not blown, where the dew sticketh; but especially caterpillars, both the greatest and the most, breed upon. cabbages, which have a fat leaf, and apt to putrefy. The caterpillar, towards the end of summer, waxeth volatile, and turneth to a butterfly, or perhaps some other fly. There is a caterpillar that hath a fur or down upon him, and seemeth to have affinity with the silk-worm. Experiment solitary touching the flies cantharides. 729. The flies cantharides are bred of a worm or caterpillar, but peculiar to certain fruit-trees; as are the fig-tree, the pine-tree, and the wild briar; all which bear sweet fruit, and fruit that hath a kind of secret biting or sharpness: for the fig hath a milk in it that is sweet and corrosive; the pine-apple hath a kernel that is strong and abstersive: the fruit of the briar is said to make children, or those that eat them, scabbed. And therefore no marvel though cantharides have such a corrosive and cauterising quality; for there is not any other of the insecta, but is bred of a duller matter. The body of the cantharides is bright coloured; and it may be, that the delicate coloured dragon-flies may have likewise some corrosive quality. Experiments in consort touching lassitude. 730. Lassitude is remedied by bathing, or anointing 1 All the species of the genus Cantharis, if not all the family of which this genus is the type, appear to have more or less the power of irritating the skin. The one commonly employed, namely Cantharis vesicatoria, seems to be preferred chiefly because on account of its gregarious habits it is more easily obtained. That it is only found on fruit-trees is an error. It is worth remarking, that by pine-apple Bacon means the cone of a pine. The name was transferred to the fruit of the Anana, in consequence of the resemblance the latter bears to a fir-cone. with oil and warm water.1 The cause is, for that all lassitude is a kind of contusion and compression of the parts; and bathing and anointing give a relaxation or emollition; and the mixture of oil and water is better than either of them alone; because water entereth better into the pores, and oil after entry softeneth better. It is found also, that the taking of tobacco doth help and discharge lassitude. The reason whereof is, partly because by cheering or comforting of the spirits, it openeth the parts compressed or contused; and chiefly because it refresheth the spirits by the opiate virtue thereof, and so dischargeth weariness; as sleep likewise doth. 731. In going up a hill, the knees will be most weary; in going down a hill, the thighs.2 The cause is, for that in the lift of the feet, when a man goeth up the hill, the weight of the body beareth most upon the knees; and in going down the hill, upon the thighs. Experiment solitary touching the casting of the skin and shell in some creatures. 732. The casting of the skin is by the ancients compared to the breaking of the secundine, or caul; 3 1 Arist. Prob. v. 6. So Pindar, Nem. iv.: Αριστος εὐφροσύνα πόνων κεκριμένων Μοισῶν θυγατέρες ἀοιδαὶ 2 Id. ib. v. 19. 3 Arist. Hist. Anim. viii. 17. but not rightly: for that were to make every casting of the skin a new birth: and besides, the secundine is but a general cover, not shaped according to the parts; but the skin is shaped according to the parts. The creatures that cast their skin are, the snake, the viper, the grasshopper, the lizard, the silk-worm, &c. Those that cast their shell are, the lobster, the crab, the crafish, the hodmandod 1 or dodman, the tortoise, &c. The old skins are found, but the old shells never so as it is like they scale off and crumble away by degrees. And they are known by the extreme tenderness and softness of the new shell, and sometimes by the freshness of the colour of it. The cause of the casting of skin and shell should seem to be, the great quantity of matter in those creatures that is fit to make skin or shell; and again, the looseness of the skin or shell, that sticketh not close to the flesh. For it is certain that it is the new skin or shell that putteth off the old so we see that in deer it is the young horn that putteth off the old; and in birds, the young feathers put off the old and so birds that have much matter for their beak, cast their beaks; the new beak putting off the old. : 1 Shell snail. But of course neither they nor tortoises change their shells. It would be endless to point out all similar inaccuracies. Thus, a little further on, it is said that in deer the new horn puts off the old, whereas it is quite clear that the growth of the new horn does not begin until the old one is shed; it goes on, in fact, under the skin which some time afterwards forms over what may be called the stump. This is sufficiently obvious; but there is probably an equal error, though not so easily detected, in what is said with respect to feathers. The truth is, that the habit of close observation of common phenomena does not appear to have been much developed by Bacon's way of life. : Experiments in consort touching the postures of the body.1 733. Lying not erect but hollow, which is in the making of the bed, or with the legs gathered up, which is in the posture of the body, is the more wholesome. The reason is, the better comforting of the stomach, which is by that less pensile and we see that in weak stomachs, the laying up of the legs high, and the knees almost to the mouth, helpeth and comforteth. We see also that galley-slaves, notwithstanding their misery otherwise, are commonly fat and fleshy; and the reason is, because the stomach is supported somewhat in sitting, and is pensile in standing or going. And therefore, for prolongation of life, it is good to choose those exercises where the limbs move more than the stomach and belly; as in rowing, and in sawing being set. 734. Megrims and giddiness are rather when we rise after long sitting, than while we sit. The cause is, for that the vapours, which were gathered by sitting, by the sudden motion fly more up into the head. 735. Leaning long upon any part maketh it numb, and, as we call it, asleep. The cause is, for that the compression of the part suffereth not the spirits to have free access; and therefore when we come out of it, we feel a stinging or pricking; which is the re-entrance of the spirits. Experiment solitary touching pestilential years. 736. It hath been noted that those years are pestilential and unwholesome, when there are great numbers of frogs,2 flies, locusts, &c. The cause is plain; for 1 Compare Arist. Prob. vi. 3, 4, and 6. 2 Arist. Prob. i. 22. that those creatures being engendered of putrefaction, when they abound, shew a general disposition of the year, and constitution of the air, to diseases of putrefaction. And the same prognostic (as hath been said before) holdeth, if you find worms in oak-apples: for the constitution of the air appeareth more subtilly in any of these things, than to the sense of man. Experiment solitary touching the prognostics of hard winters. 737. It is an observation amongst country people, that years of store of haws and heps do commonly portend cold winters; and they ascribe it to God's providence, that (as the Scripture saith) reacheth even to the falling of a sparrow; and much more is like to reach to the preservation of birds in such seasons. The natural cause also may be the want of heat, and abundance of moisture, in the summer precedent; which putteth forth those fruits, and must needs leave great quantity of cold vapours not dissipate; which causeth the cold of the winter following. Experiment solitary touching medicines that condense and relieve the spirits. 738. They have in Turkey a drink called coffa‚1 made of a berry of the same name, as black as soot, 1 Sandys, p. 52. The use of coffee was, when Bacon wrote, of comparatively recent introduction at Constantinople. According to Abd el Kadir ibn Mahommed (ap. Silvestre de Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe), who wrote in the 16th century, it has been used from all antiquity in Abyssinia, and passed from thence into Aden about the beginning of the 14th century. From Aden it spread gradually over the Mahommedan world, and reached Constantinople about the middle of the 16th century. I believe the first scientific description of the coffee plant is that given by Jussieu, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1713. |