the last place Pyrophilus I must Advertise you not to expect that every one of the Remedies I commend should be Physick and Physitian too I mean that it should of it self suffice to performe the Cures of those Diseases against which it is commended For Medicines are but Instruments in the hand of the Physitian and though they be never so well edg'd and temper'd require a skilful hand to mannage them and therefore I cannot but admire and disapprove their boldnesse that venture upon the Practise of Physick wherein it is so dangerous to commit Errours barely upon the confidence of having good Receipts For though by Conversation with eminent Physitians I have found the learnedest of them to disagree so much about the Nature and causes of Diseases that I dare not deny but that he may prosperously practise Physick that either ignores or dissents from the received Doctrines of the Schooles concerning the causes of Diseases and some other Pathological particulars yet I cannot but dislike their boldnesse who venture to give active Physick either in intricate or acute Diseases without at least a Mediocrity of knowledg in Anatomy and so much knowledg of the History of Diseases as may suffice to inform them in a competent measure what are the usual Symptomes of such a Disease what course nature is wont to take in dealing with the peccant matter and what discernable alterations in the Patients Body do commonly forerun and thereby foretel a Crisis or otherwise the good or bad event of the Disease To all which is to be added some tolerable measure of Knowledg not only of the Materia Medica and the chief waies of compounding several ingredients into Medicines of several Formes and Consistencies as circumstances may require but also of the orderly and seasonable administration of the helps affordable by them These particulars Pyrophilus might easily be enlarged on but having neither the leisure nor designe to handle them commonplace-like I shall only give you this account of my requiring in the Profess'd Practiser of Physick some knowledg both of the Materia medica and the Method of compounding and administring Remedies that excepting perhaps the Arcana majora as Chymists call them even the best Medicines by being unseasonably or preposterously administred especially in acute Diseases where Nature's motions are to be diligently watcht and seconded may do a patient as much harm as the orderly and skilful administration of them can do him good And that he that has nothing but one good receipt for a Distemper and knowes not how to vary it by adding omitting or substituting other parts of the Materia Medica as urgent occasion shall require may oftentimes find himself reduced either to suffer his Patient to languish helpless or to venture by curing him of one Disease to cast him into another For sometimes the Patients constitution makes the Medicine prescribed by the Receipt unfit to be administred and sometimes too the Disease for which the Receipt is proper is in the Patient complicated with some other Distemper which may be as much encreased by the Specifick as the other Disease may be lessned I know for instance some eminent men that are wont to Cure very stubborn Venereal distempers by a Chymical preparation which some of themselves have been pleased to disclose to me of the Indian Plants Sarsaparilla Guaiacum c. But if these men met with Patients such as those which Eustachius Rudius mentions himself to have often met with who upon the use of the least quantity of Guaiacum though corrected with cold ingredients were wont to be presently affected with such sharpnesse of Urine and Inflammation of the parts to which Urine â—elates as hazarded their lives they would be reduced as well as our Author confesseth himself to have been to have recourse to Mercurial or other Remedies To which we may adde that the use of Sarsaparilla and Guajacum is generally forbidden by the warier sort of Physitians in those Patients whose Venerial Distempers are complicated with heat or Inflammation of the Kidnies or Livers And sometimes also it happens that the very outward forme of the Medicine prescribed by the Receipt is not fit or perhaps possible to be administred For not to mention that divers Patients can retain no purgative Physick exhibited in the form of a Potion and some others are as apt to Vomit up whatever is given them in the form of Pills not to insist on this I say I shall content my self to relate to You a memorable Case that hapned a while since to a Physitian of my acquaintance He was called to a lusty young Woman who upon an accidental but violent Cold was suddenly taken with such a Constriction of the Parts inservient to Speech and Deglutition as made her altogether unable either to speak or swallow any thing at all and having thus continued some daies in spight of Glysters or other Remedies prescribed by a very Learned Physitian and in spight of Endeavours to excite Vomiting by making Her hold emetick things in her Mouth the poor Woman was in great danger when my acquaintance came to her of perishing for hunger what in this case could be expected from the best Remedies that must necessarily be taken in at the Mouth Wherefore the Physitian finding her yet strong enough and without Feaver and yet her case almost desperate did as judiciously as luckily prescribe a Glyster wherein to ordinary Ingredients were added as himself a very few daies after told me about four ounces of the Infusion of Crocus Metallorum with an advise that it should be kept in as long as possibly She could and by this Medicine Nature being sufficiently irritated there quickly followed upon it some violent Vomitings and upon them a liberty both of Swallowing and Speaking And since this a young Gentleman and Fellow-traveller of mine had the Organs of deglutition so strangely weakned without any manifest cause that though he were able to make me a Visit and acquaint me with his Case yet he was very apprehensive he should in a very few Dayes be starv'd and being unable to swallow Remedies had quickly perish'd in despight of the Arcana Majora themselves had he been master but of such of them as like those wont to be magnify'd by Chymists must be taken into the Body if a very happy Physitian to whom I directed him had not by a very Efficacious and Specifick Medicine externally to be apply'd seasonably rescued him from so unusual and desperate a Case But Pyrophilus as I would not upon the score of good Receipts have the Physitians skill despis'd or thought uselesse so I wish that the Physitians skill may not make him despise good Receipts For we have often seen especially in outward affections not onely Empericks and Chirurgeons but even Ladies and old Wives with a lucky composition prescribed by a Receipt performe more constant and easie Cures of the particular Distemper for which that Receipt is proper then even Learned
