EVripides desired, that ei­ther wee might line as dumbe, in perpetuall silence: or that dumbe thinges, vvithout any ambiguitie of words, might speake to vs. As for my selfe, I could wish, that either we were of those Indian people called Astomi, whom Plinie Lib. 7. cap. 1. describeth to liue without mouthes: or else contented (like them) with the sole benefit of ayre, without ea­ting or drinking, wee might heere spend our time. For by this meanes it might come to passe, that our spirit, (which with a firme eye cannot cō ­template things naturall, no more then the Owle looke on the rayes of of the Sun) beeing freed from those [Page] mistes & thicke vapours, occasioned by the vse of meats: would compre­hend with a perfect regard, the I­deas and formes of things nakedlie, and according as they are indeede▪ Heracl. Chrisippus then should not neede, to take Helleborus with such obseruāce, for the purging of his vnderstan­ding, to the end he might the more subtilly see, the strength of his ar­guments. Our soule (against her na­ture) would be no heauie burden at all vnto vs: shee should not neede to serue herselfe with the salt of our bo­dies, to keepe her from corrupting▪ but rather shee would be like vnto a Phar [...]s, which in our diuine nauiga­tion, would discouer the way for our attayning to the land of heauen.

But in regard that our life is main­tained, by the nourishing of the bo­die, and that by (one mutuall assi­stance) both together doe conserue thēselues, euen while we our selues [Page 2] doe studie how to support this life, by continuall care for furnishing it with [...]oodes: it ensueth, that wee al­together abase, & cast downe to the earth, that part of the soule, which otherwise (of her selfe) would co­uet nothing els, then to eleuate her selfe to high and heauenly things. Notwithstanding, Plato holdeth, thatIn his Ti­meus. man is pouruayed of store of repleti­on, and cloying for the intestines, to shewe, that God hath created him a soule full of reason & councell: with out which, as the plants are euer­more fastened to their rootes, for their feeding, so would hee likewise alwaies haue meate in his mouth, or else, as the beasts, his minde would be perpetually labouring, in seeking after nothing but fresh pasture. You may see the same thus, while the meate dooth conuay it selfe by the passages of the belli [...], the spirit natu­rally sends his strength vegetatiue & [Page] nutritiue thorow the bodie, and by this commixture, life, & the motion of the bodie is maintained: and as this more sublime part of nature, passeth on further still to shewe the effects of his force and vertue, so af­ter foode hath sustained the bodie, the spirit is called too the desire of new viandes, & constrainde to yeeld it selfe subject to the bellies appetite▪ Lib. 26. cap. 8. For there is nothing (saith Plinie) that is more painefull to a man, then his bellie, for the content where­of, the most part of men imploy their whole life time. This importu­ning vessell of the bodie, euermore is at hand with vs, like a greedie cre­ditour summoning vs many times in the day: but he is not to be listened to alwayes when he calls, if hee haue had his dutie paide him. No more then one vnder age, who would not allow his tutour or guardian the ex­pences for his nourishing, as though [Page 3] he had liued with him onlie vppon winde, and yet continually hath binTit. De alim. pup. praest. C. by him, and fed with his pursse: but whosoeuer shall or doth deale so, the Emperour hath iudged him not receiueable, except he can proue he hath had his feeding elswhere.

The necessitie of the bellie, is al­wayes in such rigour with vs, that the Stoicks themselues, who were excluded (in themselues) from all sense of man, constrainedly did yet listen to the bellies murmuring: and did eate, but how? to the end they might shunne eating. Quite contra­rie to certaine gourmandes and glut­tons, who vsed then, and yet doe, to eate and drinke, only to encrease their eating and drinking: hauing no other God but their bellie, wheron they bestowe whatsoeuer serues to excite luxurie: for which, the Seas are trauersed, euen so farre as to the Riuer Phasis, ransacking her en­trailes, [Page] for contentation agreeing with their insatiable appetites. And this is that part, wherein we come neerest vnto brute beastes, who by their proper nature, are led to desire whatsoeuer their bellie demaundes, and (with whom) we make cōmon this necessitie, of eating and drin­king.

For nature hath giuen to all crea­tures one instrument of life, which is naturall heate, & that (euen as our wood in the fire) hath his seate in the triple substaunce of our bodie, to [...]it, the solide, humorall and spiritu­ous parts, which (without ceassing) he ruinates and consumeth: so that in very small while, all would bee wasted, if it were not maintained by a fresh supply of meates and drinkes, neither more or lesse, then as the flame of a Lampe, which is extinct so soone as the Oyle is consumed, if no more be put thereinto for longer [Page 4] lasting: And heereupon, Hippocrates Lib. 1. Aph. 14. the Prince of Phisitians sayd, that the bodies of young men haue neede of more nourishment, then others, because they haue much more heate then they: for otherwise (saith hee) their bodies would consume them­selues. Contrariwise, the bodies of olde men, because they haue but lit­tle store of heate, they haue neede but of as little nourishing.

Aph. 13. Hence may we draw a confirmed atgument, by this which Hippocrates himselfe hath said, that old men easi­lie endure fasting, but next thē, such as are in the strength of theyr age, yet lesse then young men, & infants least of all other, but especially such as are liueliest, and readiest in theyr bodily functions. For the littlenes of heate, the tenacitie of the primitiue humour, and the densitie or thick­nes of the body, impeacheth old [...] men, that this triple substance canno [...] [Page] wast it selfe at all: whence procee­deth, that they haue nothing at all such neede of meates, and the desire or appetite after thē (if so I may say) which is hunger, in them is much languishing. As cōtrariwise in young men, it is so much the more ardent, as the heat naturall is aboundant, the [...] more fluxible, and the composition of the body more thin, and lesse heaped together. VVhich three things, as they cause the foode receiued to consume, so by little and little, they repaire any defect there a­rising. For as it should be thus, that the substance of euery creature, dis­solues it selfe by the pores of the skin, into the ayre which enuirons it1. De sym­ [...]om. caus. 7. (saith Galen) so followes it of neces­sitie, that the very neerest parts of the skin, should be first destitute of nouriture, that by their propper strength & vertue, they might draw the nourishment from the other [Page 5] neighbouring parts, onely to repaire that, which through default of su­stentation is become worst: those there, from the veines, these heere, from the liuer: the liuer frō the in­testines & ventricle (by the mesen­terie veines) calling what is most familiar, and conuenable to his na­ture. Then the ventricle, seeing her selfe emptie, by a naturall vnderstan­ding which she hath, of that which is wanting to her: shee is incited to desire meate, wherwith she may be sustained.

But if some body be presented, which hath but small store of heate, and much more naturall moysture, whereto the pores and respiracles of of the skin doe giue place; there is no great euacuation made of this triple substance, and so consequent­lie, there is no neede at all of much nourishment. Neither is it altoge­ther necessarie (as Galen witnesseth) [Page] De venae sect. [...]duer. Eras. in those places, where, (beside that alreadie said) the ayre which encō ­passeth vs, is cold, and the body hea­uie, benumbde, & not stirring: be­cause the little troughes & openings in the skinne, are mouthes, and yet little or nothing at all passeth out at them. And this he giues vs to vnder­stand, by the example of saluage beastes, which (all winter together) will not leaue their dennes and ca­uernes, and hereupon he calles them Phooleuonta Zooa, such as are Beares, Battes, or [...] Serpen [...]s, Li­zardes and diuers other. All which hauing at spring time (by warmth & heate) the conuoyes of their bodie released and opened, when they knowe that inwarde warmth re­solues them, & makes them to waxe hungrie; they come foorth (by their owne proper motion) out of their prisons, and (guided by nature only) seeke in all parts, the feeding which [Page 6] is aptest for them. Hence hee gathe­reth, that continuall breathing, which is occasioned by respiration, procures this defect, & this also pro­uokes the appetite and desire of eat­ting. For nature hath giuen this pro­pertie to the emptie part, which thus requireth to be filled. So that if the cause ceassed, for which the bo­dy hath need of nouriture, it would ensue as necessarilie, that the selfe same penurie, and his vnderstanding, which is hunger, by little and little would decay: and therefore by this reason, the creatures which are so hidden in the caues of the earth, may liue without the vse of foode.S. August. lib. 21. de­ciuit. Chap. 6▪ So likewise, by the report of nota­ble men, and wel worthie credence, that in the Lanternes and hollowe places of olde Sepulchers, burning Lampes haue bin found, which the inscriptions on the said Tombes haue witnessed, that they were put [Page] in there, almost infinite yeares be­fore their finding: as that whereof Lodouicus Viues speaketh, discouered about the yeare 1500. which Her­molaus Barbarus saith, was found in the territories of Pauia, without date of day, or of Consull in very deed, but yet notwithstanding, it had bin there inclosed aboue eight hundred yeares before, as by the written dis­course P. Appianus gathered. Such Lampes then, were preserued so long a time with little maintenance, because the moisture there doth strongly support them, and they pe­rish but little: whether it be by the humiditie (which the Alchymistes tearme radicall) of the gold (which alone among all naturall bodies, is belieued, to suffer no diminution at all of his substance) or any other thing therto belonging, but so it ap­peares by the testification, engrauen vppon a vessell of earth, which Bar­barus [Page 7] before mentioned, deliuered written in these wordes.

And this which followeth, was written or carued vppon an other vessell of earth, and enclosed within the former, bearing these words.

