a devilish appetite in them, it is likely to proceed for that man's flesh may send up high and pleasing vapours, which may stir the imagination; and witches' felicity is chiefly in imagination, as hath been said.

Experiment solitary touching the salamander.

860. There is an ancient received tradition of the salamander, that it liveth in the fire, and hath force also to extinguish the fire. It must have two things, if it be true, to this operation. the one a very close skin, whereby flame, which in the midst is not so hot, cannot enter; for we see that if the palm of the hand be anointed thick with white of egg, and then aqua vitæ be poured upon it and inflamed, yet one may endure the flame a pretty while. The other is some extreme cold and quenching virtue in the body of that creature, which choketh the fire. We see that milk quencheth wild-fire better than water, because it entereth better.

Experiment solitary touching the contrary operations of time upon fruits and liquors.

861. Time doth change fruit, (as apples, pears, pomegranates, &c.) from more sour to more sweet: but contrariwise liquors, (even those that are of the juice of fruit,) from more sweet to more sour; as wort, must, new verjuice, &c. The cause is, the congregation of the spirits together: for in both kinds the spirit is attenuated by time; but in the first kind it is more diffused, and more mastered by the grosser parts, which the spirits do but digest; but in drinks the spirits do reign, and finding less opposition of the parts, become themselves more strong; which causeth also more strength in the liquor; such as if the spirits be of the hotter sort, the liquor becometh apt to burn: but in time it causeth likewise, when the higher spirits are evaporated, more sourness.

Experiment solitary touching blows and bruises.

862. It hath been observed by the ancients that plates of metal, and especially of brass, applied presently to a blow, will keep it down from swelling. The cause is repercussion, without humectation or entrance of any body: for the plate hath only a virtual cold, which doth not search into the hurt; whereas all plaisters and ointments do enter. Surely the

1 Arist. Prob. ix. 10.

cause that blows and bruises induce swellings is, for that the spirits resorting to succour the part that laboureth, draw also the humours with them; for we see that it is not the repulse and the return of the humour in the part strucken that causeth it; for that gouts and tooth-aches cause swelling, where there is no percussion at all.

Experiment solitary touching the orrice root.

863. The nature of the orrice root is almost singular; for there are but few odoriferous roots; and in those that are in any degree sweet, it is but the same sweetness with the wood or leaf: but the orrice is not sweet in the leaf: neither is the flower anything so sweet as the root. The root seemeth to have a tender dainty heat; which when it cometh above ground to the sun and the air, vanisheth: for it is a great mollifier; and hath a smell like a violet.

Experiment solitary touching the compression of liquors.

864. It hath been observed by the ancients that a great vessel full, drawn into bottles, and then the liquor put again into the vessel, will not fill the vessel again so full as it was, but that it may take in more liquor: and that this holdeth more in wine than in water. The cause may be trivial; namely, by the expence of the liquor, in regard some may stick to the sides of the bottles: but there may be a cause more subtile; which is, that the liquor in the vessel is not so much compressed as in the bottle; because in the vessel the liquor meeteth with liquor chiefly ; but in the bottles a small quantity of liquor meeteth with the sides of the bottles, which compress it so that it doth not open again.

Experiment solitary touching the working of water upon air

contiguous.

865. Water being contiguous with air, cooleth it, but moisteneth it not, except it vapour. The cause is, for that heat and cold have a virtual transition, without communication of substance; but moisture not: and to all madefaction there is required an imbibition: but where the bodies are of such several levity and gravity as they mingle not, there can

1 Arist. Prob. xxv. 8. For the statements in the next two paragraphs, see the third and eighteenth problems in the same section.

follow no imbibition.

And therefore oil likewise lieth at the

top of the water, without commixture: and a drop of water running swiftly over a straw, or smooth body, wetteth not.

Experiment solitary touching the nature of air.

866. Star-light nights, yea, and bright moonshine nights, are colder than cloudy nights. The cause is, the dryness and fine ness of the air, which thereby becometh more piercing and sharp; and therefore great continents are colder than islands: and as for the moon, though itself inclineth the air to moisture, yet when it shineth bright, it argueth the air is dry. Also close air is warmer than open air; which (it may be) is, for that the true cause of cold is an expiration from the globe of the earth, which in open places is stronger; and again, air itself, if it be not altered by that expiration, is not without some secret degree of heat; as it is not likewise without some secret degree of light; for otherwise cats and owls could not see in the night, but that air hath a little light, proportionable to the visual spirits of those creatures.

Experiments in consort touching the eyes and sight.1

867. The eyes do move one and the same way; for when one eye moveth to the nostril, the other moveth from the nostril. The cause is motion of consent, which in the spirits and parts spiritual is strong. But yet use will induce the contrary: for some can squint when they will; and the common tradition is, that if children be set upon a table with a candle behind them, both eyes will move outwards, as affecting to see the light, and so induce squinting.

