Thunder in the Winter as in the Summer is that most of the matter that makes Thunder in Summer is turned into Wind in Winter for Water Air Wind and Thunder are all but one Element only thicker and thinner for Wind is a condensed Air and Air a rarified Water and thus by Dilating and Contracting alter their Forms and their Properties which makes that Matter seem of several Qualities only works different Effects and these Effects being different by their several Motions which give them several Forms and make many times a Civill War amongst them every Form striving to out-do one another and often in their striving change their Shape But Fire being an Element not subject to change somtimes parts the Fray and somtimes sets them more one against another for in the Summer the Sun being hot raiseth the Vapour so high that it gets into the Middle Region and being there condenses into Wind and when it is there it seeks a Passage out and so falleth foul upon the Clouds beating them about untill its Fury and Strength be spent but in the Winter the Sun-beams being weak cannot draw the Vapour so high and so blows uppon the Earth and amongst the lower Clouds which by crushing them together squeeseth out Rain or breaks them in sunder which falls down in Showres this makes more Rain and frequenter Storms in Winter than in Summer and Thunder in Summer because it is drawn so high that it cannot easily return Thus Wind in the Middle Region causeth Thunder and in the Winter going no further than the lower Region causeth Storms and Lightning may be the striking of some Clouds that have Bitumenous matter mixed in them which like to a Flint do strike out Fire Allegory IN the Chymistry of Nature the Earth is the sixt Salt the Air the Sulphur the Water is the Incipid Flegm the Sun or Fire are the Spirits Light and Darkness is the Center Life is the volable Salt and Death is the Terra Damnata The noise of Water WAter being Spherical of a hollow and Porous Body the Wind beating thereon the Hollowness causeth a sound by the Rebounds it maketh against the inside or outside of the Spherical Bodie which we call Drops which being moved either by the Tydes or Winds are so quick being so small and apt to move being round as the Rebounds are so many and so thick that the Ecchoes thereof are confused which confusion we call a Roaring of the Waters as the Roaring of the Sea Of the Motion of the Sea THE Reason why the Sea is more apt to move than Fresh-waters is by the Saltness for Salt having an acute quality doth penetrate and divide and Water whose propertie is to intermingle and unite doth strive to join the divided parts again this makes it as it were a Perpetual Motion the one striving to meet and join the other to separate and disunite The Noise of Winds THE Reason the Winds make such a Noise in the Air as on the Sea is that Clouds are a Condensed Vapour or Air which Condensed Air is Water so that Clouds are as it were a Sea over our Heads and those Clouds being Waves and great Billows when the Wind blows beating upon them as upon the Sea makes the same Noise for the Roaring of the Sea and the blowing of the Wind is much alike but when the Wind blows upon the Sea it makes a horrid Noise Of Water TO my apprehension Water lies like a Swarm of Bees every drop being like a several Bee and as Bees lie so close one to another as at small distance they seem to be one intire Heap or Ball so do Waters but if they be disturbed they will spread and every Bee is seen distinctly which before we could not see so Water when great quantitie is together the Distinction of each Drop cannot be perceived by Mans Eies but cast up a Handfull of Water or sprinkle it about and it will fall into Drops Besides Drops of Water lie much closer together than the Bodies of Bees can doe because they are more Porous and soft which yields to Contraction and being wet makes them Glutenous and so stick closer which makes the Distinction of the Drops of Water less visible than Bees Winds may be rarified Air. AS Air is rarified Water so Wind may be rarified Air and by thinness beget such an Agilness as may give it such a Strength by the quick Motion that it may over-power the more Solid which are Air and Water for quick Motions by the often Repetitions grow powerfull and strong Wind is the Essence of Air as the Spirits of Air for it is an extracted Substance which makes it Quick Subtil and Sharp and of such a powerfull nature that it incounters solid Bodies and many times hath the Victory over them and by its active Wandring subtil and piercing Motion it appears more like Life than an other Element Of Rain VApour that is sent from the Earth or drawn up by the Sun is like so many several Springs that issue out of the Pores of the Earth and when they are streamed to such a height they meet and jon together and gathering into Clouds they become like a flowing River with curling Waves like the Sea But where there is too great a Quantity gathered together that the Sun cannot disgest they overflow and fall down into showres of Rain Of the Saltness of the Sea and the freshness of Springs SOme are of Opinion that the Veins of the Earth are filled from the Sea and that the Water runs thorow the Earth as thorow a Sieve or the like letting the thinnest part thorow and keeping the more solid back which is the Salt which to my Reason doth not seem probable for we find by Experience that the Nature of Water being Moist Soft and Plyable doth suck out with the Liquid Tongue the Salt and Tincture of every Thing even from the soild'st Body as Minerals which are harder far and more close than the Porous part of the Earth And for experience we see and taste those Waters that run thorow Mines have not only the Tincture and Taste of those Minerals but the purging effects which proceed from the Nature belonging to them which shews that it is unlikely that Salt should be taken out of the Water when Water draws and sucks out all Salt or the like into it self unlesse they could prove Earth to be more Thin and Liquid than Water whose Liquidness sucks out all the looser Ingredients which is not only as I said before the Tincture and Taste but the natural Propertie and since it is improbable that the Salt should be retained by the Earth from the Water but far more probable that the Water should become more salt from the Earth which makes me think it is improbable that the Veins of the Earth should be filled with Water immediatly from the Sea but to my Apprehension they are filled after this manner The Planets like
