of OXFO%p^S H1%E. Ill 
ingan opinion fo very rational and unlikely to fail, when brought 
to the teft, I thought fit to propound it to the Ingmiom^ though 
the Vrejl would not give us leave firft to experiment it our felves* 
Whence I proceed, 
38. To fuch Arts as relate to the Fir^, which I have placed next, 
in regard we have knowledge of no other but what is Culinary^ 
that in the co;zc^z/f' of the Moon being only a dream Anci- 
ents, Amongft which, we muft not forget the perpetual, at 
lead long-lived Lamp^ invented by the Right Woriliipful Sir 
Chrifiopher Wren ; nor his Regiflerso^ Chymical Furnaces for keep- 
ing a conftant heat in order to divers ufes ; fuch as imitation of 
Nature in the produftion of Foffiles^ Plants^ Infers; hatching of 
Eggs^ keeping the motions of Watches equal, in reference to Lon- 
gitudes and Aftronomical ufes, and feveral other advantages ^. 
39. But amongft all the Fire-vporks ever yet produced by the 
Art of Man, there is none fo wonderful as that of Frier Bacon^ 
mentioa'd in his Epiftle ad Farifmifein^ where fpeaking of the 
feiret works of /Mature 2nd Arts^ he has thefe words, In omnem 
diJlantiam qiiam volumws poi^umusarti/icialiter./ofnponere ignem^com" 
hurentem ex fa/e Petr<£^ (sr aliis ^ ; which alia^ as the Reverend and 
Learned Dx:.JohnWalIis faw^ it in a MS. Copy of the fame P\.oger 
Bacnn^ in the hands of the Learned Dr. Ger. Langhain^ late Pro- 
voll of Queens College^ were Sulphur^ and Carhoniimpulvis : con- 
cerning which, after awhile he further adds: Pr^eter hdcc (i.e. 
comhufiicve/n) funt aliaftupendanaturd^^ nam foni velut Tcnitrn^^ isr 
comjcationes pojfunt fieri in aere^ imo majore horror quam ilia qu<£ 
fiunt per naturam : Nam inodica materia adapta^ fc. ad quantitatem 
uniws pollici^^fonumfacit horribilem is; corufcationem ofiendit violen- 
tem^ (3" hoc fit multls modhs quihips Civitoi aut Exercitus deftruatur. 
—-IgneexfiHente cum fragore in<£/jimabiIi—-Mirahi€C funt fi quis 
Jciret uti ad plenum in debit a quantitate materia, 
40. Tha^ isj that of and other matters, viz^ Sul- 
fhur^ 2nd the dufi of coal^ he could make ;fre that fhould burn at 
what diftance he pleafed ; and further, that with the fame mat- 
ter he could make founds like Thunder, and corufcations in the 
ait more dreadful than thofe made by Nature : For, fays he, a 
little of this matter rightly fitted, though not bigger than ones 
1 Thumb, makes a horrible noife, and fliews a violent corufcation, 
fc. Hiftoryof the Royal Society, Pan.%'[uhfmm- « inEprJt.adFarifienfem.cap.6. 
which 