Now in this vessell of earth, wa [...] [Page] and had bin kept this Lampe, placed betweene two Flagons or Bottles, the one of gold, the other of siluer, full of the most pure liquor of gold: which was imagined to haue giuen nutriment to the Lampe, that conti­nued burning for so many ages. The same Barbarus called this liquor hea­uenly water, or rather, the diuine water of the Alchimists: which also he noteth, to haue beene called by Democritus and Mercurius Trismegi­stus, sometimes diuine water, some­time the Scithian drinke: sometime spirituall, that is to say, a spirit drawnOr Quin­tessence. from the celestiall nature, & ❀ fift es­sence of things, whereof is compo­sed Aurum Potabile, and the Philo­sophers stone or dust, in the search whereof, so many people haue vain­ly consumed themselues. To this di­uine licquor of golde, I knowe not whether I may attribute or no, the [...] of a Lampe continuallie [Page 8] burning, wherof Cedrenus speaketh,In the a­bridgemet of his Hi­storie. which from the time of the Empe­rour Iustinian, was found in the cit­tie ofA Cittie of Syria, be­yond Eu­phrates. Edessa, with an Image of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. It had been in­closed or hidden, ouer a certaine gate, immediately after the passion of Christ, and yet neuerthelesse, it had also remained there fiue hun­dred yeeres, without extinguishing. Moreouer, some of the oyle which was found therein, beeing cast into the neerest fire to that place, it bur­ned intirely all the troupes of warri­ours, of Chosroes King of the Persi­ans, who was an enemy to the Chri­stians. VVhatsoeuer it were, in con­sideration of the reasons before al­leaged, I find it not so strange, as an example now to be made, of a thing very rare, & almost incredible, hap­pening within our owne quarters of Poict [...]: to wit, the fast or abstinence of a maiden of Confolans, (or Con­flans,) [Page] who for the space of 3. yeres, and euen till this day, hath liued, & doth, without any bodily foode or sustenaunce.

This Maiden is about 14. yeeres of age, and is named Iane Balan, her Father Iohn Balan, a Locksmith, and her Mother Laurencia Chambella: her [...]ture is answerable to her age, some what Country-like of behaui­our, anatiue of the Towne of Con­folans, vpon the Riuer of Vienna, in the confines of Limosin, and also of Poictu. In the eleuenth yeere of her age, being seazed on by a continuall Feauer, the 16. day of Februarie, 1599. shee hath since then been as­sailed with the accesse of diuers o­ther sicknesses: and beyond all the rest, with a continuall casting or vo­miting, for the space of 20. dayes to­gether. The Feauer hauing some­what left her, she grew to be speech lesse, and continued so 28. dayes▪ [Page 9] without the deliuerie of any one word: at the end of which time, she came to her selfe againe, and spake as she had done before (sauing that her words were full of feare, and voide of good sence.) Nowe came vppon her a weakenes, and benumming of all her sences and bodilie moouings, from beneath the head, in such sort, that Oesophagus it selfe, (beeing that part of the stomack, which serues as conduct for passage of meate and drink, into that which we terme the little belly) being dissolu'd, it lost the force attractiue. Since which time, coulde not any one perswade this Mayden (in any manner) to eate, al­beit they made trial, to haue her but suck or lick meats delicate, fruits, and sweet things, agreeable to such yo [...]ig yeeres. Notwithstanding, the vse & motion of her members, came to her againe about sixe months after: ex­cept in one hippe, on which side yet [Page] she goes with some difficultie. One onely impotencie remaineth to her, that she cannot swallow or let down any thing, for she altogether loathes and abhors mightily, both meates & drinks.

In this time (a thing most strange) the inferiour part of the belly, by little & little is in such maner grown leane, and dried vp in her, as downe from her sides, and so along to her nauill, there remaineth nothing of the belly which shee had before. There is only in this place (or in sted thereof, to wit, vnder the auncient belly, where we may say it hath bin) a Cartilage or gristle, hanging poin­ted down fromThat part of the breast where the ribs meete and ioyne together. thorax, or sternu [...], after the maner of an eaues or pent­house, which throwes off from the building, all the water that falls on the top or couerture. Here-hence, & frō the points of these bastard-sides, the skinne vnderneath dooth suffer [Page 10] great paine and feeling, both of ex­tension and diu [...]lsion, as may easily be perceiued by the moanes which the Maide herselfe maketh. From thence comes it, that all the mus­cles, intestines, bowels, & other parts of the belly, being withdrawne and annihiled by want of foode: one would iudge that they had bin rackt or rent away, at least, there remai­neth nothing but the lappings & si­laments, for all the [...]leshie substance, which filled those parts there, are perished and gon.

As concerning the other parts of her bodie, it behoueth much more, that there should be an aunswera­ble diminution: yet she hath a large breast, the paps pretie and round: her armes & thighes fleshie, her face also indifferent round, but brow­nish: her lippes somewhat red: her tongue (indeed) drawne inward a little, but yet her words prompt and [Page] readie: her head couered with haire of good length, for her nailes and haire, they do encrease, in each meet part of the body. There comes not any excrement from her, her belly yeelds no ordure, neither doth any vrine at all passe from her bladder, or is the matrixe impeached by her menstruall flowers. Her head is not charged with filth or dandriffe, but shewes it selfe verie sound and well, as well in the exteriour part of the [...] as in the inward organes of [...] for neither dooth her nose or [...] render any excrements, on­lie frō her mouth comes a little spet­tle, and sometimes from her eyes is­sues a few teares.

The whole body ouer, yeelds no sweat at all, but we, and such as haue touched her, doe find all her skinne to be colde and dry, and not heated or chafed by any moouing, (except the arme-pits, & those parts which [Page 11] neighbor neer to the hart) yet doth shee trauaile about the house, goe to the market for victuals; sweepe the house; spinne at her wheele; reele off her quill; and giues herselfe (as any other) to all seruiceable offices in a familie, & seemes as if shee were not defectiue, in any part of sence, or mouing of her bodie.

By all which things, we may ga­ther the raritie, and meruailous no­ueltie of this example: for the acci­dent happeneth in such an age, whē as the body receiues increasing. And those things which increase, haue need of good store of nouriture▪ but especially in bodies of such constitu­tion, as this Maidens is, slender, thin, & cold, where the internall parts are accustomed to be most hot. Hence comes it, that our auncients haue said, that in VVinter our bellies areLib. 1. Aph. 15. more hot, then at other times, which causeth a much readier concoction, [Page] and an appetite lesse tollerable, espe­cially when it is prouoked by exer­cises: whereof this Mayden maketh no spare, especially, such as her age is capable of, the ayre and soyle also wherein she liues, affoords the peo­ple to be very hungry. All which oc­casions of appetite and hunger, were taken frō her by the accident of her continuall Feauer: and in the end, all her naturall functions became as­swaged, and seazed on by a kinde of dead Palsie.

And nowe to begin with the first & principall, the little belly or maw, (which otherwise is the receptacle of foode, and the officer for the first concoction) being lagde & rent by the ordure of crude & raw humors, hath languished in such sort, as it had no power, either to retaine the meates therin enclosed, or to receiue in any other. Euen so in Hippocrates, Hermocrates being surprized with an [Page 12] extreame burning Feauer, did euer­more cast the foode hee receiued: because this facultie had lost his strength, and that was quenched in him (saith Galen in the same place)Com. 1. whereof the office was, to feele lack in health, and to desire what was fa­miliar for him.

Many would attribute the cause of this Symptome, or passion ensuing sicknesse, to some bad power in an Apple, which an olde woman had giuen to this young Maiden, two or three months before; because when she had eaten it, she had a distaste of her meats, and felt some alteration of her spirits. But in regard, that (be­sides this) nothing hath happened to her, which outwardly hath impea­ched her health, neither her natu­rall functions, vntill she became sur­prized by the Feauer before menti­oned; I see no reason at all, that yeelds any subiect to belieue, how [Page] the euill power in the Apple, could remaine so long time hidden, with­out yeelding any effect. Her vomi­ting ceassing, she became dumbe, by reason of those nerues resolution, which wee call recurrent (vvhich hapned to her soone after through all her body) the fleame cold & raw, beeing liquefied by the heate of the Feauer, which by this meanes wrought a debilitie in the braine, caused that shee could not be sound and wel in spirit. Here-hence it hath necessarily followed, that she must needs loose the sence of tast & suck­ing, and likewise the vse of swallow­ing meat and drinke: which onely hath procured the abolition of the animall appetite, and by little & lit­tle, it hath bin followed, by a totall priuation of the appetite naturall, which Hippocrates noteth by these words, Genestai de ouc edunato, if we may giue credit to his most graue [Page 13] interpreter Galen. VVhich casts the cause of this passion, vpon the blame of the liuer, who being the vegetant and naturall soule, so soone as she is wounded, she is constraind, that the auxiliarie, or succouring faculties, (to wit, attraction, retention, assimi­liation or comparison, and expulsi­on, in whom lies all the power of nourishing) must needs sinck & fall, and so consequently the appetite, which cannot be compleat & per­fect, but by attraction. The same Authour gathers it to be the sicknes of the liuer in Hermocrates, by this,1. Epid. sect. 3. that the sixt day of his sicknesse, he was seene to looke yellow: & not­withstanding, in all the course of his disease, which was for 27. dayes, this yellownes neuer left him (as it had done in Heraclides, to whō the selfe same passion happened, and on the same day) neither by sweating, nei­ther by the voyding of much chol­ler; [Page] nor by the conuoye of the bel­lie; nor by vrine, nor yet by vomit­ting. And therefore it was easie to be seene, that the naturall facultic (whereof the liuer is the fountaine) in very strange manner was ouer­throwne. VVhich being so, all the5. De lo [...]. aff. Chap. 1. strength of appetite doth become so weakened, saith Galen; as sick-folke rather desire to die, then receiue any thing [...]n at their mouthes, or haue it so much as but touch their lippes.