Water-Mills draw up Vapours from the Sea and the Sun as the hottest Planet doth by his heat as it were Calcine the Salt Vapour although the Vapour cannot be so salt as the Sea-Water because the Gross Salt is not so light to be drawn up but rather remains as fixt but when the Sun hath Calcined it the Volatil part flyes up to the Body of the Sun or else staies in the middle Region and there meeting with a Sulphurous and Bitumenous Matter mixeth therwith and makes a Matter of the nature of Gunpowder which shoots Thunder flashes Lightning the Watry part distills back again on the Earth in Showres of Rain and that fresh Water distilled which falls upon the Earth soaks into the Earth and fills the Veins therein causing fresh Springs to rise where the Veins are too full But in Egypt or the like where it seldome Rains because the Sun is there fierce and heady that it hath not patience to draw by degrees as in Vapour but draws up a Sea at once which they call Nilus for the Appetite and the Strength joining together draws up so great a quantity that the Strength being not able to draw it up high makes it only swell up which heaves no higher than to cover the Earth some small depth as some few Yards or Feet high and the Reason why it riseth but twice a year is that the Sun is gathering his Forces half a Year to make a sufficient Strength to compass that Work and the Reason that it seldome or never faileth is because it is the Nature of the Sun in those Parts to draw Moisture after that manner and what is Natural is a constant Habit or Custome Of the Sea-water running thorow the Veins of the Earth SOme are of opinion That the Sea runs thorow the Veins of the Earth as the Blood thorow the Body of an Animal as a Man which to my reason is very unlikely for then there must be much more Water than Earth if so the Earth would be drowned with a superabundant quantity what with the Sea that runs about it and the Rain that falls upon it and the Water that runs thorow it perpetually For put the Case it be as they say that it runs out at some places as fast as it comes in at others yet it would wash and moulder away the Earth by the perpetual concourse and recourse if not the Solidst part yet the most Porous part Besides if it were so the Earth would not be so dry as in many places it is unless they hold that some parts of he Earth have Veins and other parts none But if they say that the Earth being so much greater in quantity than the Sea which is the Watry part of the World it hath not alwaies a sufficient quantity to satisfie the Drought which causes the Veins to be dry that Reason would make me think that there should not be a sufficient Quantity of Water to keep in a Body to make a Sea so large to run about it especially of that depth the Sea is of and to run through the vast Earth besides feeding the Air with Vapours Thus if there were less Water than Earth the Earth-Ball would be burnt up or at least so dry as to bear nothing and if the Water were more than the Earth the Earth would be drowned Wherefore in my opinion the Ingredients of the World are equally mix'd and proportionably made as Earth Water Air and Fire so the Sun proportionable to the rest of the Planets and the Planets proportionable to the Sun so that the whole Globe is in equal temper and the whole Body sound and though we who know not the Constitution of the World may think sometimes the Elements are distempered which is their natural temper to be so but not in our knowledge to know how The Sun peirceth not deep into the Earth IT is not the Sun that is the Cause of the Elixar in the Earth or the Golden Mines nor yet of other Metals which are in the Bowels of the Earth as for example all Cellars and Vaults are cold in the Summer when all the surface of the Earth is soultry hot and if the Sun cannot peirce thorow a little Vault or Cellar sure it cannot pass so far as into a deep Mine This sheweth if Heat maketh Metals it must be in the Bowels of the Earth Autumn is warmer than the Spring AUtumn is warmer than the Spring by reason of Sun-beams which beat hotter and longer upon the Earth in the Summer when as Winter is cold and hath frozen the Earth which cannot suddenly be thawed Besides the Sun hath not onely drawn forth the raw and undigested Vapours out of the Earth but hath incorporated his Heat into her all the Summer long for though the Earth hath a Heat in her self a Sun as we may say in the Center yet towards the Circumference it is so weak as it is not sufficient to bring things to Maturity without the help of the Sun Thus the Autumn is as much to be preferred before the Spring as Maturity to Immaturity Of Heat and Cold. SOme say that Fire is onely sensible to that which hath Heat in it self and by a Similitude is forced thereunto but there is nothing more contrary than Ice and Fire yet Ice is sensible of Fire which is proved by the