Bacon, Francis, Sylva sylvarum : or, a natural history in ten centuries

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            <s xml:id="echoid-s10214" xml:space="preserve">
              <pb o="21" file="0299" n="299" rhead="The Hiſtory of Life and Death."/>
            Longer, for the moſt part when the times are barbarous, and men fare leſs delici-
              <lb/>
            ouſly, and are more given to bodily exerciſes: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10215" xml:space="preserve">Shorter, when the times are more
              <lb/>
            civil, and men abandon themſelves to luxury and eaſe. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10216" xml:space="preserve">But theſe things paſs on by
              <lb/>
            their turns, the ſucceſſion of Generations alters is not. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10217" xml:space="preserve">The ſame, no doubt, is in
              <lb/>
            other living Creatus
              <unsure/>
            es; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10218" xml:space="preserve">for neither Oxen, nor Horſes, nor Sheep, nor any the
              <lb/>
            like, are abridged of their wonted ages at this day. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10219" xml:space="preserve">And therefore the Great
              <lb/>
            Abridger of Age was the Floud; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10220" xml:space="preserve">and perhaps ſome ſuch notable accidents (as
              <lb/>
            particular Inundations, long Droughts, Earthquakes, or the like) may do the ſame
              <lb/>
            again And the like reaſon is in the dimenſion and ſtature of Bodies; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10221" xml:space="preserve">for neither
              <lb/>
            are they leſſened by ſucceſſion of Generations, howſoever Virgil (following the
              <lb/>
            vulgar opinion) divined, that after Ages would bring forth leſſer Bodies than the
              <lb/>
            then preſent: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10222" xml:space="preserve">whereupon ſpeaking of ploughing up the Æmathian and Æmonen-
              <lb/>
            ſian Fields, he ſaith, Grandiáq; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10223" xml:space="preserve">effoſſis mirabitur oſſa Sepulchris, That after-ages ſhall
              <lb/>
            admire the great bones digged up in ancient Sepulchres. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10224" xml:space="preserve">For whereas it is manifeſted that
              <lb/>
            there were heretofore men of Gigantine Statures, (ſuch as for certain have been found
              <lb/>
            in Sicily, and elſe-where, in ancient Sepulchres and Caves) yet within theſe laſt
              <lb/>
            three thouſand years, a time whereof we have ſure memory, thoſe very places have
              <lb/>
            produced none ſuch: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10225" xml:space="preserve">although this thing alſo hath certain turns and changes, by the
              <lb/>
            Civilizing of a Nation, no leſs than the former. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10226" xml:space="preserve">And this is the rather to be noted,
              <lb/>
            becauſe men are wholly carried away with an opinion, that there is a continual
              <lb/>
            decay by Succeſſion of Ages, as well in the term of man’s Life as in the
              <lb/>
            ſtature and ſtrength of his Body; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10227" xml:space="preserve">and that all things decline and change to the
              <lb/>
            worſe.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10228" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10229" xml:space="preserve">In Cold and Northern Countries men live longer commonly than in Hot: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10230" xml:space="preserve">which
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0299-01" xlink:href="note-0299-01a" xml:space="preserve">24.</note>
            muſt needs be in reſpect the skin is more compact and cloſe, and the juices of
              <lb/>
            the body leſs diſſipable, and the Spirits themſelves leſs eager to conſume, and in
              <lb/>
            better diſpoſition to repair, and the Air (as being little heated by the Sun-beams)
              <lb/>
            leſs predatory: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10231" xml:space="preserve">And yet under the Æquinoctial Line, where the Sun paſſeth to and
              <lb/>
            fro, and cauſeth a double Summer and double Winter, and where the Days and
              <lb/>
            Nights are more cqual, (if other things be concurring) they live alſo very long;
              <lb/>
            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10232" xml:space="preserve">as in Peru and Taprobane.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10233" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10234" xml:space="preserve">Iſlanders are, for the moſtpart, longer-liv’d than thoſe that live in Continents: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10235" xml:space="preserve">for
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0299-02" xlink:href="note-0299-02a" xml:space="preserve">25.</note>
            they live not ſo long in Ruſſia as in the Orcades; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10236" xml:space="preserve">nor ſo long in Africa, though
              <lb/>
            under the ſame Parallel, as in the Canaries and Tercera’s; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10237" xml:space="preserve">and the Japonians are
              <lb/>
            longer-liv’d than the Chineſes, though the Chineſes are made upon long life. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10238" xml:space="preserve">And this
              <lb/>
            thing is no marvel, ſeeing the Air of the Sea doth heat and cheriſh in cooler Regi-
              <lb/>
            ons, and cool in hotter.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10239" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10240" xml:space="preserve">High Situations do rather afford long-livers than Low, eſpecially if they be not Tops
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0299-03" xlink:href="note-0299-03a" xml:space="preserve">26.</note>
            of Mountains, but Riſing Grounds, as to their general Situations; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10241" xml:space="preserve">ſuch as was Ar-
              <lb/>
            cadia in Greece, and that part of Ætolia where we related them to have lived ſo long.
              <lb/>
            </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10242" xml:space="preserve">Now there would be the ſame reaſon for Mountains themſelves, becauſe of the pureneſs
              <lb/>
            and clearneſs of the Air, but that they are corrupted by accident, namely, by the
              <lb/>
            Vapours riſing thither out of the Valleys, and reſting there; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10243" xml:space="preserve">and therefore in Snowy
              <lb/>
            Mountains there is not found any notable long life, not in the Alps, not in the Pyre-
              <lb/>
            nean Mountains, not in the Apennine: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10244" xml:space="preserve">yet in the tops of the Mountains running
              <lb/>
            along towards Æthiopia and the Abyſſines, where by reaſon of the Sands beneath little
              <lb/>
            or no Vapour riſeth to the Mountains, they live long, even at this very day, attaining ma-
              <lb/>
            ny times to an hundred and fifty years.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10245" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10246" xml:space="preserve">Marſhes and Fens are propitious to the Natives, and malignant to Strangers, as touch-
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0299-04" xlink:href="note-0299-04a" xml:space="preserve">27.</note>
            ing the lengthning and ſhortning of their lives: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10247" xml:space="preserve">and that which may ſeem more mar-
              <lb/>
            vellous, Salt-Marſhes, where the Sea Ebbs and Flows, areleſs wholſome than thoſe of
              <lb/>
            Freſh water.</s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10248" xml:space="preserve"/>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10249" xml:space="preserve">The Countries which have been obſerved to produce long-livers are theſe; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10250" xml:space="preserve">Arcadia,
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0299-05" xlink:href="note-0299-05a" xml:space="preserve">28.</note>
            Ætolia, India on this ſide Ganges, Braſil, Taprobane, Britain, Ireland, with the Iſlands of
              <lb/>
            the Orcades and Hebrides: </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10251" xml:space="preserve">for as for Æthiopia, which by one of the Ancients is re-
              <lb/>
            ported to bring forth long-Livers, ’tis but a toy,</s>
          </p>
          <p>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10252" xml:space="preserve">It is a Secret; </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10253" xml:space="preserve">The healthfulneſs of Air, eſpecially in any perfection, is better
              <lb/>
              <note position="right" xlink:label="note-0299-06" xlink:href="note-0299-06a" xml:space="preserve">29.</note>
            found by Experiment than by Diſcourſe or Conjecture. </s>
            <s xml:id="echoid-s10254" xml:space="preserve">You may make a trial by
              <lb/>
            a lock of Wool expoſed for a few dayes in the open Air, if the weight be not </s>
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