98 NATURAL HISTORY. 



be poured upon it and inflamed, yet one may endure 

 the flame a pretty while. The other is some extreme 

 cold and quenching virtue in the body of that creature, 

 which choketh the fire. We see that milk quencheth 

 wild-fire better than water, because it entereth better. 



Experiment solitary touching the contrary operations of 

 time upon fruits and liquors. 



861. Time doth change fruit, (as apples, pears, 

 pomegranates, &c.) from more sour to more sweet : 

 but contrariwise liquors, (even those that are of the 

 juice of fruit,) from more sweet to more sour ; as 

 wort, must, new verjuice, &c. The cause is, the con 

 gregation of the spirits together : for in both kinds the 

 spirit is attenuated by time ; but in the first kind it is 

 more diffused, and more mastered by the grosser parts, 

 which the spirits do but digest ; but in drinks the spir 

 its do reign, and finding less opposition of the parts, 

 become themselves more strong ; which causeth also 

 more strength in the liquor ; such as if the spirits be 

 of the hotter sort, the liquor becometh apt to burn : 

 but in time it causeth likewise, when the higher spirits 

 are evaporated, more sourness. 



Experiment solitary touching bloivs and bruises. 



862. It hath been observed by the ancients that 

 plates of metal, and especially of brass, applied pres 

 ently to a blow, will keep it down from swelling. 1 The 

 cause is repercussion, without humectation or entrance 

 of any body : for the plate hath only a virtual cold, 

 which doth not search into the hurt ; whereas all plais- 

 ters and ointments do enter. Surely the cause that 



i Arist. Prob. ix. 10. 