melting and the Water thereof will be scalding hot Thus what is Cold will grow Hot. Of the Moon THere may be an Opinion that the Moon is all Water for we find that Planet cold and moyst and why may not the inequalities of that we see in the Moon by Perspective-glasses be the Reflexion of the Earth on that Watry Body the Moon And as we see our Image in a Pond or Pail of Water so do we see Mountains Rocks and Valleys of the Earth in the Face of the Moon Some may say this Opinion may be contradicted in the Eclipses of the Sun for if the Moon were all Water it could not shadow the Sun from the Earth by reason the Sun would shine thorow it but this is not a sufficient Contradiction for a little Cloud will shadow the Sun wherefore so great a Body of Water must needs darken it Then some may say the Figure must needs be weak and not subject to our Eyes because the Distance is so great it may be answered though the Distance be great the Depth of the Moon is so also and the deeper the Water is the fuller and perfecter it represents the Image that is set to the view besides it may be like a Magnifying Glass or like those Glasses that cast forth the Image as Concaves and Convexes do and for Experience what a way will a Figure come out wherefore how far will the Convex Moon or Earth as may be both cast or draw out the Image of the Earth And why may not the Moon be thought all Water as well as the Sun all Fire since the Effects of the Moon
Nature should perfectly understand and absolutely know her self because she is Infinite much less can any of her Works know her yet it doth not follow that nothing can be known As for example There are several parts of the World discovered yet it is most likely not all nor may be never shall be yet most think that all the World is found because Drake and Cavendish went in a Circular Line untill they came to that place from whence they set out at first and I am confident that most of all Writers thought all the World was known unto them before the West-Indies were discovered and the Man that discovered it in his Brain before he travelled on the Navigable Sea and offered it to King Henry the Seventh was slighted by him as a Foolish Fellow nor his Intelligence believ'd and no question there were many that laugh'd at him as a Vain Fool others pity'd him as thinking him Mad and others scorned him as a Cheating Fellow that would have cosened the King of England of a Sum of Money but the Spanish Queen being then wiser than the rest imployed him and adventured a great Sum of Money to set him forth in his Voyage which when the Success was according to the Mans Ingenious Brain and he had brought the Queen the discovery of the Golden and Silver Mines for the Spanish Pistols Then other Nations envyed the King of Spain and like a Company of Dogs which fought for a Bone went together by the Ears to share with him So the Bishop that declared his opinion of the Antipodes was not onely cryed down and exclaimed against by the Vulgar which hate all Ingenuity but Learned Sages stood up against him and the Great and Grave Magistrates condemned him as an Atheist for that Opinion and for that reason put him from his Bishoprick and thought he had Favour in that his Life was spared which Opinion hath since been found true by Navigators But the Ignorant Unpracticed Brains think all Impossible that is not known unto them But put the Case that many went to find that which can never be found as they say Natural Philosophy is yet they might find in the search that they did not seek nor expect which might prove very beneficial to them Or put the case ten thousand should go so many waies to seek for a Cabinet of pretious Jewels and all should miss of it but one shall that one be scorn'd and laugh'd at for his Good Fortune or Industry this were a great Injustice But Ignorance and Envy strive to take off the gloss of Truth if they cannot wholly overthrow it But I and those that write must arm our selves with Negligence against Censure for my part I do for I verily believe that Ignorance and present Envy will slight my Book yet I make no question when Envy is worn out by Time but Understanding will remember me in after Ages when I am changed from this Life But I had rather live in a General Remembrance than in a Particular Life The Worlds Olio LIB III. PART II. Of Philosophy THere have been of all Nations that have troubled their Heads and spent the whole time of their Lives in the study of Philosophy as Natural and Moral the first is of little or no use onely to exercise their Opinions at the guessing at the Causes of Things for know them they cannot the last is a Rule to a strict Life which is soon learned but not so soon practiced as they have made it in the dividing it into so many and numerous parts having but four chief Principles as Justice Prudence or Providence Fortitude and Temperance Justice is but to consider what one would willingly have another to do to him the same to do to another which is the beginning of a Commonwealth Prudence or Providence is to observe the Effect of Things and to compare the past with the present as to guess and so to provide for the Future Fortitude is to suffer with as little Grief as one can and to act with as little Fear Now Temperance is something harder as to abate the Appetites and moderate our Passions for though there are but two principal ones as Love and Hate yet there are abstracted from them so many as would take up a Long Life to know them after the strict Rules of Temperance But indeed it is as impossible to be justly Temperate as to know the first Causes of all Things as for example A Man loseth a Friend and the Loser must grieve so much as the merit of the