In almost equal measure to his Stoic sobriety, a strong vein of humour courses throughout Sir T.B.'s writings. If humour is the best medicine, then reading the wit of the worthy physician can be a real tonic.
I must find and perhaps reproduce, an unpublished M.A thesis by O' Geary of Trinity College Dublin, 1955, which argues that in fact cheerfulness and humour are dominant components of Browne's psychological make-up. Anyway, here's a few examples, several from Pseudodoxia Epidemica , a work which contains some of the best examples which immediately spring to mind. More to be added. Included also is the hilarious 'To an illustrious friend on his wearisome Chatter'. Browne's longest, sustained piece of humour.
I can look a whole day upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an Horse. R.M. Part 2:
The relation of Averroes and now common in every mouth, of the woman that conceived in a bath, by attracting the sperm or seminall effluxion of a man admitted to bath in some vicinity unto her, I have scarce faith to believe; and had I been of the jury, should have hardly thought I had found the father in the person that stood beside her. P.E. Bk 7: 16
The first shall be of the Elephant; whereof there generally passeth an opinion it hath no joints; and this absurdity is seconded to another, that being unable to lie down, it sleepeth against a tree; which the Hunters observing do saw almost asunder; whereon the beast relying, by the fall of the tree falls also down it self, and is able to rise no more. P.E. Bk. 3: 1
Some commendably affected Plantations of venomous vegetables, some confined their delights unto single plants, and Cato seemed to dote upon Cabbage. (Dedicatory Epistle, The Garden of Cyrus)
The Egyptian Mummies that I have seen, have had their Mouths open, and somewhat gaping, which affordeth a good opportunity to view and observe their Teeth, wherein 'tis not easy to find any wanting or decayed: and therefore in Egypt, where one Man practised but one Operation, or the Diseases but of single Parts, it must needs be a barren Profession to confine unto that of drawing of Teeth, and little better than to have been Tooth-Drawer unto King Pyrrhus, who had but two in his Head. - Letter to a Friend
If Cardan saith that a Parrot is a beautiful Bird, Scaliger will set his Wits o' work to prove it a deformed Animal. - Christian Morals Part 2 : 3
A work of this nature is not to be performed upon one leg. P. E. Intro
I wish we knew more clearly the aids of the ancients, their sauces, flavours, digestives, tasties, slices, cold meats, and all kinds of pickles. Yet I do not know whether they would have surpassed salted sturgeons’ eggs, anchovy sauce, or our royal pickles.
Of white powder and such as is discharged without report, there is no small noise in the World: P.E. Bk 2 chapter 5
The first shall be of the Elephant; whereof there generally passeth an opinion it hath no joints; and this absurdity is seconded to another, that being unable to lie down, it sleepeth against a tree; which the Hunters observing do saw almost asunder; whereon the beast relying, by the fall of the tree falls also down it self, and is able to rise no more. P.E. Bk. 3: 1
Some commendably affected Plantations of venomous vegetables, some confined their delights unto single plants, and Cato seemed to dote upon Cabbage. (Dedicatory Epistle, The Garden of Cyrus)
The Egyptian Mummies that I have seen, have had their Mouths open, and somewhat gaping, which affordeth a good opportunity to view and observe their Teeth, wherein 'tis not easy to find any wanting or decayed: and therefore in Egypt, where one Man practised but one Operation, or the Diseases but of single Parts, it must needs be a barren Profession to confine unto that of drawing of Teeth, and little better than to have been Tooth-Drawer unto King Pyrrhus, who had but two in his Head. - Letter to a Friend
If Cardan saith that a Parrot is a beautiful Bird, Scaliger will set his Wits o' work to prove it a deformed Animal. - Christian Morals Part 2 : 3
A work of this nature is not to be performed upon one leg. P. E. Intro
I wish we knew more clearly the aids of the ancients, their sauces, flavours, digestives, tasties, slices, cold meats, and all kinds of pickles. Yet I do not know whether they would have surpassed salted sturgeons’ eggs, anchovy sauce, or our royal pickles.
Of white powder and such as is discharged without report, there is no small noise in the World: P.E. Bk 2 chapter 5
Upon my first Visit I was bold to tell them who had not let fall all hopes of his Recovery, That in my sad Opinion he was not like to behold a Grasshopper, much less to pluck another Fig; -Letter to a Friend.
To an illustrious friend on his wearisome chatterer
A ventriloquist stretches me to the fifth hole and tortures me on the cruellest rack; yours is a parasite, a busy-body of the Sacred Way, who wearies me with his stories, trifles and unceasing word-nonsense when I am looking for quiet, does not spare me when I am going to bed, hands me over half-asleep to the torturer.
I bring the day to its close with a murderous weariness of words, I lie sleepless at night, my wakeful nose snores in vain. The moon will die before that lunatic is silent; unless Mercury soothes him down with his wand or turns him into a fish, it is hopeless to think of sleep.
It is useless for you to spread your table, vain to invite your guests; where that pea and nut merchant dines, the cross-river walker or anyone from the bridge will refuse. Even those who cultivate the long shadow are less afraid of a shade from the dead than of your shadower. Starving men would rather dine at home than face his inanities and even those who lick the salt at home will flee unfed, except the chairman pounce on him when he fools at the feast.
Like a novice on the stage of affairs he offers commonplaces as novelties. In all this chatter he mixes earth and sky, marries Tiber to Araxis, Tagus to Liger. So as to seize control of the talk he rejoices in comets, floods, earthquakes, cheerfully looks out for omens, prodigies, marvels which other men pray to avoid. And if he is short of these he pours forth out of the way tales and astrologers’ nonsense. Or butts in out of turn with what happened in his childhood or his last night’s dream and, babbling pot-bearer and rumour-monger, puts his hearers in a fever. What could be said all at once is wrapped in a large packet, he can never talk briefly unless I prod him in the side. I ask him the time of day and if he stops talking in half an hour I think it laconic; if I ask him how old he is, I am told his life-history, and there he makes a long trail to arrive at trivialities, and finally he lets me go at sunset, riddled with weariness, like a frog in the desert. Reticence and philosophical reserve he considers the dumbness of a madman and an invalid’s whim. He would have Harpocrates hanged, chatters in church and, a Siren in himself, sings even to the deaf. You must hit him with your stick if you want him to stop, it is the only argument he admits.