its destructive Operation whilst the three resolute Jewes with their Protectour walk'd unharm'd in the mid'st of those flames that destroy'd the Kindlers and as the heavy Iron emerg'd up to the swimming piece of wood miraculously by Elisha made Magneticall And you may also Pyrophilus take notice that when Adam had transgressed immediatly the ground was cursed for his sake And as it is not unusual in Humane Justice to raze the very houses of Regicides and resembling Traitours So when the provocations of Sodom swell'd high enough to reach Heaven God did not only Destroy the Inhabitants from the Face of the Earth but for the Inhabitants Sins destroy'd the very Face of the Earth So when in Noah's time a Deluge of Impiety call'd for a Deluge of Waters God looking upon the living Creatures as made for the Use of Man stuck not to Destroy them with him and for him but involv'd in his Ruine all those Animals that were not necessary to the perpetuation of the Species and the Sacrifice due for Noah's preservation And so when in the Last daies the Earth shall be replenish'd with those Scoffers mention'd by St Peter who will walk after their own Lusts and deride the Expectation of God's foretold coming to Judg and Punish the Ungodly their Impiety shall be as well punisht as silenc't by the unexpected Flames perhaps hastned by that very impiety that shall either Destroy or Transfigure the World For as by the Law of Moses the Leprous Garment which could not be recover'd by being washt in Water was to be burnt in the Fire so the World which the Deluge could not Cleanse a generall Conflagration must Destroy Nor is reason it selfe backward to countenance what we teach For it is no great presumption to conceive that the rest of the Creatures were made for Man since He alone of the Visible World is able to enjoy use and relish mâ—ny of the other Creatures and to discerne the Omniscience Almightinesse and Goodnesse of their Author in them and returne Him praises for them 'T is not for themselves that the Rubies flâ—me other Jewels sparkle the Bezar-stone is Antidotâ—â—l nâ—r is it for their own advantage that fruitfull trees spend â—nd exhaust themselves in Annual profusions The Light which he diffuses through the World is uselesse to the Sun himselfe whose inanimate being makes him incapable of delighting in his own splendor which he receives but to convey it to the Earth and other by him illuminated Globes whence probably the Hebrewes call'd him Shemesh which Grammarians derive from the Roote Shemash signifying in the Chaldean Tongue to serve or minister to the Sun being the great Minister of Nature and Servant general of the Universe And as Animals alone among the Creatures seem to have a proper sense of and complacency in their own Being So Man alone among Animals is endow'd with Reason at least such a pitch of it as by which he can discerne God's Creatures to be the Gifts of God and referre them to their Creator's Glory This truth I find not only embrac'd by Christians but assented to even by Jewes and Heathens Among the Jewes my Learned Acquaintance Manasseh Ben Israel professedly labours to prove it by Scripture and Tradition though in some of his Arguments he might appear more a Philosopher if he would have appear'd lesse a Rabbi and among other passages I remember he alledges that wherein the Wise man saies as our Translators English it That the Righteous is an everlasting Foundation which he renders Justus est columna Mundi The Just Man is the Pillar of the World And indeed if the Context did not somewhat disfavour the Interpretation the Hebrew words tzaddîk yesôd olâm would well enough bear the sense assigned them Congruously whereunto I remember that when Noah who is call'd in Scripture a Righteous man and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Herald or Proclaimer of Righteousnesse offer'd up that noble Sacrifice of all the sorts of clean Beasts and Fowles as a Thank-offering for the Reprieve of the World God is said to have smelled a Savour of Rest and to have resolved in his Heart never to Curse the ground for Man's sake but to continue the vicissitudes of Summer and Winter Day and Night c as long as the Earth shall remain And among the Philosophers themselves the Truth we are now manifesting has not been altogether ignor'd For though Seneca somewhere more wittily then truely saies Non causa mundo sumus hyemem aestatémque referendi suas ista leges habent quibus divina exercentur Nimis nos suspicimus si digni nobis videmur propter quos tanta moveantur Yet Lactantius not to mention other Authors tels us that the Stoicks generally believed the World to have been made for man Vera est saies he sententia Stoicorum qui ajunt nostra causa Mundum fuisse constructum Omnia enim quibus constat quaeque generat ex se Mundus ad utilitatem hominis accommodata sunt And Seneca himselfe speaks elsewhere almost as if he had read and believed the beginning of Genesis Dii saies he non per negligentiam nos genuere quibus tam multa genuerant Cogitavit enim nos ante Natura quam fecit Nor were the Stoicks the only Philosophers to whom the Contemplation of the Universe discover'd this End of it For to instance now in Cicero only Quorum igitur causâ saies that great Orator effectum esse mundum Eorum scilicet Animantium quae ratione utuntur Hi sunt Dii et Homines quibus profecto nihil est melius Having thus premâ—sed Pyrophilus that two of God's principal aimes in the Creation were the manifestation of his own Glorious Attributes and the Welfare of his noblest Visible Creature Man It will not be perhaps difficult for You to discerne that those who labour to deterre men from sedulous Enquiries into Nature do though I grant designelessely take a course which tends to defeat God of both those mention'd Ends. For to speak first to the Last of them that man 's external fruition of the Creatures and the Delight and Accommodation which they may afford him must be highly prejudic'd and impair'd by his ignorance of that Natural Philosophy wherein his Dominion over the Creatures chiefly consists what we shâ—ll say hereafter concerning the usefulnesse of the Knowledg of Nature to humane Life will sufficiently evince But such an Animal fruition if I may so call it of the Works of Nature affords not Man all the good that God design'd him in them For Religion being not only the great Duty of Man but the grand Instrument of his future Happinesse which consists in an Union with and Fruition of God during that endlesse Terme that shall succeed the expiration of his transitory Life on Earth what ever increases or cherishes his Religion deserves to be lookt on as a great contributer to his Happinesse And we may therefore venture to
