irregularity or some other ways yet next to the rational they are the best informers we have for no man can naturally go beyond his rational and sensitive perception And thus in my opinion the nature of Congelation is not effected by expanding or dilating but contracting and condensing motions in the parts of the sentient body which motions in the congelation of water do not alter the interior nature of water but onely contract its exterior figure into the figure either of Ice Snow Hail Hoar-frost or the like which may be proved by their return into the former figure of water whensoever they dissolve for wheresoever is a total change or alteration of the interior natural motions of a Creature when once dissolved it will never regain its former figure and therefore although the exterior figures of congealed water are various and different yet they have all but one interior figure which is water into which they return as into their principle whensoever they change their exterior figures by dissolving and dilating motions for as a laughing and frowning countenance doth not change the nature of a man so neither do they the nature of water I do not speak of artificial but of natural congealed figures whose congelation is made by their own natural figurative motions But although all congelations are some certain kind of motions yet there may be as many particular sorts of congelations as there are several sorts of frozen or congealed bodies for though I name but one figure of Snow another of Ice another of Hail c. yet I do not deny but there may be numerous particular sorts and figures of Ice Snow Hail c. all which may have their several freezing or congealing motions nay freezing in this respect may very well be compared to burning as being opposite actions and as there are various sorts of burning much differing from each other so there are of freezing for although all burning is of the nature of fire yet not all burning is an elemental fire for example Lime and some Vegetables and other Creatures have burning effects and yet are not an Elemental fire neither doth the Sun and ordinary fire burn just alike The same may be said of Freezing and I observe that fluid and rare parts are more apt to freeze then solid and dense bodies for I do not believe all sorts of metal can freeze so as water or watery liquors unless they were made liquid I will not say that Minerals are altogether insensible of cold or frost but they do not freeze like liquid bodies nay not all liquid bodies will freeze as for example some sorts of spirituous liquors Oil Vinous spirits Chymical extracts c. which proves that not all that is to say the infinite parts of Nature are subject to one particular kind of action to wit the action of freezing for if Congelation did extend to the infinite parts of Nature it would not be a finite and particular but an infinite action but as I said liquid bodies are more apt to freeze especially water and watery liquors then dense and hard bodies or some sorts of oil and spirits for as we see that fire cannot have the same operation on all bodies alike but some it causes to consume and turn to ashes some it hardens some it softens and on some it hath no power at all So its opposite Frost or Cold cannot congeal every natural body but onely those which are apt to freeze or imitate the motions of cold Neither do all these bodies freeze alike but some slower some quicker some into such and some into another figure as for example even in one kind of Creatures as animals some Beasts as Foxes Bears and the like are not so much sensible of cold as Man and some other animal Creatures and dead animals or parts of dead animals will freeze much sooner then those which are living not that living animals have more natural life then those we call dead for animals when dissolved from their animal figure although they have not animal life yet they have life according to the nature of the figure into which they did change but because of their different perceptions for a dead or dissolved animal as it is of another kind of figure then a living animal so it has also another kind of perception which causes it to freeze sooner then a living animal doth But I cannot apprehend what some Learned mean by the powerful effects of cold upon inanimate bodies whether they mean that cold is onely animate and all other bodies inanimate or whether both cold and other bodies on which it works be inanimate if the later I cannot conceive how inanimate bodies can work upon each other I mean such bodies as have neither life nor motion for without life or motion there can be no action but if the former I would fain know whether Cold be self-moving if not I ask What is that which moves it Is it an Immaterial Spirit or some corporeal being If an Immaterial Spirit we must allow that this Spirit is either self-moving or must be moved by another if it be moved by another Being and that same Being again by another we shall after this manner run into infinite and conclude nothing But if that Imaterial Spirit have self-motion why may not a natural corporeal being have the like they being both Creatures of God who can as well grant self-motion to a corporeal as to an incorporeal Being nay I am not able to comprehend how Motion can be attributed to a Spirit I mean natural motion which is onely a propriety of a body or of a corporeal Being but if Cold be self-moving then Nature is self-moving for the cause can be no less then the effect and if Nature be self-moving no part of Nature can be inanimate for as the body is so are its parts and as the cause so its effects Thus some Learned do puzle themselves and the world with useless distinctions into animate and inanimate Creatures and are so much afraid of self-motion as they will rather maintain absurdities and errors then allow any other self-motion in Nature but what is in themselves for they would fain be above Nature and petty Gods if they could but make themselves Infinite not considering that they are but parts of Nature as all other Creatnres Wherefore I for my part will rather believe as sense and reason guides me and not according to interest so as to extoll my own kind above all the rest or above Nature her self And thus to return to Cold as Congelation is not a Universal or Infinite action which extends to the Infinite parts of Nature and causes not the like effects in those Creatures that are perceptible of it so I do also observe that not any other sorts of bodies but Water will congeal into the figure of Snow when as there are many that will turn into the figure of Ice besides I observe that air doth not freeze beyond
into earth and of this again into vegetables minerals and animals proves no more but what our senses perceive every day to wit that there is a perpetual change and alteration in all natural parts caused by corporeal self-motion by which rare bodies change into dense and dense into rare water into slime slime into earth earth into animals vegetables and minerals and those again into earth earth into slime slime into water and so forth But I wonder why rational men should onely rest upon water and go no further since daily experience informs them that water is changed into vapour and vapour into air for if water be resolveable into other bodies it cannot be a prime cause and consequently no principle of Nature wherefore they had better in my opinion to make Air the principle of all things 'T is true Water may produce many creatures as I said before by a composition with other or change of its own parts but yet I dare say it doth kill or destroy as many nay more then it produces witness vegetables and others which Husbandmen and Planters have best experience of and though some animals live in water as their proper Element yet to most it is destructive I mean as for their particular natures nay if men do but dwell in a moist place or near marrish grounds or have too much watery humors in their bodies they 'l sooner die then otherwise But put the case water were a principle of Natural things yet it must have motion or else it would never be able to change into so many figures and this motion must either be naturally inherent in the substance of water or it must proceed from some exterior agent if from an exterior agent then this agent must either be material or immaterial also if all motion in Nature did proceed from pressure of parts upon parts then those parts which press others must either have motion inherent in themselves or if they be moved by others we must at last proceed to something which has motion in it self and is not moved by another but moves all things and if we allow this Why may not we allow self-motion in all things for if one part of Matter has self-motion it cannot be denied of all the rest but if immaterial it must either be God himself or created supernatural spirits As for God he being immoveable and beyond all natural motion cannot actually move Matter neither is it Religious to say God is the Soul of Nature for God is no part of Nature as the soul is of the body And immaterial spirits being supernatural cannot have natural attributes or actions such as is corporeal natural motion Wherefore it remains that Matter must be naturally self-moving and consequently all parts of Nature all being material so that not onely Water Earth Fire and Air but all other natural bodies whatsoever have natural self-motion inherent in themselves by which it is evident that there can be no other principle in Nature but this self-moving Matter and that all the rest are but effects of this onely cause Some are of opinion That the three Catholick or Universal principles of Nature are Matter Motion and Rest and others with Epicure that they are Magnitude Figure and Weight but although Matter and Motion or rather self-moving Matter be the onely principle of Nature yet they are mistaken in dividing them from each other and adding rest to the number of them for Matter and Motion are but one thing and cannot make different principles aud so is figure weight and magnitude 'T is true Matter might subsist without Motion but not Motion without Matter for there is no such thing as an immaterial Motion but Motion must necessarily be of something also if there be a figure it must of necessity be a figure of something the same may be said of magnitude and weight there being no such thing as a mean between something and nothing that is between body and no body in Nature If Motion were immaterial it is beyond all humane capacity to conceive how it could be abstracted from something much more how it could be a principle to produce a natural being it might easier be believed that Matter was perishable or reduceable into nothing then that motion figure and magnitude should be separable from Matter or be immaterial as the opinion is of those who introduce a Vacuum in Nature and as for Rest I wonder how that can be a principle of any production change or alteration which it self acts nothing Others are for Atomes and insensible particles consisting of different figures and particular natures not otherwise united but by a bare apposition as they call it by which although perhaps the composed body obtains new qualities yet still the ingredients retain each their own Nature and in the destruction of the composed body those that are of one sort associate and return into Fire Water Earth c. as they were before But whatever their opinion of Atoms be first I have heretofore declared that there can be no such things as single bodies or Atomes in Nature Next if there were any such particles in composed bodies yet they are but parts or effects of Matter and not principles of Nature or Natural beings Lastly Chymists do constitute the principles of all natural bodies Salt Sulphur and Mercury But although I am not averse from believing that those ingredients may be mixt with other parts of Nature in the composition of natural figures and that especially Salt may be extracted out of many Creatures yet that it should be the constitutive principle of all other natural parts or figures seems no ways conformable to truth for salt is no more then other effects of Nature and although some extractions may convert some substances into salt figures and some into others for Art by the leave of her Mistress Nature doth oftentimes occasion an alteration of natural Creatures into artificial yet these extractions cannot inform us how those natural creatures are made and of what ingredients they consist for they do not prove that the same Creatures are composed of Salt or mixt with Salt but cause onely those substances which they extract to change into saline figures like as others do convert them into Chymical spirits all which are but Hermaphroditical effects that is between natural and artificial Just as a Mule partakes both of the nature or figure of a Horse and an Ass Nevertheless as Mules are very beneficial for use so many Chymical effects provided they be discreetly and seasonably used for Minerals are no less beneficial to the life and health of Man then Vegetables and Vegetables may be as hurtful and destructive as Minerals by an unseasonable and unskilful application besides there may be Chymical extracts made of Vegetables as well as of Minerals but these are bestused in the height or extremity of some diseases like as cordial waters in fainting fits and some Chymical spirits are as far beyond cordial waters
motion but all agreed it was fixt and firm like a centre and therefore they generally called it the Sun-stone Then the Emperess asked them the reason Why the Sun and Moon did often appear in different postures or shapes as sometimes magnified sometimes diminished sometimes elevated otherwhiles depressed now thrown to the right and then to the left To which some of the Bird-men answered That it proceeded from the various degrees of heat and cold which are found in the air from whence did follow a differing density and rarity and likewise from the vapours that are interposed whereof those that ascend are higher and less dense then the ambient air but those which descend are heavier and more dense But others did with more probability affirm that it was nothing else but the various patterns of the Air for like as Painters do not copy out one and the same original just alike at all times so said they do several parts of the Air make different patterns of the luminous bodies of the Sun and Moon which patterns as several copies the sensitive motions do figure out in the substance of our eyes This answer the Emperess liked much better then the former and enquired further what opinion they had of those Creatures that are called the motes of the Sun To which they answered That they were nothing else but streams of very small rare and transparent particles through which the Sun was represented as through a glass for if they were not transparent said they they would eclipse the light of the Sun and if not rare and of an airy substance they would hinder Flies from flying in the air at least retard their flying motion Nevertheless although they were thinner then the thinnest vapour yet were they not so thin as the body of air or else they would not be perceptible by animal sight Then the Emperess asked Whether they were living Creatures They answered Yes Because they did encrease and decrease and were nourished by the presence and starved by the absence of the Sun Having thus finished their discourse of the Sun and Moon the Emperess desired to know what Stars there were besides But they answer'd that they could perceive in that World none other but Blazing-stars and from thence it had the name that it was called the Blazing-world and these Blazing-stars said they were such solid firm and shining bodies as the Sun and Moon not of a Globular but of several sorts of figures some had tails and some other kinds of shapes After this The Emperess asked them What kind of substance or creature the Air was The Bird-men answered That they could have no other perception of the air but by their own respiration For said they some bodies are onely subject to touch others onely to sight and others onely to smell but some are subject to none of our exterior senses For Nature is so full of variety that our weak senses cannot perceive all the various sorts of her Creatures neither is there any one object perceptible by all our senses no more then several objects are by one sense I believe you replied the Empress but if you can give no account of the Air said she you will hardly be able to inform me how Wind is made for they say that Wind is nothing but motion of the Air. The Bird-men answer'd That they observed Wind to be more dense then Air and therefore subject to the sense of Touch but what properly Wind was and the manner how it was made they could not exactly tell some said it was caused by the Clouds falling on each other and others that it was produced of a hot and dry exhalation which ascending was driven down again by the coldness of the air that is in the middle Region and by reason of its lightness could not go directly to the bottom but was carried by the Air up and down Some would have it a flowing water of the Air and others again a flowing Air moved by the blas of the Stars But the Emperess seeing they could not agree concerning the cause of Wind asked whether they could tell how Snow was made To which they answered That according to their observation Snow was made by a commixture of Water and some certain extract of the element of Fire that is under the Moon a small portion of which extract being mixed with Water and beaten by Air or Wind made a white froth called Snow which being after some while dissolved by the heat of the same spirit turned to Water again This observation amazed the Emperess very much for she had hitherto believed That Snow was made by cold motions and not by such an agitation or beating of a fiery extract upon water Nor could she be perswaded to believe it until the Fish-or Mear-men had delivered their observation upon the making of Ice which they said was not produced as some had hitherto conceived by the motion of the Air raking the Superficies of the Earth but by some strong saline vapour arising out of the Seas which condensed Water into Ice and the more quantity there was of that vapour the greater were the Mountains or Precipices of Ice but the reason that it did not so much freeze in the Torrid Zone or under the Ecliptick as near or under the Poles was that this vapour in those places being drawn up by the Sun-beams into the middle Region of the Air was onely condensed into water and fell down in showres of rain when as under the Poles the heat of the Sun being not so vehement the same vapour had no force or power to rise so high and therefore caused so much Ice by ascending and acting onely upon the surface of water This Relation confirmed partly the observation of the Bird-men concerning the cause of Snow but since they had made mention that that same extract which by its commixture with Water made Snow proceeded from the Element of Fire that is under the Moon The Emperess asked them of what nature that Elementary Fire was whether it was like ordinary fire here upon Earth or such a fire as is within the bowels of the Earth and as the famous mountains Vesuvius and AEtna do burn withal or whether it was such a sort of fire as is found in flints c. They answered That the Elementary Fire which is underneath the Sun was not so solid as any of those mentioned fires because it had no solid fuel to feed on but yet it was much like the flame of ordinary fire onely somewhat more thin and fluid for flame said they is nothing else but the airy part of a fired body Lastly the Emperess asked the Bird-men of the nature of Thunder and Lightning and whether it was not caused by roves of Ice falling upon each other To which they answered That it was not made that way but by an encounter of cold and heat so that an exhalation being kindled in the Clouds did dash forth Lightning and that there
