cast down from above So that the opinion of the Ancients in this is not altogether unprofitable but only that it pleased them as in a manner dividing the inheritance to assign rain to Vapours and to winds exhalations only which things sound handsomly but are vain in effect and substance 22. Winds brought forth out of the resolutions of Snow lying upon Hills are of a mean condition between Water and Land winds but they incline more to water yet they are more sharp and moveable 23. The dissolution of Snow on Snowy Hills as we observed before always brings constant winds from that part 24. Also yearly Northern winds about the rising of the Dog-star are held to come from the frozen Ocean and those parts about the Artick Circle where the Dissolutions of Snow and Ice come late when the Summer is far spent 25. Those masses or mountains of Ice which are carried towards Canada and Greenland do rather breed cold Gales than moveable winds 26. Winds which arise from chalky and sandy grounds are few and dry and in hotter Countrys they are soultry smoaky and scorching 27. Winds made of Sea vapours do easilier turn back into rain the water re-demanding and claiming its right and if this be not granted them they presently mix with Air and so are quiet But terrestrial smoaky and unctuous vapours are both hardlier dissolved and ascend higher and are more provoked in their motion and oftentimes penetrate the middle Region of the Air and some of them are matter of fiery Meteors 28. It is reported here in England that in those days that Gascoine was under our jurisdiction there was a Petition offered to the King by his subjects of Burdeaux and the Confines thereof desiring him to forbid the burning of heath in the Counties of Sussex and Southampton which bred a wind towards the end of April which killed their Vines 29. The meeting of winds if they be strong bring forth vehement and whirling winds if they be soft and moist they produce rain and lay the wind 30. Winds are allayed and restrained five ways When the Air over-burthened and troubled is freed by the vapours contracting themselves into rain Or when vapours are dispersed and subtilized whereby they are mixed with the air and agree fairly with it and they live quietly Or when vapours or Fogs are exalted and carried upon high so that they cause no disturbance until they be thrown down from the middle Region of the Air or do penetrate it Or when vapours gathered into Clouds are carried away into other Countrys by other winds blowing on high so that for them there is peace in those Countrys which they flie beyond Or lastly when the winds blowing from their nurseries languish through a long voyage finding no new matter to feed on and so their vehemency forsakes them and they do as it were expire and dye 31. Rain for the most part allayeth winds especially those which are stormy as winds contrariwise oftentimes keep off rain 32. Winds do contract themselves into rain which is the first of the five and the chiefest means of allaying them either being burthened by the burthen it self when the vapours are copious or by the contrary motions of winds so they be calm and mild or by the opposition of mountains and Promontories which stop the violence of the winds and by little and little turn them against themselves or by extream colds whereby they are condensed and thickned 33. Smaller and lighter winds do commonly rise in the morning and go down with the Sun the condensation of the night Air being sufficient to receive them for Air will endure some kind of compression without stirring or tumult 34. It is thought that the sound of Bells will disperse Lightning and Thunder in winds it hath not been observed Monition Take advice from the place in Prognosticks of winds for there is some connexion of causes and signs 35. Pliny relates that the vehemence of a Whirl-wind may be allayed by sprinkling of Vinegar in the encounter of it The Bounds of VVinds. To the 16 17 18. Articles 1. IT is reported of Mount Athos likewise of Olimpus that the Priests would write in the ashes of the Sacrifices which lay upon the Altars built on the tops of those hills and when they returned the year following for the Offerings were Annual they found the same letters undisturbed and uncancelled though those Altars stood not in any Temple but in the open Air. Whereby it was manifest that in such a height there had neither fallen rain nor wind blown 2. They say that on the top of the Peak of Teneriff and on the Audes betwixt Peru and Chile snow lyeth upon the borders and sides of the hills but that on the tops of them there is nothing but a quiet and still Air hardly breathable by reason of its tenuity which also with a kind of Acrimony pricks the eyes and orifice of the stomack begetting in some a desire to vomit and in others a flushing and redness 3. Vaporary winds seem not in any great height though it be probable that some of them ascend higher than most clouds Hitherto of the height now we must consider of the Latitude 4. It is certain that those spaces which winds take up are very various sometimes they are very large sometimes little and narrow winds have been known to have taken up an hundred miles space with a few hours difference 5. Spacious winds if they be of the free kind are for the most part vehement and not soft and more lasting for they will last almost four and twenty hours They are likewise not so much inclined to rain Straight or narrow winds contrariwise are either soft or stormy and always short 6. Fixed and stayed winds are itinerary or travelling and take up very large spaces 7. Stormy winds do not extend themselves into any large spaces though they always go beyond the bounds of the storm it self 8. Sea winds always blow within narrower spaces than earth winds as may sometimes be seen at sea namely a pretty fresh gale in some part of the water which may be easily perceived by the crisping of it when there is a calm as smooth as Glass every where else 9. Small whirlwinds as we said before will sometimes play before men as they are riding almost like wind out of a pair of bellows So much of the Latitude now we must see concerning the lastingness 10. The vehement winds will last longer at Sea by reason of the sufficient quantity of vapours at land they will hardly last above a day and an half 11. Very soft winds will not blow constantly neither at sea nor upon the land above three days 12. The south wind is not only more lasting than the west which we set down in another place but likewise what wind soever it be that begins to blow in the morning useth to be more durable and lasting than that which begins to blow at night 13. It is