In the Maiden of whom wee speake a [...] this present, (who hath not bin [...]alte with, by any cunning, or helpes to nature), the liuer hath bin so besieged with the burden of hurtfull humours: as her naturall heate beeing broken, and hauing no more force; by little and little it hath dried vp, with all the nether partes of the bellie, yea and so, as there is nothing indeed to bee meruailed at, when we see the functions of the na­turall [Page 14] O [...]conomi [...] to be also abolish­ed. This then is one of the causes, of this distaste of meates, and of the fast or abstinence theron ensuing, that this drying vp of the liuer, and of all those parts seruing to nourriture▪ frō whence attraction beeing taken, it hath then bin followed with a pri­uation of sucking or swallowing, which is the beginning of hunger. In this opinion I haue Galen [...]or my1. De lo [...]. affect. Chap. 1. warrant, who saith, that by reason of the liuers debiliti [...], the bodie can receiue no nourishment: and yet notwithstanding, it may so subsist a long time, to wit, so long as the hart remaineth sound. Neuerthelesse, Hermocrates died at 27. dayes end, because the corruption of humours had gained the substaunce of the hart: which likewise the qualitie of the Feuers heate (by altering) had consumed, after it had chased away the naturall heate. But this Maiden [Page] hath bin preserued, in regard [...], that the Feuers fire being extinct, the na­turall heate which remained, being but weake, hath yet bin detained in a bodie lockt vp fast, couered with a skinne wrinckled, colde and drie. Of this heate shee makes but very small decay in herselfe, nor hath she [...] also of much maintaining the same these may serue as second and third causes of this defect of ap­petite.

For all that shee exhaleth by the meanes of respiration, as her breath, and naturall heate, the same is repai­red and supplied, first of all by the ayre drawne, as well by inspiration, and receiued at the hart by the pipes of the lunges or lites: as by this in­sensible transpiration, (which, ac­cording as I can iudge by her dispo­sition, is almost vtterlie wasted in her) receiued in the whole bodie by the arteries▪ After this, nature (thus [Page 15] lagde, and scantly vigorous) delights herselfe with this crude rhumi [...] hu­mour, which cannot in this young bodie, but (of it selfe) it should much abounde and encrease, accor­ding to the qualitie of her sexe and age: and the same more especially may now be discerned, by some lit­tle decadence of her bodie, through the palsie, which is not as yet per­fectly cured. Now this humour (in time) doth seeth it selfe, & conuerts into foode, proper and apte for nou­rishing of the bodie. And there is no want of manie other things, which haue their maintenaunce in our bo­dies, wherewith nature may serue herselfe, when (pressed by hunger) she pleaseth to vse them for suste­nance: as fat, marrowe in the bones, and fleame, all which things, the dis­poiled parts of the bodie, doo drawe to their naturall seatings, to fournish well their owne expences withall, [Page] and they receiue them (like a disper­sed dewe) thorow their whole sub­stances.Symmach. lib. 1. Epist. 33. So saith one, that the Snayles in the ayre hauing drought, if no dewe do fall to them from heauen, they liue by sucking themselues. And thence grewe it that Plautus sayd.

Arist. Hist. an. lib. 8. Chap. 13. And so the Snayles on the earth, when they will defende themselues against the sharpe colde of winter: they make before their shelles en­traunce, a certaine white couering,Plin. Hist. [...] Cap. 39. hard like plaister, and liue so within, sixe monethes together, vnder the ground, neere to the rootes of hear­bes, sustained onely by the internall humour which redoundeth from themselues. VVhich likewise diuers other kindes of creatures doo the same, such as are accustommed to decline from the rigour of winter, [Page 16] by withdrawing into dennes: at Ser­pents, Frogges, Flyes, VVormes, Dormise, Rattes of the Mountaines, Turtle Dooues, Swallowes. &c▪

For, in regard of Serpents, al­most all (shunning the colde) re­maine all winter hid within the earth, as saith Aristotle: from whom,Hist. an. lib. 8. Chap. 15. Plin. Hist. nat. lib. 8. Chap. 39. albeit Plinie haue borrowed, that which he saith cōcerning Serpents, he hath notwithstanding (against reason) taken Aristotles intent con­trarie to sense; there where he saith, that of al the Serpents, the Viper on­ly seekes the places vnder ground, & the other the hollowes of trees and of rockes. VVhereas (quite contra­rie) Aristotle hath written truely, that the Viper is welnigh alone, who during the winter, withdrawes himselfe vnder stones or rocks, and the other vnder ground, for then sleepe serues them in sted of foode. Nay, and much more, Vipers doo [Page] endure hunger a whole yeere toge­ther, without counting the time of winters cold, so saith Plinie: which we haue known by eye-experience, wee that haue aboundance of them heer, of whom we haue kept a yere & more, enclosed in bottles of glasse, without any foode at all.

As for Frogs, whom Plinie thinks (after a life of sixe monethes) to re­solue themselues into slime or mud, and are reuiu [...]d againe at the com­ming of the Spring-time waters: they are soundly deaded with cold, but yet not reduced to nothing, as Plinie holdeth. For they remaine in the cauernes on the coastes, where not only they abstaine from all nourish­ment, but are likewise halfe dead▪ and they may be seene in this estate in your Fennes on the Sea-coasts, (which are not subiect to freezing) at all seazons of the yere. So likewise in the ditches whether they are re­tired, [Page 17] where you shall not onely see their young ones, but also the Frogs of the other yeere.

Your Flies, benummed with the cold of winter, remaine hidden in the rifts of planchers and peeces of wood, and come not out, but by fire arteficiall, or by the renewing heate of the Spring, or of Summer. Du­ring this numbnesse, they liue not so much by reason of their bodies smalnesse or littlenes (as Aristotle ar­gueth)De part. a­nim. Lib. 4. Cap. 5. as by the colde which is in them. For that which is hot, desireth foode, & digests it very soone: con­trariwise, that which is cold, dooth very easily let it alone. Among theA [...]ist. Lib [...] Cap. 14. Flyes, they that make Hony, do for­bear to come forth in the same time,Bee [...]. but abide close in their little Hiues, yet without eating: wherof we may easily make proofe, in that, if one bring foode, and set it before them, they will not so much as touch it.

[Page] And if it chaunce, that any one ge [...] forth, you shall see the same to haue a transparant bodie, as vtterly empty of all nourishment: from the hart of winter, vntill the yeares renewing,Lib. 11. Chap. 16. they liue in sleepe, without any nou­riture, so saith Plinie.

Arist. lib. 4. cap. 5. de part. anim. Aboue all other kind of creatures, the Grashopper dooth fast the lon­gest: for the moisture which is su­peraboundant in their bodies, doth sufficiently furnish them with store of nourishment.

VVormes growing to be old, their skin doth outwardly wex very hard, and because (that skin) then lookes of yellow, or gold culler, the Greeks were wont to call them Chrisalides, & the Latines named them Aurelia. After they haue once taken this forme, they will receiue nothing more into their bodies, neither doe they voyd or cast any thing forth.

Among these, the Silke-worme [Page 18] sheweth a miracle in nature, about the midst of Summer (closed vp fast within her huske of silk) she liues at the least for forty daies together, not onely without eating, but imployes beside, very much of her substance, in making of silk: and cōming forth of her shell or couerture, she becoms a Butterflie, & yet this liberty makes her not to seek any nourishment.

Arist. lib. 8. cap. 17. Plin. lib. 8. cap. 57. The Bar or Dormouse, remaines hidden all VVinter in a perpetuall sleep, & during all this time, she hath no other nouriture then sleepe.

Arist. lib. 8. cap. 17. The Rats of the Mountaines, like vnto Dormise, doesleepe hidden all the winter, and for six months con­tinuaunce, they are busied in such a profound sleep, as being cast vp out of the ground by digging or other­wise: they will not awake at all, vn­till such time as they be brought in­to the Sun, or layd before the fire, & they begin to feele heat. They cary [Page] hay, chaffe, & such other like things into their caue [...]nes, to keep them frō the cold, but yet al this hinders them not from sleeping soundly.

The Tortuise of the earth, all winter lies within the earth, & there passeth that season as the other. AndI ib. de A [...]phib. Rondeletus witnesseth, that not onely in winter, but like wise at al times, she can liue longest without any foode, yea, although shee haue her head cle [...]t, or cut off: and this is by the power of the cold moisture within herselfe.

Arist. lib. 9. Cap. 29. [...]. lib. 10. Cap. 24. The Loriot (a kind of Bird, ha­uing this nature, that if a man see her, when he is sick of the laundise, the man shall wex whole, & the bird shall die immediatly:) all the winter she lies hidden in the earth, & shews not herselfe till about the Solstice of Summer.

Arist. lib. 8. Cap. 16. Your Swallowes, as well those of houses, as they that are wild, to shun [Page 19] the sharpnes of winter, whē it draw­ethPl [...]. lib. 10▪ Cap. 24. neer, they retire themselues to secret places in the neighbouring Mountaines: where you shall find them naked and without any fea­thers, and you may see them almost in the like condition, euen at the Spring-time.

As for them, vvhich are called Swallowes of the Sea-coasts, they withdraw themselues to the sides of Riuers, Lakes, Marishes, and of the Seas, where the Rocks doe serue them for a retirement▪ There shall you see them in multitudes to­gether, as newly assembled to chase one another. In such sort, that (as Agricola saith) the Fisher men many times take them out of the waters, so fast ioynd & tied together, as our new Philosophers may ceasse hence­forward, to forge their new Colo­nies in Affrick, and other places be­yond the Seas.

[Page] Arist. lib. 8. cap. 10. hist. Turtle-dooues, they begin to hide themselues when they are fat, & al­though that they leaue their fea­thers in their holes, yet notwithstan­ding, they keepe their fatnes.

