thriddes of iett or amber do in their streaming abroad meete with a piece of straw or of hay or of a dryed leafe or some such light and spungy body it is no maruayle if they glew themselues vnto it like birdlime and that in their shrinking backe by being condensed againe and repulsed through the coldnesse of the ayre they carry it along with them to their entire body Which they that onely see the effect and can not penetrate into a possibility of a naturall cause thereof are much troubled withall And this seemeth vnto me to beare a fairer semblance of truth then what Cabeus deliuereth for cause of Electricall attractions Whose speculation herein though I can not allow for solide yet I must for ingenious And certainely euen errors are to be commended when they are witty ones and do proceed from a casting further about then the beaten tracke of verball learning or rather termes which explicate not the nature of the thing in question He sayth that the coming of strawes and such other light bodies vnto amber iett and the like proceedeth from a wind raysed by the forcible breaking out of subtile emanations from the Electricall bodies into the ayre which bringeth those light bodies along with it to the Electricall ones But this discourse can not hold for first it is not the nature of vnctuous emanations Generally speaking to cause smart motions singly of themselues Secondly although they should rayse a wind I do not comprehend how this wind should driue bodies directly backe to the source that raysed it but rather any other way and so consequently should driue the light bodies it meeteth with in its way rather from then towardes the Electricall body Thirdly if there should be such a wind raysed and it should bring light bodies to the Electricall ones yet it could not make them sticke therevnto which we see they do turne them which way you will as though they were glewed together Neyther do his experiences conuince any thing for what he sayth that the light bodies are sometimes brought to the Electricall body with such a violence that they rebound backe from it and then returne againe to it maketh rather against him for if wind were the cause of their motion they would not returne againe after they had leaped backe from the Electricall body no more then we can imagine that the wind it selfe doth The like is of his other experience when he obserued that some little graines of sawdust hanging att an Electricall body the furthermost of them not onely fell of but seemed to be driuen away forcibly for they did not fall directly downe but sidewayes and besides did fly away with a violence and smartnesse that argued some strong impulse The reason whereof might be that new emanations might smite them which not sticking and fastening vpon them whereby to draw them neerer must needes push them further or it might be that the emanations vnto which they were glewed shrinking backe vnto their maine body the latter graines were shouldered of by others that already besieged the superficies and then the emanations retiring swiftly the graines must breake of with a force or else we may conceiue it was the force of the ayre that bore them vp a little which made an appearance of their being driuen away as we see feathers and other light thinges descend not straight downe THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER Of the Loadstones generation and its particular motions THere is yet remaining the great mystery of the Loadstone to discourse of Which all Authors both auntient and moderne haue agreed vpon as an vndenyable example and euidence of the shortenesse of mans reach in comprehending and of the impossibility of his reason in penetrating into and explicating such secrets as nature hath a mind to hide from vs. Wherefore our reader I am sure will not in this subiect expect cleare satisfaction or plaine demonstrations att our handes but will iugde we haue fairely acquitted our selues if what we say be any whitt plausible Therefore to vse our best endeauours to content him lett vs reflect vpon the disposition of partes of this habitable globe whereof we are tenants for liues And we shall find that the sunne by his constant course vnder the zodiake heateth a great part of it vnmeasurably more then he doth the rest And consequently that this zodiake being in the middest betweene two as it were endes which we call the Poles these poles must necessarily be extremely cold in respect of the torride zone for so we call that part of the earth which lyeth vnder the zodiake Now looking into the consequence of this we find that the sunne or the sunnes heate which reflecteth from the earth in the torride zone must rarify the ayre extremely and according to the nature of all heate and fire must needes carry away from thence many partes of the ayre and of the earth sticking to that heate in such sort as we haue formerly declared Whence it followeth that other ayre must necessarily come from the regions towardes both the poles to supply what is carryed away from the middle as is the course in other fires and as we haue explicated aboue especially cōsidering that the ayre which cometh from the polewardes is heauyer then the ayre of the torride zone and therefore must naturally presse to be still neerer the earth and so as it were shouldereth vp the ayre of the torride zone towardes the circumference by rouling into its place and this in great quantities and consequently the polar ayre must draw a great trayne after it Which if we consider the great extent of the torride zone we shall easily persuade our selues that it must reach on each side to the very pole for taking from Archimedes that the sphericall superficies of a portion of a spher◠is to the superficies of the whole sphere according as the part of the axis of that sphere comprised within the said portion is to the whole axis and considering that in our case the part of the axis comprised within the torride zone is to the whole axis of the earth in about the proportion of 4. to 10 it must of necessity follow that a fire or great heate raigning in so vast an extent will draw ayre very powerfully from the rest of the world Neyther lett any man apprehend that this course of the sunnes eleuating so great quantities of atomes in the torride zone should hinder the course of grauity there for first the medium is much rarer in the torride zone then in other partes of the earth and therefore the force of the descending atomes needeth not to be so great there as in other places to make bodies descend there as fast as they do else where Secondly there being a perpetuall supply of fresh ayre from the polar partes streaming continually into the torride zone it must of necessity happen that in the ayre there come atomes to the torride zone of that grossenesse that
it findeth within its power to master be they light or heauy or of what contrary natures soeuer it compresseth them as much as it can and draweth them into a lesse compasse and holdeth them strongly together making them sticke fast to one an other Which effect Aristotle tooke for the proper notion of cold and therefore gaue for definition of the nature of it that it gathereth thinges of diuers natures and experience sheweth vs in freesing and all great coolinges that this effect proceedeth from cold But if wee examine which of the two sortes of dense bodies the fluide or the consistent is most efficacious in this operation wee shall find that the lesse dense one is more capable of being applyed round about the body it shall besiege and therefore will stoppe closer euery litle hole of it and will more easily send subtile partes into euery litle veine of it and by consequence shrinke it vp together and coagulate and constringe it more strongly then a body can that is extremely dense which by reason of its great density and the stubbornesse of its partes can not so easily bend and plye them to worke this effect And therefore a body that is moderately dense is colder then an other that is so in excesse seeing that cold is an actiue or working power and that which is lesse dense doth excell in working On the contrary side rare bodies being hoat because theire subtile partes enuironing a compounded body will sinke into the pores of it and to theire power seperate its partes it followeth that those wherein the grauity ouercometh the rarity are lesse hoat then such others as are in the extremity and highest excesse of rarity both because the former are not able to pierce so litle partes of the resisting dense body as extreme rare ones are and likewise because they more easily take plye by the obstacle of the solide ones they meete with then these doe So that out of this discourse wee gather that of such bodies that differ precisely by the proportion of Rarity and Density those which are extremely rare are in the excesse of heate and are dry withall that weighty rare bodies are extremely humide and meanely hoat that fluide dense bodies are moist though not in such excesse as rare ones that are so but are coldest of any and lastly that extreme dense bodies are lesse cold then fluide dense ones and that they are dry But whether the extreme dense bodies be more or lesse dry then such as are extremely rare remaineth yet to be decided Which wee shall easily doe if wee but reflect that it is density which maketh a thing hard to be diuided and that rarity maketh it easie for a facility to yield vnto diuision is nothing else but a plyablenesse in the thing that is to be diuided whereby it easily receiueth the figure which the thing that diuideth it doth cast it into Now this plyablenesse belongeth more to rare then to dense thinges and accordingly wee see fire bend more easily by the concameration of an ouen then a stone can be reduced into due figure by hewing And therefore since drynesse is a quality that maketh those bodies wherein it raigneth to conserue themselues in theire owne figure and limits and to resist the receiuing of any from an other body it is manifest that those are dryest wherein these effects are most seene which is in dense bodies and consequently excesse of drynesse must be allotted vnto them to keepe company with theire moderate coldnesse Thus wee see that the number of Elements assigned by Aristotle is truly and exactly determined by him and that there can be neither more nor lesse of them and that theire qualities are rightly allotted to them which to settle more firmely in our mindes it will not be misse-spent time to summe vp in short the effect of what wee haue hitherto said to bring vs vnto this conclusion First wee shewed that a body is made and constituted a body by quantity Next that the first diuision of bodies is into rare and dense ones as differing onely by hauing more and lesse quantity And lastly that the coniunction of grauity with these two breedeth two other sortes of combinations each of which is also twofold the first sort concerning rarity out of which ariseth one extremely hoat and moderately dry and an other extremely humide and moderately hoat the second sort concerning density out of which is produced one that is extremely cold and moderatly wett and an other extremely dry and moderatly cold And these are the combinations whereby are constituted fire ayre water and earth So that wee haue thus the proper notions of the foure Elements and haue both them and theire qualities driuen vp and resolued into theire most simple principles which are the notions of Quantity and of the two most simple differences of quantatiue thinges Rarity and Density Beyond which mans witt can not penetrate nor can his wishes ayme att more in this particular seeing he hath attained to the knowledge af what they are and of what maketh them be so and that it is impossible they should be otherwise and this by the most simple and first principles which enter into the composition of theire nature Out of which it is euident that these foure bodies are Elements since they can not be resolued into any others by way of physicall composition themselues being constituted by the most simple differences of a body And againe all other bodies whatsoeuer must of necessity be resolued into them for the same reason because no bodies can be exempt from the first differencies of abody Since then wee meane by the name of an Element a body not composed of any former bodies and of which all other bodies are composed wee may rest satisfyed that these are rightly so named But whether euery one of these foure elements do comprehend vnder its name one onely lowest species or many as whether there be one onely species of fire or seuerall and the like of the rest wee intend not here to determine Yet wee note that there is a greate latitude in euery kind seeing that Rarity and Density as wee haue said before are as diuisible as quantity Which latitudes in the bodies wee conuerse withall are so limited that what maketh it selfe and other thinges be seene as being accompanied by light is called fire What admitteth the illuminatiue action of fire and is not seene is called ayre What admitteh the same action and is seene in the ranke of Elements is called water And what through the density of it admitteth not that action but absolutely reflecteth it is called earth And out of all we said of these foure Elements it is manifest there can not be a fifth as is to be seene att large in euery Aristotelian Philosopher that writeth of this matter I am not ignorant that there are sundry obiections vsed to be made both against these notions of the first qualities and against