That raucous fellow, that wandering Homer who recites to me without a pause, needs an elocution master. I wish his voice were black, dark, Neronian, so that I may either escape the epic of Ulysses or yield to a milder fate.
That chafferer and chatterer does not know that he makes more noise than the sea-shore rattling its pebbles, while he holds me with his talkativeness, nor what tragedies his comic face enacts while he murders with his grin. With his stale words as he flows on in talk he holds over you a shining ivy-wreath of agreeability like a kind of friendly yoke. Now countrified and uncouth, with his tasteless blanket of words, with his village jokes from beyond the pale, the little wretch, who ought to be sent to the gladiators, stirs my bile and stomach and soaks me in a veritable English sweat.
It is not me alone that he crucifies. That fool talker, that A 1 blatherer, empties the theatre. When he crows every wind-player slips away at once: the flutes, the pipers, the keeners, the singers to the waxing moon, betake themselves to flight.
Yet that Ardelio rages with his pen as well as his tongue, equally loquacious and scribacious. There is no pleasure for me in reading, still less in studying his rubbish, so while I skim it, I feel at my last gasp and have to pause frequently. For besides all that he enjoys writing on the face of the sheet he punishes me with what he has written overleaf and on the back. Not satisfied with the folds in the paper, he fills up the margin, ploughs his field both ways and uses the blank space too. And he never uses complete words but writes in abbreviations. From all this weariness I can only get off by fire and sword; and so escape the tyranny of his notebooks and a Cassian’s martyrdom.
He wears out your best friends not only by pestering them with nonsensical and vexatious letters but by the fear of his papers piling up with a final flourish (which the talkative love to happen). But I would rather gather his bones than his writings, which are drunk with hellebore, not divinely inspired; I should never display them in peragamen splendour; I should either put them down the drain or send them round the barber’s shops or to the worthless crowd that follows Pompey or Agenor’s girl.
They listen too late, poor wretches, who lend their ears to this spinner, for no one who tries to say a word, let alone put an end to his talk, can spend enough words to upset him, no one is fluent enough to stop his impudence or leave him speechless. When poor friends visit him he batters them miserably at both ears. He has no shame in wearing out with talk the people he meets in the street and only lets them go at dusk broken-backed and leg-weary. That black, that wrinkled Ardelio talks not merely broken glass but poison, while (what is common in mouthers) he is a vile whisperer and insinuator, spreads abuse on every side, creates disputes, opens up secrets and with mutterings like this spoils friends and time. He should envy the purblind, for he looks so sharply at his friends’ peccadilloes that he overlooks his own follies; and without troubling himself ruins others.
If there is room for Pythagorean theory, I believe this fellow was a cuckoo and has become a man without putting his voice into human dress. Now he ought to change, under heaven’s ban, into a cricket, and twittering in the lanes crack the branches rather than men’s ears. Perhaps he is one of those who cry out in the mother’s womb before birth, who talk in their sleep, roar when in pain, whom no gorgon silences. He would be a much abler watchman for the Capitol than all the geese. When he is there, no one can doze on guard, still less in their tents. If I had my way he would be sent to Sparta not to Anticycra, to change his talkativeness to silence, or be whipped before the altars till he learns silence the hard way.
Swinging my arms and with my longest stride I fly him in vain; you could hardly get away from him in a race. Anyone whom flight could encourage must be an Achilles for speed or born under the Dolphin. But seizing my hand more fiercely than the gout with Vulcan-like bonds he prevents my fleeing, and while I breathlessly attempt it, while I search my pockets to buy myself off, I make a fool of myself and a show for the bystanders.
So, wholly upset, I long for the deserts of Scythia, I envy those happy dwellers near the falls of the Nile, and think the deaf in heaven. In my misery I seek cover, I escape into darkness, but it is easier to avoid the sunlight than this dark-face. Unless some goddess out of Homer carries me off in a cloud, I hasten to the majority.
On the verge of despair, crushed, broken-winded, with no incense to offer I call wildly on the Deliverer, I pray in vain to heaven for deliverance and safety; what Innocentia or Aurea Mica will set me free? I am more exposed to bears, tigers, elephants than a gladiator, I am down on the show-ground- for I find all these perils in this single busy-body.
But enough of these chestnuts. Send this bore away, or slip out of the back door. Fly swiftly to Norwich, where fair and learned minds await you. Eat up the road, then, if you are sensible. Farewell.
Source British Museum MS 1827
A Latin translation from the Collected Works of Sir Thomas Browne, vol. 4 ed. Simon Wilkins Fletcher and Sons 1835-6 Norwich
An Alphabeticall Table
The source of the following Alphabetical Table is from my very own edition of Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica: or, Enquiries into Very many Received Tenents, and commonly Presumed Truths. I bought it via an ebay auction in March 2006 from Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. The first edition was published in 1646, the second in 1650, the third and fourth editions in 1658, the fifth in 1659 and the sixth and final edition in 1672. My edition is the fourth edition of 1658 . It has Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus appended.
