CENTURY IX. 95 



Eggs, as is reported by some, have been hatched in the 

 warmth of an oven. It is reported by the ancients, 

 that the ostrich 1 layeth her eggs under sand, where 

 the heat of the sun discloseth them. 2 



Experiment solitary toucJiin &amp;gt; swelling and dilatation 

 in .boiling. 



857. Barley in the boiling swelleth not much ; 

 wheat swelleth more ; 3 rice extremely ; insomuch as a 

 quarter of a pint (unboiled) will arise to a pint boiled. 

 The cause (no doubt) is, for that the more close and 

 compact the body is, the more it will dilate : now bar 

 ley is the most hollow ; wheat more solid than that ; 

 and rice most solid of all. It may be also that some 

 bodies have a kind of lentour, and more depertible na 

 ture than others ; as we see it evident in coloration ; 

 for a small quantity of saffron will tinct more than a 

 very great quantity of brasil or wine. 



Experiment solitary touching the dulcoration of fruits. 



858. Fruit groweth sweet by rolling, or pressing 

 them gently with the hand ; as rolling pears, damas 

 cenes, &c. : by rottenness ; as medlars, services, sloes, 

 heps, &c. : by time ; as apples, wardens, pomegranates, 



1 Estrich in the original. J. S. 



2 Conrad Gesner, who is very learned in all writers on natural history, 

 refers for this statement to Albertus Magnus, who gives no ancient author 

 ity for it, and I have not been able to find any. The notion that the ostrich 

 hatches her eggs by looking at them, Gesner quotes from Cielius Rhodigi- 

 nus. See his Hist. Animal, iii. p. 711. As she is commonly taxed with 

 want of -solicitude about her otfspring, it is worth mentioning that JKIian 

 speaks of a cruel method of catching the ostrich; namely, putting a cheval 

 de frise of spikes round her nest, on which she impales herself in endeav 

 ouring to return to her young. 



8 A.rist. Prob. xxi. 22. 



