2© 



3\(aturall Hi/lory; 



73 



74 



75 



Experiments 

 in Confer t 

 touching the 

 Verfion->md 

 Tranfmutation 

 of Air into 

 Water. 



76 



The Fifth Cauje of Cold, or rather of encreafe and vehemency of Cold, is a 

 Quick Spirit inclosed in a Cold Body : As will appear to any that (hall atten- 

 tively confider of Nature in many Inftances. We fee Nitre (which hath 

 a Quick Spint)is Cold • more Cold to the Tongue 5 than a Stone 5 So Water 

 is oA&r than Oil, becaufe it hath g Quicker Sprit 5 For all 0// ; though it 

 hath the Tangible Parts better digefted than jFPifcfo yet hath it a duller Spi- 

 rit: So5wwisO/^rthaaW^ffr,becaufeithath more Spirit within it : So 

 we fee that Salt put to Ice (as in the producing of the Artificial/ Ice) encrea- 

 feth the Activity of Cold : So fome Infect a which have Spirit of Life, as 

 5>4^,and Silkworms, 2xz to the touch, Co/*/. So Quick- filver is the C^/i/? 

 ot Metals,betaufeit is fullefi of Spirit. 



The Sixth Cauje of is f&p Chafing and Driving away of Spirits,(i\ch as 

 have fome Degree of Heat : For the Banifhing of the Heat muft needs leave 

 any Body Cold. This we fee in the Operation of Opium, and Stupef actives, 

 upon the Spirits of living Creatures : find it were not rmifs to trie Opium, 

 by laying it upon the Top of a Weather-gla/, to fee whether it will contract 

 the Air /But I doubt it will not fucceed: For hefides that the vertuc of 

 Opium will hardly penetrate thorow fuch a Body as Glafs, I conceive that 

 Opium,and the like,make the Spirits r]ie rather by Malign *'ty>than by Cold. 



Seventhly, the fame Effect- muft follow upon the Exhaling or Drawing 

 out of the warm Spirits, that doth upon the flight of the Spirits. There is 

 an Opinion, that the Moon is Magneticall of Heat, ss the Sun is of Cold and 

 Moiflure : It were not amifs therefore to trie it, with Warm-waters : The 

 one expofed to the Beames of the Moon % the other with fome Skreen be- 

 twixt the Beames of the Moon and the Water As we ufe to rfcle Sun for 

 Shade •, And to fee whether the former will cool fooner. And it were alio 

 good to enquire, what other Meanes there may be, to draw forth the Exile 

 heat which is in the Air =, for that may be a Secret of great Power to Pro- 

 duce Cold weather. 



Meanes of turning Air into 

 Experiment 2? But becaufe it is Wagviale 

 Natuw 3 and tendeth to the fubduingofa very great effecl: jAnd 

 is alio of Manifold ufe$ we will adde fome inflames in Conjott 

 that give light thereunto* 



^ K T E have formerly fet down the 

 V / Water, in the Experiment 27 



11 



j It is reported by fome of the Ancients, that Sailers have ufed, every 

 I "Night,to hang Fleeces of Wooll on the fides of their Ships, the Wooll towards 

 I the Water And that they have cruihed frefh Water out of them, int^he 

 I Morning, for their ufe. And thus much we have tried, that a Quantity of 

 i Wooll tied loofe together, being let down into a deep j^eH ,And hanging 

 I in the Middle, fome three Fathome from trie Water, for a night, in the 



Winter time encreafed in weight,(as I now remcmber)to a fifth Part. 

 It is reported by one of the Ancients, that in Lydia,nea\- Pergamus, there 



were certain Work-men, in time of wars fled into Caves ; And the Mouth 



of the Caves being flopped by the Enemies, they were famimed. But long 

 I time after the dead Bones were found ; And fome VelFels which they had 

 ' carried with them And the VelTels full of Water; And that ^f^thicker, 



and more towards Ice, than Common Water :■ which is a Notable In- 

 | ftance of Condenfation, and Induration by Buriall under Earth, (in Caves)for 

 (longtime-, And of verfion alfo (as it mould feem) of Air into Water-, 