Browne's encyclopaedia includes a so-called An Alphabetical Table which in all probability was compiled by him. Never previously published in any edition of Browne's works it is thus available online for the first time. A quick scroll of the topics listed soon show the breadth and depth of Browne's curiousity, knowledge and scientific investigations, and indicates the wide spectrum of subjects covered . The Index lists Browne's main sources under authors commended, his many experiments as well as the astronomical, historical, biblical and zoological queries which preoccupied him. Queries range from the cosmological , such as - 'Cosmographers, why they divide their Globe into East and West', to the theological - 'whether our B. Saviour ever laughed', to the aesthetic - 'Beauty- Determined chiefly by opinion, or the several apprehensions of people', to the medical - 'Drunkenness, or to be drunk once a moneth, whether it be healthfull', to the revealing esoteric entry, - Philosophers Stone, not improbable to be procured' . However an entry such as, 'Abilities, (scientifical especially,) ought to be improved' and- 'Candle, one discharged out of a Musket through an inch board', are indicative of the empirical nature of Browne's essentially Baconian quest.
Abel, his Epitaph, and age at death.424
Abilities, (scientifically especially,) ought to be improved. 20
Abraham. 328,406
Absolo, how hanged. 441
Abstinence from meat how (possibly) prolonged by some animals. 201
Abundance of flyes, maggots, what they signifie. 113
Accubation, the ancient gesture at meals. 293,294
Achitphel how he might dies. 441
Adam. 2,3,169,184,242,292,334,273
Adams Navel 292
How elder then Methusalah 224
Adrian the Emperour 28
Aegypt, how primitively it became firm land. 335
How called anciently 376
Subject to rain. 392
Aegyptians 335
Their antiquity. 336
Aegyptian Pollinctors, or annointers of the dead, their prodigous carnality. 446
Aelian, his Character, 22,33
Aequator. 354
Aequinoxes their Anticipation. 270
Aequvocation. 14
Aschylus his death. 463
Aetna’s, or fiery hills. 391
Age of our B. Saviour. 342
Age of the world. 332
Agriculture. 349,350
Advent of Christ. 342
Air. 199
Albertus Magnus his Character. 35
Aldrovandus, his diligence commended. 258
Alexander. 307
Allegorical precepts of Pythagoras. 14
Almonds not good against drunkeness. 113
Alphonsus Duke of Ferrara, his power. 99
Alvarez a Jesuit. 102
Amber how engenderd. 91
Ambodexters. 239,242
America, 70
Amphibologie. 14
Amphisbana? 177
Amulets. 95
Amulets against Agues. 330
Analogie, or correspondence betwixt the globes coelestial and terrestial. 350
Anchovy. 143
Andes, a hill in Peru. 390
Animals the transmutation of their Sex and Species. 183
Anibal, his eating through the Alps with vinegar. 462
Antaci, who they be. 84
Antropomorphites, what they were 324
Antidotes. 460
Commonly had from Animals nourished by posionous aliments. Ibid
Antimony. 249
Antipathies 220
Antipodes. 26,381
Antiquity. 21
- Primitively how fabulous. 23
Antonius Mizaldus 36
Anus, Etymologically what 305
Ape, of exquisite taste. 449
Apis, the Aegyptian Idol 402
Apetite sensual 9
Apuleius. 23
Aqua forte 412
Aqudeucts, why commonly adorned with Lyons heads 325
Arabian learning what 455
Arcadians, their antiquity. 336
- In what sense elder then the moon. Ibid.
Archimedes his burning glasses, 463
- His removing the earth. 464
Arepagus what. 42
Argus. 192
Aristotles errors 15,22.
His arguing for the eternity of the world. 334
Never disputed the ebbing and flowing of the Sea. 445
His maxim touching felicity. 311
Aristotle, a Proselyte of Moses Law. 44
His death. Ibid.
Where he dies. Ibid.
Art. 409
Ashes what proportion of water they will contain. 96
Why they are white. 409
Ascendent in the Astrologicall Scheme, what. 383
Asp the Serpent. 305
Asphaltides, or the lake of Sodom. 451
Why bodies sink not easily therein. Ibid.
Ass, the Animal of that kind. 409
Astomi or Plinies men without mouths 198
Astrologers. 12,270
Astrologie. 283
Atheism rejected. 40
Whether any Atheist. Ibid.
Athenaeus his Character. 22,34
Athenians. 334
Attraction Electrical 86,87,88,89
Attraction magnetical. 73
Aurum potabile 201
Authority, 27,28,29
Azores,or Islands of S.Michael 386
Babel tower, why attempted to be built. 429
Babylon, where situated. 397
Badger, the Animal 147
Baptista Porta, his Character 36
Barley 183
Baronius 439
Basil, the herb: whether it propagates Scorpions. 116
Basils Hexameron 35
Basilisk the Serpent 150-153
Bayes, whether good against thunder 112
Bear, the Animal 148,149
Beasts clean and unclean 210
Beauty, what it is 407,408
Determined chiefly by opinion, or the several apprehensions of people. Ibid.
Bees. 221
Beeves of England, A Million of them killed yearly. 372
Beginning of the world 334,345
Belisarius his glories, and supposed misfortunes at last. 457
His hard usage of Pope Sylerrius 458
Bellonius, his diligence commended. 11
Belomancy,or divination by Arrows 330
Belus 16,429
Belus and Nimrod, Gen.10. the same person. 376
Bemata, anciently what they were. 307
Bersus 369
Bernacles, or the Goose-trees. 227
Bever the Animal. 144,145, 146,
Bezoar, commonly so esteemed. 205
Bible corrupted by the Jews. 337
Depravations in the original text. 339
Hebrew and Greek copies discordant ibid. 340
Birth. 149.
