight Tree, and so tough, that none of them have been seen blown down, and withal hollow; in all which Re­spects they may serve for special Uses, and par­ticularly for long Optick Tubes.

11. Whether the Oil expressed out of Rici­nus or Palma Christi, be used by the Indians to keep them from Vermine; to send over some of that Oil.

12. Whether in the Passage of the Isthmus, from Nombre de Dios to Panama, there is a whole Wood full of Sensitive Trees, of which, as soon as they are touch'd, the Leaves and Branches move with a ratling Noise, and wind them­selves together into a winding Figure.

13. Whether there be certain Kernels of a Fruit, like a white Pear-plumb, which are very Purgative and Emitick; but having the thin Film, which parts them into halves, taken out, they have no such Operation at all, and are as sweet as a Jordaine Almond.

14. To send over some of the Roots of the Herb, called by our Author L'herb aux Fleshes, (the Dart-Herb) which being stamped is said to have the Virtue of Curing the Wounds made with poison'd Darts.

15. To send some of the Grain of the Herb Musk, putting it up carefully in a Box, which being in it, will keep its Musk Scent.

16. To send over a Specimen of all Medici­nal Herbs, together with their respective Vir­tues, as they are reputed there. Item, Particu­larly the Pricklewith at the Barbados; Macao, Mastick-Tree, Locust, Black-wood, Yellow within, Five Sprig, Tidle-wood, White-wood, Barbados Ce­dar.

17. Whether the Fruit Mancenille of the Man­cenillier-Tree, though admirably fair and fra­grant, yet is fatal to the Eater, and falling in­to the Water kills the Fishes that eat thereof, except Crabs, who yet are said to be dangerous to eat, when they have fed upon this Fruit; whether under the Bark of this Tree is contain'd a certain glutinous Liquor, as white as Milk, very dangerous, so that if you chance to rub it, and this Juice spurt upon the Shirt like a Burning, if upon the naked Flesh, it will cause a Swelling, if upon the Eye, Blindness for several Days; and whether the Shadow of this Treee be so noxious, that the Bodies of Men repo­sing, it will swell strangely; and whether the Meat it self that is boiled with the Fire of this Wood, contracts a Malignity, burning the Mouth and Throat: Farther, whether the Natives use the Milky Juice of this Tree, and the Dew fal­ling from it, and the Juice of its Fruit in the Composition of the Poison they infect their Ar­rows with.

II. Of Animals and Insects.

18. Whether the Skin of the Taton, and the little Bone of his Tail, do indeed, as is related, cure Deafness, and Pains of the Ears; and whe­ther this Animal be Proof, not only against the Teeth of Dogs, but also against Bullets.

19. Whether the Birds called Canides, be so docile, that some of them learn not only to speak Indian, but also Dutch and Spanish, singing also the Airs in the Indian Tongue, as an Indian himself.

And whether the Bird Colibri have a Scent as sweet as the finest Amber and Musk; both which is affirmed by our French Author.

20. To procure some of the Fat of the Birds called Fregats, reputed to be very Antiparalyti­cal and Antipodagrical.

21. To send over a Land-Pike, which is said to be like the Water-Pike, but that instead of Fins it hath Four Feet on which it crawls.

22. Whether the Skin of the Sea-wolf, which they otherwise call the Requiem, be so rude and stiff, that they make Files of them, fit to file Wood; and whether it be usually guided by another Fish, that is beautified with such a Va­riety of lively Colours, that one would say, That [Page 117]such Fishes are girt with Necklaces of Pearls, Corals, Emeralds, &c.

23. Whether the Skins of the Sea-Calfs, o­therwise called Lamantins, be so hard, when dried, that they serve the Indians for Shields.

24. Whether the Ashes of the Fresh-Water Tortoises do hinder the falling off the Hair, being powdered therewith.

25. Whether the Land-Crabs of these Islands do at certain times hide themselves all under Ground, for six Weeks, and during that time change and renew themselves; and whether in hiding themselves thus, they do so carefully eo­ver themselves all about with Earth, that the opening thereof cannot be at all perceiv'd, there­by shutting out the Air, by which they might else be annoyed, when they are quite naked, after they have shed their Shells, there then re­maining no other Cover on them but a very thin and tender Skin which, by little, thicken­eth and hardneth into a Crust, like the old.

26. Whether the Serpents in these Parts, that have Black and White Spots on their Backs, be not Venemous; send over some of such Ser­pents Skins.