Loss deserves and yet no more than will stand with his Constitution which in many is impossible For some their Constitution is so weak that the least Grief destroys them so that of Necessity he must needs be Intemperate one way either for the not sufficient Grief for the merit of his Friend or too little care for himself So for Anger a Man must be no more angry than the Affront or any Cause of his Anger doth deserve and who shall be Judge since there is no Cause or Act that hath not some Partiality on its side and so in all Passions and Appetites there may be said the like Therefore he that can keep himself from Extravagancy is temperate enough But there are none that are more intemperate than Philosophers first in their vain Imaginations of Nature next in the difficult and nice Rules of Morality So that this kind of Study kils all the Industrious Inventions that are beneficial and Easy for the Life of Man and makes one sit onely to dye and not to live But this kind of Study is not wholly to be neglected but used so much as to ballance a Man though not to fix him for Natural Philosophy is to be used as a Delight and Recreation in Mens Studies as Poetry is since they are both but Fictions and not a Labour in Mans Life But many Men make their Study their Graves and bury themselves before they are dead As for Moral Philosophy I mean onely that part that belongs to every particular Person not the Politick that goeth to the framing of Commonwealths as to make one Man live by another in Peace without which no Man can enjoy any thing or call any thing his own for they would run into Hostility though Community of Men will close into a Commonwealth for the Safety of each as Bees and other Creatures do that understand not Moral Philosophy nor have they Grave and Learned Heads to frame their Commonwealths NAture is the great Chymist of the World drawing out of the Chaos several Forms and extracted Substances the gross and thicker part goeth to the forming of Solid Bodies the Fume to Air and Water the thinnest part to Fire and Light the Sense or Spirits to Life Of Naturalists NAturalists that search and seek for hidden Causes are like Chymists that search for the Philosophers Stone wherein they find many excellent and profitable Medicines but not the Elixar So Naturalists
but when the Moysture is Mistris and predominates the Vapour is more Gross which Gross Vapour doth not onely quench out that Flame caused by the Unnatural Heat but stops and hinders the Extenuating Faculty of the Natural Heat like as a Cloud should obscure the Sun obstructing his Beams which disperseth his Heat by the Line of his Light which causeth the Air to be Dark and Cold. Thus in the midst of Summer when the Sun is at the height of his Glory a Dark Cloud made of Vapour will cause the Complexion of his Light to be of a Black Pale and the Body of the Day to be Cold But when the Sun breaks thorow by degrees he dissipates those Black and Sullen Clouds rarifying the thinner part into Wind and the thicker condenses into Water the one bloweth over the other showers down So those that have Agues their Flesh looks with a blue black pale and is very cold to the Touch but when the Natural Heat dissipates that Cold and Gross Vapour that is raised from a raw or half concocted Humour the thinnest part spreads about the Body like the Wind getting into every Cranny Corner or Part of the Body as Veins Arteries Muscles Sinnews putting the Body into a Violent and Unnatural Motion which is the Shaking Fit and when the Rarified Vapour is spent the Shaking Fit ceaseth and goes over and then the Patient entreth into a Burning Heat for the Unnatural Heat which was involved in the Grosser Vapour as Fire in Clouds which lightens and thunders begins to break thorow especially when it is helped by the Sun which is as the Natural Heat of the Body the Body as the Air grows soultry hot and the Heat dissipating those Foggy and Cloudy Vapours in the Region of the Body condenseth the Gross Parts into Water which issueth forth in Sweat as Showers of Rain Thus when the Vapours are dispersed and breathed out of the Body thorow the Pores of the Skin or otherwise the Body is like the Air Serene and Clear untill there are more Vapours ascended from the corrupted and half concocted Humours which sometimes gather sooner and sometimes are longer before they are gathered into Clouds again This is the reason some have Quotidians Tertians Double-tertians and Quartans Of a Hectick Feaver MOST Hectick Feavers are caused by an Excessive Heat in the Arteries which Heat is more difficult to quench than to stop a prickt Artery for in this case letting Blood doth more harm than good by reason that the Moysture of the Blood strives to quench the Fire therein or at least to temper the Heat thereof for it is Wet that puts out Fire not Cold for hot Water will as soon put out Fire as cold Water Neither can the keeping in the Blood cure the sick Patient it may some short time retard Life from expiring the reason is because the Excessive Heat not onely corrupts the Blood and melts the Fat of the Body but it doth evaporate Life forth like boyling Water that consumes in Smoke Thus it becomes an Incurable Disease when once the Heat overpowers the Moysture Of Coughs THere are many several sorts of Coughs some proceeding from a Superfluity of Moysture others from too much Heat some from a Corruption of Humours others from a Decay of the Inward Parts others from sudden Colds upon great Heats and some proceed from Wind likewise from sharp salt Rheums and some from fresh Rheums Those that proceed from a Superfluity of Moysture are strong Coughs that raise up Flegm for in that sort of Coughs when the Stomack