24 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART i. 



that have breath in their nostrils, must suddenly return to 

 putrefaction. Moses, the great lawgiver, and chief philosopher, 

 skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, who was called the 

 friend of God, and knew the mind of the Almighty, names this 

 element the first in the creation ; this is the element upon which 

 the Spirit of God did first move, and is the chief ingredient in 

 the creation : many philosophers have made it to comprehend 

 all the other elements, and most allow it the chiefest in the 

 mixtion of all living creatures. 



There be that profess to believe that all bodies are madejjf 

 water, and may be reduced back again to water only : they 

 endeavour to demonstrate it thus : 



Take a willow, or any like speedy growing plant, newly rooted 

 in a box or barrel full of earth, weigh them all together exactly 

 when the tree begins to grow, and then weigh all together after 

 the tree is increased from its first rooting, to weigh a hundred 

 pound weight more than when it was first rooted and weighed ; 

 and you shall find this augment of the tree to be without the 

 diminution of one drachm weight of the earth. Hence they 

 infer this increase of wood to be from water of rain, or from 

 dew, and not to be from any other element. And they affirm 

 they can reduce this wood back again to water; and they affirm 

 also the same may be done in any animal or vegetable. And 

 this I take to be a fair testimony of the excellency of my element 

 of water. 



The water is morp proHprti^ j-v. Rn ^i^^ ?r ^ Nay, the earth 

 hath no fruitfulness without showers or dews ; for all the herbs 

 and flowers and fruit are produced, and thrive by the water; 

 and the very minerals are fed by streams that run ufrdeo^ground, 

 whose natural course carries them to the tops of many^gh 

 mountains, as we see by several springs breaking forth cJn- tB$ 

 tops of the highest hills; and this is also witnessed by the daily 

 trial and testimony of several miners. 



Nay, the increase of those creatures that are bred and fed in 

 the water is not only more and more miraculous, but more 

 advantageous to man, not only for the lengthening of his life, 

 but for preventing of sickness, for it is observed by the most 