27. To send over some of the Skins of those huge Lizards, called Ovayamaca, which, when come to their full Bigness, are said to be five Foot long, Tail and all; and especially that are said [Page 118]to have the Scales of their Skins so bright and curious, that they resemble Cloth of Gold and Silver.

28. Where the shining Flees, called Cucuyes, hide almost all their Light, when taken, but when at Liberty afford it plentifully.

29. Whether there be a sort of Bees, Brown and Blue, who make a Black Wax, but the Ho­ney in it whither and sweeter than that of Eu­rope.

30. Whether in those Parts the Indians do cure the Bitings of Serpents by eating fresh Ci­tron Pills, and by applying the Unguent, made of the bruised Head of the Wounding Serpent, and put hot upon the Wound.

31. Whether the Wood-Lice in those Coun­tries, generated out of Rotten Wood, are not able, not only to eat through Trunks in a Day or two, and to spoil Linnen, Cloaths and Books, (of which last they are said only to spare what is written or printed,) but also to support the Props, which support the Cottages, that they fall; and whether the Remedy against the lat­ter Mischief is, To turn the Ends of the Wood, that are fixed in the Ground, or to rub the Wood with the Oil of that kind of Palma Chri­sti (a Plant) wherewith the Natives rub their Heads, to secure them from Vermine.

32. Whether that sort of Vermine they meet with, commonly called Ravets, spare nothing of what they meetwith, (either of Paper, Cloaths, Linnen and Woollen) but Silk and Cotten.

33. Whether the little Cirons, called Chiques, bred out of Dust, when they pierce once into the Feet, and under the Nails of the Toes, do get Ground of the whole Body, unless they be drawn out betimes; and whether at first they cause but a little, but afterwards having pierced the Skin, raise a great Inflammation in the Part affected, and become in a small time as big as a Pease, producing innumerable Nits, that breed others.

Enquiries for Greenland.

1. What and how much is the Heat of the Sun there in the midst of Summer, compared with the Heat of it in England, to be observed with a Thermometer.

2. What is the most constant Weather there in Summer, whether Clear, Cloudy, Rainy, Foggy, &c.

3. What Weather is most usual at such and such Times of the Year.

4. What Constancy or Unconstancy there is of the Wind, to this or that Quarter of the Horizon, or to this or that Part of the Year.

5. What the Temperature of each particular Wind is observed to be, and particularly whe­ther the North-Wind be the coldest; and if not, whether is coldest, the East or the West, &c.

6. What Wind is observed to bring most Ice, and what to make a Clear Water at Sea.

7. What Currents are there, how fast, and which way they set; whether these Currents are not stronger at one time of the Moon than of another; whether they always run one way.

8. What is observable about the Tides, High Spring or Neap; how high the Water-Mark is above the Low Water; which way it floweth, which way it Ebbeth; what time of the Moon the Spring-Tides fall out.

9. Whether the Ice that floats in the Sea, be of Salt-Water or Fresh.

10. What Rivers there are in the Summer, and what fresh Waters can be had.

11. What Fowl are found to live there, and what Beasts; how they are thought to subsist in Winter; how they Breed and Feed their Young.

12. What Vegetables grow there, and whe­ther they yield any Flowers or Fuits, &c.

13. Whether there have been any Thunder or Lightning observed in those Parts, as is ob­served in Norway.

14. How deep the Cold penetrates into the Earth, and whether there be any Wells, Pits or Mines so deep that the Cold does not reach the Bottom thereof.

15. How the Land tends, and whether the Parts under or near the Pole, be by those that have gone farthest that way, thought to be Sea or Land; and how near any hath been known to approach the Pole; whether the Cold increa­seth with the increase of Latitude.

16. To make, if possible, some Experiments and Observations about the Magnet or Needle; and particularly how much the Declination is there, and whether they exactly observe the De­grees of Declination in their Course; likewise to make Observations about the Heighth of the Sun and other Celestial Bodies, and their Dia­meter, Refractions, &c.

17. What is their Opinion concerning the North-East Passage.

18. What Fish do most frequent those Seas besides Whales; what is observable in their Fishing, as the usual or unusual Bigness and Strength, and the several sorts of Whales, and particularly to observe whether that kind of Whale they call Trompa, have in their Heads the Sperma Coeti, and in their Intrals the Am­bergreese, looking like Cow Dung. Purchat.

19. What observable Difference there is of the Coldness of the Winds, when it blows over great Boards of Ice that are seen in these Seas, and when not.

20. To give an exact Account of the Whale­fishing, throwing the Harping-Irons, following the Fish.

21. To describe the whole manner of making the Oil of Whale.

FINIS.

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