out of which the Agents which destroy the formes opposite to their own may draw forth those which they will produce which is the term of their Action Otherwise Things must become nothing to pass from one being to another which would presuppose Creation and destroy those Two Maximes That a Thing cannot be reduc'd into Nothing and Of Nothing is not made something It is defin'd An Imperfect and Incomplete Substance the First Subject of Natural Things which are compos'd of it as an Internal and Essential part not by accident It s quality is to be a pure Passive Power which is nothing distinct from it self but is taken for a Thing begun and not perfected yet design'd to be finished by the Supervening of the Form and the interposing of Agents who by their activities drawing the Form out of the bosome of it perfect and accomplish it It serves for two purposes First To give durance and Consistence to all Things which last so much the longer as their Matter is less compounded That is to say less alienated from its naked and pure Nature of First Matter As it appears in the Heavens and the Elements which I conceive are not changed one into another In the Second place it serves Agents for to act and Patients to resist Whence it comes to pass that the more compact and close their Matter is the more powerfully they resist As appears in a hot Iron which burnes more then common flame in Water which moistens more then aire though it be less humid and in Steel which resists more then Lead The Fourth said That to know what this First Matter is it behoveth to proceed thereunto by the way of the Senses and then examine whether Reason can correct what they have dictated to us Now our Senses tell us that most part of mixt Bodies are resolved into Salt Sulphur and Mercury And the Chymists affirm that these Three Bodies cannot be reduced into any other Matter by any Artifice But Reason correcting Sense teacheth us that though these Three Bodies are Chymical Sensible Principles yet they are not First Principles nor the true First Matter for that all Bodies are not made of them as 't is seen in the Coelestial and they may yet be reduc'd into another Matter viz. into the Elements For in Sulphur there is Fire seeing it is inflamable And it hath also some Aqueous or Terrestrial Substance which makes visible that Fire Likewise there is Fire in Salt seeing it is tart and biting and according to the Chymists the subject of natural heat There is Water too for it melteth and it extinguisheth Fire There is also Earth in it for it is dry fixt compact and weighty Wherefore Reason leading us as far as the Elements it remaineth to consider whether we must stop there or go yet further to find out a Matter into which these are reduc'd But not finding any I conceive they must be the First Matter The Fifth reply'd That the Elements being complete Substances and consequently compounded of Matter and Form we must not stop there but go further in search of that first and ultimate subject of all Natural Mutations it being inconsistent that a Compound of Matter and Form should be but one of those Two The sixth held That Water is the First Matter if not the Elementary at least the Aethereal Water which was for that purpose created first The Holy Scripture witnessing that In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Where the Hebrew word that is render'd Heaven signifie The Waters and 't is added That the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters Moreover our Life consisteth solely in Humidity which failing Death ensueth The Seventh said That the First Matter being a Thing most imperfect and least active such as the Earth is too she ought rather to bear that Name then any of the Elements To shew further that the Elements are the First Matter it was alledg'd that they are not transmuted one into another but are ingenerable and incorruptible that consequently in every kind of Generation or Corruption there is not made any Substantial Mutation but only an Vnion or Separation of the Elements And therefore it is not needful to recur to another First Matter that may be Permanent under all Mutations since Entities are not to be multiply'd without necessity For as to the former They are not transmuted one into another because before the Transmutation or Substantial Generation of a Thing Alteration is requisite that is the Introduction of Quality and Dispositions sutable to the Form which is to be produc'd For Example before Fire be turn'd into Water Air or Earth it must first receive Cold Moisture and Gravity which are the Qualities sutable to those Formes which it is to receive but this is impossible For Fire while it is Fire cannot be Cold Moist and Heavy As for the Second viz. That the Elements are ingenerable and incorruptible he shew'd it by this other Example From Wood that burnes proceed the Four Elements or Four different Natures correspondent to them viz. Flame Smoke Liquor and Ashes but they were in it before because they could not be produc'd out of Nothing And in the Conflagration of this Wood there is onely the Fire that Acts which being Hot Light and Dry cannot produce such Things as are contrary to it self Here Experience was alledg'd against him which evidenceth that Water upon the Fire is turn'd into Vapour and then into Air that Air is turnd into Fire and so of the other Elements But he reply'd That the Water is not turn'd into Vapour or into Air but the Fire insinuating and joyning it self with the Water frames that Vapour composed Actually of Water and Fire Whence when you put a Cover upon a Dish of hot Viands the Particles of Fire which are in those Vapours being subtle pass through the Pores of the Cover and sever themselves from those of the Water which being unable to pass through too by reason of their grosness they adhere to the upper part of it In like manner said he when the Air seemes set on fire 't is not chang'd or turn'd into Fire but onely the Particles of Fire which were dispers'd here and there in the Air become collected and united together And when the Fire disappears it proceeds from its Particles being diffus'd amongst the other Particles of Air Water and Earth The Last strengthned this Opinion saying That the pure Elements have the same Proprieties that are attributed to the First Matter and amongst the rest fall not under the perception of Sense Yea that 't is as hard to see a pure Element as to see the First Matter For the Elementary Fire ex gr cannot be expos'd to the Air nor the Air to the Water nor the Water to the Earth and much less those which are contrary to one another without being alter'd by their mutual contract that is to say without losing their Nature of Element which moreover cannot be
known by the Senses unless by its Second Qualities which arising from the mixture of the First it follows that the Elements which have no other cannot be the object of our Senses For the First Qualities would not be perceptible by our Senses if they lodg'd in a Simple Element As it appears by the flame of Aqua Vitae which burnes not by reason of the thinness of its Matter By Ashes which while it is making is more Light then heavy By the Aire which dryes instead of moistning and yet is call'd the First Humid Body And by Water which following the qualities of the Neighbouring Bodies shews that it cannot be term'd of it self either hot or cold II. Of Perpetual Motion At the Second Hour it was said That the Perpetual Motion to which this Hour was design'd is not meant of Motion to Substance which is Generation and Corruption by reason of which Compounded Bodies are in Perpetual Motion For in Corruptible Things every Moment is a degree of Corruption Nor is it meant of Motion to Quantity which is Augmentation and Diminution nor of that which is made to Quality which is Alteration but of Local Motion And again the Inquiry is not about the possibility of Local Motion in Animals nor about running-running-water or Fire to whom it is natural as appears in Mills which are upon Rivers and Turn-spits or Engines which the Smoke causeth to turn about Wherefore his Invention who exactly fastned a Girdle to his skin which rising and falling as he took his breath serv'd for a perpetual spring to a Watch that hung at it which by that means needed not winding up was not the Perpetual Motion which we mean No more was that which proceeded from the wings of a little Wind-mill plac'd at the mouth of a Cave which the Vapour continually issuing forth caus'd alwayes to move But it must be in a subject naturally unmoveable made by Art to continue its Motion And this is prov'd possible I. Because as Hermes saith That which is below is as that which is above Now we see above the Perpetual Motion of the Heavenly Bodies by example of which it is certain that this Motion must be Circular In the Second place Nature hath not given us a desire of Things impossible Now an infinite number of good wits shew by their search the desire which they have of it Thirdly it is held that Archimedes had it whence it was feign'd that Jupiter was jealous of him In the Fourth place it seems that if a very uniform Circle could be put exactly upon a Pivot or Spindle and were set in Motion it would never stop any more then the Heavens because it doth not poise or gravitate upon its Centre so long as it is turning as it appears by a Stone which poiseth not in the Circle made on high in turning it round and so nothing resisting the external Agent the Motion must last as long as the impression lasteth and the impression must last alwayes because nothing resists it but on the contrary the Agitation continues it Thus of all the Models of Engines contriv'd to move perpetually we see not one that makes so much as one turn Whereas a plain wheel makes above a thousand though it be not exactly plac'd upon its Centre and the Poles be not two simple points as they ought to be if that Art could come to perfection in which Case the effect of Perpetual Motion would follow The Second said That he held it for impossible for that it is repugnant not onely as to the Efficient Cause which being limited and finite cannot produce an infinite Effect but also as to the very form of that Motion which must be either Direct Circular or Mixt. If it be Direct it will be made from one term to another in the one of which its Motion ending it cannot be perpetual And because the most certain Principle of this Direct Motion cometh from Gravity which tendeth from high downwards when it shall be arriv'd there nothing will be able to mount it up again Gravity having found its Centre and place or if the Motion be violent the impression being ended it cannot re-produce it self of its own accord in the Engine otherwise it would be animated and therefore it will cease from Motion If the Motion be Circular as in this effect it would be the most proper in imitation of that of the Heavens this moving Circle shall be in all parts either of equal or different weight If it be equal throughout it shall not turn at all of it self one part having no advantage over another If it be unequal and there be put for example four pound to raise up three it will happen that when the greatest weight hath gotten the lowest place the lighter parts will not be able to raise up the heavier and so the Motion will have an End Now if the Direct and Circular Motion are incapable of this perpetuity the mixt or compounded of both shall be so too So that it seemeth impossible by reason of the gravity of the matter not to mention its corruptibility to compose a Machine or Engine that moves alwayes And were there any ground to think of it some have conceiv'd it might be done with the Load-stone which hath a Virtue of attracting to it self on one side and driving away on the other and so by continuing this little Motion which would be of no great benefit it might render the same perpetual But you ordinarily see that they who make these inquiries onely find rest in their Engines and Motion in their brains whereas they hop'd the contrary The Third said That it appears by that which they call the Roman Balance that the same weight hang'd neer the Centre weighes less then when it is more distant from it Consequently that disposing the weights which shall be round a wheel so as to be neer the Centre about one half thereof and distant from it the other half you shall have a Perpetual Motion which ought not to be accounted the less such though the Matter should last but a year yea but a day it sufficing for a night to that name that it lasts as long as its Matter as 't is seen in the Vice of Archimedes termed without End though it be made but of wood not by reason of its lasting but because the Vice being apply'd upon an indented wheel instead of entring into a screw there is no raising or letting it down as is practis'd in those of Presses He prov'd it further For that it is seen that by the help of that Vice without End by the instrument term'd Polyspaston and others of the like Nature a Child may easily lift up a weight of 10000 pounds Yea even to Infinity could the strength of the Cordage and the Instruments bear it For it follows that if a less weight can lift up a greater this greater will lift up a less which will be the Perpetual Motion which we inquire
President or Counsellor were seen carrying the Flower de Luce beyond our Frontiers in the head of an Army and the other Officers by their Example Armes making Laws respected and Laws polishing Armes The Inventions were very different yea diametrically opposite one amongst the rest propounding a way to build an impregnable Fortress another an Engine to which nothing could resist And the Matters of the next Conference were the Vniversal Spirit and Fire CONFERENCE VI. I. Of Fire II. Of the Vniversal Spirit I. Of Fire UPon the First Subject it was said That there is no Elementary Fire and that this Opinion doth not destroy the Four First Qualities Seeing Heat may be without that Fire as in the Sun Moreover that supposed Elementary Fire cannot be under the Moon For if it were the Refraction or Parallax caused by it would cause the Stars to be seen in another place then they are and of different Magnitudes As the Opticks clearly demonstrate to us and justifie by the experiment of a piece of Money put into a Basin which we behold not by reason of the interposition of its sides and yet it appears when you put water into the Vessel Because the Visual Ray is alwayes broken and makes an Angle when it passeth through a Medium of differing thickness as the Air and the Water are and as the Air and the Fire would be through which the Stars must be seen and consequently we should not see them in their true place when they are out of our Zenith in which alone the Visual Ray is not broken But this the Prediction of Eclipses to a set moment convinceth to be false In the Third Place That Fire being but an Accident cannot be an Element That it is but an Accident appears by a combustible Body in which for the kindling of Fire there is nothing else introduc'd but a great heat In the Fourth Place This same Fire being produc'd by an Accident as by the Motion of some Body cannot be a Substance For Accidents do not produce Substances Lastly we are compos'd of the same Things by which we are conserv'd and yet there is no Animal that lives of Fire as of the other Elements that which is said of the Flies called Pyraustae being but a Fable Besides 'T is hard to conceive how Fire being in that High Region could concur to all kinds of Generation And therefore if there be any Fire that enters into the Composition of mixt Bodies 't is onely the heat of the Sun which quickens and animates all things As for our common Fire they say it is light and dry But for the former as they do not prove it but by the Sight which beholds it ascend so the same Sight sees it descend in a Candle in Wood and other Matters which the Fire consumes from the top to the bottom And therefore of it self it is indifferent to all Motion and follows its Aliment upwards when it mounts thither by its rarefaction and downwards when the same is detain'd there by the gravity of its Matter And though it should ascend above the Air yet would it not follow from thence that it is light but onely less ponderous then the Air which thrust it out of its place as the Earth doth the Water and the Water the Air. Besides whereas the Fire imparteth ponderosity as is seen in Calcined Lead it cannot be said to be Light Next to say that Fire is dry I account not less strange For it cannot have Siccity since it introduceth it not actually into Bodies but when it drieth any humid Body it doth nothing else but take away its humidity which being separated from that Body it remains in the Siccity which was there before but appeared not by reason of the predominancy of its humidity and consequently is not introduc'd anew by the Fire Besides by the definition which Aristotle gives of Humid viz. That it is that which is easily containd'n in an other but hardly in it self the Fire should be more humid then the Air yea then water it self The Second said That Fire is neither Element nor Substance For Qualities are perceiv'd by every Thing 's manifesting those of the Element predominant in it and whereof it is compos'd Terrestrial Bodies as Stones Metals and Minerals are actually cold and dry to the touch Aquatick as Fish and Fruits are cold and moist Aerial as Oyle and Wood indifferent sometimes hot sometimes cold according to the disposition of the place where they are Animals alone are actually hot but they derive that heat solely from the Soul We see nothing in the World actually hot of its own Nature Why then should we establish an Element of which we can have no tidings As we have of the other Elements of which some would make it a companion contrary to the Maxime which alloweth not That Entities be multiply'd in Nature without Necessity 'T is of no validity to object the actual heat of Mineral Waters For the least Curious know the cause thereof to be this that those Waters passing through Mines of Sulphur or Bitumen imbibe the Spirits thereof which by the Motion of the Water are heated accidentally As appears in that being taken out of their own place they presently lose that heat which shews that this heat is no part of them but is derived elsewhere Moreover that Sublunary Fire would be to no purpose For either it would descend to enter into the composition of Things with the rest or not If it descend that is against its Nature which is as they commonly say light and alwayes tending upwards besides it would consume all by its great Activity If it descend not it would be unprofitable to the World and so not Element For neither Man nor the other mixt Substances which are generated go to seek it in the Circle of the Moon Besides Generations are made without it by the heat of the Sun For in the First Place Humidity is requisite thereto for the uniting and binding together of the Matter which otherwise would be dust and that Humidity the Air or the Water affordeth In the Second Place such Matter united by Humidity is made close firm and compact by the coldness of Water the propriety of which is to congeal In the Third Place the driness which the Earth contributes gives it a consistence and permanent hardness And lastly the heat alone of the Sun digests all this together and unites it very perfectly without need of any other Fire I confess indeed that we have Fire but it never enters into the composition of Natural Things nor ever was it a Substance because Two Substantial Formes cannot be in the same Subject and yet the true form of Fire is in a hot Iron together with the Substantial Form of the Iron Which shews that Fire is but an Accidental Form which is consistent with the Substantial as the Servant with her Mistress Moreover according to Aristotle l. 2. Of Generation and Corruption Fire is nothing
else but an execess of heat which is a meer Accident as well in its little degrees as in its excesses More and less making no change in the species Our Fire then is an excessive heat which adheres to Things that have some crass and oleaginous humour in them and continues there by a continual efflux and successive Generation without any permanence like the Water of a River which Heat lasts so long till that humour be consumed If it be said that it ascends upwards seeking its own place I answer that 't is the Exhalation that carries it up yea that it descends too as we see in a Candle blown out and still smoaking if it be held beneath another burning one the flame descendeth along the smoak and lighteth it again So that the Fire is indifferent of it self where it goes for it lets it self be govern'd and carry'd by the Exhalation And it appears further That Fire is less subtile then Air for flame is not transparent and it engendreth soot which is very gross The Third added That indeed Fire cannot be a Substance because it hath a Contrary viz. The Water Besides every Substantial Form preserves its own Matter and acts not against it but Fire destroyes its own Moreover a certain degree of some Quality is never necessary to a Substantial Form as the Earth ceaseth not to be Earth though it be less cold or dry and so of the rest But Fire cannot be Fire unless the supreme degree of heat be in it Add hereunto that Fire may be produc'd in a Substance without corrupting it as we see in a Flint or a burning Bullet Now a Substantial Form is not produc'd in a Subject till the preceding be destroy'd the Generation of the one being the corruption of the other Lastly Every substance produceth by way of Generation an indivisible substantial Form But Fire produceth a divisible Quality For that which was cold becometh first warm then hot and by degrees becometh Fire which cannot be with a mixture of cold non consist therewith unless as degrees of qualities The Fourth said That Fire is a most perfect Element hot and dry according to Aristotle of the most perfect form and activity of all the Elements according to Plato the principal instrument of Nature according to Empedocles the Father of Things Whence it was that the Assyrians ador'd it The Persians carry'd it out of Honour before their Kings and at the head of their Armies The Romans made so great account of it that they assign'd it to the care of certain Virgins to be kept immortal Pythagoras believ'd it to be an Animal because it is nourish'd as Animals and for want of Aliment dyes And because a lighted Torch being cast into the Water the Fire extinguishing sendeth forth such a noyse as Animals do at the gasps of Death But he esteemed its natural place to be the Centre of the Subterranean World Whence it is said he that we see so many Volcanoes and other Fires issue out of the entrals of the Earth as those of Monte Vesuvio in the Kingdom of Naples Monte Gibello formerly Aetna in Sicily and Monte Hecla in Iseland and so many other burning Mountains The Fifth said That as the Sea is the Principle from whence all the Waters come and the end whether they return So the Sun is the Element of Fire from whence all other Fires come and whether at length they reascend as to their Source 1. For that all Effects Qualities and Properties of Fire agree particularly to the Sun seeing he heats burnes dryes and is the cause of all the Generations that are made here below 2. Because the Elements stay in their natural places Now the Fire not onely ascendeth from the Subterraneous places where it is detain'd by reason of a sulphureous and bituminous Matter which serves it for food but it passeth also beyond the Heavens of the Moon Mercury and Venus as appears by Comets which are igneous and particularly by that which appear'd in the year 1618. acknowledg'd by all the Astronomers upon the reasons of Opticks to have been above the said places The Sixth denyed That the Sun can be the Element of Fire 1. Because 't is a Coelestial and Incorruptible Body and by consequence not Igneous or Elementary 2. If all Fires come from the Sun it will follow that all his rayes are Igneous Bodies for there cannot be imagin'd other Fires to come from the Sun hither but his beams Now the Sun-beams are neither Bodies nor Igneous Not Bodies since Illumination and Eradiation being made in an instant it will follow that a Body cometh from Heaven to Earth in a Moment Which is absurd because No Motion is made in an instant Besides being those Rayes penetrate Glass and such other solid and diaphanous Bodies there would be a penetration of Dimensions which is impossible Nor are they Igneous seeing Fire being of its own nature light descendeth not but the beams of the Sun descend down hither Moreover Fire is actually hot but the Sun-beams are onely so in power viz. when they are reflected by an opake body as appears in the Middle Region of the Air where it is colder then upon the Earth though its beams are nearer Wherefore it is more reasonable to hold to the common opinion which placeth the Fire immediately under the Heaven of the Moon For there is no fear that that Fire how great soever can burn the World it s hear being allay'd and dull'd by the extreme humidity of the Air its Neighbour and by the great coldness of the same Air which is in the Middle Region and counter-checketh that heat which on one side hath already lost its violence and acrimony by its natural Rarity Nor is there any trouble to be taken for its nourishment for being in its own Centre and Empire it hath no enemies nor contraries and needeth no food for its support as our common Fire doth What if we behold it not 'T is not because there is none but because it is so rare and so pure that it cannot fall within the perception of our Senses As there is such a thing as Air though we see it not How many Colours Odours Sapours and Sounds are there which we never knew And as for what is observ'd in a Candle newly put out it is clear that the Fire descendeth not to it but inflameth the unctuous Matter which it toucheth and this the next even to the Candle from whence that Matter proceedeth II Of the Vniversal Spirit Upon the Second Point it was said That it must First be known what is meant by Universal Spirit 2. Whether there be one 3. What it is As for the First By the word Universal Spirit is understood some universal cause and principle of all the actions and motions which are made in Generation Just as they assign one same First Matter for the Subject of all Formes so they speak of an Vniversal Form which containes all the rest in
nothing but Water rarifi'd and subtiliz'd by heat as also when they are reduc'd into Water by condensation this Water is nothing but Air condens'd And so Air and Water differ not but by Rarefaction and Condensation which are but Accident and consequently cannot make different species of Element Both the one and the other may be seen in the Aeolipila of Vitruvius out of which the heat of Fire causeth the Water which is therein to issue in the form of Air and an impetuous wind which is the very Image of that which Nature ordinarily doth I conceive also that the Air is neither hot nor moist nor light as Philosophers commonly hold For as to the First the Air is much more cold then hot and for one torrid Zone there are two cold Besides Heat is but Accidental to it being caus'd by the incidence and reflections of the rayes of the Sun So that this cause failing in the night when the Sun shines not or in Winter when its rayes are very oblique and their reflection weak or in the Middle Region whether the Reflection reacheth not the Air becometh cold and consequently in its natural quality since there is no External Cause that produceth that coldness As for the Second The Air dryeth more then it moistneth and if it moistneth it is when it is cold and condensed and consequently mix'd with many particles of Water and when it dryeth it is by its own heat For the Definition which Aristotle giveth of Humid and Moist is onely proper to every thing which is fluid and not stable and in this respect agrees to the Air which is fluid and gives way to all sorts of Bodies As for the Last which is its levity the harmony of the world by which all things conspire to union and so to one common Centre seemeth to contradict it For if the Air hath its Motion from the Centre the parts of the world might be disunited For the Air would escape away there being no restraint upon it by any External Surface Moreover if we judge the Air light because we see it mount above water we must also say that Wax and Oyle are light since we observe the same in them But that which they do is not mounting above the Water but being repell'd by the Water And so the principal of Motion being External the same is violent and not natural Whereas when the Air descends into the Well it descends thither naturally there being no External Cause of that descent For Vacuum not existing in Nature cannot produce this Effect Since according to the received Maxime Of a Thing which is not there can be no Actions Besides it would be it self-cause of its own destruction and do contrary to its own intention preserving Nature by this Action whereas it is an Enemy to it and seeketh the ruine thereof Lastly Since many Particles of Air being condens'd and press'd together give ponderosity to a thing as is seen in a Baloon or foot-ball it must needs be ponderous it self for many light Bodies joyn'd together are more light The Second said That the difference between Water and Air is as clear as either of those Elements For that the Vapours which arise from the Water by means of the Suns heat and the wind which issueth out of the abovesaid Vessel full of Water and placed upon the Fire cannot be call'd Air saving abusively But they are mixts actually compos'd of Water and Fire For the rayes of the Sun entring into the Water raise it into Vapour And the Fire infinuating it self by the Pores of the Vessel into the Water which it containeth causeth the same to come forth in the form of wind which is compos'd of Fire and Water Of Fire because the property of Fire being to mount on high it lifts up that subtiliz'd Water with it self Of Water because this Vapour hath some coldness and humidity whence meeting with a solid Body it is resolv'd into Water because the Fire alone passeth through the Pores of that Body Besides Water being moist and Air on the contrary dry as the precedent opinion importeth they cannot be the same thing And since all Alteration is made between two different things Water and Air transmuting one into another as it hath been said cannot be the same Lastly as there are two Elements whereof one is absolutely light as the Fire the other absolutely heavy as the Earth So there are two which are such but in comparison with the rest The Water compar'd with the Earth is light because it floateth above it The Air in comparison of the Water is light too because it is above it So that when it descendeth lower then the Water into the Caverns of the Earth 't is Nature that obligeth it to renounce its proper and particular interest for preserving the general one which is destroy'd by the Vacuum not that the Vacuum is the Cause thereof for it hath no existence And the Air wherewith the Baloon is fill'd rendreth the same more heavy because it is impure and mixt with gross Vapours Which it would not do were it pure and Elementary such as is that of which we are speaking which is not to be found in our Region The Common Opinion hath also more probability which holdeth that the Air is hot and moist Hot because it is rare and light which are effects of heat Moist because it is difficultly contain'd within its own bounds and easily within those of another Thence it is that the more Bodies partake of Air the more they have of those qualities As we see in Oyl which is hot being easily set on flame And Moist in that it greatly humecteth and easily expandeth it self on all sides But if the Air seemes sometimes to be cold 't is by accident by reason of the cold vapours wherewith it is fill'd at that time The Third said That he conceiv'd that contrarily the Air is cold and dry 1. Because it freezeth the Earth and Water in Winter and therefore is colder in either of them 2. Because it refresheth the Lungs and by its coolness tempereth the extreme heat of the Heart and of the other parts which it could not do if it were hot 3. Inasmuch as hot things expos'd to the Air are cooled which they would not be but at least preserve their heat being in a place of the same Nature 4. The more it is agitated the more it refresheth as we see by Fans because then the unessential things being seperated from it it is more close and united quite contrary to the other Elements which grow hot by being agitated 5. In the night time the more pure and serene and void of mixtures the Air is the colder it is 6. Thence it is that flame burnes less then boyling water or hot Iron because in flame there is a great deal of Air which being colder then Water and Iron represseth more the strength of the Fire Lastly since according to Aristotle Air doth not putrifie what is
we approach or go farther from the Poles we see the same more or less elevated 4. Because the Sun is seen daily to rise and set sooner in one place then in another Lastly it is prov'd by the conveniency of habitation For as of all Isoperimeter Figures the Circle is most capacious so the Sphere containeth more then any other Body and therefore if the Earth were not round every part of it would not have its Antipodes So that I wonder at the opinion of Lactantius and Saint Augustine who denyed them For as for that story that in the year 745. by the relation of Aventinus Virgilius a German Bishop was deprived of his Bishoprick and condemned as an Heretick by Pope Zachary it was not onely for maintaining this truth which experience hath since confirm'd but because he drew conclusions from it prejudicial to Religion Now whereas it may be doubted whether as there are uneven parts in the Earth some higher then other so there be not also Seas some of whose waters too are more elevated then the rest I affirm that since all the Seas except the Caspian have communication amongst themselves they are all level and no higher one then another And had they no such communication yet the Water being of its Nature fluid and heavy flowing into the lowest place would equal its surface with the rest and so make a perfect Sphere Whence it follows that they were mistaken who disswaded Sesostris King of Aegypt from joyning the Red Sea with the Mediterranean for fear lest the former which they judg'd the higher should come to drown Greece and part of Asia For want of which demonstration several Learned Men have been mistaken and no less then the Angelical Doctor The Second said That the Earth is very dry not for that it dispelleth moisture as Fire doth but for that it receiveth and imbibeth it into it self But it cannot be cold of its own Nature if it were it could produce nothing It is cold onely by the Air as 't is sometimes moist by the Water and hot by the Fire which insinuateth into its cavities It is also very heavy since it holdeth the lowest place in the world and hath its motion from the circumference to the Centre which is the progression that Aristotle attributeth to heavy Bodies Whence for being the lowest stage it is called the Foot-stool of God But this heaviness seemeth to me not to proceed from humidity as was urged For though the Water and Earth joyn'd together seem to weigh more then Earth alone 't is not that they weigh more indeed but this Earth which was imagined to be alone is fill'd with a quantity of Air and the Water coming to succeed in its place it appeareth more heavy For Earth and Water joyn'd together weigh more then Earth and Air so joyn'd in like quantity because Water is heavier then Air. And to justifie that Earth is heavier then Water a bucket fill'd with sand weighes more then an other fill'd with Water For that sand is Water congealed is as hard to prove as that Earth is Water The Third said That Earth composeth a Mixt Body by a double action viz. from its coldness and of its driness As for the former it secondeth the Water compacting by its coldness the parts which are to be mix'd and which moisture hath united For the Second it giveth hardness and consistence imbibing and sucking up the superfluous moisture after the due union of the parts made thereby It cannot but be cold for as good Polititians willingly reconcile two great Families at Enmity by their mutual alliances so all the strength of the mixture consisting onely in the union of Dry and Moist and its destruction coming from their disunion and the Dry and Moist being wholly Enemies and contraries in the highest degree Nature reconciles them together and brings them into union by the mediation of Water For this being ally'd to Air by the moisture which it hath in a remiss degree and Earth being ally'd to Water by the coldness which it hath in a less degree it becometh ally'd to the Air and its humidity Since according to the maxime Things which agree in the same third agree among themselves Thus you see coldness is necessary to the Earth to cause a lasting composition amongst them Earth hath also this advantage by its siccity that as the same is less active then heat and yieldeth thereunto in vigour of action so heat yieldeth to it in resistance For the dryness inducing hardness resisteth division more powerfully and consequently better preserveth the mixt Body in being resisting the Agents which are contrary to it Whereto its gravity serveth not a little it rendring the Earth less managable by the agitations of the agents its Enemies So that gravity by this means assisteth the hardness and consistence of the dryness like two Kinsmen uniting together to keep off the affronts of their Enemies The Fourth said That the gravity of the Earth and of every other Body yea that of Gold too the heaviest of all mixt Bodies dependeth onely upon its Figure since not onely a Vessel convex on the side toward the Water sinketh not but also a single leaf of Gold swimeth upon it Which is seen likewise in Tera Lemnia or Sigillata which sinketh not in the Water so that there is no probility in that decuple proportion of the Elements according to which Earth ought to weigh ten times more then Water and Water onely ten times more then Air and supposing one were in the Region of Fire and there weigh'd the Air as we do here the Water he would find it likewise ten times heavier then the Fire This is more certain that the proportion of the weight of Earth to that of Sea-water is as 93. to 90 that of Sea-water to fresh as 92. to 74. But that which makes more for those who hold Water more heavy then Earth is that the proportion of Earth to Salt is found to be as 92. to 106. In fine It was remark'd that though the Earth is consider'd by Astronomers but as a point in respect of the vast extent of the Coelestial Orbs yet no Man encompas'd it round before the year 1420. when Jean de Betancourt a Norman Gentleman by the discovery of the Canaries trac'd out the way to the Spaniards who attributed the honour thereof to themselves though they began not till above fourscore years after Moreover it is 15000. leagues in circumference of which there is not much less Land uncover'd then there is cover'd by the Water But if you compare their greatness together there is far less Earth then Water For 't is held that there is no Sea that hath a league in depth there is little without bottom many to which the Anchors reach yea several places not capable of great vessels for want of Water On the other side There are Mountains upon which you still ascend upwards for many dayes journey others inaccessible even to the sight
into Water but this moist Air is full of damp vapours which are nothing but Water rarifi'd and which meeting with those cold and solid Bodies are condens'd and return'd to their first Nature Wherefore the Air is so far from being the cause of so many Springs and Rivers which water the Earth that on the contrary all the Air in the world provided it be not mixt with Water cannot make so much as one drop It is more probable that in the beginning of the world when God divided the Elements and the Waters from the Waters which cover'd the whole surface of the Earth he gather'd the grossest and most unprofitable water into one mass which he called Sea and dispersed through the rest of the Earth the fresh Water more clear and pure to serve for the necessities of the Earth Plants and living Creatures Moreover the Scripture makes mention of four great Rivers issuing out of the terrestrial Paradise and a Fountain in the middle of it which water'd the whole surface of the Earth from the Creation In not being possible that Air resolv'd into Water could make so great a quantity of waters in so little time The Fifth added That those Waters would soon be dry'd up without a new production for which Nature hath provided by Rain which falling upon the Earth is gather'd together in Subterraneous Cavernes which are as so many Reservers for Springs according to Seneca's opinion This is prov'd 1. Because in places where it rains not as in the Desarts of Arabia and Aethiopia there is scarce any Springs on the other side they are very frequent in Europe which aboundeth with rain 2. Waters are very low in Summer when it rains but little and in Winter so high that they overflow their banks because the season is pluvious 3. Hence it is that most Rivers and Springs break forth at the foot of Mountains as being but the rain water descended thither from their tops The Sixth said That it is true that Rivers are increased by Rain but yet have not their original from it For were it so then in great droughts our Rivers would be dry'd up as well as the Brooks As for Springs they are not so much as increas'd by Rain for we see by experience that it goes no deeper into the earth then seven or eight feet On the contrary the deeper you dig the more Springs you meet with Nor is the Air in my judgement the cause thereof there being no probability that there is under the earth cavernes so spacious and full of Air sufficient to make so great a quantity of Water since there needs ten times as much Air as Water to produce it Neither can the Sea be the cause of Springs since according to the Maxime of Hydraulick Water cannot ascend higher the place of its original but if Springs were from the Sea then they could not be higher then the level thereof and we should see none upon the tops of Mountains Now that the Sea lies lower then Springs and Rivers is apparent because they descend all thitherwards The Seventh said That Waters coming from the Sea and gliding in the bowels of the Earth meet with Subterranean Fires which are there in great quantity whereby they are heated and resolv'd into Vapours These Vapours compos'd of Water and Fire mounting upwards meet some Rocks or other solid Bodies against which they stick and are return'd into Water the Fire which was in them escaping through the Pores of those Bodies the Water trickles forth by the clefts and crevisses of the Rocks or other sloping places The Eighth said That as Art can draw forth Water by Destillation Expression and other wayes taught by Chymistrie so by stronger reason Nature cannot want wayes to do the same and possibly in divers sorts according to the various disposition of places and of the matter which she employes to that use II. Whether there is any Ambition commendable Upon the Second Subject it was said That there is some correspondence between the two Questions for as Water serves for a Medium of Union in natural Composition so Ambition serves to familiarise pains and dangers in great enterprizes For it makes Children strive to get credit in little exercises and Men think nothing so high but may be soar'd to by the wings of Ambitior Juvenal indeed gives Wings to necessity when he saith A Hungry Greek will fly up to Heaven if they command him and Virgil saith Fear adds Wings to the heels of the terrifi'd but those of Ambition are much more frequent in our Language 'T is true Ambition may many times beat and stretch forth its Wings but can no more exalt it self into the Air then the Estrich Sometimes it soars too high as Icarus did and so near the light that it is burnt therein like Flyes For the ambitious usually mounts up with might and main but thinks not how he shall come down again This Passion is so envious that it makes those possess'd therewith hate all like themselves and justle them to put them behind Yea it is so eager that it meets few obstacles which yield not to its exorbitant pertinacy insomuch that it causeth Men to do contrary to do what they pretend and shamefully to obey some that they may get the command over others The importunateness of Ambition is proof against all check or denyal and the ambitious is like the Clot-burr which once fastned upon the clothes is not easily shaken off When he is once near the Court neither affronts nor other rubs can readily repell him thence And because his Essence consists in appearance he many times wears his Lands upon his back and if he cannot at once pride himself in his Table his Clothes and his Train yet he will rather shew the body of a Spaniard then the belly of a Swiss At his coming abroad he oftentimes picks his teeth while his gutts grumble he feeds upon aiery viands When he ha's been so lucky as to snap some office before he ha's warm'd the place his desires are gaping after another He looks upon the first but as a step to a second and thinks himself still to low if he be not upon the highest round of the ladder where he needs a good Brain lest he lose his judgement and where it is as hard to stand as 't is impossible to ascend and shameful to descend Others observing That Honour is like a shadow which flyes from its pursuers and follows those that flie it have indeed no less Ambition then the former for I know no condition how private soever that is free from it but they artificially conceal it like those who carry a dark Lanthorn in the night they have no less fire then others but they hide it better They are like Thieves that shooe their Horses the wrong way that they may seem by their steps to come from the place whither they are going or else like those who hunt the Hyena This Beast loves the voice
one thing rather then another infus'd into every one for the preservation of Sciences Which end of Nature would be frustrated should we run to the inquisition of new Sciences before we have attain'd the first considering the brevity of our lives compar'd with the amplitude of Arts. Wherefore it were more expedient not onely that every one apply'd himself to that whereunto he finds himself inclin'd but that there were as many distinct Artists as the Art hath principal parts and that for example as Physick hath been commodiously divided between Physitians Chirugeons and Apothecaries which were anciently but one so their functions were again subdivided Because by this means every one of them would attain a more perfect knowledge of his Subject Therefore Plato instead of cultivating as he could have done the spacious field of Philosophy apply'd himself onely to Metaphysicks Socrates to Morality Democritus to Natural Philosophy Archimedes to the Mathematicks For they who would possess all the parts of a Science at once are like those who should try to pluck off a Horse's tail at one pull instead of doing it hair by hair Whence it was said of Erasmus that he had been greater if he had been contented to be less The Fifth said That determination of the question depends upon the capacity of wits For as in a poor little Mansion where there is not room enough to place all necessary moveables 't were impertinence to desire to place such as serve onely for luxury and ornament So mean wits yea the indifferent such as most are take safer course in keeping to those few things of which they have most use then if they embrac'd too many for fear of verifying the Proverb He that grasps too much holds nothing But there are some Heroick Spirits capable of every thing and of which comparing them to others that may be said which a Father once said of the different degrees of bliss comparing the Souls of the blessed to vessels of several sizes all fill'd from the same Fountain There are little vulgar capacities which the initiation of a Science or the Etymologie of a word satisfies and they never get beyond the Apprentiship of the least trade Others are so transcendent that they go like the Sun into all corners of the world without being wearied or contaminated with several objects Nothing tires them but rest They draw every thing to themselves become Masters of what ever they undertake and reduce all Sciences to their principal study Thus the Divine the Physitian and the Lawyer will make use of History The first to enrich a Sermon or raise a Soul dejected by the consideration of its miseries whereunto it believes none equal The Second to divert his Patient whose Mind ha's no less need of redress then his body The Third to shew that the same judgement ha's been given in a parallel case They will call in the demonstrations of the Mathematicks to back their own and the experiments of other Arts to serve for examples and similitudes To these Nature how vast soever it be seemes still too little and they would complain upon occasion like Alexander that there were not worlds enough Such were of old Hippocrates and Aristotle and in the time of our Fathers the Count of Mirandula Scaliger and some others who though they writ and spoke of all things did nevertheless excel in all Besides nothing can be known perfectly without knowing a little of every thing and this by reason of the Encyclopaedie or Circle of Arts as we cannot understand a particular map without having some knowledge of the general and also of the neighbouring Countries CONFERENCE XLV I. Whether the Heavens be solid or liquid II. Whether it be harder to get then to preserve I. Whether the Heavens be solid or liquid WHen the proportion requisite to the necessary distance between the sense and its object fails either in excess or defect there is no more credit to be given to Sense That which we look upon too near and which is apply'd upon the Eye appears greater then ordinary as that which is too remote seems very small and diminishes commensurately to its distance By which also the figure or shape of the object becomes chang'd to our apprehension and we are apt to mistake a square Tower to be round one colour for another nothing for a body a tree for a living creature a beast for a man one face for another Some things likewise deceive us near hand as the certain of Timanthus But if we are abus'd in objects which are terminated by an opake surface capable of bounding our view and reflecting our visual rayes the same happens with more reason in diaphanous and transparent bodies as Light Fire Air Water Glass and every thing of that nature The two last especially have such conformity that they have divers effects alike as to serve instead of burning-glasses to recollect the Sun-beams and represent the species which are opposite to them For fill a viol with water and set it in the Sun his beams will produce the same effect with it as with a burning-glass Now by reason of the possibility that our Sight may be mistaken we are many times forc'd to have recourse to some other Sense as to that of Touching to the end the one may be back'd with the testimony of the other But this cannot be practis'd in the present Subject and therefore I conceive that the Heavens taken for the Celestial Orbes and not for the Air nor the third or Empyrreal Heaven are neither solid nor liquid because solidity is an effect of dryness and liquidity of moisture which are Elementary Qualities but the Heavens not being compos'd of the Elements cannot partake of their qualities But as they constitute a Fifth Essence of no affinity with that of the Four Elements so the accidents which belong to them are wholly different from ours and can no more be conceiv'd then those of glorifi'd bodies which if you imagine solid you can never think how they should bow the knee or exercise any the like function If they be imagin'd rare and liquid and consequently penetrable they will seem to us divisible qualities contrary to their immortality Wherefore I conclude that the things of Heaven are not to be measur'd by the standard of those on Earth The Second said That when things are remote from our external Senses we must joyn the internal in their disquisition now reason requires that there be some utmost solid surface serving as a boundary and limit to the Elements otherwise the same thing would happen to the Air or the Elementary Fire if there be any such above the Air that doth to the Water and the Earth which exhale and evaporate their more rare and subtile parts into the Air for so would the Air exhale its vapours into the Heavens and the Fire whose Nature is alwayes to mount directly upwards till the occurse of some solid body checks its course and make it circulate