Anima Mundi furnished with various Passions which watchfully provides for the safety of the Universe or that a Brute and Inanimate Creature as Water not onely has a power to move its heavy Body upwards contrary to speak in their Language to the tendency of its particular Nature but knows both that Air has been suck'd out of the Reed and that unless it succeed the attracted Air there will follow a Vacuum and that this Water is withal so generous as by ascending to act contrary to its particular inclination for the general good of the Universe like a Noble Patriot that sacrifices his particular Interests to the publick ones of his Countrey But to shew Men by an easie Experiment how little Attraction is perform'd to avoid a Vacuum I have sometimes done thus I have taken a slender Pipe of Glass of about four Foot long and putting one of the open ends of it into a Vessel full of Quick-silver I have suck'd as stronly as I could at the other and caus'd one to watch the ascent of the Quick-silver and mark where it was at the highest and I found not that at one suck I could raise it up much above a Foot and having caus'd a couple of strong Men one after another to suck at the same end of the same Pipe I found not that either of them could draw it up much higher Nor did it appear that by repeated Suctions though the upper end of the Pipe were each time stopp'd to hinder the relapse of the Quick-silver it could at all be rais'd above the seven and twenty Digits at which it us'd to subsist in the Torrecellian Experiment De Vacuo Whereas the same end of that Tube being put into a small Vessel of Water I could at one suck make the Water swiftly ascend thorow the perpendicularly held Tube into my Mouth which argues that the ascension of Liquors upon Suction rather depends upon the pressure of the Air and their respective measures of Gravity and Lightness compar'd to that Pressure then it proceeds from such an abhorrency of a Vacuum as is presum'd And so likewise in the other Question propos'd it is imply'd that there is in a Female Body something that knows the rule of Physitians that of a Plethora the Cure is the convenient Evacuation of Blood and that this intelligent Faculty is wise enough also to propose to it self the double end above-mentioned in this Evacuation and therefore will not provide a Quantity of Blood great enough to require an Excretion nor begin it till the Female be come to an Age wherein 't is possible for both the Ends to be obtain'd that also this presiding Nature is so charitable as that Man-kinde might not fail it will make the Female subject to such Monethly Superfluities of Blood from which Experience informs us that a whole Set of Diseases peculiar to that Sex does frequently proceed And in a word there is a multitude of Problems especially such as belong to the use of the Parts of a humane Body and to the Causes and Cures of the Diseases incident thereunto in whose Explication those we write of content themselves to tell us That Nature does such and such a thing because it was fit for her so to do but they endeavor not to make intelligible to us what they mean by this Nature and how meer and consequently bruit Bodies can act according to Laws and for determinate Ends without any knowledge either of the one or of the other Let them therefore till they have made out their Hypothesis more intelligibly either cease to ascribe to irrational Creatures such Actions as in Men are apparently the Productions of Reason and Choice and sometimes even of Industry and Virtue or else let them with us acknowledge that such Actions of Creatures in themselves Irrational are perform'd under the superintendence and guidance of a Wise and Intelligent Author of Things But that you may not mistake me Pyrophilus it will be requisite for me to acquaint you in two or three words with some of my present thoughts concerning this subject That there are some Actions so peculiar to Man upon the account of his Intellect and Will that they cannot be satisfactorily explicated after the maner of the Actings of meer corporeal Agents I am very much inclin'd to believe And whether or no there may be some Actions of some other Animals which cannot well be Mechanically explicated I have not here leisure or opportunity to examine But for most of the other Phaenomena of Nature methinks we may without absurdity conceive That God of whom in the Scripture 't is affirm'd That all his Works are known to him from the Beginning having resolved before the Creation to make such a World as this of Ours did divide at least if he did not create it incoherent that Matter which he had provided into an innumerable multitude of very variously figur'd Corpuscles and both connected those Particles into such Textures or particular Bodies and plac'd them in such Scituations and put them into such Motions that by the assistance of his ordinary preserving Concourse the Phaenomena which he intended should appear in the Universe must as orderly follow and be exhibited by the Bodies necessarily acting according to those Impressions or Laws though they understand them not at all as if each of those Creatures had a Design of Self-preservation and were furnish'd with Knowledge and Industry to prosecute it and as if there were diffus'd through the Universe an intelligent Being watchful over the publick Good of it and careful to Administer all things wisely for the good of the particular Parts of it but so far forth as is consistent with the Good of the whole and the preservation of the Primitive and Catholick Laws established by the Supreme Cause As in the formerly mention'd Clock of Strasburg the several Pieces making up that curious Engine are so fram'd and adapted and are put into such a motion that though the numerous Wheels and other parts of it move several ways and that without any thing either of Knowledge or Design yet each performs its part in order to the various Ends for which it was contriv'd as regularly and uniformly as if it knew and were concern'd to do its Duty and the various Motions of the Wheels and other parts concur to exhibit the Phaenomena design'd by the Artificer in the Engine as exactly as if they were animated by a common Principle which makes them knowingly conspire to do so and might to a rude Indian seem to be more intelligent then Cunradus Dasypodius himself that published a Description of it wherein he tells the World That he contrived it who could not tell the hours and measure time so accuratly as his Clock And according to this Notion if you be pleas'd to bear it in your memory Pyrophilus you may easily apprehend in what sense I use many common Phrases which custom hath so authorized that we can scarce write of