this diuision of the Elements but because they and theire solutions are to be found in euery ordinary Philosopher and that they be not of any greate difficulty and that the handling them is too particular for the designe of this discourse and would make it too prolixe I referre the Reader to seeke them for his satisfaction it those authors that treate physickes professedly and haue deliuered a compleate body of Philosophy And I will end this Chapter with aduertising him least I should be misvnderstood that though my disquisition here hath pitched vpon the foure bodies of fire ayre water and earth yet it is not my intention to affirme that those which wee ordinarily call so and do fall dayly within our vse are such as I haue here expressed them or that these Philosophicall ones which arise purely out of the combination of the first qualities haue theire residence or consistence in great bulkes in any places of the world be they neuer fo remote as fire in the hollow of the moones orbe water in the bottome of the sea ayre aboue the cloudes and earth below the mines But these notions are onely to serue for certaine Idaeas of Elements by which the foure named bodies and the compoundes of them may be tryed and receiue theire doome of more or lesse pure and approaching to the nature from whence they haue theire denomination And yet I will not deny but that such perfect Elements may be found in some very litle quantities in mixed bodies and the greatest aboundance of them in these foure knowne bodies that we call in ordinary practise by the names of the pure ones for they are least compounded and approach most to the simplenesse of the Elements But to determine absolutely theire existence or not existence eyther in bulke or in litle partes dependeth of the manner of action among bodies which as yet we haue not meddled with THE FIFTH CHAPTER Of the Operations of the Elements in generall And of their Actiuities compared with one another HAVING by our former discourse inquired out what degrees and proportions of rarity and density compounded with grauity are necessary for the production of the Elements and first qualities whose combinations frame the Elements our next consideration in that orderly progresse we haue proposed vnto our selues in this treatise wherein our ayme is to follow successiuely the steppes which nature hath printed out vnto vs will be to examine the operations of the Elements by which they worke vpon one an other To which end lett vs propose to our selues a rare and a dense body encountring one an other by the impulse of some exterior agent In this case it is euident that since rarity implyeth a greater proportion of Quantity and quantity is nothing but diuisibility rare bodies must needes be more diuisible then dense ones and consequently when two such bodies are pressed one against an other the rare body not being able to resist diuision so strongly as the dense one is and being not permitted to retire backe by reason of the externe violence impelling it against the dense body it followeth that the partes of the rare body must be seuered to lett the dense one come betweene them and so the rare body becometh diuided and the dense body the diuider And by this we see that the notions of diuider and diuisible do immediately follow rare and dense bodies and do so much the more properly agree vnto them as they exceede in the qualities of Rarity and Density Likewise we are to obserue in our case that the dense or diuiding body must necessarily cutt and enter further and further into the rare or diuided body and so the sides of it be ioyned successiuely to new and new partes of the rare body that giueth way vnto it and forsake others it parteth from Now the rare body being in a determinate situation of the vniuerse which we call being in a place and is a necessary condition belonging to all particular bodies and the dense body coming to be within the rare body whereas formerly it was not so it followeth that it looseth the place it had and gaineth an other This effect is that which we call locall motion And thus we see by explicating the manner of this action that locall motion is nothing else but the change of that respect or relation which the body mooued hath to the rest of the vniuerse following out of Diuision and the name of locall motion formally signifyeth onely the mutation of a respect to other extrinsecall bodies subsequent to that diuision And this is so euident and agreeable to the notions that all mankinde who as we haue said is iudge and master of language naturally frameth of place as I wonder much why any will labour to giue other artificiall and intricate doctrine of this that in it selfe is so plaine and cleare What neede is there to introduce an imaginary space or with Ioannes Grammaticus a subsistent quantity that must runne through all the world and then entayle to euery body an ayery entity an vnconceiuable moode an vnintelligible Vbi that by an intrinsecall relation to such a part of the imaginary space must thereunto pinne and fasten the body it is in It must needes be a ruinous Philosophy that is grounded vpon such a contradiction as is the allotting of partes vnto that which the authors themselues vpon the matter acknowledge to be meerely nothing and vpon so weake a shift to deliuer them from the inconueniencies that in theire course of doctrine other circumstances bring them vnto as is the voluntary creating of new imaginary Entities in thinges without any ground in nature for them Learned men should expresse the aduantage and subtility of theire wittes by penetrating further into nature then the vulgar not by vexing and wresting it from its owne course They should refine and carry higher not contradict and destroy the notions of mankind in those thinges that it is the competent Iudge of as it vndoubtedly is of those primary notions which Aristotle hath ranked vnder ten heades which as we haue touched before euery body can conceiue in grosse and the worke of schollers is to explicate them in particular and not to make the vulgar beleeue they are mistaken in framing those apprehensions that nature taught them Out of that which hath been hitherto resolued it is manifest that place really and abstracting from the operation of the vnderstanding is nothing else but the inward superficies of a body that compasseth and immediately containeth an other Which ordinarily being of a rare body that doth not shew it selfe vnto vs namely the ayre is for the most part vnknowne by vs. But because nothing can make impression vpon our mind and cause vs to giue it a name otherwise then by being knowne therefore our vnderstanding to make a compleate notion must adde something else to this fleeting and vnremarkable superficies that may bring it vnto our acquaintance And for this end we may
appeare shaken And lastly it is easier for the ayre or wind to destroy the light then it is to remooue it out of its place wherefore it can neuer so remoue it out of its place as that we should see it in an other place But if it should remooue it it would wrappe it vp within it selfe and hide it In conclusion after this long dispute concerning the nature of light if we consider well what hath beene said on both sides to which much more might be added but that we haue already trespassed in length and I conceiue enough is said to decide the matter an equall iudge will find the ballance of the question to hang vpon these termes that to proue the nature of light to be materiall and corporeall are brought a company of accidents well knowne to be the proprieties of quantity or bodies and as well knowne to be in light Euen so farre as that it is manifest that light in its begining before it be dispersed is fire and if againe it be gathered together it sheweth it selfe againe to be fire And the receptacles of it are the receptacles of a body being a multitude of pores as the hardnesse and coldnesse of transparent thinges do giue vs to vnderstand of which we shall hereafter haue occasion to discourse On the contrary side whatsoeuer arguments are brought against lights being a body are onely negatiues As that we see not any motion of light that we do not discerne where the confines are betweene light and ayre that we see not roome for both of them or for more lights to be together and the like which is to oppose negatiue proofes against affirmatiue ones and to build a doctrine vpon the defect of our senses or vpon the likenesse of bodies which are extremely vnlike expecting the same effects from the most subtile as from the most grosse ones All which together with the autority of Aristotle and his followers haue turned light into darknesse and haue made vs almost deny the light of our owne eyes Now then to take our leaue of this important question lett vs returne to the principles from whence we began and consider that seeing fire is the most rare of all the Elements and very dry and that out of the former it hath that it may be cutt into very small pieces and out of the latter that it conserueth its owne figure and so is apt to diuide whatsoeuer fluide body and ioyning to these two principles that it multiplyeth extremely in its source It must of necessity follow that it shooteth out in great multitudes litle small partes into the ayre and into other bodies circūfused with great dilatation in a sphericall manner And likewise that these litle partes are easily broken and new ones still following the former are still multiplyed in straight lines from the place where they breake Out of which it is euident that of necessity it must in a manner fill all places and that no sensible place is so litle but that fire will be found in it if the medium be capacious As also that its extreme least partes will be very easily swallowed vp in the partes of the ayre which are humide and by their enfolding be as it were quite lost so as to loose the appearance of fire Againe that in its reflections it will follow the nature of grosser bodies and haue glidinges like them which is that we call refractions That litle streaminges from it will crosse one an other in excessiue great numbers in an vnsensible part of space without hindering one an other That its motion will be quicker then sense can iudge of and therefore will seeme to mooue in an instant or to stand still as in a stagnation That if there be any bodies so porous with litle and thicke pores as that the pores arriue neere vnto equalling the substance of the body then such a body will be so filled with these litle particles of fire that it will appeare as if there were no stoppe in its passage but were all filled with fire and yet many of these litle partes will be reflected And whatsoeuer qnalities else we find in light we shall be able to deriue them out of these principles and shew that fire must of necessity doe what experience teacheth vs that light doeth That is to say in one word it will shew vs that fire is light But if fire be light then light must needes be fire And so we leaue this matter THE NINETH CHAPTER Of Locall Motion in common THOVGH in the fifth chapter we made onely earth the pretender in the controuersy against fire for superiority in actiuity and in very truth the greatest force of grauity doth appeare in those bodies which are eminently earthy neuerthelesse both water and ayre as appeareth out of the fourth chapter of the Elements do agree with earth in hauing grauity And grauity is the chiefe vertue to make them efficients So that vpon the matter this plea is common to all the three Elements Wherefore to explicate this vertue whereby these three weighty Elemēts do worke lett vs call to minde what we said in the beginning of the last chapter concerning locall motion to witt that according as the body mooued or the diuider did more and more enter into the diuided body so it did ioyne it selfe to some new partes of the medium or diuided body and did in like manner forsake others Whence it happeneth that in euery part of motion it possesseth a greater part of the medium then it selfe can fill att once And because by the limitation and confinednesse of euery magnitude vnto iust what it is and no more it is impossible that a lesser body should att once equallise a greater It followeth that this diuision or motion whereby a body attaineth to fill a place bigger then it selfe must be done successiuely that is it must first fill one part of the place it mooueth in then an other and so proceede on till it haue measured it selfe with euery part of the place from the first beginning of the line of motion to the last periode of it where the body resteth By which discourse it is euident that there can not in nature be a strength so great as to make the least or quickest mooueable that is to passe in an instāt or all together ouer the least place that can be imagined for that would make the mooued body remaining what it is in regard of its biggenesse to equallise ad fitt a thing bigger then it is Therefore it is manifest that motion must consist of such partes as haue this nature that whiles one of them is in being the others are not yet and as by degrees euery new one cometh to be all the others that were before do vanish and cease to be Which circumstance accompanying motion we call succession And whatsoeuer is so done is said to be done in time which is the common measure of all succession for the