is full of Humours the Flegm riseth highest like the Scum of a Pot on the Fire or like Whites of Eggs that are put into any hot Liquor and when the Stomack is hot it boyls up like a seething Liquor which boyling or seething provokes to strain which straining is not so violent as to vomit for those sorts of Coughs are of the nature of vomiting as in straining or striving or shuffing upward but by reason it is not so violent a Motion as Vomiting is it onely provokes to Cough bringing up Flegm or Water with the Motion thereof After the like manner are such sort of Coughs as proceed from Corrupt Humour and most commonly are the Fore-runners of the Small Pox Meazels or the like Diseases But Coughs that proceed from a great Heat either in the Stomack or Bowels the reason is that the Heat causeth a great Vapour which Vapour ascending to the Head there gathers into Clouds of Water where dissolving it falls back again like Showers of Rain where it sometimes falls in pouring Showers other times like mizzling Rain And the fuller of Moysture the Body is the greater Showers of Rain fall down This stopping the Passages of the Throat causeth a straining and striving in the Throat as when any thing goeth awry or Crums or Bones lye in the Throat or stop the Wind-pipe for every part of the Body if it be bound or hurt will strive and strain to help it self But if the Constitution of the Body be Naturally or Accidentally Dry the Vapour is thinner and then it ariseth like a steam in a Still or Limbeck where the Head like the top of a Still or Limbeck gathers that steam into a Dew which falleth back in distilling Drops which Drops trickling down the Throat as Tears on the Cheeks do rather tickle the Throat than stop the Wind-pipe or strain the Throat but if the Rheum be sharp or salt it causeth a gentle smart which is of such a kind of touch as tickling is provokes a faint or weak Cough But Coughs that proceed from a decay of Parts are when any part of the Body is corrupted it becomes less solid as from being a Solid Flesh to be of a Jelly Substance which dissolves with the least Heat melting by degrees away and as it melts it falls into liquid Drops which Drops tickle or smart those parts they fall or trickle on for by reason the Inward Parts are as it were raw or very thin skinned they make it sensible of the least touch besides there is a faint strife when the dissolved part falls from the other which strife tickling causeth a Cough but the Cough is more or less according as the part dissolves But these tickling Coughs are the most dangerous Coughs for the one causeth a Consumption the other is caused by a Consumption for when these tickling Coughs proceed from the Body they are caused from a Consuming Part that melts and dissolves by degrees but when it is Distillation from the Head it corrupts Parts by falling thereon like as Water with a constant dropping will penetrate thorow a Stone much more may a Constant Distillation corrupt a Spungie Matter as Flesh and according as the Rheums are fresh salt or sharp the Parts decay flower or faster for salt or sharp Rheums ulcerate the Parts and destroy them soon Also Wind will cause a tickling in the Throat as a tickling in the
find out many excellent and beneficial Arts but not the Cause or Principle Yet we find that Nature works not so curiously upon the Essence of Things as upon the Corporal Substance for Nature is but rude in the Minds of Men and so in other Creatures untill Community and Art have civilized them and Experience and Learning have perfected them Of Nature NAture is more various in the Shapes Thoughts and Colours than in the Substance or Kind of Things yet for Shapes there are but four grounds as High Low Thick and Thin of Quality or Essences she hath but four as Fire Water Air and Earth and for Colours the ground is onely Light and for Life she hath given onely three degrees as the Life of Growth the Life of Sense and the Life of Reason which is a Motion belonging to the Mind the other two Motions belong to the Corporal Part and all Life is but Motion so that Motion is the Life of Natures Work and the Work of Natures Life The Power of Natural Works ALthough Nature hath made every thing Good if it be rightly placed yet she hath given her Works power of misplacing themselves which produceth Evil Effects for that which corrupts Nature as it were is the disordered mixture But of all her Works Man hath entangled her waies the most by his Arts which makes Nature seem Vicious when most commonly Mans Curiosity causeth his Pain But there is nothing that is purely made and orderly set by Nature that hath not a Virtue in it but by her Creatures mis-applyings produceth a Vice Change in Nature NAture hath not onely made Bodies changeable but Minds so to have a Constant Mind is to be Unnatural for our Body changeth from the first beginning to the last end every Minute adds or takes away so by Nature we should change every Minute since Nature hath made nothing to stand at a stay but to alter as fast as Time runs wherefore it is Natural to be in one Mind one minute and in another in the next and yet Men think the Mind Immortal But the Changes of Nature are like the Sleights of a Juggler we see many several Shapes but still but one Matter Of Natural Wars IT seems to me a thing above Nature that Men are not alwaies in War one against the other and that some Estates live in peace somtimes forty or an hundred years nay some above a Thousand as the Venetians without Civil Warrs for the old saying is So many Men so many Minds yet they meet all in Ambitious Desires and naturaly Self-love seeks and strives for Preheminency Command which all cannot have yet submit and obey which is