Earth do undergo continual alterations some do change into Minerals some into Vegetables some into Animals c. and these change again into several other figures and also some into Earth again and the Elements are changed one into another when as yet the Globe of the Earth it self remains the same without any general alteration or dissolution neither is there any want or decay of general kinds of Creatures but onely a change of their particulars And though our perception is but finite and must contain it self within its own compass or bounds so that it cannot judg of all particulars that are in Nature Nevertheless I see no reason why the Celestial parts of the World should not be subject to alteration as well as those of the Terrestrial Globe for if Nature be full of self-motion no particular can be at rest or without action but the chief actions of Nature are Composition and Division and changes of Parts Wherefore although to our humane perception the Stars and Planets do not change from their general nature as from being such or such composed figures but appear the same to us without any general or remarkable change of their exterior figures yet we cannot certainly affirm that the parts thereof be either moveless or unalterable they being too remote from our perception to discern all their particular motions For put the case the Moon or any other of the Planets were inhabited by animal Creatures which could see as much of this terrestrial Globe as we see of the Moon although they would perceive perhaps the progressive motion of the whole figure of this terrestrial Globe in the same manner as we do perceive the motion of the Moon yet they would never be able to discern the particular parts thereof viz. Trees Animals Stones Water Earth c. much less their particular changes and alterations generations and dissolutions In the like manner do the Celestial Orbs appear to us for none that inhabit this Globe will ever be able to discern the particular parts of which the Globe of the Moon consists much less their changes and motions Indeed it is with the Celestial Orbs as it is with other composed parts or figures of Nature which have their interior as well as exterior general as well as particular motions for it is impossible that Nature consisting of infinite different parts should have but one kind of motion and therefore as a Man or any other animal has first his exterior motions or actions which belong to his whole composed figure next his Internal figurative motions by which he grows decays and dissolves c. Thirdly As every several part and particle of his body has its interior and exterior actions so it may be said of the Stars and Planets which are no more then other parts of Nature as being composed of the same Matter which all the rest consists of and partaking of the same self-motion for although our fight cannot discern more then their progressive and shining or twinkling motion nevertheless they being parts of Nature must of necessity have their interior and exterior particular and general motions so that the parts of their bodies may change as much as the parts of this Globe the figure of the whole remaining still the same for as I said before they being too far from our perception their particular motions cannot be observed nay were we able to perceive the exterior actions of their parts yet their interior motions are no ways perceptible by humane sight we may observe the effects of some interior motions of natural Creatures for example of Man how he changes from infancy to youth from youth to old age c. but how these actions are performed inwardly no Microscope is able to give us a true information thereof Nevertheless Mankind is as lasting as the Sun Moon and Stars nay not onely Mankind but also several other kinds and species of Creatures as Minerals Vegetables Elements and the like for though particulars change yet the species do not neither can the species be impaired by the changes of their particulars for example the Sea is no less salt for all there is so much salt extracted out of salt-water besides that so many fresh Rivers and Springs do mingle and intermix with it Neither doth the Earth seem less for all the productions of Vegetables Minerals and Animals which derive their birth and origine from thence Nor doth the race of Mankind seem either more or less now then it was in former ages for every species of Creatures is preserved by a continued succession or supply of particulars so that when some die or dissolve from being such natural figures others are generated and supply the want of them And thus it is with all parts of Nature both what we call Celestial and Terrestrial nor can it be otherwise since Nature is self-moving and all her parts are perpetually active 33. Of the substance of the Sun and of Fire THere are divers opinions concerning the matter or substance of the Sun some imagine the Sun to be a solid body set on fire others that it is a fluid body of fire and others again that it is onely a body of Light and not of fire so as I know not which opinion to adhere to but yet I do rather believe the Sun to be a solid then a fluid body by reason fluid bodies are more inconstant in their motions then solid bodies witness Lightning which is a fluid fire and flashes out through the divided clouds with such a force as water that is pumpt and being extended beyond the degree of flame alters to something else that is beyond our humane perception Indeed it is of the nature of Air or else Air inflamed and as some sorts of Air are more rare subtil and searching then others so are some sorts of Lightning as 't is known by experience or it is like several sorts of flame that have several sorts of fuel to feed on as for example the flame of Oyl the flame of Wood the flame of Aqua-vitae the flame of Gums and the like all which are very different not onely in their several tempers and degrees of heat but also in their several manners of burning or flaming for the flame of Aqua-vitae is far thinner and blewer then the flame of Wax Wood Tallow or the like in so much that there is as much difference between them as there is between the Azure Skie and a white Cloud which shews that the flame of spirituous bodies is more airy and rare then the flame of others For Flame is onely the rare and airy part of fire and there is a natural body of Fire as well as of Air Earth and Water and as there are several sorts of Earth Water and Air so there are also several sorts of Fire and as there are springs of Water and springs of Air so there may also be springs of Fire and Flame But to return to the Sun though I am not
answered That by an annihilation nothing could be produced and that the seeds of Vegetables were so far from being annihilated in their productions that they did rather numerously increase and multiply for the division of one seed said they does produce numbers of seeds out of it self But replied the Empress A particular part cannot increase of it self 'T is true answer'd they but they increase not barely of themselves but by joining and commixing with other parts which do assist them in their productions and by way of imitation form or figure their own parts into such or such particulars Then I pray inform me said the Emperess what disguise those seeds put on and how they do conceal themselves in their transmutations They answered That seeds did no ways disguise or conceal but rather divulge themselves in the multiplication of their off-spring onely they did hide and conceal themselves from their sensitive perceptions so that their figurative and productive motions were not perceptible by animal Creatures Again the Emperess asked them whether there were any Non-beings within the Earth To which they answered That they never heard of any such thing and that if her Majesty would know the truth thereof she must ask those Creatures that are called Immaterial Spirits which had a great affinity with Non-beings and perhaps could give her a satisfactory answer to this question Then she desired to be informed what opinion they had of the beginning of forms They told her Majesty That they did not understand what she meant by this expression For said they there is no beginning in Nature no not of Particulars by reason Nature is Eternal and Infinite and her particulars are subject to infinite changes and transmutations by vertue of their own corporeal figurative self-motions so that there 's nothing new in Nature nor properly a beginning of any thing The Emperess seem'd well satisfied with all those answers and inquired further whether there was no Art used by those Creatures that live within the Earth Yes answered they for the several parts of the Earth do join and assist each other in composition or framing of such or such particulars and many times there are factions and divisions which cause productions of mixt species's as for example weeds instead of sweet flowers and useful fruits but Gardeners and Husbandmen use often to decide their quarrels and cause them to agree which though it shews a kindness to the differing parties yet 't is a great prejudice to the Worms and other animal Creatures that live under ground for it most commonly causes their dissolution and ruine at best they are driven out of their habitations What said the Emperess are not Worms produced out of the Earth Their production in general answered they is like the production of all other natural Creatures proceeding from the corporeal figurative motions of Nature but as for their particular productions they are according to the nature of their species some are produced out of flowers some out of roots some out of fruits some out of ordinary Earth Then they are very ungrateful Children replied the Emperess that they feed on their own Parents which gave them life Their life answered they is their own and not their Parents for no part or creature of Nature can either give or take away life but parts do onely assist and join with parts either in the dissolution or production of other parts and Creatures After this and several other Conferences which the Emperess held with the Worm-men she dismissed them and having taken much satisfaction in several of their answers encouraged them in their studies and observations Then she made a convocation of her Chymists the Ape-men and commanded them to give her an account of the several Transmutations which their Art was able to produce They begun first with a long and tedious discourse concerning the Primitive Ingredients of Natural bodies and how by their Art they had found out the principles out of which they consist But they did not all agree in their opinions for some said That the Principles of all natural bodies were the four Elements Fire Air Water Earth out of which they were composed Others rejected this Elementary commixture and said There were many bodies out of which none of the four Elements could be extracted by any degree of Fire whatsoever and that on the other side there were divers bodies whose resolution by fire reduced them into more then four different ingredients and these affirmed that the onely principles of natural bodies were Salt Sulphur and Mercury Others again declared That none of the forementioned could be called the True principles of natural bodies but that by their industry and pains which they had taken in the Art of Chymistry they had discovered that all natural bodies were produced but from one Principle which was Water for all Vegetables Minerals and Animals said they are nothing else but simple water distinguished into various figures by the vertue of their seeds But after a great many debates and contentions about this subject the Emperess being so much tired that she was not able to hear them any longer imposed a general silence upon them and then declared her self in this following discourse I am too sensible of the pains you have taken in the Art of Chymistry to discover the principles of natural bodies and wish they had been more profitably bestowed upon some other then such experiments for both by my own contemplation and the observations which I have made by my rational and sensitive perception upon Nature and her works I find that Nature is but one Infinite self-moving body which by the vertue of its self-motion is divided into infinite parts which parts being restless undergo perpetual changes and transmutations by their infinite compositions and divisions Now if this be so as surely according to regular sense and reason it appears no otherwise it is in vain to look for primary ingredients or constitutive principles of natural bodies since there is no more but one Universal principle of Nature to wit self-moving Matter which is the onely cause of all natural effects Next I desire you to consider that Fire is but a particular Creature or effect of Nature and occasions not onely different effects in several bodies but on some bodies has no power at all witness Gold which never could be brought yet to change its interior figure by the art of Fire and if this be so Why should you be so simple as to believe that fire can shew you the principles of Nature and that either the four Elements or Water onely or Salt Sulphur and Mercury all which are no more but particular effects and Creatures of Nature should be the Primitive ingredients or Principles of all natural bodies Wherefore I will not have you to take more pains and waste your time in such fruitless attempts but be wiser hereafter and busie your selves with such Experiments as may be beneficial to the publick The Emperess having
infallible and thorow perception of all their interior parts and motions which is a knowledg impossible for any particular Creature to attain to Again my later Thoughts objected That it was impossible that the parts of one and the same degree could be ignorant of each others actions how various soever since they were capable to change their actions to the like figures The former answered first That although they might make the like figures yet they could not make the same because the parts were not the same Next they said that particular parts could not have infinite perceptions but that they could but perceive such objects as were subject to that sort of perception which they had no not all such for oftentimes objects were obscured and hidden from their perceptions that although they could perceive them if presented or coming within the compass and reach of their perceptive faculty or power yet when they were absent they could not besides said they the sensitive parts are not so subtile as to make perceptions into the interior actions of other parts no not the rational are able to have exact perceptions thereof for Perception extends but to adjoining parts and their exterior figures and actions and if they know any thing of their interior parts figures or motions it is onely by guess or probable conclusions taken from their exterior actions or figures and made especially by the rational parts which as they are the most inspective so they are the most knowing parts of Nature After these and several other objections questions and answers between the later and former thoughts and conceptions of my mind at last some Rational thoughts which were not concerned in this dispute perceiving that they became much heated and fearing they would at last cause a Faction or Civil War amongst all the rational parts which would breed that which is called a Trouble of the Mind endeavoured to make a Peace between them and to that end they propounded that the sensitive parts should publickly declare their differences and controversies and refer them to the Arbitration of the judicious and impartial Reader This proposition was unanimously embraced by all the rational parts and thus by their mutual consent this Argumental Discourse was set down and published after this manner In the mean time all the rational parts of my Mind inclined to the opinion of my former conceptions which they thought much more probable then those of the later and since now it is your part Ingenious Readers to give a final decision of the Cause consider well the subject of their quarrel and be impartial in your judgment let not Self-love or Envy corrupt you but let Regular Sense and Reason be your onely Rule that you may be accounted just Judges and your Equity and Justice be Remembred by all that honour and love it THE TABLE OF All the Principal Subjects contained and discoursed of in this BOOK Observations upon Experimental Philosophy 1. OF Humane Sense and Perception 2. Of Art and Experimental Philosophy 3. Of Micrography and of Magnifying and Multiplying Glasses 4. Of the production of Fire by Flint and Steel 5. Of Pares 6. Of the Effluviums of the Loadstone 7. Of the Stings of Nettles and Bees 8. Of the Beard of a wild Oat 9. Of the Eyes of Flyes 10. Of a Butter-Flye 11. Of the walking Motions of Flyes and other Creatures 12. Whether it be possible to make man and some other Animal Creatures flye as Birds do 13. Of Snails and Leeches and whether all Animals haue Blood 14. Of Natural Productions 15. Of the Seeds of Vegetables 16. Of the Providence of Nature and some Opinions concerning Motion 17. Des Cartes Opinion of Motion Examined 18. Of the blackness of a Charcoal and of Light 19. Of the Pores of a Charcoal and of Emptiness 20. Of Colours 21. Whether an Idea haue a Colour and of the Idea of of a Spirit 22. Of Wood petrified 23. Of the Nature of Water 24. Of Salt and of Sea or Salt-water 25. Of the motions of Heat and Cold. 26. Of the Measures Degrees and different sorts of Heat and Cold. 27. Of Congelation or Freezing 28. Of Thawing or dissolving of frozen Bodies 29. Several Questions resolved concerning Cold and Frozen Bodies 30. Of Contraction and Dilation 31. Of the Parts of Nature and of Atomes 32. Of the Celestial parts of this World and whether they be alterable 33. Of the Substance of the Sun and of Fire 34. Of Telescopes 35. Of Knowledge and Perception in general 36. Of the different Perceptions of Sense and Reason 37. Several Questions and Answers concerning Knowledg and Perception Further Observations upon Experimental Philosophy reflecting withall upon some Principal Subjects in Contemplative Philosophy 1. Ancient Learning ought not to be Exploded nor the Experimental Part of Philosophy preferred before the Speculative 2. Whether Artificial Effects may be called Natural and in what sense 3. Of Natural Matter and Motion 4. Nature cannot be known by any of her Parts 5. Art cannot produce new Forms in Nature 6. Whether there be any Prime or Principal Figures in Nature and of the true Principles of Nature 7. Whether Nature be self-moving 8. Of Animal Spirits 9. Of the Doctrine of the Scepticks concerning the Knowledg of Nature 10. Of Natural Sense and Reason 11. Of a general Knowledg and Worship of God given him by all Natural Creatures 12. Of a particular Worship of God given him by those that are his Chosen and Elect People 13. Of the Knowledg of man 14. A Natural Philosopher cannot be an Atheist 15. Of the Rational Soul of Man 16. Whether Animal Parts separated from their Bodies have life 17. Of the Spleen 18. Of Anatomy 19. Of preserving the Figures of Animal Creatures 20. Of Chymistry and Chymical Principles 21. Of the Vniversal Medicine and of Diseases 22. Of outward Remedies 23. Of several sorts of Drink and Meat 24. Of Fermentation 25. Of the Plague 26. Of Respiration Observations upon the Opinions of some Ancient Philosophers 1. Vpon the Principles of Thales 2. Some few Observations on Plato's Doctrine 3. Vpon the Doctrine of Pythagoras 4. Of Epicurus his Principles of Philosophy 5. On Aristotle's Philosophical Principles 6. Of Scepticism and some other Sects of the Ancient An Explanation of some obscure and doubtful Passages occurring in the Philosophical Works hitherto Publish'd by the Authoress A CATALOGUE OF ALL THE WORKS Hitherto Published by the AUTHORESSE SInce it is the fashion to declare what Books one has put forth to the publick view I thought it not amiss to follow the Mode and set down the Number of all the Writings of mine which hitherto have been Printed 1. Poems in Fol. Printed twice whereof the last Impression is much mended 2. Natures Pictures or Tales in Verse and Prose in Fol. 3. A Little Tract of Philosophy in 8º 4. Philosophical and Physical Opinions in Fol. 5. The same much Enlarged and Altered in Fol. 6. Philosophical Letters in Fol.
