them when we come to the inquisition itself. The three general intentions are the forbidding of waste and consumption, the perfecting of reparation, and the renewing of oldness.

12. Inquire touching those things which conserve and exempt the body of man from arefaction and consumption, at least which put off and protract the inclination thereunto.

13. Inquire touching those things which pertain to the whole process of alimentation (by which the body of man is repaired), that it may be good, and with the best improve

ment.

14. Inquire touching those things which purge out the old matter, and supply with new; as also which do intenerate and moisten those parts which are already dried and hardened.

But because it will be hard to know the ways of death, unless we search out and discover the seat or house or rather den of death, it will be convenient to make inquisition of this thing; yet not of every kind of death, but of those deaths which are caused by want and indigence of nourishment, not by violence, for they are those deaths only which pertain to a decay of nature, and mere old age.

15. Inquire touching the point of death, and the porches of death leading thereunto from all parts, so as that death be caused by a decay of nature, and not by violence.

16. Lastly, because it is behoveful to know the character and form of old age, which will then best be done if you make a collection of all the differences both in the state and functions of the body, betwixt youth and old age, that by them you may observe what it is that produceth such manifold effects; let not this inquisition be omitted.

17. Inquire diligently touching the differences in the state of the body, and faculties of the mind in youth and old age; and whether there be any that remain the same without alteration or abatement in old age.

Nature durable, and not durable.

To the first article. The History.

1. Metals are of that long lasting, that men cannot trace the beginnings of them; and when they do decay, they decay through rust, not through perspiration into air; yet gold decays neither way.

2. Quicksilver, though it be a humid and fluid body, and easily made volatile by fire, yet (as far as we have observed)

by age alone, without fire, it neither wasteth nor gathereth

rust.

3. Stones, especially the harder sort of them, and many other fossils, are of long lasting, and that though they be exposed to the open air, much more if they be buried in the earth. Notwithstanding stones gather a kind of nitre, which is to them instead of rust. Precious stones and crystals exceed metals in long lasting, but then they grow dimmer and less orient if they be very old.

4. It is observed that stones lying towards the north do sooner decay with age than those that lie toward the south; and that appears manifestly in pyramids and churches, and other ancient buildings; contrariwise, in iron, that exposed to the south, gathers rust sooner, and that to the north later; as may be seen in the iron bars of windows, and no marvel, seeing in all putrefaction (as rust is) moisture hastens dissolutions; in all simple arefaction, dryness. 5. In vegetables (we speak of such as are felled, not growing), the stocks or bodies of harder trees, and the timber made of them, last divers ages. But then there is difference in the bodies of trees: some trees are in a manner spongy, as the elder, in which the pith in the midst is soft, and the outward part harder; but in timber trees, as the oak, the inner part (which they call heart of oak) lasteth longer.

6. The leaves, and flowers, and stalks of plants are but of short lasting, but dissolve into dust, unless they putrefy; the roots are more durable.

7. The bones of living creatures last long, as we may see it of men's bones in charnel-houses; horns also last very long; so do teeth, as it is seen in ivory, and the seahorse teeth.

8. Hides also and skins endure very long, as is evident in old parchment books; paper likewise will last many ages, though not so long as parchment.

9. Such things as have passed the fire last long, as glass and bricks; likewise flesh and fruits that have passed the fire last longer than raw, and that not only because the baking of the fire forbids putrefaction, but also because the watery humour being drawn forth, the oily humour supports itself the longer.

10. Water of all liquors is soonest drunk up by air, contrariwise oil latest; which we may see not only in the liquors themselves, but in the liquors mixed with other bodies; for paper wet with water, and so getting some degree of trans

parency, will soon after wax white, and lose the transparency, again the watery vapour exhaling; but oiled paper will keep the transparency long, the oil not being apt to exhale; and therefore they that counterfeit men's hands will lay the oiled paper upon the writing they mean to counterfeit, and then essay to draw the lines.

11. Gums all of them last very long; the like do wax and honey.

12. But the equal or unequal use of things conduceth no less to long lasting or short lasting than the things themselves; for timber, and stones, and other bodies standing continually in the water, or continually in the air, last longer than if they were sometimes wet, sometimes dry; and so stones continue longer if they be laid towards the same coast of heaven in the building that they lay in the mine. The same is of plants removed, if they be coasted just as they were before.

Observations.

(1.) Let this be laid for a foundation, which is most sure, that there is in every tangible body a spirit, or body pneumatical, inclosed and covered with the tangible parts; and that from this spirit is the beginning of all dissolution and consumption, so as the antidote against them is the detaining of this spirit.

