An Accompt of Two Books

15. Whether the Nature of Saps ascending, or the Cause of it, be after this manner; viz. That in the moist night, the Roots being spungy and soft in the extreme parts, draw in moisture and ferment it; to which the Sun by his warmth gives farther fermentation in the Roots, and a pulsion upwards into the firmer parts of the Roots, and thence into the Body and Branches, and there digesteth it? And whether by the same manner, the Body and Branches warmed, and exhausted in the day by the Suns heat, digesting and expending into leaves, &c. according to the season, draw Sap out of the lower part to the extremities, so that when Digestion, or Sudion (if there be any such) exceeds Pulsion, Sap runs not, & vice versa? 16. If Spungy and soft wood imitates Roots in their manner of shooting fresh Roots, and in the growth, after the way above mentioned? 17. Whether more solid wood, as Bays, &c. in moist and seasonable weather laid, and fitted, or, as it were grafted in Willow roots or sticks, will shoot Roots in Layers, and grow as Mulberries do? [I have heard that a chip of soft wood, laid to the end of a Bay slip, promotes its rooting: And that Mulberry slips are easily propagated, set in the latter end of January, or beginning of February, in a moist season, not in dry March. Such slips root best, if they be Suckers, and taken off with part of the old bark; or if they be last years shoots, cut off from Arms, taken with some older bark from the place where they shot out. I have set many formerly, which all throve. I affect to propagate them for Pear, and other stocks, namely Quinces, Medlars, Plums, to turn their pulp and juice red, by taking grafts from such Trees, as have been grafted on Mulberries. Quere, if bloud-red Pears and red Redstrakes were thus railed at first, or may be propagated, and to what advantage?] 18. Quere, if Quince-stocks conduce to make firm the pulp of Apples, and alter the form of them from what the Graft naturally had before? An Accomp of two Books. I. MISCELLANEA Curiosa MEDICO-PHYSICA Academiae Naturae Curiosorum. Lipsiae 1670. in 4°. This is a work very lately begun in Germany by a Company of ingenious Philosophers, call'd Academia Natura. Nature Curiosorum (an Academy of Curious Inquirers into Nature,) which some years ago have establish'd themselves in that Country, with a designe-chiefly to improve Physick and Natural Philosophy. For which purpose, they have, (as I find in their Salve Academicum, printed at Leipsick, An. 1662.) undertaken each of them, to consider and write upon determinate subjects, thereby to penetrate into the nature and qualities of Particular Bodies (Generals having too long already busied Mens Brains and Hands;) as of the Vine, Tobacco, Aloe, Scurvy-grass, Wormwood, Scorzonera, St. Johns Worth; Iron, Brass; the Unicorn, the Stagg, Crabbs; the Blood-stone, Eagle-stone; Mule, Civet, Amber, &c. Besides which, they have attempted, (after the way taken up in France, Italy, and England,) to write and publish Ephemerides, or a Diurnal, or Transactions of a Philosophical Nature, intending therein to present the Curious yearly with such Medical, Anatomical, Botanical, Pathological, Chirurgical, Therapeutical, and Chymical Observations, as they shall by their correspondence either with the Physicians and Philosophers of their own Body and Nation, or with those of other Societies and Countries, procure and digest. And of this they give a specimen in the Book, of which an Accomp is now to be given, out of that Exemplar, which was sent from that Generous Body by the hands of the Learn'd Dr. Sacks, (a Member of the same) to the Publisher. In it are contained 160 Observations, and 19 Tables of Figures; being the Sum of what they have collected for the first Year, which is 1670. Of them we shall English, for a tast of the Curious here, what followeth; observing the promiscuous way of recital, which is in the Book itself. Among others then (till more Copies of the Book come over,) we take notice of: 1. A Relation of Snakes kept tame in an House, going into their boxes every night, and seen to cast their skin, and (one of them) to lay 13 Eggs in the space of an hour and a half, facilitated by him that kept them; who also dissected one of them, and communicated the remarkable things in that Operation. 2. An History to evince, that part of the Chyle is by the Ductus Thoracicus conveyed into the Subclavials, and so into the Circulation of the Breasts, whence by certain Pipes it is carried into Glándulas or Kernels, there to be elaborated, either for the aliment aliment of the breasts themselves, or the food of Faetus. 3. An Observation of a *Polygonum Cocciferum*, or a Grain-bearing Knot-grass in Poland, whose Grains being exposed to the Sun, are turn'd into live Worms, which when dried and so moistned, and pulverized, tinge with a Crimson colour. 4. A Description of an Anti-pleuritick Medicine, much used and commended by Petrus a Castro, formerly chief Physician to the Duke of Mantua) made of the Rindes of the longer form of Italian Pumpions, boiled in very old Oyl of Olives, and strained through a sleeve. 