peace and neighbourly sriendship it would not onely be worth their labour but of as much praise as could be given to them But as Boys that play with watry Bubbles or fling Dust into each others Eyes or make a Hobby-horse of Snow are worthy of reproof rather then praise for wasting their time with useless sports so those that addict themselves to unprofitable Arts spend more time then they reap benefit thereby Nay could they benefit men either in Husbandry Architecture or the like necessary and profitable imployments yet before the Vulgar sort would learn to understand them the world would want Bread to eat and Houses to dwell in as also Cloths to keep them from the inconveniences of the inconstant weather But truly although Spinsters were most experienced in this Art yet they will never be able to spin Silk Thred or Wool c. from loose Atomes neither will Weavers weave a Web of Light from the Sun's Rays nor an Architect build an House of the bubbles of Water and Air unless they be Poetical Spinsters Weavers and Architects and if a Painter should draw a Lowse as big as a Crab and of that shape as the Microscope presents can any body imagine that a Beggar would believe it to be true but if he did what advantage would it be to the Beggar for it doth neither instruct him how to avoid breeding them or how to catch them or to hinder them from biting Again if a Painter should paint Birds according to those Colours the Microscope presents what advantage would it be for Fowlers to take them Truly no Fowler will be able to distinguish several Birds through a Microscope neither by their shapes nor colours They will be better discerned by those that eat their flesh then by Micrographers that look upon their colours and exterior figures through a Magnifying-glass In short Magnifying-glasses are like a high heel to a short legg which if it be made too high it is apt to make the wearer fall and at the best can do no more then represent exterior figures in a bigger and so in a more deformed shape and posture then naturally they are but as for the interior form and motions of a Creature as I said before they can no more represent them then Telescopes can the interior essence and nature of the Sun and what matter it consists of for if one that never had seen Milk before should look upon it through a Microscope he would never be able to discover the interior parts of Milk by that instrument were it the best that is in the World neither the Whey nor the Butter nor the Curds Wherefore the best optick is a perfect natural Eye and a regular sensitive perception and the best judg is Reason and the best study is Rational Contemplation joyned with the observations of regular sense but not deiuding Arts for Art is not onely gross in comparison to Nature but for the most part deformed and defective and at best produces mixt or hermaphroditical figures that is a third figure between Nature and Art which proves that natural Reason is above artificial Sense as I may call it wherefore those Arts are the best and surest Informers that alter Nature least and they the greatest deluders that alter Nature most I mean the particular Nature of each particular Creature for Art is so far from altering Infinite Nature that it is no more in comparison to it then a little Flie to an Elephant no not so much for there is no comparison between finite and Infinite But wise Nature taking delight in variety her parts which are her Creatures must of necessity do so too 4. Of the Production of Fire by a Flint and Steel SOme learned Writers of Micrography having observed the fiery sparks that are struck out by the violent motion of a Flint against Steel suppose them to be little parcels either of the Flint or Steel which by the violence of the stroke are at the same time severed and made red hot nay sometimes to such a degree as they are melted together into glass But whatsoever their opinion be to my sense and reason it appears very difficult to determine exactly how the production of Fire is made by reason there are so many different sorts of Productions in Nature as it is impossible for any particular Creature to know or describe them Nevertheless it is most probable that those two bodies do operate not by incorporeal but corporeal motions which either produce a third corporeal figure out of their own parts or by striking against each other do alter some of their natural corporeal figurative parts so as to convert them into fire which if it have no fuel to feed on must of necessity die or it may be that by the occasion of striking against each other some of their looser parts are metamorphosed and afterwards return to their former figures again like as flesh being bruised and hurt becomes numb and black and after returns again to its proper figure and colour or like as Water that by change of motion in the same parts turns into Snow Ice or Hail may return again into its former figure and shape for Nature is various in her corporeal figurative motions But it is observable that Fire is like seeds of Corn sown in Earth which increases or decreases according as it has nourishment by which we may see that Fire is not produced from a bare immaterial motion as I said before for a spiritual issue cannot be nourished by a corporeal substance but it is with Fire as it is with all at least most other natural Creatures which require Respiration as well as Perception for Fire requires Air as well as Animals do By Respiration I do not mean onely that animal respiration which in Man and other animal Creatures is performed by the lungs but a dividing and uniting or separating and joyning of parts from and to parts as of the exterior from and to the interior and of the interior from and to the exterior so that when some parts issue others do enter And thus by the name of Respiration I understand a kind of Reception of forreign Matter and emission of some of their own as for example in Animals I mean not onely the respiration performed by the lungs but also the reception of food and of other matter entering through some proper organs and pores of their bodies and the discharging of some other matter the sameway and if this be so as surely it is then all or most Creatures in Nature have some kind of Respiration or Reciprocal breathing that is Attraction and Expiration receiving of nourishment and evacuation or a reception of some forreign parts and a discharging and venting of some of their own But yet it is not necessary that all the matter of Respiration in all Creatures should be Air for every sort of Creatures nay every particular has such a matter of Respiration as is proper both
to the nature of its figure and proper for each sort of respiration Besides although Air may be a fit substance for Respiration to Fire and to some other Creatures yet I cannot believe that the sole agitation of Air is the cause of Fire no more then it can be called the cause of Man for if this were so then Houses that are made of Wood or cover'd with Straw would never fail to be set on fire by the agitation of the Air. Neither is it requisite that all Respirations in all Creatures should be either hot or cold moist or dry by reason there are many different sorts of Respiration acording to the nature and propriety of every Creature whereof some may be hot some cold some hot and dry some cold and dry some hot and moist some cold and moist c. and in Animals at least in Mankind I observe that the respiration performed by the help of their lungs is an attraction of some refrigerating air and an emission of some warm vapour What other Creatures respirations may be I leave for others to inquire 5. Of Pores AS I have mentioned in my former Discourse that I do verily believe all or most natural Creatures have some certain kind of respiration so do I also find it most probable that all or most natural Creatures have Pores not empty Pores for there can be no Vacuum in Nature but such passages as serve for respiration which respiration is some kind of receiving and discharging of such matter as is proper to the nature of every Creature And thus the several Organs of Animal Creatures are for the most part imployed as great large pores for Nature being in a perpetual motion is always dissolving and composing changing and ordering her self-moving parts as she pleases But it is well to be observed that there is difference between Perception and Respiration for Perception is onely an action of Figuring or Patterning when as the Rational and Sensitive Motions do figure or pattern out something but Respiration is an action of drawing sucking breathing in or receiving any ways outward parts and of venting discharging or sending forth inward parts Next although there may be Pores in most natural Creatures by reason that all or most have some kind of Respiration yet Nature hath more ways of dividing and uniting of parts or of ingress and egress then the way of drawing in and sending forth by Pores for Nature is so full of variety that not any particular corporeal figurative motion can be said the prime or fundamental unless it be self-motion the Architect and Creator of all figures Wherefore as the Globular figure is not the prime or fundamental of all other figures so neither can Respiration be called the prime or fundamental motion for as I said Nature has more ways then one and there are also retentive Motions in Nature which are neither dividing nor composing but keeping or holding together 6. Of the Effluvium's of the Loadstone IT is the opinion of some that the Magnetical Effluviums do not proceed intrinsecally from the stone but are certain extrinsecal particles which approaching to the stone and finding congruous pores and inlets therein are channelled through it and having acquired a motion thereby do continue their current so far till being repulsed by the ambient air they recoil again and return into a vortical motion and so continue their revolution for ever through the body of the Magnet But if this were so then all porous bodies would have the same Magnetical Effluviums especially a Char-coal which they say is full of deep pores besides I can hardly believe that any Microscope is able to shew how those flowing Atomes enter and issue and make such a vortical motion as they imagine Concerning the argument drawn from the experiment that a Magnet being made red hot in the fire not onely amits the Magnetical Vigor it had before but acquires a new one doth not evince or prove that the Magnetical Effluviums are not innate or inherent in the stone for fire may over-power them so as we cannot perceive their vigour or force the motions of the Fire being too strong for the motions of the Loadstone but yet it doth not follow hence that those motions of the Loadstone are lost because they are not perceived or that afterwards when by cooling the Loadstone they may be perceived again they are not the same motions but new ones no more then when a man doth not move his hand the motion of it can be said lost or annihilated But say they If the Polary direction of the Stone should be thought to proceed intrinsecally from the Stone it were as much as to put a Soul or Intelligence into the Stone which must turn it about as Angels are feigned to do Celestial Orbs. To which I answer That although the turning of the Celestial Orbs by Angels may be a figment yet that there is a soul and intelligence in the Loadstone is as true as that there is a soul in Man I will not say that the Loadstone has a spiritual or immaterial soul but a corporeal or material one to wit such a soul as is a particle of the soul of Nature that is of Rational Matter which moves in the Loadstone according to the propriety and nature of its figure Lastly as for their argument concluding from the different effluviums of other as for example electrical and odoriferous bodies c. as Camphire and the like whose expirations they say fly away into the open air and never make any return again to the body from whence they proceeded I cannot believe this to be so for if odoriferous bodies should effluviate and waste after that manner then all strong odoriferous bodies would be of no continuance for where there are great expences there must of neeessity follow a sudden waste but the contrary is sufficiently known by experience Wherefore it is more probable that the Effluviums of the Loadstone as they call them or the disponent and directive faculty of turning it self towards the North is intrinsecally inherent in the stone it self and is nothing else but the interior natural sensitive and rational corporeal motions proper to its figure as I have more at large declared in my Philosophical Letters and Philosophical Opinions then that a stream of exterior Atomes by beating upon the stone should turn it to and fro until they have laid it in such a position 7. Of the Stings of Nettles and Bees I Cannot approve the opinion of those who believe that the swelling burning and smarting pain caused by the stinging of Nettles and Bees doth proceed from a poysonous juice that is contained within the points of Nettles or stings of Bees for it is commonly known that Nettles when young are often-times eaten in Sallets and minced into Broths nay when they are at their full growth good-huswifes use to lay their Cream-cheeses in great Nettles whereas if there were any poyson in them the interior
perpendicular line as well as these Creatures do by reason of the depth of their bodies from the soles of their feet to the surface of their back the weight of their depth over-powering the strength of their leggs Wherefore the weight of a Creature lies for the most part in the shape of its body which shape gives it such sorts of actions as are proper for it as for example a Bird flies by its shape a Worm crawls by its shape a Fish swims by its shape and a heavy Ship will bear it self up on the surface of water meerly by its exterior shape it being not so much the interior figure or nature of Wood that gives it this faculty of bearing up by reason we see that many pieces of Timber will sink down to the bottom in water Thus Heaviness and Lightness is for the most part caused by the shape or figure of the body of a Creature and all its exterior actions depend upon the exterior shape of its body Whether it be possible to make Man and other Animal Creatures that naturally have no Wings flie as Birds do SOme are of opinion that is not impossible to make Man and such other Creatures that naturally have no wings flie as Birds do but I have heard my Noble Lord and Husband give good reasons against it For when he was in Paris he discoursing one time with Mr. H. concerning this subject told him that he thought it altogether impossible to be done A Man said he or the like animal that has no Wings has his arms set on his body in a quite opposite manner then Birds wings are for the concave part of a Birds wing which joins close to his body is in man outward and the inward part of a mans arm where it joins to his body is in Birds placed outward so that which is inward in a Bird is outward in Man and what is inward in Man is outward in Birds which is the reason that a Man has not the same motion of his arm which a Bird has of his wing For Flying is but swimming in the Air and Birds by the shape and posture of their wings do thrust away the air and so keep themselves up which shape if it were found the same in Mans arms and other animals leggs they might perhaps flie as Birds do nay without the help of Feathers for we see that Bats have but flesh-wings neither would the bulk of their bodies be any hinderance to them for there be many Birds of great and heavy bodies which do nevertheless flie although more slowly and not so nimbly as Flies or little Birds Wherefore it is onely the different posture and shape of Mens arms and other Animals leggs contrary to the wings of Birds that makes them unapt to flie and not so much the bulk of their bodies But I believe that a four-legg'd Creature or Animal may more easily and safely go upright like Man although it hath its leggs set on in a contrary manner to Mans arms and leggs for a four-legg'd animals hind-leggs resemble man's arms and its fore-leggs are just as man's leggs Nevertheless there is no Art that can make a four legg'd Creature imitate the actions of man no more then Art can make them have or imitate the natural actions of a Bird For Art cannot give new motions to natural parts which are not proper or natural for them but each part must have such proper and natural motions and actions as Nature has designed for it I will not say but Art may help to mend some defects errors or irregularities in Nature but not make better that which Nature has made perfect already Neither can we say Man is defective because he cannot flie as Birds for flying is not his natural and proper motion We should rather account that Man monstrous that could flie as having some motion not natural and proper to his figure and shape for that Creature is perfect in its kind that has all the motions which are naturally requisite to the figure of such a kind But Man is apt to run into extreams and spoils Nature with doting too much upon Art 13. Of Snails and Leeches and whether all Animals have blood WHether Snails have a row of small teeth orderly placed in the Gums and divided into several smaller and greater or whether they have but one small bended hard bone which serves them instead of teeth to bite out pretty large and half-round bits of the leaves of trees to feed on Experimental Philosophers may enquire by the help of their Microscopes My opinion is That Snails are like Leeches which will not onely bite but suck but this I do verily believe that Snails onely bite Vegetables not Animals as Leeches do and though Leeches bite into the skin yet they do not take any part away but suck onely out the juicy part that is the blood and leave the grosser substance of flesh behind and so do Snails bite into herbs to suck out the juicy substance or else there would be found flesh in Leeches and herbs in Snails which is not so that Snails and Leeches bite for no end but onely to make a passage to suck out the juicy parts and therefore I cannot perceive that they have bones but I conceive their teeth or parts they pierce withal to be somewhat of the nature of stings which are no more Bones then the points of Fire are I do not certainly affirm they are stings but my meaning is that they are pointed or piercing figures that is as I said of the nature of stings there being many several sorts of pointed and piercing figures which yet are not stings like as there are several sorts of grinding and biting figures which are not teeth for there are so many several sorts of figures in Vegetables Minerals Animals and Elements as no particular Creature is able to conceive Again it is questioned whether those Creatures that suck blood from others have blood themselves as naturally belonging to their own substance and my opinion is that it is no necessary consequence that that should be a part of their substance on which they feed food may be converted into the substance of their bodies by the figurative transforming motions but it is not part of their substance before it is converted and so many Creatures may feed on blood but yet have none of themselves as a natural constitutive part of their being besides there are Maggots Worms and several sorts of Flies and other Creatures that feed upon fruits and herbs as also Lobsters Crabs c. which neither suck blood nor have blood and therefore blood is not requisite to the life of every animal although it is to the life of man and several other animal Creatures Neither do I believe that all the juice in the veins is blood as some do conceive for some of the juice may be in the way of being blood and some may have altered its nature from being blood to