Some one peraduenture, beeing a more diligent searcher into naturall things, may discouer a great number of other birdes, which might bee thought to be straungers, because in winter time they hide themselues thus, & yet neuerthelesse are of our own coūtry, as Kites, Stock-dooues, Black-birds, Stares, Houpes, Backs, Gripes, Owles, and others, which are sustained and fed by the fat with­in themselues, in all which time, theGal. 4. vsu part. et Com. 2. de rat. vict. acut. course & office of the belly ceasseth. For Galen holds, that when hunger is not thorowlie contented, the fat, marrow, and fleame, giue nourish­ment to the naturall heat. VVhenceHip. lib. de carn. we may also relieue a doubt, which may arise from that which Hippocra­tes [Page 20] hath written, & maintaineth, that a man can hardly liue out the sea­uenth day, without eating, which although hee happen to ouerpasse, yet notwithstanding, hee will die soone after. For albeit it may be true, and that which he saith, might haue been manifested in this Maiden of Confolans, the intestine receiuing no foode at all, it shut vp it selfe in such sort during this time, that it could not afterward admit the receite of any: yet notwithstanding, it is not al­together so constrained, that by this restriction of the entrailes, death should follow theron so readilie. For it is recorded of the Scithians, that if by any occasion happening them, they are to endure long fasting: they will binde vp their bellies strictly with large bands, to the ende, that hunger may not charge them so soone, because they haue left little or no space at all for the bellies con­uoye. [Page] And [...]oreouer, the Maiden of Spire, of whom ranne such great re­port, that she had bin three yeares without eating: yet after the super­abounding humour was consumed, she returned (according as they say which wrote thereof) euen as one from banishment, to her first right course and vse of eating: beginning (as it [...]s verie likelie) with potages and licquid things, by little and lit­tle, if this be true which those au­thours haue sayd▪ Or rather, if the mother of the maide did not impose it on those good people (as the ru­mour ran) therefore there hath bin some occasion of remaining in doubte, by their owne proper wri­ting: for it might be noated, that her nose voided much, her eares wanted no part of their ordure, and that she deliuered aboundaunce of teares foorth at her eyes, which sheweth, that the languishing powers haue [Page 21] bin often relieued with some foode, albeit not solide, whereby these ex­crements (by a secret strength in na­ture) were sent into their proper or­ganes.

And nothing at all against this, makes the Paradoxe, which M. Iou­bert hath in the second booke of his first decade, where among many no­table examples of a long fast or absti­nence, he produceth as an Hypothe­sis or argument disputed, that histo­rie of the Maiden of Spire. For, be­sides a great number of obseruations of the same qualitie, which hee pla­ceth before, and that haue bin ap­prooued by the auouching of many graue Authours: we haue also nota­ble confirmations, as well by expe­rience of elder ages, as of newer and later. Plato makes report in his Com­mon VVealth, of a certaine man named Herus Pamphilius, who re­mained ten dayes together, among [Page] the dead bodies of them which had bin slaine in a battaile: & two dayes after that he was brought thence, as one was laying him on the pyle of wood, to be burned among others,Lib. 11. Cap. 54. he was found aliue. As for Plinie, he is not perswaded, that thorowe lack of eating, a man should be compeld to yeeld too death, at the seauenth dayes end. Diogenes Laertius reciteth by the testemonie of Dicearchus, that Pytha [...]or as, the cheefe maister of ab­stinence, continued fortie dayes to­gether without drinking: by whose doctrine also, Apollonius Thyaneus learned (by a long vse and custome) to endure fasting for many dayes,Lib. 7. Cap. 18. Plinie assures vs, that drought or thirst may be surmounted, by a con­stant perseuerance, and that the Ro­maine noble Knight Iulius Viator, hauing had warning by Phisitians in his younger yeares, not to drinke any water at all, by reason of a cer­taine [Page 22] indisposition in him, leaning to the dropsie: he turned the custome of nature in such sort, as he passed his age without drinking. Fresh yet in our memory, and all Fraunce hath seene the same, in the person of my Lord Marquesse of Pisani: who is a man of such merit, as the King him­selfe imployes his seruice, in matters of great importaunce. There are ma­ny bookes of deuoute enstructions, which doo recounte meruailes, of diuers frequent and voluntarie absti­nences, as of P. Alcantara, a Monke in Spayne, and that for eight dayes and more in euerie moneth. But be­yond all others, there is an historie very famous, of a certaine Maiden named Catharine, being in the soyle of Colherberg, who hath bin knowne to liue seauen yeares together, with­out drinking, or eating any thing whatsoeuer. She was carefully ten­ded by Henry Smetius, at this present [Page] Professour in Heildeberge, and Ioh [...] Iac. Theod. Phisitians. The 24. of Nouember 1584. by the comman­dement of Iohn Casimir, Counte Pa­latine, and since also to the same ef­fect, foure Matrones were appointed to keepe her companie, as well by night as by day, who with the Phisi­tians, haue also acknowledged, this abstinence to be most true. Three yeares after, this historie was tradu­ced into French, & Printed at Franc­ford by Iohn VVechel, in the yeare 1587. with an aduertisement in the end, that the Maiden as yet then liued in that manner, without drin­king, eating, sleeping, or deliuering any excrements.

Besides all these, Ioubert (concer­ning this argument) hath set downe such pregnant & necessary reasons, as I cannot thinke, that any one needs to make doubt thereof. Ne­uerthelesse, being my selfe afterward [Page 23] to discourse on the same subiect, I happened (being in a Booke-sellers shop) letting mine eyes wander o­uer the bookes, to be presented at my very entrance with a litle book, bearing in the fore-head this title: Fieri non posse, vt quis sine cibo et pot [...] plures dies et annos transigat. At the same instant I tooke, the Booke, which (in regard it was written by I. Haruet a Doctour of Phisick, and of the same condition with vs, and as we are) I read it very seriouslie frō one end to the other. But comming to the place, where he argues on the negligence, of the Authours of soPag. 74▪ many notable examples, who (he saith) haue bin somewhat deceiued, by the inueterate beleefe of this ex­traordinarie fasting: I thought it good, that he should be satisfied in this poynt, and passed my promise thereon, in the name of our Maide of Confolans; albeit, during so many [Page] moneths, & yeares, I could not giue my selfe to consider all het actions and motions; neuerthelesse it is very likelie, by that which is sayd in all places of her, concerning the three yeares fast now in question. And yet such as haue seene her naked, as vve haue done, haue thought no other­wise, if she be not changed since the last time I saw her, which was in the month of Iuly last, 1602. Some say, that she is now a little more full of flesh, & yet she hath neuer receiued any foode at all, that could possibly be knowne. Beside, this truth ought to receiue credit generally, by the faithfull report of so many persons of honour, and good qualitie, who (for trials sake) haue kept her in their houses, among their Maides & children, some for three, others for foure months and more. If any one be further desirous, and would wil­lingly see her, hee hath free libertie, [Page 24] & the Maiden herselfe will not con­tradict, what other proofes, hee or any can make of her. But in my mind, Ioubert would haue receiued no meane contentment, by the sight of an accident so strange: for, if to so many pertinent reasons, hee could haue had but an eye-experience, he should not haue had now (perhaps) Haruet for his aduersarie. VVho be­ing in the humor, to combat against both sence and reason, it may be, it would then be the harder for him, to vndergoe the demonstrations of Ioubert: for they are vnderpropped with principles soundly assured, and drawn from the oracles, euen of the great Dictatour of Nature.

Lib▪ de vita et mor. et resp. Aristotle instructs vs, that all kinds of creatures, haue in them a certaine naturall heat, which is combined to the soule with so strict a bond, as the one cannot be without the other: and that those creatures, while they [Page] liue, haue this hea [...], but death com­ming, they are cold immediatly. AndLib. [...]. de gen. an. Cap. 3. in another place, there is (saith hee) in the seed of all creatures, the thing that causeth facunditie, and that is it which we call heat. And further he saith, in the earth, and in the waters, the creatures and plants doe ingen­der, because in the earth there is a moisture, & in the moisture is a spi­rit, and in this great substance, is the animall heat, to the end that all things should be somewhat full of soule. Thus dooth he hold, that all things are made by heat, and that all functions are performed thereby.

Lib. [...]. ad Glauc. Lib. [...]. de vsu par. Galen is also of the same oppinion, and saith, that heat is either the sub­stance of the faculties, or at least, the chiefe, and most necessarie instru­ment of them. It is no maruell then, if Haruet thinks it to be strange, that Ioubert saith according to Aristotle, that life dependeth vpon heat only. [Page 25] For, that it must needes be so, life is nothing els, but an abiding or atten­dance of the soule with the heat, ac­cording to the same Aristotles iudg­ment:Lib. de resp. and we cannot in this obscu­ritie of things, find any more assured instance of this present life, then by the functions thereof, of all vvhich, heat (as the especiall instrument, and without other meanes) is the au­thour, the cause motiue and effecter. And Ioubert (to no small purpose) hath defined life by heat, in that A­ristotle hath consigned death, by the extinctiō of the same heat: for Iou­bert groundeth on this axiome, that of two contraries, the consequents are contraries. And Galen himselfe,1. De san. tu. (who holdeth death to arriue then, when heat being weakned and bro­ken by frequent action, becomes faint, and that the temper of the ele­mentary qualities which are in vs, being out of square, comes to yeeld [Page] it selfe vnder the tirannie of one a­lone) giues therby reasonably to vn­derstand, that the course of life keeps it selfe for so long time, as naturall heat dooth aboundantly disperse it selfe with the radicall humour, and that the elementarie qualities doe hold a good simpathie among them selues, in their harmony & kind ac­cord, which wee call temperature. And therefore it is blamelesse, to de­fine life by these two causes, that is to say, heat and temperature, because it behooueth to take the definition, by the cause which is most neere. Now heat is the most neere instru­ment of the soule, the temper (next that) of naturall heat, which dispo­seth, and accommodates it to diuers actions. Then this causall definition is well deriued, from the chiefe and principall occasion of life, which heere wee haue alleaged by the au­thoritic of Aristotle.

[Page 26] Neuerthelesse, Haruet goes after another fashion, he defines the life of man, to be an action of the reaso­nable soule, produced into the bo­die of man: but this definition is not subtile enough. For first & formost, life is no action at all of the soule, o­therwise, it should be the soule that liueth, and not the body: but life is an abiding (as hath bin said) or an v­nion of the soule with the body (ac­cording as Aristotle describeth in an­other of his bookes) wherof (soone8. Metaph. after) proceedeth action.

