CENTURY I. 



is commonly called straining, is a good kind of sepa 

 ration, not only of thick from thin, and gross from 

 fine, hut of more subtile natures ; and varieth ac 

 cording to the body through which the transmission 

 is made : as if through a woollen bag, the liquor 

 leaveth the fatness ; if through sand, the saltness, &c. 

 They speak of severing wine from water, passing it 

 through ivy wood, or through other the like porous 

 body ; but &quot; non constat.&quot; 



4. The gum of trees, which we see to be com 

 monly shining and clear, is but a fine passage or 

 straining of the juice of the tree through the wood 

 and bark. And in like manner, Cornish diamonds, 

 and rock rubies, which are yet more resplendent 

 than gums, are the fine exudations of stone. 



5. Aristotle giveth the cause, vainly, why the 

 feathers of birds are of more lively colours than the 

 hairs of beasts ; for no beast hath any fine azure, or 

 carnation, or green hair. He saith, it is because 

 birds are more in the beams of the sun than beasts ; 

 but that is manifestly untrue ; for cattle are more in 

 the sun than birds, that live commonly in the woods, 

 or in some covert. The true cause is, that the ex- 

 crementitious moisture of living creatures, which 

 maketh as well the feathers in birds, as the hair in 

 beasts, passeth in birds through a finer and more 

 delicate strainer than it doth in beasts : for feathers 

 pass through quills ; and hair through skin. 



6. The clarifying of liquors by adhesion, is an 

 inward percolation; and is effected, when some 

 cleaving body is mixed and agitated with the liquors; 

 whereby the grosser part of the liquor sticks to that 