not be made in the Eye but in the Air. CONFERENCE XLVIII I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have life II. Of Courage I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have Life EVery thing in the world is effected by an order and disposition of causes and means subalternate one to another God makes himself known to Men by the marvellous effects of Nature The immaterial and incorruptible Heavens communicate their virtues and influences here below first through the Element of Fire which is most subtile and then through the Air which is most pure in the upper Region more gross in the middle and in the lower infected by the vapours and exhalations of the Water and Earth and all compounds in the production whereof Nature observes such order as that she begins alwayes with the more simple and never passes from one extremity to another without a medium Thus the Plant springeth out of the ground like an herb becomes a shrub and then a tree The Embryo lives onely a vegetable life at first then arrives to motion and lastly is indu'd with reason Even in civil life too speedy advancements are taken ill whereas he who grows great by degrees do's not so much offend the Minds of others and provokes less jealousie Hence also the deaths and especially the violent astonish us more then the births of Men because they come into the world and grow up by little and little but are cut off in a moment So likewise the burning of Cities and overthrow of States cause the more admiration because sudden vicissitudes seem less conformable to the order of Nature then their progressive erections That which is observ'd in the composition and generation of bodies holds also in their nutrition for both of them proceed from the same Faculty and are almost the same thing For to nourish is to be chang'd into the substance of that which is nourish'd Nature makes no change from one term to another by a violent motion and progress but by little and little of a matter capable of being converted into the substance of the living thing as onely that is which hath life it being as impossible to make a living thing of that which never was such and consequently whose matter hath no disposition to become such as 't is to make a thing be which cannot be The Second said setting aside Cardan's opinion who extends life even to Stones as there are three orders of living things so there are three that have need of nutrition Plants Animals and Men. Plants are nourish'd with the juice of the earth Animals for the most part with Plants and Men better with the Flesh of Animals then with any other thing by reason of the resemblance of their natures The first order is not here spoken of because Plants must needs be nourish'd with that which hath not had life unless we will say that the universal spirit informing the earth gives it vertue to produce and nourish them The two latter are only in question and I think it no more inconvenient that what hath not had life may serve for aliment and be converted into the substance of a living creature then that the earth and water simple elements in respect of a Plant are assimilated by it and made partakers of vegetable life For as fire makes green wood combustible by exsiccating its humidity so an Animal may render such matter fit for its nourishment which was not so before Not only the Oestrich is nourish'd with Iron which it digests Pigeons and Pullen with gravel the stones of which are found in their crops smooth and round but also men may be nourish'd with bread made of earth And the Spaniards are much addicted to the use of an earth call'd Soccolante which they mingle with water and sugar its terrene consistence refuting their opinion who hold it to be the juice of a Plant. Yea some in Sieges have supported their lives with inanimate things as with bread of Slate as 't is reported of that of Sancerre And moreover 't is manifest that some sick people are nourish'd with water alone for many days together The Third said Nutrition is made by the help of heat which alters and divides the aliments and reduces them to a most simple substance capable of being converted into every similary part the property of heat being to separate heterogeneous things and conjoyn those of the same nature Hence things least compounded are more easily assimilated And as among Medicaments so among aliments the more simple are the best and make fewest excrements The air doth not only refresh the natural heat but serves for food and aliment to the spirits our best and noblest parts with which air alone as the common opinion holds the Camelion is nourish'd as the Grashopper with dew which is nothing but concreted air and the Jews were fed fourty years with Manna which is a kind of dew for the Scripture saith it vanish'd with the heat of the Sun yea the Manna which is found at this day in Calabria other places is capable of nourishing an animal and yet it never had life but fall's from heaven upon the stones from which it is collected The same may be said of hony which is a kind of dew too falling upon the leaves flowers of Plants and serving for food to Bees who only gather it without other preparation And a sort of Flyes call'd Pyraustae live with nothing but fire as many Fishes do of plain water Moles and Worms of simple earth Antimony and divers other Minerals purg'd from their malignant qualities serve for aliment and they who are expert in Chymistry make a kind of bread of them The Magistery of Pearls and Coral many precious Stones and Gold it self by the consent of all antiquity wonderfully repair our radical moisture by their fix'd spirits whence they are call'd Cordials The Fourth said If man were homogeneous and all of a piece he would be not only immortal according to Hippocrates but need no food which is necessary only for reparation of what substance is consum'd now nothing would be destroy'd in man were it not for the heterogeneous pieces of which he is made up Wherefore since we are nourish'd with the same things whereof we are compos'd and we are not compos'd of one pure and simple element but of four it follows that whatever nourishes us must be mix'd of those four Elements and therefore the more compounded it is as animate things are the more proper it is to nourish Otherwise were the aliment pure it could not be assimilated And although it could be assimilated yet it could not nourish the whole body but only either the terrestrial parts if it were earth or the humours if it were water or the spirits if it were fire or air The Fifth said The life of man cost Nature dear if it must be maintain'd at the expence of so many other animals lives If you say that being
bashfulness on the one side and impudence on the other The former is found in those who are asham'd of vertue or cannot deny any thing although it be contrary to honesty good manners and their own will or in such who cannot look a man in the face which although frequently an obstacle to brave actions yet is a common token of a good soul rather inclin'd to honesty then to vice like Edler and other wild herbs which being good for nothing and hindring the growth of others are yet signs of a good soil On the contrary impudence is the symptome of a soul extreamly deprav'd the defect of inward grief which comes from the perversion of the Intellect and the loss of Conscience rendring the maladies of the soul incurable as insensibility makes those of the body desperate But modesty and true shame fears true dishonours and is griev'd for them having this of vertue which the greater it is the more it fears things greatly formidable and infamous such as vice and its concomitant ignominy are but not much other things which depend only on the imagination and are not any way dishonest of themselves in which 't is poorness of mind to blush Thus S. Paul saith he was not asham'd of the Gospel And our Lord that they who shall be asham'd of him before men he will deny them before his Father For to speak truth we ought not to be asham'd of any thing but vice and its effects Before sin our first Parents knew not what it was to be asham'd but after it they were asham'd of their nakedness the same sense whereof remains to all their posterity The Third said As some things are of themselves shameful because they are vicious so some are not shameful saving at certain times and places to which the customs of each Country for the most part give Law others are always so although of themselves lawful and far from being vicious as those things which civility and honesty forbid to do publickly whence Diogenes merited the name of Dog for transgressing those laws of seemliness For as honour is drawn not only from vertue but from many other circumstances which for the most part depend upon the opinion of men who dispose of this honour so doth dishonour and the shame which follows it The Fourth said That shame is not a passion as neither compassion nor emulation because it hath no vertue which regulates its disorders much less a vertue not being firm and constant but a simple motion to good and a slight impression of honesty in the will and affections produc'd either by nature or custom and not yet so firmly rooted as vertue whence it is very mutable and incertain For we are asham'd of being too tall or too low commended or blam'd yea we blush no less for defects which cannot be imputed to us as mean extraction or some corporal imperfection which we cannot mend then we do for being found lyars or surpriz'd in some other fault To which inconstancy is the agitation of the blood and spirits to be referr'd whose tincture diffus'd in the face betrays our dissimulation in spite of us CONFERENCE LXXI I. Why motion produces heat II. Of Chastity I. Why motion produces heat LOcal motion is not only the most common but likewise the most noble of all since 't is not found in animals till they have acquir'd their perfection Besides it produces heat the noblest and most active of all qualities upon this account Physians enjoyn exercise to discuss cold and phlegmatick humours because animal motion cannot be perform'd without spirits and these being of an igneous nature calefie all the parts towards which they flow But being motion produces heat in life-less things too 't is harder to render a reason of this effect in them then in animals Thus Arrows have been seen to become 〈◊〉 by the swiftness of their flight Millers turn part of their 〈◊〉 upon the axle-tree of their wheel otherwise it would be on fire and Waggoners as well for this purpose as to facilitate their turning grease their wheels thereby to remedy the dryness of the axle-tree which disposes the same to ignition Those that hold it for a Principle That motion heats account is as absurd to inquire the cause thereof as to ask why fire do's so But without ground since every motion heats not that of inanimate bodies if slow produces no heat but only when it is swift 't is requisite too that the bodies be solid otherwise we see motion cools water and air and hinders their corruption which proceeds from heat This argues that it cannot be a principle for a principle must hold good in all subjects and be such as no instance can be brought against it Such heat therefore comes from the attrition of the air which being rarefi'd beyond what its nature permits waxes hot and sometimes is turn'd into fire wherewith it symbolizes upon the account of its heat as on the contrary when the same air is too much condens'd 't is resolv'd into water wherewith also it symbolizes by it moisture For as there are terms of quantity in all mix'd bodies so in all simple bodies there are terms of rarity and density beyond which the Element cannot preserve it self without admitting vacuity when it is more rare then its matter can endure or without penetration of dimension when it hath more matter then it needeth The Second said That to ascribe that heat caus'd by motion to the air inflam'd and turn'd into fire by attrition and attenuation of its parts is to explicate a manifest thing by one more obscure and whereupon all are not agreed such is the transmutation of one element into another 'T is Therefore more probable that this heat is not produc'd anew but is the same which is in all mix'd bodies wherein there is an elementary fire which being buri'd and as 't were intangled in the bonds of the other Elements appears not unless it be excited by motion As in putrefaction the same heat being attracted by the outward heat of the air becomes perceptible by the sense And as those that have drawn a Landskip in distemper upon a table of oyl coming to wash the table make the first draught appear which before was hid or as the earth of a Mine which contains Gold or Silver being wash'd exhibites these Metals visible but produces them not anew because they were there before so motion do's not make but discover heat introducing a disposition in the subject by friction rarefying and drying the surfaces of two contiguous bodies which two qualities being proper to receive the impression of fire are also more so to make that appear which is in all bodies not only potentially but likewise actually For if 't were the air included between two bodies rub'd and mov'd with violence it would follow that every sort of body would be apt to produce fire and especially the most aerious as being most inflammable Moreover nothing hindring but
and use specially by the hearing whnce people deaf by nature are also dumb yea 't is very peculiare to man Wherefore Speech is improperly figuratively artificially or else miraculously ascrib'd to other things as when The Heavens are said to declare the glory of God one deep to call on another c. When Balaams Ass spoke 't was by Miracle But when Magus's dog spoke to Saint Peter 't was by operation of the Devil as also what is reported of the two Pigeons the Oke at Achilles's Horse the keel of Argo and that Elm of the Gymnosophists mention'd by Philostratus to have saluted Apollonius at his arrival as the River Causus bid Pythagoras good-morrow But Speech properly belongs onely to man other creatures are incapable of it both because they want Reason which is the principle of it and organs which are a tongue a palate teeth and lipps all rightly proportionated for the articulation of voice for man's tongue alone is soft large moveable and loose to which qualities those of Pies and Parrots come nearest The Third said A natural thing is either born with us as sense and motion or comes afterwards of it self as laughter or whereof we are naturally capable and inclin'd to as Arts and Sciences In the first and second signification speech is not natural to man who could not speak without learning whence the two children caus'd by Psammetichus King of Egypt to be nurs'd in a Desart by two dumb Nurses pronounc'd no other word but Bec which they had heard of the Goats But in the last signification 't is peculiar to man who is so inclin'd to it that were children let alone from their Cradle they would in time make some language by signs or words 'T is to be understood too that 't is articulate speech such as may be written that is peculiar to man not inarticulate which though a natural sign of the affections within yet cannot properly be called speech because found also in beasts whose jargon Apollonius and some others are said to have understood for hearing the chattering of a Swallow to her companions he told those that were present that this bird advertis'd the others of a sack of Wheat fallen off an Asse's back neer the City which upon trial was found to be true CONFERENCE LXXIX I. What the Soul is II. Of the apparition of Spirits I. What the Soul is THe difference of inanimate living and dead bodies manifestly evince the existence of a soul. But its essence is so unknown that Philosophers doubt in what degree of Category to put it For 't is of that kind of things which are not known by themselves but only by their effects as local motion and substance which is not perceptible but by its accidents So the outward shape of animated bodies acquaints us with their inward form For the soul shapes all the external parts after the same manner as Plants and Animals of the same species have commonly their leaves and members of the same external figure whereas you scarce find two stones or other inanimate bodies of the same shape The Second said That the soul according to Aristotle is the first act of a natural body organiz'd having life in power or potentially Meaning by act perfection which he expresses by the word Entellechie which signifies to be in its end and form which two are the same in natural things 'T is call'd Form upon account of its beauty and divine from heaven its original and 't is the first of all other second acts which are produc'd by it such as all vital actions are For as in the most imperfect of beings Matter there is a First or remote power as in water to become fire another second or next as in the same water to become air by rarefaction so in the nature of Forms the noblest created Beings there is a First act the source of all vital actions and a Second comprehending the faculties and functions Now this Soul is not a pure act as God and Angels are but an act of the Body on whom it depends either in its being and preservation or else only in operation Hence Sensitive and Vegetable Souls cease to be upon the change of the dispositions which produc'd and supported them The reasonable Soul too in some manner depends upon the Bodies disposition as to its operation not as to its being and preservation being immaterial and immortal 'T is call'd an act of a natural Body to distinguish it from Machines or Engines which move artificial and inanimate Bodies organical because Organs are requisite to its action It must also have life in power that is be able to exercise the vital functions For want of which a carcase though organiz'd yet cannot be said to be animated no more then Egges and Seed for want of Organs although they have life in power The Third said He was of Pythagoras's opinion who call'd it a number there being nothing in the world wherewith it hath more correspondence and proportion 'T is one in its essence it makes the binary which is the first number by its conjunction with the body and division of its Faculties into the Intellect and Will the ternary by its three species of soul Vegetative Sensitive Rational the quaternary by the four qualities constituting the temper requisite to its introduction into the body of which four numbers put together is form'd the number ten whence all others proceed as from simple Apprehension Enuntiation Argumentation and Method which are the four operations of the reasonable soul whence all its notions proceed The Fourth said 'T is not enough to say with the Philosopher that the soul is an act or perfection or that by whose means we live it must be shewn what this act is whether Substance or Accident Pythagoras by calling the soul a number moving it self reduces it under Quantity According to Galen who acknowledges no other Soul but the Temper 't is a Quality as also according to Clearchus who defines it harmony Of those who believ'd the soul a substance some have call'd it the purest part of some Element as Heraclitus of fire Anaximenes of air and Thales of water none of earth in regard of its gross matter Critelaus said 't was a Quintessence Democritus a substance compos'd of round Atoms and therefore easily movable Now the soul is a substance not an accident because it composes a substance making with the body a total by it self Nor is it Quantity because Quantity is not active much less a self-moving number because number is an Entity of Reason and nothing is mov'd of it self but of some other Nor is it any of the four qualities which being indifferent of themselves must be determin'd by some form much less a temper which is found in all mixts of which some are inanimate nor a harmony for this is compos'd of contrarieties but the soul is simple and consequently not susceptible of contraries 'T is therefore an incorporeal substance otherwise were
which makes water ascend in the Pneumaticks whereof Hero writ a Treatise rendring the same melodious and resembling the singing of birds in the Hydraulicks It makes use of the four Elements which are the causes of the motions of engines as of Fire in Granadoes Air in Artificial Fountains both Fire and Air by their compression which water not admitting since we see a vessel full of water can contain nothing more its violence consists in its gravity when it descends from high places The Earth is also the cause of motion by its gravity when 't is out of Aequilibrium as also of rest when 't is equally poiz'd as is seen in weights The Second said The wit of Man could never preserve the dominion given him by God over other creatures without help of the Mechanicks but by this art he hath brought the most savage and rebellious Animals to his service Moreover by help of mechanical inventions the four Elements are his slaves and as it were at his pay to do his works Thus we see by means of the Hydraulicks or engines moving by water wheels and pumps are set continually at work the Wind is made to turn a Mill manag'd by the admirable Art of Navigation or employ'd to other uses by Aealipila's Fire the noblest of all Elements becomes the vassal of the meanest Artisans or serves to delight the sight by the pleasant inventions of some Ingineer or employes its violence to arm our thunders more powerfully then the ancient machines of Demetrius The Earth is the Theatre of all these inventions and Archimedes boasted he could move that too had he place where to fix his engine By its means the Sun descends to the Earth and by the artificial union of his rayes is enabled to effect more then he can do in his own sphere The curiosity of man hath carry'd him even to Heaven by his Astrological Instrumens so that nothing is now done in that republick of the stars but what he knows and keeps in record The Third said That since Arts need Instruments to perform their works they owe all they can do to the Mechanicks which supply them with utensils and inventions 'T was the Mechanicks which furnish'd the Smith with a hammer and an anvil the Carpenter with a saw and a wedge the Architect with a rule the Mason with a square the Geometrician with a compass the Astronomer with an astrolabe the Souldier with sword and musket in brief they have in a manner given man other hands Hence came paper writing printing the mariner's box the gun in these latter ages and in the preceding the Helepoles or takecities flying bridges ambulatory towers rams and other engines of war which gives law to the world Hence Archimedes easily drew a ship to him which all the strength of Sicily could not stir fram'd a heaven of glass in which all the celestial motions were to be seen according to which model the representation of the sphere remains to us at this day Hence he burnt the Roman ships even in their harbour defended the City of Syracuse for a long time against the Roman Army conducted by the brave Marcellus And indeed I wonder not that this great Archimedes was in so high in Reputaion For if men be valued according to their strength is it not a miracle that one single man by help of mechanicks could lift as much as ten a hundred yea a thousand others And his pretension to move the whole Earth were a poynt given him out of it where to stand will not seem presumptuous though the supposition be impossible to such as know his screw without-end or of wheels plac'd one above another for by addition of new wheels the strength of the same might be so multiply'd that no humane power could resist it yea a child might by this means displace the whole City of Paris and France it self were it upon a moveable plane But the greatest wonder is the simplicity of the means employ'd by this Queen of Arts to produce such excellent effects For Aristotle who writ a book of mechanicks assignes no other principles thereof but the Lever its Hypomoclion or Support and a balance it being certain that of these three multiply'd proceed all Machines both Automata and such as are mov'd by force of wind fire water or animals as wind-mills water-mills horse-mills a turn-broch by smoak and as many other inventions as things in the world CONFERENCE LXXXVII I. Whether the Soul's Immortality is demonstrable by Natural Reasons II. Whether Travel be necessary to an Ingenuous Man I. Whether the Soul's Immortality is demonstrable by Natural Reasons NAtural Philosophy considers natural bodies as they are subject to alteration and treats not of the Soul but so far as it informes the Body and either partakes or is the cause of such alteration And therefore they are injust who require this Science to prove supernatural things as the Soul's Immortality is Although its admirable effects the vast extent of its thoughts even beyond the imaginary spaces its manner of acting and vigor in old age the terrors of future judgement the satisfaction or remorse of Conscience and Gods Justice which not punishing all sins in this life presupposes another are sufficiently valid testimonies thereof should not the universal consent of heathens themselves some of which have hastned their deaths to enjoy this immortality and man 's particular external shape infer the particular excellence of his internal form So that by the Philosophical Maxime which requires that there be contraries in every species of things if the souls of beasts joyn'd to bodies die there must be others joyn'd to other bodies free from death when separated from the same And the Harmony of the world which permits not things to pass from on extreme to another without some mean requires as that there are pure spirits and intelligences which are immortal and substances corporeal and mortal so there be a middle nature between these two Man call'd by the Platonists upon this account the horizon of the Universe because he serves for a link and medium uniting the hemisphere of the Angelical Nature with the inferior hemisphere of corporeal nature But there is difference between that which is and that which may be demonstrated by Humane Reason which falls short in proving the most sensible things as the specifical proprieties of things and much less can it prove what it sees not or demonstrate the attribute of a subject which it sees not For to prove the Immortality of the Soul 't is requisite at least to know the two termes of this proportion The Soul is immortal But neither of them is known to natural reason not immortality for it denotes a thing which shall never have end but infinitie surpasses the reach of humane wit which is finite And the term Soul is so obscure that no Philosophy hath yet been able to determine truly whether it be a Spirit or something corporeal a substance or an accident single
Third said That the heat which preserves our lives is natural gentle and agreeable not extraneous as that meant in the question is Therefore external cold must be compar'd with heat likewise external and extraneous not with the vital heat which is of a more sublime order then these elementary qualities Now 't is certain external heat is more powerful and active then external cold since it consumes and dissolves Metals which cold cannot and is more hurtful because it dries up humidity which is the foundation of life 'T is also less tolerable for we can bear the touch of the coldest body in the world namely Ice yea eat it without harm but none could ever resist flames Whence fire is the cruellest of punishments not cold from which besides we may more easily defend our selves then from excessive heat which may be abated a little by winds shadows or other artifices but not wholly as cold is by help of fire clothes and motion The Fourth said If it be true which Cardan saith that cold is nothing but a privation of heat Nature which dreads nothing so much as non-entity must abhor it most nor can it be any way active since that which exists not cannot act But I will suppose as 't is most probable that both the one and the other are positive entities since cold enters into the composition of bodies as well as heat the bones membranes skin nerves and all but the fleshy parts being cold as also the brain the noblest part of man And I conceive that heat and cold consider'd either as internal principles of a living body or as two external agents enemies of life cold is always more hurtful then heat On the one side hot distempers alter the functions but cold abolish them depriving us of sense motion and life as in the Lethargy Apoplexie Epilepsie and other cold diseases And on the other external heat indeed draws forth part of our spirits and thereby weakens us whence come faintings after too hot a bath or too great a fire but it never wholly quenches and destroys them as the light of the Sun drowns that of a Candle at noon but do's not extinguish it The Fifth said Because as Hippocrates saith in his Aphorisms some natures are best in Winter others in Summer as old men are not much inconvenienc'd by the most vehement heats whereas cold kills them on the contrary young people of hot tempers endure heat more impatiently then cold and there is no temperament ad pondus or exact Reason must be call'd to the aid of our senses not only to judge of moist and dry as Galen thinks but also of hot and cold which being absolutely consider'd in their own nature without respect to us I conceive heat much more active then cold and consequently less supportable because the more a thing hath of form and less of matter 't is the more active the one of these principles being purely active and the cause of all natural actions the other simply passive Thus the earth and water are dull and heavy elements in comparison of the air and fire which are less dense and material Heaven the universal cause of all sublunary things is a form without matter as Averroës affirms Now heat rarifies and dilates its subject and seems to make it more spiritual and so is more active then cold which condenses and stops all the pores and passages Which also appears in that the hottest diseases are the most acute and if cold diseases kill sometimes they charm and dull the senses and so render death more gentle and supportable On the contrary the cruellest deaths great pains and the most violent diseases are ordinarily caus'd by some hot humour Hence it is that no person dyes without a Fever and Hippocrates affirms that the same heat which generates us kills us In fine God who is the prime Reason hath judg'd heat more active and less supportable then cold since he appoints fire to torment the devils and damned souls II. Who are most happy in this world Wise Men or Fools Upon the second Point 't was said As there is but one right line and infinite crooked so there is but one wisdom and one way to attain it namely to follow right reason but follies are of all sorts and of as many fashions as there are different minds which conceive things under divers apparences of goodness So that the number of fools being greater then that of wise men these will always lose their cause Moreover if happiness be well defin'd by contentment who is there but accounts fools more happy then the wise Witness he who otherwise intelligent enough was a fool in this only point that he would diligently repair alone to the Theatre and phancy that he saw and heard the Actors and applauded them although no body was there besides himself but being cur'd of his folly he complain'd of his friends in stead of thanking them for having been too careful to render him miserable being a happy man before Besides folly hath this priviledge that we bear with that truth from the mouth of a fool which would be odious in another and the tribe of fools is indeed exceeding great since we are born such for a child is agreeable upon no other account but its simplicity which is nothing else but folly by which many faults are excusable in youth which are not to be endur'd in other ages And those whom we account happiest and that dye of old age end thus and are therefore call'd twice children and folly serves to take away the sense of all the discontents and incommodities of old age Yea he that more neerly considers the course of our life will find more of folly in it then of wisdom For if self-conceit play love and the other passions be so many follies who is free from it The Second said That wise men alone are happy is justly accounted a Stoical Paradox since 't is contrary to true natural sentiments which shew us that the happiness of this life consists only in two points namely in the privation of grief and the possession of good As for the first not to speak of bodily pains from which the wise are no more exempt then fools the strongest minds are more intelligent by their more vigorous reasoning and consequently more susceptible of inward grief and affliction of hope fear desire and as other passions besides that they are ordinary of a melancholy temper and more fix'd upon their objects then fools who are more inconstant to say nothing of the scruples of conscience which many times rack their spirits of the points of honour of civilities nor of the knotty questions in the Sciences As for the latter the possession of good fools have a better share then the wise because there is no absolute but onely relative good in this world whence proceeded the many different opinions touching the chief good and the saying that none is truly happy unless he thinks himself
said of its corruption being taken improperly it is for that it is cold and dry both these qualities being Enemies to putrefication As on the contrary Hot and Moist are friends to it and the usual wayes that lead thereunto Wherefore if the Air were hot and moist it would putrifie incessantly Besides it would be easily inflam'd being so near Neighbour to the Elementary Fire which could have no food more proper then it The Fourth said 'T is true all Antiquity believ'd the Air supremely moist and moderately hot 1. For salving the Harmony of the Universe the Air becoming symbolical with the Fire by its heat and with the water by its moisture 2. Because we see Heat produceth Air which thence must have affinity of Nature with its progenitor 3. It is light and by consequence hot 4. Experience sheweth us this in Winter time in subterraneous places where the Air is hot because the external cold stopping the pores of the Earth hinders the spirits of the inclosed Air from evaporating and so it remains hot But to the First Reason it is answered That the Air without being hot sufficiently maketh good its party in the Harmony of the Universe for by its humidity alone it symbolizeth with the Water and the Coelestial Heat as is seen in Animals wherein Moist and Hot make so useful a Mass. To the Second That Heat produceth vapour too which is cold To the Third That this cold vapour is light as well as a hot exhalation To the Fourth Experience is oppos'd to Experience For in Summer the Air is cold in the Cavities of the Earth as well as hot there in the Winter Which proceedeth not from the Air but from the sense which whereas it ought to be void of the qualities of the object is here preposses'd therewith The Moderns affirm with more probability that the Air is cold 1. Because in the Middle Region where it is left in its proper Nature it is such 2. In the Northern parts remote from the Sun its rigor hath such effect as to freeze the Sea and even in our Countries we are sensible in Winter of the Sun and yet in clear weather of great Frosts To which it is answer'd 1. That the Middle Region of the Air is not so cold of its own Nature but by reason of the vapours which refrigerate it uniformly every where though those vapours ascend not equally from the Water but more in one place then in an other just as the heat of the Fire which is directly under the middle of the bottome of a great Caldron yet heats it on all sides equally and uniformly Also the coldness of the Air in the Northern parts and in our Countrie must necessarily be ascrib'd to a Constellation which is made when some Star exerteth a cold influence and is not repress'd by the Sun who then emits his rayes slopingly and hath not reverberation strong enough from the Earth This is prov'd by the Thaw which is from the influence not of the Sun for he is too weak and it sometimes happens when he is less elevated above our Horizon but of some hot Star which gaineth the ascendant over the cold And indeed we see a Frost and a Thaw happen without any foregoing mutation in the Air at least that is sensible I conceive then that the Air is neither hot nor cold but indifferent to both What it hath actual is its humidity from whence it deriveth its great mobility The reason is for that the Air is the Universal Medium of all natural Actions and the general interposer in all the transactions of Agents and Patients for which office it ought not to be an Enemy to any of them Now of Agents the most powerful are Heat and Cold. When Heat acts it consignes its impression to the Air to transfer the same by Propagation to the subject upon which it acts But if the Air were Cold instead of faithfully keeping and delivering the impression of Heat it would abate and destroy it On the contrary if it were Hot it would destroy the Cold Body which acteth instead of assisting it in its action Just as the Crystalline humour which serves as a Medium to the sight hath naturally no colour lest otherwise the Case would be the same as in colour'd glass through which all objects that are seen borrow its colour Or as in the Tongue whose Taste being deprav'd it judgeth all things bitter But the Air being onely Humid is the common friend of both parties For Moist symbolizing both with Hot and Cold fights against neither The Air then is that Humid Substance which taketh no other figure bounds or inclosure then that of the Bodies which environ it for the becoming most obedient to which it hath an incomparable Mobility Fluidity and Flexibility Which being consistent onely in a Humid Substance it is by Humidity alone as its essential propriety actuated and informed II. Whether it is best for a State to have Slaves Upon the Second Point it was said That Servitude is opposite to Dominion which is of Two sorts Despotiâ—al or Sovereign and Political or Civil The former is absolute and with pure and full Authority commands without being liable to be ask'd a reason For the pleasure of the Commander is one The Latter oft times receives check in its course by the right which inferiours have to remonstrate and also in certain Cases to declare to the Command Such is that of a Master over a workman or a hired domestick that is voluntarily subject for certain wages and time and of this the Question now is not The former is contrary to natural Law introduc'd onely by that of Nations For all Men being equal by Nature there is no Natural Reason for rendring one person slave to an other Nevertheless Servitude may be term'd Natural being founded upon the inequality of the sufficiencies and abilities of Men Some being born with Organs so nimble and pliant that their Mind acts almost Divinely Others are so dull that the Soul seemes mir'd in a slough Moreover such as are made to obey have usually robust Bodies And others born to command have weak and tender as more sutable and fit for the functions of the Mind This being premis'd There is furthermore an Absolute Good and a Relative The Absolute is such in it self and of its own essence without borrowing elsewhere the reason of its goodness The other is Derivative and hath nothing but by relation to some other Extreme Servitude or Slavery cannot be an Absolute Good since it is contrary to Natural Right But it is a Relative Good in the first place to the Slaves For 't is an exchange made by the Conquerours Clemency of Death into Servitude to the benefit of the Captives whose condition is better in living Servants then in dying Free-men 2. 'T is a Good to the Common-wealth For as God draws Good out of Evil so doth the Publick Service from those whom it might have put to death
Others dying with laughter That some pass through others without mixing therewith That others are so ponderous that no Body whatsoever can sink to the bottome Some on the contrary are so light that nothing can swim upon them and infinite other such proprieties 'T is that which seemes to surpass ordinary Ratiocination Of this kind is that which is said of a certain River in Sicily the Water whereof cannot be brought to mingle with Wine unless it be drawn by a chaste and continent Woman To which was added for a conclusion that if the Water of Seine had this property we should be many times in danger of drinking our Wine unmixt The Second said That nothing could be more natural and methodical then to treat of Water after Air. For as in the Composition of a Mixt Body the moisture which is predominant in the Air unites and knits the matters which are to be mixed So the Cold which predominates in the Water closes them and gives them consistence And as in Drawing and Painting the Embroiderer and Painter passeth not from one light colour to another without some intermediate one but he loseth the same insensibly in another more duskish out of which the bright breaketh forth again by little and little to the middle of his ground So Nature doth not pass immediately from the extreme humidity which is in the Air to the extreme coldness which is in the Water but causeth that the moisture of the former abateth its great vigour at the approach of the moisture which is in the Water in a weak and remiss degree before it meet with the Cold of the Water whereunto it is to be joyned Without which humidity of the Water in a weak and remiss degree the Cold could not compact the parts which the moisture united So that this humidity is found in two Subjects one subtile which is the Air the other more gross which is the Water As it happens also in the Fire which is partly in a rare Subject namely the fat and unctuous vapour whereby it flameth and partly in another solid and gross which is Wood Iron or Coal As Flame it is more apt to shine and burn penetrating the pores of the wood to find its Aliment there which is the interior Oyle As Coal it acts more powerfully and is more durable So if there were in the Mixt Body no other humidity but that of the Air the same inconvenience would befall it that doth a Conquerour who having subdu'd a Country reserveth no place of Retreat for the keeping thereof For at the first opposition which he meeteth he is constrain'd to let go his hold So if moisture were not in the Air it would indeed penetrate the Compounded Bodies still as it doth as readily but it would suddenly dislodge again if it had not its refuge in the Water which is more proper to preserve it The Third said That Water cannot be cold in the highest degree First because if it were so it could generate nothing Cold being an Enemy to all Generation because it locketh up the particles within As on the contrary Heat is the Proximate Cause thereof by the extension and attraction which it causeth outwards Nevertheless we see Plants and Animals in the Waters Secondly If it were so cold being moist too it would be alwayes frozen since according to Aristotle Ice is nothing but an excess of coldness with moisture Thirdly Those qualities which are attributed to Water are common to many other things besides As to the Air when it is cold and do not necessarily belong to it but may be separated from it since remaining Water still it may become hot by the Fire and frozen by the Air and so be found destitute of its fluidity and humidity If it be said That it loseth not its qualities but by accident and that of its own Nature it is cold I answer That the Natural and Necessary Proprieties of Things proceding immediately from their Essence such as those of Water are held to be cannot be taken from them but by Miracle And on the contrary That it is not cold but by the vicinity of the cold Air which encompasseth it and not of its own Nature Whence the surface of the Water is cold in Winter and sometimes frozen the bottome remaining warm And therefore the Fish do not come much to the upper part of the Water in Winter but stay below where it is in its own Nature and is not so easily alter'd with forrein qualities Moreover since we know the Qualities of a Thing by its Effects the Effect of Water being even in the Judgement of Sense to moisten more then any of the Elements it ought to be held the Chief or First Humid Body If it be said that it moistneth more then the Air because it is more gross and compact as hot Iron burneth more then flame I answer That although it may owe that humidity to the thickness of its Matter yet the same is not the less essential to it since Matter is one part of the Element And besides it proceedeth from the Form too since it can never be separated from it Water alwayes necessarily moistning whilst it is Water Which cannot be said of its coldness for when it is warm it doth not lose its name of Water though it be no longer cold but it is alwayes moist The Fourth said That to speak properly Water is never hot in it self but 't is the Fire insinuating and mingling it self with the little Particles of the Water that we feel hot and accordingly that Fire being evaporated the Water not onely returneth to its natural quality but also the Fire leaving its pores more open renders them more accessible to the Air which freezes the same in Winter sooner then it would do otherwise And this is no more then as Salt and Sulphureous Waters are made such by the Salt and Sulphur mingled therewith Which being separated from them they lose also the taste thereof And as Wine mingled with Water is still truly Wine and hath the same Virtue as before though its activity be repress'd by the power of the Water So Water mingled with Salt Sulphur and Fire is true Water and hath intrinfecally the same qualities as before that mixture though indeed its action be retarded and its qualities be checked and rebated by the other contraries which are more powerful In like manner Water is not cold of it self but by the absence of Fire As it happens in Winter that the igneous beams of the Sun not staying upon the Water it persisteth cold and so that coldness is but a privation of heat As appears in the shivering of an Ague which proceedeth from the retiring of the natural heat inwards and deserting the external parts But if there happen a total privation of those igneous parts which are infus'd into it mediately or immediately by the Sun then it becometh frozen And because those fiery Particles occupied some space in its Body
the dead and into which they return But the most common and us'd throughout all Europe is Black which also was always worne by the Romans when they went into Mourning except during sixty years that they wore white The wearing of Mourning continu'd ten moneths at Rome the Athenians wore it but one moneth the Spartans no more but eleven dayes The reason why they have all chosen Black for denoting Sadness is because Black is the privation of White and proceedeth from the defect of Light so Death is the privation of Life and Light Possibly too the reason why the Cypress Tree was esteem'd a Funeral Tree was because the leaves were of a dark Green and the Nutts tincture Black and being cut it never puts forth again as also Beans were in regard of the blackness which appears in them and their flowers The Second said That Experience shews us sufficiently that the Black colour doth not onely put us in Mind of our griefs and sadnesses pass'd but also is apt excite new This is known to the Senses and unknown to Reason by a certain Divine Appointment which hath caus'd that what is manifest to the one is hidden to the other As appears for that nothing is so natural to the Sense of Seeing as Light and Colours But yet there is nothing in which our Mind sooner finds its weakness then in the enquiry into the Nature and properties of Colours and Light Now there are two sorts of blackness the one Internal when the Soul turning it self towards the Images upon report of which a judgement is made if that Image is Black and deform'd the Soul must conceive that the Objects represented by it are so also and thence ariseth horror and sadness the other external for the explicating of which I must crave leave to deflect a little from the ordinary opinion touching the Nature of Colours I affirm that Colour and Light are one and the same thing and differ onely in regard of the Subject so that the lustre of a simple Body is Light but the lustre of a mixt Body is call'd Colour By which account Light is the Colour of a simple Body and Colour is the Light of a mixt Body Whence Mixts approaching nearest to the simplicity of the Element predominant in them are all Luminous as precious stones which are a simple Earth and without mixture of other Element and rotten Wood which having lost the little Air and Fire it had its humidity also being absum'd by the putrefaction and there remaining nothing almost but Earth you see how it keeps its splendour amidst the darkness of the night And this in my conceit is the meaning of what Moses saith when he saith that God created the Light before the Sun For God having created the Elements in their natural purity they were sometimes in that state before mixture the Earth appeared not but the Water cover'd its whole Surface Every Element was in its own place and the purity of its Nature for which reason they had then their first Colour which is splendour But as soon as God had mingled them for the forming of Mixts their Light became clouded and chang'd into Colour And hence it was necessary to form a Sun in Heaven far from all sort of mixture and composition to the end he might alwayes preserve his Light and enlighten the world therewith The Fire preserves it self the most of all in its purity by reason of its great activity which consumes what ever approaches near it The other Elements would do so too if they could preserve themselves in their purity as well as the Fire But because they would be unprofitable should they remain such it is necessary that they be mingled one with another as well to serve for the production of Compounds as for their Aliment and several uses Hence their Light becomes chang'd into Colour which is nothing else but a Light extinguish'd more or less and accordingly we see some Colours more luminous then others The White is still wholly luminous the Red wholly resplendent the Green less and the Brown begins to grow dark Lastly the Black is nothing but Light wholly extinct and a kind of darkness and consequently hath nothing of reality but is a pure Privation which our Eyes perceive not As our Ear discerneth or perceiveth not silence but onely by not hearing any sound so neither doth the Sight behold Black and darkness but when it sees neither Colour nor Light So that to hear Silence and see darkness is to speak properly a vain attempt of the Soul which would fain exert its action of seeing and hearing and cannot Hence ariseth the sadness and terror which a deep silence and the sight of extreme blackness and darkness excites in the Soul For the Soul knows well that Life is nothing else but Exercise of its Faculties of which as soon as any thing is depriv'd there remains nothing to be expected but death She would fain exert her action and cannot she distinguishes not whether it be through default of the Object or whether her Faculty be lost but she finds a privation of her actions and represents to her self to be in the state of Death whence ariseth Sadness and Fear For as our Soul dreadeth nothing so much as Death so the least suspition the least sign and umbrage of Death is apt to put her into great dejection And this makes way for the Second Reason why the Soul becomes sad at the sight of a black Colour namely because it never appears in the Body but Death is at hand For this Colour is produc'd by the mortification and extinction of the Spirits as a Gangrene which is either caus'd by Adustion whereby Coals become black or by extreme coldness thus Old Men are of a leaden Colour tending to blackness Now the excess of heat and coldness is equally contrary to Life Wherefore as often as the Soul perceives blackness either in her own Body or in another she remembers the Qualities which produc'd it and are contrary to Life which she loves hence ariseth sadness And hence also it is that we naturally love a Countenance well proportion'd with an agreeable Colour wherein there is found a redness mingled with whiteness bright and lively with Spirits which is nothing else but an effect of the Love which our Soul bears to Life For knowing this to be the Colour of Health it affects the same even in another as on the other side it abhorreth Death Look upon a living Body it is full of brightness but a dead one is gloomy and dismal and at the instant that the Soul parts from the Body a dark shade seemes as it were to veil the Countenance Now that the Soul may understand it must become like to its Object Whence Aristotle said that the Intellect is potentially all things forasmuch as it can form it self into as many shapes as there are Objects So then it will perceive blackness it must become conformable to Black which it
