*20 NATURAL HISTORY. 



small quantity of spirits, in the cells of the brain 

 and canals of the sinews, are able to move the whole 

 body, which is of so great mass, both with so great 

 force, as in wrestling, leaping ; and with so great 

 swiftness, as in playing division upon the lute. Such 

 is the force of these two natures, air and flame, when 

 they incorporate. 



Experiment solitary touching the secret nature of flame. 

 31. Take a small wax candle, and put it in a 

 socket of brass or iron ; then set it upright in a por 

 ringer full of spirit of wine heated : then set both 

 the candle and spirit of wine on fire, and you shall 

 see the flame of the candle open itself, and become 

 four or five times bigger than otherwise it would 

 have been ; and appear in figure globular, and not 

 in pyramis. You shall see also, that the inward 

 flame of the candle keepeth colour, and doth not 

 wax any whit blue towards the colour of the out 

 ward flame of the spirit of wine. This is a noble 

 instance ; wherein two things are most remarkable : 

 the one, that one flame within another quencheth 

 not ; but is a fixed body, and continueth as air or 

 water do. And therefore flame would still ascend 

 upwards in one greatness, if it were not quenched 

 on the sides : and the greater the flame is at the 

 bottom, the higher is the rise. The other, that flame 

 doth not mingle with flame, as air doth with air, or 

 water with water, but only remaineth contiguous ; 

 as it cometh to pass betwixt consisting bodies. It 

 appeareth also, that the form of a pyramis in flame, 