directed and impelled by extrinsecall AgeÌ„ts lett vs suppose that a body were placed att liberty in the opeÌ„ ayre And then casting whether it would be mooued from the place we suppose it in and which way it would be mooued we shall find that it must of necessity happen that it shall descend and fall downe till it meete with some other grosse body to stay and support it For although of it selfe it would mooue no way yet if we find that any other body striketh efficaciously enough vpon it we can not doubt but that it will mooue that way which the striking body impelleth it Now it is strucken vpon on both sides aboue and below by the ascending and the descending atomes the rare ones striking vpon the bottome of it and driuing it vpwardes and the denser ones pressing vpon the toppe of it and bearing it downewardes But if you compare the impressions that the denser atomes make with those that proceede from the rare ones it is euident that the dense ones must be the more powerfull and therefore will assuredly determine the motion of the body in the ayre that way they goe which is downewardes Nor neede we feare least the litlenesse of the agents or the feeblenesse of their stroakes should not be sufficient to worke this effect since there is no resistance in the body it selfe and the ayre is continually cutt in pieces by the sunne beames and by the motions of litle bodies so that the adhesion vnto ayre of the body to be mooued will be no hinderance to this motion especially considering the perpetuall new percussions and the multitude of them and how no force is so litle but that with time and multiplication it will ouercome any resistance But if any man desireth to looke vpon as it were att one view the whole chaine of this doctrine of grauity lett him turne the first cast of his eyes vpon what we haue said of fire when we explicated the nature of it To witt that it beginneth from a litle source and by extreme multiplication and rarefaction it extendeth it selfe into a great sphere And then he will perceiue the reason why light is darted from the body of the sunne with that incredible celerity wherewith its beames flye to visite the remotest partes of the world and how of necessity it giueth motion to all circumstant bodies since it is violently thrust forward by so extreme a rarefaction and the further it goeth is still the more rarifyed and dilated Next lett him reflect how infinitely the quickenesse of lights motion doth preuent the motion of a moist body such an one as ayre is and then he will plainely see that the first motion which light is able to giue vnto the ayre must needes be a swelling of that moist element perpendicularly round about the earth for the ray descendent and the ray reflectent flying with so great a speede that the ayre betweene them can not take a formall plye any way before the beames of light be on both sides of it it followeth that according to the nature of humide thinges it must first onely swell for that is the beginning of motion in them when heate entereth into them and worketh vpon them And thus he may confidently resolue himselfe that the first motion which light causeth in the ayre will be a swelling of it betweene the two rayes towardes the middle of them That is perpendicularly from the surface of the earth And out of this he will likewise plainely see that if there be any other litle dense bodies floating in the ayre they must likewise mount a litle through this swelling and rising of the ayre But that mounting will be no more then the immediate partes of the ayre themselues do moue Because this motion is not by way of impulse or stroake that the ayre giueth those denser bodies but by way of containing them in it and carrying them with it â—o that it giueth them no more celerity then to make them go with it selfe and as partes of it selfe Then lett him consider that light or fire by much beating vpon the earth diuideth some litle partes of it from others whereof if any do become so small and tractable as not to exceede the strength which the rayes haue to manage them the returning rayes will att their going backe carry away with them or driue before them such litle atomes as they haue made or meete with and so fill the ayre with litle bodies cutt out of the earth After this lett him consider that when light carrieth vp an atome with it the light and the atome do sticke together and do make one ascending body in such sort as when an empty dish lyeth vpon the water the ayre in the dish maketh one descendent body together with the dish it selfe so that the density of the whole body of ayre and dish which in this case are but as one body is to be esteemed according to the density of the two partes one of them being allayed by the other as if the whole were throughout of such a proportion of density as would arise out of the composition and kneading together the seuerall densities of those two partes Now then when these litle compounded bodies of light and earth are carried vp to a determinate height the partes of fire or light do by litle and litle breake away from them and thereby the bulke of the part which is left becometh of a different degree of density quantity for quantity from the bulke of the entire atome when light was part of it and consequently it is denser then it was Besides lett him consider that when these bodies ascend they do goe from a narrow roome to a large one that is from the centerwardes to the circumference but when they come downe againe they goe from a larger part to a narrower Whence it followeth that as they descend they draw closer and closer together and by consequence are subiect to meete and to fall in one with an other and thereby to encrease their bulke and to become more powerfull in density not onely by the losse of their fire but also by the encrease of their quantity And so it is euident that they are denser coming downe then going vp Lastly lett him consider that those atomes which went vp first and are parted from their volatile companions of fire or light must begin to come downe apace when other new atomes which still haue their light incorporated with them do ascend to where they are and do goe beyond them by reason of their greater leuity And as the latter atomes come vp with a violence and a great celerity so must the first goe downe with a smart impulse and by consequence being more dense then the ayre in which they are carryed must of necessity cutt their way through that liquide and rare medium and goe the next way to supply the defect and roome of the atomes which ascend that is perpendicularly to the earth
other can be imagined vnlesse it were variety of figure But that can not be admitted to belong in any constant manner to those least particles where of bodies are framed as though determinate figures were in euery degree of quantity due to the natures of Elements and therefore the Elements would conserue themselues in those figures as well in their least atomes as in massye bulke for seeing how these litle partes are shuffled together without any order and that all liquids easily ioyne and take the figures which the dense ones giue them and that they againe iustling one an other do crush themselues into new shapes which their mixture with the liquide ones maketh them yield the more easily vnto it is impossible that the Elements should haue any other naturall figure in these their least partes then such as chance giueth them But that one part must be bigger then an other is euident for the nature of rarity and density giueth it the first of them causing diuisibility into litle partes and the latter hindering it Hauing then settled in what manner the Elements may be varied in the composition of bodies lett vs now beginne our mixture In which our ground to worke vpon must be earth and water for onely these two are the basis of permanent bodies that suffer our senses to take hold of them and that submitt themselues to tryall whereas if we should make the predominant Element to be ayre or fire and bring in the other two solide ones vnder their iurisdiction to make vp the mixture the compound resulting out of them would be eyther in continuall consumption as ordinary fire is or else imperceptible to our eyes or touch and therefore not a fitt subiect for vs to discourse of since the other two afford vs enough to speculate vpon Peraduenture our smell migh take some cognisance of a body so composed or the effect of it taken in by respiration might in time shew it selfe vpon our health but it concerneth not vs now to look so farre our designe requireth more maniable substances Of which lett water be the first and with it we will mingle the other three Elements in excesse ouer one an other by turnes but still all of them ouerswayed by a predominant quantity of water and then lett vs see what kind of bodies will result out of such proportions First if earth preuayle aboue fire and ayre and arriue next in proportion to the water a body of such a composition must needes prooue hardly liquide and not easy to lett its partes runne a sunder by reason of the great proportion of so dense a body as earth that holdeth it together Yet some inclination it will haue to fluidnesse by reason the water is predominant ouer all which also will make it be easily diuisible and giue very litle resistance to any hard thing that shall be applyed to make way through it In a word this mixture maketh the constitution of mudde durt honey butter and such like thinges where the maine partes are great ones And such are the partes of earth and water in themselues Lett the next proportion of excesse in a watry compound be of ayre which when it preuayleth it incorporateth it selfe chiefely with Earth for the other Elements would not so well retaine it Now because its partes are subtile by reason of the rarity it hath and sticking because of its humidity it driueth the Earth and water likewise into lesser partes The result of such a mixture is that the partes of a boby compounded by it are close catching flowing slowly glibbe and generally it will burne and be easily conuerted into flame Of this kind are those which we call oyly or vnctuous bodies whose great partes are easily separated that is they are easily diuisible in bulke but the small ones very hardly Next the smallnesse and well working of the partes by meanes of the ayres penetrating euery dense one and sticking close to euery one of them and consequently ioyning them without any vneuennesse causeth that there can be no ruggednesse in it and therefore it is glibbe in like manner as we see plaster or starch become smooth when they are well wrought Then the humidity of it causeth it to be catcking and the shortenesse of euery part maketh that where it sticketh it is not easily parted thence Now the rarity of ayre next vnto fire admitteth it to be of all the other Elements most easily brought to the height of fire by the operation of fire vpon it And therefore oyles are the proper foode of that Element And accordingly we see that if a droppe of oyle be spilled vpon a sheete of paper and the paper be sett on fire att a corner as the fire cometh neere the oyle the oyle will disperse and spread it selfe vpon the paper to a broader compasse then it had which is because the heat rarifyeth it and so in oyle it selfe the fire rarifying the ayre maketh it penetrate the earthy partes adioyned vnto it more then it did and so subtiliseth them till they be reduced to such a height as they are within the power of fire to communicate his owne nature vnto them and thus he turneth them into fire and carrieth them vp in his flame But if fire be predominant ouer earth and ayre in a watry compound it maketh the body so proportioned to be subtile rare penetratiue hoat in operation light in weight and subiect to burne Of this kind are all sortes of wines and distilled spirits commonly called strong waters or Aquauites in latine Aquae ardentes These will loose their vertues meerely by remaining vncouered in the ayre for fire doth not incorporate strongly with water but if it find meanes rayseth it selfe into the ayre as we see in the smoake of boyling water which is nothing else but litle bodies of fire that entring into the water do rarify some partes of it but haue no inclination to stay there and therefore as fast as they can gett out they fly away but the humide partes of the water which they haue rarifyed being of a sticking nature do ioyne themselues vnto them and ascend in the ayre as high as the fiery atomes haue strength to carry them which when it faileth them that smoake falleth downe in a dew and so becometh water againe as it was All which one may easily discerne in a glasse vessell of water sett ouer the fire in which one may obserue the fire come in att the bottome and presently swimme vp to the toppe like a litle bubble and immediately rise from thence in smoake and that will att last conuert it selfe into droppes and settle vpon some solide substance thereabouts Of these fyry spirits some are so subtile as of themselues they will vanish and leaue no residue of a body behind them and Alchymistes profâ—sse to make them so etheriall and volatile that being poured out of a glasse from some reasonable height they shall neuer reach the ground but
that before they come thither they will be so rarifyed by that litle motion as they shall grow inuisible like the ayre and dispersing themselues all about in it they will fill the chamber with the smell of that body which can no longer be seene The last excesse in watry bodies must be of water it selfe which is when so litle a proportion of any of the other is mingled with it as is hardly perceptible out of this composition do arise all those seuerall sortes of iuices or liquors which we commonly call waters which by their mixture with the other three Elements haue peculiar properties beyond simple Elementall water The generall qualities whereof we shall not neede any further to expresse because by what we haue already said of water in common they are sufficiently knowne In our next suruay we will take earth for our ground to worke vpon as hitherto we haue done water which if in any body it be in the vtmost excesse of it beyond all the other three then rockes and stones will grow out of it whose dryenesse ad hardnesse may assure vs that Earth swayeth in their composition with the least allay that may be Nor doth their lightnesse in respect of some other Earthy compositions impeach this resolution for that proceedeth from the greatnesse and multiplicity of pores wherewith their dryenesse causeth them to abound and hindereth not but that their reall solide partes may be very heauy Now if we mingle a considerable proportion of water with earth so as to exceede the fire and ayre but still inferior to the earth we shall produce mettalls whose great weight with their ductility and malleability plainely telleth vs that the smallest of waters grosse partes are the glew that holdeth the earthy dense ones together such weight belonging to earth and that easye changing of partes being most proper to water Quickesiluer that is the generall matter whereof all the mettalls are immediately coÌ„posed giueth vs euidence hereof for fire worketh vpon it with the same effect as vpon water And the calcination of most of the mettalls proueth that fire can easily part and consume the glew by which they were closed and held together which therefore must be rather of a watry then of an ayry substance Likewise the glibbenesse of Mercury and of melted mettalls without catching or sticking to other substances giueth vs to vnderstand that this great temper of a moyst Element with Earth is water and not ayre and that