with among the Atheists Upon consideration of all the Premises I confess Pyrophilus that I am enclined to think there may perhaps be more cause to apprehend that the delightfulness of the Study of Phisiology should too much confine your Thoughts and Joys to the Creatures then that your Proficiency in it should bring you to dis-believe the Creator For I have observ'd it to be a fault incident enough to Ingenious Persons to let their mindes be so taken up and as it were charm'd with that almost infinite variety of pleasing Objects which Nature presents to their Contemplation that they too much dis-relish other Pleasures and Employments and are too apt to undervalue even those wherewith the improv'd Opportunities of serving God or holding Communion with Him are capable of Blessing the Pious Soul But Pyroph though comparatively to Fame and Mistresses and Baggs and Bottles and those other transient unsatisfactory in a word deluding Objects on which the greatest part of mistaken Mortals so fondly dote the entertaining of our Noblest Faculties with Objects suited to them and proper both to gratifie our Curiosity and to enrich our understandings with variety of acceptable and useful Notions affords a satisfaction that very well deserves the choice and preferrence of a rational Creature Yet certainly Pyrophilus as God is infinitely better then all the things that he has made so the Knowledge of Him is much better then the knowledge of them and he that has plac'd so much delightfulness in a Knowledge wherein he allows his very Enemies to become very great Proficients has sure reserv'd much Higher and more contenting Pleasures to sweeten and endear those Disclosures of Himself which He vouchsafes to none but those that love Him and are lov'd by Him And therefore Pyrophilus though I will allow you to expect from the Contemplation of Nature a greater satisfaction then from any thing you need decline for it yet I would not have you expect from it any such satisfaction as you may entirely acquiess in for nothing but the enjoyment of Him that made the Soul for Himself can satisfie it the Creatures being as well uncapable to afford us a compleat Felicity by our Intellectual Speculations of them as by our sensual Fruitions of them for though the knowledge of Nature be preferrable by odds to those other Idols which we have mention'd as inferior to it yet we here attain that knowledge but very imperfectly and our acquisitions of it cost us so dear and the Pleasures of them is so allay'd with the disquieting Curiosity they are wont to excite that the wisest of Men and greatest of Philosophers among the Antients scruples not upon his own experience to call the addicting of ones heart to seek and search out by Wisdom concerning all things that are done under the Heaven a sore travel given by God to the sons of Men to be exercis'd or as the Original hath it to afflict themselves therewith And the same experienc'd Writer elsewhere tells us That he that encreases knowledge encreases sorrow And 't was perhaps for this reason that Adam was form'd out of Paradice and afterwards by God brought into it to intimate That Felicity is not a thing that Man can acquire for himself but must receive as a free gift from the liberal Hand of God And as the Children of the Prophets sought translated Elias with very great diligence but with no success so do we as Fruitlesly as Industriously seek after perfect Happiness here both they and we missing of what we seek for the same reason because we seek for that on Earth which is not to be found but in Heaven And this I forewarn you of Pyrophilus not at all to discourage you from the study of Physiology but to keep you from meeting with that great Discouragement of finding in it much less of satisfaction then you expected and over-great expectation from it being one of the disadvantagiousest Circumstances with which it is possible for any thing to be enjoyed But at length Pyrophilus though late I begin to discern into how tedious a digression my zeal for Natural Philosophy and for you has mis-led me and how it has drawn from my Pen some Passages which may seem to relish more of the Preacher then the Naturalist yet I might alledge divers things to justifie or at least extenuate what I have done As first That if in making this Excursion I have err'd I have not done so without the Authority of great Examples for not onely Seneca doth frequently both season his Natural Speculations with Moral Documents and Reflections and owns that he purposely does so where he says Omnibus rebus omnibusque sermonibus aliquid salutare miscendum est cum imus per Occulta Naturae c. but even Pliny as far as he was from being guilty of over-much Devotion does from divers Passages in his Natural History allow himself to take occasion to inveigh against the Luxury Excesses and other Epidemical Vices of his time And I might next represent that perhaps the endeavoring to manifest that the knowledge of the Creatures should and how it may be referr'd to the Creators Glory is not altogether impertinent to the design I have of promoting Physiology for it seems consonant both to Gods Goodness and that repeated Axiome in the Gospel which tells us That he that improves his Talents to good uses shall be intrusted with more That the imploying the little Knowledge I have in the service of Him I owe it to may invite Him to encrease that little and make it less despicable And perhaps it is not the least cause of our ignorance in Natural Philosophy it self that when we study the Great Book of Nature call'd The Universe we consult peradventure almost all other Expositors to understand its Mysteries without making any address for instruction to the Author who yet is justly stil'd in the Scripture That Father of Lights in the plural Number from whom descends every good and every perfect Gift not onely those supernatural Graces that relate to another World but those intellectual Endowments that qualifie Men for the prosperous Contemplation of this And therefore in the Evangelical Prophet he is said to instruct even the Plough man and teach him the skill and understanding he displays in his own Profession And though I dare not affirm with some of the Helmontians and Paracelsians that God diâ—closes to Men the Great Mystery of Chymistry by Good Angels or by Nocturnal Visions as he once taught Jacob to make Lambs and Kids come into the World speckled and ring-streaked yet perswaded I am that the favor of God does much more then most Men are aware of vouchsafe to promote some Mens Proficiency in the study of Nature partly by protecting their attempts from those unlucky Accidents which often make Ingenuous and Industrious endeavors miscarry and partly by making them dear and acceptable to the Possessors of Secrets by whose Friendly
