ther these, nor any other, do so appear in a body that hath been long dead, yet doubtless they have open paffages while the body is yet alive, for as much as they are the conveyers of matter, though more pure and refined, from one part unto another, as the other channels of the body are. And here the cavity and porofity of the optick nerves ought as well to be reckoned among the holes through which fight is made, as any other that are placed before the proper organ upon which the reprefentation of outward objects is firft made, and that because there can be no perfect perception of any thing, unless the impreffion made; upon the fenfory be truly conveyed into the most inward receffes of the brain, where the foul makes its feat of judicature. For as all the things in a chamber may have their firm representation in a glass that stands upon the table, yet if any thing interpofe between me and the glafs, I difcern nothing at all; and they are all as much hid from me, as if they had never been there reprefented. And thus we know a total obftruction of the optick nerve, which is called gutta ferena, makes as perfect a blindness, as an obftruction of the humour aqueus, which is called a cataract. And thus I have endeavoured to fhew, and that I hope with fome fatisfaction, how the eyes may be called, the lookers thro' the windows. Now age comes on and encreaseth, it is well known to all men how fighe

goeth

goeth away and decreaseth; the lookers out of the windows muft affuredly be darkened, and by how much the more excellent these parts are, by fo much the more apparent are their decays. It is faid of the heart, it is primum vivens, and ultimum moriens; but contrariwife it may very well be faid of the eye, that it is ultimum vivens, and primum moriens. This most wonderful and tender part of man, in that it hath more curious and more various work in its formation, is the laft that lives; and in that it hath need of more life and vigour, more firmness and purity in its operation, it is the firft that dieth; and indeed the infenfible encroach of age, is no where so soon discovered, as in the eye; and men are loth to think themselves declining in age fo foon as the eye gives warning thereof; and we have scarce any description of an old man by his infirmities, wherein thofe of the eye are not principally mentioned: When Ifaac, Jacob, Eli, and others are recorded as old, it is faid of them, Their eyes were dim and they could not fee, Gen. xxvii. 1. xlviii. 10. 1 Sam. iii. 2. for whatfoever may either incraffate the diaphanous bodies before mentioned, and render them lefs transparent; or ftop the feveral perforations, and fo hinder that open view: muft of neceffity cause a diminution, and in time a perfect abolition of the fight; and here give me leave to name one or two principal fymptoms of vi

*

fion that are the chief attendants of this de-, clining state; the firft is caligo, which is the obfcurity of vifion by reafon of the craffitude. or thickness of the tunica cornea ; which by reafon of the driness of age doth together with the nails of the fingers, grow darker and thicker, and confequently lofe daily fomewhat of its perfpicuity Another is glaucoma, which is the change of the colour of the cryftalline humour, by reason of its dulness and thickness, whereby old men do look upon all things as it were through fmoak, or a cloud, and fo do but darkly difcern them: Another is zinififis, which is a change of the figure of the whole eye, whereby it becomes more plain and depreffed, and a driness in the crystalline humour, whereby it is unable to reduce the eye to that form, which may be most advantageous to vifion; fo that they cannot perceive any thing at an equal distance, but must have their objects more remote from the eye, or the species first refracted and directed by the ufe of fpectacles: Another is fuffufio ex cruditate, or any interpofition of any preternatural matter between the fight and the tunica cornea: I might also add corrugatio & relaxatio uveæ tunica, the contraction or dilatation of the apple of the eye; or whatsoever elfe aby obfcuring the glafs, or obstructing the holes, may be justly said to darken the lookers out of the windows.

Fernel.

And the doors fhall be shut in the streets, when the found of the grinding is low, and he shall rife up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of mufick fhall be brought low.

T

HUS far the preacher hath been treating

of all those faculties which are termed animal, and their decays in the time of age; he paffeth in this verfe to thofe other which are called natural, of which he treateth in the beginning of this verfe, and then to thofe that are mixed, in the latter end; and that in a double refpect, first, those that are mixed of the faculties, inward and outward, and that is expreffed in the want of fleep, in those words, He shall rise up at the voice of the bird; foralmuch as fleep,✶ if perfect and found, is the ligation of all the fenfes both inward and outward for the refreshment both of the mind and body. The other mixture of faculties is of vital and animal, in the laft words, All the daughters of mufick fhall be brought low; for the paffive daughters of mufick belong to the ani mal faculty, being the inftruments of an outward fenfe, viz. hearing: And the active daughters of mufick belong to the vital, being the inftruments of refpiration, as you shall hear hereafter. Now to the understanding of this yerfe, especially the former part of it, I hope

Fernel. 1. vi, Pathol. c. II.

to

to let in fome glimmering of light, which formerly hath lain undiscovered.

The doors be but in the streets, when the found of the grinding is low.

For the right understanding of these words, we must be sure in the first place to take notice that all these words are but one fentence, and confequently but one claufe of the defcription of age; the former words, viz. The doors ball be fout in the streets, are not a diftinct fymptom of themselves, as moft men have formerly faid, but they have their reference to the enfuing words, viz. When the voice of the grinding is low. And the doors and Atreets here mentioned, arè no other, than fuch as concern the grinding,

And himlake and outlate... undrennid baffor

unto that. And I perfuade myself, that the hi therto mifcarriage in the interpretation of these words hath proceeded from neglect of this confideration. The doors fhall be fhut when the grinding is low, and only then; and the low nefs of the grinding, is the caufe of the shutting of the doors. In humilitate vocis molentis, faith the Vulgar Latin. Ob, per, vel propter depreffionem vocis molentis, fay others, and that very confonant to the original, inafmuch as the grinding fhall be low, or by reafon of the lownefs of the grinding, the doors shall be shut in the ftreets. Wherefore for the better clearing of the whole fentence, we must first of all shew what