the watry partes are comprised and as it were shutt vp within the earthy ones for ayre catcheth and sticketh notably to all thinges it toucheth and will not be imprisoned the diuisibity of it being exceeding great though in neuer so short partes Now if ayre mingleth it selfe with earth and be predominant ouer water and fire it maketh such an oyly and fatt soile as husbandmen account their best mould which receiuing a betterment from the sunne and temperate heat assureth vs of the concurse of the ayre for wheresoeuer suâ—h heate is ayre can not faile of accompanying it or of being effected by it and the richest of such earth as port earth and marle will with much fire grow more compacted and sticke closer together then it did as we see in baking them into pottes or fine brickes Whereas if water were the glew betweene the dense partes fire would consume it and crumble them a sunder as it doth in those bodies it calcineth And excesse of fire will bring them to vitrification which still confirmeth that ayre aboundeth in them for it is the nature of ayre to sticke so close where once it is kneaded in as it can not be seperated without extreme difficulty And to this purpose the viscous holding together of the partes of glasse when it is melted sheweth euidently that ayre aboundeth in vitrifyed bodies The last mixture we are to meddle with is of fire with earth in an ouerruling proportion ouer ayre and water And this I conceiue produceth those substances which we may terme coagulated iuices and which the latines do call Succi concreti whos 's first origine seemeth to haue beene liquors that haue beene afterwardes dryed by the force eyther of heate or of cold Of this nature are all kind of saltes niters sulfurs and diuers sortes of bitumens All which easily bewray the relikes an deffects of fire left in them some more some lesse according to their degrees And thus we haue in generall deduced from their causes the complexions of those bodies whereof the bulke of the world subiected to our vse consisteth and which serue for the production and nourishment of liuing creatures both animall and vegetable Not so exactly I confesse nor so particularly as the matter in it selfe or as a treatise confined to that subiect would require yet sufficiently for our intent In the performance whereof if more accurate searchers of nature shall find that we haue peraduenture beene mistaken in the minute deliuering of some particular bodies complexion their very correction I dare boldly say will iustify our principall scope which is to shew that all the great variety we see among bodies ariseth out of the coÌ„mixtion of the first qualities and of the Elements for they will not be able to correct vs vpon any other groundes then those we haue layed As may easily be perceiued if we cast a summary view vpon the qualities of composed bodies All which we shall find to spring out of rarity and density and to sauour of their origine for the most manifest qualities of bodies may be reduced to certaine paires opposite to one an other As namely some are liquide and flowing others are consistent some are soft others hard some are fatty viscous and smooth others leane gritty and rough some grosse othert subtile some tough others brittle and the like Of which the liquide the soft the fatt and the viscous are so manifestly deriued from rarity that we neede not take any further paines to trace out their origine and the like is of their contraries from the contrary cause to witt of those bodies that are consistent hard leane and gritty all which do euidently spring from density As for smoothnesse we haue already shewed how that proceedeth from an ayry or oyly nature and by consequence from a certaine degree of rarity And therefore roughnesse the contrary of it must proceede from a proportionable degree of density Toughnesse is also a kind of ductility which we haue reduced to watrynesse that is to an other degree of rarity and consequently brittlenesse must arise from the contrary degree of density Lastly grossenesse and subtilenesse do consist in a difficulty or facility to be diuided into small partes which appeareth to be nothing else but a certaine determination of rarity and density And thus we see how the seuerall complexions of bodies are reduced to the foure Elements that compound them and the qualities of those bodies to the two primary differencies of
of it selfe yet euery one requireth to be directed and putt on in its motion by an other and they must all of them though of very different natures and kindes of motion conspire together to effect any thing that may be for the vse and seruice of the whole And thus we find in them perfectly the nature of a mouer and a moueable each of them mouing differently from one an other and framing to themselues their owne motions in such sort as is most agreeable to their nature when that part which setteth them on worke hath stirred them vp And now because these partes the mouers and the moued are partes of one whole we call the entire thing Automatum or se mouens or a liuing creature Which also may be fittly compared to a ioyner or a painter or other crafteâ—man that had his tooles so exactly fitted about him as when he had occasion to do any thing in his trade his toole for that action were already in the fittest positioÌ„ for it to be made vse of so as without remouing himselfe froÌ„ the place where he might sitt enuironed with his tooles he might by only pulling of some little chordes eyther apply the matter to any remote toole or any of his tooles to the matter he would worke vpon according as he findeth the one or the other more conuenient for performance of the action he intendeth Whereas in the other there is no variety of motions but one and the same goeth quite through the body froÌ„ one end of it to the other And the passage of the moysture through it from one part to an other next which is all the motion it hath is in a manner but like the rising of water in a stille which by heate is made to creepe vp by the sides of the glasse and from thence runneth through the nose of the limbâ—ke and falleth into the receiuer So that if we will say that a plant liueth or that the whole moueth it selfe and euery part moueth other it is to be vnderstood in a farre more imperfect manner then when we speake of an animall and the same wordes are attributed to both in a kind of aequiuocall sense But by the way I must note that vnder the title of plants I include not zoophytes or plantanimals that is such creatures as though they goe not from place to place and so cause a locall motion of their whole substance yet in their partes they haue a distinct and articulate motion But to leaue comparisons and come to the proper nature of the thinges lett vs frame a conception that not farre vnder the superficies of the earth there were gathered together diuers partes of little mixed bodies which in the whole summe were yet but little and that this little masse had some excesse of fire in it such as we see in wett hay or in muste of wine or in woort of beere and that withall the drought of it were in so high a degree as this heate should not find meanes being too much compressed to play his game and that lying there in the bosome of the earth it should after some little time receiue its expected and desired drinke through the beneuolence of the heauen by which it being moystened and thereby made more pliable and tender and easy to be wrought vpon the little partes of fire should breake loose and they finding this moysture a fitt subiect to worke vpon should driue it into all the partes of the little masse and digesting it there should make the masse swell Which action taking vp long time for performance of it in respect of the small encrease of bulke made in the masse by the swelling of it could not be hindered by the pressing of the earth though lying neuer so weightily vpon it according to the maxime we haue aboue deliuered that any little force be it neuer so little is able to ouercome any great resistance be it neuer so powerfull if the force do multiply the time it worketh in sufficiently to equalife the proportions of the agent and the resistant This encrease of bulke and swelling of the litle masse will of its owne nature be towardes all sides by reason of the fire and heate that occasioneth it whose motion is on euery side from the center to the circumference but it will be most efficacious vpwardes towardes the ayre because the resistance is least that way both by reason of the litle thicknesse of the earth ouer it as also by reason that the vpper part of the earth lyeth very loose and is exceeding porous through the continuall operation of the sunne and falling of raine vpon it It can not choose therefore but mount to the ayre and the same cause that maketh it do so presseth att the same time the lower partes of the masse downewardes But what ascendeth to the ayre must be of the hoater and more moist partes of the fermenting masse and what goeth downewardes must be of his harder and dryer partes proportionate to the contrary motioÌ„s of fire and of earth which predominate in these two kindes of partes Now this that is pushed vpwardes coming aboue ground and being there exposed to sunne and wind contracteth thereby a hard and rough skinne on its outside but within is more tender in this sort it defendeth it selfe from outward iniuries of weather whiles it mounteth and by thrusting other partes downe into the earth it holdeth it selfe steadfast that although the wind may shake it yet it can not ouerthrow it The greater this plant groweth the more iuice is dayly accrewed vnto it and the heate is encreased and consequently the greater aboundance of humors is continually sent vp Which when it beginneth to clogge att the toppe new humour pressing vpwardes forceth a breach in the skinne and so a new piece like the maine stemme is thrust out and beginneth on the sides which we call a branch Thus is our plaÌ„t amplifyed till nature not being able still to breede such strong issues falleth to workes of lesse labour and pusheth forth the most elaborate part of the plants iuice into more tender substances but especially att the endes of the branches where aboundant humour but att the first not well concocted groweth into the shape of a button and more and better concocted humour succeding it groweth softer and softer the sunne drawing the subtilest partes outwardes excepting what the coldnesse of the ayre and the roughnesse of the wind do harden into an outward skinne So then the next partes to the skinne are tender but the very middle of this button must be hard and dry by reason that the sunne from without and the naturall heate within drawing and driuing out the moysture and extending it from the center must needes leaue the more earthy partes much shruÌ„cke vp and hardened by their euaporating out from them whâ—ch hardening being an effect of fire within and without that baketh this hard substance incorporateth much of it selfe with it as we
surfaces 9 A body of greater partes and greater pores maketh a greater refraction then one of lesser partes and lesser pores 10 A coÌ„firmation of the former doctrine out of the nature of bodies that refract light 1 The coÌ„nexion of this chapter with the rest and the Authors intent in it 2 That there is a least cise of bodies and that this least cise is found in fire 3 The first coniunction of partes is in bodies of least cise and it is made by the force of Quantity 4 The second sort of coniunction is coÌ„pactednesse in simple Elements and it proceedeth from density 5 The third coniunction is of partes of different Elements and it proceedeth from quantity and density together 6 The reason why liquide bodies do easily ioyne together and dry ones difficultly 7 That no two hard bodies can touch one an other immediately 8 How mixed bodies arâ— framed in generall 9 The cause of the seuerall degrees of solidity in mixed bodies 10 The rule wherevnto are reduced all the seuerall combinations of Elements in compounding of mixed bodies 11 Earth and water are the basis of all permanent mixed bodies 12 What kind of bodies those are where water is the basis and earth the predominant Element ouer the other two 13 Of those bodies where water being the basis ayre is the predominant Element 14 What kind of bodies result where water is the basis and fire the predominant Element 15 Of those bodies where water is in excesse it alone being both the basis and the predominant Element 16 Of those bodies where Earth alone is the basis and also the predominant in excesse ouer the other threâ— Elements 17 Of those bodies where Earth is the basis and water the predominâ—t Element ouer the other two 18 Of those bodies where earth being the basis ayre is the predominant 19 Of those bodies where Earth being the basis fire is the predominant 20 All the second qualities of mixed bodies arise from seuerall combinations of the first qualities and are att last resolued into seuerall degrees of rarity and density 21 That in the planets and starres there is a like varietâ— of mixed bodies caused by light as here vpon Earth 22 In what maÌ„ner the Elements do worke vpon one an other in the compositioÌ„ of mixed bodies and in particular fire which is the most actiue 23 A particular declaration touching the generation of mettalls 1 Why some bodies are brittle and others tough or apt to withstand outward violence the first instrument to dissolue mixed bodies 2 How outward violence doth worke vpon the most compacted bodies 3 The seuerall effects of fire the second and chiefest instrumeÌ„t to dissolue all coÌ„pounded bodies 4 The reason why some bodies are not dissolued by fire 5 The reason why fire molteth gold but can not consume it 6 Why leade is easily consumed and calcined by fire 7 Why and how some bodies are diuided by fire into spirits waters oyles saltes and earth And what those partes are 8 How water the third iâ—strumeÌ„t to dissolue bodies dissolueth calx into salt and so into Terra damnata 9 How water mingled with salt becometh a most powerfull Agent to dissolue other bodies 10 How putrefactioÌ„ is caused 1 What is the sphere of actiuity in corporeall Agents 