ther these, nor any other, do fo 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 first 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 recefles of the brain, where the foul makes its feat of judicature. For as all the things in a chamber may have their firm reprefentation 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 obstruction of the optick nerve, which is called gutta Jerena, 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 fight

goeth

goeth away and decreaseth; the lookers out of the windows muft affuredly be darkened, and by how much the more excellent thefe parts are, by so much the more apparent are their decays. It is faid of the heart, it is primum vivens, and ultimum moriens; but contrariwise it may very well be faid of the eye, that it is ultimum vivens, and primum moriens. This moft 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 fo foon discovered, as in the eye; and men are loth to think themfelves 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 those 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. I.-xlviii. 10. 1 Sam. iii, 2. for whatfoever may either incraffate the diaphanous bodies before mentioned, and render them lefs transparent; or stop the several perforations, and fo hinder that open view: must of neceffity caufe a diminution, and in time a perfect abolition of the fight; and here give me leave to name one or two principal symptoms of vi

fion that are the chief attendants of this declining 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 drinefs 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 drinefs in the crystalline humour, whereby it is unable to reduce the eye to that form, which may be moft advantageous to vifion; so that they cannot perceive any thing at an equal distance, but must have their objects more remote from the eye, or the species firft refracted and directed by the use of spectacles: 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 uvea tunica, the contraction or dilatation of the apple of the eye; or whatsoever elfe by obfcuring the glass, or obftructing the holes, may be justly faid to darken the lookers out of the windows.

Fernel.

And the doors fhall be fhut 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.

HUS far the preacher hath been treating

THU

*

of all thofe faculties which are termed animal, and their decays in the time of age; he paffeth in this verfe to those 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, firft, those that are mixed of the faculties, inward and outward, and that is expressed in the want of fleep, in those words, He fhall rise up at the voice of the bird; forafmuch 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 animal faculty, being the inftruments of an outward fense, viz. hearing: And the active daughters of mufick belong to the vital, being the inftruments of refpiration, as you fhall hear hereafter. Now to the understanding of this verse, especially the former part of it, I hope

Fernel, 1. vi, Pathol. c. 11.

to

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

The doors be fout in the freets, 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 clause of the defcription of age; the former words, viz. The doors fhall be fout in the streets, are not a distinct symptom of themselves, as most men have formerly said, but they have their reference to the enfuing words, viz. When the voice of the grinding is low. And the doors and ftreets here mentioned, are no other, than fuch as concern the grinding, and are as inlets and outiets, ways and paffages unto that. And I perfuade myself, that the hitherto miscarriage in the interpretation of these words hath proceeded from neglect of this confideration. The doors fhall be shut when the grinding is low, and only then; and the lownefs of the grinding, is the cause of the shutting of the doors. In humilitate vocis molentis, faith the Vulgar Latin. Ob, per, vel propter depreffionem vocis molentis, say others, and that very confonant to the original, inafiuch as the grinding fhall be low, or by reafon of the lownefs of the grinding, the doors shall be shut in the streets. Wherefore for the better clearing of the whole fentence, we must first of all fhew

what