Birth of the eighth moneth. 270
Admirable Births. 423
Bittor. 218
Blackness, the causes therof probably. 410,411,412
Blindness. 187 188
Boats portable 77
Bochartus his Geographia Sacra, commended 378
Bodies incombustible 175
Bodies drowned why they float after a time. 246
Heavy bodies, in what quantity of liquor commonly they swim. 451
Boetius de Boot commended 77
Bos in lingua. 155,156
Boramez, a Plant animal, or the lamb of Tartary. 227
Brain of man. 233
Briareus. 24
Brimstone. 97
Brittains, their simplicity of old. 386
Brutes some of them were organized for speech. 139
Brutus and Cassius. 47
Cabala of the Stars. 416,427
Cabeus. 71,88
Cain whether he intended to kill Abel 3,371,425
Cairo. 390
Cambden his description of great Britain. 445
Camelion. 193,194,195
Camel. 156,404
Camp of the Israelites. 385
Camhries operation. 115,410
Canaan the son, why cursed for the fact of Cham his father, Gen, 9. 405
Canaries or the fortunate Islands. 386
Candle, one discharged out of a Musket through an inch board. 466
Candlemas day. 351
Candles burning blue. 328
Canibals. 404
Carbuncle whether it shine in the dark. 103
Cardans character. 36
Causes of common errours
1. Weaknesse of human nature 8
2.Erroneous disposition in man. 9
3. Misapprehension. Ibid.
4. Painters. 39
Centaures 13
Cham the son of Noah, he and Jupiter the same person. 429
Cham’s progenie how extended. 405,406
Chaldeans, their Records how antient. 336
By what years they compute the antiquity of their letters. 370
Charcaol how ‘tis made black. 410
Charon the ferry-man of hell, who he was 24
Cheek-burning. 321
Chiromancy or divination by inspection of the hand. 327,328
Cherry-stones. 201
Black-cherries. 413
China dishes of what matter. 102
Their supposed vertue against poysons. 459
Chicken. 225
Choler. 140
Cholerick men shorter liv’d. 269
Christian religion. 10
Christian Chronology how uncertain. 337
Chus, his issue how dispersed. 406
Cinnamon what it is how made. 109
Clemens Alexandrinus. 23
Cleopatra dying. 305
Climactertical year. 260
The opinion thereof whence (probably) promoted. 280
Climates. 348
Clocks no ancient invention. 315
Clouds, how far from the earth. 98
Clove what they be. 109
Cockatrice. 150,151
Cocks-egg. 153
Coition. 185,186
Colours. 152, 413
The principles of colour. 397
Colours whether essential to beauty. 407
Columbus. 70
Comets. 417
Conception, 186,255.
Conception in a Bath. 452
Congelation or freezing. 54,58
Conies, their numerous multiplication. 156
Constantinople. 374
Copperose, what it is. 411
Coral whether soft under water: 101
How of a plant it becomes a stone . Ibid.
Why worn about Chilldrens necks. 329
Cosmographers, why they divide their Globe into East and West. 386
Costiveness. 140
Countreys, their peculiar rarities, whence proceeding. 383
Creature, generally all of them meat for some people. 212
Their dependence upon God. 292
Creatures presaging Weather. 161
Creatures subterraneous. 60
Credulity, what. 17
Cresses 183
Critical day, what it is. 264
Crystal not ice. 53
Not snow congealed. Ibid.
What it is. 59
Severall differences. 56
Commonly six cornered. 58
Chrocodile, not proper only to Nilus. 391
Why reported to have no period of growth, 452
Crocus Martis. 71
Crows, in some places white. 399
Ctesias Cnidius, his Character 31
Cucumbers whether obnoxious, 117
Cure of the Prussian knife. 81
Cures Supersticious or Magical. 48
Q. Curtius 137
Customes supersticious &c. 320,321
Customes laudably begun, not alwaies necessarily followed. 455
Cuttlefish.413
Daedulus and Icarus 24
Dagon the Idol, of what figure or shape. 316
Daniels seventy weeks. 342
David, what his sin was in numbering the people. 440
David George. 11
Day natural what. 353
Daies of the week, how anciently named from the Planets. 330
Daies of the year, how they increase and decrease. 350
Daies anciently held to be ominous or unfortunate. 352
Declination of the Sun. 350,351
Deer. 156,157
Deformities specifical not to be granted. 217
Delos the Isle, why said to be in the midst of the earth. 350
Deluge, whether universal. 369
Mentioned by heathen Authors. Ibid.
At what age of the world it was. 364,365
The Deity. 40
Demosthenes, why said to be the son of a Black-smith. 456
Denarius, or the penny of the Gospel, what 298
Devils illusion.
1. that there is no god 41
2. that there are many. Ibid
3. that himself is god. 42
4.that he is left then angels or men. 44
5.that he is nothing at all. Ibid.
6. by Dreams, stars and meteors. 42
7.by augures 47
8. by Philters, /ligaments and charms. 48
Devil painted white, by whom 407
Dextral activity, whence it is. 239
Diamond whether broken in goats blood. 91
Didrachmum, what 441
Differences of hours. 84
Diodorus Siculus 370
Diogenes Cynicus. 268
Diogenes his Tub. 318
Diomedes his horses 24
Dionysus Heracleoticus. 268
Dionisius Petavius. 337
Dioscordes, his Character. 32
Diseases determined by seasons. 280
Diseases Chronical and acute. 282
Dissolution of bodies concrete. 55
Dogs, how they single out their masters in the dark. 253
The variety of their shape and colours. 404
Dog-star 274,275,276,280,401
Dog-days 273.
Why so hot. 279
Dolphins. 287
Dooms-day. 345
Dove. 141,142,143,
Drachma what. 440
Dragon, how destroyed by Daniel. 3
Dreams. 42,43
Drowning 246,247
Drunkeness statary, or to be tipled once a moneth, whether it be healthfull 326
How caused 113
Dyars their Art 413
Dyet of the Ancients 212
Of the Tartars ibid.
