358 NATURAL HISTORY. 



but the bone resisteth, whereby the cold becometh 

 more eager : the other is, for that the teeth are 

 parts without blood ; whereas blood helpeth to qua 

 lify the cold : and therefore we see that the sinews 

 are much affected with cold, for that they are parts 

 without blood ; so the bones in sharp colds wax 

 brittle : and therefore it hath been seen, that all 

 contusions of bones in hard weather are more diffi 

 cult to cure. 



Experiment solitary touching the tongue. 



689. It hath been noted, that the tongue receiveth 

 more easily tokens of diseases than the other parts, as 

 of heats within, which appear most in the blackness 

 of the tongue. Again, pyed cattle are spotted in 

 their tongues, &c. The cause is, no doubt, the ten 

 derness of the part, which thereby receiveth more 

 easily all alterations, than any other parts of the flesh. 



Experiment solitary touching the taste. 



690. When the mouth is out of taste, it maketh 

 things taste sometimes salt, chiefly bitter, and some 

 times lothsome, but never sweet. The cause is, the 

 corrupting of the moisture about the tongue, which 

 many times turneth bitter, and salt, and lothsome ; 

 but sweet never : for the rest are degrees of corrup 

 tion. 



Experiment solitary touching some prognostics of 

 pestilential seasons. 



691. It was observed in the great plague of the 