the latter hath not As we see paltry Pedlars that have all their shop in a pack hanging about their necks make ten times more noise then the best whole-sale Trades-men whose store-houses are fill'd with all sort of wares And amongst all Nations they who lie most are most offended with the Lie They who drink most are most offended with the name of Drunkard Wherefore since according to Aristotle 't is the truth and not the number or quality of the honourers which constitutes the true Honour which they arrogate most in whom the substance is least found it follows that what we call the Point of Honour is nothing but the appearance or shadow thereof The Fourth said The Point of Honour is nothing but a Desire we have to make our selves esteem'd such as we are Wherefore when a quality which belongs not to us is taken from us we are far from being so much concern'd as if it pertain'd to us So a Gentleman who makes profession of Valour will be offended if he be called Poltron but a Capuchin will not knowing well that that Virtue is not necessary to Christian Perfection The Fifth said That Honour according to the common opinion being the testimony which Men give us of our virtuous actions the Point of Honour is that conceit which our Mind proposes and formes to it self of that opinion Whence it follows that the Point of Honour thus taken being an Abstract which our Mind draws from things and not the things themselves there is nothing of reality in it but it is a pure Imagination which alters according to the diversity of times places and persons Such a thing was anciently honest i. e. laudable and becomming which is not so at present Whereof the Modes and Customs of the times past compar'd with those at this day are a sufficient evidence It was honourable at Rome to burn dead Bodies and shameful to all others saving to the single family of the Cornelii to bury them At this day to inter them is honourable but to burn them the most infamous of punishments It was in Lacedaemon an honourable thing to steal dextrously and now the reward of the craftiest Cut-purse is a Halter One thing is honest i. e. seemly in one age as for Children to blush which is dishonest i. e. unseemly in another as for old Men to do so Yea one Man will sometimes construe a thing within the Point of Honour which another will not And we sometimes conceive our selves interessed in one and the same thing and sometimes not Moreover though the Point of Honour should not admit all these mutations yet depending upon the imagination of another there can be nothing of reality in it And therefore the true Point of Honour consists not in the opinion which others have of us but in the exercise of honest and virtuous actions whether acknowledg'd for such or not yea though they be despis'd or punish'd it is sufficient to render such actions honourable that the Conscience alone judge of their goodness CONFERENCE XX. I. Of the Original of Fountains II. Whether there be a commendable Ambition I. Of the Original of Fountains THe First said That Springs and Rivers come from the Sea otherwise it would receive a great augmentation by the daily addition of their streams if it should not suffer an equal diminution by their derivation from it Therefore the Wise-man saith All Rivers go into the Sea and the Sea is not increased thereby and afterwards they return to the place from whence they came that they may go forth again Yea it would be a perpetual Miracle if after about six thousand years since the Creation of the World the Sea were not grown bigger by all the great Rivers it receives seeing the Danubius alone were it stop'd but during one year would be sufficient to drown all Europe But how can the Water of its own nature heavy and unactive especially that of the Sea be carried up to the highest Mountains As we see the L' Isere and the Durance and other Rivers descend from the tops of the Alps upon which there are Lakes and Springs in great number as in Mont-Cenis Saint Bernard and Saint Godart This proceeds from the gravity of the Earth which alwayes inclining towards its own centre bears upon the Sea and so pressing upon the Water causeth it to rise up into the veins and passages of the Earth a resemblance whereof is seen in Pumps by which passages it is strain'd and depriv'd of its saltness Which quality is easily separable from Sea-water for upon the shores of Africa there are pits of fresh Water which cannot come from elsewhere And if Water mingled with Wine be separated from the same by a cup made of Ivy wood why not the saltness of the Water too Thence also it is that Springs retain the qualities of the places through which they pass having put off those which they deriv'd from their Original The Second said That the Waters are carried upwards by the virtue of the Coelestial Bodies which attract the same without any violence it being in a manner natural to Inferior Bodies to obey the Superior and follow the motion which they impress upon them Unless we had rather ascribe this effect to God who having for the common good of all the world caus'd the Water in the beginning to ascend to the highest places it hath alwayes follow'd that same motion by natural consecution and the fear of that Vacuity And of this we have a small instance in the experiment of Syphons The Third said He conceiv'd with Aristotle that Springs are generated in cavities and large spaces of the Middle Region of the Earth which Nature who abhorreth Vacuity fills with Air insinuated thereinto by the pores and chinks and condensed afterwards by the coldness of the Earth Which coldness is so much the greater as that Region is remote from all external agents which might alter it This condensed Air is resolv'd into drops of Water and these drops soon after descending by their own weight into one and the same place glide along till they meet with others like themselves and so give beginning to a Spring For as of many Springs uniting their streams a great River is made so of many drops of Water is made a Spring Hence it comes to pass that we ordinarily find Springs in Mountains and high places as being most hollow and full of Air which becomes condens'd and resolv'd into Water so much the more easily as the Mountains are nearer the Middle Region of the Air apt by its vapourous quality to be turn'd into Water as well in those Gavities as in the Clouds or else because they are most expos'd to the coldest Winds and usually cover'd with Snow The Fourth said That there is no transformation of Elements and therefore Air cannot be turn'd into Water For whereas we see drops of Water fall from the surface of Marble or Glass 't is not that the Air is turn'd
which hath sometimes conferr'd the Scepter in elective Kingdoms And our Saviour amidst all the infirmities of our nature caus'd to shine in himself the most perfect beauty that ever was in the rest of mankind Now several beautiful things gratifie variously White is esteem'd amongst Northern Nations because there issues out of white bodies a certain brightness or light agreeable to the eyes of those people But the same colour loseth that pre-eminence proportionably to a nearer approach toward the South CONFERENCE XXVII I. Whether the World grows old II. Of Jealousie I. Whether the World grows old WEre we in those Commonwealths where the voice of the people is admitted this Question would be very easie to resolve there being no body but proclaims that the world is declining and thinks that we are now in the very dregs of Time 'T is the ordinary discourse of old men But possibly herein they resemble the old woman who when she was grown blind said the Sky was overcast or those who sailing from the shore think that the earth retreats back while 't is themselves that are in motion These good people no longer finding the same gust and pleasure in the delights of the world that they found in their youth lay the fault upon the world instead of imputing the same to themselves Indeed their accusation is too old to be receivable having been from all time which made Horace say that to represent an old man right he must be introduc'd praising the time past Yet we may give their reasons the hearing They affirm that every thing which hath had a beginning and must have an end grows old That since all the parts of the world are variously corrupted the same ought to be believ'd of the whole That as for the Heavens all the observations of Ptolomy are found at this day false unless they be rectifi'd by the addition of certain motions of Trepidation which cause all the rest to vary In the Air the inconstancy of it and the irregularity of the Seasons makes us not know when we are sure of any the Spring sometimes appearing in Winter as at present and Winter in Autumn In the Sea you see it dismembers Provinces gains and loses whole Countries by its inundations and recessions And as for the Earth it is very probably shown that in time it must naturally return to its first state in which it was all cover'd with water and consequently void of men and most part of animals and plants which make the three noblest parts of the Universe For they who endeavour the raising of low grounds know that the same is accomplish'd by giving entrance to the slime which the water brings thither and which gathers together at the bottom whence it comes to pass that Valleys through which torrents and brooks of rain-water pass grow hollower daily the impetuousness of the water sweeping the surface of the earth into rivers and thence into the Sea Wherefore though the world should not end by Conflagration as it must do since all the rain-waters those of rivers and brooks go into the Sea and carry thither with them the upper parts of the Earth which is that that makes the waters so troubled and muddy it is necessary that this earth in time fill up the cavities of the Sea and reduce it to exact roundness and then the water having no longer any channel must as necessarily cover the whole surface of the earth excepting perhaps some points of rocks which will decay and fall down in time as about fifteen years ago a mountain in Suizzerland by its fall crush'd under its ruines the Town of Pleurs which by that means made good the importance of its name And although this may not come to pass till after divers thousands of years if the world should last so long yet it is not the less feasible since it is a doing at the present though by little and little The second said That since the end of the world is to be supernatural it shall not proceed from old age that though the earth were all cover'd over with waters yet the world would not perish for all that since the Elements would subsist yea the same earth and the winds by succession of time would come to imbibe and dry up those waters and so again discover the face of the earth That if one of the Elements be diminish'd another increases if the water evaporate the air is augmented if the air be condens'd it addes to the water and so the world cannot fail by all the alterations and changes which happen in simple and mixt bodies For its order consists in the alternative succession of various dispositions and not in one sole disposition like a circle which being finite in its parts is infinite in its whole Moreover if the world perish it must be either by the annihilation of its whole or of its parts or else by their transmutation into some matter which cannot be part of the world Not the first for there needs no less a miracle to annihilate then to create and therefore nothing is annihilated Not the second for mixt bodies cannot be chang'd but either into other mixt bodies or into the Elements now these are transmuted one into another wherefore in either case they are still parts of the world The most active of the Elements Fire without the miracle of the last conflagration if you consider it in the Sphere which some have assign'd to it it cannot burn the rest for should it act in its own Sphere which it doth not it would at length be extinguish'd for want of air into which consequently part of it would be converted or if you place it in the subterranean parts the vapours and the exhalations which it would raise from the Sea and the Earth being resolv'd into water and air would always preserve the being of those Elements Moreover the world would not serve at the day of judgement as Philo the Jew saith for a Holocaust to its author if it were then found defective in any of its parts The third said If you take the world for all the inferiour bodies contain'd under the concave of the Moon it is certain that it changeth For the Heavens are not alter'd according to their substance though they be according to their places But it is impossible that the Elements acting so powerfully one against another by their contrary qualities be not at length weakned and their activities refracted and impair'd and particularly the earth wherein those subterranean fires do the same thing that natural heat doth in animals when by the consumption of their radical humidity it makes them grow dry and old External Agents as the Air and the Celestial Bodies which in time undermine Palaces of Marble Brass and other bodies contribute greatly to this alteration of the earth which is the mark and but of actions of the superiour bodies by whom it suffers incessantly This declination is observ'd in Plants which had
may hold in violent deaths whereof the causes may be avoided but that 't is not credible that a decrepit old man who hath spun out his Life to the last can continue it the nature and Etymology of the radical moisture not admitting a possibility of restauration I answer that reasons taken from the original of words are not the strongest and that besides there are roots which endure more and others less according as they are well or ill cultivated And if the reason drawn from contraries be considerable being many poysons are so quick that they corrupt the radical moisture in an instant ought we to conceive Nature so much a step-dame as that she hath not produc'd something proper to restore it And that Humane Industry is so dull and little industrious in the thing which Man desires most which is long Life that it cannot reach to prepare some matter for the support yea for the restauration of that Original Humidity Considering that we are not reduc'd to live onely by what is about us as Plants and Plant-animals do but all the world is open and accessible to our search of Aliments and Medicines Moreover we have examples not onely of a Nestor who liv'd three ages of an Artephius who liv'd as many and many more and the Herb Moly the Nectar and Ambrosia of the Poets which kept their gods from growing old may well be taken for a figure of the Tree of Life which was design'd for separation of this Humidity but also of compositions proper to produce that effect Yea were it not actually so yet 't is not less possible and God hath not in vain promis'd as a Reward to such as honour their Superiors to prolong their dayes upon the earth The Second said If Medaea found Herbs as the Poets say to lengthen the Life of Aeson the Father of Jason the Daughters of Aelias miscarried of their purpose Indeed every thing that lives needs Heat for exercising its Actions and Humidity to sustain that Heat the duration of this Heat in the Humidity is Life which lasts as long as the one is maintain'd by the other like the lighted wiek in a Lamp Now Nature dispenses to every one from the Birth as much of this Heat and Moisture as she pleases to one for fifty to another for sixty seventy eighty years or more which ended the stock is spent Physick may husband it well but cannot produce it anew Aliments never repair it perfectly no more then Water doth Wine which it increases indeed but weakens too when mingled therewith The Third back'd this Suffrage with the opinion of Pythagoras who held that our Life is a strait line that the accidents which disturb it and at length bring Death constitute another and accordingly saith he as these two lines incline less or much towards one another Life is long or short because the Angle of their incidence and at which they cut which is our Death happens sooner or later and it would never happen if these two lines were parallel Now the meeting of these two lines cannot be deferr'd or put off The Fourth said 'T were a strange thing if Humane Art could repair all other defects of the Body and Mind excepting that whereof there is most need and all Ages have complain'd Brevity of Life For our Understanding hath much less need of an Art of Reasoning our tongue of an Art of speaking our legs of dancing then our Life of being continu'd since 't is the foundation of all the rest Besides Physick would seem useless without this For though it serv'd only to asswage the pains of diseases which is a ridiculous opinion yet it would thereby protract the time of Death to which pain is the way The Fifth said That for the preservation of Life 't is requisite to continue the marriage of Heat and moisture Death alwayes hapning immediately upon their disjunction and leaving the contrary qualities in their room Cold and Dryness Now to know how Heat must be preserv'd we must observe how 't is destroy'd And that is four wayes I. By Cold which being moderate fights with it but violent wholly destroyes it II. By suffocation or smothering when the Pores are stop'd and the issue of fuliginous vapours hindred Thus Fire dyes for want of Air. III. By its dissipation which is caus'd by hot medicaments violent exercise and immoderate heat of the Sun or Fire Whence proceeds a Syncope or Deliquium of the Heart IV. By want of Aliment without which it can no more last a moment then Fire without wood or other combustible matter All agree that the three first Causes may be avoided or at least remedied And as for the Fourth which is doubled of I see nothing that hinders but that as the spirits of our bodies are perfectly repair'd by the Air we incessantly breathe so Aliments or some Specificks as as amongst others Gold dissolv'd in some water not corrosive may in some manner restore the fewel of our Heat And seeing there are found burning Mountains in which the Fire cannot consume so much matter apt for burning but it alwayes affords it self other new which makes it subsist for many Ages Why may not a matter be prepar'd for our Natural Heat which though not neer so perfect as that which it consum'd for were it so an Animal would be immortal yet may be more excellent then ordinary Aliments and by this means prolong our Lives And this must be sought after not judg'd impossible The Sixth said That Life consisting in the Harmony and proportion of the four first qualities and in the contemperation of the four Humours there 's no more requir'd for the prolonging of Life but to continue this Harmony Which may be done not onely by a good natural temper but also by the right use of external things as pure Air places healthful and exposed to the Eastern winds Aliments of good juice sleep sufficiently long exercises not violent passions well rul'd and the other things whose due administration must prolong Life by the same reason that their abuse or indiscreet usage diminishes it The Seventh said That Life consists in the salt which contains the Spirit that quickens it and is the preservative Balsame of all compounds The vivifying Spirit of Man is inclos'd in a very volatile Armoniack Salt which exhales easily by Heat and therefore needs incessant reparation by Aliments Now to preserve Life long it is requsite to fix this volatile salt which is done by means of another salt extracted by Chymistry which is not onely fix'd but also capable to fix the most volatile For the Chymists represent this salt incorruptible in it self and communicating its virtue to other bodies Upon which account they stile it Quintessence Aethereal Body Elixir and Radical Balsame which hath a propriety to preserve not onely living bodies many Ages but dead from corruption II. Whether 't is better to be without Passions then to moderate them Upon the Second Point it was said
obstruction hinders the afflux of the spirits to it as in a Gutta Serena there is no vision made An Evidence that seeing is an action of both and consequently the Senses are as many as the several Organs which determine and specificate the same But the Taste being comprehended under the Touch by the Philosophers definition must be a species thereof and therefore there are but four Senses as four Elements the Taste and the Touch which it comprehends being exercis'd in the earth gross as themselves the Sight in Water in which its Organ swims and of which it almost wholly consists the Smelling by the Fire which awakens odours and reduces them out of power into act and the Hearing in the Air which is found naturally implanted in the Ear and is the sole medium of this sense according to Aristotle the hearing of Fishes being particular to them in the Water and very obscure The Third said He was of Scaliger's mind who reckons Titillation for the sixth sense For if the Taste though comprehended under the Touching as was said constitutes a distinct sense why not Titillation which is a species of Touching too considering that it represents things otherwise then the ordinary Touch doth and hath its particular Organs as the soles of the Feet the palmes of the Hands the Flanks the Arm-pits and some other places Yea Touching may be accounted the Genus of the Senses since all partake thereof The Fourth said That those actions which some Animals perform more perfectly then we as the Dog exceeds us in Smelling the Spider in Touching the Eagle in Seeing and many in presaging the seasons and weather seem'd to be the effects of 6 7 or 8 Senses there being no proportion between such great extraordinary effects and their Organes the structure whereof is the same with those of other Animals which come not near the same Yea that 't is by some supernumerary sense found in each Animal that they have knowledge of what is serviceable or hurtful to them in particular For example who teaches the Dog the virtue of Grass the Hart of Dittany their ordinary Senses cannot Nor is it likely that so many occult properties have been produc'd by Nature to remain unknown But they cannot be understood unless by some Sense which is not vulgar considering that all the Senses together understand not their substance The Fifth said There are five external Senses neither more nor less because there needs so many and no more to perceive and apprehend all external objects And as when one of our Senses is deprav'd or abolish'd another cannot repair it nor succeed it in all its functions so if there were more then five the over-plus would be useless there being no accident but falls under the cognisance of these five Senses And although each of them is not sufficient thereunto severally yet they serve well enough all together as in the perception of motion rest number magnitude and figure which are common objects to divers Senses Now if there were need of more then five Senses 't would be to judge of objects wherein the others fail So that the supernumeraries being unprofitable 't is not necessary to establish more then five And as for substance 't is not consistent with its Nature to be known by the external Senses The Sixth said Man being compos'd of three Pieces a Soul a Body and Spirits of a middle Nature between both the five Senses suffice to the perfection and support of these three parts Knowledge which is the sole Good of the Soul is acquir'd by invention and discipline for which we have Eyes and Ears Good Odours recreate and repair the Spirits The Touch and Taste are the Bodie 's guards the first by preserving it from hurtfull qualities which invade it from without and the second from such as enter and are taken in by the mouth And therefore 't is in vain to establish more The Seventh said Since according to the Philosophers Sense is a passive quality and Sensation is made when the Organ is alter'd by the object there must be as many several Senses as there are different objects which variously alter the Organs Now amongst Colours Odours and other sensible objects there are many different species and the qualities perceiv'd by the Touch are almost infinite Nor is it material to say that they all proceed from the first qualities since Colors Odours and Tasts are likewise second qualities arising from those first and nevertheless make different Senses The Eighth said Although it be true that Faculties are determin'd by objects yet must not these Faculties be therefore multiply'd according to the multitude of objects So though White and Black are different nevertheless because they both act after the same manner namely by sending their intentional species through the same medium to the same Organ the Sight alone sufficeth for judging of their difference The Ninth said Since four things are requisite to Sensation to wit the Faculty the Organ the Medium and the Object 't is by them that the number of Senses is determin'd The Object cannot do it otherwise there would not be five Senses but infinitely more Nor can the Faculty do it being inseparable from the Soul or rather the Soul it self and consequently but one and to say that there is but one Sense is erroneously to make an external Sense of the Common Sense Much less can the Medium do it since one and the same Medium serves to many Senses and one and the same Sense is exercis'd in several Mediums as the Sight in the Air and the Water It remains therefore that the diversity proceed from that of the Organs which being but five make the like number of Senses II. Whether is better to be silent or to speak Upon the Second Point it was said 'T is a greater difficulty and consequently more a virtue to hold one's peace then to speak the latter being natural to Man and very easie when he has once got the habit of it but the former is a constrain'd Action and to practise which handsomely the Mind must be disciplin'd to do violence to the itch of declaring it self every one conceiving it his interest that the truth be known And there are fewer examples of those that have sav'd themselves by speaking then of those that have lost themselves by not keeping Secrecie justly term'd the Soul of the State and of affairs which once vented of easie become impossible Whence arose the name of Secretaries for principal Ministers and Officers of States and great Houses and indeed 't is at this day a title affected by the meanest Clerks testifying thereby in what esteem they have Silence And the unworthiest of all Vices Treachery ordinarily takes advantage of this defect of Secrecie which renders Men full of chinks and like a sieve so that many can more easily keep a coal in their mouths then a secret On the contrary Silence is so much reverenc'd that the wisest persons when they are
cloud by the inclos'd exhalation whence rain commonly follows it Fulgur is the exhalation inflam'd which impetuously breaks out at the sides of the cloud wherein it is oftentimes turn'd into a stone of the shape of a wedge the celestial heat then working the same effect in the cavities of the cloud that our common fire doth in crucibles in which equal portions of Sulphur Tartara and Antimony inflam'd turn into a very hard stone of the colour of the Thunder-bolt call'd Regulus Antimonii The Second said As fire is sometimes produc'd in the Air without noise and noise without fire so a great fire is made there with little noise as when what they call a Falling Star passes through a moist cloud in which it makes a hissing like that of hot Iron in cold water whence Winds proceed and sometimes a great noise with little fire as when an Exhalation inflam'd hollows and breaks the cloud which encloses it or else impressing a violent and rapid motion upon it makes it clash impetuously against other clouds For impetuousness supplies for hardnesse as is seen in Air which whistles when beaten by Winds there being some things which tension renders hard as Wind included in a foot-ball And what is reported of the Cataracts of Nile whose waters make so vehement a noise that it renders the people there abouts deaf is a sufficient evidence that two fluid bodies clashing violently together make as great a sound as two solid bodies mov'd with lesse violence The Third said That what is done below being the figure of what is done on high the one may be clearly explicated by the other Wherefore as Exhalation with vapor makes metals in the entrails of the Earth so in the Air it makes Thunder whither they ascend together the vapor being blended with the Exhalation or severally this latter being set on fire in the cold and vaporous cloud or being no longer containable there through its great rarity encounter'd by the coldness of the cloud and the Air it seeks some out-let which not finding 't is necessitated to hollow the bollow the belly of the cloud which obstructed it This rarity proceeds from its heat and drynesse which are commonly turn'd into fire by the sole motion of the Exhalation or by the rayes of the Sun or of some other Stars reflected by the smooth surface of an opposite cloud in the same manner as Burning-glasses set on fire such things as are plac'd at some convenient distance Which should be thought no more strange then mock-suns and mock-moons which are made in the same manner but in a flat or plain cloud not parabolical such as the figure of Burning-glasses must be Moreover fire may be excited by the Antiperistasis of the vehement cold in the middle Region of the Air which causes the degrees of heat to unite as those of other qualities strengthen one another in an enemy country and become flame Hence Thunders are more frequent in Southern then in Northern Countries in hot seasons then in Winter wherein the cold closing the pores of the Earth hinders the free issue of the Exhalations and the middle Region of the Air is found less cold But the most sensible example of Thunder is that of our Guns the powder being so suddenly inflam'd that it cannot reside in the barrel where it takes up a thousand times more room then it did whilst it remain'd in its terrene nature according to the decuple proportion of the Elements violently breaks forth and carries with it what ever resists it breaking the Gun unless the mouth be open though much stronger then a cloud whose spissitude nevertheless supplies for its rarity The Fourth said That the Nature of Thunder and Thunderbolts is so occult that all antiquity call'd them the weapons of Jupiter which he discharg'd upon the wicked as is testifi'd by their fables of the Giants Salmoneus Phaeton and some others Nor is there any so hardned in wickedness but trembles at the cracking of Thunder and Thunder-bolts which Socrates in Xenophon calls the Invisible Ministers of God And one Emperor acknowledg'd himself no God by going to hide himself in a cave while it thunder'd because Thunder-bolts are conceiv'd not to enter the Earth above five foot deep Others have thought that there is something supernatural in it and that Daemons have commonly a hand in it because its effects being unlike those of corporeal Agents seem to be produc'd by spirits who are able to move what ever there is in Nature and this the more easily being not ty'd to the conditions of the matter but mov'd in an instant and penetrating all bodies whatever For Thunder hath kill'd many who had no appearance of hurt upon them the Hair of some hath been taken off without other inconvenience it hath consum'd the Tongues of some or turn'd them downwards it hath melted the money in the purse and the sword in the scabbard without other mischief it sowres Wine in the vessel spoils Eggs under a Hen and makes Sheep abortive Moreover the Scripture tells us that God hath many times us'd Thunder either to punish or terrifie men as he did in Aegypt by the rod of Moses who calls Thunder-bolts God's swords as David doth his Arrows and the Thunder his voice The Law was given to the Israelites with Thunders and Lightnings and Saint John in his Revelation saith that Thunders and Lightnings proceed from Gods Throne Indeed nothing more visibly notifies his presence power and justice yet alwayes accompany'd with Clemency for he threatens by Lightning and speaks by Thunder before he strikes by the Thunder-bolt and the rumbling of this Thunder menaces a whole Region though commonly it carries the blow but upon one person or oftentimes none at all The Fifth said Fear which not onely sometimes made the Romans worship Famine and the Fever but makes it self an Idol in the Minds of the Ignorant has perswaded men that there is something Divine in Thunder because they dread the dismal effects of it and know not the cause although it be as natural as that of all other Meteors Hence some have had recourse to impertinent and superstitious remedies as to pronounce certain barbarous words to carry certain figures or characters about them and according to Wierus to lay a Thunder-stone call'd by the Greeks Ceraunium between two Eggs upon a Table in the house which you would preserve or hang an Egg lay'd on Ascension-day to the roof of the House and such other absurd and prophane means The Northern people were much more ridiculous who as Olaus reports shot Arrows up to Heaven when it Thunder'd thereby as they said to help their Gods who were assail'd by others The Thracians fell a howling against Heaven struck their shields with their swords and rung all their bells which latter is practis'd at this day to the end the vehement agitation of the Air may divert the Thunder-bolt from the steeples upon which as upon all other high places especially
a Gorgon's head a Crane a Dragon a Serpent a fish call'd Scarus or the Gilt-head a Mulberry-tree a Hiacynth Royalty by the reins of a bridle an Elephant and a Dog Wisdom by the breast or the wand of Pallas Concord by a Crow a Caduceus or Mercurius's rod a Peacock a Bee and a Lute Fear by waves a Dove a Hart a Hare and a Wolf All which figures signifi'd other things besides yea oftentimes contraries as the Ass is the Hieroglyphick of wisdom with the Cabalists and with us of stupidity and the same wisdom was denoted among the Egyptians by a sieve which with us is the emblem of a loose-tongu'd person that can retain nothing In fine this Hieroglyphical invention is good for nothing but to make the ignorant admire what they must reverence without knowing it For that which secures all professions from contempt is the use of terms not understood by the vulgar CONFERENCE XCVII I. Of Weights and the causes of Gravity II. Of Coat-Armour I. Of Weights and the causes of Gravity THe World is Man's Palace whereof God is the Architect sustaining the same with the three fingers of his Power Goodness and Wisdom And the Scripture saith He hath hung the Earth in the midst of the Air and ordained all things in number weight and Measure which are the three pillars of this stately Edifice Number is the cause of Beauty Measure of Goodness and Weight of Order which is not found but in the place towards which bodies are carry'd by their Gravity A quality depending upon the four first which by their rarefaction or condensation of things cause more or less ponderosity For light signifies nothing but less heavy it being certain that as the Earth gravitates in the Water and this in the Air so would the Air in the sphere of Fire Fire in the Heaven of the Moon this in the mixt and so forwards till you come to nothing which hath no weight because it hath no corporeity The Second said That gravity and the descent of natural bodies to the centre cannot proceed from the predominance of terrestrial parts in mixts since Gold the heaviest of metals and Mercury which is next it have more humidity then siccity that is to say more Water then Earth in comparison of other metallick bodies God being the most ductile and Mercury the most fluid So also Salt which is heavier then wood or stone is nothing but water cogeal'd and dissolving again in a moist place Wherefore Gravity seems rather to proceed from these three things namely place comparison and figure Place is so considerable herein that bodies gravitate not in their proper places but onely when they are remov'd from the same and more or less proportionally to their distance Comparison makes us judge a body light because 't is less heavy then an other On the contrary Figure makes heavy bodies light causing Leaf-gold to swim which in the same quantity reduc'd into a Globe would sink and an expanded body weighs less in a balance then when it is in a less volumn Which is also observ'd of the thinner parts of the Air which being of a more moveable figure are seen to play therein when the Sun shines clear The Third said That the cause why a broader figure swims or is upheld in the Air more easily then if it were in a Globe or other closer figure is not for that figure makes a thing lighter but from the resistance of the medium which hath more hold in one then in the other Nor do's gravity proceed from the inclination of a thing to its Centre since the Centre is but a Point wherein nothing can lodge And if the Centre of the world were the Centre of heavy things the stars which are the denser and solider parts of their orbs and consequently have more gravity which necessarily follows the density of corporeal matter especially the Moon which is demonstrated to be solid and massie because it reflects the light of the Sun should not remain suspended above the Air which is lighter but descend to this Centre of the Universe For to believe with some that the Moon is kept up like a stone in a sling by the rapid motion of the First Mover is to hold the Stars the greatest and noblest part of the Universe in a violent state onely to give rest and a natural state to the least and meanest which is the Earth Wherefore the descent of bodies is not because of themselves they affect the Centre of the Earth but for that they are upon a body lighter then themselves order obliging every thing to take its own place and till it be so every body being necessitated to move it self the heaviest downwards and the less heavy upwards Hence water gravitates not in its channel although it be not in its Centre because the upper part of the water is not heavier then the lower The Fourth said That Gravity is a certain quality which carries all bodies towards a common point continuing the union of the parts of the world hindring Vacuity by the concentration of all bodies which press one another the heavy having more matter in less quantity For when we see Air mount above Water and Fire above Air they yield and give place to heavier bodies as Oyle being in the bottom of Water ascends to the top not by its lightness but by the weight of the water which thrusts it up So Lead and all other metals except Gold swim in Mercury to which they yield in gravity For in equal quantities Gold weighs 19 Mercury 13 Lead 11 and ½ Silver 10 and ⅓ Copper 9 Iron 8 and Tin 7 and ½ As for the cause of this gravity which some say is in heavy bodies others in their Centre to which they attribute a magnetical virtue I conceive it consists in a reciprocal attraction of the same bodies which draw and are drawn and others are drawn to the inferiour body which attracts with all its parts so that bodies are carry'd towards the Earth and the Earth attracts them reciprocally as the Load-stone attracts Iron and is attracted by it For 't is evident that the Load-stone draws Iron and to prove that 't is drawn by Iron lay a Load-stone in one scale and in the other an equal weight to it If you apply Iron to the bottom of the scale where the Load-stone is this scale will raise up the other the Iron attracting the Load-stone to it self On the contrary if you approach with the Iron over the Load-stone the scale wherein it is will ascend towards the Iron which attracts it For whereas 't is objected that if the Earth attracted things with all its parts then it would follow that things let down in some hollow of the Earth being attracted by the parts above and those below would not descend by reason of contrary attractions I answer that those bodies being out of their Centres the greatest and strongest part of the Earth which is towards
it self and causes them to act and move in the Matter rightly dispos'd As for the Second Like as they argue that the world is finite round and corruptible because its parts are so So also it may be said that the world hath a Spirit which enlivens it since all its principal parts have a particular one for their Conservation Action and Motion the parts being of the same Nature with the whole This Universal Spirit is prov'd by the impotency of the Matter which of it self having no activity or principle of Life and Motion needeth some other to animate and quicken it Now particular Forms cannot do that for then they would be principles of that Virtue that is to say principles of themselves which is impossible Wherefore there must be some Superiour Form which is the Universal Spirit the principle of Action and Motion the Uniter of the Matter and the Form the Life of all Nature and the Universal Soul of the World Whence it may confidently be affirm'd that the World is animated but with what Soul or Spirit is the difficulty For if we prove by Local Motion or by that of Generation that a Plant or Animal are animated why may we not say the same of all the World since its more noble and principal parts afford evidence thereof As for the Heaven and the Stars they are in continual Motion which the more â—ober Opinion at this day confesseth to produce from their Internal Form rather then from the Intelligences which some would have fastned to the Spheres as a Potter to his wheel The Sun besides his own Motion which some call in controversie gives Life to all things by his heat and influences The Air Water and Earth afford also instances of this Life in the production and nourishing of Plants and Animals Thus the principal parts being animated this sufficeth for the Denomination of the whole seeing even in Man there are found some parts not animated as the Hair and the Nails As for the Last Point which is to know what this Universal Soul is there are many Opinions The Rabbins and Cabalists say that it is the RVAH ELOHIM that is the Spirit of God which moved upon Waters Trismegistus saith that it is a Corporeal Spirit or a Spiritual Body and elsewhere calleth it the Blessed GreenWood or the Green Lyon which causeth all things to grow Plato affirmeth it to be the Ideas The Peripateticks a certain Quintessence above the Four Elements Heraclitus and after him the Chymists that it is a certain Aethereal Fire For my part I conceive that if by this Spirit they mean a thing which gives Life and Spirit and Motion to all which is found every where and on which all depends there is no doubt but 't is the Spirit of God or rather God himself in whom and through whom we live and move But if we will seek another in created Nature we must not seek it elsewhere then in that corporeal creature which hath most resemblance with the Deity The Sun who more lively represents the same then any other by his Light Heat Figure and Power And therefore the Sun is that Spirit of the World which causeth to move and act here below all that hath Life and Motion The Second said That that Soul is a certain common Form diffus'd through all things which are moved by it as the wind of the Bellows maketh the Organs to play applying them to that whereunto they are proper and according to their natural condition So this Spirit with the Matter of Fire maketh Fire with that of Air maketh Air and so of the rest Some give it the name of Love for that it serves as a link or tye between all Bodies into which it insinuates it self with incredible Subtility which Opinion will not be rejected by the Poets and the Amorous who attribute so great power to it The Third said That the Soul being the First Act of an Organical Body and the word Life being taken onely for Vegetation Sensation and Ratiocination the world cannot be animated since the Heavens the Elements and the greatest part of Mixed Bodies want such a Soul and such Life That the Stoicks never attributed a Soul to this world but onely a Body which by reason of its Subtility is called Spirit and for that it is expanded through all the parts of the world is termed Vniversal which is the cause of all Motions and is the same thing with what the Ancients call'd Nature which they defined the Principle of Motion The reason of the Stoicks for this Universal Spirit is drawn from the Rarefaction and Condensation of Bodies For if Rarefaction be made by the insinuation of an other subtile Body and Condensation by its pressing out it follows that since all the Elements and mixt Bodies are rarifi'd and condens'd there is some Body more subtile then those Elements and mixts which insinuating it self into the parts rarifies them and makes them take up greater space and going forth is the Cause that they close together and take up less Now Rarefaction is alwayes made by the entrance of a more subtile Body and Condensation by its going out This is seen in a very thick Vessel of Iron or Brass which being fill'd with hot Water or heated Air and being well stop'd if you set it into the cold it will condense what is contain'd therein which by that means must fill less space then before Now either there must be a Vacuum in the Vessel which Nature abhorreth or some subtile Body must enter into it which comes out of the Air or the Water which fills that space Which Body also must be more subtile then the Elements which cannot penetrate through the thickness of the Vessel There is also seen an Instance of this in the Sun-beams which penetrate the most solid Bodies if they be never so little diaphanous which yet are impenetrable by any Element how subtile soever And because a great part of the Hour design'd for Inventions was found to have slip'd away during the Reciprocation of other reasons brought for and against this opinion some curiosities were onely mention'd and the examination of them referr'd to the next Conference In which it was determin'd first to treat of the Air and then to debate that Question Whether it is expedient in a State to have Slaves CONFERENCE VII I. Of the Air. II. Whether it be best for a State to have Slaves I. Of the Air. THe First said That he thought fit to step aside a little out of the ordinary way not so much to impugne the Maximes of the School as to clear them and that for this end he propros'd That the Air is not distinguish'd from the Water because they are chang'd one into the other For what else are those Vapours which are drawn up from the Water by the power of the Sun and those which arise in an Alembic or from boyling Water if we do not call them Air Now those Vapours are
it is now straitned and takes less room then before Whence Water freezing in Vessels well stopp'd the same break for the avoidance of Vacuum Moreover Humidity is not one of its essential proprieties because it may be separated from it as we see in frozen water which is less humid then when it was cold It followes then that Second Qualities being Tokens of the First and the goodness of Water requiring that it have the least weight that can be as also that it have neither Taste nor Smell the most pure i. e. the Elementary of which we are speaking is without First Qualities having been created by God onely to be the band or tye of the other parts of a mixt body The Fifth said That the Scripture divideth the Waters into those which are above the Heavens and those upon the Earth as if to teach us that Water is the Centre the Middle and the end of the Universe Which agrees with the opinion of those who establish it for the Sole Principle of all things Those Supercoelestial Waters are prov'd by the Etymology of the word for Heavens Schamaim which signifies in Hebrew There are Waters Because 't is said that God divided the Waters from the Waters and placed them above the Firmament Which Supercoelestial Waters are also invited by the Psalmist to bless the Lord And lastly because it is said that at the time of the Deluge the windows of Heaven were opened The Sixth said That the gravity of those Supercoelestial Waters would not suffer them to remain long out of the place destinated to that Element which is below the Air And therefore it were better to take the word Heaven in those places for the Air as 't is elsewhere in the Scripture which mentioneth the Dew and the Birds of Heaven Since also the Hebrew word which there signifies Firmament is also taken for the Expansion of the Air and those Supercoelestial Waters for Rain II. Of Wine and whether it be necessary for Souldiers Upon the Second Point it was said That if we speak of Wine moderately taken the Sacred Text voids the Question saying that it rejoyceth the Heart Which it performeth by supplying ample matter to the Influent Spirits which the Heart by the Arteries transmitteth to all the parts and which joyning themselves to the private Spirits strengthen them and labour in common with them And so the Souldier entring into fight with a cheerful Heart is half victorious Yea the greatest exploits of War are atchieved by the Spirits which constitute Courage the Blood heated by them over-powring the coldness of Melancholy and Phlegme which cause backwardness and slowness of Action For it is with the Virtues as with Medicines which become not active and pass not from power into act but by help of the natural faculties So the Virtues do not produce their effects but by the Spirits But Wine taken in excess is wholly prejudicial to the Valour of a Souldier who hath need of a double strength One of Mind to lead him on valiantly to dangers and keep him undaunted at dreadful occurrences The other of Body to undergo the long toiles of War and not draw back in fight Now Wine destroyes both of these For as for the former Valour or Fortitude is a Moral Virtue which as all other Virtues its companions acteth under the conduct of Prudence which alone ruleth and employeth them and knoweth where and how they ought to act So that what assists Prudence assists Valour too and that which hureth the one hurteth the other also Now excessive Wine hurteth the former very much For by its immoderate heat it causeth a tumult and disorder in the humours it maketh the Brain boyle and work and consequently embroyleth and confoundeth the Phantasines which are imprinted in it as it happeneth in sleep or in the Phrensie and by its gross vapour it obstructeth all its passages So that the Understanding cannot take its Survey there having no free access to come and form its judgements and conclusions upon the Ideas and Phantasmes And although it should have its Avenues free yet the Phantasmes being in confusion like Images in stirred waters it would be impossible for it to judge aright and prudently to discern what fear or what eagerness ought to be check'd and repel'd For all Fear is not to be rejected no more then 't is to be follow'd nor is the bridle to be let loose at all adventures nor alwayes restrain'd The strength of the Body is also impaird by Wine For though Galen and others will have it Hot and Dry yet it being so but potentially 't is as subject to deceive us as that Dutchman was who hearing that Cresses were hot commanded his Man to fill his Boots therewith to warm him For the truth is Wine is moist and vapourous and that to such a degree that by reason of its extreme humidity it cannot be corrupted with a total corruption For this happeneth when the external heat hath wholly drawn out the moisture of the corrupted Body and so dissolved the Union of all the dry parts which moisture keeps together So that the Elements flying away there remains nothing to be seen but Earth alone Which cannot come to pass in Wine by reason of the little dry substance in it and of its great humidity which cannot be wholly separated In which regard it is never corrupted but in part viz. when the external heat draws away the more pure substance and the better Spirits as we see when it grows sour thick or turbid Being then humid to such a degree and our parts partaking of the nature of their food if Souldiers nourish their Bodies excessively with Wine they must retain the qualities thereof viz. softness and weakness which follow humidity Whence possibly came the word Dissolute for such as addict themselves to this debauchery and the other which follow it Therefore the Souldier would be more robust if he never drank Wine because he would eat the more and produce the more solid substance which would make him more vigorous less subject to diseases and more fit to indure in sight and undergo the other toils of War The Second said That it belongs to the prudent States-man to weigh the benefit and the mischief which may arise from his orders So that he alwayes propose to himself that he hath to do with imperfect men and who incline rather to the abuse then the right use of things This holds principally in War Souldiers willingly aiming at nothing else but pleasure and profit Even in this Age wherein we are past the Apprentisage of War except some constant Regiments Souldiers are tumultuously chosen almost alwayes out of the dregs of the people of whom to require the exercise of Temperance in the use of that which ordinarily costs them nothing were to seek an impossibility Such is Wine that though it makes the Souldier sturdy yet it makes him unfit to govern himself much less others Whereunto notwithstanding he oftentimes
entirely to the Will of God who is its Supreme Good who saith to it Eschew Evil and Follow Good The Fourth said That by the word Wisedom is generally understood all that which contributes to perfectionate a Man according to the rational part as by the word Faith we understand Christianity and a Summary of all the Christian Virtues Now it is hard to prescribe a way to such Wisedom seeing it requireth two points namely The Knowledge of Things and Moral Habits both which are infinite For all which is Sensible is the Object of our Senses and enters not by one but by all That which is Intelligible is the Object of our Understanding Moreover all the Good in the world is under the notion of Convenience or sutableness which gives it Amability the Object of our Sensitive appetite which is guided in this acquitst by the knowledge of the Senses If it is Spiritual it is the Object of the Will which pursues it by the light of the Understanding And for the eschewing of Errour in the search of those Goods Prudence intervenes which hath at its service an infinite of habits of the Mind yea the whole troop of Moral Virtues in the exercise of which there is always something to be got as there is always to be learnt in the knowledge of things Therefore every Man being fully furnish'd with what is needful to be wise he is not excusable if he become not so For he hath the seeds of Wisedom in as many manners as there are wayes to obtain it In the Understanding he hath from the Cradle Intelligence which is the Habit of first Principles and Maximes which he knoweth by the Induction of the Senses by the help of which he attaineth Science In the Will he hath the Synteresis or Conscience which is an Habitual Cognition of the Principles of Moral Actions by which he easily proceedeth to the exercise of Virtues and to the acquisition of them And further these pure Natural Principles may be assisted and reliev'd by good Instructions and especially if they who learn have Organs well dispos'd and a temper proper for becoming wise At the Hour of Inventions one undertook the proof of Archimedes's Proposition To move the Earth from its Centre if he had assign'd elsewhere a solid space and instruments proportion'd thereto in greatness and strength And it was prov'd that the Centre of Magnitude is different from that of gravity by many Mechanical Experiments After which it was resolv'd to treat at the next Conference First Of the Motion or rest of the Earth Secondly Of two monstrous Brethren living in one Body to be seen at present in this City CONFERENCE X. I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth II. Of Two Monstrous Brethren living in the same Body which are to be seen in this City I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth HE that spake first to this Point Said this Question had been in debate for more then two thousand years and the reasons brought on either side seem'd to him so strong that he knew not which to embrace That the most common opinion was that of Aristotle Ptolomy Tycho Brahe and the greatest part of Philosophers namely That the Earth is unmoveable and plac'd in the midst of the World Which Scituation is prov'd I. Because the Decorum and Symmetry of the Universe requires that every thing be plac'd according to its dignity But the Earth being the ignoblest and meanest of the Elements all which yield in point of dignity to the Heavens it ought consequently to be in the lowest place which is the Centre of the World II. The Gravity of the Earth inferreth both the one and the other namely its being in the Centre and its Immobility The former because the heaviest things tend toward the lowest place and the latter because by reason of their gravity they are less apt for motion then for rest whereunto the lowest place also contributeth For in a Circle the Centre remains unmoveable whilst the other parts thereof are mov'd III. In whatsoever place of the Earth we are we can alwayes discover one half of the Heaven and the opposite signes of the Zodiack as also experience witnesseth that when the Moon is at the Full we behold her rise just at the same time that the Sun sets Whence it followeth that the Earth is at the Centre and as it were a point in comparison to the Firmament IV. We alwayes see the Stars of the same magnitude both when they are directly over our heads and on the edge of the Horizon unless there be some hindrance by the refraction of Vapours and Clouds All which things would not be thus unless the Earth were in the midst of the World Now they have concluded the Rest and Immobility of the Earth from the following Reasons I. It is the nature of Simple Bodies to have but one Sole and Simple Motion For if two contrary Motions were in the same Subject the one would hinder the other Wherefore the Earth having by reason of its gravity a Direct perpendicular Motion of its own cannot have also a Circular and by reason of the same gravity it must needs be firm and stable not moveable II. If the Earth were mov'd then a stone or other heavy thing cast upwards would never fall down at the foot of the caster but at distance from him for during the short interval of its being in the Air the Earth will have made a great progress as it happens when one in a boat that passeth swiftly upon the Water casteth any thing upwards the same falleth a far off instead of falling into the boat III. If the Earth turn'd round then a Bullet discharg'd out of a Cannon from the West towards the East would not fly so far from the piece as one discharg'd from the East towards the West because the Earth will in the mean time by its Motion have carried the Cannon forwards to the former Bullet and remov'd it backwards from the latter IV. We should never see the Clouds unmov'd nor going towards the East but as for them that move Westward they would seem to fly as swift as lightning V. Cities and all kind of buidings would be shatter'd the Surface of the Earth would be disunited and all its parts dissipated being not so firmly link'd together as to endure such a Motion Lastly did the Earth turn round and the Air with it as is alledg'd in answer to the former reasons the Air would have been so heated since its Motion with that swiftness that the Earth would have been uninhabitable and all Animals suffocated Besides that the violence of that could Motion not have been supported by Men so long time for it is acknowledg'd that Daemons themselves cannot carry a Man from one Climate to another remote one within that short time that some Magicians have phanci'd because he would not be able to resist the violence of the agitation of the Air. The Second confirm'd this