as saith Empedocles the Naturalist All things beginning have which e'r shall be Are present or to come Plants Men and Beasts And Fowl and Fish the off-spring of the Sea Pag. 102. Arist de Mundo Cap. 6. 'T is reported That when Phidias the excellent Statuary made the Image of Minerva which is in the Castle at â—thens he contriv'd his own Picture in the middle of her Shield and fastned the Eyes of it to the Statue by so cunning Workmanship that if any one were minded to take it away he could not do it without breaking the Statue and disordering the connection of the Work After the same manner is God in the World retaining and upholding the coherence of all things and preserving the safety of the Universe Onely He is not in the midst of it namely the Earth which is a turbulent Region but in the highest place which is sutable to His Purity P. 103 104. Galen de Usu partium Our most wise Creator hath plac'd under the Foot a skin not loose or thin or soft but close and of indifferent hardness and sense to the end it might not easily suffer injury To Him I compose these Commentaries as certain Hymns esteeming Piety not to consist in Sacrificing many Hecatombs of Oxen to Him or burning Cassia and a thousand other Perfumes but in this first to know my self and then to declare to others what His Wisdom Power Providence and Goodness is the ignorance of which not the abstaining from Sacrifice is the greatest Impiety For I account it an evidence of most perfect goodness that He hath furnish'd all things with convenient ornament and deny'd His benefits to none Now to have devis'd how all things might be handsomly fram'd is the part of highest Wisdom but to have made all things which he would of insuperable Power P. 104. Paracelsus de Mineral Tract 1 God is very admirable in His Works from the Contemplation of which we ought not to desist Night or Day but continually be imploy'd in the inquisition of them For this is to walk in the ways of God The INDEX to the First part THe reason why the Author endeavours to possesse Pyrophilus with the true value of Experimental Philosophy 1 That Experimental Philosophy is conducive to the improving of man's Understanding and to the increasing of man's power 2 Arguments to prove that Man's Curiosity for Knowledge is much thereby gratified ibid. A relation of the transport surprisal of a Maid born blind when being about 18. years old she obteiâ—ed the first sight of the various Objects this world presented her with 3 That the knowledg of the inward Architecture and contrivanecs of Nature is more delightfull then the sight of the outward shapes 4 Examples and Instances of the prevalence â—f the pleasure that arises from the attainment of Knowledg 4 That the knowledg of the most curious Artificial works is not more delightfull then the knowledg of Natural 5. That the delight herein is altogether inoffensive 6 Instances of the Esteem diverse ancient Philosophers had for it 6 7 How this study consists with Religion 8 The absurdity of not imploying humane faculties on the contemplation of those Obiects to which they are fitted 9. Illustrated by the similitude of a Spider in a Palace taking notice of nothing besides her own Cobweb 10 The Opinions that Seth Abraham Solomon Ovid had of man's fitnesse for the study of Astronomy and other Physiology 11 VVhy Providence might deprive us of Solomons Physiology 11 Of the delight that may arise from the variety of Obiects which Nature producâ—th 12 That there be above 6000 Subiects of the Vegetable Kingdom ib. Of an excellent Jamaica Pepper newly brought over ib. How many Treatises are already made of Antimony which yet hath not been perfectly discovered 13 Of a real Mercury of Antimony 14. and a reall combustible Sulphur of Antimony that burns like ordinary Brimstone 14 A new Tincture of Antimonial Glass with the entire process to draw it 14 Of Gilbertus Cabeus and Kircher who successively writ the Experiments of the Loadstone 15 Of some new Experiments hitherto undiscoverd of that Stone ib. That admirable speculations may arise from the most despicable productions of Nature 16 17 VVhat ever God has thought worthy of making man should not think unworthy of knowing 18 19 Of the Dominion and Power that Physiology gives the prosperous studiers of it 20 21 That the Knowledg of Nature excites and cherishes Devotion 22 The Ends of God's Creation his own Glory 23 24 That Man 's Good is a second Eud proved by Scripture 25. The same proved by Reason and Authority 26 27 28 How the Sun Shemesh is the great minister of the Universe 27 That accommodation and delight which the Creatures might afford Man is much impaired by the want of Natural Philosophie 29 That the instructions to our Intellectual part are more considerable then the accommodations we have from Nature to our Animal part ib. Of the Hints of Natural Philosophy in the History of the Creation and other references to it in other places 30 31 How God's Power is conspicuous in the Creatures 32 33 34. How God's wisdome is conspicuous in them 34 Particular Observations of the structure of Humane Body 35 Of the eyes and feet of Moles 36 Of the Silk-worme 37. That it worketh by Instinct and not by Imitation 37 38 Of the vastnesse of the Elephant and its disproportion to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such like Mites 39 40 Of the vastnesse of the Whale and its disproportion to the small Worms or Fishes lately discovere'd in Vineger 41 42 How God's Goodness is conspicuous in his Creatures by his provision of accommodations for them all but especially for his Favorite Man 43 44 45 Of the unknown and new detected Properties and Vertues of diverse Concretes 45 Of the Peruvian Bark commonly called the Jesuits Powder and other Concretes observable for their unknown Properties 46 Of the use of diverse noxious Concretes and that they contein their own Antidotes 47 48 Of that excellent West Indian root Mandihoca 48 How we are by the Creatures instructed to Devotion 40 50 51 That their Opinion who would deterre men from the scrutiny of Nature tends to defeat God of much of that Glory Man should ascribe unto him 53 54 55 That Philosophers of all Religions have considered the World under the notion of God's Temple 56 That in this Temple Man must be the Priest 57 58 The contemplation of Gods mercy ought not so to ingross our thoughts as to make us neglect the Glory of his Power and Wisdome 59 That the study of Physiology is not apt to make men Atheists 60. Prov'd further from the ancient Institution of the Sabbath 61 That Physiology cannot explicate by second causes all the Phaenomena of Nature so as to exclude the first 63. Prov'd by the Instance of the unknown nature Mercury c. 64 That same of the Peripatetick Sect are guilty of