2 The reason why no body can worke in distance 3 An obiection answered against the manner of explicating the former axiomâ— 4 Of reaction and first in pure locall motion that each AgeÌ„t must suffer in acting and actâ— in suffering 5 The former doctrine applyed to other locall motions designed by particular names And that Suisseths argument is of no force against this way of doctrine 6 Why some notions do admitt of intension and Remission and others do not 7 That in euery part of our habitable world all the foure ElemeÌ„ts are found pure in small atomes but not in any great bulke 1 The Authors intent in this and the following chapters Mr. Thomas White 2 That bodies may be rarifyed both by outward and inward heat and how this is performed 3 Of the great effects of Rarefaction 4 The first manner of condensation by heate 5 The second manner of condensation by cold 6 That yce is not water rarifyed but condensed 7 How wind snow and haile are made and wind by raine allayed 8 How partes of the same or diuers bodies are ioyned more strongly together by condensation 9 Vacuites can not be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstaÌ„ding receiue more of an other 10 The true reason of the former effect 11 The reason why bodies of the same nature do ioyne more easily together then others 1 What AttractioÌ„ is and from whence it proceedeth 2 The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhorreth from vacuity 3 The true reasâ— of attraction 4 Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soeuer 5 The doctrine touching the attraction of water in syphons 6 That the syphon doth not proue water to weigh in its owne orbe 7 Concerning attraction caused by fire 8 Concerning attractioÌ„ made by vertue of hoat bodies amulets etc. 9 The naturall reason giuen for diuers operations esteemed by some to be magicall 1 What is Filtration and how it is effected 2 What causeth the water in filtration to ascend 3 Why the filter will not droppe vnlesse the labell hang lower then the water 4 Of the motion of Restitution and why some bodies stand bent others not 5 Why some bodies returne onely in part to their natural figure others entirely 6 Concerning the nature of those bodies which do shrinke and stretch 7 How great and wonderfull effects proceed from small plaine and simple principles 8 Concerning Electricall attraction and the causes of it 9 Cabeus his opinion refuted concerning the cause of Electricall motâ—ons 1 The extreme heat of the sunne vnder the zodiacke draweth a streame of ayre from each Pole into the torride zone Chap. 18. §. 7. 2 The atomes of these two streames coming together are apt to incorporate with one an other 3 By the meeting and mingling together of these streames att the Equator diuers riuolets of atomes of each Pole are continuatâ—d from one Pole to the other 4 Of these atomes incorporated with some fitt matter in the bowels of the earth is made a stone 5 This stone worketh by emanations ioyned with agreeing streames that meete them in the ayre and in fine it is a loadestone 6 A methode for making experiences vpon any subiect 7 The Loadestones generatioÌ„ by atomes flowing from both Poles is confirmed by experiments obserued in the stone it selfe 8 Experiments to proue that the loadestone worketh by emanations meeting with agreeing streames 1 The operations of the loadestone are wrought by bodies and not by qualities 2 Obiections against the former positioÌ„ answered 3 The loadestone is imbued
shelter of a thicke body doth not hinder the descent of that which is vnder it pag. 91. § 6. The reason why some bodies sinke others swimme pag. 92. § 7. The fifth obiection answered concerning the descending of heauy bodies in streames pag. 93. § 8. The sixt obiection answered and that all heauy elements do weigh in their owne spheres pag. 95. § 9. The seuenth obiection answered and the reason why we do not feele the course of the ayre and atomes that beate continually vpon vs. ibidem § 10. How in the same body grauity may be greater then density and density then grauity though they be the same thing pag. 96. § 11. The opinion of grauities being an intrinsecall inclination of a body to the center refuted by reason pag 97. § 12. The same opinion refuted by seuerall experiences pag. 98. CHAP. XII Of Violent Motion pag. 100. § 1. The state of the question touching the cause of violent motion ibid. § 2. That the medium is the onely cause which continueth violent motion ibidem § 3. A further explication of the former doctrine pag. 101. § 4. That the ayre hath strength enough to continue violent motion in a moueable pag. 102. § 5. An answere to the first obiection that ayre is not apt to conserue motion And how violent motion cometh to cease pag 103. § 6. An answere to the second obiection that the ayre hath no power ouer heauy bodies pag. 104. § 7. An answere to the third obiection that an arrow should fly faster broadwayes then long wayes pag. 105. CHAP. XIII Of three sortes of violent motion Reflexion Vndulation and Refraction pag. 106. § 1. That reflexion is a kind of violent motion ibid. § 2. Reflection is made at equall angles ibid. § 3. The causes and properties of vndulation pag. 107. § 4. Refraction at the entrance into the reflectent body is towardes the perpendicular at the going out it is from it when the second superficies is parallel to the first pag. 108. § 5. A refutation of Monsieur Des Cartes his explication of refraction pag. 109. § 6. An answere to the arguments brought in fauour of Monsieur Des Cartes his opinion pag. 111. § 7. The true cause of refraction of light both at its entrance and at its going out from the reflecting body pag. 112. § 8. A generall rule to know the nature of reflection and refractions in all sortes of surfaces pag. 113. § 9. A body of greater partes and greater pores maketh a greater refraction then one of lesser partes and lesser pores pag. 114. § 10. A confirmation of the former doctrine out of the nature of bodies that refract light pag. 115. CHAP. XIV Of the composition qualities and generation of Mixed bodies pag. 116. § 1. The connexion of this chapter with the rest and the Authors intent in it ibid. § 2. That there is a least cise of bodies and that this least cise is found in fire pag. 117. § 3. The first coniunction of partes is in bodies of least cise and it is made by the force of Quantity ibid. § 4. The second sort of coniunction is compactednesse in simple Elements and it procedeth from density pag. 118. § 5. The third coniunction is of parres of different Elements and it proceedeth from quantity and density together ibid. § 6. The reason why liquide bodies do easily ioyne together and dry ones difficultly pag. 119. § 7. That no two hard bodies can touch one an other immediately ibid. § 8. How mixed bodies are framed in generall pag. 121. § 9. The cause of the seuerall degrees of solidity in mixed bodies ibid. § 10. The rule where vnto are reduced all the seuerall combinations of Elements in compounding of mixed bodies pag. 122. § 11. Earth and water are the basis of all permanent mixed bodies pag. 123. § 12. What kind of bodies those are where water is the basis and earth the predominant Element ouer the other two ibid. § 13. Of those bodies where water being the basis ayre is the predominant Element ibid. § 14. What kind of bodies result where water is the basis and fire the predominant Element pag. 124. § 15. Of those bodies where water is in excesse it alone being both the basis and the predominant Element pag. 125. § 16. Of those bodies where Earth alone is the basis and also the predominant in excesse ouer the other three Elements ibid. § 17. Of those bodies where Earth is the basis and water the predominant Element ouer the other two ibid. § 18. Of those bodies where earth being the basis ayre is the predominant ibid. § 19. Of those bodies where Earth being the basis fire is the predominant pag. 126. § 20. All the secōd qualities of mixed bodies arise from seuerall combinations of the first qualities and are att last resolued into seuerall degrees of rarity and density ibid. § 21. That in the planets and starres there is a like variety of mixed bodies cause by light as here vpon Earth pag. 127. § 22. In what manner the Elements do worke vpon one an other in the composition of mixed bodies and in particular fire which is the most actiue ibid. § 23. A particular declaration touching the generation of mettalls pag. 128. CHAP. XV. Of the dissolution of Mixed bodies pag. 130. § 1. Why some bodies are brittle and others tough or apt to withstand outward violence the first instrument to dissolue mixed bodies ibid. § 2. How outward violence doth worke vpon the most compacted bodies pag. 131. § 3. The seueral effects of fire the second and chiefest instrument to dissolue all compounded bodies ibid. § 4. The reason why some bodies are not dissolued by fire pag. 132. § 5. The reason why fire melteth gold but can not consume it ibid. § 6. Why leade is easily consumed and calcined by fire pag. 133. § 7. Why and how some bodies are diuided by fire into spirits waters oyles saltes and earth And what those partes are ibid. § 8. How water the third instrument to dissolue bodies dissolueth calx into salt and so into Terra damnata pag. 135. § 9. How water mingled with salt becometh a most powerfull Agent to dissolue other bodies pag. 136. § 10. How putrefaction is caused ibid. CHAP. XVI An explication of certaine Maximes touching the operations and qualities of bodies and whether the Elements be found pure in any part of the world pag. 137. § 1. What is the sphere of actiuity in corporeall Agents ibid. § 2. The reason why no body can worke in distance pag. 138. § 3. An obiection answered against the manner of explicating the former axiome pag. 139 § 4. Of reaction and first in pure locall motion that each Agent must suffer in acting and acte in suffering ibid. § 5. The former doctrine applyed to other locall motions designed by particular names And that Suisseths argument is of no force against this way of doctrine pag. 141. § 6. Why some notions do admitt
light which two termes passe through all the bodies we haue notice of Therefore proceeding vpon our groundes before layed to witt that no body can be mooued of it selfe wee may determine those motions to be naturall vnto bodies which haue constant causes or percutients to make them alwayse in such bodies and those violent which are contrary to such naturall motions Which being supposed we must search out the causes that so constantly make some bodies descend towardes the center or middle of the earth and others to rise and goe from the center by which the world is subiect to those restlesse motions that keepe all thinges in perpetuall fluxe in this changeing sphere of action and passion Lett vs then begin with considering what effects the sunne which is a constant and perpetuall cause worketh vpon inferior bodies by his being regularly sometimes present and sometimes absent Obserue in a pott of water hanging ouer a fire how the heate maketh some partes of the water to ascend and others to supply the roome by descending so that as long as it boyleth it is in a perpetuall confused motion vp and downe Now hauing formely cōcluded that fire is light and light is fire it can not be doubted but that the sunne doth serue instead of fire to our globe of earth and water which may be fittly compared to the boyling pott and all the day long draweth vapors from those bodies that his beames strike vpon For he shooting his little darts of fire in multitudes and in continued streames from his owne center against the Python the earth we liue on they do there ouertake one an other and cause some degree of heate as farre as they sinke in But not being able by reason of their great expansion in their long iorney to conuert it into their owne nature and sett it on fire which requireth a high degree of condensation of the beames they do but pierce and diuide it very subtilely and cutt some of the outward partes of it into extreme litle atomes Vnto which they sticking very close and being in a manner incorporated with them by reason of the moisture that is in thē they do in their rebound backe from the earth carry them along with them like a ball that struck against a moist wall doth in its returne from it bring backe some of the mortar sticking vpon it For the distance of the earth from the sunne is not the vtmost periode of these nimble bodies flight so that when by this solide body they are stopped in their course forwardes on they leape backe from it and carry some litle partes of it with them some of them a farther some of them a shorter iorney according as their litlenesse and rarity make them fitt to ascend As is manifest by the consent of all authors that write of the regions of the ayre who determine the lower region to reach as farre as the reflexion of the sunne and conclude this region to be very hoat For if we marke how the heate of fire is greatest when it is incorporated in some dense body as in iron or in seacoale we shall easily conceiue that the heate of this region proceedeth mainely out of the incorporation of light with those litle bodies which sticke to it in its reflexion And experience testifyeth the same both in our sultry dayes which we see are of a grosse temper and ordinarily goe before raine as also in the hoat springes of extreme cold countries where the first heates are vnsufferable which proceede out of the resolution of humidity congealed and in hoat windes which the Spaniards call Bochornos from Boca de horno by allusion to the breathing steame of an ouen when it is opened which do manifestly shew that the heate of the sunne is incorporated in the litle bodies which compose the steame of that wind And by the principles we haue already layed the same would be euident though we had no experience to instruct vs for seeing that the body of fire is dry the wett partes which are easilyest resolued by fire must needes sticke vnto them and accompany them in their returne from the earth Now whiles these ascend the ayre must needes cause others that are of a grosser complexion to descend as fast to make roome for the former and to fill the places