Hierome speaks in his Epistles desiring at any rate to make a young Christian sin that he might afterwards avert him from the true Religion and finding that he had to no purpose employ'd tortures and other cruelties upon him at length shook him by the allurements of two immodest Women whose embraces he being unable longer to resist or fly from because he was bound with soft fetters he had recourse to grief biting his Tongue in two with his Teeth which were alone at liberty to moderate the excess of pleasure by that pain In fine as Enemies hid under the mask of Friends are more to be fear'd then open Enemies So Grief though a manifest Enemy to our Nature yet is not so much to be dreaded as Pleasure which under a false mask and pretext of kindness insinuates its sweet poyson into us And as of old the Psylli poyson'd Men by commending them becomes Mistress of the Man and blindes his Reason Wherefore Aristotle considering the power of Pleasure counsels him that would resist it not to behold its fore-part as it presents it self to us but the hinder-part when it parts from us and for all recompence leaves us nought but a sad repentance At the Hour of Inventions many wayes were spoken of conducing to the production or hindrance of Hair as also to the changing of its colour and some of the chief stupifyers were mention'd that serve to asswage Grief or Pain After which these two Points were chosen for that day seven-night First Of three Suns appearing at the same time Secondly Whether it be possible to love without interest and without making reflection upon one's self CONFERENCE XII I. Of Three Suns II. Whether an Affection can be without Interest I. Of three Suns HE that spake first said That the occasion of this Discourse of three Suns was the report that in August last upon the day of our Ladies Assumption there appeared three in a Village within two Leagues of Vernevil in Normandy But lest any should attribute the cause thereof to what Virgil saith made two Suns and two Cities of Thebes appear to Pentheus we read in the first book of the fifth Decade of Livius's History that there appear'd three Suns of Rome during the War against Perseus King of Macedonia and the night following many burning torches Faces Ardentes a kind of Meteor fell down in the territory of Rome which was then afflicted with a raging Pestilence The same hapned again when Cassius and Brutus were overthrown when the Civil Wars were between Augustus and Antonius and under the Emperor Claudius But the most remarkable were those two which appear'd under the Empire of Vitellius one in the East and the other in the West I come now to inquire into the Causes For if it be true that Man alone was created with a Countenance erected towards Heaven on purpose to contemplate its Wonders I conceive there are none more admirable then Meteors so nam'd by reason of the elevated aspect of Men when they admire them and amongst those Meteors there is none more excellent then that Triple Sun if the Copies resemble their Original the most admirable of all the Coelestial Bodies Nevertheless Reason given Man by God to render the most strange things familiar to him finds more facility in the knowledge of these then of many other things which are at our feet and that by Induction which it draws from Examples The Sun as every other Body fills the Air with its Images or Species which pass quite through the same unless they be reflected by some Body smooth and resplendent in its surface but opake at the bottome Such are Looking-glasses and Water whether it be upon the Earth or in the Clouds Now when a smooth Cloud that is ready to fall down in rain happens to be opposite against the Sun being terminated either by its own profundity or some other opake body it represents the figure or image of the Sun and if there happen to be another opposite to this first it reflecteth the figure in the same manner As a Looking-glass opposite to that wherein we look receives the species from the former and represents the same And if we believe Seneca there is nothing less worthy of admiration For if no body wonders to see the representation of the Sun here below in clear Water or any other resplendent body it ought to be no greater marvel that the same Sun imprints his image as well on high as below not in one Cloud or two onely but also in many as Pliny affirms that himself beheld This multiplicity of Suns which are call'd Parhelij happens usually but either at the rising or at the setting of the Sun First because the Refraction which is necessary for seeing them is not so well made to our eyes which is more remote when the Sun is in the Meridian Secondly because when the Sun is in the Meridian he is more hot and allows not the Cloud time to stay but dissolves it as soon as it becomes opposite to him which he doth not at his rising or setting being then more weak The same Cause that shews us three Suns hath also represented three Moons under the Consulship of Cn Domitius and C. Faminus as also three other which appear'd in the year 1314. after the death of S. Lewis three moneths together Which impression is called Paraselene and cannot be made but at full Moon The Second said That Parhelij do not onely appear upon the Clouds or at Sun-rise and Sun-set as the common opinion importeth for in the year 1629. on the twentieth of March the day of the Vernal Equinox four Parhelij appear'd at Rome about the true Sun between Noon and one a clock the Heaven being clear and the Sun encompass'd with a double Crown of a deeper colour then those which are seen sometimes about the Moon and are found in the circumference of a Rain-bow whose Circle is perfect Two of those false Suns occupi'd the intersections of the Solary Crown and the Iris and two others were opposite to the former in the same circumference of the Iris. Yet in my judgement this cause may be rendred of these five Suns As in the Night when the Air appears serene we many times see that the Moon radiating upon the Air of the lower Region which is more thick then the superior by reason of vapours and exhalations formes about it self a great bright Crown of about forty five degrees diametre which space is fit for the reflecting and uniting of the Lunar rayes to the Eye and by such reflection and union to cause the appearance of that Crown So also when the lower Region is full of vapours and exhalations which have not been dissipated by the Sun either because of their great quantity or viscosity or else of the coldness of the Air they render the Air more dense though serene in appearance and so more proper to receive the like impressions of the Sun In the
same manner were the Crown and the Iris produc'd for they were form'd by a reflection and refraction of the Solar rayes and consequently at the intersection of the Iris and the Crown there was a double reflection and refraction Whence at the the said intersection appear'd two false Suns sufficiently bright by the new reflection of which upon the same circumference of the Iris were formed two other Suns of less brightness The Third said That this plurality of Suns ought to be attributed to a reflection of the species of the true Sun receiv'd in some Stars so oppos'd to him that they send back his light and species and the concurse of those reflected rayes causes those masses of light to appear in the centres of concave bodies that reflect them which cannot be Clouds because they are neither smooth nor opake nor void of colour the three accidents necessary for reflection Moreover the Clouds cannot receive his species upon their uppermost surface for then they could not reflect it nor upon their lowermost or interior surface for this cannot receive it unless it be reflected from the Water and then we should not see those Suns in the Air but in the Water Nor lastly upon one side because then the Spectator must not be upon the Earth but in a line perpendicular to the diametre of the side of the Cloud according to the doctrine of the Catoptricks The Fourth said That the Clouds being polite or smooth when they are turn'd into Water and their profundity serving instead of opacity as we see in deep Waters which our sight is unable to penetrate they remit the species presented to them And the same may happen in the Air when it is condens'd Whence as Aristotle reports many have seen their own Images in the Air and some affirm that they have seen whole Cities so particularly Avignon The Fifth said That the Viscosity into which the aqueousness of those Clouds had degenerated when those four Parhelij appear'd at Rome was the cause not onely of their appearance but also of their subsistence at mid-day To the which also more concocted and condens'd must those three Suns ascrib'd which were observ'd in Spain Anno 753. for the space of three years and the three others that appear'd over the City of Theodosia on the twenty ninth of October 1596. from Sun-rise to Sun-set The Sixt said That all these difficulties inclin'd him to attribute Parhelij to one or more Clouds round and resplendent like the Sun For what unlikelihood is there that an unctuous exhalation may be elevated in the Air in a round figure which being inflam'd on all sides equally may represent by its light that of the Sun seeing Nature is much more ingenious then Art which represents him at pleasure by artificial fires and we behold even from the surface of the Earth up to the Orbes of the Planets igneous bodies of all figures and colours and those of very long continuance II. Whether any Love be without self interest Upon the Second Point the First said That 't is not without a mystery that Plato in his Convivium makes two Cupids one the Son of Venus Coelestial the other the Son of the common or Terrestrial Venus intimating thereby that there are two sorts of Love one vile and abject which is that of Concupiscence whereby a Man loves that which is agreeable to him for his own interest the other divine and perfect wherewith we love a thing for it self which kind is very rare And therefore Hesiod makes it to be born of the Chaos and the Earth to intimate that it is difficult to meet any that is pure and without any interest The Ancients have also made two Loves one of Plenty Abundance by which the Perfect loves the Imperfect to communicate thereunto what it wanteth the other of Indigence which the Defective hath towards the Perfect that it may be made perfect by it The former is that of God towards his Creatures the latter that of Creatures towards God And as for that which is found between Creatures it is more or less excellent according as it partaketh of the one or the other But to speak generally it is more noble to be lov'd then to love as it is more excellent to be sought to then to seek to another to give then to receive The Second said That there are two sorts of Love the one of Friendship the other of Desire The former causeth us to love things because they are worthy of it the latter because they are convenient for us The first is not onely possible but more natural then the second For the Love of Friendship is direct that of Concupiscence is onely by reflection Now that which is direct is in the date of Nature before the reflected the stroke is before the rebound the voice before the Echo and the Ray before the reverberation For Reflection is a re-plication or re-doubling of a thing That the Love of Desire is such I manifest It is with our Knowledge as with our Love A Man knows himself less easily then he doth others because he knows all things else by a direct action and himself by reflection He sees every thing directly but he cannot see himself saving in a Looking-glass And for that nothing enters into him but passeth through the Senses it is requisite that that which is in him come forth to re-enter again by the Senses and pass into the Mind For all Knowledge is by Assimilation as that I may see the pupil of my Eye must have the Image of the thing which I would see and so become like to it Now all resemblance is between things that are distinct So that if the Mind of Man is to know any thing of it self that thing must be abstracted and sever'd from him that it may be made like to him and consequently cannot enter into his Knowledge but by reflection in which the species loseth of its virtue as we see in the Echo which is never so natural as the voice which it imitates nor the Object in the Looking-glass as the first Object The case is the same in Love For by it we love things before we desire them Which is evident both in respect to the Object and also to the Act of Love Its Object Good includeth two things First its Nature of Good which is an Entity consider'd in it as conducing to the perfection of the thing wherein it is And Secondly its communicability or relation to other things capable of receiving its diffusion The former is the foundation and efficient emanative cause of the other which is onely a Propriety and consequently less natural because posterior and subservient to the former Moreover Love taken as an act of the Will hath the same effect according to which it is defin'd an adequateness conformity and correspondence of our heart to the thing and an approbation and complacency in the goodness which is in the Object which our Mind judging good
a certain person having been cur'd by a fast of that duration it cannot be said that all dye of that wherewith some are cur'd II. Of the Echo Upon the Second Point it was said The Echo is a reflected multiply'd and reciprocal sound or a repercussion of sound made by hollow rocks or edisices by the windings of which it comes to be redoubled as the visible species is reflected in the Mirror It is made when the sound diffus'd in the Air is driven into some hollow smooth and solid Body which hinders it from dissipating or passing further but sends it back to the place from whence it came as the wall makes the ball rebound towards him that struck the same against it According as the sound is violent and the space little or great it returns sooner or slower and makes an Echo more or less articulate It may be hence gather'd whether Sound is produc'd by the Air or some other Body since fish have the use of their Ears in the Water and the voice passeth from one end of a Pike to the other without resounding in the Air. And which is more strange strike as softly as you please with your singer upon the end of a Mast lay'd along he that layes his Ear to the other end shall hear it better then your self and a third that doth the like at the middle shall hear nothing at all In the Church de la Dorade at Tholouze he that whispers at one end of the wall is heard at the other by reason of its smoothness On the contrary it is reported that in Scotland there is a stone call'd the Deaf-stone because they which are on one side of it hear not the noise no not of Trumpets sounding on the other the stone sucking up the sound as a sponge doth Water The Second said That the Image which we see of our selves in a Looking-glass being as it were alive and yet dumb is less admirable then the Echo which we hear not and yet hear complain sing and talk with us without Body and without understanding This Echo is not onely a resilition or reflexion of the sound or voice or rather the voice it self so reflected and sent back by the opposition of some solid Body which makes it return whence it came and stops its course and flux For then it would follow that as often as we speak we should hear Echoes seeing we never speak but there is made some resilition of our voice by means of the opposition of solid Bodies near us and encompassing us on every side And yet we seldom hear any thing but our bare voice or some confus'd murmur as it happens in new houses in Churches under a vault before a wall and other such places in which we ought to hear a very articulate Echo since the voice is reflected better there then elsewhere I think therefore then the Echo is made in the same manner as the reflection of the Sun 's light or of the rayes of any other fire whatsoever by hollow mirrors which unite that light and those rayes and so produce another fire For as fire cannot be produc'd by plain or convex mirrors which reflect but one ray in one and the same place and all sorts of concave or hollow mirrors cannot be proper for it because it is necessary that the cavity be dispos'd and made in such manner that it may be able to reflect a sufficient quantity of rayes in one and the same place which being conjoyn'd and united together excite again and re-kindle that fire from which they issu'd which seem'd vanish'd by reason of the dissipation of its heat and rayes So the Echo which is nothing but the same voice reanimated and reproduc'd by the concourse and reunion of several of its rayes dissipated and afterwards reflected into one and the same place where they are united and recollected together and so become audible a second time cannot be produc'd by bare walls and vaults which do not reflect and recollect a sufficient quantity of those rayes into one and the same place but onely resemble many of them near one another whence ariseth a murmuring or inarticulate Echo Now as Art imitates Nature and sometimes surpasses her so we find there are Burning Mirrors which re-unite the rayes of fire and in like manner there may be made Artificial Echoes without comparison more perfect then those wherewith chance and the natural situation of places have hitherto acquainted us Whereunto beside what I have already mention'd the Hyperbole the Parabole and chiefly the Oval greatly conduce with some other means which are treated of in the Cataptricks The Third said The Echo the Daughter of Solitude and Secretary of weak Minds who without distrusting her loquacity fruitlesly acquaint her with their secret thoughts teaches us not to declare our secrets to any person since even stones and rocks cannot conceal them but she especially affords entertainment to Lovers possibly because she ownes the same Father with Love namely Chance For as no Love is more ardent then that which arises from the unlook'd for glances of two Eyes from the collision of which issues a spark little in the beginning but which blown up by the violence of desires grows at length into a great flame so though Art studies to imitate the natural Echo and the pretty conceits of that Nymph yet it never equals her graces which she borrows onely from the casual occurrence of certain sinuosities of Rocks and Caverns in which she resides the rest of her inveiglements remain unknown to Men The Cause why Antiquity made her a Goddess All which we can truly say of her is to define her a reflection of the voice made by an angle equal to that of incidence Which is prov'd because the Echoes in narrow turnings are heard very near him that sings 2. Nature always works by the shortest way which is the streight therefore Reflection is made by the same 3. When the voice is receiv'd in a streight line it formes no distinct Echo because it is united with the same direct line whereby it was carry'd which by that means it dissipateth and scattereth The same happens in a convex line But if the Body which receives it be concave it will recollect it from the perpendicular of the speakers mouth towards that Body and 't is by the concourse of the voice reflected in that line that the Echo is form'd 4. The Body which receives the voice must be sonorous which none is except it be hollow From which four propositions I conceive the way may be deriv'd to imitate the Echo and tame that wood-Nymph in some manner The Fourth said Vitruvius was not ignorant of this Artifice having very dextrously imitated the Nature of the Echo by the convenient situation of some earthen vessels partly empty and observing a proportion of plenitude to vacuity almost like that which some Musicians make use of to represent their six voices And that which hath been made
and imperfect and so is a second in Musick Three is the first Male and the first degree of perfection hence a Third is agreeable to the Ear. The Fourth is so likewise because it makes up the Ten. Add 1 2 3 and 4 and you have the grand Number of Ten the Father of all others Also a Fifth pleases the Ear wonderfully because it is an Abridgement of the grand Number and the marriage of the Male and the first Female The other Numbers are useless except the Eighth because Musitians call it Identity or Unity which is a Divine Number or rather no Number nor is the Eighth as delightful as it is accounted by Musitians amongst their Concords The Fourth said That the Reason why some Notes are agreeable and other unpleasing in Musick is because the former move the Faculty of the Soul after a manner sutable to it and the latter do not as we see an Example of it in Ballads and Dances where when the Violin or Minstrel hath sounded a braul which goes well to the cadence not onely the Members of the Dancers comply therewith and follow the same readily but also the Souls seemes to dance with the Bodies so great Sympathy have they with that Harmony But if on the contrary the power of the Soul be otherwise agitated at the same time that Harmony how regular soever will displease us Witness the displeasure taken at cheerful aires by those who are in Mourning to whom doleful notes better agree which on the other side are disagreeable to such as are merrily dispos'd Add hereunto the humour of the Phancy which hath an aversion to some sounds as well as to some smells For as for Discords janglings and other troublesome sounds no other cause of their general inacceptableness ought to be sought then that disproportion and deformity which is sound in things Natural and Artificial the former being more intollerable then the latter because the Eye is not struck with the visible species as the Ear is with sound and can turn away from the Object which displeaseth it which the Ear cannot and is clos'd with much more difficulty CONFERENCE XVIII I. Of the Original of Winds II. Why none are contented with their Condition I. Of the Original of Winds THere is more resemblance then one would imagine between these two poynts The Wind of the Air and that of Ambition to which the discontent of Men with their condition is commonly ascribed As for the First Some have held that all Wind even that which blows upon the Sea comes from the Earth and that the first conjecture which was entertain'd of the Region of the West Indies was taken from the Wind perceiv'd to come from that quarter But the History of Christopher Columbus attributing the discovery to Chance thereof cannot consist with that opinion There is no Meteor whose effects have more of Miracle which is defin'd An Effect whereof no Natural Cause is seen For even the Lightning is seen by the brightness of the fire which accompanies it But the effects of this aim at the highest things which it overthrows and you neither see the Agent nor understand it Yet the Sagacity of Humane Wit is admirable Sins have serv'd to clear Cases of Conscience Arsenick Sublimate and other poysons are converted by Physick into Cauteries and other profitable remedies The Civil Law hath by occasion of evil manners receiv'd addition of good Laws The Winds which drown Ships are so managed by the Art of Navigation which divides them first into four principal North East South West and then into eight by the addition of four half points and hath at length subdivided them into 32. that by their help Men sail upon the main Sea and provide forreign remedies for Physick Sugar and spices for Kitchins and employments for many other professions The Second said That though many causes may agitate the Air yet all of them are not sufficient to raise a Wind but the Air must be agitated by some Fume which is raised either from the Earth and is called an Exhalation or from the Water and is called a Vapour either of which partakes of the Nature of the Element from whence it proceeds A Vapour is moist an Exhalation dry An extrinsecal Heat which predominates in them gives them all their motions and makes them mount on high And because it is the property of Heat alwayes to move and act therefore these Fumes are so long in action as the Heat lasts They arise in company together and are carry'd upwards but are presently separated For the moisture of the Vapour quencheth the Heat which animated it so that the sole absence of the Sun or the occurse of the least Cold depriving the Vapour of the little Heat which was left in it and made it still ascend upwards it becomes more condens'd and falls down in Rain But an Exhalation hath a greater degree of Heat which is render'd more active by the driness and tenacity of the matter Therefore it ascends till it meets with the Air of the Middle Region which is thick and congeal'd by which being hinder'd â—o pass further it seeks a passage on one side or the other Many times when it strives to rise higher it becomes engag'd among Clouds which inclose it on all sides Being thus inclos'd and straitned it becomes united together and thereupon being inflam'd breaks the Clouds and causes Thunder or if it â—ind less resistance towards the Earth it descends with violence to the place from whence it arose and makes Whirl-winds But if such Exhalation have not time enough to mount as far as the Middle Region as it happens most frequently but as soon as it is drawn up be hinder'd and inclos'd by the Vapour turn'd into thick and cold Air in the Lower Region of the Air then Winds are produc'd in this manner This Exhalation being unable to mount upwards because the whole Region is full of thick Air which resists it it must go either on one side or other wherefore it tends that way where it meets least resistance And whereas there are certain seasons wherein the Air is sometimes less thick towards the South others wherein it is so towards the North and the other quarters of Heaven thence it is that the Winds blow there most usually Moreover the reason why the Wind hath a kind of whistling is because the Exhalation clasheth with violence against that thick Air. Hence also it is that Winds are more ordinary in the Night and about Evening because in those times the Vapour looseth its Heat through the Suns absence and so being become a thick Air better incloseth the Exhalation and resisteth the same with more force But as the Air which issueth out of our Lungs is hot yet if it be sent forth with some little violence it becometh cold So though the Exhalation which causeth Wind be never without Heat yet we never feel the Wind hot Not that the Air loseth its Heat by motion
that of the Moon is cause of that of the Sea For if it were then when the Moon is longest above our Horizon as in long dayes the ebbing and flowing would be greatest but it is equal and regular as well when the Moon is below the Horizon as above it And why also doth not she move the other Seas and all sorts of Waters as well as the Ocean The Third said That there are two sorts of Water in the Sea one terrene thick and viscous which contains the Salt the other thin sweet and vaporous such as that which Aristotle saith enters through the Pores of a vessel of wax exactly stop'd and plung'd to the bottome of the Sea This thin Water being heated is rarifi'd and turn'd into vapours which consequently require more room then before They seek for it but being restrain'd and inclos'd in the thick and viscous Water can find no issue and therefore make the Water of the Sea to swell and rise till that Exhalation be disengag'd from those thick Waters and then the Sea returnes to its natural state by falling flat and becoming level This is abundantly confirm'd by the Tydes which are alwayes greater in March and August then at other seasons because at that time more abundance of vapours is drawn up But why have not Lakes also an Ebbing and Flowing Because their Water being more thin le ts pass those vapours which the Sun hath stirr'd and so not being hinder'd from going away as those of the Sea are they do not make the Water rise and swell So Heat having subtiliz'd and converted into vapours the most tenuious parts of the Milk upon the Fire the thicker parts of the same coming to enclose them are the cause that it swells and rises up But when it is remov'd from the fire or its vapours have gotten passage by agitation it takes up no more roome then it did at first But it is not so with Water plac'd upon the Fire the rarity of its Body giving free issue to the vapours which the Heat excites in it The Jewish Sea is bituminous and therefore no more inflated then pitch possibly because the parts thereof being Homogeneous cannot be subtiliz'd apart For as for the Mediterranean Seas having no Flux and Reflux I conceive it is hindred by another motion from North to South because the Septentrional parts being higher then the Austral all Waters by their natural gravity tend that way The Fourth said I acknowledge with Aristotle that 't is partly the Sun that causes the Flux and Reflux of the Sea because 't is he that raises most of the Exhalations and Winds which beating upon the Sea make it swell and so cause the Flux and soon after failing the Sea falls again which is the Reflux Nevertheless because this cause is not sufficient and cannot be apply'd to all kinds of Flux and Reflux which we see differ almost in all Seas I add another thereunto Subterranean Fires which sending forth continually abundance of Exhalations or subtile Spirits and these Spirits seeking issue drive the Water of the Sea which they meet till it overflows and thus it continues till being deliver'd from those Spirits it falls back into its channel till it be agitated anew by other Exhalations which successively follow one another and that more or less according to the greater or lesser quantity of those Spirits The Tydes which happen every two hours are an evidence of great quantity those which happen every four hours of less and those which happen every six of least of all So there is made in our Bodies a Flux and Reflux of Spirits by the motion of Reciprocation call'd the Pulse consisting of a Diastole and a Systole or Dilatation and Contraction caus'd by the Vital Faculty of the Heart the Fountain of Heat Moreover as the Pulse is ordinarily perceiv'd better in the Arms and other extreme parts then in the rest of the Body So the Flux and Reflux is more evident at the shores then in the main Sea Therefore Aristotle proposing the Question why if some solid Body as an Anchor be cast into the Sea when it swells it instantly becomes calm answers That the solid Body cast into the Sea makes a separation in the surface thereof and thereby gives passage to the Spirits which were the cause of that Commotion Now if it be demanded Why such motion is not so manifest in the Mediterranean Sea and some others as in the Ocean it is answer'd that the reasons thereof are 1. Because Nature having given sluces to the Mediterranean higher then to the Ocean it hath not room wherein to extend it self so commodiously 2. Because the Subterranean Fires being united and continually vented forth by the Out-lets which they have in Aetna Vesuvius and other Mountains within or near that Sea there remains less then is needful to make a rising of the Waters The Fifth said I conceive there is as little cause and reason to be sought of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea as of all other motions proceeding from Forms informing or assisting the Bodies which they move As it would be impertinent to ask what is the cause of the motion of a Horse seeing the most ignorant confess that it is from his Soul which is his Form So there is more likelihood of truth in attributing the motion of the Sea to its Form then to any other thing Yet because they who assign a Soul to the World and all its parts cannot make out such a proportion therein as is requisite to the parts of an Animal I think more fit to affirm that the Sea hath a Form and Intelligence assisting to it which was assign'd to it by God from the beginning to move it in the same manner as the Intelligences according to Aristotle are assistant to the Coelestial Orbes and continue their motion II. Of the Point of Honour It was said upon the Second Point That since Contraries give light to one another we may better understand what Honour is by considering the Nature of Dishonour For where ever there is Blame there is also Honour opposite to it Now there is no Man that sees a vile action as amongst Souldiers Murder or Cowardice Collusion or Perfidiousness in Justice but he blames the same and judges the Author thereof worthy of Dishonour On the conrary a brave Exploit and a Courageous Action is esteemed by Enemies themselves The incorruptible Integrity of a Judge is oftentimes commended by him that â—oses his Suit and the Courageous Fidelity of an Advocate in well defending his Client receives Praise even from the Adversary so odious is Vice and so commendable is Virtue Wherefore every one abhorring Blame and Dishonour doth so vehemently hate the memory and reproach of any thing that may bring it upon him that many imitate what the Fable telleth of Jupiter who going to shake off the ordure which the Beetle had laid upon the skirt of his garment by that means shook out the Eggs
of rivers not being sufficient alone to hinder it if the salt did not preserve it from corruption as it doth all other things and to the end that its waters being salt and by that means more terrene and thick might bear not onely Whales and other Fishes of enormous bignes but also the great Ships necessary for the commerce of distant Climates and the mutual transportation of commodities wherewith each Country abounds whereby the life of men is render'd far more delightful For experience teaches that an egge will swim in a Vessel of water sufficiently salted but sink in fresh And the Chirurgions have no surer way then this to know whether the Lixivium or Lee wherewith they make their potential Cauteries be strong enough Now the Ocean imparts its saltness to all Seas which have communication with it Whence the Caspian Sea is fresh because 't is separated from it And 't is no more strange that saltness is natural to the Sea then that many other bodies amongst Plants and Minerals have a measure of it The earth is almost every where salt as appears by Salt-peter Vitriol Alum and other kinds of Salt which are drawn out of pits little deeper then the surface and crust of the earth which is incessantly wash'd and temper'd with water And amongst Plants Sage Fearn and many other taste of salt which being augmented turns into the bitterness and acrimony which is found in Wormwood Spurge and many other Herbs all which yea every other body partake thereof more or less as Chymical operations manifest The Second said Being we are not to recur to supernatural causes unless natural fail us methinks 't is more fit to refer the Sea's saltness to some natural cause then to the first creation or to the will of the Creator I conceive therefore that the cause of this Saltness is the Sun who burning the surface of the earth leaves as 't were hot and dry ashes upon it which by rain are carried into the rivers and thence into the Sea Besides the Sun elevating continually from the Sea by its heat the freshest parts of it as being the lightest and neerest the nature of air the more terrestrial and salt remain in the bottom or else the sea-Sea-waters gliding through the bowels of the earth to maintain springs leave thicker parts as those dry and acid ashes behind which by their mixture produce this saltness and bitterness in the Sea Nor is it to be wonder'd that the heavenly bodies draw so great a quantity of waters out of the Sea for though the Vessel be very large yet is the heat of the Sun able to heat it since it reaches so deep as to concoct Metals in the entrails of the earth And if it were not thus all the rivers disgorging themselves into the sea it would long ago have overflown the earth But to know how nature makes the saltness of the Sea let us see by what artifice Salt is made in our Pits 'T is made by the same activity of the Sun which draws up the sweet parts of the water and condenseth the salt Whereby it appears that it is but a further progress of the first action of the same Sun who dispos'd the Sea-water to become the matter of such Salt The Third said A thing may become salt two ways either by separation of the sweetest and subtilest parts and leaving only the earthy which come neer the nature of salt or else by mixture of some other body either actually or potentially salt The Sea acquires saltness by both these ways For first it hath two sorts of water the one subtile and light the other thick and terrestrial after the Sun hath drawn up in vapour the more subtile of these waters and by its continual heat concocted the thick and terrene remainder which having not been able to ascend by reason of its ponderosity remains on the upper part of the water and gives it that saltness which is again remov'd when the sea-water being strain'd and filtr'd through the earth or by other ways formerly mention'd in this Company in discourse concerning the original of waters comes forth in springs and rivers which no longer retain the nature of their source because they bring not along with them the earthy part in which the saltness consists Now that the salt part is more gross then the fresh appeares in that the former becomes thick and the latter not Thus the freshest things become salt by the fire whose heat separates the subtile parts from the thick As for the second way as the waters carry with them the qualities of places through which they pass whence they are mineral or metallick and as in a Lixivium fresh water passing through ashes becomes salt so the sea-waters acquire and increase their saltness by mixture of salt bodies such as are the Hills of salt as Cardan holds which are produc'd anew like Sulphur and Bitumen in burning Mountains Now this saltness is caus'd either by rains full of mineral spirits which abound in acrimony or by the cinereous parts of the earth scorch'd by the Sun or lastly as things pass'd through the fire taste always of an Empyreuma or turning-to so the subterranean fires likely to be as well in the bottom as in the middle and borders of the Sea as they are ordinarily impart bitterness and saltness to it For as for those who say 't is nothing else but the sweat of the earth they speak saith Aristotle more like Poets then Philosophers And this metaphor is more proper to explain the thing then shew its true cause The Fourth said That all secrets consisting in the salt if we believe the Chymists 't is not to be wonder'd if it be difficult to find the cause of it it being the property of secrets to be hid And to practise the Rule which injoyns to credit every expert person in his own Art I shall for this time be contented with this reason drawn from their Art They hold the Salt to be the balsam of nature the connecter of the body with the spirit for they alot spirits to all bodies so that every body lasts more or less according to the salt which it hath and the salt in like manner remains longer or shorter according as it is fix'd or volatile This being premis'd I should think that this great compounded body the World needing a great quantity of Salt answerable to its vast bulk Nature could not find any other sufficient receptacle for it but the Ocean II. Whether is the better Flesh or Fish Upon the second Point it was said The word Best is taken at the table and amongst food with reference to the Taste in Physick for most healthful or wholsome In Divinity for most conducible to salvation and proper to the soul In Policy for most commodious to the publick For as the word good is a Transcendent passing through all the Categories of substances and accidents its comparatives also do the like Leaving to Divines the
also instanc'd to comprehend all Vices as Justice contains in it self all Virtues For he who is proud covetous prodigal or a Murtherer would not be so if he were not unjust whilst he attributes more to himself and less to others then is due And for conclusion it was said That as of the diseases of the Body those are term'd the greatest which invade the most noble part or have the most dangerous symptomes as the prick of a pin in the heart is more mortal then the cutting off of an arm and the same puncture is more perillous when Convulsions thereupon befall the whole body then a wound with a sword in some fleshy part without any accidents so Ignorance and Imprudence are the greatest vices because they possess the most noble Faculty of man the Understanding and produce all the rest At the hour of Inventions a Proposition was reported to draw Smith's-coal out of the lands of this Kingdom and in so doing to cut channels for the draining of Marshes and making rivers Navigable in order to the conveniency of transportation sacilitation of commerce feeding of Cattel and preservation of Forests This Invention besides the advantage it will bring to the meaner sort of people in reference to their domestick fuel is of much benefit for the making of Brick Tile and Lime as much of which may be made thereby in three days as is made in eight or nine with wood which is the ordinary fashion It will be a matter of great saving to the whole Kingdom especially to the abovesaid Artists who are here in great number and are forc'd to buy such Coal from England at dear rates The Proposer offer'd to continue the experience which he had made thereof at his own charges for satisfaction of the curious CONFERENCE XXXVII I. Of the Cabala II. Whether the truth ought always to be spoken I. Of the Cabala THat which hath hapned to many other words as Tyrant and Magician which at their first institution were taken in a good sense but have abusively degenerated into odious significations is found likewise in the word Cabala which according to its genuine importance signifies nothing else but Tradition and comes from the Verb Cabal denoting with the Hebrews to give or receive 'T is a mystical doctrine concerning God and the creatures which the Jews receiv'd by tradition from Father to Son If we may give credit to them it Began in Adam who had a perfect knowledge not only of the whole nature and property of things corporeal but also of the Divine nature of the mysteries of Religion and of the redemption of mankind which his Angel Raziel assur'd him was to come to pass by means of a just man whose name should consist of four letters which is the cause say they that most part of the Hebrew names are of four letters in their language wherein the vowels are no letters Adam taught these mysteries to his children they to their successors until Abraham and the Patriarchs But they say Moses learn'd it anew from the mouth of God during the forty days that he was in the Mount where he receiv'd two Laws one written with the hand of God compriz'd in the two Tables of stone the other not written and more mysterious the former for all in general the latter for the learned and skill'd in mysteries of Religion which is that which Moses taught the seventy Elders of the People chosen by himself according to the counsel of Jethro his Father-in-law and they transfer'd the same to the Prophets Doctors of the Law Scribes Pharisees Rabbines and Cabalists The Second said That in order to judge of the Cabala 't is requisite to know what the Philosophy of the Jews was as the Stoicks Peripateticks Pyrrhonians and other Philosophers had their peculiar Sects 'T is divided commonly into that of things and that of words or names The first is call'd by the Rabbines Bereschit the second Mercana That which treats of things by the Cabalists call'd Sephiroch that is to say numbers or knowledges for with them to number and to know are almost synonymous is either Philosophical or Theological The Philosophical comprehends their Logick Physicks Metaphysicks and Astronomy In Logick they treat of the ten lesser Sephiroth which are so many steps or degrees for attaining to the knowledge of all things by means of Sense Knowledge or Faith and they are divided into three Regions In the lowest which is made by the sense are 1 the Object 2 the Medium or Diaphanum 3 the External sense In the second and middle region are 4 the Internal or common Sense 5 the Imagination or Phancie 6 the Estimative Faculty or inferior Judgement In the third and supream 7 the Superior and Humane Judgement 8 Reason 9 The Intellect 10 and lastly the Understanding or Mens which performs the same office to the Soul that the Eye doth to the Body whom it enlightens For example when I hear a Cannon discharg'd the sound comes to my ears by the medium of the air then the Common Sense receiving this species of the sound transmits the same to the Imagination and the Estimative Faculty judges thereof simply as beasts would do afterwards the Judgement apprehends the essence of the sound Reason searches the causes thereof and the Intellect considers them but lastly the Understanding or Mens call'd by the Cabalists Ceter that is a Crown by way of excellence receiving light from on high irradiates the Intellect and this all the other Faculties And these are the degrees of Cabalistical knowledge In the other parts of their Philosophy they treat of the fifty gates of light Whereof the 1. is the Divine Essence the Symbol of which is the Tetragrammaton and ineffable name of God The 2. gate is the Archetypal World the knowledge of which two gates they say was hid even to Moses The 3. is the Earth 4. Matter 5. Vacuum or Privation 6. The Abysse 7. The Fire 8. The Air 9. The Water 10. The Light 11. The Day 12. Accidents 13. The Night 14. The Evening 15. The Morning And after many other things they constitute Man for the 50th gate To arrive to the knowledge of these 50 gates they have invented 32 Flambeaux or Torches to guide them into the secrets contained therein which they call the paths of Wisdom namely the Intelligence miraculous or occult Intelligence sanctifying resplendent pure dispositive eternal corporeal c. The Theological Cabala treats of God and Angles Of God by expounding the names of 12 and 42 letters yea they attribute seven hundred several ones to him and particularly the ten Divine Attributes which they term the grand Sephiroth namely Infinity Wisdom Intelligence Clemency or Goodness Severity Ornament Triumph Confession of praise Foundation and Royalty whereby God governs all things by weight number and measure Of Angels namely of the 32 abovesaid Intelligences call'd by them the paths of wisdom for they make them so many Angels and of seventy two other
said That as health is a Symmetrie and fit proportion of all the humours while they continue in society one with another so a Fever is a discomposure thereof when some one comes to infringe the obedience which it owes to the laws of the Compositum and to usurp a Tyranny over the rest In which case they do as States who apprehend their own ruine by the too great increase of a potent neighbour they unite against it and go to assail it all together Upon this shock the natural heat retires to the Heart which is the centre of the Body as if it call'd its Councel hence proceeds the cold fit of the Fever during which the extreme parts destitute of their ordinary heat fall into trembling shivering and chattering as it comes to pass upon the Earth when the Sun is very remote from it But Nature at length getting the mastery is not contented to return the Blood to the parts who were depriv'd thereof in the same condition that they lent it to her she drives it into them with a new heat acquir'd by the vicinity of the Heart which is the source thereof and augmented by the reciprocation of its motion But as no violent thing is of long continuance this heated Blood causing its sharpest serosities to pass through the skin by sweat becomes asswaged and as water remov'd from off the fire ceases to boyle it no longer extends the Veins nor stimulates the Arteries whether this Crisis perfectly terminates the disease as in Continual Fevers or the Fit onely as in Intermitting which leaving a leven of the Fever how little soever in the humours and an empyreuma or combustion in the parts the best Aliments yea the most laudable humours if any such remain in the Body are as easily turn'd into the matter of the Fever as the best Wine is spoyl'd when it is pour'd upon a corrupted lee in a musty vessel And 't is not so much to be wonder'd that this corruption is made regularly in the time of half a day in Quotidians of one day in Tertians and of two in Quartans as that the Periods of Fevers are sometimes irregular as is seen in Erratical Fevers considering that all generations and corruptions are reciprocal and have their limited time Thus 't is a less wonder that Women are ordinarily deliver'd of Children likely to live in the ninth and seventh moneths then if they were deliver'd so in all the other moneths indifferently which hath place in all other motions of Nature who doth every thing according to number weight and measure II. Of Friendship Upon the Second Point the First said Friendship is a powerfull and streight Union which conjoynes the lover and the loved party together making one whole of these two parts like that bond which in Nature unites the Matter and the Form the Accident and the Substance The cause of it is Goodness which being proportionate to the Body produceth a natural Amity to the Passions an Animal Amity to the Understanding a Rational one to the Laws a Political or Civil to Religion a Divine one This Goodness consisting in a Proportion and Symmetry is not different from Beauty and therefore we apprehend Beauty in good things and goodness and convenience in such as are handsome and gracefull The Second said besides goodness which is the cause of Friendship and towards which our will is as necessarily carry'd as the Intellect is towards Truth and all the Senses towards their proper objects Resemblance and Friendship it self are the causes of Friendship The first is founded upon the Love which we bear to our selves For as we love our selves above any thing else in this world so we love those who resemble us and symbolize with our humours and inclinations Hence it is that one of the most common courses to please is to conform our selves to those by whom we desire to be affected we never contradict their Judgement we have no other Will but theirs we frame our selves to their gestures and actions without excepting those which are imperfect Then Friendship the second means of acquiring Love is no less effectual it being almost impossible not to love them who love us Whence the Ancients feign'd Love to be the most ancient of all the gods intimating that Love hath no other Principle or Origine but Love it self And they who assign'd him a Companion which they styl'd Anteros signifi'd thereby that Friendship cannot last unless it be mutual The Third said That Friendship must be distinguish'd from Love For Love is a Passion of the Concupiscible Appetite arising from the imagination of a sensible good and is found even in brute beasts But friendship is one of the most excellent vertues or rather the fruit of accomplish'd and perfect vertue 't is indeed very rare because it hath place only amongst excellent persons who are very few uniting and making them conspire together in the exercises of vertue But being once establish'd it is very durable inasmuch as its cause and foundation Vertue always remains and may be exercis'd Therefore Seneca pronounces that the friendship which knows an end was never true Some friendships there are indeed the most whose foundation is Profit and Pleasure but they are always imperfect Whence it is that old men and young men are ordinarily accounted incapable of true friendship the former because they scarce regard any thing besides Profit and the latter because their minds are more set upon what is pleasant and agreeable then upon what is honest or vertuous Nor is it ever found amongst wicked persons For 1. a perfect friend must love another as much as himself And although the affection we bear to our selves be not true friendship because this must always have reference to another yet it is the most certain yea the measure of perfect friendship and God hath appointed it as the rule of our love to our Neighbour Now how can he be a perfect friend who doth not love himself How can he agree with another who accords not with himself and how will he do good to another who doth none to himself for a vicious man is his own chiefest enemy whilst he pursues the false and imaginary good in stead of the true vice instead of vertue the shadow for the body and many times he becomes his own murderer by intemperance and other vices He hath always a civil war within himself his Reason is never at peace with his Appetite what one desires the other rejects Consequently he hath never any inward joy but he is greatly displeas'd with being alone and for that reason always seeks the company of those like himself to divert his sad thoughts The Fourth said There is nothing comparable to Friendship which is the salt and seasoning of humane life the presever of societies and the most agreeable and sweetest consolation that persons of vertue and honour can have by help of which a man finds another self to whom he may entrust his most secret
