Sir Thomas Browne. Works.v 1a. Includ Life Corresp. Vulg Er. Ed, SWilkin. Lon. WP. 1894.gs

Contents To Yol. I

Preface. pack

• Dr. Johnson’s Life of Sir Thomas Browne. ix

Supplementary Memoir by the Editor. xxxvii

Chap. 4. Of bodies electrical.157

Chap. 5. Compendiously of sundry other common tenets concern¬ ing minerals and terreous bodies, which, examined, prove either false or dubious. That a diamond is softened or broken by the blood of a goat ; that glass is poison, and that it is malleable ; of the cordial quality of gold ; that a pot full of ashes will contain v as much water as it would without them ; of white powder that kills without report; that coral is soft under water, but harden eth in the air ; that porcelain lies under the earth an hundred years in preparation ; that a carbuncle gives a light in the dark ; of the eagle stone ; of fairy stones; with some others . . . .166

Chap. 6. Of sundry tenets concerning vegetables or plants, which, examined, prove either false or dubious. Of man¬ drakes ; that cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, are but / ' the parts or fruits of the same tree ; that miseltoe is ■ bred upon trees, from seeds which birds let fall thereon; of the rose of Jericho, that flowereth every year upon Christmas Eve; of Glastonbury thorn ; that Sferra Cavallo hath a power to break or loosen iron; that bays preserve from the mischief of lightning and thunder; that bitter almonds are preservatives against

ebriety.192

Chap. 7. Of some insects and the properties of several plants.

I Of the death-watch ; the presages drawn from oak- I apple insects; whether all plants have seeds ; whether the sap of trees runs to the ground in winter; of the effects of camphor ; with many others.210

The Third Book ; the 'particular part continued . Of popular and received tenets concerning animals .

Chap. l. v That an elephant hath no joints, &c.220

Chap. 2. That the horse hath no gall.232

Chap. 3. That a pigeon hath no gall.235

Chap. 4. That a beaver, to escape the hunter, bites off his testicles

or stones . ..240

Chap. 11. Of griffins.273 CONTENTS

PAGE

Chaj 12. Of the phoenix. 276

Chai 13. Of frogs, toads, aid toad-stone.284

i/ Chap, 14. That a salamander lives in the fire.291

Chap, 15. Of the amphisbaena.294

Chap. 16. That young vipers force their way through the bowels of

their dam.297

, Chap. 17. That hares are both male and female.305

.AChap. 18. That moles are blind.312

U Chap. 19. That lampreys have many eyes.316

Chap. 20. That snails have no eyes.318

' Chap. 21. That the chameleon lives only upon air ..321

- Chap. 22. That the ostrich digesteth iron.334

Chap. 23. Of the unicorn’s horn.337

Chap. 24. That all animals of the land are in their kind in the sea 344

Chap. 25. Concerning the common course of our diet, in making choice of some animals and abstaining from eating

others.346

Chap. 26. Of the sperma-jeti whale.353

Chap. 27. Compendiously, of the musical note of swans before their

^ death ; that the flesh of peacocks corrupteth not;

that they are ashamed of thsir legs : that storks will v only live in republicks and free states ; of the noise of a bittern by putting the bill in a reed ; that whelps are blind nine (lays ; of the antipathy between a toad and a spider, a lion and a cock ; that an earwig hath

no wings; of worms ; that flies make that humming -*

• noise by their mouths or wings ; of the tainct or small red spider ; of the glow-worm ; of the providence of pismires in biting off the ends of corn.357

Chap. 28. That the chicken is made out of the yolk of the egg; that --

snakes sting ; of the tarantula ; the lamb of Tartary ; the swiftness of tigers ; with sundry queries . . . 373

The Foubth Book ; the particular part continued. Of many popu¬ lar and received tenets concerning mam.

Chap. 13. Of the canicular or dog-days.446

YOL. I. «

PKEFACE

Prefixed to the Edition published in 1836.

Nearly twelve years have elapsed since the present edition was undertaken; and it affords me no small gratification to have at length accomplished, however imperfectly, a task which has been attended by a degree of labour proportioned to the diffi¬ culty of the work, and the competency of the workman. The delay, though not my own, and incurred in the hope of securing a corresponding advantage to my readers, cannot, I fear, be justified:—and, when I consider how often plans have been defeated, assurances forfeited, and character thus sacrificed, by a spirit of procrastination, I cannot but rejoice that my own intentions have survived that which threatened their frustration, and that I have been permitted, though late, to redeem my pledge by the publication of these volumes.

Respecting the Works of Sir Thomas Browne, I need say the less here, because explanatory prefaces accompany the principal of them. Religio Medici , Pseudodoxia Epidemica , and the volume containing Hydriotaphia and the Garden of Cy^s, were published by himself; after his decease, and in consonance no doubt with his understood intentions, appeared the Miscellany Tracts , Tetter to a Friend , Posthumous Works , and Christian Morals . The last of these, we are informed by his daughter, 1 was “a continuation of his Religio Medici, drawn up m his elder years,” and seems to have been left in readiness for the press. Of his lesser pieces he had probably intended to make a complete collection, and either to publish, or leave them for pub¬ lication in a revised form; for he has informed us himself that he had “ some miscellaneous tracts which might be published.” The collection which was brought out by Abp. Tenison does not appear to me to have been so complete or so revised and arranged, as the author would have left it.

It will be expected that I should say a few words respecting

1 See last page of Supplementary Memoir , and Archdeacon Jeffery’s Preface to the Christian Morals.

a 2