LETTERS ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS. 5 



your honour, t assure you that I, that am minimus philoso- 

 phorum, dyd long sense (as I have to wytnesse Mr. Thomas 

 Whalley, th' elder soonne of Mr. Richard Whalley) woorke 

 and secreate practise sumwhat like unto this, in maner as 

 foloweth* : I dissolved two substances in two waters ; then 

 I put the waters togyther in a glasse, suffering them so to 

 remayne for a tyme. Then I stilled of the water from the 

 masse or chaos lefte of them bothe, and put it on agen, and 

 so dyd dyvers tymes. In fine, the masse being dissolved in 

 the water, I let it rest all night in a coulde place. In the 

 morning, I founde swymming on the water and in the myddest 

 therof a little round iland, as brode as riall or sumwhat more, 

 with at the least a hundreth sylver trees about an ynche high, 

 so perfectly formed with trunkes, stalkes and leaves, all of 

 most pure and glystering sylver, that I suppose no lymner 

 or paynter is able to counterfecte the like. Then shaking 

 the glasse, all fell in pieces into the water, and filled it with 

 glystering sparkes, as the firmament shyneth with starres in 

 a cleare wynter night. Then putting the glasse to a softe fyre 

 uppon warme asshes, all turned agen into clear water, which, 

 agen being put in a colde place all night, made an iland with 

 the like trees as before. What this w r olde have been in fine, 

 God knovreth, and not I ! But of this I am sure, that if the 

 floure or learning of our tyme, and sumtyme tutor and bro- 

 ther-in-law^ unto your honour, Mr. Cheeke, had scene any 

 of these two secreates, he wolde greatly have rejoysed. As I 

 knowe the divine sparke of knowleage that is in your honour, 

 partely receaved of hym, will move yow to doo the like, sythe, 

 to a philosophicall and vertuous man, there is nothing so de- 

 lectable as to beholde the infinite poure and wisdome of God 

 in his creatures, in the which his Deitie is not only visible, 

 but in maner palpable, as sum philosophers have written. * 

 And as touching these matters, I have red a marvelous sen- 

 tence in an olde written booke, where these woordes are 

 written : Qui potest facere mediam naturam, potest creare 

 mundos novos. But to discourse of this oracle, or to inter- 

 prete the same, it were to muche to molest your honour 

 therwith : and an argument muche meeter for a seconde So- 

 crates then for me. And of these secreates, writeth Roger 

 Bacon in his booke before alleaged, where he hathe these 

 woordes ; Multa sunt archana admiranda in operibus artis et 

 naturae : Quce licet multam utilitatem non habeant (habent vero 



* Cf. Morieni Roman! de re metallica librum, 4to, Par. 1564, p. 30, et Chrysippi 

 Faniani de arte metallicse metamorphoseos librum, 4to, Par. 1560, p. 17. See also 

 Ripley's " Compound of Alchemy," where may be seen an account of a process very 

 similar to that mentioned by Eden. 



