An Account of a Book

SCOTIA ILLUSTRA, sive Prodromus Historiae naturalis, &c. Authore Roberto Sibbaldo M.D. Equite Aurato, Medico & Geographo Regio, & Regii Medicorum Collegii apud Edinburgum Socio. Edinburgi in fol. 1684. Before we give an account of the book itself, these few things ought to be premised concerning the Nuntius Scoto-Britannus which is prefixed by the Author, to this Prodromus and is an account of the Atlas Scoticus by him undertaken. It contains both the reason of his undertaking that great work, which, besides his Majesties express command, was the alteration of the country since the Antients, and the imperfect relations the Ignorance or partiality of the Moderns have given; as also the series or method of the whole work itself, according to its books and chapters; which is done chiefly to invite those who can any way contribute to so vast an undertaking, to communicate what they have in order to it. For the direction of which he has added his Quere's, as also a catalogue of the books he already has, both in Print and Manuscript, and of those he has heard of and cannot get, together with the Geographical tables which are not in Bleau, and are curiously drawn by Mr. John Adair. In the Prodromus he hath shewn himself worthy of what he enjoyes in being the Kings Geographer and Physician there, but in this acts chiefly as the latter; for after he has discoursed of Britain in general, as to its Name, Limits, Dimensions and Figure, he does the same for Scotland; the length of which he computes to be 380 English miles, the breadth 190, though it is so often invaded by the Sea, that scarce any house in all Scotland is above twenty Leagues from Salt water, the longest day he makes to be 18 hours 25 min. though for two months, especially ally towards the Orcades, the Sun beams are so plain all night, that it is easy to write and read by them. The Antipodes to Scotland he assigns in the Terra Australis near the Magellanick Streights, and looks upon that to be the truest division of the Country, by which it is divided into three Peninsula's. Hence he passes to the Natural History, beginning as nature herself does, with the four Elements. He finds no burning Mountains, but yet there are Fields which Smoak by day, and Flame by night, as also other igneous impressions. He tells us what sort of Air is best, what use or rather necessity we have of it, accounts for the Spring of it from its Nitrosaline parts; and because they are hardly one hour without winds, looks upon the Scotch air to be more pure and wholesome than the English, the sweating sickness never so much as invading their borders. After having treated of water's being the universal menstruum, if not principle, defined and divided the Sea, and given us its properties of Saltiness and motion, he relates some various motions of the Scotch Sea; a particular vortex of which by the Orcades, sucks in whatsoever comes within its circle. The inhabitants fling in empty vessels, or bundles of straw, and so pass by without any danger, the Sea becoming plain as soon as it hath swallowed what was cast into it, which it again returns about a mile farther. He supposes the bottom of the Sea to consist as the superficies of the Earth does, of Mountains and vallies, woods and mines; whence amber, ambergrise, and whatsoever substance else the Sea casts up, proceed. Petrifying Fountains are found here, as also one that foretells storms, called the routing well near Edinborough, by sending forth a great noise from that side of the Fountain which is opposite to the quarter whence the Storm is to come. Mineral waters are frequent, but no hot Springs, the defect of which he supposes may be supplied by the external use of the water of Moffet, and the bitumen of St. Katharine's rines well, commonly called the oily well. And having treated of the conveniency of its being Mountainous, of its woods, and mines, from those of Gold down to Coals, he writes of the arable lands, and grains of the country, which are much the same with ours, of which grain the fertility of some grounds returns 16 or 18 for one. The Inhabitants in general he looks upon as qualified for arts and arms, by the roughness of their soil, and the purity of their air. The Ancient Scots lived extempore, hunting supplying meat, and the rivers drink, their manners being answerable to their course of life. They took such particular care that their race should not be wasted by hereditary diseases, that they prohibited Marriage to all such who were any way distempered. In the second Book Diseases in general are handled, especially those of the Country, some extraordinary cases of which he relates, as of strange hysterical fits, of a woman with a large horn above her right ear; as also of a Dropsie of the right Tuba Fallopiana, out of whose leg came 44 Scotch pints of tinged water, with a great quantity of thick sediment at the bottom. In his Method of cure he insists principally upon the convenience of Medicines of the growth of the Country, it being the primitive practice; and that he might promote as well as commend it, he has given an account of the Medicines which are produced there, and their virtues; and through all sorts of Simples, compares domestic with foreign ones, to shew how little need there is of exotick Drugs. The second part is divided into 4 books; the first, after the various uses of plants considered with their definitions, parts and divisions, consists of a Catalogue of those plants which grow wild, to each of which is annexed the characteristic note taken from the seed and fruit, and the virtues of the plant, as to most is added the places where they are to be found. The second book describes plants cultivated cultivated in Gardens, with a discourse of Gardens in general, and a description of the Physick Garden at Edinborough. The third Book informs us of the Animals of Scotland, from Men down to Insects; where after a discourse of animals in general, and of the dignity of Man, he mentions some men more eminent, and gives an account of the Life and Works of Mr. Alexander Bodius, whose Effigies he has likewise given us, &c. He has annexed a discourse about the Scotch Geese, the Fable of which he confutes by a description of the Concha Analifera, which is a perfect animal of itself, and always remains so; and asserts that those Geese are known to build and lay Eggs, like other Fowl; though not in that Country, in which they only appear in Autumn and Winter. Anatomy also discovers in these all the Vessels for propagation of Species that are found in other Birds. The last Book gives an account of the Fossilia and Marina, by which the Country seems to be very well stored with Earths, Metals, Stones and Minerals of all kinds; the Sea is no less bountiful than the land; Ambergrise, Succinum, Spermaceti, &c. being the frequent effects of its Munificence. Several Copper Plates adorn and illustrate the books, all together make us impatiently expect the Atlas itself, the Prodromus of which is so satisfactory, that it seems to have prevented it. OXFORD, Printed at the THEATER, and are to be sold by Moses Pitt, at the Angel, and Samuel Smith, at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard LONDON, 1684.