this endeavour 65 That their Hypothesis is very full of mistakes 66 That these excluders of the Deity make but imperfect explications of the Phaenomena of Nature ib. And do not explaine the Scale of Causes to the last Cause 67 Instances of things wherein their account is not satisfactory 68. as 1. In the particulars the causes of which they assign Occult Qualities ib. 2. when they assign Natures abborrency of Vacuity to be the cause that Water doth ascend in Suction ib. whereas the contrary is proved in the Suction of Quick silver 69 3. When they assign the causes of the Purgationes Menstrnae 69 70 And when in other cases they ascribe to irrational Creatures such actions as in men are the production of Reason and Choice 70 The Author's conceit concerning God's Creation of the parts of the World and so placing them that they by the assistance of his ordinary concourse must needs exhibit these Phaenomena 71. Illustrated by the Clock at Strasburg ib. How far such borrowed Metaphorical Phrases which Custom hâ—s authorized may be used 72 Quick-silver being heavier then Stones they swim thereon yet sinck in lighter liquors 72 That the Instances of the Actions of divers Creatures resembling Reason commend the Wisedom of God 73 74 Defects in the Explication of Nature by the Epicureans who deny the concurrence of God 75 76 77 78 That the figures in Nitre Chrystal and divers Minerals are produced not by chance but by somewhat Analogous to seminal principles 79 That the Generation of Animals is much lesse to be accounted the production of Chance 80 That the Hypotheses of Philosophy only shew that an effect may be produced by such a cause not that it must 81 That to a perfect Knowledg there must not only appear the possible but the definite and real not only the general but the particular causes 82 Some defects in the waies of Reaoning used by the most eminent Atomists 83 84 85 The most plausible argument of the Opposers of a Deity considered 86 87 88 89 That there are some things in Nature which conduce much to the evincing of a Deity which are only known to Naturalists 91. Explain'd by the comparison of the Uniting scatter'd pieces of Paint into one face by a Cylindrical Looking Glass 92 The Testimony of the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed to Aristotle introduced ib. Of the admirable contrivance of the Make of the Musculus Marsupialis 94. and of the parts of the Hand ib. The contrivance for the Circulation of the Bloud in a Foetus before the use of Respiration 95 Galen's Speech That his Books De Usu Partium were as Hymns to the Creator ib. The Fabrick of the Eye considered ib. Some Experimental Observations of the Eye and the use of its parts in order to Vision 96 The way to prepare the Eyes of Animals for the better making observations on them ib. Some particulars wherein the Eyes of white Rabbets are better then others for Observation 97 That it is dishonourable for the Soule to be unacquainted with the exquisite structure of the Body being its own Mansion 97. Proved out of Instances in the Psalmist and Galen ib. Why the anterior part of Fishes Eyes ought to be more Spherical then those of men 99 That God made Man not after the World's Image but his Own 100 That the Image of God on us should engage us to esteem our selves us belonging to God ib. Arguments from Authority and the Experience of all Ages That the Contemplation of the World has addicted Man to the Reverence of God 100 That those People who worship not God are not Naturalists but Barbarians and that their Atheisme doth continue for want of the Contemplation of the World 101 A comparison of the Image of God on the Creature to that of Phidias on Minerva's Shield 102 The noblest worship that has been paid to God from such who have not had particular Revelation of his will has arose from the speculation of God's Wisdom Power and Goodnesse in the fabrick of the Creature 103. The Testimonies of Galen Hermes Paracelsus L. Bacon 104. That Religion has other Arguments besides those drawn from the works of Nature enough to keep any considering man from Atheism 106 That the Difficulty of conceiving the Eternity Self-Existence and other Attributes of one God is less then to conceive infinite eternal self-existent and self-moving Atomes 108 As God is infinitely bettter then all his Creatures so the Knowledg of him is better then the Knowledg of his Creatures 110 The Imperfection and Disquiet that there is in humane Science 110 111 How the Favour of God conduces to promote mens Proficiency in the study of Nature 112 The Reason of the Authors so long Discourse on this Subject 114 Beasts inhabit and enjoy the World 't is Man's duty to Spiritualize it 115 That it being the prime Duty of Man to give God the Honour of his Creatures it is to be preferr'd before secondary Duties ib. That the different greatnesse in the Knowledg make a like difference in the Honour given to the Creator 117 God by becoming our Saviour has not laid aside the Relation of a Creator 117 That he who sacrificeth Praise honoureth God ib. The Conclusion 118 ERRATA in the First Part. Pag. 24. lin 22. lege contemplationem factum p. 62. l. 28. l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 69. l. 7. l. his private Interests l. 28. of the Air against the Suckers chest p. 73. l. 32. have Reason l. 34. Souls And. p. 75. l. 3. of Animals p. 77. l. 5. principally in Extension p. 75. l. 4. any Centrum gravium p. 79. l. 24. are not unquestionably produced by chance but perhaps p. 81. l. 6. dele * l. 11. Animals the. p. 85 l. 15. Ratiocination By. l. 17. most p. 87. l. ult l. Things or their Motions p. 88. l. 15. Parts it p. 94. l. 32. Musculi perforati p. 98. l. 8. sunt omnino l. 33. Insertion of p. 99. l. 17. perfectly Spherical one as to the Anterior part which is obverted to the outward Objects p. 107. l. 15. Not onely OF THE VSEFVLNESSE OF Naturall Philosophy The Second Part. Of its Vsefulness to promote the Empire of Man over things CORPOREAL OXFORD Printed by HEN HALL Printer to the University for RIC DAVIS In the year of our Lord 1663. OF THE VSEFVLNESSE OF Naturall Philosophy The Second Part. The first SECTION Of it's Vsefulness to PHYSICK ESSAY I. Containing some Particulars tending to shew the Vsefulness of Natural Philosophy to the Physiolological part of Physick AFter having in the former part of this Treatise Pyrophilus thus largely endeavored to manifest to you the advantagiousness of Natural Philosophy to the minde of Man we shall now proceed to speak of its Usefulness both to his Body and Fortune For I must ingeniously confess to you Pyrophilus That I should not have neer so high a value as I now cherish for Physiology if I thought it