5. A Description of a Remedy for an Atrophy of the Eye, lighted upon by chance, when the Eye of an Uro (or Cock of the Wood) being dissected, the Aqueous humour, by a deep incision thereof, did spilt into the Eye of the Operator, who thereupon found the pains of his Eye, which was much dried, and did smart by over-much incubrations, allwaged, and his sight improved; and afterwards upon occasion did advise to instil the like juice of such and other Cocks into the Eyes of a young man, who by his debauches had purchased a kind of Consumption in his Eyes. 6. A Narration of a Serpent petrified in the stomack of a Stag; kept in the Repository of the Count of Hanow, approaching to the colour of a Bezoar-stone, and weighing about 23 ounces. As also of the Brains of divers Oxen turn'd into stones. 7. An Accomp of an Horny substance grown out, near the two last short Ribbs, to a considerable length, resembling the Horn of a young Deer. Whence occasion is taken to relate many odd Observations of Horns grown in all sorts of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Four-footed Beasts, and even in some Men. 8. A way of making a Person born Deaf to hear, by speaking to him over the coronal suture, well shaved and washed, after certain Purgations made of the Brain, specified in the Book. 9. Of an Egg naturally bred in an Egg; of Stones naturally found included in Stones; and Animals in Animals, and Fruit in Fruit. 10. Of a Child born Hydropical; and of a Faetus febricitant whilst in the womb, as was judged by certain red and livid marks appearing on it when it came forth. 11. Of a Child, one year old, so diseased with the Hydrocephalus, that when open'd, there were taken out of his Head 36 ounces of clear, but saltish, water; whereupon the Brain was by the attentive beholders seen so flatted and extended, as to stick close to the convex sides of the whole skull, like some thick membrane: There being also found a considerable quantity of the like liquor within the Chest of this Infant. 12. Of Worms let out by Venæ-section, and Urine. 13. Of the Periodical Head-ach, recurring daily at a certain hour in the morning, and lasting until noon; and seizing only the external part of the face over the right Eye; remedied by letting of blood, and compressing the part. 14. An Observation of the plenteous growth of Vincetoxicum or Swallow-wort in the Counties of Stiria and Carinthia, most inhabitants of which are troubled with the Scrofulæ or Kings Evil, curable with the root of that Plant, having in it very Volatile, piercing, and dissolving Spirits; upon which account, the Author esteems it also very powerful against Dropsies. 15. Of a Fœtus tinged yellow by Saffron in the Uterus, related by Amatus Lusitanus, and verified here by an Experiment made upon a Bitch big with Puppy's; though the Chyle in the Lacteous Vessels was whitish. 16. Of several Stones come away together with the Blood of a man of 72 years of Age, being bloused in the Arm. 17. Of a sort of Crafishes, which taste bitter when boiled; taken in a small River called Obra, in the Confines of Silesia and Polonia, there growing on the Bank of that River great store of wild Calamus Aromaticus, on the Roots of which these Crafishes have been observed to feed greedily. 18. Of a Flame broken out of several stomacks, and burning like Spirit of Wine, both in dead Animals, and living Men. 19. A way of Dwarfing men, by anointing their Back-bones, in their very infancy, with the grease of Moles, Batts, and Dormice; together with an Intimation of the Art, used at Bologna to dwarf their Dogs, by often washing (from the first day they are pupp'd) their feet and back-bone; thereby drying and hardning those parts, and so hindring their extension. 20. An Abscisse in the Abdomen well cured at Vienna by an incision made about 4 inches under the ribbs, upon which followed. low'd a plentiful eruption of purulent matter, which continued to run for many weeks. 21. Of many odd Examples, not of women only, but men also, greedy to eat very strange things; especially of a Boy, that, without any visible prejudice to his health, did eat Sand, Chalk, Brick, Snuffs of Candles, Dirt, &c. though his Mother had not been observed to eat any such thing, when she bred him. To whom may be joyned the several devourers of Glass, Stones, and Nails, innoxiously voided again by siege. 22. Of making Chylous Wine, without any disease in the Kidneys or Bladder, in an Atrophy of the whole Body, there wanting no passages, by which the Chyle may come into the Emulgent and Urinary Vessels. 23. Of an American Aloë, planted in Sicilia, and remaining steril for 31 years, but after that time shooting out very many branches, and flowers: its chief stem 18 foot high, bearing 21 branches, whereof some had above 200 flowers, which together with the main stem withered away. And of such an other, in Misnia, which in a few days grew up to the height of 12 inches, growing every natural day a whole palm, and shooting out 32 branches, in an admirably regular order distant from one another, and in their extremities each producing store of flowers variously coloured. 