Ear tinglings. 321
Earthquakes , how they are caused 198
The Earth, how ‘tis a Magnetical body. 62
Earth habitable in all parts of it. 354
How peopled before the flood 369,370,371
Earths motion, one instance against it 463
East and West in nature 380,381
Gesticulations towards the East 384,385
Education 39
Effluxions coporeal 63
Eggs.226,246
Eggshell, why it must be broken, when the meat is out. 321
Electrical bodies, what 86
Differences in attracting. Ibid.
How performed 87
Elderberies whether poyson or not. 117
Elephant 135,136,137,156,307
Elephants, their docility. 138,138
Their age commonly. 372
Their trunk for what it serves them. 449
Elias the Rabbin 338
Elves-locks 323
Emblemes of a Guardian. 164
Of fecundity. 319
Of abortion. Ibid.
Of Deformity. Ibid.
Emblem of superstition. 321
Ephialites, or the night-mare.330
Epicurians. 42
Epicurius, his life and manners. 461
His doctrine of felicity. 462
Epiphanius. 15
Errors in 5 speches in scripture before the deluge. 6,7
13 Errors about Christ 45,46
Eternity. 293
Etymologies ridiculous 105
Eve. 1,2,291
Why she wondered not at the Serpent speaking 290,291
Eunuchs. 157
Euripus what it is. 447
Whether that of Eubea or Negroponte, ebbs and flows is pretended. 444
Fabbi of Rome their story, what may be thought of it. 463
Fables Poetical.explicated. 24
Fallacies in words and deeds. 13,14
Famianus Strada a Jesuit. 85
Fascination. 152
Fasting. 199
Faith, Theological what it is. 465
Fear. 155
Hydrophobia or Fear of water upon biting of a mad dog. 283
Figure of nan erect, what 229
What Seiante or sitting? Ibid.
Figures of things whence.
Fire Culinary, or of the kitchin. 199
Striking fire. Ibid.
Flesh not commonly eaten before the flood. 209
Flies. 221,224
Fluctus decumanus, or the tenth wave. 458
Food, possibly sufficient without eating flesh. 209
Forbidden fruit. 419
Formation in the matrix or womb. 149
Franciscus Sanctius. 29
Frogs. 171,172
Frier Bacon, the mysterie of his brazen head. 461
Fuligo, properly what. 409
Fumus what. 410
Galen. 10,28
Galens honest intentions in his discourses of poisons. 468
Galilaeus, his Systema mundi 447
Gall of beasts. 139
Ganges the river. 389
Genealogies, those in H.Scripture differently reckoned. 265
Generation. 157,168,452
Generation by gelded Animals. 241
Generation by the devil not probable. 452
Generations aequivoval, yet regular. 107
Genius, or the natural inclination of men, where especially to be regarded. 20
Geographers, not any compleat, or describing all the habitable parts of the earth 379
Geryon and Cerberus. 24
Gihon the river, Gen.2. how lost. 387
Dr. Gilbert commended. 70
Ginger what it is, and how made. 109
Girdle, its symbolical signification. 323
Brides-Girdle. 321
Glass. 55,92.
Glass what made of. 76
Venice glass not broken by poyson. Ibid.
Whether it be poyson. 92
Whether malleable. 93
Glow-worm 222,223
Goat. 156,319,327.
Goats blood. 91
Gold, whether a cordiall. 94
Its swimming in Quicksilver. 451
Gold potable. 170
Goropius Becanus. 204
Graecia Mendax. 23
Grasshopper. 288,289
Mr. Greaves, his description of the Pyramids. 393
Gregorian Account. 352
Griffins. 163,164
Gunpowder its ingredients. 97
Its Rarefaction in Gunns to what proportion. Ibid.
Gunpowder which makes no reports, whether possibl. 70,98
Gypsies, their original. 414
First known in Germany. Ibid.
Emissaries or Spies of the Grand Signior. 415
Hand, right and left 237,238
Hand-gout. 237
Hares, 182,183
- Hare and cabbage, Cato’s diet. 211
- The Indian Hare. 404
Heart of man, how placed. 231,232
Hebrew language. 528
Hector. 307
Dr. Heilins history of St. George. 313
Henry the Emperour, probably not poysoned in the Chalice. 467
Heraclitus his folly. 467
Hercules. 318
Heresies touching our B. Saviour. 45,46
Hermaphrodites. 169,185
Herod. 11
Herodotus Halicarnssaeus, his Character. 31
Hevelius, his Selenography or description of the Moon. 416
Hieroglyphicks, whose Invention. 38
- Hieroglyphicks of the Deity. 325
- Of Love. 421
- Of Fertility. 423
Authors Hieroglyphical. 38
Hippocrates 21,279
His Aphorisms. 380
Hollanders. 352
Homers death. 448
Horn, what it signifies Hieroglyphically. 301
Horizon rational and sensible. 354,355
Horse. 139
Horse kicked by a wolf. 319
Horses 280000 brought into field by Ninus,500000, by Semiramis. 372
Hugo Grotius commended. 28
Hum-bird in America, a bird little bigger then a beetle. 390
Hysop on the wall. 431
Ianus and Noah, by some taken for the same person. 377
Ice to be made at any time. 55
Idolatry, 11,12,13
Jepthah (Jud.11) killed not by his daughter. 309
Jeronymus Cardanus his Character. 36
Jews-ear. 116
Jews. 253
How dispersed 254
Some of their tribe quite lost. Ibid.
Uncertain in their Chronologie, or account of their times. 336
Why prescribed in their dyet. 211
Not generally of any ill favour. 253,254
Commonly of counsell to the Turks great Others, or Bvashas. Ibid.