Heere I add, that the actions of life, beeing, to vnderstand, to smell, to mooue, and to nourish: if life be an action, then it were an action of an action, which is most absurd. Or els, if life be an action of the reasona­ble soule, in so much then as shee is reasonable, the corporal parts should then be driuen to performe they [...] operations (as receiuing foode for [Page] nourishment, to beget her like) one­ly by reason and the intellect, & not by any naturall sence. But peraduen­ture, Haruet hauing drawn his defi­nition from others, hath read, that life is an act of the reasonable soule, which word of act, he hath conuer­ted into action. Or, act is that which the Greeks call E [...]telecheia, which is a perfection, efficacie, and moouing power of it selfe: far enough diffe­ring from that which they call Er­gon. And so one may (to some pur­pose) define life, an act of the soule in the body, that is to say, a power & vertue of the soule, by the vnion thereof with the body▪ VVhence is casie to be vnderstood, that taking life generally, it should rather be im­puted to naturall heat, as to the or­gane of the soule, then vnto reason: in case notwithstanding, that this heat still abides alwaies vnited with the radicall moisture, which al­though [Page 27] that day by day it be consu­med by this heate, yet neuerthe­lesse, nature prouideth a subrogati­on daily of new, which she borrows from the nouritures we receiue, as it hath bin said already heeretofore. But Haruet imagineth, that these nourishments serue yet to another vse, which is (saith he) to relieue & fortifie the spirits; the which I [...]u­bert hath omitted: as if vnder this name of radicall moisture, we should comprehend onely moisture by it selfe, & not the spirits likewise. And what is he, who will denie, that the spirits are not restored & strengthe­ned, both by eating and drinking? Yee haue (in very truth) great store of things, heere chawed, and eaten vnprofitably, and to little purpose. And of abounding, that vvhich he proposeth against Hippocrates, in the 14. Aphorisme of his 2. Booke, is altogether paradoxicall, to wit, [Page] that hee in whom heate is most lan­guishing, hath the more neede of nourishment: which hee proues by the example of a forty-yeeres aged man, who (saith he) receiueth more food then any infant of two or three dayes, in whom notwithstanding, there is an aduantage of this heat, ac­cording to Hippocrates himselfe.

Behold, in my iudgement, an ar­gument very feeble, if one should bring in all that he failes in, & if also we should oppose the organs of the twaine, the one against the other. For, to the end that vnder this word Infant, no cauillation may be coue­red, I call all them Infants, which are vnder 14. yeeres of age, in the same maner as the Greekes do vnderstand this word Paidi [...]. They, I say, that according to the proportion of their maw or little belly, doe take more foode, then men of middle & perfect age: as well by reason of the power [Page 28] of the facultie, which seethes or boiles the foode (whence procee­deth a speedie riddance thereof,) as by their frequent exercises, during the which time, good store of their substance glides it selfe thorow the pores into the skinne: to the end I may be silent also, in the two neces­sities alleaged by Hippocrates, that in­fants haue of eating, to wit, for nou­rishing, & to giue encreasing to the bodie.

Now the strength of the facultie, which boiles the meate in our sto­mack, depends much vppon tempe­rature and moderation, but that is, when it is excited and prouoked on by the heat natural, which although that after one food is digested, shee introduceth not then of herselfe a­ny other nouriture, as saith Haruet: neuerthelesse; because that this first is thus digested by heate, there growes incontinently a feeling of [Page] penurie and want of foode, at the mouth of the ventricle, which we call hunger. For this cause, Ioubert referres only to heate (as the princi­pall agent) the quantitie of those foodes, which we take immediatly after, and they are ruled by the appe­tite of hunger. The facilitie of sup­portingCom. 2. Apho. 13. hunger (saith Galen) makes it selfe knowne thus; when any one hath no appetite at all, and yet ne­uerthelesse he feeles no endamage­ment or defect. VVhich Haruet thus brings in, that such as are restored from sicknesse, haue a good appetite, and yet notwithstanding, no such meates are then giuen them, as their appetite doth desire: but when ad­uise is giuen for restoring of the po­wers, it beho [...]es also to haue regard to the [...] of the naturall heate, [...] is not to be any way iniuried, but still supported. This is thus done, because that the tempe­rature [Page 29] beeing not yet thorowlie re­seated, & the naturall faculties feele themselues as yet to be diseased: the organes cannot boile the foodes re­ceiued, in too great a quantity. Now Ioubert in his demonstration, pur­posed to speake of the healthfull▪ not of the sick, or else of them which are neither. And therefore he concluds, that olde men haue not need of meate often, because they doo not desire or appetite often, principally considering, that they haue colde bodies: whereto Haruet in no wise will agree, for he saith, that all the action of mixed bodies, comes from the qualitie; which winnes the vp­per hand in the assembling of the elements. So is it in liuing bodies, heate ruleth ouer the other quali­ties, of which heate, all action hath his originall, and not of colde. I wil­lingly admit the proposition with Aristotle, so farre foorth as to mixte [Page] things, inanimate or without soule, & which know the simple formes of the elements, for their principles. But in animate bodies, hauing soules, & which haue a forme more noble, wherein are contained those other more ignoble (euen as the triangle within the quadrangle) this is not a thing so easie. For they ac­knowledge (as the principall of their functions) that nature, properlie called the soule I say, that is, the moouing vertue of the naturall bo­die, the organe, liuing by power.

And as for that which Haruet pla­ceth in assumption of his argument, that in the liuing bodie, heate doth surmount the other elementarie qualities: I cannot allow therof, ex­cept he wil haue this heate to be vn­derstood, to be the same which dif­fuseth it selfe through the bodie, gouerneth and moderateth the whole Oeconomie of same. And [Page 30] this, while it is in essence, maintai­neth life, but comming once to quench it selfe, then death of neces­sitie must follow: and this surmoun­teth & subiecteth to it selfe, not on­ly the colde, moist and drie elemen­tarie qualities, but euen the hote ele­mentarie nature also, beeing (as in herselfe) truelie celestiall. For, if he would haue to be vnderstood, this heate predominated by the elemen­tarie heate, as it seemeth to ensue by his sillogisme▪ then let me set the Sa­lamander before him, which (in his mixtion) is composed of a tempera­ture so colde, as his very touch doth no lesse extinguish the fire, then as if it were yce. Hee liues notwithstan­ding, yet not by the heate mixed or elementarie, which being weake in it selfe, cannot surmount the power of this colde: it followes then, that it must needes be by the heate celesti­all, which likewise maintaineth life [Page] in Serpents, whom euery one knowes to bee colde temperatelie▪ This then which hath bin said, that the colde in olde men, makes them to hate the abounding of foode, it must bee, that Haruet meanes it in such sort, that cold hath no domini­on ouer humaine bodies, because actually it can haue no part thereof. But for the colde of Hippocrates, it isCom. 1. Apho. 14. the same, which Galen, and all Phisi­tians (by comparison) doo call a soft heat, and therefore their weake and little heate, hath neede of some small help: euen as the slender flame of a Lampe, is maintained by put­ting in the oyle by little & little, but easilie is it extinguished, in beeing smoothered by a superaboundant effusion.

Hetherto we haue spoken of na­turall heate, as beeing the primitiue agent: wherein we haue defended for M▪ Ioubert, that according to the [Page 31] abounding or tenuitie thereof, the bodie hath neede of much or little nourishment. Now let vs speake of the primitiue humour pacient, and of his nature, and how it is subiected to this heate.

VVith the consent of all Phisiti­ans, we haue constituted heat to be the first essentiall cause of our life, & haue said, that she, of herselfe, can­not produce any effect of her functi­ons, without a proper nourishment, which is the radicall moisture, & the primitiue abounding, mingled with heate in the seede and menstruall blood, the principles of our genera­tion. But by the swift flight of yeres, i [...] greatly deminisheth and decayeth it selfe, to our harme, by the con­tinuall embracing of the heate: for the slacking or delaying whereof, as we doo warilie renew the oyle in the burning Lampe, euen so doo we as dilligently giue feeding to this [Page] heat, feeding, I say, which serues to restore this humiditie, and deliuer it from so strict an embracing. So that if in the body, there be any supera­bounding humour, which these parts cannot any way disperse, Galen calls the same, Peritton hupoleipome­non. In lib▪ 5. Apho. 39. And in Schooles, it is termed an vnprofitable excrement, as it, which remaines (saith he) within little hol­low places of the bones, and (as the humiditie fumes vp to the lungs or lites, the moisture glues the ioynts, the seed is in the secrets and pipes, wherby it is voided foorth, spettle is in the tongue, & milke in the brests) so this keepes the place for food, and serueth the fomentation & blowing vp of the natural heat, as Ioubert hath very amply written in his Paradoxe, and we our selues haue heeretofore declared. Therefore, so much as re­maineth of this humour in the bo­dy, & while it there remaineth, there [Page 32] is no neede at all of drinking nor ea­ting, and yet notwithstanding, it is in the meane time nourished, & liueth: which Haruet denieth with the like obstinacie, and reiecteth all the rea­sons of this demonstration. But for our own credit and regard, & with­out troubling our selues, to cull out his writings by parcels, where hee himselfe both makes & feigneth ob­iections, whereto also he answereth, as any newe Apprentise in Phisicke might do the like: we will confute those reasons, which seem to be best furnished with apparence, albeit we cannot endure any errour, how lit­tle so euer it be.

Page, 47. In the beginning of this proposi­tion, hee imposeth on Ioubert, who hath writtē, that not only the smalest heat helpeth to make abstinence or fasting the more easie, but also, that the humour superfluous, and which holds the place of naturall heate, [Page] might the more abound. This doth Haruet interpret in his sence, as if Ioubert had said, that the sole smallest heat, not only helps to render absti­nence the more easie, but also to the end, that the humour superfluous, & which holds the place of naturall heat, might be the more aboundant. From whence hee drawes the pro­position following; That the smal­lest heat causeth the abounding of the superfluous humour: against which proposition hee so tires his spirit, and torments himselfe, euen as if it were vpon Ioubert. Let the Rea­der see, if hee haue proposed appa­rance, or no.