they left that there may be no vacuity in nature And to find what partes they are and from whence they come that succeede in the roome of light and atomes glewed together that thus ascend we may take a hinte from the maxime of the Optikes that light reflecting maketh equall angles whence supposing the superficies of the earth to be circular it will follow that a perpendicular to the center passeth iust in the middle betweene the two rayes the incident and the reflected Wherefore the ayre betweene these two rayes and such dodies as are in it being equally pressed on both sides those bodies which are iust in the middle are neerest and likelyest to succeede immediately in the roome of the light and atomes which ascend from the superficies of the earth and their motion to that point is vpon the perpendicular Hence it is euident that the ayre and all such bodies as descend to supply the place of light and atomes which ascend from the earth do descend perpendicularly towardes the center of the earth And againe such bodies as by the force of light being cutt from the earth or water do not ascend in forme of light but do incorporate a hidden light and heate within them and thereby are rarer then these descending bodies must of necessity be lifted vp by the descent of those denser bodies that goe downewardes because they by reason of their density are mooued with a greater force And this lifting vp must be in a perpendicular line because the others descending on all sides perpendicularly must needes raise those that are betweene them equally from all sides that is perpendicularly from the center of the earth And thus we see a motion sett on foote of some bodies continually descending and others continually ascending all in perpendicular lines excepting those which follow the course of lights reflexion Againe as soone as the declining sunne groweth weaker or leaueth our horizon and that his beames vanishing do leaue the litle horsemen which rode vpon them to their owne temper and nature from whence they forced them they finding themselues surrounded by a smart descending streame do tumble downe againe in the night as fast as in the day they were carryed vp and crowding into their former habitations they exclude those that they find had vsurped them in their absence And thus all bodies within reach of the sunnes power but especially our ayre are in perpetuall motion the more rarifyed ones ascending and the dense ones descending Now thē because no bodies wheresoeuer they be as we haue already shewed haue any inclination to moue towardes a particular place otherwise thē as they are
is manifest that in a violent motion the force which mooueth a body in the end of its course is weaker then that which mooueth it in the beginning and the like is of the two stringes But here it is not amisse to solue a Probleme he putteth which belongeth to our present subiect He findeth by experience that if two bodies descend att the same time from the same point and do goe to the same point the one by the inferiour quarter of the cercle the other by the chord to that arch or by any other lines which are chordes to partes of that arch he findeth I say that the mooueable goeth faster by the arch then by any of the chordes And the reason is euident if we consider that the neerer any motion doth come vnto a perpendicular one downewardes the greater velocity it must haue and that in the arch of such a quadrant euery particular part of it inclineth to the perpendicular of the place where it is more then the part of the chord answerable vnto it doth THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER An answere to obiections against the causes of naturall motion auowed in the former chapter and a refutation of the contrary opinion BVt to returne to the thridde of our doctrine there may peraduenture be obiected against it that if the violence of a bodies descent towardes the center did proceede onely from the density of it which giueth it an aptitude the better to cutt the medium and from the multitude of litle atomes descending that strike vpon it and presse it the way they goe which is downewardes then it would not import whether the inner part of that body were as solide as the outward partes for it cutteth with onely the outward and is smitten onely vpon the outward And yet experience sheweth vs the contrary for a great bullet of lead that is solide and lead throughout descendeth faster then if three quarters of the diameter were hollow within and such a one falling vpon any resisting substance worketh a greater effect then a hollow one And a ball of brasse that hath but a thinne outside of mettall will swimme vpon the water when a massie one sinketh presently Whereby it appeareth that it is rather some other quality belonging to the very bulke of the metall in it selfe and not these outward causes that occasion grauity But this difficulty is easily ouercome if you consider how subtile those atomes are which descending downewardes and striking vpon a body in their way do cause its motion likewise downewardes for you may remember how we haue shewed them to be the subtilest and the minutest diuisions that light the subtilest and sharpest diuider in nature can make It is then easye to conceiue that these extreme subtile bodies do penetrate all others as light doth glasse and do runne through them as sand doth through a small sieue or as water through a spunge so that they strike not onely vpon the superficies but aswell in euery most interiour part of the whole body running quite through it all by the pores of it And then it must needes follow that the solider it is and the more partes it hath within as well as without to be strucken vpon the faster it must goe and the greater effect it must worke in what it falleth vpon whereas if three quarters of the diameter of it within should be filled with nothing but with ayre the atomes would fly without any considerable effect through all that space by reason of the rarity and cessibility of it And that these atomes are thus subtile is manifest by seuerall effects which we see in nature Diuers Authors that write of Egypt do assure vs that though their houses be built of strong stone neuerthelesse a clodde of earth layed in the inmost roomes and shutt vp from all appearing communication with ayre will encrease its weight so notably as thereby they can iudge the change of weather which will shortly ensue Which can proceede from no other cause but from a multitude of litle atomes of saltpeter which floating in the ayre do penetrate through the strongest walls and all the massie defences in their way and do settle in the clodde of earth as soone as they meete with it because it is of a temper fitt to entertaine and to conserue and to embody them Delights haue shewed vs the way how to make the spirits or atomes of snow and saltpeter passe through a glasse vessell which Alchimists hold to be the most impenetrable of all they can find to worke with In our owne bodies the aches which feeble partes do feele before change of weather and the heauynesse of our heades and shoulders if we remaine in the open ayre presently after sunnesett do aboundantly testify that euen the grosser of these atomes which are the first that fall do vehemently penetrate our bodies so as sense will make vs beleeue what reason peraduenture could not But besides all this there is yet a more conuincing reason why the descending atomes should mooue the whole density of a body euen though it were so dense that they could not penetrate it and gett into the bowels of it but must be content to strike barely vpon the outside of it For nature hath so ordered the matter that when dense partes sticke close together and make the length composed of them to be very stiffe one can not be mooued but that all the rest which are in that line must likewise be thereby mooued so that if all the world wery composed of atomes close sticking together the least motion imaginable must driue on all that were in a straight line to the very end of the world This you see is euident in reason And experience confirmeth it when by a litle knocke giuen att the end of a long beame the shaking which maketh sound reacheth sensibly to the other end The blind man that gouerneth his steppes by feeling in defect of eyes receiueth aduertisements of remote thinges through a staffe which he holdeth in his handes peraduenture more particularly then his eyes could haue directed him And the like is of a deafe man that heareth the sound of an instrument by holding one end of a sticke in his mouth whiles the other end resteth vpō the instrumēt And some are of opiniō and they not of the ranke of vulgar Philosophers that if a staffe were as long as to reach from the sunne to vs it would haue the same effect in a moment of time Although for my part I am hard to beleeue that we could receiue an aduertisement so farre vnlesse the staffe were of such a thicknesse as being proportionable to the length might keepe it from facile bending for if it should be very plyant it would do vs no seruice as we experience in a thridde which reaching from our hand to the ground if it knocke against any thing maketh no sensible impression in our hand So that in fine reason sense and authority do all of them
all the ayre in this our hemisphere is as it were strewed ouer and sowed with aboundance of northerne atomes and that some brookes of them are in station others in a motion of retrogradation backe to their owne north pole the southerne atomes which coming vpon them att the equator do not onely presse in among them wheresoeuer they can find admittance but do also go on fowardes to the north pole in seuerall files by themselues being driuen that way by the same accidentall causes which make the others retire backe seising in their way vpon the northerne ones in such manner as we described in filtration and thereby creeping along by them wheresoeuer they find them standing still and going along with them wheresoeuer they find them going backe must of necessity find passage in great quantities towardes and euen to the north pole though some partes of them will euer and anone be checked in this their iourney by the maine current preuayling ouer some accidentall one and so be carried backe againe to the aequator whose line they had crossed And this effect can not choose but be more or lesse according to the seasons of the yeare for when the sunne is in the Tropike of Capricorne the southerne atomes will flow in much more aboundance and with farre greater speede into the torride zone then the northerne atomes can by reason of the sunnes approximation to the south and his distance from the north pole since he worketh faintest where he is furthest off and therefore from the north no more emanations or atomes will be drawne but such as are most subtilised and duly prepared for that course And since onely these selected bandes do now march towardes the aequator their files must needes be thinner then when the sunnes being in the aequator or Tropike of Cancer wakeneth and mustereth vp all their forces And consequently the quiett partes of ayre betweene their files in which like atomes are also scattered are the greater whereby the aduenient southerne atomes haue the larger filter to clymbe vp by And the like happeneth in the other hemisphere when the sunne is in the Tropike of Cancer as who will bestow the paines to compare them will presently see Now then lett vs consider what these two streames thus incorporated must of necessity do in the surface or vpper partes of the earth First it is euident they must needes penetrate a pretty depth into the earth for so freesing persuadeth vs and much more the subtile penetration of diuers more spirituall bodies of which we haue sufficiently discoursed aboue Now lett vs conceiue that these steames do find a body of a conuenient density to incorporate themselues in in the way of density as we see that fire doth in iron and in other dense bodies and this not for an houre or two as happeneth in fire but for yeares as I haue beene told that in the extreme cold hilles in the Peake in Darbyshire happeneth to the dry atomes of cold which are permanently incorporated in water by long continuall freesing and so make a kind of chrystall In this case certainely it must come to passe that this body will become in a māner wholy of the nature of these steames which because they are drawne from the Poles that abound in cold and drynesse for others that haue not these qualities do not contribute to the intended effect the body is aptest to become a stone for so we see that cold and drought turneth the superficiall partes of the earth into stones and rockes and accordingly wheresoeuer cold and dry windes raigne powerfully all such countries are mainely rocky Now then lett vs suppose this stone to be taken out of the earth and hanged in the ayre or sett conueniently vpon some little pinne or otherwise putt in liberty so as a small impulse may easily turne it any way it will in this case certainely follow that the end of the stone which in the earth lay towardes the north pole will now in the ayre conuert it selfe in the same manner towardes the same point and the other end which lay towardes the south turne by consequence to the south I speake of these countries which lye betweene the aequator and the North in which it can not choose but that the streame going from the north to the aequator must be stronger then the opposite one Now to explicate how this is done suppose the stone hanged east and west freely in the ayre the streame which is drawne from the north pole of the earth rangeth along by it in its course to the aequator and finding in the stone the south steame which is growne innate to it very strong it must needes incorporate it selfe with it and most by those partes of the steame in the stone which are strongest which are they that come directly from the North of the stone by which I meane that part of the stone that lay northward in the earth and that still looketh to the north pole of the earth now it is in the ayre And therefore the great flood of atomes coming from the north pole of the earth will incorporate it selfe most strongly by the north end of the stone with the little flood of southerne atomes it findeth in the stone for that end serueth for the coming out of the southerne atomes and sendeth them abroad as the south end doth the northerne steame since the steames do come in att one end and do go out att the opposite end From hence we may gather that this stone will ioyne and cleaue to its attractiue whensoeuer it happeneth to be within the sphere of its actiuity Besides if by some accident it should happen that the atomes or steames which are drawne by the sunne from the Polewardes to the aequator should come stronger from some part of the earth which is on the side hand of the Pole then from the very Pole it selfe in this case the stone will turne from the Pole towardes that side Lastly whatsoeuer this stone will do towardes the Pole of the earth the very same a lesser stone of the same kind will do towardes a greater And if there be any kind of other substance that hath participation of the nature of this stone such a substance will behaue it selfe towardes this stone in the same manner as such a stone behaueth it selfe towardes the earth all the Phenomens whereof may be the more plainely obserued if the stone be cutt into the forme of the earth And thus we haue found a perfect delineation of the loadestone from its causes for there is no man so ignorant of the nature of a loadestone but he knoweth that the properties of it are to tend towardes the North to vary sometimes to ioyne with an other loadestone to draw iron vnto it and such like whose causes you see deliuered But to come to experimentall proofes and obseruations vpon the loadestone by which it will appeare that these causes are well esteemed and