this charge comes to may be taken for profit upon the Pawn and added to the principal but the remainder restor'd to the owner And nothing above this is to be suffer'd CONFERENCE XLIV I. How Minerals grow II. Whether it be best to know a little of every thing or one thing exactly I. How Minerals grow UNder Minerals are comprehended Metals Stones and all sorts of Fossilia or things dig'd out of the earth The causes of their growing or augmentation are here inquir'd All the world agrees that they grow excepting those who hold that God created them at the beginning together with the earth But they who have kept a stone in water for a long time and find the same increas'd in bigness will confute that opinion by this experiment as also the experience of Miners doth who having exhausted a Mine of its Metal find more in it after some years and when they discover Mines as yet imperfect they cover the same again with earth and after some space of time find them fit to be wrought upon and as it were arriv'd to their maturity This is also verifi'd by that Chymical operation call'd vegetable Gold and pieces of Cinnabar or Quick-silver mingled with Sulphur melted and put amongst the filings of Silver being set over a furnace in a well luted Vessel produceth pure Silver though of less profit then curiosity For this visible artifice seems to prove the invisible one of nature according to the opinion of Philosophers who hold that all Metals are made of Quick-silver and Sulphur So that we must not seek other causes of their generation and increasing then a new accession of that matter either gliding along the veins of the earth or reduc'd first into vapour by heat and then condens'd by cold The Second said That he was of Cardan's opinion who assigns a particular vegetative soul to all Minerals as well as to all Plants whereunto they have great resemblance not only in that they have some virtues and faculties alike yea far more excellent which cannot come but from a principle of life since action is the indication of life but also because they grow according to all their dimensions as Plants do have a conformation and configuration which is common to Plants with them attract retain and concoct the nourishment which they receive from the earth by their veins and passages and have also an expulsive faculty which is not in Plants casting forth their dross and exhaling their superfluous vapours They have also roots and barks as Trees have their substance is of parts organical and really dissimilar though in appearance some of them seem to be similar and homogeneous and Lead out of which are extracted Salt or Sugar Quick-silver and Sulphur is no more a similar body then Ebeny Box and Milk out of which such different substances are drawn The Third said That before we can know whether Minerals live we must first understand how life is caus'd in man who is to be as the rule of all living things It consists but in one sole action to wit that of Heat upon Humidity which it rarefies and subtilizes causing the same to ascend by little and little out of the intestines through the Mesentery to the Liver Heart and Brain in each of which it casting off its excrementitious parts it acquires a new perfection the utmost in the Brain where it becomes a very thin spirit capable of receiving any form even that of light as appears by the internal splendor of our sight and that brightness which is sometimes seen outwardly upon some Bodies In Plants are found the like cavities destinated to receive and prepare their nourishment which heat attracts into them and their knots are so many repositories wherein that heat is re-united and takes new strength till being arriv'd at the top of the Plant according to the rectitude of the fibres it circulates the matter so carried up that it spreads into branches leaves and fruit For as humidity is of it self immoveable and incapable of any action so being accompani'd with heat it moves every way and there is no need of admitting an attractive faculty in each part since it is carried thereunto sufficiently of it self Natural heat indeed drives it upwards but all unusual heat makes it break out collaterally as is seen in sweat for no eruption of humidity is caus'd but by the excess of some strange heat not proper or natural Now we may observe these tokens of life in the production of Minerals their vaporous matter being first sublim'd and purifi'd by heat and then incorporated with themselves But because all Natures works are occult and the instrument she uses to wit natural heat is imperceptible 't is no wonder if it be hard to know truly how Minerals hid in the earth grow since we are ignorant how the accretion of Plants expos'd to our view is made we perceive them to have grown but not to grow as the shadow on on the Dyal is observ'd to have gone its round yet appears not to move at all Nevertheless the Arborists would have us except the Plant of Aloes out of this number whose flower and trunk at a certain time shoot forth so high and so speedily that the motion thereof is perceptible to the eye The Fourth said That the generation of some Minerals is effected by heat and of others by cold the former by coction and the latter by concretion or co-agulation which two agents are discover'd by the dissolution of Metals For such as are made by cold are melted by its contrary Heat as Lead Silver and other Metals and those which are made by heat dissolve in water as all Salts provided neither the one nor the other be so compact and close that they admit not the qualities of their contraries for which reason Glass which is concocted by fire is not dissolv'd in water and the Diamond Marble and some other stones congealed by cold are not melted by fire But their accretion is not made by any vital principle but only by a new apposition of matter Moreover they have no sign of inward life as nutrition equal and uniform augmentation in all their parts which should be distinct and organiz'd certain constant terms and limits of magnitude and resemblance of figure and conformation both internal and external between all individuals of the same species For Minerals having no cavities cannot receive aliment inwardly They grow as long as matter is supply'd to them and that inequally Their figure is indeterminate and various according to the casual application of their matter in the veins of the earth and their parts are all alike The barks roots and veins attributed to them have nothing but the shape of those things not the use no more then the paps of men Nor do they bear flowers fruits or seeds nor produce or multiply themselves any other way as Plants do The Fifth said We give appellations or names to things from their external form because
should be wrought out with fear and trembling CONFERENCE XLVI I. Of Vacuity II. Of the extravagance of Women I. Of Vacuum THe Vulgar call that empty which is not fill'd with some visible body But the Philosophers give this name to a place destitute of all corporeity whatsoever yet capable of being fill'd at least if any such can be in nature For it cannot be understood of those imaginary spaces beyond the heavens which Pythagoras said serv'd for their respiration whereof he conceiv'd they stood in need as animals do Democritus and Leucippus admitted a two-fold Vacuum one in the Air serving for local motion the other in all mixt Bodies requisite to the internal growth and also to the lightness of things alledging that according as their atomes are closely or loosely connected and of various figures so bodies are light or heavy But these Opinions being antiquated I adhere to the common one which admits no vacuum at all The Second said Since Nature abhors vacuum there must be such a thing for of two contraries the one supposes the other And indeed 't is impossible for any local motion condensation or rarefaction and inward augmentation to be made without admitting vacuity For as for local motion when a body removes out of a place that into which it enters is either full or empty not full for then it could not receive a new body without penetration of dimensions which nature cannot suffer therefore it must be empty For this reason Melissus affirm'd that all things are immoveable For being unable to comprehend how motion could be made without and unwilling to admit vacuity therefore he deny'd both To say that bodies give way one to another is to increase the difficulty instead of resolving it for the body which gives place to another must displace a third and this a fourth and so to infinity So that to avoid admitting little pores or interstices in the air into which it may be compacted we must affirm that the air of our Antipodes is agitated at every the least motion of a finger here Moreover Vacuum is prov'd by condensation and rarefaction For the former being made when a body is reduc'd into a lesser extent and its parts approach neerer one another without loss of any either these parts penetrate one another or else there was some void space which is possess'd by themselves when they are thrust together seeing if they had been so contiguous as that there were not any empty pores between them they could not have come closer together Likewise rarefaction being caus'd when the parts recede one from another if no other body interpose there must needs be a vacuum between the parts or else they must have been one within another If it be said that proportionably as one thing is condens'd in one place another is as much rarefi'd somewhere else to fill up the vacuum and so on the contrary this is harder to be conceiv'd then a vacuum Lastly accretion or growth which is caus'd by the reception of aliment in the body could not be made if three were not some void passages to receive this aliment And to conclude experience shews us that a pail of water will receive its own measure of ashes or lime which it could not do if there were no vacuity The Third said That every thing affects unity not only because God who is the universal cause of all is one and most simple and every thing ought to be like its cause but for that all things find their good and conservation in unity as they do their ruine in dis-union Wherefore every thing in the world is so united that there is not any empty space between two and contiguity is as necessary in the parts of the world as continuity in those of a living creature For if there were a Vacuum in the world the Heavens could not transmit their influences into the Elements and their compounds for the preservation of which the same are absolutely necessary considering that whatever acts upon a distant thing must do it by some medium uniting the agent and the patient The Fourth said Since Nature offers violence to her self to prevent inanity and all things quit their particular interest for that of the publick undoubtedly there is no such thing as vacuum in Nature For we see that she makes heavy things to ascend light things to descend and breaks the solidest and strongest things without any external violence only to avoid the inconvenience of vacuity If bellows be compress'd and the holes stop'd no humane force can expand them without breaking a bottle of what material soever fill'd with boiling water and stop'd and put into cold immediately flies in pieces You cannot draw Wine out of a vessel unless you give entrance to the air at the bung-hole A vessel being full of heated air and its orifice apply'd to the water sucks the same upwards A Cupping-glass when the heated and subtile air in it becomes condens'd and takes up less room attracts the flesh into it self Syphons and Pumps by which the water is made to ascend higher then its source are founded wholly upon this eschewing of vacuity Our own bodies also afford us an instance for the aliment could not be assimilated in each part without the suction and attraction which is made of it to supply the place of what is consum'd by exercise or heat otherwise the blood and nourishment would tend only downwards by their own weight And what makes the effects of blood-letting and purgation so sensible but this very flight of Vacuum The Fifth said A notable vacuity and of great extent cannot be without miracle but some small interspers'd inanities may be between the particles of the Elements and Compounds like the pores of our bodies for Nature abhors the former and can do nothing without the latter it being impossible for Qualities to be transmitted to any subject through a great vacuum which would hinder the perception of our senses and the fire it self from heating at the least distance There could be no breathing in it Birds could not fly in it in brief no action could be exercis'd in it but those whereof the principle is in the thing it self and which need no medium as local motion which would be more easily made because there would be no resistance The Sixth said Nature doth what she can to hinder a vacuum yet suffers one when she is forc'd to it For if you suck out all the air out of a bottle then stop it exactly and having put it under water with the mouth downwards open it again the water will immediately ascend to fill the vacuity left by the exsuction of the air And if with a Syringe you force air into a vessel strong enough to endure such violence when the pores of the air which were empty before come to be fill'd it will of its own accord drive out the water very impetuously which was put first into it Likewise though the air
melancholy the latter least of all in regard of the solidity and dryness of their brain and the thickness of their blood Although there is a sort of melancholy not-natural much abounding in serosities and for that reason styl'd Aqueous by Hippocrates Now weeping is caus'd in this manner A sad subject seising upon the Heart the Arteries carry the fuliginous vapours thereof to the brain which discharging the same into the sink call'd the Infundibulum or Tunnel they seek issue at the next passages which are the mouth the nose and the eyes at the great angle or Canthus where the Glandula Lachrymalis or Weeping Kernel is seated which hath a hole like the point of a needle This Glandule is made very small whereas the Spleen which causeth Laughter and the Liver which causeth Love are very large because Man might possibly want subjects for the two former and consequently ought to be provided for but not matter of sadness The Second said As amongst Animals Man hath the greatest brain so he needs the most Aliment and consequently makes more excrements then any other these are collected in the anterior Ventricles and between the membranes where they remain till the Expulsive Faculty incommoded by their too great quantity or pungent quality expells them by the usual passages and thus they supply wax to the Eares mucosity to the Nose and tears to the Eyes Whereby it appears that tears are not alwayes signes of Pusillanimity since they proceed from causes which no body can avoid Moreover Joy as well as Sorrow expresses tears though by means wholly contrary For Joy dilating and opening the passages by its heat causes those humidities to issue forth and Grief compressing the passages forces the same out as a spunge yields forth the water which it had imbib'd if you either dilate it or squeeze it Their saltness bitterness and acrimony is common to them with all the serosities of the body which they acquire by their continuance they make in the brain as their heat by the spirits which accompany them For the tears both of Joy and Sadness are hot or rather tepid though those shed in Joy seem cold because the cheeks are warme in Joy which draws the heat and spirits from the centre to the circumference and in Sadness they appear hot because they drop upon the cheeks which are cold through the absence of the heat and spirits caus'd by sadness to retire inward But those Tears which proceed from a disease as from a defluxion or distillation are really cold because they are caus'd by the crudity of the humours The Third said That Tears of sorrow come not from compression for we cannot weep in a great sadness but from a particular virtue which grief hath to send them forth For Nature being willing to drive away the cause of Grief sends the heat and spirits towards it which heating the external parts attract the humours thither Hence it is Onyons lancinating the Eyes by their sharp spirits cause weeping as smoke likewise doth and the steadfast beholding of an object and too radiant a light by the pain which they cause to the sight Nor do's this hold good onely in pain but in grief particularly in compassion which is a grief we resent for anothers misery For the consideration of a sad object setting the humours in motion and attenuating them causeth them to distill forth by the Eyes mouth and nose This is also the reason why those who run impetuously on horse-back or afoot sometimes drop rears for the heat excited by this motion draws sweat forth over all the body and tears to the Eyes being of the same nature with sweat Unless you rather think that this may be caus'd by the coldness of the new Air which condenses and presses forth these humidities Wherefore we cannot absolutely pronounce that tears are Symptomes of Pusillanimity seeing 't is not in our power to restrain them what ever courage we have and oftentimes example no less invites us then duty obliges us to let this torrent take its course The Fourth said If it be true that the most couragious are of the hottest constitution 't will follow that tears are rather a sign of Magnanimity then of Cowardice since they are most frequent to such as abound in heat and moisture For as water issues out of green wood heated by the fire so tears are forc'd out of the Eyes by the internal heat excited by Joy Grief Anger or other disorderly motion For through the immoderateness of this heat the coldness of the Brain is increas'd by Antiperistasis and endeavours to with-stand it for which purpose it collects together abundance of cold vapours which the heat over-powering causes that cloud of humour condens'd by cold to distill by the Eyes in a showre of tears Yet if this be done too often then the same happens to the man as doth to a stick or cudgel which being too much bow'd one way and the other is at length broken In like manner a couragious person often provok'd so farr as to weep at last becomes relax'd and softned through the loss and consumption of his spirits which are the instruments of Courage Therefore to weep too often is a sign of Pusillanimity and softness never to weep is stupidity to weep sometimes for the miserable estate whereinto this valley of tears reduces us 't is necessity Indeed Our Lord wept often Saint Peter so courageous that he struck the onely blow mention'd in the Gospel wept bitterly And Alexander wept for the death of Darius as his own Triumphs caus'd Caesar to weep in whom it was accounted Humanity that he wept at the sight of Pompey's head as David did for the death of Saul The Fifth said That as griefs are diminish'd by weeping so it may seem that tears should soften the courage which proceeds from anger as most doth And as pity is opposite to revenge so tears seem contrary to valour since they are so both to revenge and choler which are the effects of magnanimity Add hereunto that we live by example and therefore seeing tears more frequent to weak and effeminate persons then to others we easily draw a general consequence although the same admit many exceptions CONFERENCE L. I. Whether Colours are real II. Whether is better to speak well or to write well I. Whether Colours are real THe knowledge of men is never compleat what they know in one manner they are ignorant of in another Nothing is so manifest to the sense as colour nothing so obscure to the Understanding which doubts whether it hath a real existence or whether it only appears such to us according as bodies variously receive the light Indeed Green and Blew seem all one by a candle and the same colour seems different from what it was by day-light which again makes the species vary according to its diversity for we judge of them otherwise in the twilight in the Sun and in the shadow otherwise beholding them slopingly directly
or through a colour'd glass or neer some other lively colour Are any colours fairer then those of the Rain-bow and yet they are no more real then those of the Clouds The whiteness which we behold in the milky way ariseth only from the light of many small Stars The necks of Pigeons seem of a thousand more colours then they have The Heavens the Air and the Water have none but what we phancy or what their depth and the weakness of our sight gives them The scales of Fish some small worms and certain kinds of rotten wood shining in the night seem to us to be colour'd And Pictures are apprehended well or ill drawn according to their situation The Second said The object of Vision is colour the Organ the Eye the medium is a Diaphanous body illuminated Provided these three be rightly dispos'd the Organ and the medium free from all colours and the object at a convenient distance all men will necessarily behold colours as they are and always alike which would not be so if they were imaginary or fortuitous Besides being the object of the sight the surest of all Senses they ought to have a real existence as all the objects of the other Senses have For the object of the outward sense must be real otherwise it cannot act upon the Organ and the Agent and the Patient ought to agree in the same genus The Third said Colours as all other second qualities have a real existence since they arise from the commixtion of moist and dry caus'd by heat and determin'd by cold The first thing that happens in this mixtion is that the humidity is thickned by the accession of some dry substance and of this co-agulation is made a green colour which therefore is the first of colours as may be observ'd in water the grosser parts of which become green moss and in Plants when they first spring out of the earth But if heat exceed in the mixtion then ariseth the Red Purple and other lively and bright colours which according as they degenerate attain at length to Black which is made by adustion But when mixtions take a contrary course by cold then arise all dead colours which terminate in black too by a contrary cause namely the total extinction of heat as 't is seen in old men and dead persons who are of a leaden and blackish colour As therefore green is the first so Black is the last of colours yea 't is properly no colour especially when the humidity is already all consum'd as in coals or is separated from the dry parts as in things become black by putrefaction as the gangrenous parts of an animal Neither is white a colour but a mean between colour and light The rest are true colours The Fourth said Colours cannot proceed from the temperament or mixture of the four first qualities because mixt bodies of different temperature have the same colour Sugar Arsenic and all Salts are white the Crow and Raven are black and on the contrary one and the same mixt body of the same temperature in all its parts is nevertheless of several colours which it changes without mutation of its temper Ebeny is black in its surface and grey within Marble Jasper and Porphyry delight the sight chiefly by the variety of their colours yellow Wax grows white and white becomes black in the Sun Nor can any one say that the part of a Tulip which differs in colour from all the rest is therefore distinct in quality Wherefore since colours proceed not from the first elementary qualities they are no more real then the intentional species of the sight yea they are the very same thing for the visible species are nothing else but qualities streaming from every terminated body which alter the medium filling the same with their images which they diffuse even into the Organ Now colours are the same being qualities which actually change and alter the Diaphanous and illuminated body The Fifth said This argues that we are ignorant of the reason of the mixtion of every body and why such a body hath such a colour but not that colours are not true and real Yet with this distinction that the colours alone which are seen with the conditions requisite to sensation are real that is to say exist really and not in the Imagination For if it were not so we should see them as well by night as by day and with our eyes shut as open as that foolish Antiphon did who thought he always saw his own image before him And a sensible faculty ought to have a real and sensible object since the object must be of the same nature with the faculty But there are colours which are not really in the surface of bodies though they appear so to us by reason of the divers reception of light or of some other extrinsecal colour of a transparent diaphanous body or some other external cause which hinders the eye from discerning the true colour of the mixt body which colour though appearing otherwise then it is yet really exists but is hidden under another apparent one which continues as long as its external causes And colour'd bodies are no less so by night then by day but because vision cannot be made unless the medium be illuminated 't is only through the want of light that we see them not in the night For although we perceive in the dark the eyes of Cats Toad-stools Worms certain horns and rotten wood yet 't is not their true colour but a certain splendor different from colour which proceedeth either from their igneous spirits or because they approach neer simplicity There is therefore reality in colour but it is consider'd two ways either as a quality resulting from the mixture of the four Elementary qualities in which sence 't is defin'd by Aristotle the extremity of a perspicuum terminated or as being simply visible and is defin'd by the same Philosopher a motive quality of a body actually diaphanous In the first signification the colours seen in the Rainbow or the yellow colour cast upon a white wall by the Sun-beams passing through a glass or other medium of the same colour are no more real and true colours of those subjects then the blackness upon Paper by reason of the ink hiding its natural whiteness But in the latter signification every colour whatsoever is real since the one is as well visible as the other The Sixth said Colour differs not from light saving that colour is the light of mixt and light is the colour of simple bodies which the more simple they are they are also more luminous But if they communicate not their light 't is for want of density which is the sole cause of all activity The parts of Heaven are equally luminous and yet only the more dense and thick as the Stars can diffuse their light to us If this light grows weak it degenerates into a white colour as we see in the Moon and Stars if it be
Sixth said 'T is true Speech is peculiar to man but 't is a token of the impotence and weakness of our mind which cannot know other's thoughts in their purity as Angels and blessed Spirits do who understand one another without external Speech But the soul of man is so subjected to the Senses that it cannot apprehend spiritual things unless they be represented to it as corporeal Besides Speech belongs not so to man alone but that brutes especially those who have soft large and loose tongues as Birds can imitate it but Writing they cannot Moreover a thing is more excellent by how much nobler the cause is on which it depends But to speak well depends on the Organs rightly dispos'd to write well on the understanding alone For the Air the Lungs the Tongue the Teeth and the Lips make the Speech but the mind alone begets the thoughts which writing consigns to the sight the noblest of the Senses Eloquence is diminish'd by Diseases old Age or the least indisposition of the Organs but the style which depends on the Mind alone which never grows old becomes more vigorous as the body waxes weaker At length it was said That the present Question making up the Century of those propounded since the resolution of printing it seem'd fit to make them the first Volume of Conferences and because this Number the Season the Example of others the affairs which many have in the Country and the necessity for minds as well as bodies to take some relaxation require a Vacation for this Company it is therefore adjourn'd till Monday before the Feast of St. Martin The End of the First Part. PHILOSOPHICAL CONFERENCES PART II. Monday November 6. 〈…〉 FOr Introduction to the Ensuing Conferencs it seems requisite that an Account be given of two things I. Of what pass'd during the Vacation II. Of some difficulties touching these Exercises As for the first The Vacation was spent in the proposal and examination of divers Secrets and Curiosities of some Arts and Sciences a few whereof shall be summarily mention'd in the order as they were propos'd and most of which were found true by the person◠appointed by the Company to examine and make experiments of the same The First was a way to describe a Circle of what greatness soever without knowing the Centre of it but supposing the Centre were inaccessible II. A way to make the Vernish of China black and yellow gilded III. To make a plain Looking-glass representing the objects upon its surface and not inwards as they usually appear IV. To make a Spherical Mirror representing the Figures in their true proportion and not corrupted as they are in the vulgar ones V. To make one or more very conspicuous figures appear in the Air by the help of a Concave Glasse VI. To cool Wine speedily in Summer and to freeze water for that purpose VII To decypher all common and decypherable Cyphers VIII To give the Invention of almost a number of Cyphers which cannot be decypher'd as among others to write with a single point for each Letter with two Books in which no extraordinary mark is to be seen IX To write with a Cypher which may be read in two different Languages X. To comprise under a manifest sense an other hidden signification as ample as the first XI To write upon a body which will never perish not even by Fire at which alone it is to be read and to answer thereunto by the same way making the Letters disappear and return again at pleasure XII A way of writing or impression which represents all the properties of every thing with as few Letters as the ordinary way of writing XIII A way to give intelligence in six hours at a hundred leagues distance without Bells Canons or the like means XIV A way to give intelligence in an instant of what is done at fifty leagues distance and more and that of a sudden accident XV. A way whereby a person being in his Closet may make his Mind understood in a hundred places of the house and receive answers by the same way without noise and without notice taken thereof by those that shall be in his company XVI To shew and teach the true Proportions of Mans Body in one Lecture as exactly as Albert Durer hath done XVII To describe all Plat-forms and designe all the orders of Columnes exactly according to their true proportion XVIII A way to engrave very easily with Aqua Fortis without knowing how to hatch XIX To cast Account without pen or counters by a way which cannot be forgotten XX. To learn the method of Writing in one hour by retaining onely three letters XXI To keep Flowers yea a whole Garden fresh throughout the year XXII To learn all the tricks and subtleties of Juglers and consequently to cease admiring them XXIII To make two solid bodies actually cold which being together shall become so hot of themselves immediately as not to be touch'd and to keep their heat for several moneths and possibly for some years XXIV To shew in a portable Instrument in small or greater proportion all objects that shall be presented XXV To teach a Mother-language of which all other Languages are Dialects and may be learn'd by it Which the Proposer affirmes so easie that he will teach the whole Grammar of it in six hours but six moneths are requisite to learn the signification of all its words XXVI To teach all persons to argue without errour in all kind of Modes and Figures in a quarter of an hour XXVII To shew a secret by help whereof any man may pronounce any strange Language as naturally as his own be it Astatick African or American and he an European or on the contrary which is a way to remedy the bad Accents and pronuntiations both in strangers and natives whereby they are so manifestly distinguish'd XXVIII To make a Girder or Joint broken in two or three places to serve without pins XXIX To pierce a door immediately with a Candle not lighted XXX To make a Pistol of a foot and half in length carry three hundred paces XXXI To make a good quantity of fresh water speedily in the main Sea XXXII To measure the depth of the Sea where the plummet cannot reach or where it is unperceiveable XXXIII To shew all the feats and subtleties that are perform'd with Cards as to make the Card you think of come at what number is requir'd to tell 15. persons who have two Cards a piece what Cards every one hath c. XXXIV To draw two lines which being extended infinitely shall always come nearer but never meet XXXV To make a light without Oyle Wax Tallow Gum or Fat at small charge which shall less offend the sight in a whole nights reading then the light of an ordinary Candle doth in a quarter of an hour XXXVI To make Glasses through which the Sun doth not penetrate though his light do XXXVII To make old defac'd Characters legible XXXVIII To continue
under water for some hours without a Tube XXXIX To make a Needle which shall always turn towards the North though it were never touch'd with a Loadstone XL. To make a Fire without combustible matter portable in any place whatsoever fit to boile withall and which will last many hundred years yea as long as the world XLI To make a Mineral Tree of a mixture of Metals which shall grow in form of a Tree in a vessel of Glasse well clos'd XLII To turn Iron into Steel and Copper to keep it from rusting and give it such a temper that a complete sute of Armes of three quarters less weight then ordinary shall resist Musket-shot XLIII To encrease a Man's Pulse so that he shall seem to have a Fever and to diminish it so that he shall seem a dying yet both without prejudice to his health XLIV Many Secrets were propos'd for the preservation of Health and Cure of Diseases the mentioning whereof I defer till experience shall be made of them Credulity being not less excuseable or more dangerous in any Art or Science then in Physick and therefore I am the more cautious and careful to publish none but certain things and such as deserve to be communicated As for the second Point which consists in the resolution of some difficulties observ'd in the course of these Conferences 't is true they were not sooner publish'd but some took exception that there was not a choice made of some few persons to speak any that seem'd of quality being admitted to declare their Sentiments because said they this diversity of minds which is one of the wonders of the Universe cannot but produce unpleasing discords and dissonances sometimes prejudicial to the publick or at least they advis'd to restrain their discourses to certain laws and modifications and limit to a set space of time which it should not be lawful for any to exceed and this in order to remedy the itch of speaking no less then of writing in many who are so fond of being heard On the contrary others lik'd nothing so much in this free commerce of wits as an unconfined liberty conceiving nothing more advantagious for the initiation of the young the divertisement of the old and the honest recreation of all nor which more testifies to Posterity the generous proceeding of those that govern diametrically opposite to the tyrannical slavery of some others then this publick liberty afforded to every Gentleman to produce and speak what he thinks in these Conferences regulated by the bounds prescrib'd by themselves and so strictly observ'd that the severest Censors of the host august Bodies and Sovereign Courts who are often present at them have hitherto found nothing to disapprove therein the persons nominated by the Assembly to preside in the same having comported themselves with such civility towards those to whom they signifi'd when it was time to cease speaking that they have had abundant cause to be satisfi'd and the Assembly taken more content in the diversity of the Speakers opinions then if they had been all of one mind as the identity of many sounds do's not make harmony Afterwards some propounded that only two persons might speak upon a Question one for the affirmative part and the other for the Negative and in that at most a third might conciliate their different judgements in things wherein a third opinion might have place to the end the hearers might have no more to do but to assent to that which should seem best But as this hath been practis'd sometimes and may be continu'd in matters convenient for it so it seems injust to others to stop the mouths of the rest of the company only for the hearing of two or three besides the tediousness of a long discourse whereas the multitude of concise verdicts resembles a Nose-gay diversifi'd with many Flowers of different colour and odour besides that there are many subjects concerning which so different judgements arise that the number thereof cannot be limited our Reason being so little captivated that it finds out new paths every day to arrive at Truth which it goes to seek beyond the Imaginary spaces Some to make these Conferences the more esteem'd would have them held but once a moneth others were so far from being weary of them that they desir'd them every day But to comply with both it was thought expedient to hold them once a week Some desir'd to handle but one Question others more Experience hath manifested that the former course would be tedious and the latter full of confusion could the brevity of the time admit it The Points pitch'd upon at the last Conference to be treated in the next were these CONFERENCE LI. I. At what time the Year ought to begin II. Why the Load-stone draws Iron I. At what time the year ought to begin SInce the Year begins by a Moneth the Moneth by a Day the Day by an Hour the Hour by a Minute the Question seems to demand at what moment the Year ought to begin A Year is a space of Time Time is the duration of motion the most perfect of motions is the local the most excellent of local motions is the circular and celestial which bath something of infinity Now to speak generally a Year is the revolution of some celestial Orb and takes its name from the spherical bodies which return to the same place from whence they departed So the year of Saturn is of 10955 days and twelve hours that of Jupiter of 4331 days eighteen hours that of Mars of 687 days that of the Sun of 365 days six hours wanting eleven minutes thâ—se of Venus and Mercury are almost like that of the Sun that of the Moon is of about twenty nine days But the longest year of all is that of the eighth Sphere call'd the perfect or Platonick year at the end of which all the Stars are to return to the same places and distances that they had at the Creation which shall be accomplish'd as the Platonists say in 490000 Solar years by vertue of the Septenary multiply'd seven times according to the number of the seven other inferior Orbs but more probably according to Alphonsus in 36000 years considering that the eighth Sphere moves but one degree in a hundred years and so in 36000 years pervades the 360 degrees of the Zodiack The Cynical year of the Egyptians and Babylonians was measur'd by the course of the celestial Dog or of Orion and consisted of 1460 years The Sabbatical year of the Jews was every seventh year the Jubilary every fiftieth in which they rested and the Trumpets sounded Which minds me of the Intermission which this company made at its fiftieth Conference after which the Trumpet animates us to a new Career Now although civil years may be measur'd by the motion of any Celestial Body whatsoever yet the Sun and the Moon the two grand Luminaries have been by general consent taken to describe the year one whereof is call'd Solar being
not eat the meat she sees for fear of the whip which she sees not All which he said were so many Syllogismes and concluded with an induction of sundry Animals which gave Man the knowledge of building as the Swallow of spinning as the Spider of hoarding provisions as the Pismire to whose School Solomon sends the sluggard of presaging fair weather as the Kings-fisher the downfall of houses as Rats and Mice of making Clysters as the Ibis of letting blood as the Hippopotamus or Sea-horse That to accuse our Masters of want of Reason is an act of notorious ingratitude The Fourth said Faculties are discover'd by their actions and these are determin'd by their end Now the actions of Men and beasts are alike and have the same End Good Profitable Delightful or Honest. There is no Controversie concerning the two former And Honesty which consists in the exercise of Virtue they have in an eminent degree Witness the courage of the Lyon in whom this Virtue is not produc'd by vanity or interest as it is in men Nor was it ever seen that Lyons became servants to other Lyons as we see Men are to one another for want of courage which prefers a thousand deaths before servitude Their Temperance and Continence is apparent in that they are contented with pleasures lawful and necessary not resembling the disorderly Appetites of Men who not contented with one sort of food depopulate the Air the Earth and the Waters rather to provoke then satiate their gluttony The fidelity of the Turtle and the Chastity of the Dove are such as have serv'd for a Comparison in the Canticles of the Spouse The fidelity of the Dog to his Master exceeds that of Men. The Raven is so Continent that 't is observ'd to live 600. years without a Male if her own happen to be kill'd For their good Constitution gives them so long a life which in Men Nature or their own disorders terminate within a few years As for Justice the foundation of all Humane Laws is the Natural which is common to beasts with Men. The Fifth said Reason is a proportion correspondence and adjustment of two or more things compar'd one with another whence it follows that being Comparison cannot be made but by Man he alone is capable of Reason Moreover he alone exercises Justice which is nothing else but the same reason which he judges to every one under which is comprehended Religion a thing unknown to brutes when Prudence Fortitude and Temperance are improperly attributed because these are habits of the Will which Faculty brutes have not and presuppose a knowledge which they want too of the vicious Extremes of every of their actions The Sixth said 'T was not without Reason that the first Age of Innocence and afterwards Pythagoras upon the account of his Metempsychosis spar'd the lives of beasts that when God sav'd but four couple of all Mankind from the deluge he preserv'd seven of every clean Animal and made the Angel which with-stood the Prophet Balaam rather visible to his Ass then to him that this Animal and the Ox whose acknowledgement towards their Masters is alledg'd by Isaiah to exprobriate to the Israelites their ingratitude towards God were the first witnesses of our Saviours Birth who commands to be innocent and prudent like some of them Which presupposes not onely Reason in them but that they have more thereof then Man with what ever cavillation he may disguise their virtues saying that what is Knowledge in God Intelligence in Angels Reason in Man Inclination in Inanimate Bodies is Instinct in brutes For since a beast attaines to his End better then Man and is not so subject to change as he it may seem that a nobler name should be given to that Faculty which accomplisheth its work best then to that is for the most part deficient therein And therefore either a brute hath more reason then Man or that which Man calls Instinct in a beast is more excellent then his Reason a Faculty ordinarily faulty subject to surprize and to be surpriz'd The Seventh said 'T is too rustick an impiety to use Saint Austine's words against the Manichees who inclin'd to this Error to believe that beasts have Reason since they have not a perfect use of all the outward Senses but onely of such as are altogether necessary to their being Touching and Tasting For Smells Sounds and Colours move them not further then the same are serviceable to those two senses Nor must we deceive our selves by their having a Phancy or Inferior Judgement so long as they have nothing of that Divine Piece by which Man knows Universals defines composes and divides comprehends similitudes and dissimilitudes with their causes They have an Appetite too by which they are carry'd towards their proper Good But because their knowledge of this Good is neither sufficient nor intire as that of Man is who alone knows Good as Good the End as such this Appetite is rul'd and guided by a superior cause as a Ship by the Pilot which cause necessarily leads this Appetite to good as it also inclines the stone to its centre which it never fails to find So that this infallibility alledg'd in the works of brutes is rather a sign of their want of Reason which is the cause that Man endued with sufficient knowledge and for this reason plac'd between Good and Evil Fire and Water can alone freely move towards the one or the other whence it comes to pass that he frequently fails in his purposes because his Reason oftentimes takes appearance for truth CONFERENCE LIII I. Whether there be more then five Senses II. Whether is better to speak or to be silent I. Whether there be more then five Senses THe Maxime That things are not to be multipli'd without Reason is founded upon the capacity of the Humane Mind which being one though its faculties be distinct in their Operations conceives things onely under the species of unity So that when there are many in number it makes one species of them of many specifically different one Genus and consequently can much less suffer the making two things of that which is but one This has given ground to some to affirm That there is but one External Sense which ought no more to be distributed into five species under pretext that there are five Organs then one and the same River which here makes bellows blow and hammers beat presses cloth and decorticates oats or grinds flour For 't is one breath which passing through several Organes and Pipes renders several tones one and the same Sun which penetrating through various glasses represents as many colours Moreover their end is to all the same namely to avoid what may hurt and pursue what may profit the Creature The Second said This would be true if the Soul alone were the Subject of Sensation but when the Eye is pull'd out although the visual spirits remain entire or if the Eye being sound and clear yet some
the subtilest sense to wit the Sight The Fifth said That the nobleness of the Touch appears principally in that 't is the most infallible of all the senses as the most honourable persons are accounted most worthy of credit Therefore our Lord being to convince S. Thomas at that time incredulous caus'd him to feel his side and manifest things are call'd palpable because the Touch is the last sense that is deceiv'd Whence they who dream do not frequently find their errour till putting forth their hands to the phantasin they begin to be convinc'd that it is nothing but air The Sixth said That as 't is a common vice to all the Senses to be deceiv'd so that of Touch is not more exempt from it then the rest and the less because it judges of the quality of its objects only by comparison according to the diversity of which one and the same thing diversly affects it and is sometimes apprehended one way sometimes another A man that comes out of a hot Bath shivers in the same air which he accounted warm before he enter'd into the water and when he that learns to dance puts off his leaden soles he thinks his feet lighter then he did before he put them on The Seventh said The Touch is an external sense terrestrial and gross it perceives hot and cold dry and moist heavy and light hard and soft smooth and rough or unequal acide viscous or slippery thick and thin tough and friable or brittle and other such tactile and earthy qualities For as there are five simple Bodies in Nature namely the Heaven and the Elements so each of the five external Senses corresponds to one of them the Sight to Heaven in regard of its transparence and lucidity the other four to the Elements of which the Earth symbolizeth with the Touch because every thing that is felt must have some solidity and consistence which proceeds from the Earth otherwise it could not make it self felt by it self but only by some predominant quality as we feel not the air when it touches us unless it be extreamly cold or hot The Organ of Feeling is inward skin which incompasses the whole body of a creature by reason of its so perfect and equal temperature that it is neither hot nor cold dry moist but equally partakes of all these qualities a requisite condition in the Organs of the senses which must be unprovided of all the qualities whereof they are to judge So the Crystalline humour is without colour the tongue without sapour the nostrils without scent the ears without any sound And the skin is neither hard like the bones nor soft like the flesh but of a temper between both being therefore call'd a Nervous flesh and a fleshy Nerve which skin never so little touch'd feels perfectly which would not come to pass if it were not the Organ of the Touch. 'T is therefore woven of infinite nerves terminated in it and bringing the animal spirits to it which are the efficient causes of the Touch as well as of all the other Senses For what the Philosopher saith That a sensible object apply'd upon the Organ is not perceiv'd must be understood only of the three Senses which are for the convenience of an animal to wit the Sight Hearing and Smelling not of the other two which are for its absolute necessity upon which consideration Nature hath appointed them to judge more neerly exercising these two Senses by a medium internal and inseparable from the Organ II. Of Fortune Upon the second Point it was said Fortune is a cause by accident in things which are done for some end by an Agent that makes use of Reason So 't is fortune when one walking for his health or divertisement finds a Purse but chance hazard or adventure is in things which act for some end without election as brutes mad people and children who are not fortunate or unfortunate unless in hope The difficulty of understanding the nature of Fortune ariseth from the infinite abundance of things which may be causes of things which befall men And as 't is proper to man to admire what he understands not upon the observation of the many strange and unforeseen accidents in the world some say that they come to pass by a fatal destiny necessarily guiding every cause to its effect others that they fall out by chance to which the ancient Philosophers ascrib'd so much that Empedocles accounted the situation of the Elements fortuitous Democritus and Leucippus thought the production of all things was effected by the casual concourse of their atomes flying in the vacuum insomuch that out of a blind superstition they erected Temples and Altars to Fortune For indeed there is nothing divine in Fortune since there is not any cause by it self but may be a cause by accident and consequently Fortune Nor is it the Divine Providence since that which is foreseen cannot be call'd fortuitous But we give the appellation of Fortune to any cause which missing of its proper effect produceth another which it intended not The Second said 'T was the ignorance of men that invented Fortune which hath no other existence but in their imagination For every thing that is hath a certain cause determined to its effect But Fortune and Chance are uncertain and indeterminate therefore not causes And although the proximate cause of every thing be unknown to us yet 't is not the less certain for all that in respect of God who ignores nothing Therefore if there be a fortune in respect of us 't is an effect of our ignorance The Third said We must establish in Nature either Destiny or Fortune The former seems to fasten man to Ixion's wheel which permits him not to do any thing of himself and takes from him the commendation of good and blame of evil rendring him by this means guiltless of whatever he do's and laying all upon universal causes whatever distinction may be made of God's will in general and particular it not being conceivable that two contrary wills can at the same time proceed from the same source The second is more correspondent with the daily events which produce effects whereof no necessary cause can be found Indeed if effects are to be divided according to their causes 't is certain that some are necessary and some contingent whereof the latter being fortuitous cannot be referr'd to any thing but to Fortune Yea of the things which come to pass in the world some always arrive in the same manner as day and night when the Sun rises and sets others fall out ordinarily but not always as that a child is born with five fingers on a hand there being some that have six and others on the contrary arrive very rarely as Monsters But if this variety of causes and effects hath place in natural things 't is found much oftner in humane actions whose constancy is unconstancy it self there being not any whose effect is certain For what man can promise himself