strange But say some it is Love that Makes Unites and Keeps a Common-wealth in Peace no saies another it is Fear and another may say as Tichobrahe the Dane said of the Sun and Earth For Ptolomy saith that the Sun moveth and the Earth stands still Copernicus said that the Earth moved and the Sun stood still Tichobrahe took up the third Opinion to which could be added no more but that they both moved So one may say it is both Love and Fear since those two Passions most commonly accompany one another But say they all things naturally incline to Peace and Unity and that War is unnatural because it tends to Destruction but some may say again that we find Nature hath made nothing but is subject to Preying Ravening and Devouring one thing of another and that most things live upon the spoil of another by the Humours Constitutions and Desires she hath given them for in many things their Lives cannot subsist or be nourished but by the Death of other Creatures So that Men are not only subject to War upon one another but all Creatures that Nature hath made as also the Elements for what is Thunder but a War betwixt Heat and Cold for Nature meeting in Contrarieties must needs Dispute when they meet and are never quieted untill one part get the upper hand and though Numbers make aConsort yet they must have a Sympathy one to another Thus all things are subject to War yet the Causes are different that provoke them to it But Nature would have wanted work if she had made all things to continue and nothing to decay for Death is as natural as Life but it seems to be Natures great Art to make all things subject to War and yet live in Peace as not to make an utter Destruction Of Darkness DArkness is more powerfull than Light for a little dark Cloud will ecclipse the great light of the Sun and there would be more Twilight if there were no Clouds for the Clouds are like a Screen that hides the Light Of the Air. THE Air is Water as well as the Sea So that Men Beasts and Birds are all but kinds of Fishes for we cannot live without Air which is rarified Water but it seems we are of a subtiller Sense than Fishes which makes us require a thinner Element Of Air. THE Air is as all other Animal Creatures are subject to Corruption Putrefaction and Distemper somtimes in a continual Feaver other times in an intermitting Feaver sometimes in a Hectick Feaver other times it hath shaking Agues Wind-Chollcks and oft times Rheumatick and Hydropical and as the Air is so it is apt to infect mens Bodies by reason that Air is so thin and subtil as it enters and intermingles into all things Of the Corruptions of the Air. THE Air is more corrupted in the Spring and the Autumn than in the Winter and Summer for in the Winter it is less corrupted by reason it is more united as being congealed by Cold neither hath the Sun that Force to draw more Vapours than it can digest besides for want of Heat the Pores of the Earth are shut where by less Vapours issue out and in Summer it hath a sufficient heat to concoct what it draws up or at least it contracts it so as to keep it from running into corruption and the Spring at the Suns return opens the Pores of the Earth suoking out Vapour there from which V pour is like the first milk of a Cow or the like Udder'd Creature when they have new cast forth their Birth which Milk is all corrupted with Blood and Matter by reason it hath been so long in the Udder so likewise the Vapour is corrupted when it is first drawn as it were by the returning Sun by reason it wanted Vent and Agitation to purify it and as it is ascending it mingles with those Creatures that live upon the Earth for the Pores of the Creatures that live upon the Earth also open by the springing heat from whence Vapours like wise do issue from their Bodies yet they live by the Air that encompasseth them as Fishes do in Water which if the Water be corrupted the Fishes dye caused by the Malignity they draw in for though they are not smotherd or choaked as in Frosty weather yet could
the thinnest Air be so hard and so solidly froze as water which is of a grosser Body Man and Beast would be smothered for want of Breath as Fishes are in great Frosts yet many Creatures of the Earth are frozen to death not only by having their Limbs Conjealed Benummed and Dead destroying the Natural Motions therin for surely the thinnest Air being congealed they can get none to serve for Breath that is there is none fit to move the Lungs for though some Creatures Lungs require grosser Air than others and some a finer yet Man and Beast I observe require a middle temper or mixture for too thin Air is as unusefull as too grosse so for the Temper too hot is as hurtfull as too cold the one scalds or burns the Lungs the Brain and the rest of the inward parts or sets the Spirits on fire the other benumbs and stupifies them at least obstructs them but when the Air is putrified and corrupted it mingles with the thinner Parts as the Humours the Blood and the like causing corrupted Diseases and putrifyed Limbs but as I said the Spring Vapour which is the rising Vapour is like the Beesting Milk so the Vapour in Autumn which is the falling Vapour is like Cheese that is ill prest or too moist kept which corrupts and breeds Maggots so Vapour being not well clarified or concocted by the Sun becomes Malignant Of several sorts of Vapour THere are many sorts of Vapours according to the several tempets of those parts of the Earth they are drawn from but when they are drawn to such a height they all mix yet seldom so but that some sort may predominate whether salt Vapour sharp Oil bitumenous waterish or grosse and Earthy as dull and heavy or more light and Aery Thus the Sun as I say draws and mixes