NATURE DURABLE, AND NOT DURABLE, The History. 1. METALS are of that long lasting, that men cannot trace the beginnings of them. And when they do decay, they decay through rust, not through perspiration into air. Yet gold decays neither way. 2. Quicksilver, though it be an humid and fluid body, and easily made volatile by fire; yet, as far as we have observed, by age alone, without fire, it neither wasteth, nor gathereth rust. 3. Stones, especially the harder sort of them, and many other fossils, are of long lasting; and that, though they be exposed to the open air,-much more, if they be buried iņ the earth. Notwithstanding, stones gather a kind of nitre, which is to them instead of rust. Precious stones and crystals, exceed metals in long lasting; but then they grow dimmer and less orient, if they be very old. 4. It is observed, that stones lying towards the north, do sooner decay with age, than those that lie towards the south; and that this appears manifestly in pyramids, and churches, and other ancient buildings contrariwise in iron, that, exposed to the south, gathers rust sooner; and that to the north, later; as may be seen in the iron bars of windows. And no marvel, seeing in all putrefaction, as rust is, moisture hastens dissolution; in all simple arefaction, dryness. 5. In vegetables, (we speak of such as are felled, not growing), the stocks, or bodies, of harder trees, and the timber made of them, last divers ages: but then there is difference in the bodies of trees. Some trees are, in a manner, spongy, as the elder, in which the pith, in the midst, is soft, and the outward part harder; but in timber trees, trees, as the oak, the inner part, which they call Heart of cak, lasteth longer. 6. The leaves, and flowers, and stalks of plants are but of short lasting, but dissolve into dust, unless they putrify: the roots are more durable, 1. The bones of living creatures last long; as we may see it, of men's bones in charnel houses; horns also last long; so do teeth, as it is seen in ivorie; and the seahorse teeth. 6. Hides, also, and skins, endure very long, as is evident in old parchment books: paper, likewise, will last many ages, though not so long as parchment. 9. Such things as have passed the fire last long, as glass and bricks: likewise, flesh and fruits that have passed the fire, last longer than raw: and that, not only because the baking in the fire forbids putrefaction; but also, because the watry humour being drawn forth, the oily humour supports itself the longer. 10. Water, of all liquors, is soonest drunk up by air; contrariwise, oil latest; which we may see, not only in the Equors themselves, but in the liquors mixed with other bodies; for paper wet with water, and so getting some degree of transparency, will soon aer wax white, and lose the transparency again—the watry vapour exhaling; but oiled paper will keep the transparency long, the oil not being apt to exhale; and therefore they that counterfeit men's hands will lay the oiled paper upon the writing they mean to counterfeit, and then assay to draw the lines. 11. Gums, all of them, last very long; the like do wax and honey. 12. But the equal, or unequal use of things conducesh to less to long lasting, or short lasting, than the things themselves. For timber, and stones, and other bodies, standing continually in the water, or continually in the air, last longer than if they were sometimes wet, sometimes" dry. dry. And so stones continue longer, if they be laid towards the same coast of heaven, in the building, that they lay in the mine. The same is of plants removed, if they be coasted just as they were before. Observations. 1. Let this be laid for a foundation which is most sure, that there is, in every tangible body, a spirit, or body pneumatical, enclosed and covered with the tangible parts; and that, from this spirit, is the beginning of all dissolution and consumption; so that the antidote against them is the detaining of this spirit. 2. This spirit is detained two ways; either by a strait inclosure, as it were in a prison; or by a kind of free and voluntary detention. Again, this voluntary stay is persuaded two ways; either if the spirit itself be not too moveable or eager to depart, or if the external air importune it not too much to come forth. So, then, two sorts of substances are durable,-hard substance, and oily hard substance binds in the spirit close; oily, partly enticeth the spirit to stay, partly is of that nature, that it is not importuned by air; for air is consubstantial to water, and flame to oil. And touching nature durable and not durable, in bodies inanimate, thus much. corn. The History. 13. Herbs of the colder sort die yearly, both in root and stalk; as lettice, purslain; also wheat, and all kind of Yet there are some cold herbs which will last three or four years; as the violet, strawberry, burnet, primrose, and sorrel. But borage and bugloss, which seem so alike, when they are alive, differ in their deaths; for borage will last but one year, bugloss will last more. 14. But 14. But many hot herbs bear their age and years better; hyssop, thyme, savory, pot-marjoram, balm, wormwood, germander, sage, and the like. Fennel dies yearly in the stalk, buds again from the root. But pulse and sweet marjoram can better endure age than winter; for being set in a very warm place, and well fenced, they will live more than one year. It is known, that a knot of hyssop, twice a-year shorn, hath continued forty years. 15. Bushes and shrubs live threescore years, and some double as much. A vine may attain to threescore years, and continue fruitful in the old age. Rosemary, well placed, will come also to threescore years. But whitethorn and ivy endure above an hundred years. As for the bramble, the age thereof is not certainly known; because, bowing the head to the ground, it gets new roots, so as you cannot distinguish the old from the new. 16. Amongst great trees, the longest livers are, the oak, the holm, the wild ash, the elm, the beech-tree, the chesnut, the plane-tree, ficus ruminalis, the lote-tree, the wildolive, the olive, the palm-tree, and the mulberry-tree; of these, some have come to the age of eight hundred years, but the least of them do attain to two hundred. 17. But trees odorate, or that have sweet woods, and trees resinous, last longer in their woods, or timber, than those above said, but they are not so long lived, as the cypress-tree, maple, pine, box, juniper. The cedar, being borne out by the vastaess of his body, lives well near as long as the former. 18. The ash, fertile and forward in bearing, reacheth to an hundred years and somewhat better; which also the birch, maple, and service-tree, sometimes do; but the poplar, lime-tree, willow, and that which they call the sycamore, and walnut-tree, live not so long. 19. The apple-tree, pear-tree, plum-tree, pomegranatetree, citron-tree, medlar-tree, black cherry-tree, cherry 3 tree, tree, may attain to fifty or sixty years, especially if they be cleansed from the moss wherewith some of them are clothed. 20. Generally, greatness of body in trees, if other things be equal, hath some congruity with length of life; so hath hardness of substance; and trees bearing mast, or nuts, are commonly longer livers than trees bearing fruit or berries; likewise, trees putting forth their leaves late, and shedding them late again, live longer than those that are early, either in leaves or fruit; the like is of wild trees in comparison of orchard trees; and lastly, in the same kind, trees that bear a sour fruit out-live those that bear a sweet fruit. An Observation. 3. Aristotle noted well the difference between plants and living creatures, in respect of their nourishment and repa ration; namely, that the bodies of living creatures are confined within certain bounds, and that after they be come to their full growth, they are continued and preserved by nourishment, but they put forth nothing new, except hair and nails, which are counted for no better than excrements, so as the juice of living creatures must of necessity sooner wax old, but in trees, which put forth yearly new boughs, new shoots, new leaves, and new fruits, it comes to pass, that all these parts in trees are once a-year young and renewed: now it being so, that whatsoever is fresh and young draws the nourishment more lively and cheerfully to it, than that which is decayed and old, it, happens withall, that the stock and body of the tree, through which the sap passeth to the branches, is refreshed and cheered with a more bountiful and vigorous nourishment in the passage, than otherwise it would have been. And this appears notably, (though Aristotle noted it not, neither hath he ex pressed |