a faculty of knowing in every Creature do yet deny nay rail against Natures self-moving power condemning her as a dull inanimate senseless and irrational body as if a rational man could conceive that such a curious variety and contrivance of natural works should be produced by a senseless and irational motion or that Nature was full of immaterial spirits which did work Natural matter into such various figures or that all this variety should be caused by an Immaterial motion which is generated out of nothing and annihilated in a moment for no man can conceive or think of motion without body and if it be above thought then surely it is above act But I rather cease to wonder at those strange and irregular opinions of Man-kind since even they themselves do justifie and prove the variety of Nature for what we call Irregularities in Nature are really nothing but a variety of Natures motions and therefore if all mens conceits fancies and opinions were rational there would not be so much variety as there is Concerning those that say there is no variety in the Elemental Kingdom as Air Water and Earth Air and Water having no form at all unless a potentiality to be formed into globules and that the clods and parcels of Earth are all Irregular I answer This is more then Man is able to know But by reason their Microscopes cannot make such Hermaphroditical figures of the Elements as they can of Minerals Vegetables and Animals they conclude there is no such variety in them when as yet we do plainly perceive that there are several sorts of Air Fire Water Earth and no doubt but these several sorts and their particulars are as variously figured as other Creatures Truly it is no consequence to deny the being of that which we do not see or perceive for this were to attribute a Universal and Infinite knowledg to our weak and imperfect senses And therefore I cannot believe that the Omnipotent Creator has written and engraven his most mysterious Designs and Counsels onely in one sort of Creatures since all parts of Nature their various productions and curious contrivances do make known the Omnipotency of God not onely those of little but also those of great sizes for in all figures sizes and actions is apparent the curious variety of Nature and the Omnipotency of the Cretor who has given Nature a self-moving power to produce all these varieties in her self which varieties do evidently prove that Nature doth not work in all Creatures alike nor that she has but one Primary or Principal sort of motions by which she produces all Creatures as some do conceive the manner of wreathing and unwreathing which they have observed in the beard of a Wild-oat mentioned before to be the first foot step of sensation and animate motion and the most plain simple and obvious contrivance Nature has made use of to produce a motion next to that of rarefaction and condensation by heat and cold for this is a very wild and extravagant conceit to measure the infinite actions of Nature according to the rule of one particular sort of motions which any one that has the perfect use of his sense and reason may easily see and therefore I need not to bring many arguments to contradict it 16. Of the Providence of Nature and of some Opinions concerning Motion COncerning those that speak of the Providence of Nature the preserving of Vegetables to wit that Nature is very curious and careful in preserving their seminal principles and lays them in most convenient strong and delicate cabinets for their safer protection from outward danger I confess Nature may make such protections that one Creature may have some defence from the injuries and assaults of its fellow-Creatures but these assaults are nothing but dissolving motions as friendly and amiable associations are nothing else but composing motions neither can any thing be lost in Nature for even the least particle of Nature remains as long as Nature her self And if there be any Providence in Nature then certainly Nature has knowledg and wisdom and if she hath knowledg and wisdom then she has sense and reason and if sense and reason then she has self-motion and if Nature has self-motion then none of her parts can be called inanimate or soul-less for Motion is the life and soul of Nature and of all her parts and if the body be animate the parts must be so too there being no part of the animate body of Nature that can be dead or without motion whereof an instance might be given of animal bodies whose parts have all animal life as well as the body it self Wherefore those that allow a soul or an informing actuating and animating form or faculty in Nature and her parts and yet call some parts inanimate or soul-less do absolutely contradict themselves And those that say all the varieties of Nature are produced not by self-motion but that one part moves another must at last come to something that moves it self besides it is not probable that one part moving another should produce all things so orderly and wisely as they are in Nature But those that say Motion is no substance and consequently not material and yet allow a generation and annihilation of Motion speak in my opinion non-sence for first how can self-motion the Author and Producer of all things work all the varieties that are in Nature and be nothing it self Next how can that which is nothing for all that is not Material is nothing in Nature or no part of Nature be generated and annihilated Nay if Motion be Material as surely it is yet there can neither be a new generation nor an annihilation of any particular Motion in Nature for all that is material in Nature has its being in and from Infinite Matter which is from Eternity it being impossible that any other new Matter should be created besides this Infinite Matter out of which all natural things consist or that any part of this matter should be lost or annihilated But perhaps those that believe new generations and annihilations of particular motions may say that their opinion is not as if those particular Motions were generated out of some new matter but that the matter of such motions is the same with the matter of all other natural Creatures and that their perishing or annihilation is not an utter destruction or loss of their being out of Nature but onely of being such or such a motion like as some Vegetables and Elements are generated and perish in one night Truly if their meaning be thus then it were better to name it an alteration or change of Motion rather then a new Generation and a Perishing or Annihilation But my intention is not to plead for other mens opinions but rather to clear my own which is that Motion is material for Figure Motion and Matter are but one thing and that no particular Motion is or can be lost in Nature nor created anew as
interior figurative motions being dilating but yet this doth not prove that all other Creatures may as easily be metamorphosed into stone as they for the parts of water are composed but of one sort of figure and are all of the same nature and so is wood clay shells c. whose parts are but of one figure at least not of so many different figures as the parts of Animals or other Creatures for as Animals have different parts so these parts are of different figures not onely exteriously but intericusly as for example in some or most Animals there are Bones Gristles Nerves Sinews Muscles Flesh Blood Brains Marrow Choler Phlegme and the like besides there are several sorts of flesh witness their interior and exterior parts as the Heart Lungs Liver Spleen Guts and the like as also the Head Breast Armes Body Legs and the like all which would puzzle and withstand the power of Ovid's Metamophosing of Gods and Goddesses Wherefore it is but a weak argument to conclude because some Creatures or parts can change out of one figure into another without a dissolution of their composed parts therefore all Creatures can do the like for if all Creatures could or should be metamorphosed into one sort of figure then this whole World would perhaps come to be one Stone which would be a hard World But this Opinion I suppose proceeds from Chymistry for since the last Art of Chimystry as I have heard is the Production of glass it makes perhaps Chymists believe that at the last day when this Word shall be dissolved with Fire the Fire will calcine or turn it into Glass A brittle World indeed but whether it will be transparent or no I know not for it will be very thick 23. Of the Nature of Water THe Ascending of VVater in Pipes Pumps and the like Engines is commonly alledged as an argument to prove there is no Vacuum But in my opinion VVater or the like things that are moist liquid and wet their interior corporeal and natural motion is flowing as being of a dilating figure and when other parts or Creatures suppress those liquors so that they cannot rise they will dilate but when solid and heavy bodies are put into them as Stones Metals c. which do sink then they will rise above them as being their nature to over-flow any other body if they can have the better of it or get passage For concerning the floating of some bodies the reason is not so much their levity or porousness but both their exterior shape and the waters restlesness or activity the several parts of water endeavouring to drive those floating bodies from them like as when several men playing at Ball or Shittle-cock or the like endeavour to beat those things from and to each other or like as one should blow up a feather into the Air which makes it not onely keep up in the air but to wave about The like doth water with floating bodies and the lighter the floating parts are the more power have the liquid parts to force and thrust them about And this is also the reason why two floating bodies of one Nature endeavour to meet and joyn because by joyning they receive more strength to resist the force of the watry parts The same may be said when as floating bodies stick or join to the sides of Vessels but many times the watry parts will not suffer them to be at rest or quiet but drive them from their strong holds or defences Concerning the suppression of water and of some floating bodies in water by air or light as that air and light should suppress water and bodies floating upon it as some do conceive I see no reason to believe it but the contrary rather appears by the levity of air which is so much lighter and therefore of less force then either the floating bodies or the water on which they float Some again are of opinion That Water is a more dense body then Ice and prove it by the Refractions of light because VVater doth more refract the rays of light then Ice doth but whatsoever their experiments be yet my reason can hardly believe it for although Ice may be more transparent then water yet it may be more dense then water for Glass is more transparent then water and yet more dense then water and some bodies will not be trasparent if they be thick that is if they have a great number of parts upon parts when as they will be transparent if they be thin that is if they have few thin parts upon each other so that transparent bodies may be darkned and those that are not transparent of themselves may be made so by the thickness or thinness of parts that one may see or not see through them and thus a thin body of Water may be more transparent then a thick body of Ice and a thin body of Ice may be more transparent then a thick body of water As for the expansion of Water it doth not prove that Water is more dense then Ice but on the contrary it rather proves that it is more rare for that body whose parts are close and united is more dense then that whose parts are fluid and dilating Neither doth Expansion alter the interior nature of a body any more then contraction but it alters onely the exterior posture as for example when a man puts his body into several postures it doth not alter him from being a man to some other Creature for the stretching of his legs spreading out of his armes puffing up his cheeks c. changes his nature or natural figure no more then when he contracts his limbs close together crumpling up his body or folding his armes c. but his posture is onely changed the like for the expansions and contractions of other sorts of Creatures Nor can I readily give my assent to their opinion that some liquors are more dense then others I mean such as are perfectly moist liquid and wet as water is for there be numerous sorts of liquors which are not throughly wet as water and although their Circular lines may be different as some edged some pointed some twisted and the like yet they do not differ so much but that their inherent figures are all of Circular lines for the interior nature or figure of water and so of all other moist and wet liquors is Circular and it is observable that as Art may be an occasion of diminishing those points or edges of the Circular lines of some liquors or of untwisting them so it may also be an occasion that some liquid and wet bodies may become so pointed edged twisted c. as may occasion those circles to move or turn into such or such exterior figures not onely into triangular square round and several other forms or figures as appears in Ice Hail Frost and flakes of Snow but into such figures as they name Spirits which several sorts of figures belonging all to one sort of
stiff rare dense moist dry contracting dilating ascending descending and other numerous sorts of colds nay there are some sorts of candied figures made by heat which appear as if they were frozen Also there are fluid colds which are not wet as well as fluid heats that are not dry for Phlegm is fluid and yet not wet and some sorts of air are fluid and not wet I say some not all for some are hot and moist others hot and dry The same may be said of some sorts of heat and cold for some are moist and some dry and there may be at one and the same time a moist cold in the air and a dry cold in water which in my opinion is the reason that in sealed Weather-glasses according to some Experimenters relations sometimes the air doth not shrink but rather seems to be expanded when the weather grows colder and that the water contracts not that the cold contraction of water causes an expansion of the air to prevent a Vacuum for there cannot be any such thing as a Vacuum in Nature but that there is a moist cold in the air and a dry cold in the water whereof the dry cold causes a contraction and the moist cold an expansion nay there is often a moist and dry cold in the air at one and the same time so that some parts of the air may have a moist cold and the next adjoying parts a dry cold and that but in a very little compass for there may be such contractions and dilations in Nature which make not a hairs breadth difference Nature being so subtil and curious as no particular can trace her ways and therefore when I speak of contractions and dilations I do not mean they are all such gross actions perceptible by our exterior senses as the works of Art but such as the curiosity of Nature works Concerning the several sorts of animal heat and cold they are quite different from the Elemental and other sorts of heat and cold for some men may have cold fits of an Ague under the Line or in the hottest Climates and others Burning-Feavers under the Poles or in the coldest climates 'T is true that Animals by their perceptions may pattern out the heat or cold of the air but these perceptions are not always regular or perfect neither are the objects at all times exactly presented as they should which may cause an obscurity both in Art and in particular sensitive perceptions and through this variety the same sort of Creatures may have different perceptions of the same sorts of heat and cold Besides it is to be observed that some parts or Creatures as for example Water and the like liquors if kept close from the perception either of heat or cold will neither freeze nor grow hot and if Ice and Snow be kept in a deep Pit from the exterior object of heat it will never thaw but continne Ice or Snow whenas being placed near the perception of the Sun Fire or warm Air its exterior figure will alter from being Ice to Water and from being cold to hot or to an intermediate temper betwixt both nay it may alter from an extream degree of cold to an extream degree of heat according as the exterior object of heat doth occasion the sensitive perceptive motions of Water or Ice to work for extreams are apt to alter the natural temper of a particular Creature and many times so as to cause a total dissolution of its interior natural figure when I name extreams I do not mean any uttermost extreams in Nature for Nature being Infinite and her particular actions being poised and ballanced by opposites can never run into extreams but I call them so in reference onely to our perception as we use to say it is extream hot or extream cold And the reason of it is that Water by its natural perceptive motions imitates the motions of heat or cold but being kept from the perception of them it cannot imitate them The same reason may be given upon the experiment that some bodies being put into water will be preserved from being frozen or congealed for they being in water are not onely kept from the perception of cold but the water doth as a guard preserve them which guard if it be overcome that is if the water begin to freeze then they will do so too But yet all colds are not airy nor all heats sunny or fiery for a man as I mentioned before may have shaking fits of an Ague in the hottest climate or season and burning fits of a Fever in the coldest climate or season and as there is difference between elemental and animal cold and heat so betwixt other sorts so that it is but in vain to prove all sorts of heat and cold by Artificial Weather-glasses suppressions and elevations of water Atmosphaerical parts and the like for it is not the air that makes all cold no not that cold which is called Elementary no more then it makes heat but the corporeal figurative self-moving perceptive rational and sensitive parts of Nature which make all other Creatures make also heat and cold Some Learned make much ado about Antiperistasis and the flight of those two contrary qualities heat and cold from each other where according to their opinion one of them being surrounded and besieged by the other retires to the innermost parts of the body which it possesses and there by recollecting its forces and animating it self to a defence is intended or increased in its degree and so becomes able to resist its adversary which they prove by the cold expelled from the Earth and Water by the Sun-beams which they say retires to the middle region of the Air and there defends it self against the heat that is in the two other viz. the upper and the lower Regions and so it doth in the Earth for say they we find in Summer when the air is sultry hot the cold retreats into Cellars and Vaults and in Winter when the air is cold they are the Sanctuary and receptacle of heat so that the water in wells and springs and the like places under ground is found warm and smoaking when as the water which is exposed to the open air by cold is congealed into Ice But whatsoever their opinion be I cannot believe that heat and cold run from each other as Children at Boe-peep for concerning the Earths being warm in Winter and cold in Summer it is not in my opinion caused by hot or cold Atoms flying like Birds out of their nests and returning to the same nor is the Earth like a Store-house that hoards up cold and heat at several seasons in the year but there is a natural temper of cold and heat as well in the Earth as in other Creatures and that Vaults Wells and Springs under ground are warm in Winter when the exterior air is cold the reason is not that the heat of the air or the Calorifick atomes as they call them are retired
