CENTURY IX. 445 



being a dissolution of the first form, is a mere con 

 fusion and unformed mixture of the part. Neverthe 

 less it is strange, and seemeth to cross the former 

 observation, that some putrefactions and excrements 

 do yield excellent odours, as civet and musk ; and, 

 as some think, ambergrease : for divers take it, 

 though improbably, to come from the sperm of 

 fish: and the moss we spake of from apple-trees, 

 is little better than an excretion. The reason may 

 be, for that there passeth in the excrements, and 

 remaineth in the putrefactions, some good spirits; 

 especially where they proceed from creatures that 

 are very hot. But it may be also joined with a 

 further cause, which is more subtile ; and it is, that 

 the senses love not to be over-pleased, but to have a 

 commixture of somewhat that is in itself ingrate. 

 Certainly, we see how discords in music, falling 

 upon concords, make the sweetest strains : and we 

 see again, what strange tastes delight the taste ; 

 as red herrings, caviary, parmesan, &c. And it may 

 be the same holdeth in smells: for those kind of 

 smells that we have mentioned, are all strong, and 

 do pull and vellicate the sense. And we find also, 

 that places where men urine, commonly have some 

 smell of violets : and urine, if one hath eaten nut 

 meg, hath so too. 



The slothful, general, and indefinite contempla 

 tions, and notions, of the elements and their con 

 jugations ; of the influences of heaven ; of heat, cold, 

 moisture, drought, qualities active, passive, and the 

 like, have swallowed up the true passages, and pro- 



VOL. IV. D D 



