Page:Micrographia - or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon.djvu/195

Rh as high as these raggs, is visible to one that will observe the snuff of a burning Candle with a Microscope, where he may see an Ebullition or bubbling of the Oyl, as high as the snuff looks black.

Next, that it does steam away more then burn; I could tell you of the dim burning of a Candle, the longer the snuff be which arises from the abundance of vapours out of the higher parts of it.

And, thirdly, that in the middle of the flame of the Candle, neer the top of the snuff, the fire or dissolving principle is nothing neer so strong, as neer the bottom and out edges of the flame, which may be observ’d by the burning asunder of a thread, that will first break in those parts that the edges of the flame touch, and not in the middle.

And I could add several Observables that I have taken notice of in the flame of a Lamp actuated with Bellows, and very many others that confirm me in my opinion, but that it is not so much to my present purpose, which is onely to consider this concreet in the snuff of a Candle, so farr as it has any resemblance of a Mushrom, to the consideration of which, that I may return, I say, we may also observe:

In the place, that the droppings or trillings of Lapidescent waters in Vaults under ground, seem to constitute a kind of petrify'd body, form’d almost like some kind of Mushroms inverted, in so much that I have seen some knobb’d a little at the lower end, though for the moft part, indeed they are otherwise shap’d, and taper'd towards the end; the generation of which seems to be from no other reason but this, that the water by soaking through the earth and Lime (for I ghess that substance to add much to it petrifying quality) does so impregnate it self with stony particles, that hanging in drops in the roof of the Vault, by reason that the soaking of the water is but slow, it becomes expos’d to the Air, and thereby the outward part of the drop by degrees grows hard, by reason that the water gradually evaporating the stony particles neer the outsides of the drop begin to touch, and by degrees, to dry and grow closer together, and at length constitute a crust or shell about the drop; and this soaking by degrees, being more and more supply'd, the drop grows longer and longer, and the sides harden thicker and thicker into a Quill or Cane, and at length, that hollow or pith becomes almost stop’d up, and solid: afterwards the soaking of the petrifying water, finding no longer a passage through the middle, bursts out, and trickles down the outside, and as the water evaporates, leaves new superinduc'd shells, which more and more swell the bulk of those Iceicles; and because of the great supply from the Vault, of petrifying water, those bodies grow bigger and bigger next to the Vault, and taper or sharpen towards the point; for the access from the arch of the Vault being but very slow, and consequently the water being spread very thinly over the surface of the Iceicle, the water begins to settle before it can reach to the bottom, or corner end of it; whence, if you break one of these, you would almost imagine it a stick of Wood petrify'd, it having so pretty a resemblance of pith and grain, and if you look on the outside of a piece, or of one whole, you would think no less, both from its vegetable roundness and Rh Errata