somewhat low and slender and about 58 Years of age Hic saith he nihil foetidum nihil injucundum abhorret Vitra Lapides Ligna Carbones Ossa Leporinos aliorum animalium pedes cum pilis lineos laneosque pannos viva animalia pisces adhuc salientes imò etiam Metalla patinas orbes stanneos dentibus confringere vorare saepissime visus est Vorat praeterea lutum sevum candelas sebaceas integras testas cochlearum animalium stercora cum primis bubulum calidum adhuc prout è matrè venit potat aliorum Urinas cum Vino cerevisia mixtas Vorat foenum stramen stipulas nuper duos mures viventes adhuc deglutivit qui ipsius ventriculum ad semihoram usque creberrimis morsibus lancinarunt ut brevibus complectar quicquid illi à Nobilibus devorandum offertur vilissimâ mercede propositâ dictum ac factum ingurgitat ita ut intra paucos dies integrum vitulum crudum incoctum cum corio pilis se estaturum promiserit Testis inter alios quamplurimos ipse ego sum quippe qui c. To this and the following part of the Letter Sennertus addes That not having during some Years heard any thing concerning this Claudius he sent about four Years after to the same Physitian Dr. Nesterus to enquire what was become of him and that the Doctor sent him back a Letter of the Minister of the Church of that place by way of confiâ—mation of all the formerly mention'd particulars and answered himself That the Lorainer whom he had long hop'd to dissect was yet alive and did yet devour all the things mention'd in his former Letter but not so frequently as before his Teeth being grown somewhat blunter by age that he was no longer able to break Bones and Mettals Some other examples of this nature though none so strange we have also met with in Writers of good credit and especially that of the Glass-eater recorded by Columbus in his excellent Anatomical Observations of which also Sennertus makes mention as we shall see by and by and with which we may elsewhere entertain you to another purpose And not long agoe there was here in England a private Souldier who for ought I know is yet alive very famous for digesting of Stones And a very inquisitive Man that gave me the accuratest account I have met with concerning him assures me That he knew him familiarly and had the curiosity to keep in his company for 24 hours together to watch him and not onely observ'd that he eat nothing in that time save Stones or Fragments of them of a pretty bigness but that his grosser Excrement consisted chiefly of a sandy Substance as if the devour'd Stones had been in his Body dissolved and crumbled into Sand. But let us not omit that to the second Epistle above-mention'd Sennertus addes this Reflection not impertinent to our purpose Causam says he hujus voracitatis etiam in cadavere invenire proculdubio erit difficillimum Posset quidem ad illud quod in cadavere Lazari Vitrivoracis observavit Columbus quidam confugere statuere quartam illam nervorum conjugationem quae gustus gratia in hominibus à natura producta est neque ad Palatum neque ad Linguam pertendere Verum hoc modo saltem gustûs aboliti causa redderetur nondum vero causae daretur cur res tam miras assumere sine ventriculi laefione imo coneoquere potuerit Quae proculdubiâ— in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiari constitutione ventriculi intestinorum quaerenda esset quae tamen oculis investigari non potest sed saltem ex effectu patet And indeed this memorable Story seems to argue not onely what we have already alledg'd it to prove but also that a Menstruum not so corrosive as to fret the Body may dissolve Stones Metals and other compact Substances And since one Liquor prepar'd by Nature onely could in this Mans Stomack dissolve that great variety of Bodies above enumerated why should it be thought that the Alkahest or some other Menstruum wherein Nature is skilfully assisted and to the utmost highten'd by Art should not be able to dissolve Concretes of very differing Textures For though Chymists must acknowledge that such common Menstruums as will dissolve one Body will not oftentimes meddle with another as Aqua fortis will dissolve Silver and not Gold and if by Salarmoniack you turn it into Aqua Regis it will indeed dissolve Gold but then it will not Silver Yet since that may be suppos'd to proceed rather from our want of skill to prepare the most potent Menstruum then from the impossibility of one Menstruums dissolving great variety of Bodies Why may not Nature and Art afford a Menstruum whose variety of Parts and Figures and perhaps also Motion may give it ingress into Bodies of very differing Textures as in our former Instance though Aqua Regalis will dissolve Gold not Silver and Aqua fortis Silver but not Gold yet Quick-silver will dissolve both and Copper Tin and Lead to boot If I were not at present under some restraint I might tell you some things that you would perhaps think no weak Confirmations of the past Discourse And however since I have observ'd it to be the main thing that keeps judicious Men from seeking or so much as hoping for nobler Dissolvents that they are scarce to be perswaded there can be considerably piercing Menstruums that are not proportionably corrosive I will here acquaint you with a Liquor that may I presume assist you to undeceive some of them We take then ordinary houshold brown Bread I like that of Rye but I have divers times us'd that of Wheat and when it is cut into slices and somewhat dry'd we almost fill a glass Retort with it and placing that in a sand Furnace by degrees of Fire we draw off what will be made to come over without much difficulty The Oyl as useless to our purpose being by a Tunnel or a Filter sever'd from the rest of the Liquor we also by a gentle heat free the Spirit from some of its Phlegm which yet sometimes we finde no great necessity to do And yet this Spirit which you will easily believe is no such Corrosive as Aqua fortis or other distill'd Liquors of Mineral Salts will work upon the hardest sorts of Bodies and perform things that Chymists counted of the judiciousest would not have us expect from the most sharp and corrosive Menstruums now in use For with this we have in a short time and that in the cold drawn Tinctures which is done by the solution of the finer parts of the Concrete not only from crude Corals and some of the more open Minerals but likewise from very hard Stones such as Blood stone and Granates even unpowder'd Nay and though Ruby's seem to be the hardest Bodies yet known save Diamonds for I have learned from those that cut precious Stones that they can