as its cause and ceases when this fails contrary to other qualities which have a fix'd and permanent existence in Nature For the tingling of a bell which continues some while after the stroke is not one single sound but many the parts of the bell being put into a trembling motion by the blow and communicating the same to the parts of the Air contain'd in the cavity of the bell which Air is so long clash'd together till all the insensible parts of the bell be return'd to their first rest and therefore the laying of the hand upon it hinders this motion and consequently stops the sound And 't is for this reason that it resounds more when it hangs freely then when it is held in the hand and some bells have been seen to fly in pieces upon the application of a piece of Iron to them whilst they were trembling The cause whereof is this if while all the parts of the bell tremble and equally move from their place one part be check'd it becomes immoveable and so not following the agitation of the rest is separated from them The Second said Though sound the object of the Hearing containing under it Voice and Speech is oftentimes accompany'd with three things the body striking the body struck and the Medium resounding yet these three do not alwayes meet in all sort of sounds as we see in that which is made by our bellows the noise of a Petar Salt Chestnuts and other aerious and flatuous bodies cast into the fire because these flatuosities being rarifi'd require an outlet and therefore impetuously break forth out of their restraint which eruption striking the neighbouring Air produces a sound The same is seen also in the Voice which is form'd by collision of the Air in the Lungs against the Larynx the palate and the teeth So that the proximate cause of sound is not the shock of two bodies but the breaking of the Air when its motion is hindred A piece of cloth makes a noise in the tearing but not in the cutting because of the sudden separation of the parts of the Air which on the other side for fear of Vacuum are impetuously carry'd towards the place of their separation and the wind whistles by reason of the violent motion which it causeth in the Air sometimes driving the same before it sometimes pressing and wracking it or because it meets some other wind or body that opposes its natural motion The Third said A perfect sound cannot be made without the encountring of two bodies and Air between them for want of which there would be local motion but no sound in a Vacuum and the motion of those great celestial orbes is not audible Now these bodies must be hard and solid either of their own Nature as Copper and Silver or by the union and construction of their parts which makes them act and resist as if they were solid such are the Air and Water agitated Moreover that this sound be perfect 't is requisite that the bodies be large and smooth for if they be rough and scabrous the Air which is compress'd finds means to expand it self in the interstices of the higher parts if they be acute and pointed they cut and divide but do not break it So a needle striking the point of another needle makes no noise because it onely cuts the Air but do's not compresse it If these solid bodies be hollow and dry the sound is made the better and yet more if they be aerious Hence among metals Brass Silver and Gold resound more then Lead and Iron which are of a terrene nature Among Trees the Sallow and the Fig-tree have a sound and the leaves of Laurel crackle in the fire by reason of their aerious parts Lastly the bodies must be friable that is to say divisible at the same time into very small particles as Air Glass and Ice or in case they break not at least they must tremble in all their parts as bells do Therefore Water not being friable by reason of its tenacious humidity which keeps the particles together cannot be the subject of sounds that of running Water being made by the occurse of the Air upon its surface not in the Water it self in which no sound can be made although it may be somewhat confus'dly transmitted as 't is to fishes whom the noise makes to abandon the shore The Fourth said Hearing was given to Man to satisfie his natural inclination to understand the thoughts of his species by the utterance of words which would be useless to conversation if they were not receiv'd by this faculty whose dignity appears chiefly in the structure of its Organ the Ear both external and internal which is destinated to the reception of sounds Therefore the Philosopher derides Alcmaeon for saying that Goats respire at the ears The external is Cartilaginous and tortuous unmoveable in man alone always open on each side the head to receive sounds from all parts which are carri'd upwards in an orbicular figure The internal situate in the os petrosum or bone of the Temples hath four passages viz. the auditory meatus clos'd with a membrane call'd the Drum behind which is a cord fastned to the stirrup the anvil and hammer small bones as dry and big in children as in old men 2. That which incloseth the natural and immoveable Air the principal Organ of hearing 3. The Labyrinth 4. The Cochle or Shell-work But the passage which goes from the Ear to the Palate and the orifice of the Wind-pipe is most remarkable by which the inspir'd air doth not only refresh the Lungs but also the natural implanted air in the ear Hence ariseth that sympathy of the Palate and the Ears and to hear well we sometimes hold our breath for fear of disordering the species of sounds and those that gape or yawn hear little or not at all because the vaporous spirit which causeth oscitation so puts up the drum of the ear that it cannot well receive sounds and for the same reason they that yawn dare not pick their ears at that time for fear of hurting the inflated Drum which if it come to be touch'd the yawning ceaseth those that scratch their ears put themselves into a hawking or coughing And lastly 't is for this reason that such as are born deaf are also dumb because of the straight connexion of the auditory Nerve being of the fifth conjugation with the seventh which is at the root of the Tongue The Fifth said Sounds are carri'd to the ear in the same manner as they are produc'd namely by a fraction of the air adjoyning which hath a sphere of activity and is like that which is caus'd in the water by casting a stone into it but without any intentional species Otherwise sounds would be heard at the same time and in the same manner by those that are neer and those that are far off in regard the intentional species being spiritual is carri'd in an instant being caus'd by
a simple alteration which requireth not the time necessary to local motion whereby Hearing is perform'd and by this means distinguish'd from vision in which at the same time the medium and the Organ are both alter'd whereas in Hearing the Organ is not alter'd till after the medium Hence it is that the wind helps greatly to the carrying of sounds which would not be if they were only intentional species for visible things are seen as well in a contrary wind as in a calm air and that sounds seem weaker a far off then neer hand The Sixth said Among the objects of the Senses sounds and odours have alone had the honour to be dedicated to the Deity Melodie and Incense having always been employ'd in Divine Service either because the humane soul is most delighted therewith or for that either of them being somewise spiritual and corporeal God requires that we offer him both the body and the spirit whereas Daemons abhor nothing more then Harmony and Perfumes as ill suting to their irregular and infected nature And sounds have so great affinity with the soul that according to their cadence and their tones they excite compassion cruelty joy sadness courage fear lasciviousness and chastity whence it was said that Aegysthus could never debauch Clytemnestra till he had kill'd her Musitian Because all our actions and inclinations depending upon our spirits they are modefi'd and made like to the sounds which they receive by the ear So that if the sounds be tremulous grave sharp quick or flow the spirits become so too and consequently the Muscles which are instruments of voluntary motion having no action but by means of the spirits they impress upon them and make them follow such cadence as they like Hence it is that hearing others sing we fall a singing too without thinking of it with those that whisper we whisper too with those that speak loud we speak so also that the air of the Musitian stirs our members to conform to it and that our spirits are displeas'd with bad cadences as if the outward air had an absolute dominion over our spirits II. Of Harmony Upon the second Point it was said That Harmony is taken for any proportion and agreement but chiefly for that of sounds in which it is more perceptible and that even by the ignorant It s invention is ascrib'd to Tubal the first Smith upon his observation of the various sounds that the strokes of his Hammer made upon his Anvil which Pythagoras also made use of to find out the proportion of his musical numbers Of which having elsewhere spoken I shall only add here that Harmony presupposes many sounds for one alone makes but a Monotone and two an unpleasing reciprocation but six notes are requisite to perfect Musick industriously compriz'd in the Hymn VT queant LAxis REsonare fibris MIra gestorum c. This harmony is either vocal or instrumental the former whereof having graces and variations inimitable by instruments far surpasses the latter but their mixture is most agreeable The Second said Nature seems to have made a show of her goodliest effects to our Senses and conceal'd their causes from our knowledge Musical harmony aims at the instruction of men that of man's body is the admirable artifice of the Formative faculty which Galen calls divine but the harmony of the world puts our curiosity most to a non-plus 'T is the cause why water notwithstanding its fluidity gathers it self into a heap to leave dry land for the habitation of animals and that the earth which should settle about its centre by its equal gravity yet rises up in mountains The air is alter'd by all sort of qualities that it may give a good one to the earth The fire descends from its sphere to be captivated in Furnaces for our use and is imprison'd in cavities of the earth to promote the generation of Metals The Heavens move for the benefit of inferiour bodies in a place where they might enjoy eternal rest 'T is through this harmony that the water becomes thick at the bottom and contracts alliance with the earth while its surface resolves into vapours the rudiments of air whose highest region likewise approaches the nature of fire and this has somewhat of Aethereal and the constitution of the Heavens on which it borders and conjoyns with this inferiour world The cause of this chain and connexion is an universal vertue comprehended in the extent of each being besides the proper motive vertue destinated to content its appetite The necessity of this vertue is a certain evidence of its existence for since every thing conspires for the general good of the world and withstands the division of its parts Nature must have allotted them a power which may guide them to that end now this power is not extrinsecal since it resides in the subject it self Nor is it the motive vertue for this and that have two different objects and ends namely the publick and the particular good which are not always contain'd one in the other Besides 't would be a manifest contradiction to say that by one and the same vertue things expose themselves to the loss of their proper qualities for the publick good and keep them when only their particular is concern'd Wherefore there is one general law which having authority to force all things to contract amities not sorting to their inclination is above that vertue which leads things directly to their own good which is the cause of the excellent harmony observ'd in the whole world The Third said Indeed Harmony is every where between the Creator and his Creatures both spiritual and corporeal in the Hierarchies of bless'd Spirits one with another in the assistance of the motive Intelligences with their orbs between the great and the little world in the latter of which the Scripture sets forth to us a perpetual musick of the blessed in the the Empireal Heaven Plato a harmony proceeding from the motion of the Celestial bodies Daily experience makes us hear in the air a consort of winds the Sea beats a measure by its ebbing and flowing the Birds of the air perform the Cantus the Beasts the Base the Fishes the Tacet Man the Tenor who again in the structure of his body and soul is a perfect harmony In the body the temperature of the humours is so harmonical that their disproportion drives away the soul which Galen upon this account calls harmony In the soul so long as Reason holds the sovereignty and constrains the murmuring Appetite to hold its base there results from it a harmony delectable to God and Men. On the contrary if you would apprehend its discord do but imagine the disorderly uproar excited by choler and the other passions get the mastery over Reason Yea mans whole life is either a perpetual harmony or discord In Religion when one Head is acknowledg'd and every one submits thereunto for Conscience sake and keeps his station how beautiful are those Tabernacles of
the Stoicks call a god others a divine member and the Luminary of the little World Theophrastus Beauty because it resides principally in the Eyes the most charming part of a handsome face Their colour twinkling fixedness and other dispositions serve the Physiognomists for certain indications of the inclinations of the soul which all antiquity believ'd to have its seat in the eyes in which you read pride humility anger mildness joy sadness love hatred and the other humane affections And as the inclinations and actions of men are more various then those of other creatures so their eyes alone are variously colour'd whereas the eyes of all beasts of the same species are alike Yea the eyes are no less eloquent then the tongue since they express our conceptions by a dumb but very emphatical language and a twinkle of the eye many times moves more to obedience then speech Plato being unable to conceive the admirable effects of the Sight without somewhat of divinity believ'd there was a celestial light in the eye which issuing forth to receive the outward light brought the same to the soul to be judg'd of which nevertheless we perceive not in the dark because then the internal streaming forth into the obscure air which is unlike to it self is alter'd and corrupted by it Indeed if it be true that there is a natural implanted sound in the ear why may there not be a natural light in the eye considering too that the Organs ought to have a similitude and agreement with their objects And hence it is that the eyes sometimes flash like lightning in the night as Cardan saith his did and Suetonious relates the same of Tiberius and that those that are in a Phrensy imagine that they see lightning For it seems to me more rational to refer this Phaenomenon to the lucid and igneous spirits of the sight which being unable to penetrate the crystalline or vitreous humour by reason of some gross vapours reflect back into the eye and make those flashes then to the smoothness of the eye or to attrition of the spirits or as Galen holds to an exhalation caus'd by the blood which is carri'd to the head though this latter may sometimes be a joynt cause The Third said The Eye is compos'd of six Muscles as many Tunicles three Humours two pair of Nerves and abundance of small Veins and Arteries its object is every thing that is visible as colour light and splendor light in the Celestial Bodies wherein the object and the medium are the same thing since the light of the Sun is seen by it self colour in inferiour bodies where the object and the medium are two for colour cannot be seen without light splendor in the scales of Fishes rotten wood the eyes of some animals Gloe-worms and the like for it is different from their natural colour It s Organ is the Eye so regarded by Nature that she hath fortifi'd it on all sides for its safety with the bone of the Forehead the Eye-brows the Eye-lids the hair thereof the Nose the rising of the Cheeks and the Hands to ward off outward injuries and if Galen may be believ'd the Brain it self the noblest part of the body was made only for the eyes whence Anaxagoras conceiv'd that men were created only to see or contemplate The Eyes are dearer to us then any other part because saith Aristotle they are the instruments of most exact knowledge and so serve not only for the body but the soul whose food is the knowledge which the eye supplies call'd for this reason the Sense of Invention as the Ear is that of discipline 'T is of an aqueous nature because it was requisite that it should be diaphanous to receive the visible species and light for if it had been of a terrestrial matter it would have been opake and dark if aerious or igneous it could not have long retain'd the species air and fire being thin diaphanous bodies which receive well but retain not for though the air be full of the species of objects which move through it from all parts yet they are not visible in it by reason of its rarity It was fit therefore that the Eye should be of a pellucid and dense substance that it might both receive and retain the visible species which kind of substance is proper to water as appears by the images which it represents Moreover the Eye being neer and conjoyn'd to the Brain by the Nerves of the first and second conjugation and to the membranes thereof by its Tunicles could not be of an igneous nature perfectly contrary to that of the Brain as Plato held it to be because of its agility lucidity and orbicular figure like that of fire as he said and because the Eye is never tense or stiff as all the other parts all which he conceiv'd could not be but from fire For the Eyes agility or nimbleness of motion is from its Muscles and its lubricity its brightness from the external light its round figure rather denotes water whose least particles are so then fire whose figure is pyramidal 'T is never stiff because of the fat wherewith it is stuff'd and because it is destitute of flesh II. Of Painting Upon the second Point it was said That Painting is a sort of writing by which many times that is express'd which cannot be spoken witness the story of Progne and Philomel and as the latter represents things by letters so doth the former by their natural figure so perfectly that it is understood by the most ignorant because it exhibits in their proper colour bigness proportion and other natural accidents whereas Writing makes use of characters and figures which have no affinity with the things denoted by them but only signifie the same by the institution of men who therefore differ in Writing but all agree in painting Both the one and the other like all Arts whose scope is imitation as Oratory Statuary Sculpture Architecture and many others depend upon the strength of the Imagination and that Painter succeeds bests who hath in his mind the most perfect idea of his work And because a Painter is to imitate every thing 't is requir'd to his being a Master that he be ignorant of nothing particularly he must know both the natural and artificial proportions and agreements of things with their several modes and uses And where there are three ways of representing the first in surfaces by flat painting the other in bodies themselves which belongs to Statuary and the Plastick Art the third between both as Graving and Carving Painting is the most difficult and consequently the most noble For it must so deceive the sight as to make cavities folds and bosses appear in a flat surface by the help of shadows which although a meer nothing because but a privation of light yet they gave all the gracefulness and value to Pictures For the way of painting without shadows us'd in China being nothing but a simple delineation without hatchment
as it is very excellent so 't is exceeding rare and being not us'd amongst us cannot come into comparison with the rest Whereas Sculpture and Statuary consisting only in paring away the overplus of matter or if the matter be fusible in casting it into a mould made from the original as the moulds of Plaster are from the faces of persons newly deceas'd need less industry The Second said Although Painting be sensible and visible yet it belongs to very few persons to judge well of it witness Alexander who going to see Appelles and offering to talk concerning Painting he spoke so ill that the Apprentices of that Artist could not forbear laughing Indeed Painting is one of the noblest parts of the Mechanicks and ought as well to be rank'd amongst the Mathematicks as Astronomy For if the reason of the Celestial motions gave cause for accounting this Science amongst the Mathematicks more justly may the reason of the motions and proportions of mans body the object of Painting more admirable and of which more certain and real knowledge may be had then of those remote bodies deserves to be of that rank considering that it makes use of the same Mathematical Rules Proportions whose Rules are so infallible that seven excellent Statuaries very distant one from the other being employ'd to make a brazen Colossus perform'd their tasks by the precepts of their Art and the parts which each of them made severally being put together represented a well proportion'd man According to which proportion a mans body must be eight lengths of his head from the less corner of the eye to the tip of the Ear is to be twice the length of the Eye the Feet and Hands stretch'd forth equally distant from the Navil and such other remarks The Third said The reason of the measures and proportions observ'd in Painting consists principally in four points viz. in the form and figure of the thing represented which is taken from the visual rays in the shadow which is to be taken from the rays of light in colour which is to imitate the natural and in the handsome posture or situation of the thing painted For Painting is the imitation of the affections of bodies with reference to the light made upon a solid Plane Hence a face is otherwise represented under the water then bare distant then neer in the Sun-shine then in the shadow by Candle-light or Moon-light And though the Painter represents also the dispositions of the soul as anger or sadness yet he doth it always by the features and qualities of the body The Fourth said They who blame Painting and Statuary because they represent unfitting objects and gave occasion to the Idolatry of antiquity may as justly blame beauty because 't is sometimes the occasion of sinning Painting hath this preeminence above all Arts that it imitates God more perfectly then they for God was the first Painter when he made man the goodliest piece of the world after his own image and likeness and all the bless'd spirits are but contracted copies of so perfect an original 'T is that which frees the body from the tombe and like a second table after shipwrack preserves the memory of virtuous men renders present those who are absent and makes almost as strong impressions upon our Soul as the thing it self witnesse the friendships of the greatest personages of the world contracted by its means And as if the desire of pourtraying it self were natural to all things there is no body but incessantly produces its own image which flies and wanders in the Air till it meet with some solid and smooth body whereon to represent it self as we see in Looking-glasses and polish'd marble where the images are much more exact then those which Art draws with a pencil yea then their own originals of whose corporeal matter they are wholly divested And as the beginning of all Arts are rude this of Painting is attributed to the Daughter of Belus who observing her Fathers shadow upon a wall delineated it with a coal For Pourtraiture invented by Philocles the Aegyptian is ancienter then Painting invented either by Gyges the Lydian in Aegypt according to Pliny or by Pyrhus Cousin to Daedalus according to Aristotle The Fifth said That in Painting as in other disciplines Ignorance of the principles is the cause that so few succeed well in it These principles are the methodical proportion of Mans Body Perspective the reason of shadows Natural Colours Designing and History all which must be found in a good Piece and the defect of some of them as it frequently happens causes us to wonder though we know not the reason that there is commonly something in all draughts that does not satisfie our Minds For oftentimes when all the rest is good Perspective hath not been well observ'd or the Design is nought or the History ill follow'd But as things are the more to be esteem'd which are the most simple so there is more of wonder in Painting to the life with a coal as Appelles did before Ptolomy to denote a person to him whom he could not name then with colours the least part of Painting which consists properly onely in proportion and this being the most divine action of Understanding 't is no wonder if there be so few good Painters For they are mistaken who place the excellence of painting in the smallness of the strokes because they fancy that Appelles was discover'd to Protogenes by having made a smaller line then he For on the contrary the most excellent strokes of Masters are many times the grossest and that this proportion may be exact it must imitate not onely particular subjects but generally the species of every thing Which Michel Caravague neglecting to do about 90. years since and instead of following Durer's excellent Rules addicting himself to draw onely after the life hath lead the way to all his successors who care not for his Rules but give themselves onely to imitation and this is the cause of the defects of painting at this day CONFERENCE LIX I. Of Light II. Of Age. I. Of Light I Conceive with a learned Physitian of the most worthy Chancellor that France ever had in his Treatise of this subject that Light is of two sorts one radical and essential which is found perfectly in the Stars the fire and some other subjects but imperfectly in colour'd bodies because Colour is a species of Light The other secondary and derivative which is found in bodies illuminated by the Light Both are made in Transparent Bodies those of the Stars in the Heaven and that of flame and bodies ignited in the fire whiteness in the Air and blackness in the Water But these transparent bodies must be condens'd that those Lights and Colours may appear and therefore the principle of Light is in transparence alone whereof neither purity rarity tenuity nor equality of surfaces are the causes but they all proceed from the quantity of matter some bodies having more matter then others
and the holiest mysteries of Religion not onely by the Delians who accompany'd all their prayers with dancing and the Indians who ador'd the Sun by dancing and imitating the course of that luminary but also by the Prophet David before the Ark and by Saul who being full of the Spirit of God fell to dancing with the Children of the Prophets as also did Miriam the sister of Moses Judith when she had kill'd Holofernes and infinite others in testimony of their thanksgiving to God The Muses themselves are painted by the Poets dancing about their fountain upon Mount Helicon Apollo is call'd dancer by Pindar and the Graces are represented dancing Proteus so celebrated by the Poets became famous onely by this Art and which he so excell'd that his nimble in strange postures gave occasion to the fable of turning himself into all kind of shapes because sometimes he counterfeited the fluidity of the water sometimes the lightness of fire the bending of trees the rage of the Leopard the cruelty of the Lyon and in brief the nature of every sort of things The Third said That Dancing is compos'd of three parts Motion Gesture and Indication For there is first a stirring up and down then a representing things by the Gestures of the Body chiefly by the Hand which Art is call'd Chironomy and those which are expert in it Chirosophers that is wise by the Hands Hence Dancing is defin'd a motion of the Body according to rule and number imitating by gesture things or persons either with singing or without As Motion 't is very delightful to Nature which is as much pleas'd therein as rest is disagreeable to it Nor is it less so as it includes an harmonious proportion of measure having this correspondence with Musick Poetry Eloquence Painting Comedy and all other Arts whose end is the delight of man But as it is an imitation it delights marvellously we loving nothing so much as to imitate or to see some thing imitated Hence works of Art please us more then those of Nature because Art doth nothing but imitate her Besides its delightfulness 't is also profitable and honest It s usefulness is sufficiently known to Physitians who make it a part of their Gymnastick Physick which treats of the exercises and motions prescrib'd in order to health and is divided into Palestrical and Saltatory Moreover Galen affirms that he cur'd many Patients by appointing them to dance which is an exercise of all parts of the body whereas walking exercises onely the legs riding the intestines bowling the reins going by ship the stomack and brain 'T is also very honest or decorous since it formes and fashions the body giving it a good grace one of the principal points of handsomeness For the Soul having the Sciences to instruct the Understanding and the Moral Virtues to rectifie the Will the body its dear partner needs some habit to regulate its defects the rather because they have influence upon the Soul it being very difficult for the motions of the Soul to be regular so long as those of the body are not Therefore Plato in the seventh book of his Laws requires that the instructers of youth have equally care of the body and the soul and for this purpose teach them Musick to regulate the motions of the Soul and dancing to frame those of the body and give it gracefulness as wrastling gives it strength CONFERENCE LXVII I. Of Death II. Of the Will I. Of Death AS Being is the first and greatest good because the foundation of all other goods so speaking absolutely upon a natural account the first and greatest of all evils is the privation of that Being which is Death so terrible that not onely brutes abhor the sight of their dead fellows through fear of the same death of which they behold an image of their carcases but men likewise although their name of Mortals be a token of the necessity of their dying yet use all the vain attempts they can to avoid that death which they fear as the most terrible of terrble things Yea all their great and violent actions and passions take their source from this fear which is so much greater as the evil is phancy'd nearer Whence old or sick persons have more apprehension of it then then those that are young and in health The vulgar commonly labours onely through fear of starving A man that is decrepit yet is willing to part with a limb if he may by the loss respite his death apprehended so terrible by some that the fear of it has kill'd some criminals before execution and carry'd others to such madness as to kill themselves for fear of dying Nevertheless he that shall consider Death more nearly will find that being but a privation it is nothing and that what we fear so much is onely the way to this death or the sequel of it the former in respect of irrational animals and both in reference to man who apprehends in the other life the judgement of the actions of this Otherwise Death being onely a poynt and a moment which hath neither quantity nor extent but approaches to Nothing hath therefore nothing in it self for which it ought to be feared For so long as the Animal hath sense it is not dead and so soon as 't is dead it hath no more And because 't is a motion and passage from Being to not Being between which two there is no medium or middle therefore 't is a pure nothing and consequently hath no foundation saving in the troubled Phancy Since upon due perpension of things that which is not is no-wise to be fear'd by those that are insensible yea that exist no more The Second said That to maintain Death to be nothing is to accuse not onely all men of folly in fearing what exists not and consequently is not capable of producing any effects or passions but likewise Nature of imprudence in having imprinted this apprehension in all creatures for their preservation As therefore Reason and Experience teach us that there are substantial generations so the same shew us the true and substantial corruptions of all compounds which corruption in a thing endu'd with life is call'd Death which is the separation of the Soul from the Body For the Platonists are ridiculous when they make two kinds of this separation namely that of the Soul from the Body which they call Extasie and that of the Body from the Soul which alone they say is to be call'd Death For they are both one and the same thing and Extasie is not a separation of essence but of power hapning when the Soul is so glu'd to an object in the contemplation whereof it employes all its powers that there remains none for corporeal functions the Eyes not perceiving what is then presented to them Whence the Soul being more where it loves then where it lives is also more where it understands Now Death is either natural or violent The former caus'd by the consumption
The contact above spoken of hath no difficulty nor yet the objection why other wounded persons residing in some intermediate place between the anointed Instrument and the Patient are not rather cur'd then he considering that the same thing is observ'd in the Load-stone which draws not the wood or stone laid neer it but the Iron beyond them and the Sun heats not the Sphere of the Moon and the other Heavens nor yet the two higher Regions of the air but only ours cross that vast interval of cold and humid air because he finds no congruency thereunto besides the not reflexion of his beams Wherefore the contact of the anointed Javelin and the Wound may as well be call'd Physical as that of the Sun and us which never stirs from his Sphere Besides that we have examples of many contacts made without manifest mediums as those of pestilential and contagious Fevers of blear'd-eyes of the Wolfes aspect causing hoarsness and the killing looks of the Basilisk And indeed if you take away all cures that are wrought by occult and inexplicable means there will be nothing admirable in Physick The Fourth said That in assigning the reason of effects men ordinarily mistake that for a cause which is not so The Rose is not cold because it is white for the Red-rose is so too Spurge is not hot because it hath a milky juice for so have Lettice Eudive c. which are cold Aloes is not hot because it is bitter for Opium which kills through its coldness is of the same taste They also erroneously attribute the cure of diseases to sympathy to the power of characters words images numbers celestial figures and such other things which have no activity at all and most extraordinary cures are effects of the strength of the Mind which is such that where it believes any thing firmly it operates what it believes and that with efficacy provided the subject on which it acts do not repugne But if it comes to have a firm belief of the effect then it follows far more easily For if the understanding is identifi'd with what it knows why shall it not make things like to it self To which firm belief I refer the magnetick cure of wounds and not to that sympathy of the blood on the weapon with that in the veins since if two parts of the same body be wounded the healing of the one will not suffice to the healing of the other and yet there 's more sympathy between the parts of the same body animated with the same form then they have with a little extravasated blood which hath lost all the dispositions that it had like the whole mass II. Of Anger Upon the second Point it was said That Nature has so provided for the contentment of animals that she has given them not only an appetite to pursue good and avoid evil when both may be done without difficulty but also a different one to give courage to the former and to surmount the difficulties occurring in the pursuite of that good and the eschewance of that evil term'd the Irascible appetite from anger the strongest of its passions which serves to check the pungency of grief as fear and boldness come to the assistance of flight and desire is guarded with hope and despair This is the opinion of Plato who makes three sorts of souls one which reasons another which covets and the third which is displeas'd the former of which he places in the Brain the second in the Liver and the last in the Heart Anger then is a passion of the Irascible Appetite caus'd by the apprehension of a present evil which may be repell'd but with some difficulty It s principle is the soul its instrument the spirits its matter the blood its seat the heart not the will as Cardan erroneously conceiv'd for the actions of the will not being organical make no impressions or footsteps upon the body It proceeds either from a temper of body hot and dry and easie to be inflam'd or from the diversity of seasons times ages and sexes Hence the cholerick and young persons are more inclin'd to it then the phlegmatick and aged because they have a temper more proper to this passion Women and children are easily displeas'd through weakness of spirit as 't is a sign of a sublime spirit not to be troubled at any thing but to believe that as every thing is below it self so nothing is capable to hurt it Which reason Aristotle made use of to appease the choler of Alexander telling him that he ought never to be incens'd against his inferiors but only against his equals or superiors and there being none that could equal much less surpass him he had no cause to fall into anger The Second said That the Faculties extending to contraries the eye beholding both white and black and the ear hearing all sort of sounds only the sensitive appetite is carri'd both to good and evil whether accompani'd with difficulties or not as the will alone is carri'd towards all kind of good and evil And as the same gravity inclines the stone towards its centre and makes it divide the air and water which hinder it from arriving thither so the sensitive appetite by one and the same action is carri'd to good flees evil and rises against the difficulties occurring in either Thus anger and grief are in one sole appetite yea anger is nothing but grief for an evil which may be repell'd For it hath no place when the offender is so potent that there is no hope of revenge upon him although 't is rare that a man esteems so low of himself as not to be able to get reason for a wrong done him or apprehended to be done him this passion as all others being excited by causes purely imaginary Thus a single gesture interpreted a contempt offends more then a thrust with a sword by inadvertency And this the more if the contemners be our inferiors or oblig'd to respect us upon other accounts Which makes the enmities between relations or friends irreconcileable For as a good not foreseen rejoyces more so the injury of a friend displeases us far above one done us by our enemies against whom he seem'd to have some reason who implor'd not so often the aid of Heaven because he said Nature taught him to beware of them as against his friends because he did not distrust them The Third said Anger may be consider'd two ways either according to its matter or its form In the former way 't is defin'd an Ebullition of the blood about the Heart In the latter a desire with grief to be reveng'd for an injury done to himself or his friends whom a man is oblig'd to uphold especially if they be too weak to avenge themselves Injury consists either in deeds or words or gestures The first is the most evident and oftimes least sensible for words offend more because being the image of thoughts they shew us the little esteem made of us
that two Spheres may be so contiguous as the Celestial are that there can be no air between them yet they might nevertheless be mov'd and heated yea much more then if there were air interpos'd between them The Third said As a form cannot be receiv'd into any subject without previous dispositions so when they are present they suddenly snatch the form to themselves Those of fire are rarity lightness and dryness of which the more bodies partake the more they will be susceptible of the nature of fire Therefore what is capable of being heated by motion must be dry not moist whence fire is never produced by water any more then of air agitated by reason of their excessive humidity perfectly contrary to the dryness of fire But that which is extreamly dry is half fire needing no more but to become hot as happens necessarily when it is rarefi'd and attenuated by motion and consequently inflam'd every substance extreamly tenuious and dry being igneous since in the order of nature all matter necessarily receives the form whereof it hath all the dispositions For there being a separation and divulsion of parts made in every sort of motion as is seen in water when it falls from on high it follows that they are render'd more rare and capable of being converted into fire The Fourth said That motion rarity and heat ordinarily follow and are the causes one of another Thus the Heavens by their rapid motion excite heat in all sublunary bodies and this heat as 't is its property opening the parts rarefies the whole Water receiving the rayes of the Sun is mov'd and agitated by them this motion produces rarity this heat which makes the subtilest parts ascend upwards as on the contrary heat being the most active quality is the cause of motion this of rarity by collision attenuating the mov'd parts So that motion is not more the cause of heat then this is of motion The Fifth said That heat and fire which is only an excess of heat are produc'd four ways by propagation union putrefaction and motion In the first way one way generates another fire a thing common to it with all other bodies in nature which is so fruitful that even the least things produce their like In the second manner when the Sun-beams are reflected by bellow glasses they burn in the point of union provided the matter be not white because whitenesse takes away the reason upon which they burn which is their uniting whereas white disunites and disgregates the rayes To which manner that of antiperistasis is also to be referr'd when external cold causes such a union of the degrees of heat that it becomes inflam'd The third cause of heat is putrefaction proceeding from disunion of the Elements amongst which fire being the most active becomes becomes also more sensible to us The last is motion by which bodies rub'd or clash'd one against another take fire by reason of the Sulphur contain'd in them which alone is inflamable as we see Marble and Free-stone yield not fire as Flints do whose smell after the blew seems sulphureous For if only the air be fir'd whence comes it that in striking the steel the sparkles of fire fall downwards contrary to the nature of fire which ascends besides the air would be turn'd into flames not into sparkles and two stones rub'd one against the other would cause as much fire as steel and the flint or other stones out of whose substance these igneous particles are struck Whence according to their differences they make different sparkles If the stones be hard and struck strongly they render a sprightly fire if soft they either render none at all or such as is less vigorous Moreover the observations of fire issuing forth upon the rubbing of a Lyon's bones as also Laurel and Ivy and Crystal with Chalcedon and that which comes from stroking the back of a Cat in the dark and from the casting a drop of rectifi'd oyl of Vitriol into cold water evidence that this fire is produc'd out of the bosom of the matter which is more dispos'd thereunto then any other not from the encompassing air But that which serves most to shew that 't is from the matter this fire of motion comes is the duration of the Heavens which being in all probability solid would have been set on fire were it not that they are not of a combustible matter nor apt to conceive fire for how little soever that heat were there would be more neer the Sphere of the Moon then at the Centre of the Earth and nevertheless the air is frozen while heat causes corruptions and generations upon the earth and at the centre of it and this heat having been always encreasing as is that of the motion would be insupportable II. Of Chastity Upon the second Point it was said That Reason regulates the inclinations of the appetite by the vertues amongst which temperance serves to moderate that of eating by abstinence and of drinking by sobriety as also the concupiscence of the flesh by chastity which is more excellent then the two former in that its business lies with more powerful adversaries which assail it without as well as within by so many avenues as there are senses amongst which the hearing and sight receiving the poyson of glances and words cause chastity to stagger and languish but it receives the deadly blow when the touch surrenders it self to the inchantment of kisses and the other delights which follow them Moreover the necessity of natural actions being the standard of pleasure and generation which concerns the general being more necessary then nutrition which relates only to the particular it hath also more pleasure and consequently being more hard to withstand chastity which surmounts it not only deserves Palmes and Triumphs in the other world but also in this hath been rewarded by God with the gift of Prophecy in the Sibyls and is honour'd by all even the most wicked for its rarity which made the Poet say that there was none in his time chaste but she that had not been tempted Now Chastity is of three sorts Virgineal Conjugal and that of Widows to which the Fathers attribute what is said of the grains of Corn which brought forth one a hundred other thirty and other sixty For Virgineal Chastity in either sex consisting in integrity of body and purity of soul and in a firm purpose to abstain from all sort of carnal pleasures the better to attend divine service is more worthy then the other two and prefer'd before any other condition by S. Paul who counsels every one to desire to be like him in this point Hence the Church hath chosen it and is so immutably affected to it to the end souls freed from worldly care might be more at leisure for divine things from which Matrimony extreamly diverts The chastity of Widows hath for pattern the Turtle and the Raven who having lost their mates live nine ages of men without coupling with
the campaigne War is the fair where wares are had best cheap and in sack'd Cities commodities are taken without weighing and Stuffs are not measur'd but with the Pike instead of the Ell if any complain there needs no more but to imitate Brennus's treating with the Romans besiedg'd in the Capitol cast the sword into the balance it will carry it Wherefore being Master of all Arts it is more necessary then they For he that is strongest finds sufficient of every thing The Seventh said As amongst the Arts some have others subservient to them as the Ephippians to the Military Art Chyrurgery Pharmacy the Gymnastick and all that relate to Health to Medicine or Physick Carpentry Masonry and others employ'd about building to Architecture and these Master Arts are call'd Architectonical So there is one above all these which is Policy the Eye and Soul of the State which governs all Arts gives them their rewards and punishes their defects sets what price it pleases upon things affords convenient place for the merit of every one sends Armies into the field and calls them back according to the necessity of affairs hath care of Piety and Justice establishes Magistracy appoints quarters to Souldiers and gives free exercise to all other Arts. All which considerations and accounts argue it the most necessary of all CONFERENCE LXXIII I. Of the Earthquake II. Of Envy I. Of the Earthquake IRregular motions are as strange as regular are agreeable especially those of bodies destinated to rest as the Earth is being the immoveable centre about which the whole fabrick of the world is turn'd For though the whole Heaven cannot rest any more then the whole Earth move yet the parts of them may the Scripture informing us that Joshuah made the Sun stand still that he might have time to pursue the Amorites and every Age having experiences of Earthquakes To which Aristotle ascribes the appearing of a new Island in the Pontick Sea call'd Heraclia and of another call'd Sacrea Many Geographers affirm that the Islands of Rhodes and Delos were produc'd by the like cause and that Sicily sometimes joyn'd to Italy was separated from it by an Earthquake whence the place of separation is still call'd by the Greek word Rhegium which signifies separation and fracture Pliny affirms that the Island of Cyprus was by this means divided from Syria and Euboea from Boeotia Histories tell of some Mountains that have clash'd together contrary to the Proverb which saith that they never meet of Towns transported to some distance from their first situation as hapned by an Earthquake in Syria in the ninth year of Constantinus Copronomus of others swallowed up as sometimes the greatest part of the City of Sparta upon which at the same time fell a part of Mount Taygetus which completed its ruine twenty thousand inhabitants of which City were also overwhelm'd by an other Earthquake by the relation of Diodorus about the 78. Olympiade Josephus reports that thirty thousand Jews were swallow'd up by another And Justin that when Tigranes King of Armenia became Master of Syria there hapned so dreadful an Earthquake that a hundred and thirty thousand Syrians perish'd by it Four hundred years agoe twelve thousand houses were shaken down at Lisbon Italy was much endamag'd in the year 1116 by one which lasted forty dayes principally Tuscany Puglia the Territory of Venice and Campagnia where twelve Cities perish'd and that of Pompey was swallow'd up in Winter which season neverthelesse is accounted free from it Four years agoe the City of Naples was horribly shaken especially the borders of Mount Visuvius The common opinion refers these effects to a dry Exhalation which makes the same concussion in the belly of the Earth as in that of a cloud shattering many times both the one and the other when it cannot otherwise get free from its confinement how hard or dense soever the bodies be that inclose it The Second said That the causes of Earthquakes are either Divine or Astrological or Physical The first have no other foundation but the Will of God who thereby oftentimes manifests to Men his justice and power and sometimes contrary to the course of ordinary and natural causes Such was that at the death of our Saviour in the 18th year of Tiberius which was universal and wherewith twelve Cities of Asia perish'd and that mention'd by Sigonius hapning in the year 343. under Constantine the Arrian Emperor whereby the City of Neocaesaria was wholly swallow'd up except the Catholick Church and its Bishop The Astrological causes are if we may credit the professors of this Art the malignant influences of Jupiter and Mars in the Houses of Taurus Virgo and Capricorn But as the first are too general so these are very uncertain being built for the most part upon false principles as also those which suppose the Earth a great Animal whose tremors are made in the same manner as those which befall other Animals Wherefore holding to the most perceptible causes I conceive with Democritus that torrents of rain coming to fill the concavities of the Earth by their impetuousnesse drive out the other waters and that upon their motion and swaying from one side to another the Earth also reels this way and by and by the other or rather that these Torrents drive out the winds impetuously as Air issues out of a bottle when it is filling which wind repells and agitates the Earth till it find some issue whence also come the sounds and lowings which accompany Earthquakes As is seen in Hydraulick instruments which by arificial mixing Air and Water when they are impell'd into pipes fit to receive the same excite sounds like those emitted by the wind-pipe of Animals agitated with the wind of their lungs and moistned with the salivous liquor or natural water The Third said That he could not be of their mind who because water is found by digging to a good depth in the Earth therefore interpret that place literally where 't is said That God hath founded the Earth upon the Water upon which it floats and that according to their agitation the Earth is like a Ship which fluctuates in a tempestuous Sea and lyes even and still in a calm since if this were so then the whole Earth should tremble at the same time which is contrary to experience The opinion of Anaximenes is more probable that as part of the Earth upon a droughth after a wet season cleaves and crackles so the same happens to Regions and whole Countries The Fourth said That if this opinion were true then they would begin increase diminish and cease by degrees nor would they last long Yet 't is observ'd some have continu'd forty days yea six moneths as that of Constantinople under Theodosius the younger and miraculously ceas'd upon the first singing of those words by all the people Sanctus Sanctus c. Aristotle also makes mention of some that lasted two years the cause whereof depends either upon the quality or