boils and clarifies Vapours but if there be more than his Heat can overcome they corrupt and fall back and that which is thinnest and purest it turns into serene Air the Crude and Flatuous part it turns into Wind the Watery part into Rain the Bitumenous part into Thunder the Oily part into Lightning or Meteors the Scum into Clouds which servs as wicks of Candles to take Light the corrupted part insensibly falls back to the Earth again But when the Malignity of the Earth and the corruption of the Air and the distempered Humours of Bodies join together it causeth great and horrible Plagues making a general Malignity and untill this Malignity hath spent its strength with struggling and striving with the strength of Life it never ceaseth and at the last it grows fainter and fainter untill it hath no Power The several Degrees or several sorts of Vapour AS there is a natural Heat and a natural Moisture proper and inherent in every animal Body so there is a natural Vapour that is produced therefrom as a right and natural begotten Child Or like Chymistrie where Fire extracts from grosser Bodies several degrees of Matter as Smoak Oil Essence Water Salt and Incipid Dreggs so the Natural Heat on Food received extracts Vapour Fat Blood Spirits Sweat Humours and Excrements Now if the Heat be of an equal temper and the Limbeck which is the Stomach free from Defects the Digestion is good which makes the Extraction pure and effectual now the thinnest but strongest Extractions are the Animal or Vital Spirits the next thinnest and most powerfull is the Vapour which Vapour is that which reposeth the Senses and feedeth the Brain nourishing Imagination Conception and Understanding and the like and is the Creator of Fancy and Phantasms the Grosser part of Vapour is a Smoak that continually issueth out through the Pores and the like open passages which Smoak is a superfluity that serves for no use but may do Mischief if it be stopt choaking and smothering Life or at least causeth such Distempers as may disorder the whole Body but the Animal spirit indeed is a Vapour which proceeds from the Radical Heat and Moisture of the Body wherin if the Heat be too violent or the Moisture too gross Quenches or Burns them up and the Reposing Vapour proceeds from the Natural digesting Heat and Moisture that is in the Body and the Superfluous Vapour or Smoak proceeds from the actual Heat or Moisture put into the Body by violent Motions or hot Weather or hot Meats or moist Meats or much Meat or Drink When these Vapours join to the Natural Vapours of Repose they cause as it were dead sleeps as we see by those that have out Eat or Drank their Natural Temper for though much eating will many times hinder Sleep by reason it makes the Vapour so gross that it cannot easily flow yet much Drinking never fails for a drunken man will be so strongly asleep that he cannot be awaked but indeed the Senses will be drunk as well as the Brain which causeth them to be as if they were asleep but are not only their Strength is for a time taken away as being Slack'd or rather as it were drown'd but when strong sleep is produced by overmuch eating it is rather an Epilepsie than a natural Sleep the Brain being as it were almost sinothered with the thick and full Smoak and the Senses choaked or strangled therewith and so will the Senses be in these Distempers untill they are dispersed or rarified either by Time Motion or natural Heat but Temperance causeth sweet natural and healthfull Sleeps being a Vapour that ariseth from a good Digestion caused by a Natural Heat and Moisture for when the Stomach is too empty it hinders Sleep as much as when it is too full Of Thunder AS Winds make the Cloudes in the Air and the Waves of the Sea to War and make a Noise by the beating thereon so it makes Thunder for Thunder is nothing in my apprehension but Winds beating upon Christling Drops which is Water congealed in the middle Region for Cold knits the Porous Body into a more Solid and Winds that are made by Rarification give it Motion which motion makes it powerfull and when this Wind is got above the lower Region and flies about it it drives those Christling Drops against one another and makes such a Noise as the Roaring of the Sea only it is a harder Noise if we observe which is because the Water is Christling in the middle Region and not in the Sea and if we observe the harder the Thunder-Claps are the less it rains and the more it rains the lesser are the Claps and according as the heat of the Sun melts and dissolves the Christling Bodies more or less it rains Of the Motions of the Planets THE Spherical Planets are the Wheels to draw up Vapours from the Earth and the Sun as a thirsty Throat is refreshed thereby Besides every particular Planet feeds upon each other though not Corporally as many other Creatures do but draw and suck as from each others Breast Of Thunder some little difference to the former THE reason why it'doth not
