[f] Aristot. l. 9. c. 31. Hist. Animal.
[g] Pliny affirms this of the Crow as well as Raven: Cæteræ omnes [i.e. Cornices] ex eodem genere pellunt nidis pullos, ac volare cogunt, sicut & Corvi, qui——robustos suos fœtus fugant longiùs. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 12.
[h] Var. Hist.
[k] Admiranda Naturæ dispensatio est, ut aliter, alioque modo, tempore, & industriâ colatur terra septentrionalis, aliter Æthiopia, &c. Quoad Aquilonares, hoc certum est, in plerisque agris Vestrogothorum, parte objectâ Meridionali plagæ, Hordeum spatio 36 Dierum à femine projecto maturum colligi, hoc est à fine Junii usque medium Augusti, aliquando celerius. Ea namque maturitas ex soli naturâ, aërisque clementiâ, ac humore lapillorum fovente radices, Soleque torrente, necessariò provenit, ut ita nascatur, ac maturetur, talesque spicæ sex ordines in numero aristæ habent. Ol. Mag. Hist. l. 15. c. 8. Prata & pascua tantâ luxuriant graminum ubertate ac diversitate, ut necessum sit inde arcere jumenta, nè nimio herbarum esu crepent, &c. Id. ib. l. 19. c. 36.
[l] Among the many noble Contrivances for Food, I cannot but attribute that universal Aliment, Bread, to the Revelation, or at least the Inspiration of the Creator and Conservator of Mankind; not only because it is a Food used in all, or most Parts of the World; but especially because it is of incomparable Use in the great Work of Digestion, greatly assisting the Ferment, or whatever causes the Digestion of the Stomach. Of which take this Example from the noble Mr. Boyle. “He extracted a Menstruum from Bread alone, that would work on Bodies more Compact than many hard Minerals, nay even on Glass it self, and do many Things that Aqua-fortis could not do——Yet by no means was this so corrosive a Liquor as Aq. fort. or as the other acid Menstruum”. Vid. the ingenious and learned Dr. Harris’s Lex. Tech. verbo Menstruum, where the way of preparing it may be met with.
[m] Psal. civ. 26.
[n] The Insects that for the most part discolour the Waters, are the small Insects of the Shrimp-kind, called by Swammerdam, Pulex aquaticus arborescens. These I have often seen so numerous in stagnating Waters in the Summer-Months, that they have changed the Colour of the Waters to a pale or deep Red, sometimes a Yellow, according to the Colour they were of. Of this Swammerdam hath a pretty Story told him by Dr. Florence Schuyl, viz. Se aliquando Studiis intentum, magno quodam & horrifico rumore fuisse turbatum, & simul ad causam ejus inquirendam excitatum; verùm se vix eum in finem surrexisse, cùm Ancilla ejus pœne exanimis adcurreret, & multo cum singultu referret, omnem Lugduni [Batavorum] aquam esse mutatam in sanguinem. The Cause of which, upon Examination he found to be only from the numerous Swarms of those Pulices. V. Swamm. Hist. Insect. p. 70.
The Cause of this great Concourse, and Appearance of those little Insects, I have frequently observed to be to perform their Coït; which is commonly about the latter end of May, and in June. At that Time they are very venereous, frisking and catching at one another; and many of them conjoined Tail to Tail, with their Bellies inclined one towards another.
At this Time also they change their Skin or Slough; which I conceive their rubbing against one another mightily promoteth. And what if at this Time they change their Quarters? Vid. [Book VIII. Chap. 4. Note (f).]