famous Simon Magus as Saint Clement reports seem'd to create a man in the Air render'd himself invisible appear'd with several faces flew in the Air penetrated rocks turn'd himself into a sheep and a goat commanded a sickle to reap corn as it did more alone then ten labourers and by this means deluded the eyes of all the world except those of Saint Peter Such was also in the dayes of our Fathers one Trisulcan who to defame his Curate made him think that he was playing at cards whereas he was turning over his breviary whereupon he flung it upon the ground and M. Gonin being hang'd on a gibbet the first presidents mule was seen hanging in his place Their transports are sometimes real sometimes imaginary the Devil keeping them in a deep sleep all the while The Third said That the power of Evil Spirits whose instruments Sorcerers are is so limited that they cannot either create or annihilate a straw much lesse produce any substantial form or cause the real descent of the Moon or hinder the Stars motion as Heathen Antiquity stupidly believ'd Indeed they are able to move all sublunary things so they cause Earthquakes the Devil either congregting Exhalations in its hollownesses or agitating the Air included therein Sopater having been put to death for so tying up the winds that no merchandize could be transported to Byzantium And Philostratus relates that Apollonius saw two tubs or tuns among the Brachmans which being open'd there arose most vehement winds and rain and shut again the Air became calm and serene Olaus also testifies the like of the Laplanders and Finlanders who sold winds to Merchants Moreover the Devils are call'd by the Apostle Princes of the Air they cause Hail Thunder Rain and Fire to fall where they please yet alwayes conditionally that God lets the bridle loose to them as he did when he burnt Job's servants and flocks and overthrew the house wherein his children were with a whirl-wind So in the year 1533. a Sorcerer burnt the whole Town of Silthoc in Sweden to the ground And as they can obscure so they can infect the Air and more easily the waters stopping them and making them run backwards which Pliny saith himself saw in his time They kill Animals by infecting them or their pastures or else suffocate them by entring into them as they did the swine of the Gadarenes They can also extinguish the plenty of a Country by transporting the fatness of it elsewhere not by virtue of the Sorcerers words much lesse is it by those that they introduce flies grashoppers and catterpillars or other insects into a place either assembling them together or producing them out of congruous matter The Fourth said That the effects of Nature and Art are to be distinguish'd from those of enchantments for want of which satisfaction some juglers pass for Sorcerers among the vulgar who are apt to apprehend supernatural means when they are ignorant of the natural or artificial causes For removing of which calumny C. Furius Cresnius being accus'd of having bewitch'd his neighbours fields and transported all their fertility into his own brought his servants his oxen and plough into the Senate declaring that these were all his charms Moreover many times the sterility imputed to Sorcerers proceeds from Gods anger who makes the Heaven iron and the Earth brass for their wickedness So when a private person arrives to great honour or estate suddenly though it be by his merit yet the generality of people the meanest of which account themselves worthy of the same fortune attribute such extraordinary progresses to the Devil And yet 't is a rare thing if ever heard of that any one was enrich'd by the Devil either because he reserves his riches for Antichrist wherewith to seduce the Nations or because God doth not suffer it lest men should forsake his service for that of Devils and the good should be too sorely afflicted by the wicked II. Of Amorous Madness Upon the Second Poynt it was said That Love being not very wise of it self 't is no hard matter for it to become extravagant for it cares not for mediocrity and consequently is subject to most tragical accidents It s Excess is call'd Erotick or Amorous Madness which is a species of melancholy deliration caus'd by the continual representation of the thing lov'd which possesses the Phancy of the poor Lovers that they can think of nothing else and many times forget to eat drink and sleep and the other necessary actions of life 'T is different according to diversity of temper of brain and body the degree of the melancholly humour and the profession of those that are possess'd with it Hence melancholy persons are fullest of flatuosities and Spirits and the sanguine as having most blood are most subject to it They are known by their hollow and languishing eyes inequality of pulse and visage especially when the party lov'd is spoken of or seen by which means Galen discover'd the Love-sickness of a Roman Lady and Erasistratus that of Seleuous's Son for his Mother in law Stratonice This distemper is the more dangerous because 't is pleasing to those that are tormented with it and hard to cure because they fear nothing more then their cure being fond of their fetters But being a disease of the Mind the surest remedy is to divert from the thought of what they love and to avoid idleness the mother of lasciviousness The body also must be conveniently purg'd from its predominant humours according to which these patients differ the sanguine are merry and laugh continually and oftentimes alone love songs and dances the cholerick are froward and so furious that some have kill'd themselves through the violence of their passions and Romances are full of such persons The melancholy are pensive solitary and sad that dull and cold humour hebitating the souls motion If this distemper proceed from abundance of geniture remedies must be us'd which extinguish it as Rue Purslane Lettice Water-lilly Willow-leaves Coriander seeds Agnus Castus Camphir and Mint The Second said As Love is the original so 't is the Abridgement of all Passions You may see these poor Lovers in the same hour love and hate fly and desire rejoyce and sorrow fear and dare be angry without a cause and be pacifi'd again with less reason in brief never to have their Minds setled any more then their bodies in the same posture and complexion alike Whence many have thought this malady produc'd by enchanted Drinks or Philtres which may indeed make one amorous but not determine him to a certain person besides that these Drinks cannot act upon our Will which is incorporeal nor captivate its liberty to a particular object unless the Devil have a hand in the business The Third said That the famousest of all Philtres is Hippomenes powder'd and taken knowingly by the Lover 'T is a little black and round piece of flesh about the bigness of a dry fig found upon a Colt's fore-head new
the soul corporeal there would be a penetration of dimensions in its union with the body consequently 't is no Element nor any Compound of them as Empedocles and Plato phanci'd upon this ground that the soul being to judge of all things should therefore have all their principles and elements in it self Which is absurd for it knows divers things not compos'd of the Elements as the Angels and Heavens So that the soul must be concluded in the number of those things which 't is easier to affirm what they are not then what they are The Fifth said That the soul is a fire whose centre is Heaven and God the source who is call'd by the name of fire in the Holy Text. Hence life an effect of the soul is nothing else but heat and death cold Moreover as fire makes bodies lighter so living bodies are less heavy then dead And the Hebrews call man Isch from the word Esch fire as the Greeks do Phôs which signifies light which is a species of fire lucid but not ardent which light appears upon bodies whilst living and dis-aspears as soon as they are dead Now the different sorts of souls are produc'd of different lights Those of Plants are form'd of that of the air whence they have no sensible heat as the sensitive have which are generated of the Sun which also gives them local motion rational souls are beams diffus'd from God who inhabits light inaccessible And as waters ascend as high as their springs so the souls of Plants exalt themselves into the air whose mutations they follow those of Beasts return into the Sun and those of men are reflected towards God having this common with light that they perish not but return to the place of their nativity Agreeably whereunto Solomon saith That there is nothing new under the Sun since even the forms of things are not new but only appear in their turn one after another as when light forsakes our Hemisphere it no more perishes then shadow but they both make a continual circle which follows that of the Sun II. Of the Apparition of Spirits Upon the second Point it was said That the perfection of the Universe requires the existence of Intellectual Creatures such as Angels and Rational Souls A truth acknowledg'd by Aristotle who assigns nine Spirits subservient to the First Mover according to the number of heavens which they are to move although Mercurius Trismegistus acknowledges but two which hold the Arctick and Antarctick Poles Which Avicenna also denoted by his Chain of Intelligences Amongst these Spirits some are destinated for the preservation of men as Guardian Angels call'd by the Apostle ministring Spirits which were the Genii of the ancients by which they made their greatest Oathes Others have continual war with mankind as the Devils Others animate bodies as Rational Souls which after the bodies dissolution are happy or miserable according as they have done good or evil As for Angels and Demons History both sacred and prophane testifies their frequent apparition to men Daily experience proves the same of the souls of the dead though some question it But besides that 't is presumption to dis-believe all antiquity which tells us of a Ghost which spoke to Brutus one which shew'd a Sceleton in chains to Athenodorus the Philosopher and that of Cleonice which tormented Pausanias who had slain her as long as he liv'd as also the Ghost of Agrippina did her son Nero. The authority of Holy Scripture instructs us of the return of Samuel Moses and Elias and the same reason which makes the soul loath to part from its body argues it desirous to visit the same or the places and persons wherewith it was most delighted Nor is it more difficult to conceive how a separated soul can move it self then how it moves the body which it animates the one and the other being equally incomprehensible The Second said Spectres exist not saving in the Phancy those who think they see them conceding that they are not palpable nor beheld alike of all by standers and men being prone to acquiesce in their own imaginations though misguided by the passions of fear hope love desire especially children and women who are more susceptible of all impressions because their phancies are so weak as to be no less mov'd with its own fictions then real external representations by the Senses But strong minds are not subject to such delusions The Third said He is too sensual who believes nought but what he sees for according to this account nothing but accidents which alone fall under the cognizance of sense should be admitted So the Saduces and all Libertines deny spirits whilst they appeal only to Sense Although it be an universal Doctrine of all sober antiquity that there are spirits and that they appear oftentimes to men in cases of necessity wherewith according to Aristotle himself the souls of the dead friends are affected a manifest argument of the soul's immortality which he believ'd only by the light of nature As Apuleius reports the Platonists make three sorts of Spirits First Demons or Genii which are souls whilst they animate bodies Second Lares or Penates the souls of such as had liv'd well and after death were accounted tutelary gods of the houses which they had inhabited Third Lemures or Hobgoblins the souls of the wicked given to do mischief or folly after death as they did during their life Some others especially the Poets conceiv'd man compos'd of three parts Body Soul and Shadow which latter appeared after dissolution of the two former the body returning into its elements and the soul going either to Heaven or Hell as the shadow did into the Elysian fields from whence it had no liberty to return but only wander'd up and down so long as the body wanted burial The Fourth said We must distinguish between Vision and Apparition The former is when we think we behold a thing which afterwards comes accordingly to pass as it appear'd the latter is when some visible forms present themselves to us either waking or asleep and 't is of three sorts intellectual imaginary and corporeal The intellectual is when separated substances insinuate themselves into the mind without borrowing any external shape The imaginary is when they imprint some strange forms or species in the phancy and by this means make themselves known to us The corporeal is when they present themselves to our outward senses To omit the first which is rare and an image of the Beatifical Vision the imaginary apparition of souls is caus'd when Angels or Demons according to the quality of the souls pourtray in our phancy the species and signs of their countenance and personage which they had during life which appears sad cover'd with black whilst they yet indure the punishments of their sins but cheerful and in white habit when they are deliver'd from the same And although this apparition is imaginary yet 't is real too Thus Judas Maccabaeus knew Onias and
of the Island of Tenos can endure wine CONFERENCE LXXXIII I. Of Baths II. Whether the Wife hath more love for her Husband or the Husband for his Wife I. Of Baths 'T Is not in vain that Physitians examine the nature of the places wherein man's body is contain'd For the ambient air water or earth as in Dropsies hath great influence upon the same Now Baths are either total for the whole body or partial for some members such as the Half-bath where the head breast and arms are remaining out of the water fomentations pumpings and the like This Bath was in such request among the Romans that their Emperors were at great care and charge in building them not only at Rome but even in this City of Paris where the Emperor Julian made one Its benefits are great when us'd in due time and place and its effects different according to its divers composition For it always moistens more or less but it heats cools or tempers according as 't is hot cold or temperate It opens the pores by removing the scurfe which stop'd them and dilating them by its heat whereby it insinuates into the inward parts especially the muscles which by this means it swells up and by colliquating the humour corrects their dryness and repairs the emptiness introduc'd thereinto by lassitude Whence us'd moderately it takes away weariness and repairs strength but continu'd too long and being hot it draws forth the strength of the party too much and causes faintings a cold Bath cools the parts it touches but by accident and consequence heats them by obstructing the pores and passages of the spirits Hence they that come out of this Bath are very hungry and Hippocrates saith that the Convulsion is cur'd by casting cold water upon the shoulders which moves nature to expell its enemy So in fainting nothing recovers the spirits and revives the heart more then cold water cast on the face where the skin is thinnest and the spirits abound most The Second said That those at Rome anciently pass'd through three places In the first where the air was well warm'd like the Stoves of Germany they put off their clothes In the second a little more heated by fire underneath or on the sides they sweat the water which steam'd from the heated vessels sticking to their naked bodies and being thence gently wip'd off all the filth was brought off with Curry-combs of Ivory Here also they were anointed with Oyle either before the Bath of warm water when they would not relax the pores nor evaporate the spirits as in those that newly recover a sickness or are exhausted by labour or after the Bath to hinder the sweat which follows For the oyl stops the pores of the skin and so hinders transpiration In the third place was the water luke-warm or something more where they bath'd themselves afterwards plung'd into cold water or a little less hot which was on the side of the same place to fortifie the relaxed members Lastly they return'd to the second place there to sweat and be rub'd repassing by the first to avoid the sudden mutation from hot air to cold the danger of which Alexander found when being too hot he went into a river falling into shiverings and convulsions wherewith he had perish'd had it not been for his Physitian Philip. Whereby it appears that a Bath profits or hurts according as it is well or ill administred and that our wise Ancestors were more circumspect in it then we which possibly is the cause why it was in so frequent use that Galen speaks of divers of his time who commonly bath'd themselves twice a day the good which we receive from any thing being the inducement to the frequent practice of it The Third said That unless upon urgent necessity and a medicinal account bathing is not only superfluous but very hurtful to men For besides that 't is unnatural not water but air being man's element it opens the body and makes it susceptible of any bad qualities of the air for which reason 't is forbidden in time of pestilence For as Oke lasts longer then Fig-tree because 't is more solid so soft bodies are more unhealthy and short-liv'd then firme as those of peasants are who arrive to ages without experience of any of those delicacies For so many conditions are requisite to a Bath that 't is commonly more hurtful then profitable It must be vari'd according to the diversity of seasons and complexions which Galen confesses he understood not And one and the same day will be of different temper as it happens in Autumn so that one and the same Bath will be proper and not proper Besides 't is prescrib'd to be as hot as milk from the Cow which it cannot be for two moments but is immediately alter'd by the ambient air If it be said that the body suffers well the same variations of the air I answer that it is not expos'd naked to the air whose excessive qualities are abated by our clothes Otherwise every one would be inconvenienc'd therewith unless he were accustom'd to it from his birth as the Savages are Besides the air adheres not to the skin and so makes but a transient impression It must be us'd after digestion we know not when this is ended the body being purg'd which it seldom is as it ought otherwise it excites fluxions in such as are full-bodied and subject to catarrhs It fills the head with vapours it relaxes the nerves and ligaments so that some have never felt the Gout but after bathing It kills the infant in the womb even when it is too hot 'T is an enemy to those that have Tetters or Erysipelas to fat and full bodi'd persons and generally to all that are not accustom'd to it as if this element were not innocent but as the most mischievous things are when made familiar by custom As for bathing in rivers those that swim therein as most do strain themselves more then do's them good besides the incommodities which they receive from the air whereunto they are expos'd So that if you add the loss of time to the rich the charge to the poor and incommodity to all you will not wonder that most men abstain from them and that Seneca chose no fitter place to dye in then a Bath The Fourth said That a Bath being one of the things call'd by the Physitians not-natural that is whose right or ill use hurts or do's good no more distinction need be us'd in it then there is in eating drinking sleeping waking and such other things But the advantages of a Bath rightly us'd have none equal to them First it cleanses the body and gives a man a new skin opens the pores to let out the fumes and steams of the vessels which also are temper'd by the water 's sweet and mild quality It corrects dryness the enemy of life which consists in humidity reducing the same to a just temper whence lean and hectical persons
a good while And whereas the air kills fishes when they are long expos'd to it it cannot serve for the support of their natural heat which is very small Wherefore they respire with water which is more natural and familiar to them causing the same effects in them that the air doth in land-animals The Second said As the aliments ought to be sutable to the parts of the body which they nourish the soft and spungy Lungs attracting the thin bilious blood the spleen the gross and melancholy so the spirits of the animal must be repair'd by others proportionate thereunto and of sutable matter for recruiting the continual loss of that spiritual substance the seat of the natural heat and radical moisture Wherefore animals which have aqueous spirits as fishes repair the same by water which they respire by the mouth the purest part of which water is turn'd into their spirits and the more gross omitted by their gills But land-animals whose spirits are aerious and more subtile and whose heat is more sensible have need of air to serve for sutable matter to such spirits for which end nature ha's given them Lungs Yet with this difference that as some fish attract a more subtile and tenuious water to wit that of Rivers and some again a more gross as those which live in Lakes and Mud So according as animals have different spirits some breathe a thin air as Birds others more gross as Men and most Beasts others an air almost terrestrial and material as Moles and amongst those which have only transpiration flyes attract a thin air and Worms a thick The Second said That our natural heat being celestial and divine may indeed be refresh'd by the air but not fed and supported as the parts of our body are by solid and liquid food For food must be in some manner like the thing nourish'd because 't is to be converted into its substance Now there 's no proportion between the gross and impure air which we breathe and that celestial and incorporeal substance Nor can nutrition be effected unless the part to be nourish'd retain the aliment for some time to prepare and assimilate it but on the contrary the air attracted by respiration is expell'd as soon as it hath acquir'd heat within and is become unprofitable to refresh and cool This respiration is an action purely animal and voluntary since 't is in our power to encrease diminish or wholly interrupt it as appears by Licinius Macer and Coma who by the report of Valerius Maximus kill'd themselves by holding their breath The Fourth said That Respiration being absolutely necessary to life is not subject to the command of the will but is regulated by nature because it doth its actions better then all humane deliberations Nor is it ever weary as the animal faculty is whose action is not continual as this of respiration is even during sleep which is the cessation of all animal actions and wherein there is no election or apprehension of objects a necessary condition to animal actions yea in the lethargy apoplexie and other symptoms wherein the brain being hurt the animal actions are interrupted yet respiration always remains unprejudic'd The Fifth said That respiration is neither purely natural as concoction and distribution of the blood are nor yet simply animal as speaking and walking are but partly animal partly natural as the retaining or letting go of urine is 'T is natural in regard of its end and absolute necessity and its being instituted for the vital faculty of the heart which is purely natural animal and voluntary inasmuch as 't is perform'd by means of 65 intercostal muscles the organs of voluntary motion whereby it may be made faster or slower II. Whether there be any certainty in humane Sciences Upon the second Point 't was said That all our knowledge seems to be false First on the part of the object there being but one true of it self namely God whom we know not and cannot know because to know adaequately is to comprehend and to comprehend is to contain and the thing contain'd must be less then that which contains it To know a thing inadaequately is not to know it Secondly on the part of our Intellect which must be made like to what it knows or rather turn'd into its nature whence he that thinks of a serious thing becomes serious himself he that conceives some ridiculous thing laughs without design and all the longings of Child-bearing-women end where they begun But 't is impossible for us to become perfectly like to what we would know Thirdly this impossibility proceeds from our manner of knowing which being by some inference or consequence from what is already known we can never know any thing because we know nothing at all when we come into the world And should we acquire any knowledge it would be only by our internal and external senses Both both are fallacious and consequently cannot afford certain knowledge For as for the external the eye which seems the surest of all the senses apprehends things at distance to be less then they really are a straight stick in the water to be crooked the Moon to be of the bigness of a Cheese though 't is neer that of the Earth the Sun greater at rising and setting then at noon the Shore to move and the Ship to stand still square things to be round at distance an erect Pillar to be less at the top Nor is the hearing less subject to mistake as the Echo and a Trumpet sounded in a valley makes the sound seem before us when 't is far behind us Pronuntiation alters the sense of words besides that both these senses are erroneous in the time of their perception as is seen in felling of woods and thunder The Smell and Taste yea the Touch it self how gross soever it be are deceiv'd every day in sound persons as well as in sick and what do our drinkers in rubbing their palates with Salt and Spice but wittingly beguile it grating the skin thereof that so the wine may punge it more sensibly But the great fallacy is in the operation of the inward Senses For the Phancy oftentimes is perswaded that it hears and sees what it doth not and our reasoning is so weak that in many disciplines scarce one Demonstration is found though this alone produceth Science Wherefore 't was Democritus's opinion that Truth is hidden in a well that she may not be found by men The Second said That to know is to understand the cause whereby a thing is and to be certain that there can be no other but that the word cause being taken for principle Therefore when men know by the Senses by effects by external accidents or such other things which are not the cause they cannot be said to know by Science which requires that the understanding be fully satisfi'd in its knowledge wherein if there be any doubt it hath not Science but Opinion This scientifical knowledge is found in
besides loss of time renders mens minds soft and effeminate and more susceptible of the passions represented therein Tragedy is too sad to serve for divertisement to the soul. If you proceed to Gladiators is any thing more inhumane and that renders men more barbarous then to see our fellow-men kill one another in cold blood and expose themselves to wild beasts and 't is always a dangerous practise to accustom the eyes to murders and bloody spectacles nature being easily perverted by custom Moreover all these Mimes Actors Sword-players and the like were always held infamous and incapable of publick charges insomuch that the Emperor Theodosius Arcadius and Honorius in L. 4. C. de Spectaculis Scenicis and Lenonibus forbid to defile their sacred images by the society of those people who act upon the Theatre ranking them with the corrupters of chastity And the Romans who practis'd the same more then any Nation felt the inconvenience of them when the most potent became masters of the Commonwealth by means of the spectacles wherewith they allur'd the people to their party as Julius Caesar who being Aedile and having given Gladiators Huntings Sports Races and sumptuous Feasts to the people of Rome they created him Chief Pontife although Q. Catulus and Servilius Isauricus two great personages were his competitors which was his first step to Sovereignty and Suetonius observes that the conflux of people was so numerous that many and amongst the rest two Senators were smother'd in the throng The Third said That Spectacles or Shews are good or bad according to the things which they represent But absolutely speaking they ought to be permitted not only for the diversion of men but also for the exercising of youth and animating them to courage by rewards for their fortitude as the Greeks sometimes appointed Statues Crowns of gold Olive Palm Smallage and other such guerdons to those who overcame in Running Wrastling Caestus or fighting with Whorlbats and such exercises carrying them in a triumphal Charriot to the Town of their Birth shewing themselves so careful of the Olympick Games that they committed the charge thereof to the Sicyonians after Corinth the place where they were formerly celebrated had been raz'd by the Romans who transferr'd those Plays into their own City by the perswasion of Cato for the same end of educating their youth For as profit delights some spirits so pleasure allures all and of pleasures none is more innocent and communicable then that of the sight CONFERENCE LXXXVI I. Of the Dog-days II. Of the Mechanicks I. Of the Dog-days THat the Stars act upon sublunary bodies is agreed upon but not the manner some holding that they impress some qualities by motion others by light others by their influence others by both together producing heat by the two first and other more extraordinary effects by influences For every thing that is mov'd heats as also all sort of light united even that of the Moon whose rays may be made to burn with glasses as well as those of the Sun But because natural agents cannot act beyond the natural bounds of their power therefore heat produc'd of light and motion here below can produce only its like heat or such other alteration in inferior bodies not those strange and irregular changes not only in the temper of the air but of every other body As that it is sometimes hotter and sometimes colder in the same elevation of the Sun cannot be attributed to his approach or remotion or to the incidence of his perpendicular or oblique rays but it must proceed from the conjunction opposition or several aspects of other Stars Amongst which the Canicula or Dog-star hath very extraordinary effects as to weaken mens bodies to make dogs run mad to turn the wine in the vessel to make the sea boile to move lakes to heat the air so much that Pliny affirms that Dolphins keep themselves hid during the 30 Dog-days at which he wonders the more because they can respire neither in the water nor upon the earth but partly in the air partly in the water Moreover Experience shews that the Hyades or Pleiades stars in the back of the Bull have such a moist quality that they alwayes cause rain at their rising which happens in November as Arcturus never rises without bringing hail or tempest the Moon being full Oysters Muscles and the sap of Trees are so too and therefore being cut at this time they soon rot and Pliny counsels to cut them during the Dog-dayes when the heat of the season ha's dry'd up all their aqueous moisture which is the cause of their corrupting The Second said That the vanity of Astrologers who have phancy'd monsters and sundry figures in Heaven and attributed imaginary effects to them the better to amuse mens minds with some resemblance of the truth hath also feign'd two dogs there one less consisting of two stars and another of eighteen the the greatest of which is the brightest in our Hemisphere and is in the tongue of this Dog whom the Greeks and Latins call Sirius and ascribe so much power to him that they conceive his conjunction with the Sun in the East causes the scorching heat of Summer yea the people of the Isle of Cea near Negropont as Cicero reports took their presages of the whole year from the rising of this star determining the same to be rainie in case this star appear'd obscure and and cloudy and the contrary But this cannot be true as well in regard of the great distance of the fix'd stars which also being of the same substance cannot have contrary qualities as also by reason of the retrogradation of their sphere which hath a motion contrary to that of the First Mover namely from West to East which motion though insensible in few years yet amounts to much at the end of many Ages As is justifi'd by the Dog-star which Ptolomy in the tables of his time places at 18. degr 10. min. of Gemini Alphonsus King of Castile at the 4. degr of Cancer and now 't is found at 9. degr 54. min. according to Tycho and at 9. degr 30. min. according to Copernicus Whereby it appears that after many years this star will be in the winter signes and that at the Creation it was in Aries at the Vernal Equinox and that consequently the Dog-dayes will be in the time of the greatest cold In brief were there such power in this conjunction the Dog-dayes would be hot and burning and yet in some years they are cold and rainie Which the Astrologers attributing to the several Aspects of Saturn or other cold stars see not that by weakning the force of some by others they subvert all Wherefore the Dog-star is at present the sign but not the cause of hot dayes that is the hapning of this Constellation in the Summer signes and its conjunction with the Sun during hot weather ha's been erroniously believ'd the principal cause thereof which in my judgement is to be
likewise had their Magi the Egyptians their Priests the Chaldeans and Babylonians their Astrologers and Sooth-sayers the Gaules their Druyds and Bards But the Greeks had more plenty and variety then any Their ancientest Philosophy was that of Musaeus Linus Orpheus Hesiod Homer who cover'd the Science of natural and supernatural things under the veil of Poetry and Fiction till the time of Pherecydes the master of Pythagoras who first writ the same in Prose Their Philosophers may be distinguish'd according to the diversity of subjects whereof they treat whence they who amuz'd themselves about ratiocination were nam'd Logicians the first of whom was Zeno. They who contemplated Nature Naturalists the first of whom was Thales they who soar'd to supernatural speculations Metaphysitians wherein Aristotle excell'd those who regulated manners Moralists of whom Socrates was the principal who was the son of a Sculptor and a Midwise But their principal division is of their different Sects which though in great number may be reduc'd to these following I. The Academick so called of the place where 't was taught so famous that all places destinated to instruction in Liberal Sciences retain the same name at this day 'T was divided into three namely the old Academy whereof Socrates and Plato were authors the middle which ow'd its institution to Archesilaus author of the famous Epoche or suspension of judgement concerning all things whom for that reason Tertullian calls Master of Ignorance and the new founded by Carneades and Lacides who held that there is something true but 't was incomprehensible which was almost the same Sect with the Scepticks and Pyrrhoneans II. The Cyrenaick introduc'd by Aristippus the Cyrenian disciple of Socrates who first took money for teaching others and held it as one of his principal maximes not to refuse any pleasure which presented it self to him yet not to seek it III. The Magarian establish'd by Euclides of Magara which proceeded by interrogations IV. The Cynick founded by Antisthenes Master to Diogenes and Menippus V. The Stoick whereof Zeno Cyttiensis Auditor of Crates the Cynick was author VI. The Epicurean of Epicurus the Athenian who conceiv'd that every thing was made by chance and that the chief good consisted in pleasure some say of the body others of the mind VII The Peripatetick instituted by Aristotle 'T would be endless to relate the extravagances of all particular persons But I conceive that of the Cynicks was the most dishonest that of the Stoicks most majestical that of the Epicureans most blameable that of Aristotle most honourable that of the Academicks most safe that of the Pyrrhoneans or Scepticks the most easie For as 't is not very creditable so nothing is easier when any thing is ask'd of us then to say that we are incertain of it instead of answering with certainty or else to say that we know nothing of it since to know our ignorance of a thing is not to be wholly ignorant of it The Third said That the Sect of the Scepticks had more followers then any other doubters being incomparably more numerous then Doctors and is the more likely to be true For compare a Gorgias Leontinus or other Sophister of old time or one of the most vers'd in Philosophy in this age who glory of knowing all and of resolving all questions propounded with a Pyrrhonean the first will torture his wit into a thousand postures to feigen and perswade to the hearers what himself knows not and by distinctions cast dust in their eyes as the Cuttle-fish vomits Ink to soil the water when it finds it self caught On the contrary the Sceptick will freely confess the debt and whether you convince him or not will always shew that he has reason to doubt Nevertheless though this Sect be the easiest 't is not in every thing the truest For as 't is temerity and intolerable arrogance to pronounce sentence confidently upon things which are hid to us and whereof we have not any certain knowledge as the quadrature of the circle the duplication of the cube the perpetual motion the Philosophers Stone so 't is too gross stupidity to doubt of the existence of things to judge whereof we need no other help but perfect senses as that it is this day when the Sun shines that the fire burns and that the whole is greater then its parts The Fourth said That Philosophy being the desire of Wisdom or rather Wisdom it self which is nothing else but a store of all the virtues Intellectual and Moral that is the perfectest Philophy which renders those addicted to it most sure in their knowledge and inclin'd to virtue And because there was never sect but had some defect neither in the theory or the practice the best of all is not to be any but to imitate the Bee and gather what is good of each sort without espousing it which was the way of Potamon of Alexandria who as Diogenes Laertius records founded a Sect call'd Elective which allow'd every one to choose what was best in all Philosophies 'T is also the way that Aristotle held in all his Philosophy especially in his Physicks and Politicks which are nothing but a collection of opinions of the Ancients amongst whom he hath often taken whole pages out of Hippocrates though he name him not Nor are we more oblig'd to embrace Aristotle's Philosophy then he did that of his Predecessors it being free for us to frame one out of his precepts those of Raimond Lully Ramus and all others The Fifth said That amongst all sects the most excellent as also the most severe is that of the Stoicks whom Seneca ranks as much above other Philosophers as men above women Their manner of discoursing and arguing was so exquisite that if the Gods said one would reason with men they would make use of the Logick of Chrysippus the Stoick Their Physicks treated partly of bodies partly of incorporeal Beings Bodies according to them are either principles or elements which are ours Their principles are two God and Matter which are the same with the Unity and Binary of Pythagoras the fire and water of Thales They call God the cause and reason of all things and say that he is fire not the common and elementary but that which gives all things their being life and motion And they believ'd that there is one God supremely good bountiful and provident but that he is single in his essence herein following Pythagoras who said that God is not so much one as Unity it self Seneca saith that he is all that thou seest all intire in every part of the world which he sustaines by his power Briefly they conclude their natural knowledge of God as the sovereign cause by his Providence by Destiny which he hath establish'd in all things and by the Genii Heroes and Lares whom they constitute Angels and Ministers of this Supreme Providence The Second Principle Matter they make coeternal to God grounding their doctrine upon the Maxime of Democritus that as
to their conservation tutelary Angels being nothing but the organs of Divine Providence which embraces all things The Second said That the Genii produce in us those effects whereof we know not the cause every one finding motions in himself to good or evil proceeding from some external power yea otherwise then he had resolved Simonides was no sooner gone out of a house but it fell upon all the company and 't is said that as Socrates was going in the fields he caus'd his friends who were gone before him to be recall'd saying that his familiar spirit forbad him to go that way which those that would not listen to were all mired and some torn and hurt by a herd of swine Two persons formerly unknown love at the first sight allies not knowing one another oftimes feel themselves seiz'd with unusual joy one man is alwayes unfortunate to another every thing succeeds well which cannot proceed but from the favour or opposition of some Genii Hence also some Genii are of greater power then others and give men such authority over other men that they are respected and fear'd by them Such was the Genius of Augustus in comparison of Mark Antonie and that of J. Caesar against Pompey But though nothing is more common then the word Genius yet 't is not easie to understand the true meaning of it Plato saith 't is the guardian of our lives Epictetus the over-seer and sentinel of the Soul The Greeks call it the Mystagogue or imitator of life which is our guardian Angel The Stoicks made two sorts one singular the Soul of every one the other universal the Soul of the world Varro as Saint Augustine reports in his eighth book of the City of God having divided the immortal Souls which are in the Air and mortal which are in the Water and Earth saith that between the Moon and the middle region of the Air there are aerious Souls call'd Heroes Lares and Genii of which an Ancient said it is as full as the Air is full of flies in Summer as Pythagoras said that the Air is full of Souls which is not dissonant from the Catholick Faith which holds that Spirits are infinitely more numerous then corporeal substances because as celestial bodies are incomparably more excellent and ample then sublunary so pure Spirits being the noblest works of God ought to be in greater number then other creatures What the Poets say of the Genius which they feign to be the Son of Jupiter and the earth representing him sometimes in the figure of a serpent as Virgil do's that which appear'd to Aenaeas sometimes of a horn of plenty which was principally the representation of the Genius of the Prince by which his flatterers us'd to swear and their sacrificing Wine and Flowers to him is as mysterious as all the rest The Third said That the Genius is nothing but the temperament of every thing which consists in a certain harmonious mixture of the four qualities and being never altogether alike but more perfect in some then in others is the cause of the diversity of actions The Genius of a place is its temperature which being seconded with celestial influences call'd by some the superior Genii is the cause of all productions herein Prepensed crimes proceed from the melancholy humour the Genius of anger and murders is the bilious humour that of idleness and the vices it draws after it is phlegme and the Genius of love is the sanguine humour Whence to follow one's Genius is to follow one's natural inclinations either to good or to evil II. Whether the Suicide of the Pagans be justifiable Upon the Second Point 't was said That evil appears such onely by comparison and he that sees himself threatned with greater evils then that of death ought not onely to attend it without fear but seek it as the onely sovereign medicine of a desperate malady What then if death be nothing as the Pagans believ'd and leave nothing after it For we must distinguish Paganisme and Man consider'd in his pure state of nature from Christianity and the state of Grace In the former I think Diogenes had reason when meeting Speusippus languishing with an incurable disease who gave him the good day he answer'd I wish not you the like since thou sufferest an evil from which thou maist deliver thy self as accordingly he did when he returned home For all that they fear'd in their Religion after death was Not-Being what their Fasti taught them of the state of souls in the other life being so little believ'd that they reckon'd it amongst the Fables of the Poets Or if they thought they left any thing behind them 't was only their renown of which a couragious man that kill'd himself had more hope then the soft and effeminate The same is still the custom of those great Sea Captains who blow themselves up with Gun-powder to avoid falling into the enemies hands Yet there 's none but more esteems their resolution then the demeanor of cowards who yield at mercy This is the sole means of making great Captains and good Souldiers by their example to teach them not to fear death not to hold it with poltron Philosophers the most terrible of terribles And to judge well of both compare we the abjectness of a Perseus a slave led in triumph with the generosity of a Brutus or a Cato Vticensis For 't were more generous to endure patiently the incommodities of the body the injuries of an enemy and the infamy of death if man had a spirit proof against the strokes of fortune But he though he may ward himself with his courage yet he can never surmount all sort of evils and according to the opinion of the same Philosopher all fear is not to be rejected Some evils are so vehement that they cannot be disposed without stupidity as torments of the body fire the wheel the loss of honour and the like which 't is oftentimes better to abandon then vainly to strive to overcome them Wherefore as 't is weakness to have recourse to death for any pain whatsoever so 't was an ignominious cowardize amongst the Pagans to live only for grief The Second said That nature having given all individuals a particular instinct for self-preservation their design is unnatural who commit homicide upon themselves And if civil intestine wars are worse then forreign then the most dangerous of all is that which we make to our selves Wherefore the ancients who would have this brutality pass for a virtue were ridiculous because acknowledging the tenure of their lives from some Deity 't was temerity in them to believe they could dispose thereof to any then the donor and before he demanded it In which they were as culpable as a Souldier that should quit his rank without his Captain 's leave or depart from his station where he was plac'd Sentinel And did not virtue which is a habit require many reiterated acts which cannot be found in Suicide since we have
hunt for profit and by the contentment of possessing what they sought besides the consideration of the subtilty of the Fox and Wolf the trouble which the Hare gives her displeas'd pursuers The Second said 'T is the only pleasure which does wrong to no person but delivers Countries from the injuries and depredations of beasts And though 't is the most laborious of all pleasures yet 't is least follow'd by repentance and instead of wearying those that are once addicted to it makes them love it in excess for which reason 't is prohibited to the meaner sort of people All the Heroes are represented under the form of Hunters as Perseus who first hunted the wild Goat Castor who taught the management of the horse before wild to chase the Stag Pollux who first trac'd beasts with Lime-hounds Meleager who invented the Spears to assault the Boar Hyppolytus Toyles Hayes and Nets Orion Kennels and Leashes which were so admir'd in his age that the Poets translated him into Heaven where he makes a glorious sign as they put Castor and Pollux among the Gods and feign'd a Diana the Goddess of Hunters Moreover the holy Scripture gives Nimrod the first King in the world no greater title then that of Mighty Hunter And the good man Isaac would not give his blessing to his son Esau till after he had brought him of his Venison The Third said That Man being since the loss of his dominion over the beasts by his sin oblig'd to defend himself against their invasion this gave rise to hunting which is consequently as ancient as the world There are three sorts of it according to the three sorts of animals which it pursues in the air on the earth and in the waters namely Hawking Hunting properly so call'd and Fishing Hawking is the pursuit of Birds by Birds and it s of divers kinds according to the diversity of Hawks and quarries Hunting is the chase of four-footed beasts which are either great as Lyons Bears Stags Boars or small as Wolves Foxes Badgers and Hares Both the one and the other is perform'd by Dogs of which there are good of all sizes and colours and some peculiar to one sort of Game Fishing is the venation of Fishes whereof Plato makes two kinds one by the Line and the other by Nets the more recommendable in that 't was practis'd by the Apostles and our Lord himself who was figur'd by the first Christians under the Hieroglyphicks of a Fish with the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they explicated thus by the first Letters of that Language Jesus Christ God our Saviour The Fourth said That Hunting being as various as men's conditions its variety makes it as agreeable as necessary gunning which is the least instructs the Souldier to shoot exactly to be patient and fits him for war especially the hunting of the Badger who makes head in his entries then fights from trench to trench and at length retreats to his last fort where he practises all the sleights of war usual in besieg'd Cities till he be taken by the undermining of the Pioneers For Pythagoras his prohibition to kill animals is no less light then his Metempsychosis or his reason to forbear fishing or eating of fish out of respect to their silence The objection that God permitted our first Parents to eat the fruits of the earth not the flesh of animals and that during two thousand years none was eaten concludes nothing from a Negative Authority and Abel spar'd not the life of the Lamb of his flock which he offer'd to God then God had done that of the beasts of whose skins he made Coats for Adam and Eve And God's prohibition to the Jews to eat any thing taken by a beast as Dogs or Birds being abolish'd together with other ceremonies Moreover all animals being made for man they have no reason to complain if they be apply'd to that end but especially the hunting of mischievous beasts is profitable II. Which is to be prefer'd the weeping of Heraclitus or the laughing of Democritus Upon the second Point 't was said That in this Question to justifie weeping we have the example of our Lord whom we read not ever to have been seen laughing not even at the marriage feast whereat he was present but he lamented the death of Lazarus though he knew that himself was going to raise him up again And he compares the entrance into Paradise to the gate of a Judge which a good woman cannot get open nor move the Judge to do her justice but by many complaints and tears and he pronounceth the house of mourning blessed saying that GOD abides there on the contrary laughter and rejoycing not onely were the forerunners of the Deluge but at present occasion a thousand offences against God our Neighbour and our Selves Moreover all the Exhortations and Sermons of Preachers tend only to move tears of contrition and some observe in the trial of Witches and Conjurers that they never weep which is a certain argument of an ill nature especially in women and children And Dido speaking of the ingrateful Aeneas more resents his not weeping when he bid her adieu then all the rest For we are naturally inclin'd to weeping as being the most humid of all animals and nature seems to have made the brain only for the eyes which being always moist have also a glandule in the greater corner call'd from its office Lachrymalis which is a spungy flesh full of little holes serving to attract the moisture of the brain which furnishes the matter of tears and disperses it drop by drop lest falling too much together the brain should be left dry which is a temper contrary to its natural one Now as for objects without us 't is evident there is more cause of weeping then of laughter For if we look under our feet there the ground presents it self which sooner then every one hopes is to bury every on 's ambition and afford him but six foot of earth if on each side of us there appear so many miseries that the Spaniards who are accustom'd thereunto say proverbially that they who are afflicted with the miseries of others bear the whole world upon their shoulders If upwards what a cause of sadness is it to see that so great and vast a Kingdom is at this day in less esteem then the meanest part of this valley of tears the earth and to see God dishonour'd so many ways Come we down to our selves the infirmities of the body the afflictions of the mind all the passions of the soul and the crosses of fortune have made those that have most tasted the pleasures of this life acknowledge that it is nothing but thorns and miseries and with the wise man nothing but vanity of which not to speak a word were to be insensible to laugh impiety and to imitate Aesop's Snails who laugh'd at their cost It remains therefore that 't is wisdom to bewail them The Second said There is a time