against the Erysipelas but even a Medicine for Corns where he tells us That they may be taken away by applying and daily renewing for ten days or a fortnight the middle Stalk that grows between the Blade and the Root for that I suppose he means by the unusual Word Thallum of Garlick bruis'd Nor is it without Examples though somewhat contrary to my Custom in my other Writings that in this and the four precedent Essays I have frequently enough alledged the Testimonies of others and divers times set down Processes or Receipts not of my own devising For even among professed and learned Physitians scarce any thing is more common then on Subjects far less of kin to Paradoxes then most of those I have been discoursing of to make use of the Testimonies and Observations of other approved Writers to confirm what they teach And not now to mention the voluminous Books of Schenkius and Scolzius that famous and experienc'd Practitioner Riverius himself hath not been ashamed to publish together a good number of Receipts given him by others under the very Title of Observationes communicatae And Henricus ab Heer hath among his Observationes oppido rarae divers Receipts that came from Mountebancks and even Gypsies And therefore I hope that you who know that it is not after every Body that I would so much as relate an Observation or mention a Medicine as thinking them probable will easily excuse one that hath much fewer Opportunities then a profess'd Physitian to try Remedies himself if treating of Subjects not so familiar I choose to countenance what I deliver by the Testimonies of skilful Men and if I scruple not to preserve in these Papers some not despicable Remedies as well of abler Men as of my own that otherwise would probably be lost But of this Practise I may elsewhere have occasion to give you a more full Apology by shewing how much it may conduce to the enriching and advancement of Physick an Art with whose praises I could long entertain You if I were at leisure and durst allow my self to exhaust common places And yet give me leave to tell you That Man is so noble a Creature and his Health to requisite to his being able to relish other goods and oftentimes also to the comfortable performance of what his Conscience his Country his Family his Necessities and perhaps his allowable Curiosiâ—â— challenge from him that I wonder not so much at those Antient Heathens that being Polytheists and Idolaters thought themselves oblig'd either to refer so useful an Art as that of Physick to the Gods or God-like Persons or to adde those that excell'd in so noble a Faculty to the number of those they worshipp'd For my part Pyrophilus a very tender and sickly Constitution of my own much impair'd by such unhappy Accidents as Falls Bruises c. hath besides as I hope better motives of Compassion given me so great a sense of the uneasinesses that are wont to attend Sickness that I confess if I study Chymistry 't is very much out of hope that it may be usefully imploy'd against stubborn Diseases and relieve some languishing Patients with less pain and trouble then otherwise they are like to undergoe for Recovery And really Pyrophilus unless we will too grosly flatter our selves we can scarce avoid both discerning and deploring the ineffectualness of our vulgar Medicines not onely Galenical but Chymical for an active Body may yet be but a languid Remedy For besides that many that recover upon the use of them endure more for Health then many that are justly reckon'd among Martyrs did for Religion Besides this I say we daily meet with but too many in the case of that bleeding Woman mention'd in the Gospel of whom 't is said That she had suffer'd many things of many Physitians and had spent all that she had and was nothing better'd but rather grew worse And therefore I reckon the investigation and divulging of useful Truths in Physick and the discovering and recommending of good Remedies among the greatest and most extensive Acts of Charity and such as by which a Man may really more oblige Man-kinde and relieve more distressed Persons then if he built an Hospital Which perhaps you will not think rashly said if you please but to consider how many the knowledge of the Salivating and other active Properties of Mercury and of its enmity to putrefaction and Distempers springing thence have cur'd of several Diseases and consequently how many more Patients then have recover'd in the greatest Hospital in the world are oblig'd to Carpus and those others who ever they were that were the first discoverers of the medical efficacy of Quick-silver And for my own particular Pyroph though my Youth and Condition forbid me the practice of Physick and though my unhappy Constitution of Body kept divers Remedies from doing me the same good they are wont to do others yet having more then once prepar'd and sometimes occasionally had opportunity to administer Medicines which God hath been so far pleas'd to bless on others as to make them Relieve several Patients and seem at least to have snatch'd some of them almost out of the jaws of death I esteem my self by those successes alone sufficiently recompenc'd for any toil and charge my Enquiries into Nature may have cost me And though I ignore not that 't is a much more fashionable and celebrated Practice in young Gentlemen to kill men then to cure them And that mistaken Mortalâ— think it the noblest Exercise of vertue to destroy the noblest Workmanship of Nature and indeed in some few cases the requisiteness and danger of â—estructive valour may make its Actions become a vertuous Patriot yet when I consider the Character given of our great Master and Exemplar in that Scripture which says That he went about doing good and Healing all manner â—f Sickness and all maner of Disease among the people I cannot but think such an Imployment worthy of the very noblâ—st of his Disciples And I confess that if it wâ—re allow'd me to envy creatures so much above us as are the Celestial Spirits I should much more envy that welcome Angels Charitable imployment who at set times diffus'd a healing vertue through the troubled waters of Bet esda then that dreadful Angels fatal imployment who in one night destroy'd above a hundred and fourscore thousand fighting men But of the Desireableness of the skill and willingness to cure the sick and relieve not only those that languish in Hospitals but those that are rich enough to build them having elsewhere purposely discoursed I must now trouble you no longer on this Theme but Implore Your much needed pardon for my having been beyond my fiâ—st intentions so troublesome to You already AN APPENDIX TO THE FIRST SECTION OF THE Second Part. Advertisements touching the following APPENDIX I Scarce doubt but it will be exspected that I should annex to the foregoing Treatise those Receipts and Processes which seem to