(2.) This spirit is detained two ways; either by a straight enclosure, as it were in a prison, or by a kind of free and voluntary detention. Again, this voluntary stay is persuaded two ways: either if the spirit itself be not too moveable or eager to depart, or if the external air importune it not too much to come forth. So then, two sorts of substances are durable, hard substances and oily: hard substance binds in the spirits close; oily partly enticeth the spirit to stay, partly is of that nature that it is not importuned by air; for air is consubstantial to water, and flame to oil; and touching nature durable and not durable in bodies inanimate, thus much.

The History.

13. Herbs of the colder sort die yearly both in root and stalk; as lettuce, purslane, also wheat and all kind of corn; yet there are some cold herbs which will last three or four years, as the violet, strawberry, burnet, primrose, and sorrel. But borage and bugloss, which seem so alike when they are alive, differ in their deaths; for borage will last but one year, bugloss will last more.

14. But many hot herbs bear their age and years better; hyssop, thyme, savory, pot marjoram, balm, wormwood, germander, sage, and the like. Fennel dies yearly in the stalk, buds again from the root; but pulse and sweet marjoram can better endure age than winter, for being set in a very warm place and well fenced, they will live more than one year. It is known that a knot of hyssop twice a year shorn hath continued forty years.

15. Bushes and shrubs live threescore years, and some double as much. A vine may attain to threescore years, and continue fruitful in the old age. Rosemary well placed will come also to threescore years; but whitethorn and ivy endure above a hundred years. As for the bramble, the age thereof is not certainly known, because bowing the head to the ground it gets new roots, so as you cannot distinguish the old from the new.

16. Amongst great trees the longest livers are the oak, the holm, wild ash, the elm, the beech tree, the chesnut, the plane tree, ficus ruminalis, the lote tree, the wild olive, the palm tree, and the mulberry tree. Of these some have come to the age of eight hundred years; but the least livers

of them do attain to two hundred.

17. But trees odorate, or that have sweet woods, and trees rozenny, last longer in their woods or timber than those abovesaid, but they are not so long lived, as the cypress tree, maple, pine, box, juniper. The cedar being borne out by the vastness of his body, lives well near as long as the former.

18. The ash, fertile and forward in bearing, reacheth to a hundred years and somewhat better; which also the birch, maple, and service tree, sometimes do; but the poplar, lime tree, willow, and that which they call the sycamore, and walnut tree, live not so long.

19. The apple tree, pear tree, plum tree, pomegranate tree, citron tree, medlar tree, black cherry tree, cherry tree, may attain to fifty or sixty years; especially if they be cleansed from the moss wherewith some of them are clothed.

20. Generally greatness of body in trees, if other things be equal, hath some congruity with length of life; so hath hardness of substance; and trees bearing mast or nuts are commonly longer livers than trees bearing fruit or berries; likewise trees putting forth their leaves late, and shedding them late again, live longer than those that are early either in leaves or fruit; the like is of wild trees in comparison of

orchard trees. And, lastly, in the same kind trees that bear a sour fruit outlive those that bear a sweet fruit.

An Observation.

Aristotle noted well the difference between plants and living creatures, in respect of their nourishment and reparation namely, that the bodies of living creatures are confined within certain bounds, and that after they be come to their full growth, they are continued and preserved by nourishment, but they put forth nothing new except hair and nails, which are counted for no better than excrements; so as the juice of living creatures must of necessity sooner wax old; but in trees, which put forth yearly new boughs, new shoots, new leaves, and new fruits, it comes to pass that all these parts in trees are once a year young and renewed. Now, it being so, that whatsoever is fresh and young draws the nourishment more lively and cheerfully to it than that which is decayed and old, it happens withal, that the stock and body of the tree, through which the sap passeth to the branches, is refreshed and cheated with a more bountiful and vigorous nourishment in the passage than otherwise it would have been. And this appears manifest (though Aristotle noted it not, neither hath he expressed these things so clearly and perspicuously) in hedges, copses, and pollards, when the plashing, shedding, or lopping, comforteth the old stem or stock, and maketh it more flourishing and long lived.

Desiccation, Prohibiting of Desiccation, and Inteneration of that which is desiccated and dried.

To the second article. The History.

1. Fire and strong heats dry some things and melt others.

"Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit,

Uno eodemque igne?"

How this clay is hardened, and how this wax is melted, with one and the same thing, fire? It drieth earth, stones, wood, cloth, and skins, and whatsoever is not liquefiable; and it melteth metals, wax, gums, butter, tallow, and the like.

2. Notwithstanding, even in those things which the fire melteth, if it be very vehement and continueth, it doth at last dry them. For metal in a strong fire (gold only excepted), the volatile part being gone forth, will become less ponderous and more brittle; and those oily and fat sub