Now he makes it a great case, andPage▪ 52. thinks he hath enterprised an act be­seeming an other Hercules, to shew, that the excrement somtimes holds the place of foode, and that nature serues herselfe in the same vsage or manner, and that it can repaire that, [Page 33] which is impaired by the power of heat. In truth, the excrements doe not fall altogether vnder one & the same consideration. For there be some which are quite against nature, and wholy vnprofitable, and which haue no resemblance at all with vs, and therefore can neuer turne them selues to our vse, to be incorporated with vs. The Greeks call them by an apt name, Perittoomata, as the or­dure, vrine, sweat, &c.

There be others more according to nature, which are profitable to some part of the body: & yet are ex­crements, not in regard of all, or the whole body, but for some part ther­of only. Euen so the Chylus or white iuyce, (comming of the meat dige­sted in the stomack, whereof blood is ingendred) after that the ventricle is full, it is sent to the intestines, as an excrement and vnprofitable charge. VVhen it is drawn by the liuer, then [Page] that which was an excrement of the ventricle, is now made a nourishmēt to the liuer. Now there, while of the Chylus or white iuyce blood is made, the spleene, and the bladder of the gall or choller, doe draw from both the one & the other, gall (which are the excrements of the liuer) theyr familiar nouriture: and hauing ta­ken their conuenable portion, they send away the rest as an excrement, which can doe no more seruice, nor giue contentment to any one part. The spleene sends that which shee holds superfluously, by a little vessell at the bottome of the ventricle, and sometimes by the hemorrhoides, & from thence to the intestines. The vessell of the gall or choller, by the Parancholidocum, to Duodenum or In­testinum primum, and other parts.

By the which demonstration, Ga­len [...]. De fac. na [...]. would induce, that all these two parts of blood, (to wit, the thick and [Page 34] earthy, which the spleene draweth, and the most subtile of all, drawn by the bladder of the gall or choller, which hauing past by the examen of the heat, conuerts it selfe into chol­ler) are according to nature, & serue her to some vse, because that theyr proper vessels were ordained, for thē to be receiued into. But as concer­ning the diuers kinds of choller, and all the sorts of serosites, because that they are things vnprofitable, & out of nature, there hath not beene any vessell allowed to them, Onely to phlegme, rheume, or spettle, nature failed, in giuing it a perticuler recep­tacle, although it be beneficiall, but rather hath lodged it in the veines with the blood, there to be boyled, and made capable for nourishing of the body. Haruet obiecteth, that this rheume or phlegme, holds no part of an excrement, but is naturall and elementarie, to wit, a fourth humor [Page] [...] [Page 34] [...] [Page] of blood. I aunswer, that by confe­rence of other humors, which are of the nature of excrements, it should appeare manifestly, that that place of Galen, is vnderstood by excremen­tall phlegme: for so he compares all the excrements. As (saith he) among the diuers kinds of gall, one is profi­table & naturall in the creatures, the other vnprofitable & out of nature: euen so in the phlegme, that which is sweet, is healthfull and naturall in the liuing creature, that which is sharpe & salt, is out of nature. More­ouer, that it is so, that in all concocti­on, there is some excrement separa­ted from the food: which then shall be the excrement of the elementary phlegme? For the iuyce melancho­lick hath his excrement, the bilious or cholerick also hath his, neither is it that which is lodged in the sto­mack and the intestines: for it is not as yet come so far as the liuer, where [Page 35] the office is performed of this con­coction.

In briefe, phlegme is not held to haue any perticuler instrument, be­cause that if sometime thorow want of eating, there shall be a defect of blood: the same turning it selfe on the blood side, shal serue as nutrimēt to these parts. For the naturall phlegme, it nourisheth and maintay­neth continually, not by power, and want of meat onely: but actually in the parts that are cold and moist. It is then an excrement, but profitable, which Galē, in the place before allea­ged, saith, that abiding in the body, it may be changed. And the same, in the first of his Prognosticks, he doth not any way contrarie, where hee calleth it, not as he doth heere, nou­rishment halfe boyled: but an excre­ment of the nourishment halfe boi­led, whereof the body being filled,2. De ac. disc▪ it may (so saith Hippocrates) not only [Page] passe for foode once in the day, but likewise cause to endure more easily, an extraordinarie hunger.

Page▪ 54. Haruet obiecteth two things, the first, in the Dropsie, named Anasarca, (which the Latines call Intercus) all the parts of the body beeing swolne with phlegme or rheume: and yet notwithstanding, the pacient at all times must haue foode giuen him, whereof if there by any want, hee seemes alwaies ready to giue vp the ghost. I aunswere, that all fleame is not proper to nourish the bodie, but only that which is sweet. Now, that of the dropsie is salt, by reason wher­of, it putrifieth, and giues ill sent al­so to the parts which it toucheth, & Galen calleth it baleful, or murdrous: the which, because it is commixed with some other humours, not one­ly changeth his true & naturall cul­lor (as Galen saith in the same place) but also his temperature: so that by [Page 36] Hippocrates & Galen, it is more often6. Aph. 14. et sect. 4. Aph. 482. coac. designed by the word water, then of phlegme or rheume. By meanes whereof, Serenus calleth it Aquosus languor, and Horace he termeth it, A­quosus Lib. 2. Od. page. 66. albo corpore languor.

This solution may satisfie also the obiection which he makes soone af­ter, concerning the excrements of the sick, which (saith hee) if they haue power to nourish during the time of sicknesse, wherefore then, (they beeing consumed,) doth not the sicknesse it selfe ceasse? And if the sicknesse ceasse, wherefore are all the parts of the bodie in themselues so abated? Alas (good man) those ex­crements are altogether against na­ture, and the bodie desires nothing more, then to be deliuered of them, as Galen speakes of the yellowe fat2. De [...]at. f [...]c. humour. This is more strong, then where hee saith a little before, that Ioubert concludes not well, saying, [Page] that if the ventricle bee filled with the phlegmatick-humour, it hath no appetite at all; why so in like manner, all the parts of the (bodie being filled) they cannot haue any desire or hunger. For this appetite of the ventricle, whereof heere is some question made, it is an animall appetite, which not being so in the other parts, this fleame cannot com­municate herselfe to them in the same manner. I answere, that there are two sorts of appetite in the ven­tricle, the animall, and the naturall. The animall appetite, is a certaine molestation and anguish of the ven­tricle, proceednig of the sucking, or of the compression of the foode, for and by the which, beeing angrie or offended, it desireth meate. And the naturall appetite, is a strength, bred and borne in all parts of the bodie, which desireth euermore what it wanteth, and is thereto agreeable. [Page 37] The one is appeased by the vapour of the meates receiued, and, by how little soeuer it be of substaunce: the other, by the only application hee makes of the meates. The animall appetite is perticuler to the sole ven­tricle, the naturall is common, as well to the ventricle, as to all the o­ther partes, by the which, beeing brought to the orifice superiour of the same ventricle, it exciteth the animall appetite, which serues vs as a spurre for the desiring of our meates. So long then as the rawe humour and phlegmatick remaineth at the ventricle, and that there (by the naturall strength thereof,) it is boyled and brought into an estate: the [...]unicles, which make the bodie of the ventricle, in taking their com­petent portion, and the best therof, doo conuert the same to their owne profit. So the naturall appetite being contented, the anima [...]l appetite is [Page] not offended at all, or complaines at entraunce of the ventricle. If all the bodie were full of one and the same humour, all the parts to whom this appetite is common, and communi­cateth the strength of this emotion, would borrowe thereof, and drawe thence what should bee seruiceable for them.

These are the arguments, wher­with the learned Ioubert hath forti­fied his opinion: arguments, which (in my iudgement) vntill this instant houre, there could be no one found, that did knowe deseruedly how to stand against them. VVherto there are ioyned many examples, both of plants and other creatures, that not only preserue thēselues many dayes, but also many yeares, without any nourishment taken outwardly. As in plants, the Onyon and the Gar­lick &c: in graine, VVheate Re, Barley, Oates, Millet and others: [Page 38] in and among beastes, Serpents, Li­zardes, Dormise, Beares, Crocodiles and Cameleons▪. Of which exam­ples, Haruet striues to weaken the authoritie, by opposition of the dis­simulitude and great disproportion, which is betweene the life of brute beastes, (yea, much more of plants,) & that of man: because his principall is referred to the reasonable soule, and theirs to the soule vnreasonable, and beside, that heate (the instru­ment thereof) is much more noble in man, then in the vnreasonable soule, and yet more in the vnreason­able soule, then in the plant. VVher­to I answere, that the similitude of these examples, doo very well agree together, in that kinde of life where­of we speake in this place, which is, the facultie of nourishing and feed­ing of the bodie, which is equally distributed, as well in beastes as in2. Deg [...]. Cap. 5. plants, saith Ari [...]tle. And more­ouer, [Page] that they agree in the kinde of the cause, to wit, the rawe & phleg­matique humour, wherewith their bodies are as well filled, as those of men. But who can (saith Har [...]et) Page, 78. support such a great aboundance of fleame in Diaphragma, without a palpitation of the hart, sicknesse of the stomacke, paine of the collick & the reines, & who can retaine them in the head, without an apoplexie? I answere, that this humour aboun­ding in cruditie, seethes it selfe in the bodie there, and yet hurtes it not at all: for, beeing according to nature, it cannot create any acci­dents and diseases against nature. He will obiect (perhaps) that the sole a­bounding of fleame, causeth an apoplexie. But I say, that it is an ex­crement properly of the braine, which hath not bin wunt to goe lodge it selfe at the ventricles therof, nor doth, except it be driuen by the [Page 39] spirit, or the vapour. He will say, that in these natures, the spirits are more feeble, and haue not power suffici­ent, to make so great a violence or impetuositie. VVherto I reply, albe­it that (otherwise) the exercise of the bodie is healthfull, saith Galen, yetCom. 3. Aph. 20. neuerthelesse, if you will exercise a man full of fleame, or of one and the other choller, or else full of bloode, you shal forward him (by such exer­cise) either to an Epilepsie, or Apo­plexie.