either forwards onely or in an undulating motion which opinion in my judgment is as erroneous as any of the former and infers another absurdity which is that all Winds are of the same nature when as there are as many several sorts and differences of Winds as of other Creatures for there are several Winds in several Creatures Winds in the Earth are of another kind then those in the Air and the Wind of an animal breath is different from both nay those that are in the air are of different sorts some cold and dry some hot and moist and some temperate c. which how they can all produce the effect of cold or freezing by the compression of the air I am not able to judg onely this I dare say that if Wind causes cold or frost then in the midst of the Summer or in hot Climates a vehement wind would always produce a great Frost besides it would prove that there must of necessity be far greater winds at the Poles then under the AEquinoctial there being the greatest cold Neither will this principle be able to resolve the question why a man that has an Ague feels a shaking cold even under the Line and in the coldest weather when there is no stirring of the least wind All which proves that it is very improbable that Wind should be the principle of all Natural Cold and therefore it remains firm that self-moving Matter or corporeal figurative self-motion as it is the Prime and onely cause of all natural effects so it is also of Cold and Heat and Wind and of all the changes and alterations in Nature which is and hath always been my constant and in my simple judgment the most probable and rational opinion in Natural Philosophy 28. Of Thawing or dissolving of Frozen bodies AS Freezing or Congelation is caused by contracting condensing and retentive Motions so Thawing is nothing else but dissolving dilating and extending motions for Freezing and Thawing are two contrary actions and as Freezing is caused several ways according to the various disposition of congelable bodies and the temper of exterior cold so Thawing or a dissolution of frozen bodies may be occasioned either by a sympathetical agreement as for example the thawing of Ice in water or other liquors or by some exterior imitation as by hot dilating motions And it is to be observed That as the time of freezing so the time of dissolving is according to the several natures and tempers both of the frozen bodies themselves and the exterior objects applied to frozen bodies which occasion their thawing or dissolution for it is not onely heat that doth cause Ice or Snow or other frozen bodies to melt quicker or slower but according as the nature of the heat is either more or less dilative or more or less rarifying for surely an exterior actual heat is more rarifying then an interior virtual heat as we see in strong spirituous liquors which are interiously contracting but being made actually hot become exteriously dilating The like of many other bodies so that actual heat is more dissolving then virtual heat And this is the reason why Ice and Snow will melt sooner in some Countries or places then in others and is much harder in some then in others for we see that neither Air Water Earth Minerals nor any other sorts of Creatures are just alike in all Countries or Climates The same may be said of heat and cold Besides it is to be observed that oftentimes a different application of one and the same object will occasion different effects as for example if Salt be mixed with Ice it may cause the contracted body of Ice to change its present motions into its former state or figure viz. into water but being applied outwardly or on the out-side of the Vessel wherein Snow or Ice is contained it may make it freeze harder instead of dissolving it Also Ice will oftentimes break into pieces of its own accord and without the application of any exterior object and the reason in my opinion is that some of the interior parts of the Ice endeavouring to return to their proper and natural figure by vertue of their interior dilative motions do break and divide some of the exterior parts that are contracted by the motions of Frost especially those which have not so great a force or power as to resist them But concerning Thawing some by their trails have found that if frozen Eggs Apples and the like bodies be thawed near the fire they will be thereby spoiled but if they be immersed in cold water or wrapt into Ice or Snow the internal cold will be drawn out as they suppose by the external and the frozen bodies will be harmlesly though not so quickly thawed And truly this experiment stands much to reason for in my opinion when frozen bodies perceive heat or fire the motions of their frozen parts upon the perception endeavour to imitate the motions of heat or fire which being opposite to the motions of cold in this sudden and hasty change they become irregular in so much as to cause in most frozen parts a dissolution of their interior natural figure Wherefore it is very probable that frozen bodies will thaw more regularly in water or being wrapt into Ice or Snow then by heat or fire for Thawing is a dilating action and Water as also Ice and Snow which are nothing but congealed water being of a dilative nature may easily occasion a thawing of the mentioned frozen parts by Sympathy provided the Motions of the exterior cold do not over-power the motions of the interior frozen parts for if a frozen body should be wrapt thus into Ice or Snow and continue in an open cold frosty air I question whether it would cause a thaw in the same body it would preserve the body in its frozen state from dissolving or disuniting rather then occasion its thawing But that such frozen bodies as Apples and Eggs c. immersed in water will produce Ice on their out-sides is no wonder by reason the motions of Water imitate the motions of the frozen bodies and those parts of water that are nearest are the first imitators and become of the same mode By which we may see that some parts will cloath themselves others onely vail themselves with artificial dresses most of which dresses are but copies of other motions and not original actions It makes also evident that those effects are not caused by an ingress of frigorifick atomes in water or other congelable bodies but by the perceptive motions of their own parts And what I have said of Cold the same may be spoken of heat for it is known that a part of a mans body being burned with fire the burning may be cured by the heat of the fire which in my opinion proceeds from a sympathetical agreement betwixt the motions of the fire and the motions of the burned part for every part of a mans body hath its natural heat which is of an
particulars do oppose each other yet all opposition tends to the conservation of a general peace and unity in the whole But to return to Fire since Air is the proper matter of respiration for fire extream colds and frosts either of air or vapour are as unfit for the respiration of fire as water is which if it do not kill it quite yet it will at least make it sick pale and faint but if water be rarified to such a degree that it becomes thin vapour then it is as proper for its respiration as air Thus we see although fire hath fuel which is its food yet no food can keep it alive without breath or respiration The like may be said of some other Creatures Qu. 5. Whether Wood be apt to freeze My Answer is That I believe that the moist part of Wood which is sap may freeze as hard as Water but the solid parts cannot do so for the cracking noise of Wood is no proof of its being frozen because Wainscot will make such a noise in Summer as well as in Winter And it is to be observed that some bodies will be apter to freeze in a weak then in a hard frost according to their own dispositions which is as much to be considered as the object of cold or frost it self for some bodies do more and some less imitate the motions of some objects and some not at all and thus we see that solid bodies do onely imitate the contractive motions of cold but not the dilative motions of moisture which is the cause they break in a hard frost like as a string which being tied too hard will fly asunder and as they imitate Cold so they do also imitate Thaw Quest. 6. Whether Water be fluid in its nature or but occasionally by the agitation of the air I answer That Waters is fluid in its own nature needs no proof but 't is known enough by the force of its dilating motions for Water when it gets but liberty it overflows all and dilates everywhere which proves it is not air that makes it fluid but it is so in its own nature Quest. 7. What produces those great Precipices and Mountains of Ice which are found in the Sea and other great waters I answer That Snow as also thick Fogs and Mists which are nothing but rarified water falling upon the Ice make its out-side thicker and many great shelves and broken pieces of Ice joyning together produce such Precipices and Mountains as mentioned Quest. 8. Whether Fishes can live in frozen Water I answer If there be as much water left unfrozen as will serve them for respiration they may live for it is well known that Water is the chief matter of respiration for Fish and not Air for Fish being out of water cannot live long but whilst they live they gasp and gape for water I mean such kinds of Fish which do live altogether in Water and not such Creatures as are of a mixt kind and live in water as well as by land which the Learned call Amphibious Creatures as Otters and the like which may live in the air as well as in water Those Fish I say if the water be thorowly frozen or if but the surface of water be quite frozen over to a pretty depth will often die by reason the water that remains unfrozen by the contraction of Ice has altered for that time its dilative motions to retentive motions and like as men are smothered in a close air so Fish in close water that is in water which is quite covered and inclosed with Ice but at some men have not so nice and tender natures as others and some have larger organs for respiration then others and some are more accustomed to some sorts of air then others which may cause them to endure longer or respire more freely then others so some Fishes do live longer in such close waters then others and some may be like Men that are frost-bitten which may chance to live even in those waters that are quite thorowly frozen as Experimenters relate but yet I cannot believe that the water in which Fishes have been observed to live can be so thorowly frozen to solid Ice that it should not leave some liquidity or wetness in it although not perceptible by our sight by which those Fishes were preserved alive However it is more probable for Fish to live in Ice then for other Creatures because the Principle of Ice is Water which is the matter of the Fishes respiration which keeps them alive Quest. 9. Whether in decoctions of Herbs when congealed or frozen into Ice the figures of the Herbs do appear in the Ice This is affirmed for Truth by many Learned and though I do not deny but that such liquors in freezing may have some resemblance of their solid parts yet I do not believe it to be universal for if the blood of an animal should be congealed into Ice I doubt it would hardly represent the figure of an animal Indeed there 's much difference between the exterior figures of Creatures and their interior natures which is evident even in frozen water whose exterior Icy figures are numerous when as their interior nature is but water and there may also several changes and alterations of exterior figures be made by Art when their interior nature is but one and the same Quest. 10. Whether Cold doth preserve Bodies from Corruption I answer That in my opinion it may be very probable For Corruption or Putrefaction is nothing but irregular dissolving motions when as Freezing or Congelation is made by regular contracting and condensing motions and so long as these motions of Freezing are in force it is impossible the motions that make Corruption should work their effect But that such bodies as have been thorowly frozen after being thawed are most commonly spoiled the reason is that the freezing or congealing motions being not natural to those bodies have caused such a thorowalteration of the natural motions of their parts as a hundred to one but they will never move regularly and orderly again afterward but on the contrary their interior motions do quite and absolutelely change by which the figure is totally altered from its former nature but if a solid body be not throughly frozen it may be reduced to a perfect regularity again for those natural motions that are not altered may occasion the rest to act as formerly to the preservation of that figure 30. Of Contraction and Dilation THere have been and are still great disputes amongst the Learned concerning Contraction and Extension of bodies but if I were to decide their controversie I would ask first Whether they did all agree in one principle that is whether their principle was purely natural and not mixt with divine or supernatural things for if they did not well apprehend one anothers meaning or argued upon different principles it would be but a folly to dispute because it would be impossible for them to agree But
out the several proprieties of one body as it is for several Painters to draw the several parts of one figure as for example of a burning Candle one may draw the wax or tallow another the wick another the flame The like for the Perceptions of several senses Sight may pattern out the figure and light of a Candle Touch may pattern out its weight hardness or smoothness the Nose may pattern out its smell the Ears may pattern out its sparkling noise c. All which does evidently prove That Perception cannot be made by pressure and reaction or else a fire coal by the perception of sight would burn out the eye because it would by pressure inflame its next adjoining parts and these again the next until it came to the eye Besides it proves that all objects are material for were Light Colour Figure Heat Cold c. immaterial they would never be patterned out by corporeal motions for no Painter is able to copy out or draw an immaterial mode or motion Neither could immaterial motions make pressure nor be subject to reaction Lastly it proves That Perception is an effect of knowledg in the sentient and not in the external object or else there would be but one knowledg in all parts and not several knowledges in several parts whereof sense and reason inform us otherwise viz. that particular figures have variety of knowledges according to the difference and variety of their corporeal figurative motions But then some will say That the actions of Matter would be more infinite then the parts I answer There can be neither more nor less in infinite For infinite can be but infinite but since parts figures changes of motion and perceptions are one and the same and since division and composition are the chief actions of Nature it does necessarily follow That as the actions vary so do also their parts and particular perceptions Q. 14. How is it possible that any Perception of outward objects can be made by patterning since patterning doth follow perception for how can any one pattern out that which he has no perception of I answer Natural actions are not like Artificial for Art is but gross and dull in comparison to Nature and although I alledg the comparison of a Painter yet is it but to make my meaning more intelligible to weaker capacities for though a Painter must see or know first what he intends to draw or copy out yet the natural perception of exterior objects is not altogether after the same manner but in those perceptions which are made by patterning the action of patterning and the perception are one and the same for as self-knowledg is the ground of Perception so self-motion is the action of Perception without which no perception could be and therefore perception and self-action are one and the same But I desire that it may well be observed what I have mentioned heretofore to wit That although there is but one self-knowledg and one selfmotion in Nature yet they being material are divideable and therefore as from one infinite cause there may flow infinite effects and one infinite whole may be divided into infinite parts so from one infinite self-knowledg and self-motion there may proceed infinite particular actions and perceptions But some may perhaps ask 1. Why those particular knowledges and perceptions are not all alike as being all but effects of one cause To which I answer That if the actions or motions of Nature were all alike all parts would have the like knowledges and perceptions but the actions being different how can it be otherwise but the perceptions must be different also for since every perception is a particular self-action then as the actions of Nature vary and as parts do divide and compose so are likewise their perceptions 2. It may be objected That if the Perception of the exterior senses in animals be made by the way of patterning then when a part of the body feels pain the rational motions by patterning out the same would be pained or sick I answer This does no more follow then that the Eye patterning out the exterior figure of Water Fire Earth c. should become of the same nature for the original is one thing and the copy another the picture of a house of stone is not made of natural stone nor is the picture of a Tree a natural Tree for if it were so Painters would do more then Chymists by fire and furnace but by reason there is a very close conjunction between the rational and sensitive perceptive motions so that when the sensitive motions of the body pattern out some exterior object the rational most commonly do the same That which we call pain or sickness in the body when patterned out by the mind is called trouble or grief for as there are degrees in their purity subtilty and activity so their perceptions are also different But it is well to be observed That although some parts are ignorant of others when they work not to one and the same perception yet sometimes there is a more general knowledg of a disease pain or soreness for example a man may have an inflamation or soreness in one part of his arm or leg and all the rest of the parts of that limb may be ignorant thereof but if the inflamation soreness or pain extend throughout the whole arm or leg then all the parts of that limb are generally sensible of it 3. It may be objected That if the rational perceptive motions take patterns from the sensitive then reason can never judg of things as naturally they are but onely of their copies as they are patterned out by the sensitive motions I answer first That reason is not so necessitated as to have no other perception then what sense presents for Reason is the instructer and informer of sense as an architect or surveigher is in the extruction of a house Next I say That in the act of Perception Reason doth not onely perceive the copies of the senses but it perceives with the sense also the original for surely the rational part of Matter being intermixed with the sensitive must perceive as well the original as sense doth for it is not so involved within the sensitive that it cannot peep out as a Jack-in-a-Box but both being closely intermixed one makes perceptions as well as the other as being both perceptive and by reason the rational part makes the same perception as the sensitive doth it seemeth as if the rational did take copies from the sensitive which although it doth yet this doth not hinder it from making a perception also of the original But then some may say if the rational Part has liberty to move as it will then it may perceive without sense that is Reason may make perceptions of outward objects in the organs of the senses when the senses make none as for example the rational motions in the eye may perceive light when the sensitive do not and sound in the ear
were just the same as its exterior figure as for example if an artificial eye or ear were of animal flesh and the like it would have the like perception otherways not Q. 17. How do we perceive Light Fire Air c I answer By their exterior figures as we do other objects As for example my Eye patterns out the exterior figure of Light and my Touch patterns out the exterior figure of Heat c. But then you will say If the Eye did pattern out the figure of Light it would become Light it self and if Touch did pattern out the figure of Heat it would become Fire I answer No more then when a Painter draws Fire or Light the copy should be a natural Fire or Light For there is difference betwixt the copy and the original and it is to be observed that in the Perception of sense especially of sight there must be a certain distance betwixt the object and the sentient parts for the further those are from each other the weaker is the perception by reason no corporeal figurative motion is infinite but finite and therefore it can have but fueh a degree of power strength or activity as belongs to such a figurative action or such a part or degree of Matter But as for Fire and Light it is a certain and evident proof that some perceptions at least those of the exterior animal senses are made by patterning for though the nature of Fire and of Light for any thing we know be ascending yet if Fire be made in such a manner that several may stand about underneath and above it yet they all have the perception of the heat of fire in what place soever provided they stand within a limited or determinate compass of it I say of the heat which is the effect of fire for that is onely patterned out and not the substance of the flame or fire it self But on the contrary if the heat of the fire did actually and really spread it self out to all the places nominated as well downwards upwards and sideways then certainly it would be wasted in a little time and leave its cause which is the fire heatless Besides that there are Copies and Originals and that some perceptions are made by patterning is evident by the appearance of one Candle in several distances which several appearances can be nothing else but several copies of that Candle made by those parts that take patterns from the Original which makes me also believe that after the same manner many Stars which we take for Originals may be but so many copies or patterns of one Star made by the figurative motions of those parts where they appear Q. 18. Whether the Optick Perception is made in the Eye or Brain or in both I answer The perception of Sight when awake is made on the outside of the Eye but in sleep on the inside and as for some sorts of Thoughts or Conceptions which are the actions of reason they are to my apprehension made in the inner part of the head although I am not able to determine properly what part it is for all the body is perceptive and has sense and reason and not onely the head the onely difference is that the several actions of several parts cause several sorts of perceptions and the rational parts being the most active and purest and moving within themselves can make more figures in the same compass or magnitude and in a much shorter time then the sensitive which being burthened with the inanimate parts cannot act so agily and freely Neverthess some of the sensitive actions are much agiler and nimbler then others as we may perceive in several sorts of productions But the rational parts being joined with the sensitive in the exterior parts of a figure do for the most part work together with the same otherwise when they move by themselves in Thoughts Conceptions Remembrance and the like they are more inward as within the head for there are Perceptions of interior parts as well as of exterior I mean within a composed figure by reason all parts are perceptive Neither does this prove that if there be so many perceptions in one composed figure there must be numerous several perceptions of one object in that same figure for every part knows its own work or else there would be a confusion in Natures actions Neither are all perceptions alike but as I said according as the several actions are so are the perceptions Q. 19. What is the reason that the nearer a stick or finger is held against a Concave-glass the more does the pattern of it made by the glass appear to issue out of the glass and meet with the object that is without it I answer 'T is not that something really issues out of the Glass but as in a plain Looking-glass the further the object goes from it the more does its copy or image seem to be within the glass So in the same manner does the length of the stick which is the measure of the object or distance that moves For as to a man that rides in a Coach or sails upon Water the Shore Trees Hedges Meadows and Fields seem to move when as yet 't is the man that moves from them so it is with the figure in a Looking-glass Wherefore it is onely a mistake in the animal sense to take the motion of one for the motion of the other Q. 20. Whether a Part or Figure repeated by the same Motions be the same part or figure as the former or onely like the former as also whether an action repeated be the same with the former I answer That if the Parts Figures and Actions be the same they will always remain the same although they be dissolved and repeated millions of times as for example if you make a figure of wax and dissolve it and make that figure again just as it was before and of the same parts and by the same action it will be the very same figure but if you alter either the parts or the figure it may be like the former figure but not the very same The like for action if one and the same action be repeated without any alteration it is nothing else but a repetition of the corporeal figurative motions but if there be any alteration in it it is not made by the same figurative motions and consequently 't is not the same action for though the self-moving parts be the same yet the figurative motions are not the same not that those figurative motions are not in the same parts but not repeated in the same manner Wherefore it is well to be observed that a Repetition is of the same parts figures and actions that were before but an alteration is not a repetition for wheresoever is but the least alteration there can be no exact repetition Q. 21. Whether there may be a Remembrance in Sense as well as there is in Reason I answer Yes for Remembrance is nothing else
