CENTURY VI.

Of curiosities about fruits and plants,

419

Of the degenerating of plants, and of their transmuta-

tion one into another,

424

Of the procerity and lowness of plants, and of artificial

dwarfing them,

428

Of the rudiments of plants, and of the excrescences of

plants, or super-plants,

429

Of producing perfect plants without seed,

435

Of foreign plants,

437

Of the seasons of several plants,

438

Of the lasting of plants,

440

Of several figures of plants,

442

Of some principal differences in plants,

443

Of all manner of composts and helps for ground, 445

CENTURY VII.

Of the affinities and differences between plants, and

bodies inanimate,

449

Of affinities and differences between plants and living

creatures, and of the confiners and participles of

both,

451

Of plants experiments promiscuous,

452

Of the healing of wounds,

472

Of fat diffused in flesh,

473

Of ripening drink speedily,

ibid.

Of pilosity and plumage,

ibid.

Of the quickness of motion in birds,

474

of the clearness of the sea, the north wind blowing,

ibid.

Of the different heats of fire and boiling water, ibid.

Of the qualification of heat by moisture,

475

Of yawning,

ibid.

Of the hiccough,

476

Of sneezing,

ibid.

Of the tenderness of the teeth,

ibid.

Of the tongue,

477

of the mouth out of taste,

ibid.

Of some prognostics of pestilential seasons, ibid.

Of special simples for medicines,

478

Of Venus,

ibid.

Of the insecta, or creatures bred of putrefaction, 480

Of leaping,

484

Of the pleasures and displeasures of hearing, and of the

ibid.

other senses,

CENTURY VIII.

Of veins of earth medicinal,

486

Of spunges,

ibid.

Of sea-fish in fresh waters,

ibid.

Of attraction by similitude of substance,

487

Of certain drinks in Turkey,

488

Of sweat,

ibid.

Of the glow-worm,

490

Of the impressions upon the body from several passions

of the mind,

ibid.

Of drunkenness,

495

Of the hurt or help of wine, taken moderately, 496

Of caterpillars,

497

Of the flies cantharides,

ibid.

Of lassitude,

498

Of casting the skin, and shell, in some creatures, ibid.

Of the postures of the body,

499

Of pestilential years,

ibid.

Of some prognostics of hard winters,

500

Of certain medicines that condense and relieve the
spirits,

ibid.

Of paintings of the body,

501

Of the use of bathing and anointing,

ibid.

Of chambletting of paper,

502

Of cuttle ink,

ibid.

Of earth increasing in weight,

ibid.

Of sleep,

503

Of teeth, and hard substances in the bodies of living

creatures,

504

Of the generation, and bearing of living creatures in

the womb,

507

Of species visible,

509

Of impulsion and percussion

510

1

ibid.

Of titillation,

511

Of scarcity of rain in Egypt,

ibid.

Of clarification,

512

Of plants without leaves,

ibid.

Of the materials of glass,

513

Of the materials of putrefaction, and the long conser-
vation of bodies,

ibid.

Of abundance of nitre in certain sea-shores, 515

Of bodies borne up by water,

ibid.

Of fuel consuming little or nothing,

ibid.

Of cheap fuel,

516

Of gathering of wind for freshness,

ibid.

Of trials of air,

ibid.

Of increasing milk in milch beasts,

517

Of sand of the nature of glass,

ibid.

Of the growth of coral,

Of the gathering of manna,

518

Of the correcting of wines,

ibid.

Of bitumen, one of the materials of wildfire,

ibid.

Of plaister growing as hard as marble,

519

Of the cure of some ulcers and hurts,

ibid.

Of the healthfulness or unhealthfulness of the southern

wind,

520

Of wounds made with brass, and with iron, ibid.

Of mortification by cold,

ibid.

Of weight,

521

Of supernatation of bodies,

ibid.

Of the flying of unequal bodies in the air, ibid.

Of water, that it may be the medium of sounds, 522

Of the flight of the spirits upon odious objects, ibid.

the super-reflection of echos,

523

Of the force of imagination imitating that of the
sense,

ibid.

Of preservation of bodies,

524

Of the growth or multiplying of metals,

ibid.

Of the drowning the more base metal in the more pre-

cious,

525

Of fixation of bodies,

ibid.

Of the restless nature of things in themselves, and their

desire to change,

526

THE LIFE

OF

FRANCIS BACON,

LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.

The ancient Egyptians had a law, which ordained that the actions and characters of their dead should be solemnly canvassed before certain judges, in order to regulate what was due to their memory. No quality, however exalted; no abilities, however eminent; could exempt the possessors from this last and impartial trial. To ingenuous minds this was a powerful incentive, in the pursuit of virtue; and a strong restraint on the most abandoned, in their career of vice. Whoever undertakes to write the life of any person, deserving to be remembered by posterity, ought to look upon this law as prescribed to him. He is fairly to record the faults as well as

. the good qualities, the failings as well as the perfections, of the dead; with this great view, to warn and improve the living. For this reason, though I shall dwell with pleasure on the shining part of my lord Bacon's character, as a writer; I shall not dare either to conceal or palliate his blemishes, as a man. It equally concerns the public to be made acquainted with both.

Sir Nicholas Bacon was the first lord keeper of the seals invested with all the dignity, and trusted with all the power, of a lord chancellor. This high employment he held under queen Elizabeth

b

VOL. 1.