CHAP. I.] TI1E FIRST DAY. 59 



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 or 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 more productive than the earth. Nay, the 

 earth hath no fruitfulness without showers or dews ; for all 

 the herbs, and flowers, and fruits, are produced and thrive 

 by the water ; and the very minerals are fed by streams that 

 run under ground, whose natural course carries them to the 

 tops of many high mountains, as we see by several springs 

 breaking forth on the 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, are 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 learned physicians, that the casting off of Lent, 

 and other fish-days, which hath not only given the lie to so 

 many learned, pious, wise founders of colleges, for which we 

 should be ashamed, has doubtless been the chief cause of 

 those many putrid, shaking, intermitting agues, unto 

 which this nation of ours is now more subject, than 

 those wiser countries that feed on herbs, sallets, and 

 plenty of fish ; of which it is observed in story, that the 

 greatest part of the world now do. And it may be fit to 

 remember that Moses, Lev. xi. 9, Deut. xiv. 9, appointed 

 fish to be the chief diet for the best commonwealth that 

 ever yet was. 



And it is observable, not only that there are fish, as 

 namely the whale, 1 three times as big as the mighty elephant, 

 that is so fierce in battle, but that the mightiest feasts have 

 been of fish. The Romans, in the height of their glory, 



1 The whale is no longer classed amongst fish : they bring forth their 

 young alive, and are nourished by means of mammary organs, therefore 

 come under the class of mammalia. ED. 