24. Of two rare Symptoms about the Sight. One of a person, that tuning the strings of a Musical instrument, one of them snapping asunder, hit his right eye with a smart stroke; after which, some proper cooling Ophthalmicks having been applied, the Patient after Midnight awaking, saw all things in the dark, as clear as if it had been full day, being able to discern the smallest lines of pictures, and to read printed papers: Whereas when a Candle was brought to him, or in the Sunshine, he could see nothing at all. The other is, of a man infected with the Lues Venerea, who, after that the other symptoms were abated, found his sight so distemper'd, that all Objects appear'd to him double; which yet at length ceased. 25. An Observation of a Muscus Terrestris (Ground-Moss) which being gather'd in August and September, and reduced to powder, fulminateth, when held or blown into a flame; the same is said by Olearius, in his Moscovy and Persian Voyage, to be used by those people in their Artificial Fires; who adds, that Powder of Rosin doth the like. 26. Of a Noble-man in Silesia, who was so strong, that with his hands alone he could break a Horse shoe, and a Ryxdoljar; and hold, at one and the same time, three Men, two under his Arms, and one by his Teeth fastned in his cloaths: who once also, when he hunted the Wild Boar one of those Beasts of a good bigness rushing upon him, took him with one hand by the hair under the Snout, and with the other hand ran him through with his Sword. This same person could at one dinner drink off a whole German Gm full of Wine. 27. Of a Bezoar stone encompassing a Dart, found in the Emperours Repository, and esteem'd to have been taken out of a Bezoar-breeding Goat, which being shot in some fleshy part with an arrow, the Salin-Tartareous particles, swimming in the Bloud of that Animal, and wont to breed Bezoardick stones in it, were by the continual motion of the Bloud carried to that part, where they gathered and stuck about the Arrow. 28. Of Eeles being Viviparous, one of these Academicians affirming, that himself had in Holland taken several of them out of an Eels womb, wrapt up in several membrans. 29. Of an Hermaphrodite-Stockfish, having both Melt and Rowe; as also of two Crocodils, of both Sexes. 30. Of a strange Antipathy to Musick in a man, that as soon as he heard an Harp touch'd, could not hold his water, &c. 31. Of Light inbred in the Insect, call'd Scolopender, shining in the dark, and sparkling when compressed. 32. Several Observations concerning the Milk diet against the Gout, together with a debate upon that subject; and the manner of using the said Diet. 33. Of Mercury crowded into the Crural Vein of a Dog, to the quantity of half an Ounce, without any hurt appearing in the Animal. 34. Of a Jaspar-stone, worm-eaten. We leave here unmention'd many other curious Observations, related in this Work, partly for want of room, partly because of the unfitness of many of them to be exposed to the view of all sorts of Readers. II. PHYSICA, in Decem TRACTATUS DISTRIBUTA, Auth. Honorato Fabri, S. J. Lugduni Galliarum, 1669, in 4°. Of this vast work, the Author publish'd An.1666. at Paris; two Treatises; the first, De Plantis & Generatione Animalium; the latter, De Homine; by a kind of Retrograde method, opposing the Order of Publishing to that of Composing: For, whereas in the Composition, he proceeded from the simpler things to the Complexed; in the Publication and Communication, he thought fit to produce the Whole of all Nature, that elaborate piece, Man; in whom, besides the Sensitive and Vegetable Faculties, and the powers of Mixts, and the Elements, common to all Bodies, there shineth out a supereminent Principle, the Rational Soul. In the Book, which beareth the above-mentioned Title, the Author giveth in the Preface an Accomp of the Method, used by him in this whole Work, and of his Performance in this very Volume. Concerning his Method, he saith, That he hath comprehended the whole Physicks, or all Natural Philosophy in Ten Treatises, in a Geometrical method, (which how he performeth, we leave to strict Mathematicians to judge;) beginning from those things that first incur into our senses, viz. In the Four first Treatises, he handles of The sensible states of Bodies, as the Corporal Quantum; Of Bodies Tense and Compressed, Rare & Dense; Heavy and Light, where of the Motion of Bodies, Natural, Violent, and Mixt; Opac & Diaphanous, Wet and Dry, Hard and Soft; Tough and Dry; Flexible and Stiff; Fissil and Brittle; Friable and Ductil; Liquid and Liquable; Inflammable; Exhalable; Spirable; Of Heat, and Cold; of Light, Colours, Sounds, Odors and Tasts; and of the Resistance of Bodies. In the Fifth, he treateth of the Principles of Bodies Natural, of their Generation and Corruption, and the Four Elements. In the Sixth and Seventh, of Mixtion and mixt Bodies, Imperfect and Perfect. In the Eighth of Celestial Bodies. In the Ninth, and Tenth, of Plants, Animals, and Man. As to his Performance in this Volume, he therein dispatcheth the Four first Treatises. In the whole, he professeth to have followed the Principles of Aristotle, except where clear Experiment and Demonstration necessitate; to recede from him; observing withal, how much that Philosopher hath been perverted by Averroes, and the rest of that Arabian Crew.