infinity Nor can it be a vacuum which receives bodies For either this vacuum remains after the admission of a body and so the same place will be full and empty both together or this vacuum recedes to make place for supervening bodies which cannot be for then it will be capable of local motion which is an affection and property of body Or else lastly this vacuum perishes and is annihilated which is impossible too for then it should be subject to generation and corruption which are found only in bodies Wherefore if ever the Scepticks had reason to suspend their judgement 't is in the nature of place which they justly doubted whether it were something or nothing The Fifth said That to doubt of place is to doubt of the clearest thing in the world nothing being so certain as the existence of things which cannot be but in some place And we see a thing no sooner exists in nature but it hath its place and its station which alone made the distinction of the parts of the world from their ancient Chaos in which things were confus'd and without order which is not found saving when every entity occupies the place due to its nature which is preserv'd therein Amongst simple bodies Heaven hath the highest place Fire and Air the next Water and Earth the lowest amongst mixts Minerals and Metals are form'd in the Entrails of the Earth Plants and Animals are preserv'd upon the earth and in the air and the centre of every thing is nothing else but its place Wherefore as God contains in himself all the perfections of his creatures so he is in all places by his presence his essence and his power II. Of Hieroglyphicks Upon the second Point it was said That the Ancient Sages were always curious to hide the mysteries of their learning under some obscure things the Poets under the shell of Fables whom Plato and Aesop imitated the Pythagoreans under their Riddles Solomon under Parables the Chaldeans in the sacred Letters of their Cabala But especially the Egyptians have observ'd this mystery For having learn'd from the Jews and the Chaldeans the principal notions of the Sciences and the Deity the Principles whereof were taken from those famous Columns which preserv'd the Characters thereof after the Deluge they transmitted the same to posterity by the figures and images of things engraven upon Pyramids and Obeliscks whereof we still see some fragments in their Hieroglyphicks which signifies sacred and mysterious figures or sculpture not so much for the things employ'd to that purpose which oftentimes were common and natural as for the mystical and hidden sence which they attributed to the same The use of these figures was the more profitable in that having some similitude and correspondence to the quality of the thing signifi'd they not only denoted the same but also its nature and property So painting an Eye upon a Scepter which signifi'd God they intimated also his properties by the Scepter his Omnipotence and by the Eye his Providence Another advantage of these Hieroglyphicks is that they were equally understood by all Nations of several Languages as at this day the Chineses and Japoneses make use of some Letters like Hieroglyphicks which signifie rather things then words Which would be a good way to reduce all Tongues into one and so to facilitate all Sciences were not this Hieroglyphical writing too diffuse For there must be as many Characters as there are things in the World which being almost infinite and every day new would render this Art endless which hath made the use of it laid aside as it would also be among the Chineses were not honour which supports and feeds all other Arts annex'd to this knowledge of Characters which advances those alone who are skill'd in their Letters to Magistracies and the chief charges of that great State The Second said That the signs for representing things are either Natural or Artificial Amongst the natural employ'd by men to express their conceptions are the pictures and images of thigns as to represent a Man or a Tree they paint a man and a Tree by which way Philomela describ'd the wrong which had been done her The Aegyptians had the same design in their Hieroglyphicks but finding that it would never have an end they in this imitated the Hebrews who make the same Root serve to produce a great number of words and employ'd one figure to signifie first one thing namely that whose image it is and afterwards many others wherewith it hath some affinity So the figure of a Serpent signifies a Serpent and the Prudence which is attributed to that animal and because they observ'd that the last day of the year joynd to the first and made a continual circle they represented the year by a Serpent with his tail in his mouth Upon the same ground Emblems were invented So Alciate to represent Fortitude and Wisedom gives the pourtraicts of Ajax and Vlisses to signifie a good Merchant who trusts only to what he holds he paints a hand with an eye in the middle of it the Fox signifies cunning the Pismire Providence the Bee Policie an earthen pot joyn'd to an iron pot dangerous Alliance In brief so many fables and phancies are so many writings after this manner from which to speak truth if you abstract the reverence which is due to Antiquity I see nothing that comes neer the marvel of our Letters which in respect of other inventions I cannot but compare to the Philosophers Stone so much talk'd of which whoso possesses may by its projection make as much gold as he needs to travel over the world and those other inventions to the money or if you please the provisions which a Traveller carries with him For these are incommodious and serve but to one or few uses whereas writing by combination of sixteen several characters the rest being found superfluous is sufficient to represent what ever hath been is may or may not be The Third said That no doubt 't was necessity which put the Aegyptians first upon the invention of Hieroglyphicks then which our Letters are much less significative because they express not the nature of natural things as their figures do but only words Yet the use of Hieroglyphicks was very pernicious to the vulgar who seeing the Attributes of God represented under the shapes of Animals and Plants took occasion to adore those corporeal things and became the most superstitious of all Nations going so far as to deifie garlick onyons rats and toads Moreover Mans life is too short for this Art his wit too weak to invent figures sutable to all the parts of speech diversifi'd by numbers cases persons tenses and other Grammatical differences of words and his memory too slippery to retain all those figures because they represented not one single thing but many different and for that one and the same thing was diversly figur'd as God was express'd by an Eye a Circle and an Unite Prudence by a double head
crowned Or. Holland Or a Lyon gules Bavaria fuselé argent and azure of twenty one pieces placed bendwise Ireland gules a Harp Or. CONFERENCE XCVIII I. Of the causes of Contagion II. Of the ways of occult Writing I. Of the causes of Contagion DIseases being accidents must be divided as other accidents by their first subjects which are the solid parts the humours and the spirits and by their several causes some of which are manifest others unknown the malignity of the causes which produce them and the manner whereby they act being inexplicable Which diversity of causes depends upon those of mixtions which are of two sorts one of the qualities of the elements which makes the difference of temperaments the other of the elementary forms which being contrary only upon the account of their qualities when these put off their contrariety by alteration the forms easily become united and as amongst qualities so amongst forms one becomes predominant the actions whereof are said to proceed from an occult property because the form which produces them is unknown to us So Arsenick and Hemlock besides the power which the first hath to heat and the second to refrigerate have a particular virtue of assaulting the heart and killing speedily by a property hitherto unknown Such also are contagious and venomous diseases some whereof are caus'd by the inspir'd air as the Pestilence because air being absolutely necessary to the support of our natural heat if when it is infected with malignant and mortal vapours it be attracted by the mouth or the pores of the skin it corrupts the mass of the spirits as a crum of bread or other extraneous bodies makes milk or wine become sowre Others infect by bodily contact as the Itch the Pox the Measles and the Leprosie A third sort proceed from a venomous matter either communicated outwardly as by poyson and the biting of venomous beasts or generated in the body as it may happen to the blood black choler and the other humours being extravasated The Second said That diseases proceed either from the corruption and vitiosity of particular bodies some of which are dispos'd to the Pleurisie others to the Flux others to the Colick call'd therefore sporadical or dispers'd and promiscuous diseases or else from some common vitiosity as of the air aliments waters winds or other such common cause whereby many come to be seiz'd upon by the same disease at the same time so after Famines bad nourishment gives a great disposition to the Pestilence These maladies are fix'd to a certain Country seldom extending beyond it as the Leprosie to the Jews the Kings Evil to the Spaniards Burstenness to Narbon the Colick to Poitou the Phthisick to the Portugals the Pox to the Indians call'd by them Apua and brought by the Spaniards into Europe and such other diseases familiar to some particular Country and call'd Endemial Or else they are Epidemical and not ty'd to a certain region but produc'd by other external causes as pestilential and contagious diseases which again are either extraordinary as the Sweating-sickness of England the Coqueluche which was a sort of destillation or ordinary which manifest themselves by purple spots carbuncles and buboes But as the causes of the Small-pox and Measles are chiefly born within us being produc'd of the maternal blood attracted in the womb and cast forth by nature when become more strong so though the seeds of contagious diseases may come from without yet they are commonly within our selves The Third said That Contagion is the communication of a disease from one body to another the most violent so communicable is the Pestilence which is defin'd a most acute contagious venomous and mortal Fever accompani'd with purple spots Buboes and Carbuncles 'T is properly a species of a Fever being a venomous and contra-natural heat kindled in the heart manifesting it self by a high frequent and unequal pulse except when nature yields at first to the violence and malignity of the disease and then the pulse is slow small and languishing but always unequal and irregular Oftentimes it kills the first or second day scarce passes to the seventh if it be simple and legitimate but when 't is accompani'd with putrefaction it reaches sometimes to the fourteenth It s malignity appears in its not yielding to ordinary remedies which operate by their first qualities but only to medicaments which act by occult properties an argument that the cause of these diseases is so too Now four things are here to be consider'd 1. That which is communicated 2. The body which communicates the same 3. That to which it is communicated 4. The medium through which the same is done A thing communicated against nature is either the disease or the cause of the disease or the symptom Here 't is the cause of the disease which is either corporeal or incorporeal The incorporeal in my opinion are the malignant influences of the Stars as of Mars and Saturn and during Comets and Eclipses For since their benigne influences preserve motion and life in all things of the world by the reason of contraries the malignity of the same aspects may be the cause of the diseases and irregularities which we behold in it The corporeal cause must be moveable an humour a vapour or a spirit which malignant evaporations kill oftentimes without any sign of putrefaction or if there be any it proceeds not from the corruption of the humours but from the oppression and suffocation of the natural heat by those malignant vapours and then the humours being destitute of the natural heat and of that of the spirits which preserv'd them turn into poyson There must be some proportion between the body which communicates this vapour and that which receives it but the same is unknown to us and this proportion is the cause that some Contagions seise only upon some animals as Horses Dogs and Cattle others upon Men alone Children Women old Men Women with Child and their burthens others seize only upon certain parts as the Itch is communicated only to the skin the Phthisick to the Lungs the Ophthalmia to the eyes and not to the other parts The medium of this communication is the air which being rare and spongy is very susceptible of such qualities which it easily transmits by its mobility And these qualities happen to it either extrinsecally as from faetid and venomous vapours and fumes exhal'd from carrion marshes impurities and openings of the ground by Earth-quakes which are frequently follow'd by the Pestilence or else they arise in the Air it self in which vapours may acquire a pestilential malignity of which a hot and moist intemperature is very susceptible The Fourth said That the Pestilence is found indifferently in all seasons climates sexes ages and persons which argues that its proximate cause is not the corruption of the humors and intemperature of the first qualities Otherwise the Pestilence should be as other diseases whereof some are hot others cold and be cur'd
take thence a charme which the Spirit left there or to invoke the same Spirit signifies that you must go and take from under a stone agreed upon the cypher'd letter and decipher it by the same alphabet upon which it was cypher'd Vigenarius spends half his Book in speaking of the Cabala of the Jews and the Caldeans and the other half in many Alphabets of all sorts with Key and without he hath indeed abundance of Cyphers which seem undecypherable which he makes to depend on three differences 1. On the form of Characters which comprehends several figures lines and colours 2. On their order and situation but changing the Alphabet almost infinite ways 3. On their value and power giving such signification to one letter or character as you please All which are easily known for cyphers The second condition of a cypher and which follows that of secresie being not to appear such the least suspicion causing the stopping of the paper and so rendring it unprofitable to the writer which has given occasion to some to cover characters drawn in oyl with something that might be wash'd off besides other such inventions to take away suspicion such as that of having two Books of the same impression and under pretext of sending Tables of Astrology or Merchants Bills to design by cyphers the letter of the Book which you mean to express the first cypher signifying the fourth page the second the fourth line and the third the fourth letter of that line which you would denote CONFERENCE XCIX I. Of Ignes fatui II. Of Eunuchs I. Of Ignes fatui 'T Is a question whether 't would be more advantageous to mans contentment to be ignorant of nothing since then he would admire nothing which is one of his greatest pleasures Hence a Peasant beholding a flake of fire following him or going before him in the night time will be otherwise ravish'd with it then a Philosopher who knows or thinks he knows the cause of it there being little difference herein as to our satisfaction They conceive it to be an unctuous exhalation apt to be inflam'd like the fatty steam of a Candle newly put out which instantly conveighs down the neighbouring light to seek its aliment But the same example shews us that fire very suddenly devours its aliment when it is subtile and thin So that if a fire of straw which is much more material then an exhalation vanishes so quickly that we express the most transient momentary things thereby how can a far thinner exhalation keep this foolish fire so long which besides burns not as appears by its sticking innoxiously upon the hair of men and manes of horses and yet Aqua-vitae never so well rectified will singe the hair as was sometimes verified to the great prejudice of one of our Kings which would make me think that as all fire is not luminous as a hot dunghil burns your finger and fire excited by motion burns much more without blazing so there are some lights which are not igneous as in Heaven the Stars and in Earth some rotten woods certain fishes worms eyes flesh of animals and other more such subjects which cannot be more susceptible of those lights which burn not then the Air which is the prime diaphanous body and consequently most capable of receiving them although possibly we cannot truly know what temper the Air must acquire to become luminous no more then what is fit for it in other subjects For to attribute the cause thereof to purity or simplicity signifies little for earth and ashes are more simple then the flesh or other part dead or living of an Animal and yet this shines and those not The Second said That these fires may be referr'd to four sorts The first resemble falling Stars or lighted Torches which Plutarch saith were seen to fall upon Pompey's Camp the eve before the Battle of Pharsalia The second is that kind of flame which has appear'd upon the heads of some as of Ascanius in Virgil and of Servius Hostilius which was an omen to them of Royalty The third are those which appear at Sea about the Masts and Shrouds of the Ships named by the Ancient Castor and Pollux when they are two and when but one Helena and by the Moderns the fire of S. Elme The last are those which are seen in the Country in the night time and are thought to drive or draw Travellers into precipices As for the first 't is certain that the same exhalation which makes Comets in the highest Region of the Air and Thunders in the middlemost is also the matter of these falling Stars and being rais'd in small quantity from the earth is condens'd by the cold of the middle Region where finding no cloud strong enough to uphold it 't is inflam'd by the antiperistasis of its contrary or the swift motion of its fall by reason of its great heat and siccity And as they proceed from the same cause as dry winds do so they presage winds and drought especially in that quarter from whence they fall But as for the other sorts I conceive they are only lights and not fires For the Air being transparent and the first subject of Whiteness as Aristotle saith hath likewise in it self some radical light which is sustein'd by that of the Stars which shine in the night And this whiteness of the Air is prov'd by the appearance of it when t is enclos'd in moist bodies as in froth snow and crystal which whitness is very symbolical to light which it preserves and congregates as is seen by the same snow in a very dark night Yea to speak plainly whiteness is nothing else but light extinct luminous bodies appearing white neer a greater light and white luminous in darkness So 't is possible that the thinner parts of the Air being inclos'd in these unctuous vapours they appear enlightned and shining as well by reason of the condensation of its body as the inequality of its surfaces like a diamond cut into several facets or as the Stars appear luminous only by being the denser parts of their Orbs. And this kind of light has been seen upon the heads of children whose moister brain exhal'd a vapour proper for it such also as that is which forms the Will-i'th'-Wisp which may also proceed from the reflection of the Star-light from the Sea or Rocks For That two of these fires bode good to Seamen and one ill is but one of the superstitions of Antiquity unless you think that the greater number of fires argues greater purity of the Air and consequently less fear of tempest The Third said He accounted the common opinion more solid which teacheth two material principles of all Meteors Vapour and Exhalation but one and the same efficient the heat of the Sun which lifts the thinner parts of the water in a vapour and those of the earth in an exhalation the former hot and moist the latter hot and dry borrowing their heat from an extraneous heat but
vapour hath humidity from the water and exhalation siccity from the earth yet this siccity must be joyn'd with some unctuosity to admit the heat which acts not upon bodies destitute of all humidity as the driest ashes are not alter'd by the hottest fire The driest and least unctuous of these Exhalations are in the middle Region transform'd into winds and tempests in the entrails of the earth they cause Earth-quakes and if they be somewhat more unctuous they make subterranean fires in the upper Region they form Comets and in the lower our Ignes fatui which are different according to the divers coition of their matter in length breadth or circularly whence comes the difference of these Meteors call'd falling Stars Flames leaping Goats flying Dragons Beams Lances Javelins and other like names from the figure of their matter Yet all these differences are chiefly taken from the magnitude figure colour time motion and place of these fires Magnitude because some are large and spatious others very small Their figure comes from chance their colour from the mixture rarity or density of the matter Their time is chiefly the night being then most visible Their place from the Heaven of the Moon to the centre of the Earth Their motion according to the six differences of place and the situation of their subject Hence they pursue those that fly them and on the contrary fly before those that pursue them whereupon the ignorant vulgar takes them for evil spirits because they drive and lead them into precipices and bogs which is from their following the unctuous matters which they exhale from those places whence also they commonly appear near places of execution and Church-yards II. Of Eunuchs Upon the Second Point 't was said That the Canons make three sorts of Eunuchs the natural the factitious and the voluntary congruously to our Lords division in the Gospel that some are born others are made by men and others make themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven which is no more to be taken literally then the plucking out of the eyes or the cutting off of the hands when they offend us but mystically for those who voluntarily renounce the pleasures of the flesh Their original is as ancient as the Law of Nations whereby the Conquerors giving law to the conquer'd chang'd the punishment of killing them into mutilation of some members and amongst the rest of these to make them more faithful and affectionate by depriving them of the means of getting children and more trusty in keeping of their goods and wives Hence they have come to be so highly esteem'd that not only the Emperors of Constantinople the Kings of Egypt Persia and Chaldea have entrusted them with the management of all their affairs but also in the Roman Empire an Eunuch Slave was valu'd at five times as much as another Besides that their purity has qualifi'd them amongst the Heathen for Priests of their Deities amongst which the Goddesses Isis and Cybele admitted no other which possibly by antiphrasis were call'd Galli Even in Christianity the Eunuch of the Queen Candace was the first Gentile call'd to the light of the Gospel the expressions whereof Origen understanding literally castrated himself by an example so singular that St. Jerome chose rather to admire then to blame the greatness of his courage The Second said If it be true that good consists in the perfection of all parts and evil in their least defect the deficiency of those necessary to the conservation of the species is the greatest of all since it devests us of the noble quality and character of man which an Eunuch is no longer nor yet a Woman but something less then both And as the propagation of men is an effect of the divine benediction at the beginning of the World so the barrenness and impotence of Eunuchs contrary to that fruitfulness is abhorr'd by all the world and was taken by the Jews for a curse Moreover Nature which is the principle of motions and generations seems to disown those who want the parts requisite to this action The Laws forbid them the priviledge of adoption and most Offices and Dignities God himself in the old Law prohibited them entrance into his Church and in the New the Church forbids them the use of her Sacraments namely Orders and Marriage Nor is it any wonder since every thing in nature is fruitful even accidents reproducing their species which are so many generations Wherefore finding no place among natural things nor in the Categories it follows that they are monsters The Emperor Adrian extended the penalty of the Law Cornelia against those who make Eunuchs or consent any way thereunto L. 4. S. ad L. Corn. And before him the Pretors had introduc'd divers actions touching this matter as the action of Injuries of the Edict of the Aediles and of Quadruple in the Law 27. S. ad leg Aquil. And lastly the Emperor Constantine expresly interdicted Castration in all the Empire under pain of life and others contain'd in two Laws De Eunuchis in the Code The Third said That whether you consider Eunuchs in reference to the body or the mind they are happier then others They are out of danger of being gouty and bald two maladies whereof the one extremely torments a man and the other dishonours him and it cures the most horrible of all maladies the Leprosie On the other side it puts the same difference between the manners of men as it doth between untractable horses and others Hence the Castrated are more pleasant company and to contribute thereunto Nature has afforded them the grace of a delicate voice all their lives which forsakes children as soon as they come to puberty and being exempted from the diseases which the excess of Venery brings to others they are longer-liv'd and more easily bear the excess of wine They are deliver'd from the cruel servitude of lust and all the other passions which attend it And in recompence of those parts wherewith Asses and Mules are better provided then men they are early furnish'd with wisdom and continence which as the example of Susanna's old Lovers shews happens later to man then grey hairs Moreover Eunuchs have a fit temper for goodness of wit which according to some occasion'd the Greek name Eunuch and not their charge of guarding the bed and observing the deportments of Wives whole subtilty and infidelity may delude their Husbands but could never deceive the vigilance of these Argusses who in this alone shew what they can do since they have the skill to govern that sex which is indisciplinable by all other CONFERENCE C. I. Of the Green-Sickness II. Of Hermaphrodites I. Of the Green-sickness AS women have commonly more defects in mind so their bodies are subject to more diseases then those of men amongst which this is call'd Love-sickness because it ordinarily happens to marriageable Virgins and the Green-sickness by Hippocrates Chlorosis from a colour between green and livid which it imprints upon the
as Cardan conceiveth For on the contrary all things become Hot by motion the Lead upon Arrows is melted and the Wood fired Water becomes thinner and hotter But the cause thereof is for that a strong Wind or Hot Air driven violently draws all the neighbouring Air after it which Air is Cold and we feel the coldness thereof Whence all strong Winds are alwayes cold The Third said We ought not to seek other causes of Natural Winds then those we find in Artificial Wind because Art imitates Nature Artificial Winds such as those of our Bellows the most common instruments thereof are caus'd by a compression of the Air made by two more solid Bodies then themselves which thrust the same thorow a narrower place then that of their residence For the Bellows having suck'd in a great quantity of Air when it s two sides draw together they drive out the same again with violence And this is that which they call Wind. In like manner I conceive two or more Clouds falling upon and pressing one another impetuously drive away the Air which is between them So we blow with our Mouths by pressing the Air inclos'd in the Palate and shutting the Lips to streighten its eruption Hereunto they agree who desine Wind to be Air stirr'd mov'd or agitated But if it be objected that the Clouds are not solid enough to make such a compression the contrary appears by the noise they make in Thunder-claps The Fourth alledg'd That Winds are produc'd in the World as they are in Man namely by a Heat sufficient to elevate but too weak to dissipate Exhalations whether that Heat proceedeth from Coelestial Bodies or from Subterranean Fires Wherefore as Hot Medicaments dissipate flatuosities so the great Heat of the Sun dissipates Winds The Fifth added It is hard to determine the Original of Winds after what our Lord hath said thereof That we know not whence they come nor whither they go and what David affirmeth That the Lord draweth them out of his Treasures NevertheIess I conceive that different causes ought to be assign'd of them according to their different kinds For although Winds borrow the qualities of the places through which they pass whence the Southern and Eastern are moist and contagious because of the great quantity of Vapours wherewith they are laden by coming over the Mediterranean Sea and the Ocean yet some Winds are of their own Nature Hot and Dry making the Air pure and serene being caus'd by an Exhalation of the like qualities Others are so moist that they darken the Air because they are produc'd of Vapours Some places situated near Mountains and Rivers have particular Winds But as for those which blow at certain Periods either every year or every second year or every fourth year as one that blows in Provence I refer them to the Conjunction of certain Plants which reign at that time The Sixth said That Air hath a natural motion of its own as the Heavens have otherwise it would corrupt but meeting some streights and finding it self pen'd up it rallies and reunites its forces to get forth as it doth with violence and set it self at Liberty And this with so much the more vehemence as the places through which it passeth are streighter Whence it is that we alwayes perceive a Wind near a Door or Window half open or the mouth of a Cave which ceaseth when they are set wide open The Seventh continu'd That which is most difficult to conceive in reference to the Wind is its violence which I hold to proceed from the Rarefaction of a matter formerly condens'd and from the opposition of a contrary For the place of the Generation of Wind being either the Cavernes of the Earth or the Clouds the vaporous matter becoming rarifi'd so suddenly that it cannot find room enough to lodge in breaks forth impetuously as we see the Bullet is by the same reason violently driven forth by the Air enflamed in the Cannon Some think that Winds arise also from the Sea because a Wave is alwayes seen upon the changing of the Wind to rise on that side from whence it is next to blow The Eighth said That their motion is a direct line because it is the shortest way but not from below upwards by reason of the resistance they meet with in the coldness and thickness of the Middle Region of the Air whence the same thing happens to them that doth to smoak or flame which arriving at a ceiling or vault is constrain'd by the resistance it finds thereby to decline on one side Also their violence is increas'd by the adjunction of new Exhalations as Rivers augment theirs by the access of new streams II. Why none are contenteà with their own condition Upon the Second Point it was said That since the inferior World follows the course of the superior and Coelestial it is not to be wonder'd if the latter being in continual motion and agitation the former whereof Man makes the noblest part cannot be at rest For the Starrs according to their several Positions Aspects or Conjunctions move and carry us to desire sometimes one thing sometimes another The Ambition and Ignorance of Man are of the party too The former makes him alwayes desire to have the advantage above others to pursue Honours and Dignities and to think that to acknowledge a greater then himself is to own fetters and servility The latter represents things to him otherwise then they are and so causes him to desire them the more by how much he less understands their imperfections Whence many times by changing he becomes in as ill a case as Aesop's Ass who was never contented with his condition But the true Cause in my opinion is because we cannot find in this World a supreme temporal Good whereunto a concurrence of all outward and inward goods is requisite and were a Man possess'd thereof yet he could have no assurance that he shall enjoy it to the end of his Life whence living in fear of losing it we should be prone to desire something that might confirm it The Dignity of the Soul furnisheth me with another reason of our discontentment For she being deriv'd from Heaven and knowing that this is not her abiding City she may taste of terrene things but findeth them not season'd to her gust as knowing that frail and mortal things are not worthy of her nor sutable to her eternity And as a sick person that turns himself first on one side then on the other to take rest so the Soul finds her repose in motion And as morsels swallow'd down have no more savour so the present goods which our Soul possesseth give her no pleasure but like a Hunter she quits the game which she hath taken to pursue another The Second said Though by a wise Providence of Nature every one loves his own condition as much or more then another doth yet there being alwayes some evil mix'd with and adhering to the most happy state in the world
naturally keep up above the water yet by enclosing it in some sort of vessel you may violently make it continue under the water II. Of the capricious or extravagant humours of women Upon the second Point it was said It is not here pronounc'd that all women are capricious but only the reason inquir'd of those that are such and why they are more so then men To alledge the difference of souls and suppose that as there is an order in the Celestial Hierarchies whereby the Archangels are plac'd above Angels so the spirits of men are more perfect then those of women were to fetch a reason too far off and prove one obscure thing by another more so Nor is the cause to be found in their bodies taken in particular for then the handsome would be free from this vice the actions which borrow grace from their subject appearing to us of the same nature and consequently their vertues would seem more perfect and their defects more excusable whereas for the most part the fairest are the most culpable We must therefore recur to the correspondence and proportion of the body and the soul. For sometimes a soul lights upon a body so well fram'd and organs so commodious for the exercise of its faculties that there seems more of a God then of a man in its actions whence some persons of either Sex attract the admiration of all world On the contrary other souls are so ill lodg'd that their actions have less of man then of brute And because there 's more women then men found whose spirits are ill quarter'd and faculties deprav'd hence comes their capricious and peevish humour For as melancholy persons whose blood is more heavy are with good reason accounted the more wise so those whose blood and consequently spirits are more agile and moveable must have a less degree of wisdom and their minds sooner off the hooks The irregular motions of the organ which distinguishes their Sex and which is call'd an animal within an animal many times have an influence in the business and increase the mobility of the humours Whence the health of their minds as well as that of their bodies many times suffers alteration A woman fallen into a fit of the Mother becomes oftentimes enrag'd weeps laughs and has such irregular motions as not only torment her body and mind but also that of the Physitian to assign the true cause of them Moreover the manner of living whereunto the Laws and Customs subject women contributes much to their defects For leading a sedentary life wherein they have always the same objects before their eyes and their minds being not diverted by civil actions as those of men are they make a thousand reflections upon their present condition comparing it with those whereof they account themselves worthy this puts their modesty to the rack and oftentimes carries them beyond the respect and bounds which they propos'd to themselves Especially if a woman of good wit sees her self marri'd to a weak husband and is ambitious of shewing her self Another judging her self to merit more then her rival not knowing to whom to complain of her unhappiness does every thing in despight And indeed they are the less culpable inasmuch as they always have the principles of this vice within themselves and frequently find occasions abroad The Second said that the word Caprichio is us'd to signifie the extravagant humour of most women because there is no animal to which they more resemble then a Goat whose motions are so irregular that prendre la chevre signifies to take snuffe without cause and to change a resolution unexpectedly For such as have search'd into the nature of this animal find that its blood is so sharp and spirits so ardent that it is always in a Fever and hence it is that being agitated with this heat which is natural to it it leaps as soon as it comes into the world Now the cause of this temper is the conformation of the Brain which they say is like that of a woman the Ventricles of which being very little are easily fill'd with sharp and biting vapours which cannot evaporate as Aristotle affirms because their Sutures are closer then those of men those vapours prick the Nerves and Membranes and so cause those extraordinary and capricious motions Hence it is that women are more subject to the Meagrim and other diseases of the head then men And if those that sell a Goat never warrant it sound as they do other animals there is no less excuse in reference to women Which caus'd the Emperour Aurelius to say that his Father in law Antoninus who had done so much good to others had done him mischief enough in giving him his daughter because he found so much bone to pick in a little flesh Moreover the Naturalists say that the Goat is an enemy to the Olive-tree especially which is a symbol of peace whereunto women are not over-well affected For not to mention the first divorce which woman caus'd between God and man by her lickorishness her talking her ambition her luxury her obstinacy and other vices are the most common causes of all the quarrels which arise in families and in civil life If you would have a troop of Goats pass over any difficult place you need force but one to do it and all the rest will follow So women are naturally envious and no sooner see a new fashion but they must follow it And Gard'ners compare women and girles to a flock of Goats who roam and browse incessantly holding nothing inaccessible to their curiosity There is but one considerable difference between them the Goat wears horns and the woman makes others wear them The Third said There is more correspondence between a woman and a Mule then between a woman and a Goat for leaving the Etymology of Mulier to Grammarians the Mule is the most teasty and capricious of all beasts fearing the shadow of a man or a Tree overturn'd more then the spur of the rider So a woman fears every thing but what she ought to fear The obstinacy of the Mule which is so great that it has grown into a Proverb is inseparable from the whole Sex most of them being gifted with a spirit of contradiction Mules delight to go in companies so do women the bells and muzzles of the one have some correspondence with the earings and masks of the other and both love priority The more quiet you allow a Mule it becomes the more resty so women become more vitious in idleness neither of them willingly admits the bridle between their teeth The Mule is so untoward that it kicks in the night time while 't is asleep so women are oftner laid then quiet Lastly the Mule that hath seem'd most tractable all its time one day or other pays his master with a kick and the woman that has seem'd most discreet at one time or other commits some notorious folly The Fourth said That those who invented the little
recedes from a perpendicular falling upon the common surface of the two mediums as on the contrary entring into a less diaphanous medium out of one more diaphanous it breaks and Cones neerer a perpendicular then it would have done had it continu'd directly Secondly 'T is to be observ'd that bodies which cause reflection or refraction are either smooth or unequal and rough Smooth bodies make reflection and refraction with order and the reflected or refracted image resembles its object although it may be alter'd by the various figures of the reflecting or refracting bodies as convex Looking-glasses diminish it hollow enlarge it whereas on the contrary convex Perspective Glasses enlarge and concave lessen the object but both the Looking-glasses and the other represent the Image perfect Unequal and scabrous bodies reflect or refract confusedly without distinct representation of the Image because these Bodies being terminated with infinite little imperceptible surfaces looking every way they also reflect every way as is seen in stones wood and other bodies of different ruggedness and so causing different reflections and refractions in the third place we must observe some prime properties of Looking-glasses as That if a species fall perpendicularly upon the surface 't is likewise perpendicularly reflected and consequently upon its own object as when the Eye beholds it self in the glass But if the species fall obliquely upon the glass it will be reflected as obliquely the other way making the angles of the incidence equal to those of reflection as when the Eye beholds something else then it self in the glass And an Eye constituted in the place where it may receive the reflection shall see the image of the object by help of the glass But if the mirror reflect no species to the place where the Eye is then the surface of the mirror shall appear so much more dark as the mirror is exact that is smooth and more opake the greater the light is As the Eye being in the place of reflection cannot bear the Sun-beams reflected from the mirror no more then the Sun it self but being in another place it shall see nothing but darkness and take the glass for a hole especially if it lie upon the ground Moreover a Convex Spherical glass hath this property that it represents the image very small and more small when the Eye and object are remote from the mirror which is small or appears such In which glasses also the Image never takes up the whole plane of the glass but a very small part of it Lastly Every object which appears lucid and not by its own light transmits light to us either by reflection or refraction after having receiv'd the same from some other luminous object From these truths here suppos'd but clearly demonstrated in the Catoptricks I conclude necessarily That the body of the Moon is not smooth but rough or scabrous For 't is manifest by its various faces that it borrows from the Sun the greater light of the two which appear in her the least whereof namely that which appears in the part which the Sun enlightens not in the increase and decrease many think to be her own which borrow'd light increases or diminishes according as she removes farther from or comes nearer to the Sun whence the diversity of her faces From which diversity of faces 't is concluded further that the figure of the face towards us is spherical convex either rough or smooth But smooth it cannot be because then it would represent the very Image of the Sun to us very small and in a small part of its face the rest remaining dark by the aforesaid observations of Looking-glasses wherefore it must be rough or unequal because the whole face appears lucid when 't is beheld by the Sun at the full and no image of the Sun appears distinctly in it For 't is certain that the Moon sends her borrow'd light by reflection and not by refraction otherwise she should be diaphanous and would appear most illuminated when near the Sun and be full in her conjunction and obscure in her full because she 's lower then the Sun and so in conjunction his light would appear through her and in her full which is her opposition the Sun's light would pass through her towards Heaven not towards us Wherefore as to the spots of the Moon it may be said in general that she is unequally seabrous and the dark parts are nearest smoothness and so make a more orderly reflection but another way then to the Earth the Angles of Incidence and Reflection being not dispos'd thereunto But they are not perfectly smooth because they transmit a little light to us which they could not do being perfectly smooth unless at a certain time when the Sun were so dispos'd as that his Image might be seen in those parts as in a Spherical Mirror The other more scabrous parts making a disorderly and irregular reflection are seen on all parts as if you fasten pieces of glass marble or the like smooth bodies to a wall enlighten'd by the Sun the rough parts of the wall will appear very bright and the smooth obscure But because we know not truly what is the matter of the Heavenly Bodies we can onely say for proof of this unevenness in the Moon 's body that the rougher parts are more hard and the less rough are liquid for then the liquor surrounding the centre of the Moon as the water doth about that of the earth will have a surface more approaching to smoothness as the water hath and this without inferring it compos'd of earth and water but of some celestial matter like to our elementary and whose fluidity or hardness doth not prejudice its incorruptibility those who hold the Heavens solid or liquid holding them equally incorruptible Unless we had rather say that the body of the Moon being all of the same hardness may nevertheless have parts unequally rough and smooth The Third said That he apprehended two causes of these spots First the diverse conformation of these celestial bodies which being no more perfectly round then the earth which nevertheless would appear spherical to us if it were luminous make shadows inseparable from bodies of other figure then the plain Secondly from the weakness of our Sight which as it phancies colours in the clouds which are not in them no more then the Air is blew though it appear to us and we paint it such so being dazled by a luminous body and the visual ray being disgregated it makes sundry appearances therein which can be onely dark and obscure in a thing which is lucid For I would not attribute these spots which represent the lineaments of a face to such a phancy as that of Antiphon who saw his own picture in the Air since they are observ'd by all people after the same manner but the weakness of our Sight may contribute something thereunto For if we say that every celestial body is an earth and that the bright part is
the terrestrial mass and the dark the water or the contrary it will be necessary that this earth also have its Heaven that its stars and so to infinity The Fourth said That they who have imagin'd spots in the Sun had them in their Eyes it being improbable that there is any defect of light in that Star which is the fountain of it but they are produc'd by the vapours between the Sun and the Eye and therefore appear not at full noon and change with the vapours and clouds As for those which appear in the Moon 's face there is great diversity of opinions as of the Rabbines and Mahometans of the ancient Philosophers reported by Plutarch in his treatise thereof and of the moderns The first are ridiculous in believing that Lucifer by his fall and the beating of his wings struck down part of the light of this great Luminary or that the same was taken away to frame the Spirits of the Prophets Those Philosophers who attributed the cause to the violence of the Sun-beams reflected from the Moon to our Eyes would conclude well if the like spots appear'd in the Sun as do in the Moon because the rayes coming directly from the Sun to the Eyes have more brightness and dazle more then those reflected by the Moon Nor can these spots be the Images of the Sea and its Streights for the Ocean surrounding the Terrestrial Globe that part of it which remains in the lower part of the Globe cannot send its species so far as the Moon whilst she enlightens the upper part the Moon being able to receive onely the species of that part which she enlightens according to the principles of Theodosius who teaches us that from the Zenith of one Hemisphere right lines cannot be drawn to the other Hemisphere by reason of the solidity of the Globe the caliginous fire the wind the condensation of the Air and the like opinions of the Stoicks and other ancient Philosophers though erroneous yet seem to me more probable then those of some Moderns who will have the Moon inhabited not considering that 't is too small to make an habitable earth her body being the fortieth part of the Terrestrial Globe and its surface the thirteenth of that of the Earth or thereabouts besides that she comes too near the Sun whose Eclipse her interposition causeth They who make the Moon and the Earth to move about the Sun may indeed with Copernicus explicate the most signal motions and phaenomena But the stability of the Pole and the Stars about it requires a fix'd point in the Earth with which the inequality of the dayes and seasons could not consist if the Sun were stable and in one place Moreover the difference of dayes proceeds from the obliquity of the Ecliptick which is the cause that the parallels of the Solstice are nearer one to another and the dayes then less unequal then at the Equinoxes which cannot hold good in this Scheme But 't is less reasonable to say that the hollow places in the Moon seem dark for by the rules of perspective they should remit the Sun's rayes redoubled by their reflection by reason of the cone which is form'd in hollow parts nor can they be eminences which appear obscure because in this case the spots should not appear so great or not come at all to us being surpass'd by the dilatation of the rayes redoubled by the conical figure of the cavities of the Moon 'T is therefore more probable that as a Star is the thicker part of its Orbe so the Moon hath some dense then others which are the most luminous as those which are more diaphanous letting those beams of the Sun pass through them which they are not able to reflect for want of sufficient density seem more obscure and make the spots The fifth said The spots of the Sun cannot be from the same causes with those of the Moon which experience shews us changes place and figure those of the Sun remaining always alike and in the same figure whereby we may also understand the validity of what is alledg'd by some That the Sun moving upon his own Centre carries his spots about with him For granting this motion yet if these spots interr'd in the Sun they would always appear in the same manner and at regular times by reason of the Sun 's equal and uniform revolution Nevertheless the most diligent observers find that some of them are generated and disappear at the same time in the Solar face Which would incline me to their opinion who hold those spots to be generated out of the body of the Sun in the same manner that exhalations are out of the bosom of the earth did not this derogate from the receiv'd incorruptibility of the Heavens For it cannot be any defect of our sight mistaking the vapours between the eye and the Sun for spots inherent in his body since they are seen by all almost in the same number and figure which should alter with the medium if this were the cause of them and 't is impossible that vapours should follow the Sun in his course for so many days together as one of these spots appears for it must move above 6000 leagues a day though it were not much elevated above the earth Nor do our Telescopes deceive us since without them we behold these spots in a Basin of water or upon a white paper in a close Chamber whereinto the Sun is admitted only by a small hole Nor Lastly are they small Stars call'd by some Borboneae and Mediceae because we perceive both their nativity and their end II. Whether 't is best to use â—â—verity or gentleness towards our dependents Upon the second Point 't was said That he who said a man hath as many domestick enemies as servants imply'd that we are to use them as such converse with them as in an Enemy-Country and according to the Counsel of good Captains build some Fort therein for our security Which Fort is severity and its Bastions the reasons obliging us to this rigour The first of which is drawn from the contempt ensuing upon gentleness and familiarity and from the respect arising from severity and gravity especially in low and servile souls which being ill educated would easily fall into vice to which men are more inclin'd then to vertue if they be not restrain'd by fear of punishment which makes deeper impression upon their minds then the sweetness and love of virtue wherewith they are not acquainted Besides that servants are apt to grow slack and luke-warm in their duties unless they be spurr'd up by severity And 't is a great disorder when a servant becomes equal to his master as it happens by mildness nor was Paganism ever more ridiculous then in the Saturnalia when the servants play'd the masters It must likewise be confess'd that severity hath a certain majesty which exacts such honour and service as gentleness cannot obtain By this virtue Germanicus became so considerable and was