i6

SECOND BOOK

O F

Natural Masick

Shewing how living Creatures of divers kinds, may-be mingled and coupled together, that from them, new,and y et profitable kinds of living Creatures maybe generated.

The P r o e m e.

Aving wandred beyond my bounds, in the constderatiou of Caases and their Alis-ons ; which I thought fit to make the Subjelt of my first bookj it will be time to speak

tf those Operations, which we have often promised, that we may not too long keep off from

them those ingenious men that are very defir ohs to know them. Since that we have j aid,

That Natural t^Magickjs the top, and the cempleat faculty or Natural Science , in han-dling it, we wit/conclude within the compass of this Volume, whatsoever u High, Noble,Choice, and Notable, that is discovered in the large field os Natural Htftory. But thatyve may perform this, Ijhallreduce all those Secrets into their proper places ; and that no-thing may be thrufi out of its own rankj, I shall follow the order of Sciences. And I shad

first divide them into Natural and Mathematical Sciences, aud 1 (hall begin with the Na-tural• for I hold that mofi convenient, that all may arise from those things that are sim-ple, and not so laborious, to tJMathtmatical Sciences. 1 (hall from Animals ffrst proceed toPlants, and so by fieps to Minerals, and other works of Nature. I (hall briefly describeTountains,also whence flow Springs ; and I (hall annex thereto the Reasons, and the Causes ;that Industrious men made acquainted with this, may find out more of themselves. Andbecause there are two generations of Animals and slants, one of themselves, the other bycopulation: 1 (hallfirst speaks of such as are bred without copulation*, and next, of such asproceed from copulation one with another, that we may produce new living Creatures,suchat the former ages never saw. I st) all begin therefore with Putrefaction, because that is theprinciple to produce new Creatures ; not onely from the variety of Simples, but of mixedBodies. I thought fit to leave none out, though they be of small account, fince there is no-thing in Nature, appear it never so small, wherein there is not something to be admired.

Chap. I.

The first Chapter treateth of Putrefaction, and of a strange manner of producing H*ving (freatures.

Esore we come lo sliew that new living Creatures are

generated of Putrefaction, it is meet to rehearle the opini-ens of ant km Philosophers concerning that matter Whereofthough we have spoken elsewhere, in the description ofPlants, yet for the Readers ease, we will here rehearse lemeof them, to shew that not onely imperfect, but perfect It-ving Creatures too, are generated of Putrefaction. Perphy-ry thought that Living creatures were begotten of the be wels

of the Earth soaked in water, and quickned by the heat os the Sun. Of the jamsmind were Archelaus the Athenian, Anaxagoras Claz,ememus, and Euripides his Sco-lar, Cleodemus,ind after him Theophrasttu, thought that they came of puttified wa-