can neither be always assured of knowing the Truth for particular Reason may sometimes be deceived as well as sense but when the Perceptions both of sense and reason agree then the information is more true I mean regular sense and reason not irregular which causes mistakes and gives false informations also the Presentation of the objects ought to be true and without delusion 19. Of preserving the Figures of Animal Creatures I Am absolutely of the opinion of those who believe Natural Philosophy may promote not onely Anatomy but all other Arts for else they would not be worth the taking of pains to learn them by reason the rational perceptions are beyond the sensitive I am also of opinion that there may be an Art to preserve the exterior shapes of some animal bodies but not their interior forms for although their exterior shapes even after the dissolution of the animal figure may be some what like the shapes and figures of their bodies when they had the life of an animal yet they being transformed into some other Creatures by the alteration of their interior figurative motions can no ways keep the same interior figure which they had when they were living animals Concerning the preserving of blood by the means of spirit of Wine as some do probably believe my opinion is That spirit of Wine otherwise call'd Hot-water if taken in great quantity will rather dry up or putrifie the blood then preserve it nay not onely the blood but also the more solid parts of an animal body insomuch as it will cause a total dissolution of the animal figure and some animal Creatures that have blood will be dissolved in Wine which yet is not so strong as extracts or spirit of Wine But blood mingled with spirit of Wine may perhaps retain somewhat of the colour of blood although the nature and propriety of blood be quite altered As for the instance of preserving dead fish or flesh from putrifying and stinking alledged by some we see that ordinary salt will do the same with less cost and as spirits of Wine or hot Waters may like salt preserve some dead bodies from corruption so may they by making too much or frequent use of them also cause living bodies to corrupt and dissolve sooner then otherwise they would do But Chymists are so much for extracts that by their frequent use and application they often extract humane life out of humane bodies instead of preserving it 20. Of Chymistry and Chymical Principles IT is sufficiently known and I have partly made mention above what a stir Natural Philosophers do keep concerning the principles of Nature and natural Beings and how different their opinions are The Schools following Aristotle are for the Four Elements which they believe to be simple bodies as having no mixture in themselves and therefore fittest to be principles of all other mixt or compounded bodies But my Reason cannot apprehend what they mean by simple bodies I confess that some bodies are more mixt then others that is they consist of more differing parts such as the learned call Heterogeneous as for example Animals consist of flesh blood skin bones muscles nerves tendons gristles and the like all which are parts of different figures Other bodies again are composed of such parts as are of the same nature which the learned call Homogeneous as for example Water Air c. whose parts have no different figures but are all alike each other at least to our perception besides there are bodies which are more rare and subtile than others according to the degrees of their natural figurative motions and the composion of their parts Nevertheless I see no reason why those Homogeneous bodies should be called simple and all others mixt or composed of them much less why they should be principles of all other natural bodies for they derive their origine from matter as well as the rest so that it is onely the different composure of their parts that makes a difference between them proceeding from the variety of self-motion which is the cause of all different figures in nature for as several work-men join in the building of one house and several men in the framing of one Government so do several parts in the making or forming of one composed figure But they 'l say it is not the likeness of parts that makes the Four Elements to be principles of natural things but because there are no natural bodies besides the mentioned Elements that are not composed of them as is evident in the dissolution of their parts for example A piece of Green wood that is burning in a Chimney we may readily discern the Four Elements in its dissolution out of which it is composed for the fire discovers it self in the flame the smoak turns into air the water hisses and boils at the ends of the wood and the ashes are nothing but the Element of earth But if they have no better arguments to prove their principles they shall not readily gain my consent for I see no reason why wood should be composed of the Four Elements because it burns smoaks hisses and turns into ashes Fire is none of its natural ingredients but a different figure which being mixt with the parts of the wood is an occasion that the Wood turns into ashes neither is Water a principle of Wood for Water is as much a figure by it self as Wood or Fire is which being got into the parts of the wood and mixt with the same is expelled by the fire as by its opposite but if it be a piece of dry and not of green wood where is then the water that boils out Surely dry wood hath no less principles then green wood and as for smoak it proves no more that it is the Element of Air in Wood then that Wood is the Element of Fire for Wood as experience witnesses may last in water where it is kept from the air and smoak is rather an effect of moisture occasioned into such a figure by the commixture of fire Others as Helmont who derives his opinion from Thales and others of the ancient Philosophers are only for the Element of Water affirming that that is the sole principle out of which all natural things consist for say they the Chaos where of all things were made was nothing else but water which first setled into slime and then condensed into solid earth nay some endeavour to prove by Chymical Experiments that they have disposed water according to their Chymical way so that it visibly turn'd into earth which earth produced animals vegetables and minerals But put the case it were so yet this doth not prove water to be the onely principle of all natural beings for first we cannot think that animals vegetables and minerals are the onely kinds of creatures in Nature and that there are no more but them for nature being infinitely various may have infinite Worlds and so infinite sorts of Creatures Next I say that the change of water
the fuel alters by its own motion and the fire doth but act occasionally and so do Chymical spirits or extracts which may cause a separation and alter some bodies as readily as fire doth for they are a certain kind of fire to wit such as is called a dead or liquid fire for a flaming fire although it be fluid yet it is not liquid The same may be said of the Antimonial-Cup For it is not probable to sense and reason there should be certain invisible little bodies that pass out of the Cup into the liquor and cause such effects no more then there are magnetical effluviums issuing out of the Load-stone towards Iron there being many causes which neither impart nor lose any thing in the production of their effects but the liquor that is within the Antimonial Cup does imitate the corporeal figurative motions of the Cup and so produces the same effects as are proper to Antimony upon other bodies or parts of Nature In the same manner does the Blood-stone stop bleeding not by imparting invisible Atomes or Rays to the affected parts or else if it were long worn about ones body it would be wasted at least alter its proper figure and vertue but by being imitated by the corporeal figurative motions of the distempered parts Thus many other examples could be alledged to prove that natural motions work such or such effects within their own parts without receiving any from without that is by imitation and not by reception of Motion By which it is evident that properly there is no passive or suffering body in Nature except it be the inanimate part of Matter which in its own nature is moveless or destitute of motion and is carried along with and by the animate parts of Matter However although inanimate Matter has no motion inherent in it self as it is inanimate yet it is so closely mixt with the animate parts that it cannot be considered without motion much less be separable from it and therefore although it acts not of it self yet it acts by vertue of the animate parts of Matter Next I cannot conceive what some Chymists mean when they call those Principles or Elements which they say composed bodies consist of distinct substances for though they may be of different figures yet they are not of different substances because there is but one onely substance in Nature which is Matter whose several actions cause all the variety in Nature But if all the parts of Natural bodies should be called Principles or Elements then there would be infinite Principles in Nature which is impossible because there can be no more but one principle which is self-moving Matter and although several Creatures by the help of fire may be reduced or dissolved into several different particles yet those particles are not principles much less simple bodies or else we might say as well that ashes are a principle of Wood Neither are they created anew because they are of another form or figure then when composed into one concrete body for there 's nothing that is material which is not pre-existent in Nature no nor figure motion or the like all being material although not always subject to our humane sensitive perception for the variation of the corporeal figurative motions blindeth our particular senses that we cannot perceive them they being too subtile to be discerned either by Art or humane perception The truth is if we could see the corporeal figurative motions of natural creatures and the association and division of all their parts we should soon find out the causes which make them to be such or such particular natural effects but Nature is too wise to be so easily known by her particulars Wherefore Chymists need not think they can create any thing anew for they cannot challenge to themselves a divine power neither can there be any such thing as a new Creation in Nature no not of an Atome Nor can they annihilate any thing they 〈◊〉 sooner waste their Estates then reduce the least particle of Matter into nothing and though they make waste of some parts of natural bodies yet those are but changes into other figures there being a perpetual inspiration and expiration that is composition and division of parts but composition is not a new Creation nor division an annihilation and though they produce new forms as they imagine yet those forms though they be new to them are not new in Nature for all that is material has been existent in Nature from all Eternity so that the combination of parts cannot produce anything that is not already in Nature Indeed the generation of new figures seems to me much like the generation of new motions which would put God to a perpetual Creation and argue that he was not able to make Nature or Matter perfect at first or that he wanted imployment But say they it is not Matter that is created anew but onely figures or forms I answer If any one can shew me a figure without Matter I shall be willing to believe it but I am confident Nature cannot do that much less Art which is but a particular effect for as Matter cannot be without Figure so neither can Figure be without Matter no more then body without parts or parts without body and if so no figure or form can be created without Matter there being no such thing as a substanceless form Chymists should but consider their own particular persons as whether they were generated anew or had been in Nature before they were got of their Parents if they had not been pre-existent in Nature they would not be natural but supernatural Creatures because they would not subsist of the same matter as other Creatures do Truly Matter being Infinite how some new material creatures could be created without some parts of this Infinite Matter is not conceivable by humane sense and reason for infinite admits of no addition but if there could be an addition it would presuppose an annihilation so that at the same time when one part is annihilating or perishing another must succeed by a new creation which is a meer Paradox But that which puzles me most is how those substances which they call Tria Prima and principles of natural things can be generated anew for if the principles be generated anew the effects must be so too and since they according to their supposition are Catholick or Universal principles all natural effects must have their origine from them and be like their principles created continually anew which how it be possible without the destruction of Nature is beyond my reason to conceive Some endeavour to prove by their Artificial Experiments that they have and can produce such things out of natural bodies which never were pre-existent in them as for example Glass out of Vegetables without any addition of forreign parts onely by the help of fire To which I answer That in my opinion the same Glass was as much pre-existent in the matter of those
Vegetables and the Fire and in the power of their corporeal figurative motions as any other figure whatsoever otherwise it would never have been produced nay not onely Glass but millions of other figures might be obtained from those parts they being subject to infinite changes for the actions of self-moving Matter are so infinitely various that according to the mixture or composition and division of parts they can produce what figures they please not by a new Creation but only a change or alteration of their own parts and though some parts act not to the production of such or such figures yet we cannot say that those figures are not in Nature or in the power of corporeal figurative self-motion we might say as well that a man cannot go when he sits or has no motion when he sleeps as believe that it is not in the power of Nature to produce such or such effects or actions when they are not actually produced for as I said before although Nature be but one material substance yet there are infinite mixtures of infinite parts produced by infinite self-motion infinite ways in so much that seldom any two Creatures even those of one sort do exactly resemble each other But some may say How is it possible That figure being all one with Matter can change and matter remain still the same without any change or alteration I answer As well as an animal body can put it self into various and different postures without any change of its interior animal figure for though figure cannot subsist without matter nor matter without figure generally considered yet particular parts of matter are not bound to certain particular figures Matter in its general nature remains always the same and cannot be changed from being Matter but by the power of self-motion it may change from being such or such a particular figure for example Wood is as much matter as Stone but it is not of the same figure nor has it the same interior innate motions which Stone hath because it has not the like composition of parts as other creatures of other figures have and though some figures be more constant or lasting then others yet this does not prove that they are not subject to changes as well as those that alter daily nay every moment much less that they are without motion for not all motions are dividing or dissolving but some are retentive some composing some attractive some expulsive some contractive some dilative and infinite other sorts of motions as 't is evident by the infinite variety which appears in the differing effects of Nature Nevertheless it is no consequence that because the effects are different they must also have different principles For first all effects of Nature are material which proves they have but one principle which is the onely infinite Matter Next they are all self-moving which proves that this material principle has self-motion for without self-motion there would be no variety or change of figures it being the nature of self-motion to be perpetually acting Thus Matter and Self-motion being inseparably united in one infinite body which is self-moving material Nature is the onely cause of all the infinite effects that are produced in Nature and not the Aristoteleon Elements or Chymists Tria prima which sense and reason perceives to be no more but effects or else if we should call all those Creatures principles which by the power of their own inherent motions change into other figures we shall be forced to make infinite principles and so confound principles with effects and after this manner that which is now an effect will become a principle and what is now a principle will become an effect which will lead our sense and reason into a herrid confusion and labyrinth of ignorance Wherefore I will neither follow the Opinions of the Ancient nor of our Moderns in this point but search the truth of Nature by the light of regular reason for I perceive that most of our modern Writings are not fill'd with new Inventions of their own but like a lumber stuff'd with old Commodities botch'd and dress'd up anew contain nothing but what has been said in former ages Nor am I of the opinion of our Divine Philosophers who mince Philosophy and Divinity Faith and Reason together and count it Irreligious if not Blasphemy to assert any other principles of Nature then what they I will not say by head and shoulders draw out of the Scripture especially out of Genesis to evince the finiteness and beginning of Nature when as Moses doth onely describe the Creation of this World and not of Infinite Nature But as Pure natural Philosophers do not meddle with Divinity or things Supernatural so Divines ought not to intrench upon Natural Philosophy Neither are Chymists the onely natural Philosophers because they are so much tied to the Art of Fire and regulate or measure all the effects of Nature according to their Artificial Experiments which do delude rather then inform their sense and reason and although they pretend to a vast and greater knowledg then all the rest yet they have not dived so deep into Nature yet as to perceive that she is full of sense and reason which is life and knowledg and in parts orders parts proper to parts which causes all the various motions figures and changes in the infinite parts of Nature Indeed no Creature that has its reason regular can almost believe that such wise and orderly actions should be done either by chance or by straying Atomes which cannot so constantly change and exchange parts and mix and join so properly and to such constant effects as are apparent in Nature And as for Galenists if they believe that some parts of Nature connot leave or pass by other parts to join meet or encounter others they are as much in an error as Chymists concerning the power of fire and furnace for it is most frequently observed thus amongst all sorts of Animals and if amongst Animals I know no reason but all other kinds and sorts of Creatures may do the like nay both sense and reason inform us they do as appears by the several and proper actions of all sorts of drugs as also Minerals and Elements and the like so that none ought to wonder how it is possible that medicines that must pass through digestions in the body should neglecting all other parts shew themselves friendly onely to the brain or kidnies or the like parts for if there be sense and reason in Nature all things must act wisely and orderly and not confusedly and though Art like an Emulating Ape strives to imitate Nature yet it is so far from producing natural figures that at best it rather produces Monsters instead of natural effects for it is like the Painter who drew a Rose instead of a Lion nevertheless Art is as active as any other natural Creature and doth never want imployment for it is like all other parts in a perpetual self-motion and
