Archimedes Texts

26
fore go on to collect those Rules which the
most approved Ancients have left us in many
and various Places, and to these, according to
our Custom, we shall add whatever we our
selves have deduced from antique Works, or
the Instructions of most experienced Artificers,
if we happen to know any Thing that may be
serviceable to our Purpose. And I believe it
will be the best Method, following Nature
herself, to begin with those Things which were
sirst in Use among Men in their Buildings;
which, if we mistake not, were Timber Trees
which they fell'd in the Woods: Though
among Authors, I find, some are divided
upon this very Subject. Some will have it,
that Men at first dwelt in Caves, and that
they and their Cattle were both sheltered
under the same Roof; and therefore they
believe what Pliny tells us, that one Gellius
Texius was the first, that, in Imitation of Na
ture built himself a House of Mud. Diodorus
says that Vesta, the Daughter of Saturn, was
the first that invented Houses. Eusebius
Pamphilus, an excellent Searcher into Antiqui
ty, tells us from the Testimony of the Ancients,
that the Grandsons of Protogenes first taught
Men the Building of Houses, which they
patch'd up of Reeds and Bullrushes: But to
return to our Subject. The Ancients, then,
and particularly Theophrastus, inform us, that
most Trees, and especially the Fir, the Pitch
tree and the Pine, ought to be cut immediately,
when they begin to put forth their young
Shoots, when through their abundance of Sap
you most easily strip off the Bark. But that
there are some Trees, as the Maple, the Elm,
the Ash, and the Linden, which are best cut
after Vintage. The Oak if cut in Summer,
they observe is apt to breed Worms; but if in
Winter, it will keep sound and not split.
And it is not foreign to our Purpose what they
remark, that Wood which is cut in Winter, in
a North Wind, though it be green, will never
theless burn extremely well, and in a Manner
without Smoak; which manifestly shews that
their Juices are not crude, but well digested.
Vitruvius is for cutting Timber from the be
ginning of Autumn, till such Time as the soft
Westerly Winds begin to blow. And Hesiod
says, that when the Sun darts his burning Rays
directly upon our Heads, and turns Mens Com
plections to brown, then is the Time for Har
vest, but that when the Trees drop their
Leaves, then is the Season for cutting of Tim
ber. Cato moderates the Matter thus; let the
Oak, says he, be felled during the Solstice, be
cause in Winter it is always out of Season; other
Woods that bear Seed may be cut when that
is mature; those that bear none, when you
please. Those that have their Seeds green and
ripe at the same Time, should be cut when
that is fallen, but the Elm when the Leaves
drop. And they say it is of very great Im
portance, what Age the Moon is of when you
fell your Timber: For they are all of Opini
on, and especially Varro, that the Influence of
the Moon is so powerful over Things of this
Nature, that even they who cut their Heir in
the Wane of the Moon, shall soon grow bald;
and for this Reason, they tell us, Tiberius ob
served certain Days for cutting his Hair. The
Astrologers affirm, that your Spirits will al
ways be oppressed with Melancholly, if you
cut your Nails or Hair while the Moon is op
pressed or ill disposed. It is to our present
Purpose what they say, that such Things as
are designed in their Uses to be moveable,
ought to be cut and wrought when the Moon
is in Libra or Cancer; but such as are to be
fixed and immoveable, when she is in Leo,
Taurus, or the like. But that Timber ought
to be cut in the Wane of the Moon, all the
Learned are agreed, because they hold that the
flegmatick Moisture, so very liable to immedi
ate Putrefaction, is then almost quite dried up,
and it is certain, that when it is cut in such a
Moon, it is never apt to breed Worms. Hence
they say you ought to reap the Corn which
you intend to sell, at full Moon; because then
the Ears are full; but that which you intend
to keep in the Wane. It is also evident, that
the Leaves of Trees cropt in the Wane of the
Moon do not rot. Columella thinks it best to
fell Timber from the twentieth to the thirtieth
Day of the Moon's Age; Vegetius, from the
fifteenth to the two and twentieth; and hence
he supposes the religious Ceremony to arise, of
celebrating all Mysteries relating to Eternity
only on those Days, because Wood cut then
lasted in a Manner for ever. They add, that
we should likewise observe the Setting of the
Moon. But Pliny thinks it a proper Time to
fell Trees when the Dog-star reigns, and when
the Moon is in Conjunction with the Sun,
which Day is called an Interlunium, and says
it is good to wait for the Night of that Day
too, till the Moon is set. The Astronomers
say, the Reason of this is, because the Action
of the Moon puts the Fluids of all Bodies into
Motion; and that therefore when those Fluids