Their Captivities. 341
Their Intercalary moneth. 349
Their sedulity to preserve their Bible entire. 339
Their Malignity against the Septuagint. 340
Wandering Jew, his story. 460
Imagination the power therof. 402
Imposters. 1
Improlification or Barrenness in Women one cause of it. 452
Ink how made. 411,412
Insects. 114,222,223
Intercalation of dayes. 272
Intoxication. 113
Johannes Tzerzes his Character. 35
Job, an Idumaen or of the race of Esau. 424
Sr. John Mandevil, his Character. 32
St. John Baptist, his dyet what 435
St. John the Evangelist, his death 437
Why natural, and not by martyrdom. 438
When he wrote his Revelation. Ibid.
How long he survived our B. Saviour. 439
Cast into a caldron of burning oyl. ibid.
Comming out untoucht. ibid.
His Reliques at Ephesus doing cures. ibid.
Jonah's gourd. 431
Josephus 369
Jovius, his Character. 32
Ireland. 409
Spiders observed in Ireland. 452
Iron, its verticity. 65,66,,202
Isaac,at what age he should have been sacrificed. 300
Ishmael. 424
Isidorus Hispalensis. 35
Islands, whether any before the flood. 379
Sundry Islands came to be stored with Animals. 404
Ithmum perfoder 394
Italy. 405
Judas whether he hang'd himself. 441
Judgements by urin. 11
Julia. 185
Julian account. 352
Julian the Apostate. 10
Julius Solinus his Character. 23,33
Ivy cup its property. 117
Sr. Kenelm Digby, commended 88,89
King of Serpents. 150
Kings of Collein. 434
Kings-fisher. 161
Kiranides, his Character. 30,35
Kircherus commended. 70,85
Knowledge intuitive, or that of Spirits. 50
Lamech. 7
Lamp. 197
Lampries. 189
Laughter, what kind of passion. 453
- The kinds of laughter. 454.
- Whether our B. Saviour never laughed. ibid.
Lead. 201
Leandro his description of Italy. 445
Learning and arts primitively from whence. 386
Leeches. 93
Levinus Lemnius 70,433
Licetus commended. 103
Lightning without Thunder why. 98
Limmon. 412
Line Ecliptick. 354
Liquation or melting. 57
Livia. 153
Livie's Ox. 464
Loadstone its verticity. 66,67
- not known to antiquity. 68
- its inclination. 67
- Declination and variation. 68
- causes of this variety. 69
- the change of this variety. ibid
- its attraction not hindered by garlick or a diamond. 74
- whether it attracts any thing but Iron. 76
- how to preserve it. ibid
- how destroyed. ibid.
- errors of attraction in Loadstones. 77
- whether it can suspend a body in the ayr. 80
Loadstone powder what operation. ibid.
whether it cures the gout. 81
Longevity of Animals, how collected. 156,157
Longomontanus 342
Lots wife,her transformation. 441
Lubim. 406
Lucian. 23
Lues venerea, wher it first began. 404
Lupus est in fabula. 155
Lybia, its driness 401
Mace, that is the skin of a nutmeg.109
Macrocephali, or people with long heads 403
Macroscelism or slender legs, how happen 308
Mahomet 10,11,16,18,38.
- Mahomets Camel 464
- Mahomets tomb hangs not in the ayr 79
- Mahomtans, partaking of all religion.384
Magi, or the Wise men (Mat.2.) what manner of Kings they might be. 434
Magnes carneus. 73
Magneticall, body what 62
Effects, how wrought 63
Rocks, whether Magneticall 79
Magnetisms pretended,83,84,85
Man, his growth and decrement, how proportioned 351
Whether Mans body be Magneticall 77
Mandrake, imposture about the root. 107
How produced.107
Whether it endangerth life to pull it up. Ibid
Magots turne into flyes.114
Manna. 432
Marcellus Empericus, a Plagiarie. 23
Marcus Leo the Jew. 338
St. Mark where he wrote his Gospel. 299
Marrow Spinal, what it is. 386
Mauritania and the coast of Africk, ny whom peopled at first. 378
Mears, peculiar to some Nations, through custom or supersticion. 211,212,213
Meazels.255
Medea 24
Meditation upon the Passion.438
Men, lighter before sleep, then after; dead then alive; in Summer then in Winter.248
Mercurialis, his Gymnastica commended 136, 293
The Meridian. 68
Nayles, how to be made red. 466
- Nayl-spots, whether significative 327
Nordus pisticus, Mar.14 or the ointment in the Gospel, of what composition. 431
Names ridiculously derived.105,116
Names cause of errors.61
Nations, generally now mixt by Commerce or Conquest.254
Nativites, why taken from the ascendent.383
Navill, what it is, and for what use 291
Navil of Birds, Snakes, of Poriwiggles,&c. 293
Nazarite, by birt, or by vow. 441
Neck of Animals, how contrived by Nature, and for what. 448
Negroes, their blackness 397,398,399
The particular causes thereof 402,403
Negroes in America, not Indigene, or Natives of that Countrey.399
Nerves, whence they spring.235
Nerves of taste. 448
Nicander, his Character.34
Nidor, properly what.409
Nierembergius a Jesuit, his conceit of man. 76
Niger, a river in Africa.389
Nigromancy in raysing spirits, souls &c. rejected.42
Nightingale, the tongue how fashioned.450
Why said to sit with its breast against a Thorn.228
Nilus, the river, its Ostiaries, or severall fallings into the sea. 387,388
What causeth its overflowing. 162,391
Some years it overflows not. 392
Ninus, and Assur mentioned , Gen.10 the same person 376
Noah’s Ark, wher it first rested.386
Noah, whether he knew the effect of wine, before he was overtaken. 326
Noah and Saturne , held to be the same person.429
Northern passsage to the Indies.69
Noses, the Moorish, the Persian, the Roman. 408
Numbers, their mysterious or supersticious consideration 260,261
Nutmeg.109
Nutrition, of what qualities the ailment must be.195
Oates 183
Object, why sometimes appearing double. 192
Observations superticious 321,322