Now, where hee saith, that our life is differing from that of Plants & beasts, and that her principle, which is our soule, is much more noble thē the others: what is he that wil deny it? whē Aristotle himselfe belieued, that she onely was diuine, and came from abroade or without, to lodge within our bodie? But because hee encloseth within his obiection, the vegetatiue soule of Plants, and the [Page] sensitiue of beasts: it behooueth to let him know, that our body hath a vegetatiue soule, and nourisheth it selfe as a Plant, senseth or senteth as a brute beast, and hath the discourse of reason, of which it makes vse as a man. For, marke but his beginning (saith the same Aristotle) he liueth as the plant, and hath onely then the vegetatiue soule: afterward, in time, he gaines the sensitiue, & at length comes the intellectuall and reasona­ble, which bringeth (with it) all per­fections. For he is not all at one time both an animall and a man, nor an animall and an horse, (though this reason be scant seemly in the mouth of a Christian Philosopher,) but he [...] is first of all an hearbe, a Lettise, af­terward, a dog, a horsse, or the like thing, and at length he comes to be Casar or Cato.

De prisc [...] med. But Haruet continues on yet, and prooueth by Hippocrates, that our el­ders [Page 40] would neuer haue sought out a proper manner of feeding for man, if one selfe same drinking & eating, might haue suffised for the nourish­ment both of men and beasts. Ne­uerthelesse, he omitteth that which Hippocrates addeth, that in the first age, men vsed one selfe-same foode, as the other creatures did, when the inuention of sowing and planting was as yet vnknowne to them: then they fedde on fruites, which nature (on her owne good will) brought foorth, without any tillage: how­beit notwithstanding, the omnipo­tent Creator of man, had a wil from the beginning, that he should not only feed on the fruites of the earth, but also that he should vse the vnrea­sonable creatures for his nourish­ment.

VVhat would he haue Hippocrates to say more? That which our aun­cients then did, declared a will to [Page] prouide for the infirmitie of our na­turall heat, which beeing sometimes vnable to digest those meates, that were too crude & raw: is now bet­ter supplied and maintained, by such as are prepared and corrected, by knowledge and experience, in the dooing whereof, the health of man is the lesse subiect to perrill. Other­wise, a man might take & eate with­out danger (if he had been thereto accustomed) of Hemlocke with the Stare; and of Helleborus with the Quaile; or, as Mithridates, vse poy­sons, not to be poysoned: and he be­ing inured to such a custome, they were to him as naturall viands. In like manner, an old man of Athens (recorded by Galen) vsed familiarly3. De fim­pl. fac. Lib. 9. hist. Plant. cap. 18. Arist▪ de reg. prin. to eate Hemlock: as Thrasiaes did the like of Helleborus, by report of The­ophrastus. A mayden beeing sent by the King of the Indiaes to Alexan­der, she did a long time feede before [Page 41] euery one, of Napellus, called VVoolfes-bane, without any pre­iudice to herselfe.

But without all these, the earth (our good Mother) hath not shee brought foorth from her bosome, many other thinges necessary to maintaine life? yes truly hath she, & (in the estate as she receiues vs, whē wee come to arriue in the Inne of this world) she therafter entertaines and feedeth vs: shewing herselfe al­waies benigne, sweet, indulgent, & ready, to do whatsoeuer she can de­uise to serue our vse.

VVhen shee is tilled and husban­ded, what diuersitie of foodes doth she produce, proper and apt for our nourishing? How plenteously is she furnished without tillage? vvhat o­dours? what fauours? what iuyces? what cullers? And yet (in this while) we will needs exercise our crueltie vpon the brute beasts, we will keepe [Page] those creatures imprisoned, to whō Nature hath giuen the free wide pa­lace of heauen. VVhy are not vvee more carefull, to make our bankets in simplicitie, and without butche­rie, after the manner of Pythagoras: rather then to war in the ayre, aduē ­ture life on the Seas and Riuers, and make such spoile of the earth as weeOuid. 1. Meta. doe? Our elders doo report, that the age, which we call the golden age, was happy in this, that it fullied not her mouth with the blood of creatures, or wild beasts.

The Philosopher Apollonius Thya­neus, beeing demaunded by the Em­perour Domitian, why hee kept not the common manner of feeding, which cōsisted in the vsage of flesh, but rather did eate rootes & fruites, such as the earth yeelded? returned this answer. All that the earth brin­geth foorth vnto vs, is sound and healthfull, what neede haue I then, [Page 42] to goe seeke after Foules in the soyle of the Riuer Phasis, or the Franco­lines in Ionia▪ for him, with whom much better agrees (as with Coun­try Horace) the Oliue gathered from the fat branches of trees, or Sorrell growing in the field, or Mallowes, wholsome for wearied bodies?

Haruet pursueth to confute the al­leagedPage▪ 67. 68. 69. examples, saying, they are but fables that are reported of Serpents, Dormise, &c. For as concerning Ser­pents, who all the vvinter abide in their dennes, they nourish thēselues with the earth: Beares and Dormise make their prouision of victuals in Autumne, whereon they liue, like vnto the Ant: the Camelion feedes himselfe with flies: the Crocodile cannot liue long time out of the wa­ter, [...]. De ge [...]es. anim. according to Aristotle.

That the Serpent nourisheth him selfe of the earth only, the reason of the same Philosopher dooth re­pugne, [Page] who saith, that a mixed bo­die cannot be nourished with one sole & simple element, whereto also the successe in things is cōformable. For vvee haue many times noated, that as among Fishes, the great ones eate vp the smaller Frie: the selfe same is in practise among the Vi­pers, Adders, Snakes, & such others. Now, that Serpents can liue verie long without any foode, Aristotle Arist. anl. Lib. 8. cap▪ 4. shewes the same, by the experience of such as the Apothecaries doe [...]eepe, whereof wee haue spoken h [...]eretofore.

And as concerning that which is said to the Serpent, in the third of Genesis: Thou shalt eate earth all the dayes of thy lìfe: this concerneth no­thing at all our earthly Serpents, but the auncient enemy to mankind, whose sla [...]ish seruants doe eate the earth, that is to say, they can relish nothing but earthly things, accor­ding [Page 43] as the learned Diuines haue ex­poundedD. Aug [...] ▪ [...] Gene. it.

Aristotle writes, that the Dormouse (in VVinter) is not onely hid in the caues of the earth, but also in the hollowes of Trees, and that during this season, he fattens by sleeping. Haruet thinks, that they eate the pro­uision they haue hidden, & labours himselfe against Aristotle, saying: that sleepe euacuates the body, when as the ventricle is emptied, by reason of the heate, which euermore con­sumeth the moisture.

Lib. 5. Apho. 27. But behold heere the Aphorisme of Hippocrates, which is flatly against him. They (saith Hippocrates) which in the night are thirstie, it is good for them to sleep, euen then when they are very dry. For sleepe (aboue all things) doth moisten the body with great store of pleasing: not the bo­die which is wholy emptie and dry, but that which is filled with foode, [Page] or with crude moisture, the natu­rall facultie (in this while) is busying it selfe to her vttermost power, for the concoction of the meates, and the raw humours. VVho wil doubt then, that a slothfull creature, & full of cruditie, may not fatten himselfe by sleeping?

Lib. 11. cap. pen. Plinie saith, that it is better to make concoction, in the time of sleepe, for gathering corpulence, that is to say, for fatning of the bodie▪ then for at­tayning to any strength therby. And Martiall, willing to waken those stu­dents, which sleepe away (as one saith) the fat of the morning, hath addressed these two verses to them.

VVee haue seene many Beastes, [...]. De temp. vvhich at Spring-time hauing left their secret aboade, are much fatter then the other, because the time [Page 44] hath been very fauourable to them. And Galen saith, that vvomen are more fatte then men, by reason that they are more cold, and greater sit­ters in the house, then men vsuallie are.

8. Hist. ani. cap. 17. Aristotle approoueth by two rea­sons, that Beares doe not eate any thing, during the time of their win­ter retirement: the one, because they come not foorth at all: the o­ther, in regard they seeme to haue their bellies restrict, and theyr inte­stines emptie.

Haruet beats back the first, because (saith he) they haue wherewith to feede on. But, to a beaste of such greatnesse, what store (I pray yee) needes there, of rootes, apples, or such like, all those dayes, & all those monethes? The second reason, A­ristotle iustifies the same by eye▪ex­perience. For one saith, that their in­testines by lack of eating, close vp in [Page] such sort, that they almost touch to­gether. And therefore when they come foorth, they feed on a certaine hearbe calledWake won. Aron, to vnlose their entrailes. The seauen first dayes that they are hid in their Caues, they be in such sorte ouercome with sleepe, as although one smite vppon them,¹⁰Lib. 1. Hist. nat. Chap. 36. Lib. 18. Hist. Sep­ [...]en. yet they awake not at all, so saith Pli­nie and Olaus: Then (say they both) they fatten woundrouslie by this heauie sleepe, and principally by the sucking and licking of their right foote. VVhich is to be vnderstood in this sorte, that after they haue past fourteene dayes in sleepe, they rise vppon their buttocks, and liue by licking their fore-most feete, vntill such time as Spring time comes, then they issue foorth. In regard of the males, they are very fat, but not the females, because at this time they nourish their whelpes: but no such masse or lumpe of white and [Page 45] deformed flesh, which by little and little (in licking) they bring to a forme, as ignorantly hath bin credi­ted of antiquitie: but a young little Beare, well formed, such as greatExero. 6. 15. Scaliger witnesseth, to haue bin (not long since) founde in the bellie of a she-Beare, that one rent in pieces.