868. We see more exquisitely with one eye shut, than with both open. The cause is, for that the spirits visual unite themselves more, and so become stronger. For you may see by looking in a glass, that when you shut one eye, the pupil of the other eye that is open dilateth.

869. The eyes, if the sight meet not in one angle, see things double. The cause is, for that seeing two things, and seeing one thing twice, worketh the same effect; and therefore a little pellet held beween two fingers laid across, seemeth double.

1 The statements in these paragraphs, to 872. inclusive, are taken from Arist. Prob. xxxi. 7. 2. 11. 15. 26. 29. and 3.

870. Pore-blind men see best in the dimmer lights; and likewise have their sight stronger near hand, than those that are not pore-blind; and can read and write smaller letters. The cause is, for that the spirits visual, in those that are poreblind, are thinner and rarer than in others; and therefore the greater light disperseth them. For the same cause they need contracting; but being contracted, are more strong than the visual spirits of ordinary eyes are; as when we see through a level the sight is the stronger; and so is it when you gather the eyelids somewhat close; and it is commonly seen in those that are pore-blind, that they do much gather the eye-lids together. But old men, when they would see to read, put the paper somewhat afar off; the cause is, for that old men's spirits visual, contrary to those of pore-blind men, unite not but when the object is at some good distance from their eyes.

871. Men see better, when their eyes are over against the sun or a candle, if they put their hand a little before their eyes. The reason is, for that the glaring of the sun or the candle doth weaken the eye; whereas the light circumfused is enough for the perception. For we see that an over-light maketh the eyes dazzle; insomuch as perpetual looking against the sun would cause blindness. Again, if men come out of a great light into a dark room; and contrariwise, if they come out of a dark room into a light room; they seem to have a mist before their eyes, and see worse than they shall do after they have stayed a little while either in the light or in the dark. The cause is, for that the spirits visual are, upon a sudden change, disturbed and put out of order; and till they be recollected, do not perform their function well. For when they are much dilated by light, they cannot contract suddenly; and when they are much contracted by darkness, they cannot dilate suddenly. And excess of both these (that is, of the dilatation and contraction of the spirits visual), if it be long, destroyeth the eye. For as long looking against the sun or fire hurteth the eye by dilatation; so curious painting in small volumes, and reading of small letters, do hurt the eye by contraction.

872. It hath been observed that in anger the eyes wax red; and in blushing, not the eyes, but the ears, and the parts behind them. The cause is, for that in anger the spirits ascend and wax eager; which is most easily seen in the eyes, because they are translucid; though withal it maketh both the

cheeks and the gills red; but in blushing, it is true the spirits ascend likewise to succour both the eyes and the face, which are the parts that labour; but then they are repulsed by the eyes, for that the eyes, in shame, do put back the spirits that ascend to them, as unwilling to look abroad: for no man in that passion doth look strongly, but dejectedly; and that repulsion from the eyes diverteth the spirits and heat more to the ears, and the parts by them.

873. The objects of the sight may cause a great pleasure and delight in the spirits, but no pain or great offence; except it be by memory, as hath been said. The glimpses and beams of diamonds that strike the eye; Indian feathers, that have glorious colours; the coming into a fair garden; the coming into a fair room richly furnished; a beautiful person; and the like; do delight and exhilarate the spirits much. The reason why it holdeth not in the offence is, for that the sight is the most spiritual of the senses; whereby it hath no object gross enough to offend it. But the cause (chiefly) is, for that there be no active objects to offend the eye. For harmonical sounds and discordant sounds are both active and positive: so are sweet smells and stinks: so are bitter and sweet in tastes: so are over-hot and over-cold in touch: but blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives; and therefore have little or no activity. Somewhat they do contristate, but very little.

Experiment solitary touching the colour of the sea or other

water.

874. Water of the sea, or otherwise, looketh blacker when it is moved, and whiter when it resteth.' The cause is, for that by means of the motion, the beams of light pass not straight, and therefore must be darkened: whereas, when it resteth, the beams do pass straight. Besides, splendour hath a degree of whiteness; especially if there be a little repercussion: for a looking-glass with the steel behind, looketh whiter than glass simple. This experiment deserveth to be driven further, in trying by what means motion may hinder sight

Experiment solitary touching shell-fish.

875. Shell-fish have been by some of the ancients compared and sorted with the insecta 2; but I see no reason why they

Arist. Prob. xxiii. 23.

2 I believe Aristotle is alluded to. He divides the Exsanguia into four classes, of