[___ The Bitory of Life aid Dea 
. 
‘Longer; for the moft part. when the times are barbarous , and men fare lefs deli¢i- 
‘| onfly, and are more: given to bodily exercifes : Shorter, when the times are mére 
_| civil, and men abandon themfelves to luxury and eafe. But thefe things pafs on by 
‘| their turns, the fucceffion of Generations alters is not. The fame,’no doubt, ‘is in 
,| other living Creatures s for neither Oxeny nor Horfes, “not Sheep, nor any the 
like, are abridged of their wonted ages at this day. And therefore the Creat 
| Abridger of Age was the Floud; and perhaps fome fuch! notablé accidetits: (as 
| particular Znundations, long Droughts, Earthquakes, or the like) may do the-fame 
jj again. And the like reafon is in the dimenfion and ftature of Bodies ; for neither 
are they leffened by fucceffion of Generations, ‘howfoever Virgil ( following the 
vulgar opinion ) divined, that after Ages would bring forth Ieffer Bodies than the 
then prefent : whereupon fpeaking oF ploughing up the e4mathian and e£monen- 
fian Fields, he faith, Grandiag; effoffis mirabitur offa Sepulchris, That after-ages fball 
adnsire the great bones digged upin anctcnt Sepulchres. ° For whereas it is manifefted that 
there were heretofore men of Gigantine Statures, (fuch as for certain have been found 
in sicily, and elfe-where , in ancient Sepulchres and Caves) yet within thefe’laft 
‘| three thonfand years, a time’ whereof we have fure’ memory, thofe very places have 
ae none fuch: although this thing alfo hath certain tarns and changes, by the 
| Civilizing of a Nation, no lefs than the former. And this is the rather to be noted, 
“becaufe men are wholly carried ‘away with an ‘opinion, that there is a continual 
‘decay by Succeffion of Ages, as well in the term of man’s’ Life as in the 
| ftature and ftrength of his Body’; and that all things decline and change to the { 
|. In Cold and Northern (Countries men live longer commonly than'in Hot : which 
‘muft needs be in refpect the skin’ is more compaé and clofe,' and the juices of 
| the’body Icfs diMipable, and the Spirits themfelves lefs eager to corifume , and “in: 
better difpofition to repair, and the Air (as being little heated by the Sun-beams) | 
lefs predatory: And yet under the e#quinolival Limey where the Sun’ pafleth ‘to and 
fro, and caufeth a double Summer ‘and double Winter, and“where the’ Days and 
Nights are more equal, (if other things be concurring) they’ live alfo’ very long’; 
as in Pers and Taprobane. dh SIGE. £ OR SBA 
Ifanders are, for the moftpart, longer-liv’d than thofe that live in (Continents: for 
thiey liye not fo long in Ruffia as in the Orcades ; nor fo long in Africa, though. 
Pe the fame Parallel, as in the Canaries and Tercera’s ; and the faponians are | 
longer-liv’d than the Chinefes, though the Chtnefes are madeupen long life. And this | 
thing is no marvel, feeing the Air of the Sea doth heat and cherith in cooler Regi- | 
ons, and cool in hotter. eek , 
| High Situations do rather afford long-liversthan Low, efpecially if they be not Tops | 
_| oF Mountains, but Rifing Grounds, as to their general Situations ; fuch as was 4r- }. 
e4adiain Greece, and that part of Aizolia where we related them to have lived fo long. 
Now there would be the fame reafon for A4Zountains themfelves;becaufe of the purenefs 
| and clearnefs of the Air, but that they are corrupted by accident, namely; by the 
Vapouts rifing thither out of the Valleys, and refting there ; and therefore in Snowy 
| «Mozntains there is not found any notable long life, not in the Alps, not inthe Pyre- 
nean —Mountains, not in the eApennine x yet in the tops of the Afonntains running 
| along towards Airbiopia and the edbyffines, where by reafon of the Sands beneath little 
| orno Vapour rifethto the Mozntaims, they live long, evenat this yery day,attaining ma-- 
ny times toan hundred and fifty years. 
Sitar {hes and Fens are propitiousto the Natives, and malignant to Strangets, as touch- 
ing thedengthning and thortning of their lives : and that which may feem more mar- 
~| vellous, Salt-maar/bes, where the Sea Ebbsand Flows, arelefs wholfomethan thofe of 
Frefh eter, / . ; 
The Countries which have been obferved to produce long-livers are thefe3 e4rcadia, 
FEtsliaz, India onthis fide Ganges, Brafil, T aprobane, Britain, ireland, with the Iflands of 
the Urcades and Hebrides : for as for Aithiopia, which by one of the Ancients is re- 
ported to bring forth long. Livers,’tis butatoy, es 
It is a Sectet ; The healthfulnefs of Air, efpecially in atiy perfetion; is better 
found by Experiment than by Difsourfe or Conjecture. You may make a trial by’ 
a lock of Wool expofed for a few dayes in the open Air, if the weight be not much | . 
- 
beeeal 
- arenes sean d'..2-. gud Canepa met 
eh {ete 
Se a mene 