ingenuity and learning in the least but onely to shew by the difference of their opinions and mine that mine are not borrowed from theirs as also to make mine the more intelligible and clear and if possible to find out the truth in Natural Philosophy for which were they alive I question not but I should easily obtain their pardon 1. Vpon the Principles of Thales THales according to Historical Relation was the first that made disquisitions upon Nature and so the first Natural Philosoper His chief points in Philosophy are these 1. He says That Water is the Principle of all natural bodies 2. That Nature is full of Daemons and spiritual substances 3. That the Soul is a self-moving Nature and that it both moves it self and the body 4. That there is but one World and that finite 5. That the World is animate and God is the soul thereof diffused through every Part 6. That the World is contained in a place 7. That Bodies are divisible into infinite Concerning the First viz. That Water is the Principle of all natural things Helmont doth embrace this opinion as I have declared in my Philosophical Letters and in the foregoing part of this Book and have given withal my reasons why water cannot be a principle of natural things because it is no more but a natural effect for though humidity may be found in many parts or Creatures of Nature yet this doth not prove that water is a principle of all natural bodies no more then fire earth air or any other Creature of Nature and though most Philosophers are of opinion that Elements are simple bodies and all the rest are composed of them yet this is no ways probable to reason because they consist of the same matter as other bodies do and are all but effects of one cause or principle which is infinite Matter Next That Nature is full of Daemons or Spiritual substances is against sense and reason for what is incorporeal is no part of Nature and upon this account the soul cannot be immaterial although he makes her to be a self-moving Nature for what has a natural motion has also a natural body because Matter and Motion are but one thing neither can a Spiritual substance move a corporeal they being both of different natures As for the World That there is but one I do willingly grant it if by the World he did mean Nature but then it cannot be finite But Thales seems to contradict himself in this Theoreme when as he grants that Bodies are divisible in infinite for if there be infinite actions as infinite divisions in Nature then surely the body of Nature it self must be infinite Next he says That God is the Soul of the World which if so God being Infinite he cannot have a Finite body to animate it for a Finite Body and an Infinite Soul do never agree together but that God should be the Soul of the World no regular Reason can allow because the Soul of Nature must be corporeal as well as the Body for an incorporeal substance cannot be mixed with a corporeal Next the World as the body of Nature being dividable it would follow that God which is the Soul would be dividable also Thirdly Every part of the world would be a part of God as partaking of the same nature for every part if the Soul be diffused through all the Body would be animate Lastly Concerning Place as that the World is contained in a place my opinion is that place is nothing else but an affection of body and in no ways different or separable from it for wheresoever is body or matter there is place also so that place cannot be said to contain the world or else it would be bigger then the world it self for that which contains must needs in compass or extent exceed that which it contains 2. Some few Observations on Plato's Doctrine 1. PLato says That Life is two fold Contemplative and Active and that Contemplation is an office of the Intellect but Action an operation of the Rational soul To which I answer first That I know no other difference between Intellect and Reason but that Intellect is an effect or rather an Essential Propriety of Reason if Reason be the Principle of Nature for the Rational part is the most Intelligent part of animate Matter Next I say That Contemplation is as much an action as any other action of Nature although it be not so gross as the action of the body for it is onely an action of the mind which is more pure and subtile then either the sensitive or inanimate parts of matter are and acts within it self that is in its own substance or degree of Matter 2. He says That Sense is a passion of the Soul I answer There is as much difference between Sense and the Soul as there is between Sense and Reason or a sensitive life and a rational soul for the Rational parts of Matter are not the Sensitive nor the Sensitive the Rational a Fool may have his sense regular and his reason irregular and therefore sense and reason are not one and the same although they have an inseparable Communion in the body or substance of Nature 3. He argues thus That which moves in it self as being the principle of Motion in those things which are moved is always moved and consequently Immortal Ungenerable and Incorruptible but the Soul is so Ergo c. I answer Natural Matter being thus self-moving is the same 4. From says he is joined to Matter I answer Form and Matter are but one thing for it is impossible to separate Matter from Form or Form from Matter but what is not dividable is not composable and what cannot be separated cannot be joined 5. Qualities says he are incorporeal because they are accidents I answer If Qualities be Incorporeal they do not belong to Nature for since the Principle of Nature is Matter all that is natural must also be material or corporeal and therefore all natural qualities or accidents must of necessity be corporeal by reason quality can no more be divided from Matter then figure magnitude colour place and the like all which are but one and the same with body without any separation or abstraction 6. What Plato affirms of that which never is and never had a Beginning and of that which has a Beginning and not a Being is more then he or any body can rationally prove for what never was nor is no man can know or imagine because all what is known or imagined has its real being if not without yet within the Mind and all thoughts have not onely a being but a material being in Nature nay even the Thought of the existence of a Deity although Deity it self is Immaterial 7. I wonder so witty a Philosopher as Plato can believe that Matter in it self as it is the Principle of Nature is void of all form for he affirms himself That whatsoever hath parts hath also figure but Matter
rectifies them and leads them into a Labyrinth whence they 'l never get out and makes them dull and unfit for useful imployments especially your Art of Logick which confists onely contradicting each other in making sophismes and obscuring Truth instead of clearing it But they replied her Majesty That the knowledg of Nature that is Natural Philosophy would be imperfect without the Art of Logick and that there was an improbable Truth which could no otherwise be found out then by the Art of disputing Truly said the Emperess I do believe that it is with Natural Philosophy as it is with all other effects of Nature for no particular knowledg can be perfect by reason knowledg is dividable as well as composable nay to speak properly Nature her self cannot boast of any perfection but God himself because there are so many irregular motions in Nature and 't is but a folly to think that Art should be able to regulate them since Art it self is for the most part irregular But as for Improbable Truth I know not what your meaning is for Truth is more then Improbability nay there there is so much difference between Truth and Improbability that I cannot conceive it possible how they can be joined together In short said she I do no ways approve of your profession and though I will not dissolve your society yet I shall never take delight in hearing you any more wherefore confine your disputations to your Schools lest besides the Commonwealth of Learning they disturb also Divinity and Policy Religion and Laws and by that means draw an utter ruine and destruction both upon Church and State After the Emperess had thus finish'd the Discourses and Conferences with the mentioned Societies of her Vertuoso's she considered by her self the manner of their Religion and finding it very defective was troubled that so wise and knowing a people should have no more knowledg of the Divine Truth Wherefore she consulted with her own thoughts whether it was possible to convert them all to her own Religion and to that end she resolved to build Churches and make also up a Congregation of Women whereof she intended to be the head her self and to instruct them in the several points of her Religion This she had no sooner begun but the Women which generally had quick wits subtile conceptions clear understandings and solid judgments became in a short time very devout and zealous Sisters for the Emperess had an excellent gift of Preaching and instructing them in the Articles of Faith and by that means she converted them not onely soon but gained an extraordinary love of all her subjects throughout that World But at last pondering with her self the inconstant nature of Mankind and fearing that in time they would grow weary and desert the divine Truth following their own fancies and living according to their own desires she began to be troubled that her labours and pains should prove of so little effect and therefore studied all manner of ways to prevent it Amongst the rest she call'd to mind a Relation which the Bird-men made her once of a Mountain that did burn in flames of fire and thereupon did immediately send for the wisest and subtilest of her Worm-men commanding them to discover the cause of the Eruption of that same fire which they did and having dived to the very bottom of the Mountain informed her Majesty That there was a certain sort of Stone whose nature was such that being wetted it would grow excessively hot and break forth into a flaming-flaming-fire until it became dry and then it ceased from burning The Emperess was glad to hear this news and forthwith desired the Worm-men to bring her some of that stone but be sure to keep it secret She sent also for the Bird-men and asked them whether they could not get her a piece of the Sun-stone They answered That it was impossible unless they did spoil or lessen the light of the World but said they if it please your Majesty we can demolish one of the numerous Stars of the Sky which the World will never miss The Emperess was very well satisfied with this proposal and having thus imployed these two sorts of men in the mean while builded two Chappels one above another the one she lined throughout with Diamonds both Roof Walls and Pillars but the other be done by any other means then by the help of Immaterial Spirits wherefore she made a Convocation of the most learned witty and ingenious of all the forementioned sorts of men and desired to know of them whether there were any Immaterial Spirits in their World First she enquired of the Worm-men whether they had perceived some within the Earth They answered her Majesty That they never knew of any such Creatures for whatsoever did dwell within the Earth said they was imbodied and material Then she asked the Flye-men whether they had observed any in the Air for you having numerous eyes said she will be more able to perceive them then any other Creatures To which they answered her Majesty That although Spirits being immaterial could not be perceived by the Worm-men in the Earth yet they perceived that such Creatures did lodg in the vehicles of the Air. Then the Emperess asked Whether they could speak to them and whether they did understand each other The Fly-men answered That those Spirits were always cloath'd in some sort or other of Mateterial Garments which Garments were their Bodies made for the most part of Air and when occasion served they could put on any other sort of substances but yet they could not put these substances into any form or shape as they pleased The Emperess asked the Fly-men whether it was possible that she could be acquainted and have some conferences with them They answered They did verily believe she might Hereupon the Emperess commanded the Fly-men to ask some of the Spirits whether they would be pleased to give her a visit This they did and after the Spirits had presented themselves to the Emperess in what shapes or forms I cannot exactly tell after some few complements that passed between them the Emperess told the Spirits that she questioned not but they did know how she was a stranger in that World and by what miraculous means she was arrived there and since she had a great desire to know the condition of the World she came from her request to the Spirits was to give her some information thereof especially of those parts of the world where she was born bred and educated as also of her particular friends and acquaintance all which the Spirits did according to her desire at last after a great many conferences and particular intelligences which the Spirits gave the Emperess to her great satisfaction and content she enquired after the most famous Students Writers and Experimental Philosophers in that World which they gave her a full relation of amongst the rest she enquired whether there were none that had found out yet the
counting for numbers are onely marks of remembrance But what do you think of the number of Four said she which Cabbalists make such ado withal and of the number of Ten when they say that Ten is all and that all numbers are virtually comprehended in four We think answered they that Cabbalists have nothing else to do but to trouble their heads with such useless fancies for naturally there is no such thing as prime or all in numbers nor is there any other mystery in numbers but what man's fancy makes but what men call Prime or All we do not know because they do not agree in the number of their opinion Then the Emperess asked whether the number of six was a symbole of Matrimony as being made up of Male and Female for two into three is six If any number can be a symbole of Matrimony answered the Spirits it is not Six but Two if two may be allowed to be a number for the act of Matrimony is made up of two joined in one She asked again what they said to the number of Seven whether it was not an Embleme of God because Cabbalists say that it is neither begotten nor begets any other number There can be no Embleme of God answered the Spirits for if we do not know what God is how can we make an Embleme of him Nor is there any number in God for God is the perfection himself but numbers are imperfect and as for the begetting of numbers it is done by Multiplication and Addition but Substraction is as a kind of death to numbers If there be no mystery in numbers replied the Emperess then it is in vain to refer the Creation of the World to certain numbers as Cabbalists do The onely mystery of numbers answered they concerning the Creation of the World is that as numbers do multiply so does the world The Emperess asked how far numbers did multiply The Spirits answered to Infinite Why said she Infinite cannot be reckoned nor numbred No more answered they can the parts of the Universe for God's Creation being an Infinite action as proceeding from an Infinite Power could not rest upon a finite number of Creatures were it never so great But leaving the mystery of numbers proceeded the Emperess Let me now desire you to inform me whether the Suns and Planets were generated by the Heavens or AEthereal Matter The Spirits answered That the Stars and Planets were of the same matter which the Heavens the AEther and all other natural Creatures did consist of but whether they were generated by the Heavens or AEther they could not tell if they be said they they are not like their Parents for the Sun Stars and Planets are more splendorous then the AEther as also more solid and constant in their motions But put the case the Stars and Planets were generated by the Heavens and the AEthereal Matter the question then would be out of what these are generated or produced if these be created out of nothing and not generated out of something then it is probable the Sun Stars and Planets are so too nay it is more probable of the Stars and Planets then of the Heavens or the fluid AEther by reason the Stars and Planets seem to be further off from mortality then the particular parts of the AEther for no doubt but the parts of the AEthereal Matter alter into several forms which we do not perceive of the Stars and Planets The Emperess asked further whether they could give her information of the three principles of Man according to the doctrine of the Platonists as first of the Intellect Spirit or Divine Light 2. Of the Soul of Man her self and 3. Of the Image of the Soul that is her vital operation on the body The Spirits answered that they did not understand these three distinctions but that they seem'd to corporeal sense and reason as if they were three several bodies or three several corporeal actions however said they they are intricate conceptions of irregular fancies If you do not understand them replied the Emperess hovv shall humane Creatures do then Many both of your modern and ancient Philosophers answered the Spirits endeavour to go beyond sense and reason vvhich makes them commit absurdities for no corporeal Creature can go beyond sense and reason no not we Spirits as long as vve are in our corporeal Vehicles Then the Emperess asked them vvhether there vvere any Atheists in the World The Spirits answered that there vvere no more Atheists then vvhat Cabbalists make She asked them further Whether Spirits vvere of a globous or round Figure They ansvvered That Figure belonged to body but they being immaterial had no figure She asked again Whether Spirits were not like Water or Fire They answered that Water and Fire was material were it the purest and most refined that ever could be nay were it above the Heavens But we are no more like Water or Fire said they then we are like Earth but our Vehicles are of several forms figures and degrees of substances Then she desired to know whether their Vehicles were made of Air Yes answered the Spirits some of our Vehicles are of thin Air. Then I suppose replied the Emperess That those airy Vehicles are your corporeal summersuits She asked further whether the Spirits had not ascending and descending motions as well as other Creatures They answered That properly there was no ascension or descension in Infinite Nature but onely in relation to particular parts and as for us Spirits said they we can neither ascend nor descend without corporeal Vehicles nor can our Vehicles ascend or descend but according to their several shapes and figures for there can be no motion without body The Emperess asked them further whether there was not a World of Spirits as well as there is of material Creatures No answered they for the word World implies a quantity or multitude of corporeal Creatures but we being Immaterial can make no world of Spirits Then she desired to be informed when Spirits were made We do not know answered they how and when we were made nor are we much inquisitive after it nay if we did it would be no benefit neither for us nor for you mortals to know it The Emperess replied That Cabbalists and Divine Philosophers said mens rational Souls were Immaterial and stood as much in need of corporeal Vehicles as Spirits did If this be so answered the Spirits then you are Hermaphrodites of Nature but your Cabbalists are mistaken for they take the purest and subtillest parts of Matter for Immaterial Spirits Then the Emperess asked when the souls of Mortals went out of their bodies whether they went to Heaven or Hell or whether they remained in airy Vehicles God's Justice and Mercy answered they is perfect and not imperfect but if you mortals will have Vehicles for your Souls and a place that is between Heaven and Hell it must be Purgatory which is a place of Purification for which action Fire is more
