Sylva Sylvarum (1631 English edition)

the water, that is a motion of impact original: "Percussion" from the water; which, as it descends, drives up the air. And there is no motion of lightness original: "Motion of Levity"; the theory that light objects have an inherent "appetite" to rise in the air. This is what Democritus called Motus Plagae Latin: "motion by stroke" or "impact". In this common experiment, the reason the bubble forms an enclosure is that the natural tendency original: "Appetite" to resist separation or breaking apart (which is strong in solid bodies) also exists in liquids, though it is fainter and weaker. We see this in the bubble. We also see it in little bubbles of saliva that children make using reeds, and in "castles" of bubbles which they make by blowing into water that has gained a degree of stickiness original: "Tenacity" by mixing in soap. We see it also in the dripping of water original: "Stillicides"; if there is enough water to follow, the drops will stretch themselves into a small thread because they refuse to break apart. But if there is no other way, they then cast themselves into round drops, which is the shape that best protects the body of the liquid from breaking apart. The same reason explains the roundness of the bubble, both for the "skin" of the water and for the air inside; for the air likewise avoids breaking apart original: "Discontinuance" and therefore shapes itself into a round figure. And as for the fact that the air stays trapped for a little while, it shows that the air itself has little or no natural desire to rise.

Solitary experiment concerning the making of artificial springs. 25

The number of experiments I reject (though it may not seem so) is infinite; yet if an experiment seems likely to work and is of great use, I accept it, but present it as doubtful. It was reported by a reliable man that an artificial spring may be made as follows: find a piece of sloping ground where there is a strong, fast runoff of rainwater. Lay a stone gutter original: "Halfe-Trough of Stone" of a good length, three or four feet deep within that ground, with one end on the high ground and the other on the low. Cover the trough with a thick layer of ferns original: "Brakes" and throw sand on top of the ferns. You shall see (he says) that after some showers have passed, the lower end of the trough will run like a spring of water. This is no miracle as long as the rainwater lasts; but he said it would continue for a long time after the rain has passed, as if the water multiplied itself within the air by the help of the coldness and condensation of the earth, and the attraction of the initial water.

Solitary experiment concerning the poisonous quality of human flesh. 26

The French (who pass off the name of the "French Disease" syphilis by calling it the "Disease of Naples") report that at the Siege of Naples, there were certain wicked merchants who barreled up human flesh (taken from people recently killed in the Barbary Coast) and sold it as tuna original: "Tunny". They claim that from that foul and unnatural nourishment came the origin of that disease. This may well be true, for it is certain that the cannibals original: "Cambals" in the West Indies eat human flesh, and the West Indies were full of the pox syphilis when they were first discovered. Even today, the deadliest poisons used by the West Indians contain some mixture of the blood, fat, or flesh of man. And various witches and...