The History. 13. Herbs which are said to be of a colder sort, as lettuce, purslane, wheat, and all kinds of corn, are annual, and perish yearly, both in root and stalk. Yet there are likewise some cold plants that will last three or four years, as the violet, strawberry, burnet, primrose, and sorrel; but borage and bugloss, although they seem so like alive, differ in death; for the borage is an annual, the bugloss longer lived. 14. But most hot plants bear age and years better; as hyssop, thyme, savory, pot-marjoram, balm, wormwood, germander, sage, and the like. Fennel dies in the stalk, but springs again from the root. Basil and sweet marjoram stand age better than cold; for if they are planted in a warm and well sheltered spot they will live more than one year. A knot or figure of hyssop (such as they have in gardens for ornament), clipped twice a year, has been known to last for forty years. 15. Shrubs and bushes live for sixty years; some even twice as long. A vine may continue to bear at sixty. Rosemary also in a favourable situation will live for sixty years; evergreen thorn, and ivy for more than a hundred. The age of the bramble is not observable, since by bowing its head to the ground it strikes new roots, so that it is difficult to distinguish the old from the new. 16. Of the larger trees the longest lived are the oak, the holm-oak, the mountain ash, the elm, the beech, the chesnut, the plane, the fig, the lotus, the wild olive, the olive, the palm, and the mulberry. Of these, some come to the age of eight hundred years, and the most short-lived reach two hundred. 17. Fragrant and resinous trees are in their wood or timber even more durable than those just mentioned; but they are not so long-lived. Such are the cypress, fir, pine, box, and juniper; but the cedar, being assisted by its enormous bulk, almost equals the former in age. 18. The ash, lively and rapid in its growth, lasts for a hundred years or a little more; as sometimes also do the birch, maple, and service tree; but the poplar, lime, willow, and that which they call the sycamore, and walnut, are not so long-lived. 19. The apple, pear, plum, pomegranate, citron, lemon, medlar, cornel, and cherry, sometimes reach their fiftieth or sixtieth year; especially if from time to time they are cleared of the moss that covers some of them. 20. In general, the size of a tree and the hardness of its timber have (if there be nothing adverse in other respects) some connection with their length of life. Trees likewise that bear mast or nuts are generally more long-lived than those that bear fruit or berries. Trees which come into leaf and shed their leaves late last longer than those that are early either in fruit or leaf. Wild trees live longer than orchard trees; and in the same kind trees that have an acid fruit are longer-lived than those with a sweet one. A Major Observation. Aristotle has noted well the distinction between plants and animals, as regards alimentation and renovation, namely, that the bodies of animals are confined within their own bounds; and that after they have come to their full growth, they are continued and pre served by nourishment, but put forth nothing new except hair and nails, which are regarded as excretions; so that of necessity the juices of animals must soon grow old; whereas in trees, which from time to time. put out new branches, new shoots, new leaves, and new fruits, it happens that these parts are always fresh, and untouched by age. But since everything fresh and young draws in nourishment with more strength and vigour than that which has commenced to fade, it happens withal that the trunk, through which the sap passes to the boughs, is itself moistened and refreshed in the passage by a richer and more abundant aliment. And this is further shown (though it was not observed by Aristotle, who likewise has not so clearly expressed that which I have just mentioned,) by this; that in hedges, copses, and pollards, the cutting off of the branches or suckers strengthens the stem or trunk and makes it longer-lived. DESICCATION; THE PREVENTION OF DESICCATION; AND THE INTENERATION OF THAT WHICH HAS BEEN DRIED. With reference to the 2nd Article of In The History. 1. Fire and intense heat dry some things, but melt others. "In one and the same quiry. fire, clay grows hard and wax melts." 2 Heat dries the earth, stones, wood, cloth, skins, and all bodies that cannot be melted. It melts metals, wax, gums, butter, tallow, and the like. 2. But if the fire be very strong it will in the end 1 Aristot. De Long. et Brevit. Vitæ, c. 6. 2 Virgil, Eclog. viii. 80.: "Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit Uno eodemque igne." dry up even the things which it has melted. For metals, with the exception of gold, having lost their volatile part in a strong fire, become lighter and more brittle; and oily and fat substances become burnt, scorched, dried up, and crusted. 3. Air, especially open air, manifestly dries, but never melts. Thus roads and the soil when moistened by rain are dried; washed linen exposed to the air is dried; herbs, leaves, and flowers are dried in the shade. But the air acts much quicker either when brightened by the sun's rays (if only it does not produce putrefaction), or when stirred by a gale of wind, and in thorough draughts. 4. Age dries most, but slowest of all things; as is the case in all bodies, which (if putrefaction does not intervene) become dry with age. Not however that age is anything of itself (seeing it is only a measure of time), but the effect is produced by the innate spirit of the body, which sucks out the moisture of the body, and flies out with it; and by the external air, which multiplies itself upon the innate spirits and juices of the body, and preys upon them. 5. Cold has of all things the greatest property of drying; for dryness cannot take place without contraction, and this is the peculiar work of cold. But since men have a very powerful heat in fire, but a very feeble degree of cold (for there is nothing besides that of winter, or perhaps ice and snow, or nitre); the desiccations of cold are weak and easily dissolved. Yet still we see that the surface of the earth is more dried by frost and March winds than by the sun; for the same wind that sucks up the moisture strikes the ground with cold. 6. Smoke from the fire has a drying power, as is shown in bacon and ox-tongues hung up in chimnies. And so fumigations of olibanum, lign aloes, and the like, dry the brain and cure catarrhs. 7. Salt, by a somewhat longer process, dries not only the outside but the inside also; as in salt flesh or fish, which by a long salting are manifestly hardened within. 8. Hot gums applied to the skin dry and wrinkle it; as likewise do some astringent waters. 9. Strong spirit of wine dries as well as fire; so as to blanch the white of an egg put into it, and to toast bread. 10. Powders dry, like sponges, by sucking up the moisture; as is seen in the powder thrown on ink after writing. The polished surface likewise and closeness of the body (which does not permit the vapour of moisture to enter through the pores) accidentally dries it by exposure to the air; as is seen in precious stones, looking-glasses, and sword-blades, which, if you breathe upon them, appear at first covered with a vapour, though it soon disperses like a little cloud. And so much for desiccation. 11. In the eastern parts of Germany, at the present day, they make use of cellars as granaries to keep wheat and other grain. A covering of straw of some depth is laid on the floor below and round the grain, to keep off and absorb the moisture of the cellar; by which means the grain is preserved for twenty or thirty years, not only from rotting, but (what pertains more to the present inquiry) in such a state of freshness as to make excellent bread. The same custom is |