Bird-and Bear-men what Towns they should begin withall in the mean while she sent to all the Princes and Soveraigns of those Nations to let them know that she would give them a proof of her Power and check their Obstinacies by burning some of their smaller Towns and if they continued still in their Obstinate Resolutions that she would convert their smaller Loss into a Total Ruine She also commanded her Bird-men to make their flight at night lest they be perceived At last when both the Bird-and Worm-men came to the designed places the Worm-men laid some Fire-stones under the Foundation of every House and the Bird-men placed some at the tops of them so that both by rain and by some other moisture within the Earth the stones could not fail of burning The Bird-men in the mean time having learned some few words of their Language told them That the next time it did rain their Towns would be all on fire at which they were amaz'd to hear men speak in the air but withall they laughed when they heard them say that rain should fire their Towns knowing that the effect of Water was to quench not produce fire At last a rain came and upon a sudden all their Houses appeared of a flaming Fire and the more Water there was poured on them the more they did flame and burn which struck such a Fright and Terror into all the Neighbouring Cities Nations and Kingdoms that for fear the like should happen to them they and all the rest of the parts of that World granted the Emperess's desire and submitted to the Monarch and Soveraign of her Native Countrey the King of ESFI save one which having seldom or never any rain but onely dews which would soon be spent in a great fire slighted her Power The Emperess being desirous to make it stoop as well as the rest knew that every year it was watered by a flowing Tide which lasted some weeks and although their Houses stood high from the ground yet they were built upon Supporters which were fixt into the ground Wherefore she commanded both her Bird-and Worm-men to lay some of the Fire-stones at the bottom of those Supporters and when the Tide came in all their Houses were of a Fire which did so rarifie the Water that the Tide was soon turn'd into Vapour and this Vapour again into Air which caused not onely a destruction of their Houses but also a general barrenness over all their Countrey that year and forced them to submit as well as the rest of the World had done Thus the Emperess did not onely save her Native Countrey but made it the absolute Monarchy of all that World and both the effects of her Power and her Beauty did kindle a great desire in all the greatest Princes to see her who hearing that she was resolved to return into her own Blazing-World they all entreated the favour that they might wait on her Majesty before she went The Emperess sent word That she should be glad to grant their Requests but having no other place of reception for them she desired that they would be pleased to come into the open Seas with their Ships and make a Circle of a pretty large compass and then her own Ships should meet them and close up the Circle and she would present her self to the view of all these that came to see her Which Answer was joyfully received by all the mentioned Princes who came some sooner and some later each according to the distance of his Countrey and the length of the voyage And being all met in the form and manner aforesaid the Emperess appeared upon the face of the Water in her Imperial Robes in some part of her hair she had placed some of the Star-Stone near her face which added such a lustre and glory to it that it caused a great admiration in all that were present who believed her to be some Celestial Creature or rather an uncreated Goddess and they all had a desire to worship her for surely said they no mortal creature can have such a splendid and transcendent beauty nor can any have so great a power as she has to walk upon the Waters and to destroy whatever she pleases not onely whole Nations but a whole World The Emperess expressed to her own Countreymen who were also her Interpreters to the rest of the Princes that were present that she would give them an entertainment at the darkest time of night which being come the Fire-Stones were lighted which made both Air and Seas appear of a bright shining flame insomuch that they put all Spectators into an extream fright who verily believed they should all be destroyed which the Emperess perceiving caused all the Lights of the Fire-Stones to be put out and onely shewed her self in her Garments of Light The Bird-men carried her upon their backs into the Air and there she appear'd as glorious as the Sun Then she was set down upon the Seas again and presently there was heard the most melodious and sweetest Consort of Voices as ever was heard out of the Seas which was made by the Fish-men this Consort was answered by another made by the Bird-men in the Air so that it seem'd as if Sea and Air had spoke and answered each other by way of Singing Dialogues or after the manner of those Plays that are acted by singing Voices But when it was upon break of day the Emperess ended her entertainment and at full day light all the Princes perceived that she went into the Ship wherein the Prince and Monarch of her Native Country was the King of ESFI with whom she had several Conferences and having assured him of the readiness of her assistance whensoever he required it telling him withal that she wanted no Intelligence she went forth again upon the Waters and being in the midst of the Circle made by those Ships that were present she desired them to draw somewhat nearer that they might hear her speak which being done she declared her self in this following manner Great Heroick and Famous Monarchs I came hither to assist the King of ESFI against his Enemies he being unjustly assaulted by many several Nations which would fain take away his Hereditary Rights and Prerogatives of the Narrow Seas at which Vnjustice Heaven was much displeased and for the Injuries he received from his Enemies rewarded him with an absolute Power so that now he is become the Head-Monarch of all this World which Power though you may envy yet you can no ways hinder him for all those that endeavour to resist his Power shall onely get loss for their labour and no Victory for their profit Wherefore my advice to you all is to pay him Tribute justly and truly that you may live Peaceably and Happily and be rewarded with the Blessings of Heaven which I wish you from my Soul After the Emperess had thus finished her Speech to the Princes of the several Nations of that World she desired that their
intermediate temper which heat being heightened by the burning motions of fire beyond its natural degree causes a burning and smarting pain in the same part and therefore as the fire did occasion an immoderate heat by an intermixture of its own parts with the parts of the flesh so a moderate heat of the fire may reduce again the natural heat of the same parts and that by a sympathetical agreement betwixt the motions of the Elemental and Animal heat But it is to be observed first that the burning must be done by an intermixture of the fire with the parts of the body Next that the burning must be but skin deep as we use to call it that is the burned part must not be totally overcome by fire or else it will never be restored again Neither are all burned bodies restored after this manner but some for one and the same thing will not in all bodies occasion the like effects as we may see by Fire which being one and the same will not cause all fuels to burn alike and this makes true the old saying One Mans Meat is another Mans Poyson The truth is it cannot be otherwise for though Nature and natural self-moving Matter is but one body and the onely cause of all natural effects yet Nature being divided into infinite corporeal figurative self-moving parts these parts as the effects of that onely cause must needs be various and again proceeding from one infinite cause as one matter they are all but one thing because they are infinite parts of one Infinite body But some may say If Nature be but one body and the Infinite parts are all united into that same body How comes it that there is such an opposition strife and war betwixt the parts of Nature I answer Nature being Material is composeable and divideable and as Composition is made by a mutual agreement of parts so division is made by an opposition or strife betwixt parts which opposition or division doth not obstruct the Union of Nature but on the contrary rather proves that without an opposition of parts there could not be a union or composition of so many several parts and creatures nor no change or variety in Nature for if all the parts did unanimously conspire and agree in their motions and move all but one way there would be but one act or kind of motion in Nature when as an opposition of some parts and a mutual agreement of others is not onely the cause of the Miraculous variety in Nature but it poyses and ballances as it were the corporeal figurative motions which is the cause that Nature is steady and fixt in her self although her parts be in a perpetual motion 29. Several Questions resolved concerning Cold and Frozen Bodies c. FIrst I will give you my answer to the question which is much agitated amongst the Learned concerning Cold to wit Whether it be a Positive quality or a bare Privation of Heat And my opinion is That Cold is both a Positive quality and a privation of heat For whatsoever is a true quality of Cold must needs be a privation of Heat since two opposites cannot subsist together in one and the same part at one point of time By Privation I mean nothing else but an alteration of Natures actions in her several parts or which is all one a change of natural corporeal motions and so the death of Animals may be called a privation of animal life that is a change of the animal motions in that particular Creature which made animal life to some other kind of action which is not animal life And in this sense both Cold and Heat although they be positive qualities or natural beings yet they are also privations that is changes of corporeal figurative motions in several particular Creatures or parts of Nature But what some Learned mean by Bare Privation I cannot apprehend for there 's no such thing as a bare Privation or bare Motion in Nature but all Motion is Corporeal or Material for Matter Motion and Figure are but one thing Which is the reason that to explain my self the better 〈…〉 of Motion I do always add the word corporeal 〈◊〉 â—â—gurative by which I exclude all bare or immaterial Motion which expression is altogether against sense and reason The second Question is Whether Winds have the power to change the Exterior temper of the Air To which I answer That Winds will not onely occasion the Air to be either hot or cold according to their own temper but also Animals and Vegetables and other sorts of Creatures for the sensitive corporeal Motions in several kinds of Creatures do often imitate and figure out the Motions of exterior objects some more some less some regularly and some irregularly and some not at all according to the nature of their own perceptions By which we may observe that the Agent which is the external object has onely an occasional power and the Patient which is the sentient works chiefly the effect by vertue of the perceptive figurative motions in its own sensitive organs or parts Quest. 3. Why those Winds that come from cold Regions are most commonly cold and those that come from hot Regions are for the most part hot I answer The reason is That those Winds have more constantly patterned out the motions of cold or heat in those parts from which they either separated themselves or which they have met withal But it may be questioned Whether all cold and hot winds do bring their heat and cold along with them out of such hot and cold Countries And I am of opinion they do not but that they proceed from an imitation of the nearest parts which take patterns from other parts and these again from the remoter parts so that they are but patterns of other patterns and copies of other copies Quest. 4. Why Fire in some cold Regions will hardly kindle or at least not burn freely I answer This is no more to be wondered at then that some men do die with cold for cold being contrary to fire if it have a predominate power it will without doubt put out the fire not that the cold corporeal motions do destroy fire by their actual power over it but that fire destroys it self by an imitation of the motions of cold so that cold is onely an occasional cause of the fires destruction or at least of the alteration of its motions and the diminution of its strength But some might ask What makes or causes this imitation in several sorts of Cretures I answer The wisdom of Nature which orders her corporeal actions to be always in a mean so that one extream as one may call it does countervail another But then you 'l say There would always be a right and mean temper in all things I answer So there is in the whole that is in Infinite Nature although not in every particular for Natures Wisdom orders her particulars to the best of the whole and although
out a Tree which stands in a direct line opposite to them but if there be Meadows or Hedges on each side of the Tree then the extream or side parts of each eye pattern out those meadows or hedges for one eyes perception is not the other eyes perception which makes them perceive differently when otherwise they would perceive both alike But if a thousand eyes do perceive one object just alike then they are but as one eye and make but one perception for like as many parts do work or act to one and the same design so do several corporeal motions in one eye pattern out one object the onely difference is that as I said every eye is ignorant of each others perception But you 'l say There are so many copies made as there are objects I answer 'T is true But though there are many composed parts which join in the making of one particular perception yet if they move all alike the perception is but one and the same for put the case there were a hundred thousand copies of one original if they be all alike each other so as not to have the least difference betwixt them then they are all but as one Picture of one Original but if they be not alike each other then they are different Pictures because they represent different faces And thus for a matched pair of eyes in one Creature if they move at the same point of time directly to one and the same parts in the same design of patterning out one and the same object it seems but as one act of one part and as one perception of one object Q. 15. How comes it that some parts for all they are Perceptive can yet be so ignorant of each other that in one composed figure as for example in the finger of a Man's hand they are ignorant of each other when as other parts do make perceptions of one another at a great distance and when other parts are between I answer This question is easily resolved if we do but consider that the differerence of Perception depends upon the difference of the corporeal figurative motions for if the parts be not the same the perceptions must needs be different nay there may infinite several perceptions be made by one and the same parts if Matter be eternal and perpetually moving And hence it follows that some parts may make perceptions of distant parts and not of neighbouring parts and others again may make perceptions of neighbouring or adjoining parts and not of those that are distant As for example in the animal Perception taste and touch are onely perceptions of adjoining objects when as sight and hearing do perceive at a distance for if an object be immediately joined to the optick sense it quite blinds it Wherefore it is well to be observed that there are several kinds and sorts of Perceptions as well as of other composed figures As for example there are Animals Vegetables Minerals and Elements and these comprehend each several particular kinds of Animals Vegetables Minerals c. Again these particular kinds are divided into several sorts and each of them contains so many particulars nay each particular has so many different parts of which it consists and each part has its different particular motions The same may be said of Perceptions For as the several compositions of several parts are so are they not that the bare composition of the parts and figures is the cause of Perception but the self-knowing and self-moving parts compose themselves into such or such figures and as there are proprieties belonging to such compositions so to such composed perceptions so that the composed parts at the end of a finger may not have the same perceptions with the middle parts of the same finger But some may say If there be such ignorance between the parts of a composed figure How comes it that many times the pain of one particular part will cause a general distemper throughout all the body I answer There may be a general perception of the irregularities of such particular composed parts in the other parts of the body although they are not irregular themselves for if they had the same compositions and the same irregularities as the distempered parts they would have the same effects that is pain sickness or numbness c. within themselves but to have a perception of the irregularities of other parts and to be irregular themselves are different things Nevertheless some parts moving irregularly may occasion other parts to do the same But it is well to be observed That adjoining parts do not always imitate each other neither do some parts make perceptions of forreign objects so readily as others do as for example a man plays upon a Fiddle or some other instrument and there are hundreds or more to hear him it happens oft that those at a further distance do make a perfecter perception of that sound then those which are near and oftentimes those that are in the middle as between those that are nearest and those that are furthest off may make a perfecter perception then all they for though all parts are in a perpetual motion yet all parts are not bound to move after one and the same way but some move slower some quicker some livelier some duller and some parts do move so irregularly as they will not make perceptions of some objects when as they make perceptions of others and some will make perfect perceptions of one and the same objects at some times and not at other times As for example some men will hear see smell taste c. more perfectly at some then at other times And thus to repeat what I said before The several kinds sorts and particulars of Perceptions must well be considered as also that the variety of Nature proceeds but from one cause which is self-knowing and self-moving Matter Q. 16. Why a Man's hand or any other part of his body has not the like Perception as the eye the ear or the nose c. because there are sensitive and rational motions in all the parts of his body I answer The reason why the same perception that is within the eye cannot be in the hand or in any other part of a mans body is that the parts of the hand are composed into another sort of figure then the eyes ears nose c. are and the sensitive motions make perceptions according to the compositions of their parts and if the parts of the hand should be divided and composed with other parts into another figure as for example into the figure of an eye or ear or nose then they would have the perception of seeing hearing and smelling for perceptions are according to the composition of parts and the changes of Natures self-motions But then some will say perhaps That an Artificial eye or ear will have the same perceptions c. being of the same figure I answer That if its interior nature and the composition of its parts