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.

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 flexilbe 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 moisture and juice of the body, which before weighed; by which means the weight is diminished. This then is the first action; namely, the Attenuation of Moisture and its Conversion into Spirit.

5. The second action, namely the Egress or Escape of the Spirit, is likewise very manifest. This escape, if it takes place all at once, is even apparent to the sense; in vapours to the sight, in odours to the smell; but if it is gradual, as in old age, it is imperceptible to the sense, though it is the same process. Besides, if the texture of the body is so close and tenacious as to prevent the spirit from finding any pores or passages of escape, the spirit in its efforts to get out drives before it the grosser parts of the body and thrusts them beyond the surface; as may be seen in the rusting of metals and the corruption of all fat bodies. This then is the second action; namely, the Egress or Escape of the Spirit.

6. The third action is a little more obscure but equally certain; namely the Contraction of the Grosser Parts after the Emission of the Spirit. In the first place, after the emission of the spirit, bodies seem to be manifestly contracted and to fill less space; as the kernels of nuts when dried do not fill the shell; beams and planks of wood, which at first lay close together, when dried start asunder; bowls and the like crack from dryness; for the parts of the body contract themselves together, and being contracted necessarily leave vacant spaces between them. Secondly, this is shown by the wrinkles of dried bodies; the effort of contraction having so much power as in the meantime to draw the parts together and raise them up; for things that are contracted at the extremities are raised in the centre. And this may be seen in paper, old parchments, the skin of animals, and the rind of soft cheese, all which with age become wrinkled. Thirdly, this contraction shows itself better in things which are not only wrinkled by heat, but are also folded, crumpled, and as it were rolled up by it; as may be seen by holding paper, parchment, and leaves to the fire. For contraction by age, being a slower process, generally only wrinkles, but contraction by fire being more speedy likewise curls up in folds. But in most bodies, which do not

admit of wrinkling or folding, there is a simple contraction, shrinking, induration, and desiccation, as was laid down at first. And if the escape of the spirit and consumption of the moisture is so great as not to leave body enough to unite and contract itself, then the contraction necessarily ceases, the body becomes putrid, and nothing but a little dust hanging together, which with a slight touch is dissipated and passes into air; as may be seen in bodies much decayed, in paper and linen burnt to tinder, and in corpses which have been long embalmed. This then is the third action; namely, the Contraction of the Grosser Parts of the Body after the Emission of the Spirit.

7. It should be observed that fire and heat only dry accidentally, their proper work being to attenuate and dilate the spirit and moisture. But it follows by accident that the other parts contract themselves; whether only to avoid a vacuum, or from some simultaneous motion, whereof I am not now speaking.

8. It is certain that putrefaction as well as arefaction is caused by the innate spirit, though it proceeds in a very different way. For in putrefaction the spirit is not simply discharged, but is in part detained, whence it produces strange effects. And the grosser parts likewise are not so much locally contracted as collected severally each to its own kind.

LENGTH AND SHORTNESS OF LIFE IN ANIMALS.

With reference to the 3rd Article of

Transition.

The History.

With regard to the length and shortness of life in Inquiry. animals, the information to be had is small, observation careless, and tradition fabulous. Among domestic creatures a degenerate life spoils the constitution; in wild animals severity of weather curtails the natural duration.

Neither is this information much advanced by what may appear to be concomitants; namely, the size of the body, the time of gestation in the womb, the number of young, the time of growth, and the like; for these things are complicated, concurring in some cases and not in others.

1. The age of man (as far as can be gathered from any certain account) exceeds in length that of all other animals, with the exception of a very few. The concomitants in his case are generally regular, his stature and proportion large, his