Oestridge, how it eats Iron. 200
Olas Magus. 78,399
Olympiads, in what year of the world they began. 370
Ophir, what place. 71
Opium, its effect in venery.433
Oppan, his Character. 34
Opticks, a Maxime in them.353
Oracles .15
Their ceasing.422
The acknowledged cause thereof. Ibid
Oracle of Praneste, of Antium, of Delphos. 442
Oreglian, a river in America. 389
Orestes 10
Organs, in the intention of Nature infer the action proper for them.188,193
Organ of taste.448
Orgasmus, what 180
Oribasius, Physitian to Julian.116
A Plagarie , or Transcriber of Galen 23
Orpheus, his Harp.24
Osorius 137
Osyris, and Mizraim mentioned, Gen 10. the same person 377
Ovid, a plagaries of whom.23
Ovum decumanum, the reason of the proverb 458
Owl, an ominous bird. 320
Palmestrie 327
Palmes, on which side most commonly they happen.242
Panama, an Isthmus in America 394
Pancirollus 70
Paracelsus, his Character. 29
At what age he died.170
Pretending a possibility of making men immortal. Ibid
Parricide, its punishment. 178
Parysatis, her poysoned knife.459
Passages of meat and drink.249,250
Passover.349
Passion, Irascible, Concupiscible, whence they rise. 142
Pausanias, his description of Greece. 445
Peacock 217
Pedantism 25
Pedamontanus 36
Pelican 285,286
People of Rome.12
St. Peter crucified.438
Petrcius, what it signifieth.373
Phaenicians, their several plantations or Colonies.378
Whence descended 395
Phoenix, the bird. 165,166
Philes, his Character.35
Philosophers Stone, not improbable to be procured.170
Philoxenus his wish.448
His Incivility.449
Phlebotomies,or letting blood.236
Physick, better prepared now , then anciently 282
Picture, of our B. Saviour, with long hair 229
Pictures-
Of the four Evangelists 303
Of the Sibyls 304
Of Cleopatra 305
Of the nine Worthies 306
Of Jeptha 308
Of St. John Baptist 311
Of St. Christopher 312
Of St. George 313
Of Saint Hieronymus 314
Of Mermaids, Unicorns &c. 316
Pigmies, no such people 257,258
Pineda 71
Pismire 224
Pitch, why black, and Rosin not so.410
Plagarism, or transcribing of Authors 23
A list of Plagaries ibid.
Planets 330,331
Planets, or wandering stars, more then seven 262
Plants, whence probably, they receive their colours. 413
Whether all have seed 114
Plate, a river in America 389
Plato 184,268
His objection against the Pythagorean Metempsychosis 368
Pleiades, more then seven 262
Pleurisies 233
Pliny, his Character 33
Poets 39
Poisons 152
No poisons, but hath its Antidote in Nature 459
Poisonous Animals, why not found in some Countries 460
Poles Northern and Aouthern, what they be.381
Polytheism or muliplicity of Gods. 41
Pompey 16
Popes, why commonly they change their names at their creation 454
Pope Joan, a suspected storie 461
Story of Hildebrand, or Pope Gregory 7th partially reported ibid.
Popular imperfections taxed 8,9,19
Popular error, from difficulties to conclude impossiblities 451
Porwiggles 173
Positions of the body 176
Pox. 255
Prarcolus 15
Predictions Augurial &c. whence they came. 47
Presages, from Spiders, Magots, deceitfull 114
Perga Dio, or the praying Locust of province.230
Priests, why they washed their feet commonly before Sacrifice. 324
Prester John, or the Emperour of Ethiopia 404
Procopius, his Arcana historia, an invective against Justinian 457
Progression of Animals. 135
Proportion betwixt the face and neck.449
Providence of Nature.194
Ptolomy, where he was born.388
Pythagoras, his allegoricall precepts morallized 14
His precepts concerning Fish. 211
Quailes 228
Quince 412
Quinsay, a City in China 390
Rabbins 7,168,184
Radishes 183
Rahab, whether a harlot in the worst sense. 301
Rainbow, how produced.425
The Lunary Rainbow 426
Rainbow, how proper for the signification it beareth . ibid
Colours of the Rainbow 427
Rain water 198 Wheat 115
Raven, an ominous bird. 320
Ragmund Sebund, his Theologia naturalis commended.28
Reason 3,27
Red-sea, what, and why so called 395
Religion, not to be compelled. 46,56
Remora a fish 227
Revenge, how prodigiously acted by an Italian 467
Reward of vertue and vice 40
Ribs how many commonly in men and women 422
Ridiculous receipts in Physick.30
Rings 234
Rings, Bracelets, Jewels &c. how diversly worn 408
Gyges his Ring 464
Ring-finger 234
Rivers and estuaries, why subject to such violent flows 447
Rose of Jericho 112
Romes proper name unknown why 12
Under the Rose, the reason of the Proverb. 322
Sabbaton Deuteroproton, Luke. 6
What Sabbath it was 349
Salamander.174,175
Salmasius commended. 273
Salomon. 7
Salt. 257
- The falling of Salt. 221
Salt-peter, how made, its effects 97
Salts 397
Spirits of Salt. 54,413
Salt waters bearing more weight then fresh.451
Samaritans, their care to preserve the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses.337
Samaritan Chronology. Ibid.
Sammonicus 30
Sap of trees, how it nourisheth 115
Satan, his practises 6,15,40,41,42,43,49,290,443
How he fell 51
Saturnius Egypticus and Cham, Gen. 10 the same person 377
Savours unpleasant in some men, whence possibly arising. 253
Scaliger 239
Scepticism censured 18
Schoolmen, a query among them concernning the ressurection of women 185
H. Scripture. 37,46.
Translation of H. Scripture. 339
Scutcheons of the twelve Tribes. 302
Antiquity of bearing Scutcheons.304
Scythians. 335
Why commonly subject to the Sciatica or hip-gout.308
Seasons of the year, how made and distinguished.353
Necessary for the production of things.354
Sea, its ebbing and flowing.446
How possibly caused by the Moon. Ibid.