The same Scaliger, first (before Haruet) declared, that the Lord Iohn Exercit. 196. 4. des Landes, when hee was in Syria, bought a Cameleon: & it was noa­ted, that by prompt mooning of his tongue, (which he can cast and re­cast out of his mouth in one instant) he tooke a Flye that was on his brest. VVhich was newes to them, who thought (it only) among all o­ther beastes, to liue without foode or drinking, & only to nourish him­selfe by the ayre, euermore fasting, without enduring any languish­ment,De pall. as also Tertullian saith. Neuer­thelesse, it is not altogether from the [Page] purpose, in supposing that he should liue by the ayre, because he hath bin seene to passe a whole yeare toge­ther without eating, as the same Sca­liger [...]aith: and, that after hee hath yawnde or gapte, and taken ayre, he hath shut his iawes, & then his bel­lie became blowne full (like a blad­der) of this ayrie substance. There be some that say, that turning himselfe to the Sunne, he seemes to swallow in his beames, and so pursues them all about yawning. Tertullian hath auouched as much, in his Lib. De Mant. he nourisheth himselfe ( [...]aith hee, speaking of the Cameleon) in yasking and yawning, he chawes, and blowes vp himselfe like a foot­ball,2. Hist. ani. Chap. 13. [...]. Hist. nat. Chap. 25. the winde is all his foode.

The Crocodile (by the testemo­nie of Aristotle, and Plinie after him) passeth alwayes six monethes of winter, in her Caue without eating. Aelianus [...]aith, that she remaineth [Page 46] three score dayes onely so hidden, during which time shee [...]areth no­thing. Symmachus, a man of good qualitie, an Oratour among the aun­cient Romaines, caused Crocodiles to be brought into the Theatre be­fore the people, after that he had made them to fast fiftie dayes. Long time afterward, he kept two of them without giuing them any foode, re­seruing them, to haue them seene atSymmach, lib. 8. Epist. 44. 8. Hist. an. Ch [...]p. 2. the arriuall of certaine frends of his: Although (saith hee) they made shewe, not to liue long time with­out eating. As for that which Harue [...] alleageth from Aristotle, that the Crocodile beeing out of the water, cannot liue any long time: this re­ceiueth his interpretation by the same place also, where he writes, that albeit the Crocodile delights herselfe in the water, in such sorte, as she cannot liue, beeing enclosed out of watrie places, neuerthelesse, [Page] she dies, if she receiue not ayre as she is wunt to doo, and in nourishing her young-ones out of the water.

For so much then, as she is a crea­ture partly waterie, and partly ear­thie, he holdes, that shee is to bee rancked among those creatures cal­ledThat liue as wel on land, as on water Lib. 2. Cap. 20. * Amphibii; and which are of a nature not stayed, whom he calleth Epamphoterizonta. Other-wise hee should contrarie himselfe, hauing written before, that she spends the day on the land, and the night in the water, both the one and the other, by reasō of the heat she loueth. And this he would haue vnderstood of the time, wherin she doth not hide herselfe at all, by reason that colde is so contrarie to her: as when it is faire seasonable weather, she must needes▪ bee on the land in the day time, & in the water all the night.

I might auouch heere, the Indi­an birde without feete, which the [Page 47] sacrifisers to Mahomet, did some time make the King of the Moluques to beleeue, that it dropte downe out Paradise: because she is not found but in vnknowne places, seperate from the troupes of the world, by reason whereof, they of that coun­trie, call it the Birde of Paradise. She liues euermore in the ayre, & neuer at any time toucheth the earth, till after she be dead: wheron she lyeth, and preserueth herselfe a long time without corrupting.

This Bird doth not nourish her­selfe on Mushromes, or other sem­blable insect things (as Sparrowes & Swallowes doe) for she liueth in the middle region of the ayre, where are no creatures (knowne vnto men) whereon she may feede: but vppon the ayre onely, or on the vapour ari­sing from the Iles of the Moluques, which doe send foorth on all sides a very sweet and Aromaticall sauour. [Page] Cardanus holds, that she cannot liue of the ayre alone and perfectly, be­cause it is very subtile in those coun­tries. But he that hath giuen her the ayre for foode, hath also power so to thicken that ayre, as to render it selfe apt enough for her nourish­ment.

And no lesse admirable is the birdIn vita Ar­ [...]oxer. which Plutarch calleth Rhintaces, ve­ry common in Persia, which hath nothing emptie in her body, but is within all full of fat, (as are the Ben­narics in Languedoc) and yet not­withstanding, this Author saith, that she liues not but of the ayre, and of the dew therein.

[...]ib. 5. hist. [...]ni. cap. 19. [...]lin. lib. 11. Cap. 36. Aristotle, the Prince of truth, writes, that in the Furnases, where the Melters & casters of Copper are in Cypres, they haue a little creature, of the bignes of a great Fly, which they call Pyrausta, the which hath wings, & soure feet. So long as there [Page 48] is fire in the Furnace, this worme or Fly liueth, but let it be neuer so little off from it, it presently dies: and yet notwithstanding, this creature is most cold, hauing no other mainte­naunce then the heat of the fire one­lie.

But why should I dwell on these examples, whereof Haruet (in eue­rie place) holds, that wee can draw no consequent by them to men? Peraduenture then, some examples deduced from men themselues, may make him to acknowledge a truth. And therefore I will produce one, which is out of all scruple, whereof, Princes worthy of beleefe, made re­citall to King Henry the third, being in Poland. Hee had there many great Lords of Fraunce, Councel­lours, &c. He had also diuers Phisi­tians in his Court, & among others, Monsieur Piduxius our Deane: skil­full not onely in Phisicke, but like­wise, [Page] in whatsoeuer concerned the knowledge of the naturall historie. Hee was then Phisitian to my Lord the Duke of Neuers, and called to councell with the Kings owne Phi­sitians. From him was it, that wee verbally heard this Historie, which also is written by Alexander Guagui­nus of Verona, Captaine of the foot­men in the Cittadell of Vitebcka, on the limits of Moscouia, and in his description of the said Country.

Hee saith, that there are certaine people in Lucomoria (which is a Region, in the vtmost confines of the Sarmates towards the North) which dye, (or rather remaine en­traunced, like your Frogges and Swallowes) euery yeare, the 27. of the moneth Nouember, by reason of the extreame colde in that part of the countrie. Afterward, at the re­turne of Spring-time, the 24. of A­prill, they come to life againe. These [Page 49] people make their commerces with the Grustintzians and Sperponompt­zians their neighbours, after this manner. VVhen they feele the time of their entrauncing to draw neere, they then lock vp their merchan­dises in certaine places, and the Grus­tintzians and Sperponomptzians there take them, and leaue other in their sted, of answerable value. The time being come of their reui [...]ing, they take the merchandises, which were left in exchaunge of theirs, if they perceiue they haue profit by them: if not, they demaund back their owne againe, whereby ariseth often­times quarrels, and warres betweene them. By this sleepie traunce, the natural heate in these bodies (which otherwise are accustomed to this ayre, and boyled againe, as sayth Al­bertus Cr [...]tzius, by the freezing) is no whit extinct▪ because that al the places, por [...]s, passages, and conuoys, [Page] being lockt vp and stopte, it gathers it selfe about the entrailes, and by this Antiperistasis or repulsion of e­uery part, she encreaseth herselfe, and makes her power the more vi­gorous for the Spring-time ensu­ing.

Aboue all other partes of the bo­die, the daunger is principallie of the braine, which hath great store of large openings, and (among others) the nostrilles: were it not, that whē they beginne to wexe stiffe with colde, a tarte rheume or moisture distilleth from the nostrilles, which (by report of the said Lord Pi­duxius) Their eyes, [...]ares, nos­trilles and mouthes, are softlye fro­zen vp, be­ [...]ore they fall into their [...]ance. euen as it flowes, congeales it selfe no lesse, then the spettle it selfe doth, and so it wexeth hard be­fore they fall to the grounde, accor­ding as Sigismond de Herbestein des­cribeth, in the Historie of Moseouis. By meanes whereof, the nostrilles and other parts being lockt vp; the [Page 50] mallice of the ayre cannot so easilie pierce vp vnto the braine. And if any one of them, to shunne this colde vnfreendlines of the ayre, thinkes (by couering himselfe with skinnes and other things) to forestall the Isicles hanging at the nostrilles and mouth &c: immediatly, the ayre being excessiuely cold, steps vp into the braine, and there extinguisheth the naturall heate, so that these Lu­comorians, in sted of a temporall en­trauncing, do then fall into a perpe­tuall and endlesse. But the time be­ing come, that the Sunne getteth rule ouer the colde, and brings in agayne the sweetnes of the Spring season: the ycie moisture (at the parts before named) melting it selfe, the heate by little & little insinuates into the bones, the feeling and vi­gour creepes againe into all the mē ­bers, and then hath the bodie the same O [...]conomie, which it had be­fore.

[Page] Haruet concludes his whole dis­course, by the fasting of holy per­sonages, Moyses, Elias, & our bles­sed Sauiour, the which (saith hee) should be held for no miracle at all, if, according to nature, so long an abstinence may be made. Ioubert hath answered, that in sick persons, and such as are much subiect to sicknesse, a long fast or abstinence is naturall: but supernaturall in such persons, who otherwise are perfect­ly well, and of good temperature.

Harnet obiecteth the place of Auice [...], cited by Ioubert: That the same might also happen to healthful men. For our owne selues, we will embrace the oppinion of Io [...]bert in such sort, as we doo holde, concer­ning the accident heere happening among vs, to whom this abstinence is yet so easie: that it hath bin occa­sioned by a sicknesse against nature, [Page 51] albeit some others (in like manner diseased) haue afterward bin health­full againe. But as for persons of such rare sanctitie, we thinke not their fast to haue bin by any sick­nesse: but only by the speciall will of God, and that naturall appetite then returned, at the time limitted by his prouidence.

Last of all, where he exhorteth euerie one, to imitate a certaine Gentleman, who (by care and dilli­gence) discouered the imposture of an Hermite in Sauoy, that (by feig­ned fastings) had long time dece [...]ued the peoples oppinion. As for our selues, not knowing how to goe against the authoritie, of so many rare and cleare sighted Phisitians, nor yet how to steale into our eyes, the credence of what they haue seene: we loue rather, to leaue it, euen to the most curious reseacher, into the causes of the extraordinari [...] [Page] workes of nature, then like the com­panions to Vlisses, charmed with the fruite of theA [...]ee in Affrick cal­led the Lot [...]. Alyfier, or fatall tree, to serue, or know no other Gods, then Edusa and Potina.