39 *
THE
twentieth book
O F
Natural Maffick
The Chaos, wherein the Experiments are set down
without any Classical Order.
Th*. Proem i.
Determined at the beginning of my Book,
1 Determined at the beginning of my Book, t0 write Experiments , that are contain'd in all"H^tural Sciences) but by my bus ness that called me off , my mind was kindreds sothat / could not accomplish what / intended. Since therefore 1 could not do what I would t
s
1 must be willing to do what I can. Therefore I shut up in this Beo^ those Experimentsthat could be included in no Classes , which were so diverse and various , that they could notmake up a Sciences or a Book, 5 thereupon I have here heaped them altogether confusedly
as what / had overpassed ; and is God pleafe t I wiM another time give J en a more perscilBooks Now you must reft content with these.
Chap. I.
How Sea-water may be made potable .
T is no small commodity to mankinde, if Sea-water may bemade potable. In long voyages , as to the Indies it is ofgreat concernment: For whilst Sea men, by reason of tem-pests are forced to stay longer at Sea than they would, forwant of water they fall into great danger of their lives. Gal-leys are forced all most every ten days to put in for frefla wa-ter, and therefore they cannot long wander in enemies coun-tries, nor go far, for enemies stop their passages. Moreover,in sea Towns and Islands, when they want water, as in our
days, inthelflind Malta, and in the Syrses, Souldiers and Inhabitants enduredmuch hardness, and Histories relate many such things. Hence I thought it necessa-ry to search curiously, whether Sea-water might be made potable. But it is impossi-ble to finde out any thing for this, how it may be done, unless we first fin de out thecause of its fastness, and what our Ancestors have said concerning that matter; espe-cially since Aristotle faith, That the salt may easily be taken from the Sea, because thesea is nor salt of its own Nature , but by the Sun that heats the water, which drawsout of it, cold and dry earthly exhalations to the top of it, and these being thereburnt cause it to be salt, when the moist subtile parts are resolved into thin vapors.We therefore imitating Nature, by raising the thin parts by Chymical Instruments,may easily make it sweet. For so the Nature of the Sea, makes sweet waters for theRivers. There are also veins of the Sea, in the deep parts of the earth , that archeated by the Sun, and the vapours are elevated to the tops of the heighest Moun-tains, where by the cold superficies they meet with , they congeal into drops; anddropping down by the vaulted roots of Caves, they run forth in open streams. Wefirst fill a hollow vessel like a great Ball, with Sea-water, it must have a long neck, anda cap upon it, that live coles being put under, the water may resolve into thin va-
Ggg 2
pots,