judges that sat upon the jail, and numbers of those that attended the business or were present, sickened upon it, and died. Therefore it were good wisdom, that in such cases the jail were aired before they be brought forth.1

915. Out of question, if such foul smells be made by art and by the hand, they consist chiefly of man's flesh or sweat putrefied; for they are not those stinks which the nostrils straight abhor and expel, that are most pernicious; but such airs as have some similitude with man's body; and so insinuate themselves, and betray the spirits. There may be great danger in using such compositions, in great meetings of people within houses; as in churches, at arraignments, at plays and solemnities, and the like: for poisoning of air is no less dangerous than poisoning of water, which hath been used by the Turks in the wars, and was used by Emmanuel Comnenus towards the Christians, when they passed through his country to the Holy Land. And these empoisonments of air are the more dangerous in meetings of people, because the much breath of people doth further the reception of the infection; and therefore, where any such thing is feared, it were good those public places were perfumed, before the assemblies.

916. The empoisonment of particular persons by odours, hath been reported to be in perfumed gloves, or the like and it is like they mingle the poison that

1 A memorable instance of what Bacon here mentions took place in 1750, in consequence of a neglected state of Newgate.

2 I have not been able to find any authority for this statement. All the original historians of the second Crusade speak of the treachery of Comnenus, but no one charges him with having poisoned the wells. Nicetas affirms that in order to poison the Crusaders, lime was put into the flour with which they were supplied. He does not, however, assert that this was done by the emperor's direction.

is deadly, with some smells that are sweet, which also maketh it the sooner received. Plagues also have been raised by anointings of the chinks of doors, and the like;1 not so much by the touch, as for that it is common for men, when they find any thing wet upon their fingers, to put them to their nose; which men therefore should take heed how they do. these compositions of infectious airs without danger of death to them that make them. But then again, they may have some antidotes to save themselves; so that men ought not to be secure of it.

The best is, that cannot be made

917. There have been in divers countries great plagues, by the putrefaction of great swarms of grasshoppers and locusts, when they have been dead and cast upon heaps.

918. It happeneth oft in mines, that there are damps which kill, either by suffocation, or by the poisonous nature of the mineral: and those that deal much in refining, or other works about metals and minerals, have their brains hurt and stupefied by the metalline vapours. Amongst which it is noted that the spirits of quicksilver either fly to the skull, teeth, or bones; insomuch as gilders use to have a piece of gold in their mouth, to draw the spirits of quicksilver; which gold afterwards they find to be whitened. There are also certain lakes and pits, such as that of Avernus,

1 See on this subject Manzoni's Storia della Colonna infame. In 1630 many persons at Milan were tortured and put to death in consequence of a popular belief that the plague, which raged in that year, had been raised in the manner mentioned in the text. For an earlier instance of the same belief, see Wierus De Præstigis Dæmonum. It seems to be of recent origin, as, although the Jews were charged with producing the great plague of the fourteenth century, I have not met with any mention of their having been supposed to do so by poisonous anointings.

that poison birds (as is said) which fly over them or men that stay too long about them.

919. The vapour of charcoal, or sea-coal, in a close room, hath killed many; and it is the more dangerous, because it cometh without any ill smell, but stealeth on by little and little, inducing only a faintness, without any manifest strangling. When the Dutchmen wintered at Nova Zembla, and that they could gather no more sticks, they fell to make fire of some seacoal they had, wherewith (at first) they were much refreshed; but a little after they had sat1 about the fire, there grew a general silence and lothness to speak amongst them; and immediately after, one of the weakest of the company fell down in a swoon; whereupon they doubting what it was, opened their door to let in air, and so saved themselves. The effect (no doubt) is wrought by the inspissation of the air; and so of the breath and spirits. The like ensueth in rooms newly plastered, if a fire be made in them; whereof no less man than the Emperor Jovinianus died.2

920. Vide the experiment 803., touching the infectious nature of the air, upon the first showers after long drought.

921. It hath come to pass that some apothecaries, upon stamping of coloquintida, have been put into a great scouring by the vapour only.

922. It hath been a practice to burn a pepper they

2 Ammianus Marcellinus mentions three causes which had been assigned for the death of Jovianus, whom Bacon calls Jovinianus, -one being a tumour in the head arising from exposure to a large fire. It does not seem therefore that he was suffocated. (Ammianus Marcel. xxv. sub fin.) I may remark that there appears to be no good foundation for the common anecdote that Philip the Third of Spain died from a similar cause.

call Ginny-pepper;1 which hath such a strong spirit, that it provoketh a continual sneezing in those that are in the room.

923. It is an ancient tradition that blear-eyes infect sound eyes; and that a menstruous woman looking upon a glass, doth rust it: nay, they have an opinion which seemeth fabulous; that menstruous women going over a field or garden, do corn and herbs good by killing the worms.3

924. The tradition is no less ancient, that the basilisk killeth by aspect; and that the wolf, if he see a man first, by aspect striketh a man hoarse.1

925. Perfumes convenient do dry and strengthen the brain, and stay rheums and defluxions; as we find in fume of rosemary dried, and lignum aloës, and calamus, taken at the mouth and nostrils: and no doubt there be other perfumes that do moisten and refresh, and are fit to be used in burning agues, consumptions, and too much wakefulness: such as are rosewater, vinegar, lemon-pills, violets, the leaves of vines sprinkled with a little rose-water, &c.

926. They do use in sudden faintings and swoonings to put a handkerchief with rose-water, or a little vinegar, to the nose; which gathereth together again the spirits, which are upon point to resolve and fall away.

927. Tobacco comforteth the spirits, and dischargeth weariness; which it worketh partly by opening; but chiefly by the opiate virtue, which condenseth the spirits. It were good therefore to try the taking of fumes by pipes (as they do in tobacco) of other things; as

1 Guiana pepper, i. e. red pepper? Guinea pigs ought, it is said, to be called Guiana pigs They are natives, not of Africa, but of America.

2 Arist. Prob. vii. 4., and De Insomniis, 2.

8 Pliny, xxviii. 23

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4 Ib. viii. 33. and 34.

well to dry and comfort, as for other intentions. I wish trial be made of the drying fume of rosemary, and lignum aloës, before-mentioned, in pipe; and so of nutmeg, and folium indum, &c.

928. The following of the plough hath been approved for refreshing the spirits and procuring appetite; but to do it in the ploughing for wheat or rye, is not so good; because the earth hath spent her sweet breath in vegetables put forth in summer. It is better therefore to do it when you sow barley. But because ploughing is tied to seasons, it is best to take the air of the earth new turned up, by digging with the spade, or standing by him that diggeth. Gentlewomen may do * themselves much good by kneeling upon a cushion and weeding. And these things you may practise in the best seasons; which is ever the early spring, before the earth putteth forth the vegetables; and in the sweetest earth you can choose. It would be done also when the dew is a little off the ground, lest the vapour be too moist. I knew a great man that lived long, who had a clean clod of earth brought to him every morning as he sate in his bed: and he would hold his head over it a good pretty while. I commend also, sometimes, in digging of new earth, to pour in some Malmsey or Greek 2 wine; that the vapour of the earth and wine together may comfort the spirits the more; provided always it be not taken for a heathen sacrifice, or libation to the earth.

1 It is difficult to say to what the good effect, if it exists, is to be ascribed; as the air contained in the interstices of vegetable mould contains much more than the usual proportion of carbonic acid gas, and a smaller proportion of oxygen.

2 The name Malmsey has been given to wine grown in various places, but the original Malmsey came from Malvisia in the Morea. Malmsey is of course a corruption from Malvisia.