of this that a greater loadestone hath more effect then a lesser and that if you cutt away part of a loadestone part of his vertue is likewise taken from him and if the partes be ioyned againe the whole becometh as strong as it was before Againe if a loadestone touch a longer iron it giueth it lesse force then if it touch a shorter iron nay the vertue in any part is sensibly lesser according as it is further from the touched part Againe the longer an iron is in touching the greater vertue it getteth and the more constant And both an iron and a loadestone may loose their vertue by long lying out of their due order and situation eyther to the earth or to an other loadestone Besides if a loadestone do touch a long iron in the middle of it he diffuseth his vertue equally towardes both endes and if it be a round plate he diffuseth his vertue equally to all sides And lastly the vertue of a loadestone as also of an iron touched is lost by burning it in the fire All which symptomes agreeing exactly with the rules of bodies do make it vndenyable that the vertue of the loadestone is a reall and solide body Against this position Cabeus obiecteth that little atomes would not be able to penetrate all sortes of bodies as we see the vertue of the loadestone doth And vrgeth that although they should be allowed to do so yet they could not be imagined to penetrate thicke and solide bodies so soddainely as they would do thinne ones and would certainely shew then some signe of facility or difficulty of passing in the interposition and in the taking away of bodies putt betweene the loadestone and the body it worketh vpon Secondly he obiecteth that atomes being little bodies they can not moue in an instant as the working of the loadestone seemeth to do And lastly that the loadestone by such aboundance of continuall euaporations would quickely be consumed To the first we answere that atomes whose nature it is to pierce iron can not reasonably be suspected of inability to penetrate any other body and that atomes can penetrate iron is euident in the melting of it by fire And indeed this obiection cometh now too late after we haue so largely declared the diuisibility of quantity and the subtility of nature in reducing all thinges into extreme small partes for this difficulty hath no other auow then the tardity of our imaginations in subtilising sufficiently the quantitatiue partes that issue out of the loadestone As for any tardity that may be expected by the interposition of a thicke or dense body there is no appearance of such since we see light passe through thicke glasses without giuing any signe of meeting with the least opposition in its passage as we haue aboue declared att large and magneticall emanations haue the aduantage of light in this that they are not obliged to straight lines as light is Lastly as for loadestones spending of themselues by still venting their emanations odoriferous bodies furnish vs with a full answere to that obiection for they do continue many yeares palpably spending of themselues and yet keepe their odour in vigour whereas a loadestone if it be layed in a wrong position will not continue halfe so long The reason of the duration of both which maketh the matter manifest and taketh away all difficulty which is that as in a roote of a vegetable there is a power to change the aduenient iuice into its nature so is there in such like thinges as these a power to change the ambient ayre into their owne substance as euident experience sheweth in the Hermetike salt as some moderne writers call it which is found to be rapayred and encreased in its weight by lying in the ayre and the like happeneth to saltpeter And in our present subiect experience informeth vs that a loadestone will grow stronger by lying in due position eyther to the earth or to a stronger loadestone whereby it may be better impregnated and as it were feed it selfe with the emanatiōs issuing out of them into it Our next position is that this vertue cometh to a magnetike body from an other body as the nature of bodies is to require a being moued that they may moue And this is euident in iron which by the touch or by standing in due position neere the loadestone gaineth the power of the loadestone Againe if a smith in beating his iron into a rodde do obserue to lay it north and south it getteth a direction to the north by the very beating of it Likewise if an iron rodde be made red hoat in the fire and be kept there a good while together and when it is taken out be layed to coole iust north and south it will acquire the same direction towardes the north And this is true not only of iron but also of all other sortes of bodies whatsoeuer that endure such ignition particularly of pottearthes which if they be moulded in a long forme and when they are taken out of the kilne be layed as we sayd of the iron to coole north and south will haue the same effect wrought in them And iron though it hath not beene heated but only hath cōtinued long vnmoued in the same situation of north and south in a building yet it will haue the same effect So as it can not be denyed but that this vertue cometh vnto iron frō other bodies whereof one must be a secret influēce from the north And this is confirmed by a loadestones loosing its vertue as we said before by lying a long time vnduly disposed eyther towardes the earth or towardes a stronger loadestone whereby insteed of the former it gaineth a new vertue according to that situation And this happeneth not only in the vertue which is resident and permanent in a loadestone or a touched iron but likewise in the actuall motion or operation of them As may be experienced first in this that the same loadestone or touched irō in the south hemisphere of the world hath its operatiō strongest att that end of it which tendeth to the north and in the north hemisphere att the end which tēdeth to the south each pole communicating a vigour proportionable to its owne strēgth in the climate where it is receiued Secondly in this that an iron ioyned to a loadestone or within the sphere of the loadestones working will take vp an other piece of iron greater then the loadestone of it selfe can hold and as soone as the holding iron is remoued out of the sphere of the loadestones actiuity it presently letteth fall the iron it formerly held vp and this is so true that a lesser loadestone may be placed in such sort within the sphere of a greater loadestones operation as to take away a piece of iron from the greater loadestone and this in vertue of the same greater loadestone from which it plucketh it for but remoue the lesser out of the sphere of the greater
and growing The other colours keeping their standing betwixt these are generated by the mixture of them and according as they partake more or lesse of eyther of them are neerer or further off from it So that after all this discourse we may conclude in short that the colour of a body is nothing else but the power which that body hath of reflecting light vnto the eye in a certaine order and position and consequently is nothing else but the very superficies of it with its asperity or smoothnesse with its pores or inequalities with its hardenesse or softnesse and such like The rules and limits whereof if they were duely obserued and ordered the whole nature and science of colours would easily be knowne and be described But out of this litle which we haue deliuered of this subiect it may be rightly inferred that reall colours do proceed from Rarity and Density as euen now we touched and haue their head and spring there and are not strange qualities in the ayre but are tractable bodies on the earth as all others are which as yet we haue found and haue meddled with all and are indeed the very bodies themselues causing such effects vpon our eye by reflecting of light which we expresse by the names of colours THE THIRTIETH CHAPTER Of luminous or apparente Colours AS for the luminous colours whose natures art hath made more maniable by vs then those which are called reall colours and are permanent in bodies their generation is cleerely to be seene in the Prisme or triangular glasse we formely mentioned The considering of which will confirme our doctrine that euen the colours of bodies are but various mixtures of light and shadowes diuersly reflected to our eyes For the right vnderstanding of them we are to note that this glasse maketh apparitions of colours in two sorts the one when looking through it there appeare various colours in the obiects you looke vpon different from their reall ones according to the position you hold the glasse in when you looke vpon them The other sort is when the beames of light that passe through the glasse are as it were tincted in their passage and are cast by the glasse vpon some solide obiect and do appeare there in such and such colours which do continue still the same in what position soeuer you stand to looke vpon them eyther before or behind or on any side of the glasse Secondly we are to note that these colours are generally made by refraction though sometimes it may happen otherwise as aboue we haue mentioned To discouer the reason of the first sort of colours that appeare by refraction when one looketh through the glasse lett vs suppose two seuerall bodies the one blacke the other white lying close by one an other and in the same horizontall parallele but so that the blacke be further from vs then the white then if we hold the Prisme through which we are to see these two oppositely coloured bodies somewhat aboue them and that side of it att which the coloured bodies must enter into the glasse to come to our eye parallele vnto those bodies it is euident that the blacke will come into the prisme by lesser angles theÌ„ the white I meane that in the line of distance from that face of the glasse att which the colours do come in a loÌ„ger line or part of blacke will subtend an angle no bigger then a lesser line or part of white doth subtend Thirdly we are to note that from the same poynt of the obiect there come various beames of light to that whole superficies of the glasse so that it may and sometimes doth happen that from the same part of the obiect beames may be reflected to the eye from seuerall partes of that superficies of the glasse att which they enter And whensoeuer this happeneth the obiect must necessarily be seene in diuers partes that is the picture of it will att the same time appeare to the eye in diuers places And particularly we may plainely obserue two pictures one a liuely and strong one the other a faint and dimme one Of which the dimme one will appeare neerer vs then the liuely one and is caused by a secondary ray or rather I should say by a longer ray that striking neerer to the hither â—dge of the glasses superficies which is the furthest from the obiect maketh a more acute angle then a shorter ray doth that striketh vpon a part of the glasse further from our eye but neerer the obiect And therefore the image which is made by this secondary or longer ray must appeare both neerer and more dusky then the image made by the primary and shorter ray And the further from the obiect that the glasse through which it reflecteth is situated keeping still in the same parallele to the horizon the further the place where the second dusky picture appeareth is from the place where the primary strong picture appeareth If any man haue a mind to satisfy himselfe by experience of the truth of this note lett him place a sheete of white paper vpon a blacke carpett couering a table so as the paper may reach within two or three fingers of the edge of the carpet vnder which lett there be nothing to succeed the blacke of the carpet but the empty dusky ayre and then lett him sett himselfe at a conuenient distance the measure of which is that the paper appeare at his feete when he looketh through the glasse and looke at the paper through his Prisme situated in such sort as we haue aboue determined and he will perceiue a whitish or lightsome shadow proceed from the liuely picture that he seeth of white and shoote out neerer towardes him then that liuely picture is and he will discerne that it cometh into the glasse through a part of it neerer to his eye or face and further from the obiect then the strong image of the white doth And further if he causeth the neerer part of the paper to be couered with some thinne body of a sadder colour this dimme white vanisheth which it doth not if the further part of the paper be couered Whereby it is euident that it is a secondary image proceeding from the hither part of the paper Now then to make vse of what we haue said to the finding out of the reason why the red and blew and other colours appeare when one looketh through a prisme lett vs proceede vpon our former example in which a white paper lyeth vpon a blacke carpett for the diametrall opposition of those colours maketh them most remarkable in such sort that there be a parcell of blacke on the hither side of the paper and therein lett vs examine according to our groundes what colours must appeare at both endes of the paper looking vpon them through the triangular glasse To beginne with the furthest end where the blacke lyeth beyond the white we may consider how there must come from the blacke a secondary
