said to have prevailed in Cappadocia, Thrace and some parts of Spain.1 12. The situation of granaries at the tops of houses, with windows to the east and north, is very convenient. Sometimes two floors are constructed, an upper and a lower one; whereof the upper one is perforated with holes, that the grain (like sand in an hour-glass) may continually fall through the chinks, and after a few days be shovelled up again, so as to keep the grain in constant motion. Now we must observe that a contrivance of this kind not only prevents the corn from rotting, but preserves freshness and checks desiccation; because, as was before remarked, the discharge of the watery humour, which is accelerated by the motion and the wind, preserves the oily part that would otherwise escape with the watery moisture in its proper substance. On some mountains likewise where the air is pure dead bodies will remain many days without much decay. 13. Fruits, as pomegranates, lemons, apples, pears, and the like; and flowers, as roses and lilies, are kept a long time in close earthen vessels. Not however that then they are entirely free from the affection of the external air, which conveys and insinuates its inequalities through the sides of the vessel, as is shown in heat and cold; so that besides carefully stopping the mouths of the vessels, it will be good likewise to bury them in the earth. Or it will answer the same purpose if you sink them in water, provided the water be sheltered, as wells and cisterns in houses; but in this case glass vessels should be substituted for earthen. 14. In general, things kept in the earth, or in cellars, or in water, preserve their freshness longer than things kept above ground. 1 Pliny, xviii. 73. 15. It is said that in conservatories of snow (whether in the mountains, in natural pits, or in artificial wells), if an apple, chesnut, nut, or anything of the kind happen to fall in, it will be found many months after, when the snow has melted, or even in the snow itself, as fresh and fair as if it had been gathered the day before. 16. Country people keep grapes by covering the bunches with meal, which, though it makes them less pleasant to the taste, yet preserves their juice and freshness. Likewise all the harder fruits last for a long time, not only in meal, but also in sawdust, and even in heaps of grain. 17. It is a common opinion that bodies are preserved fresh in liquors of their own kind, as in their proper menstrua; as grapes in wine, olives in oil, and the like. 18. Pomegranates and quinces are preserved by dipping them in sea or salt water, and presently taking them out again, and drying them in the open air in a shady place. 19. Bodies suspended in wine, oil, or lees of oil keep long; much longer in honey and spirit of wine, but the longest of all (according to some) in quicksilver. 20. Fruits covered with wax, pitch, plaster, paste, or other coat or covering, long retain their freshness. 21. It is manifest that flies, spiders, ants, and the like, that have accidentally been inclosed and buried in amber or even the gums of trees, never afterwards decay; though they are soft and tender bodies. 22. Grapes and other fruits are preserved by hanging them up in the air. For in this there is a double advantage; one, that all the bruising or pressure, which happens when they are laid on hard bodies, is avoided; the other, that there is an equal play of the air on all sides of them. 23. It has been remarked that in vegetable bodies neither putrefaction nor desiccation commence alike in every part; but chiefly in that part through which during life aliment was drawn. Hence some recommend to cover up applestalks and fruitstalks with melted wax or pitch. 24. Large wicks of candles or lamps consume the tallow or oil quicker than small ones; cotton-wicks quicker than those of rush, straw, or twig; torches of juniper or fir burn quicker than those of ash; and all flame stirred and fanned by the wind burns faster than in a calm; and therefore slower in a lantern than in the open air. Lamps in tombs are said to last for a very long time. 25. The nature likewise and preparation of the aliment, no less than the nature of the flame, contributes to the length of time they burn. For wax lasts longer than tallow, moist tallow longer than dry, hard wax longer than soft. 26. Trees, if the earth about their roots be stirred every year, last for a shorter time; if every five or ten years, for a longer. Cutting off buds and shoots contributes to their length of life; but manuring, laying chalk and the like about their roots, or much irrigation, though it increases their fruitfulness, shortens their existence. And so much for the prevention of desiccation and consumption. The inteneration of bodies which have been dried, though the most important part of the matter, presents but few experiments; and I will therefore combine with them some things which happen to animals and even to man. 27. Willow bands used to bind trees become more flexible by being steeped in water. The ends of birch twigs likewise are placed in pots of water to prevent them from withering. Bowls that have cracked from dryness, by being placed in water, close and become whole again. 28. Leathern boots grown hard and stiff with age are softened by being greased with tallow before the fire; and if they are put before a fire alone they get some softness. Bladders and parchment which have become hard, are softened by warm water with an infusion of oil or any fat substance; and more so if besides this they are slightly rubbed. 29. Very old trees, which have long stood untouched, if the earth about their roots be stirred and opened out, manifestly become as it were young again, and put out new and tender leaves. 30. Old draught oxen, entirely worn out, if turned into a fresh pasture, put on new flesh, tender and young, so as even to taste like young beef. 31. A spare and strict diet of guaiacum, biscuit, and the like (such as is used in the cure of venereal diseases, inveterate catarrhs, and the beginning of dropsy,) reduces men to great leanness, by consuming the juices of the body. But these when they begin to be renewed and recruited, appear much more fresh and youthful, so that I judge wasting diseases well cured to have prolonged the lives of many. Major Observations. 1. It is strange how men, like owls, see sharply in the darkness of their own notions, but in the daylight of experience wink and are blinded. They talk of the elementary quality of dryness, of desiccants, and of the natural periods of bodies, by which they are corrupted and consumed; but in the meantime they observe nothing of any moment, either of the beginnings, or of the intermediate and last acts of desiccation and consumption. 2. The process of desiccation and consumption is performed by three actions, which are derived, as was mentioned before, from the innate spirit of bodies. 3. The first action is the Attenuation of Moisture into Spirit; the second is, the Egress or Escape of the Spirit; the third is, the Contraction of the Grosser Parts of the Body, immediately after the emission of the spirit. And this last is that desiccation and induration whereof I am now principally treating; the two first only consume. 4. With regard to Attenuation, the matter is obvious. The spirit inclosed in all tangible bodies does not forget itself, but whatever it finds therein, that it can digest, work upon, and turn into itself, that it plainly alters and subdues, multiplying itself thereby and generating new spirit. This is confirmed by one proof, which may do for all; that bodies thoroughly dried lose in weight, and become hollow, porous, and sonorous from within. Now it is most certain that the spirit which pre-exists in the body adds nothing to the weight, but rather takes away from it; and therefore it must needs be that this spirit has turned into itself that |