How unequal in some seas. 447
Sebastian Cabor. 69
Seed, an Idea of the whole Animal contained in every part of it. 423
Sem, whether the eldest son of Noah. 428
Semiramis, her army against the Indians. 379
Senag, a river. 399
Sense from the brain. 190
Septuagint translation of the Bible 339
Its primitive authority and credit. Ibid
Since impaired. Ibid.
Seraglio, the daily provision therof. 456
Serapis. 202
Serpent tempting Eve. 289,421
Serpents bicipitous. 177
Servius Commentary upon Virgil commended. 263
Sferra Cavallo, its pretended properties. 112
Shekel, that of the Sanctuary. 440
Sibyls. 304
Side, right and left in man. 240
Sight. 152
Silly-how, what it is. 325
Sin of the fruit, not first sin.2
Sitting coss-leg’d 322
Smal-coal, how made, of what use in Gun-powder. 97
Smoak.322
Smoak of Sulphur. 410
Snakes. 226
Snayls. 191,199
Sneezing.251
Customs observed upon Sneezing. 252
Snow. 58
Spaniards, their Nation how ancient. 377,378
Speech, not by any natural instinct, but by imitation or instruction. 335
Spermatical parts. 160
Spider 220
Spigelius commended. 172
Spirits, those in Animals, what manner of substance they be. 248
Sponge. 93
Stars, their Ascent Heliacal, and Cosmical, what they be. 276
Their Longitude what it is. 278
Their Declination, what. Ibid.
The seven Stars. 317
Fixed Stars. 417
Stater, Matth. 17. what piece of money it was 441
Statists. 12
Steel. 63,64
Stirrops, their use not ancient. 307
Stoicks. 42
Stomack 176
Stones fusible 55
Stone in the kidneys or blader, how bred. 90
Stones retaining light in darkness.103
Eagle Stone, of what vertue. Ibid.
Stork. 218
Stories suspected
Of Cocles, Sevola, of Curtius,
Of Archimedes his sphere
Of the Amazons
Upon the taking of Babylon
Of the Catadupae
Of Democritus and Heraclitus &c. 463,464
Stories indiscreetly transmitted, what mischief they do to posterity. 468
Suetonius. 136
Sugar. 96
Sun, its site and motion, how admirably accomodated by God, to the necessities and state of the inferior world, 353,354,355.
By what motion it makes the day, by what the year. Ibid
Its Veneticall motion, what.ibid
Its motion unequall, and how. 400
How seen sometimes after it is set. 416
Superfoetation what 185
Possible in women, unto a perfect birth. Ibid.
Supinity taxed. 17
Swallows 328
Swans 216, 217
Swimming, the faculty not to be lost by disuse. 245
Siracusia, or the Galleon of King Hiero 464
Tainct, an insect, whether so dangerous to cattell as ‘tis thought . 222
Taliacotius, his art 84, 160
Tamerlane how descended. 455
Whence said to be the son of a shepheard ibid.
Tarantula, what. 227
Temperancy, of the modern Jews 255
Temple at Ephesus how long in building. 464
Tenariffa, an hill of the Canaries. 390
Tertullian. 165
Thargum. 2
Thomas Fazelli, his description of Sicilie commended. 377
Throat, the passages therof. 250
Thunder, how caused. 98
The thorne at Glassenbury. 112
Time. 346
Time, what it is. 166
Anciently how measured. 315
The three great distinctions of time since the creation.
Adelon, Mythicon,Historicon, what they import. 369,370
Toads. 171,220
Torpedo. 223
Torrid Zone. 26
Tranparency of bodies, whence. 60
Triclinium, or the Table on which our B. Saviour instituted the Eucharist, reported to be at Rome. 297
Trinum Magicum. 36
Tropicks. 346,401
Truths in things, what 4
Tulips, never bearing a blew 398
Turnebus 71, 321
Turneps. 183
Tyger the Animall, nothing so swift as hath been though. 227
Tzertes,his Character 35
Variation of the compass, what it is . 68
The particular causes of the Variation. Ibid. 69,75
In some places none at all. 386
Ubiquity of God. 5
Venery 157
Verdigreese 412
Vespasian 50
Vegetables, their vertue impaired by the flood. 209
Vices epidemicall, or a general succession of them in all ages. 21
Vincentius Belluacensis, his Character. 35
Violl-string moved upon the touch of another. 466
Viper. 178, 306
Virgil, a Plagarie of whom. 23
Vision Beatifical 7
Vitriol 411, 412, 413
Umbrae at feasts, who they were. 294
Unguentum armarium 85
Unicorn 202,203
Unicorns-horn, that commonly us’d in England, what 264
Universities 20
Vossius 301
Urinal, its forcing a nail through a plank. 466
Vultures, whether all females , as hath been reported. 319
Water, and watry humidity only freezeth. 54
Weight. 247
Weight of men 248
Whelps 219
White-powder 99
Wine, how spoiled by Thunder. 113
Whether good to be drunke once a moneth. 326
Witches 45
Wolf, a disease 256
Wolf the Animal. 155
Wolves, why said to live in England 452
Women, changed into men. 183,184
Wormes 153,221
Wood, petrifying, or turning into stone. 54
Writing, the more ancient way. 319
Xenocrates Platonicus 268
Xerxes his Army, how probably said to drink up rivers. 462
Year Solary 271
Year Lunary ibid.
Year differently measured 271
How divided 346
Zenith, what. 68
Its certain distance from the Horizon. 355
Zeno his paradox. 18
Zodiack, the line of life. 351
Zone, the Torrid Zone whence conceived to be inhabitable 451, 452