curable or no. Of Natural Faith THere may be such Sympathy in Nature that if we could believe undoubtedly our own Belief might bring any thing to pass For why may not Faith beget naturally what it requires as well as one Creature beget another But Nature is Wise for she hath mixed Mans Mind with so many Passions and Affections as his Belief cannot be so clear but that there lye alwaies Dregs and Doubts in the bottom of his Mind which if Nature had not ordered so Man might have transformed her Works to his Humour But certainly there is a Natural Sympathy in Curses to produce an Evil Effect The Predestination of Nature THere is a Predestination in Nature that whatsoever she gives Life to she gives Death to she hath also predestinated such Effects from such Causes Of Chymistry THE greatest Chymists are of a strong Opinion that they can enforce Nature as to make her go out of her Natural Pace and to do that by Art in a Furnace as the Elixar in half a Year that Nature cannot in a hundred or a thousand Years and that their Art can do as much as Nature in making her Originals another way than she hath made them as Paracelsus little Man which may be some Dregs gathered together in a Form and then perswaded himself it was like the Shape of a Man as Fancies will form and liken the Vapours that are gathered into Clouds to the Figures of several things Nay they will pretend to do more than ever we saw Nature to do as if they were the God of Nature and not the Work of Nature to return Life into that which is dead as to renew a Flower out of its own Ashes and make that Flower live fresh again which seems strange since we find nothing that Nature hath made that can be more powerfull or more cunning or curious than her self for though the Arts of Men and other Creatures are very fine and profitable yet they are nothing in comparison to Natures works when they are compared Besides it seems impossible to imitate Nature as to do as Nature doth because her Waies and her Originals are utterly unknown for Man can only guess at them or indeed but at some of them But the reason of raising such Imaginations in Man is because they find by practice that they can extract and divide one Quality from another though it may be in question whether they can do it purely or no but so as to deform that Nature hath formed But to compass and make as Nature doth as they imagin they can is such a Difficulty as I believe they have not the power to perform for to divide or substract is to undo and Nature hath given that Faculty to Man to do some things when he will but not in all as he may ruin and destroy that he cannot build or renew though he be an Instrument as all other things are to further Natures Works since she is pleased to work one thing out of another not making new Principles for every thing yet he cannot work as she worketh for though he can extract yet he cannot make for he may extract Fire out of a thing but he cannot make the principle Element of Fire so of Water and Earth no more can he make the Elizar than he can make the Sun Sea or Earth and so it seems as impossible to make a Man as to make a piece of Meat put into a Pot and setting it upon the Fire of what temper or which way he can he shall never turn it into Blood as it doth in the Stomack or make such Excrements as the Bowels cast forth And to make the Essence of a Flower return into the same Flower again seems more strange for first that Motion is ceased and gone that gave it that Form and where they will find that Motion or know what kind moves it or what moved it to that Form I doubt is beyond their skill Besides those Qualities or Substances are evapoured out that gave it that tast or smell or that made it such a thing and though they be never so Industrious to keep those Vapours in yet they are too subtil to be restrained and Insensible to be found again when once they are separated so as it is as hard to gather the dispersed Parts as to make the first Principles which none but the God of Nature can do for it is a hard thing out of the Ashes of a Billet to make a Billet again But Nature hath given such a Presumptuous Self-love to Mankind and filled him with that Credulity of Powerfull Art that he thinks not onely to learn Natures Waies but to know her Means and Abilities and become Lord of Nature as to rule her and bring her under his Subjection But in this Man seems rather to play than work to seek rather than to find for Nature hath infinite Varieties of Motions to form Matters with that Man knows not nor can guess at and such Materials and Ingredients as Mans gross Sense cannot find out insomuch that we scarce see the Shadow of Natures Works but live in Twilight and have not alwaies that but sometimes we are in Utter Darkness where the more we wander the apter we are to break our Heads THE EPISTLE THis Book I doubt will never gain an Applause especially amongst those Students who have spent their time with Antient Authorities who are become so restringent with their Doctrines as the strongest reason of Contradiction cannot move them nor reasonable Truths purge out the Erroneous Dregs And they do not onely make a Laughing Scorn or cast a Deriding Jest on Modern Opinions but they will fly from them as from the Plague without any Examination crying they are Defective out of an Obstinate Belief that none but the Antients were Masters of Knowledge and their Works the onely Guides of Truth which is as Ridiculous as to think that Nature cannot or will not make any thing equal to her former Works or to think Nature confined all Knowledge to some Particular Heads in Antient Times and none but those to trace her Waies or to think that the Curiosity of Nature is so easily found out that the Antients could not be mistaken But the Antients are divided amongst the Scholars or rather the Scholars are divided amongst the Antients where every several Author hath a several Party to fight in his Defence or to usurp an Absolute Power where there is so much Envy and Malicious Factions and Side-takings to maintain or to fling down several Opinions or so much Ignorance blindly to throw at all having no Understanding Eye to make Distinguishment or to see what they are against But I hope none of my Readers will be so blind as to break their Heads against the Candlestick when the Light is set therein and I wish it may burn so clearly and bright as to cast no dark Shadows against the Wall of Ignorance yet I must confess it is but a