The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Garcia de Orta (1501/2 - 1568)
Portuguese-Jewish physician and naturalist, a pioneer of tropical medicine Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garcia_de_orta Linked print sources: as Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - Aromatum, et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum apud Indos nascentium historia: ante biennium quidem Lusitanica lingua per dialogos conscripta.References in Documents:
Lignum Colubrinum.
There are divers sorts of Woods so call'd. This here is
different from all those
Speciesdescribed by
out of him by
Second. 'Tis above three inches in Diametre, the Barque
thin, the Wood solid, more than that of
Pear-Tree. Of a
very bitter Tast; especially when reduced to powder.
Palme, by the ARECCA. Described by
,
and
well. It
hath a three-fold Cover, of so many sorts of
work. The utmost,
consisting of straw-colour'd, soft and
(as
Fibers. The middle, of yel
lowish, and sturdy ones, of the thickness of a
sewing
Needle: about ½ an inch longer, than to the top
of the
Shell, yet couched down round about it. The inmost, a
thin slender Case, but woody. Yet lined with a pithy sub
stance. All contrived for the greater warmth, and
gra
dual exposing of the Nut within to the Aer. This Nut is
about the bigness of a little
Nutmeg; but not so long.
This Fruit grows in
Being eaten unripe, it
stupifies, and as it were inebriates.
For which cause, (b) b)
ble of great pains.
Water, in Bilious
Diarrhæa's, with great success.
Palme, by the
ARECCA. Described by
, and
Garcias ,
Bauhinus
well. It hath a three-fold Cover, of so many sorts of
work. The utmost, consisting of straw-colour'd, soft and
(as
Fibers. The middle, of yel
lowish, and sturdy ones, of the thickness of a sewing
Needle: about ½ an inch longer, than to the top of the
Shell, yet couched down round about it. The inmost, a
thin slender Case, but woody. Yet lined with a pithy sub
stance. All contrived for the greater warmth, and gra
dual exposing of the
Nutwithin to the
Aer. This
Nutis
about the bigness of a little
Nutmeg; but not so long.
Garcias ,
Bauhinus
b)
likeness it hath to a little
Heart; but yet flattish, and near as
big as a
Garden-Bean. Described and figur'd by
to the flame of a
Candle, (
e)
e)
of divers colours. Anciently much used in Medicines, now
obsolete, as
Confectio Anacardina, &c. The Oil or Mellagi
nousSuccus
nous
betwixt the Rind and the Kernel is that which is
called(
called
f)
f)
Wormian
(given it by most) or of Honey, must be improper. It
is of a very Caustick and venimous Nature. Being mixed
g)
Tom. 1. 336
with
Lime, 'tis used for the marking of
Cottons(
g) through
out
India .
The
pickle the green Fruit, (
h)
h)
ab Horto
and eat
them as Olives. When perhaps they contain little or none
them as Olives
of that Caustick Oil.
h)
ab Horto
Reed;Garcias
They grow upon their Bed
(which is about three
inches broad, and four in length) in Crystals Sexangularly
pointed. Of
several sizes from the thickness of a midling
Pin, to a
¼ of an inch Diametre, but all of them short.
Not very
perspicuous, but a little greyish, like the Calcedony.
Saving one small cluster of them,
tinctur'd yellowish. They
cut Glass very deep and easily.
The principal Diamond Mines now
known, are four.
That of
200 years since. In this Mine, the Diamonds lie in
sandy
Veins in the Rocks. Of all, the clearest, and of the whitest
Water. They pound and wash the Vein for the
Diamonds,
just as we do some of our
Ores for the Metal. A second
found out 100
years since. They dig here not above 14
feet deep. Sometimes
above sixty thousand Men, Women
and Children at work. It
affords the largest Diamonds, but
not
clear: one sometimes above 40 Carats, i. e.
⅓d of an ounce.
And there was
one here found which weighed 900 Carats
(i. e. ℥vij
ss.) A Third, that of
dom of Diamonds are found in the sand of
the River, for the space of 50 Leagues. From hence
come those
fair pointed Stones called Natural Points:
but a)
lib. 2. c. 11,
12, 13, 14,
15
not great. The Fourth, that of
neo
How the
other particulars, see in a)b)
Boyle
Of Gems,
p. 11
Rough Diamonds are often naturally figur'd
into Trian
gular Plains: a mark to know a right one
by, (b) as well as c)
Læt
& Lap
hardness. Many also of
the best are pointed with six An
gles; some, with
eight; and some Tabulated, or Plain, and
Square. (c)
Diamonds receive no hurt, but are rather
mendd)
Lap. & G
ed, by the fire. (d) Some, saith e) being rub'd,
will
take up straws, as Amber and other Electrical
Bodies. e)
c. 43
And Mr. f)
speaks of one of his, which with a little
friction attracts vigorously. Of another, (g) which by f) Of Gems,
p.
109
water made a
little more than luke-warm, he could bring
to shine in the
dark.g)
'Tis the property of all true Diamonds, To
unite the Foyle
closely and equally to it self, (h) h)
G
its lustre, than any other Gem. That which is called the
Foyle, is a mixture of Mastick and burnt Ivory: The
latter,
being one of the blackest of colours; used by Painters for
Velvet, the Pupil of
the Eye, &c.
The Water of those which are drawn, not from the Rock, i)
Boyl, Of Gems,
p. 51
but the
Ground, commonly partakes of the colour of that
Soil or
Ground: (i) and some are found as yellow as a
Topaz. (k)k)
Between the Grain and the Vein of a Diamond,
there is
this difference, That the former furthers; the
latter, being
so insuperably hard, hinders the splitting of
it. Although
it seems, that a Vein, sometimes is nothing else,
but a
Cross-Grain. Our
they take a very small iron Wyre, and having daubed it
Diamonds; draw it upon the Diamond, by a Tool, to and fro like a Saw, so long as is needful
for that purpose.