actually working without But that which indeed conuinceth me to beleeue I goe not wrong in this course which I haue sett downe for externe bodies working vpon our sense and knowledgde is first the conuenience and agreeablenesse to nature both in the obiects and in vs that it should be done in that manner and next a difficulty in Monsieur des Cartes his way which me thinketh maketh it impossible that his should be true And then his being absolutely the best of any I haue hitherto mett withall and mine supplying what his falleth short in and being sufficient to performe the effects we see I shall not thinke I do amisse in beleeuing my owne to be true till some body else shew a better Lett vs examine these considerations one after an other It is manifest by what wee haue already established that there is a perpetuall fluxe of litle partes or atomes out of all sensible bodies that are composed of the foure Elements and are here in the sphere of continuall motion by action and passion and such it is that in all probability these litle partes can not choose but gett in at the dores of our bodies and mingle themselues with the spirits that are in our nerues Which if they doe it is vnauoydable but that of necessity thâ—y must make some motion in the braine as by the explication we haue made of our outward senses is manifest and the braine being the source and origine of all such motion in the animal as is termed voluntary this stroke of the obiect will haue the power to cause some variation in its motions that are of that nature and by consequence must be a sensation for that change which being made in the braine by the obiect is cause of voluntary motion in the animal is that which we call sensation But we shall haue best satisfaction by considering how it fareth with euery sense in particular It is plaine that our touch or feeling is affected by the litle bodies of heate or cold or the like which are squeesed or euaporated from the obiect and do gett into our flesh and coÌ„sequently do mingle themselues with our spirits and accordingly our hand is heated with the floud of subtile fire which from a great one without streameth into it and is benummed with multitudes of litle bodies of cold that settle in it All which litle bodies of heate or of cold or of what kind soeuer they be when they are once gott in must needes mingle themselues with the spirits they meet with in the nerue and consequently must goe along with them vp to the braine for the channell of the nerue being so litle that the most acurate inspectours of nature can not distinguish any litle cauity or hole running along the substance of it and the spirits which ebbe and flowe in those channels being so infinitely subtile and in so small a quantity as such chaÌ„nels can containe it is euident that an atoâ—e of insensible biggenesse is sufficient to imbue the whole length and quantity of spirit that is in one nerue and that atome by reason of the subtility of the liquor it is immersed in is presently and as it were instantly diffused through the whole substance of it the source therefore of that liquor being in the braine it can not be doubted but that the force of the externe obiect must needes affect the braine according to the quality of the said atome that is giue a motion or knocke conformable to its owne nature As for our taste it is as plaine that the litle partes expressed out of the body which affecteth it do mingle themselues with the liquour that being in the tongue is continuate to the spirits and then by our former argument it is euideÌ„t they must reach vnto the braine And for our smelling there is nothing can hinder odours from hauing immediate passage vp to our braine when by our nose they are once gotten into our head In our hearing there is a litle more difficulty for sound being nothing but a motion of the ayre which striketh our eare it may seeme more then needeth to send any corporeall substance into the braine and that it is sufficient that the vibrations of the outward ayre shaking the drumme of the eare do giue a like motion to the ayre within the eare that on the inside toucheth the tympane and so this ayre thus moued shaketh and beateth vpon the braine But this I conceiue will not serue the turne for if there were no more but an actuall motion in the making of hearing I do not see how soundes could be conserued in the memory since of necessity motion must alwayes reside in some body which argument we shall presse anone against Monsieur des Cartes his opinion for the rest of the senses Out of this difficulty the very inspection of the partes within the eare seemeth to leade vs for had there been nothing necessary besides motion the very striking of the outward ayre against the tympanum would haue been sufficient without any other particular and extraordinary organization to haue produced soundes and to haue carried their motions vp to the braine as we see the head of a drumme bringeth the motions of the earth vnto our eare when we lay it therevnto as we haue formerly deliuered But Anatomistes find other tooles and instruments that seeme fitt to worke and forge bodies withall which we can not imagine nature made in vaine There is a hammer and an anuile whereof the hammer stricking vpon the anuile must of necessity beate off such litle partes of the brainy steames as flying about do light and sticke vpon the toppe of the anuile these by the trembling of the ayre following its course can not misse of being carried vp to that part of the braine wherevnto the ayre within the eare is driuen by the impulse of the sound and as soone as they haue giuen their knocke they rebound backe againe into the celles of the braine fitted for harbours to such winged messenger where they remaine lodged in quietnesse till they be called for againe to renew the effect which the sound did make at the first and the various blowes which the hammer striketh according to the various vibrations of the tympanum vnto which the hammer is fastened and therefore is gouerned by its motioÌ„s must needes make great differeÌ„ce of biggenesses and cause great variety of smartnesses of motion in the litle bodies which they forge The last sense is of seeing whose action we can not doubt is performed by the reflexion of light vnto our eye from the bodies which we see and this light cometh impregnated with a tincture drawne from the superficies of the obiect it is reflected from that is it bringeth along with it seuerall of the litle atomes which of themselues do streame and it cutteth from the body it strucke vpon and reboundeth from and they mingling themselues with the light do in company of it
tender skinne of it the bloud in some measure piercing the skinne and not returning wholy into its naturall course which effect is not permanent in the mother because her skinne being harder doth not receiue the bloud into it but sendeth it backe againe without receiuing a tincture from it Farre more easy is it to discouer the secret cause of many antipathies or sympathies which are seene in children and endure with them the greatest part if not the whole terme of their life without any apparent ground for them as some do not loue cheese others garlike others duckes others diuers other kindes of meate which their parents loued well and yet in token that this auersion is naturall vnto them and not arising from some dislike accidentally taken and imprinted in their fantasy they will be much harmed if they chance to eate any such meate though by the much disguising it they neither know nor so much as suspect they haue done so The story of the Lady HeÌ„nage who was of the bedchamber to the late Queene Elizabeth that had her checke blistered by laying a rose vpon it whiles she was a sleepe to try if her antipathy against that flower were so great as she vsed to pretend is famous in the Court of England A kinsman of mine whiles he was a childe had like to haue dyed of drought before his nurse came to vnderstand that he had an antipathy against beere or wine vntill the tender nature in him before he could speake taught him to make earnest signes for water that by accident he saw the greedy drinking of which cured presently his long languishing and pining sickenesse and such examples are very frequent The cause of these effects many times is that their mothers vpon their first suppression of their vsuall euacuations by reason of their being with child toke some strong dislike to such thinges their stomackes being then oppressed by vnnaturall humours which ouerflow their bodies vpon such retentions and which make them oftentimes sicke and prone to vomiting especially in the mornings whiles they are fasting and sometimes to desire earnestly which they call longing to feede vpon some vnwholesome as well as some particular wholesome thinges and otherwhiles to take auersion against meates which at other seasons they affected well Now the child being nourished by the so imbued bloud of the mother no wonder if it taketh affections or dislikes conformable to those which at that present raigne in the mother the which for the most part vsed to be purged away or are ouerwhelmed by the mastering qualities of better aliments succeding but if by some mischance they become too much grafted in the childes stomacke or in some other part through which the masse of bloud must passe then the child getteth an auersion from those meates and we often see that people retaine a strong conuersion to such meates or drinkes as their mothers affected much or longed for whiles they bred child of them And thus we will leaue this particular adding only one note why there are more persoÌ„s generally who haue antipathy against cheese theÌ„ against any one sort of meate besides whatsoeuer A principal reason of which symptome where the precedent one hath not place I coÌ„ceiue to be that their nurses proued with child whiles they gaue them sucke for I haue by experience found it to haue beene so in as many as I haue made inquiry into And it is very conformable to reason for the nurses milke curdling in her brest vpon her breeding of child and becoming very offensiue to the childes tender stomacke whose being sicke obligeth the parents to change the nurse though peraduenture they know nothing of the true reason that maketh her milke vnnaturall he hath a dislike of cheese which is strong curdled milke euer after settled in him as people that haue once surfeted violently of any meate seldome arriue to brooke it againe Now as concerning those animals who lay vp in store for winter and seeme therein to exercise a rationall prouidence who seeth not that it is the same humour which moueth rich misers to heape vp wealth euen at their last gaspe when they haue no child nor frend to giue it to nor think of making any body their heires Which actions because they haue no reason in them are to be imputed to the passion or motion of the materiall appetite In the doing of them these steppes may be obserued first the obiect presenting it selfe to the eye prouoketh loue and desire of it especially if it be ioyned with the memoâ—y of former want then this desire stirreth vp the animal after he hath fedde himselfe to gather into the place of his chiefe residence as much of that desired obiect as he meeteth withall and whensoeuer his hunger returning bringeth backe into his fantasy the memory of his meate it being ioyned with the memory of that place if he be absent from it he presently repaireth thither for reliefe of what presseth him and thus dogges whâ—n they are hungry do rake for bones they had hidden when â—heir bellies were full Now if this foode gathered by such prouidence which is nothing else but the conformity of it working vpon him by his sense and layâ—d vp in the place where the owner of it resideth as the corne is which the auntes gather in summer be easily portable he will carry it abroad wiâ—h him the first time he stirreth after a long keeping in for then nothing worketh so powerfully in his fantasy as his store and he will not easily part from it though other circumstances inuite him abroad From hence it proceedeth that when a faire day cometh after long foule weather the auntes who all that while kept close in their dennes with their corne lying by them do then come abroad into the sunne and do carry their graine along with them or peraduenture it happeneth because the precedent wett weather hath made it grow hoat or musty or otherwise offensiue within and therefore they carry it out as soone as themselues dare peepe abroad which is when the faire weather and heate of the day inuiteth them out into the open ayre and before night that they returne into their holes the offensiue vapours of the corne are exhaled and dryed vp and moue their fantasies no longer to auersion wherevpon they carry it backe againe hauing then nothing but their long contracted loue vnto it to worke vpon them The like whereof men doing by discourse to ayre their corne and to keepe it sweete and the same effect following herein they will presently haue it that this is done by the auntes for the same reason and by designe Then the moysture of the earth swelling the graine and consequently making it beginne to shoote at the endes as we declared when we spoke of the generation of plantes and as we see in the moystening of corne to make malt of it those litle creatures finding that part of it more tender and iuicy then the