96 NATURAL HISTORY. 



&c. : by certain special maturations ; as by laying them 

 in hay, straw, &c. : and by fire ; as in roasting, stew 

 ing, baking, &c. The cause of the sweetness by roll 

 ing and pressing, is emollition, which they properly 

 induce ; as in beating of stock-fish, flesh, &c. : by rot 

 tenness, is for that the spirits of the fruit by putrefac 

 tion gather heat, and thereby digest the harder part ; 

 for in all putrefactions there is a degree of heat : by 

 time and keeping, is because the spirits of the body do 

 ever feed upon the tangible parts, and attenuate them : 

 by several maturations is, by some degree of heat : and 

 by fire is, because it is the proper work of heat to re 

 fine and to incorporate ; and all souiTiess consisteth in 

 some grossriess of the body ; and all incorporation doth 

 make the mixture of the body more equal in all the 

 parts ; which ever induceth a milder taste. 



Experiment solitary touching flesh edible and not edible. 

 859. Of fleshes, some are edible ; some, except it 

 be in famine, not. For those that are not edible, the 

 cause is, for that they have commonly too much bitter 

 ness of taste ; and therefore those creatures which are 

 fierce and choleric ^re not edible ; as lions, wolves, 

 squirrels, dogs, foxes, horses, &c. As for kine, sheep, 

 goats, deer, swine, coneys, hares, &c., we see they are 

 mild and fearful. Yet it is true that horses, which are 

 beasts of courage, have been and are eaten by some 

 nations ; as the Scythians were called Hippophagi ; 

 and the Chineses eat horse-flesh at this day ; and some 

 gluttons have used to have colts -flesh baked. In birds, 

 such as are carnivorae, and birds of prey, are commonly 

 no good meat ; but the reason is rather the choleric 

 nature of those birds, than their feeding upon flesh : 