enquired Nature ought to be attributed and assigned by reason of the frequent and ordinary concourse of divers Natures the instances of the Cross do shew the faithful and indissoluble agreement concerning the Nature which is enquired of of one of the Natures and the variable and separable agreement of the other whereby the question is determined and the former Nature is received for the cause the other being rejected and laid aside And that is such a one if we find of a certainty that when it flows on the opposite shoars as well of Florida and Spain in the Atlantick sea it flows also upon the shoars of Peru and the back-side of China in the south sea then by this Decisorie Instance this Assertion must be confirmed that the ebbing and flowing of the sea which we enquire after must be done by a Progressive Motion For there is no other sea or other place left where there can be a Regress or ebb made at the same time And this may most easily be known if one could enquire of the Inhabitants of Panama and Lima where the Atlantick and Southern Ocean are severed only by a small Isthmus whether the ebbing and flowing be at the same time on both sides of the Isthmus or no. But this Decision seems to be certain if it be granted that the Earth stand immoveable For if the Earth turns round it may be that by unequal turning of it as touching the celerity swiftness of it and of the water of the sea there may be a violent driving of waters up into a heap which may be the flowing and a Re-laxation of the same when they can be heaped up no more which may be the ebbing But of this there must be an Inquisition severally But this being also supposed that still remaineth stedfast that there must be somewhere an ebbing of waters when there is a flowing in other places Likewise let the latter motion of those two which we supposed be the enquired Nature namely the motion of the Sea raising it self and sinking down again if it so happen that after the matter is diligently examined the other Progressive motion which we have spoken of be rejected Then there will be such a threefold way concerning this Nature and of Necessity this motion by which waters in ebbings and flowings rise and fall again without any addition of waters coming to them must be one of these three ways Either that this abundance of waters comes out of the Entrails of the earth and returns again into them Or that there be no greater mass of waters but that the same waters without any increasing of Quantity are extended or rarified so that they spread themselves into a larger dimension and take up more room and then restrain and contract themselves again Or that there is neither more quantity nor larger extension but that the same waters as they are both in Quantity or Rarity and Density do raise themselves and so fall again by and through some Magnetick power drawing them from above and so by consent rise and fall again So now if you please let the Inquisition be reduced laying aside the two first Motions to this last and let us enquire whether there be any such sublation or raising made by consent or Magnetick power But in the first place it is manifest that all the whole waters as they are laid in the hollow or concave place of the Sea cannot be raised altogether for then there would want some thing to succeed and be in the bottome so that if there were any such appetite or desire in the waters of raising themselves yet that would be broken and cohibited by the connexion of things or as they commonly call it by the Nonentity or not being of any vacuity It remains therefore that the waters must rise on the one side or part and thereby diminish and fall on the other For again it will of necessity follow that the Magnetick power seeing it cannot operate upon the whole must needs operate most strongly about the middle so that raising the water in the middle it must needs successively abandon and forsake the shoars So thus at last this subject is come to the Instance of the Cross which is this That if it be found that in the ebbings of the sea the superficies of the waters in the sea is more arched and round namely the waters rising in the middle of the sea and failing about the sides which are the shoars and in the Flouds or Flowings the same superficies is more plain and even by reason of the waters returning to their first posture Then truly by this Decisory Instance the raising by Magnetick power may be admitted of otherwise it must be absolutely rejected But this may easily be tried in Arms of the sea by sea lines namely whether in ebbs towards the middle of the sea the sea be not deeper than in flouds But we must note that if this be so waters do contrary to what is commonly believed rise in their ebbings and fall only in flowings whereby they fill and overflow the banks An Index of the most remarkable things contained in this Book ABer Barry a rockie cliff in Wales wherein is heard a continual murmure of Winds Pag. 18 Accidental generations of Winds 20 Acosta reprehended 11 His observation touching Plata and Potosa 18 Acrimonius liquors operate hotly in the divulsion of bodies 61 Aetna and other hils cast out flames 18 Aeolus his Kingdome 17 Air in hooded glasses swels the bladder 23. inclosed in caves in summer 58. is forced to break out 18. being moved it cools rather then heats 60 Andes betwixt Peru and Chile 26. some hils there 55 Animals inwards hot 60 dead ones have no warm part in them 63 Anniversary winds 57. those that are Northerly about the beginning of dog days are thought to come from the frozen Sea 24 St Anthonies fire 57 Anvils heat with hammering upon them 65 Approaching to hot things causeth heat 66 Aqua regis dissolves gold 61 Aqua fortis silver ibid. Arcturus his rising followed with tempests 23 Aselli certain stars 39 Athos 26 Attending winds 58. are not the same at Sea as at Land 11. ought not to be confounded with staied winds 12 Attrition of bodies heats them 59 B. BEllows Aeolus his bags 42 Bels are heard furthest against wind 42. their sound is thought to disperse thunder 25 Belluae what they are 21 Binding of the major and minor congregation in motion 79 80 Bird Winds 10 Birds perching what they presage 41 Bounds of Winds 3 Breath in the Microcosmos parallel to Winds which blow 43 Breze a wind 7. blows plentifully between the Tropicks 8. without them it is hardly perceiveable ibid. it is not a full East but a Northwest wind 8 Burdelois Petition to the King of England 25 Butterflies revived by heat 15 C. CAlmness at sea 12 Castor Pollux and Hellen what they presage to Mariners 40. how hot and what manner of heat
diversity of the matter which feedeth them by which they are engendred as Sea Snow Marishes or the like Or by the tincture of the Countrys through which they pass Or by their original local beginnings on high under ground in the middle all which things the ensuing Articles will better declare and explain 38. All winds have a power to dry yea more than the Sun it self because the Sun draws out the vapours but if it be not very fervent it doth not disperse them but the wind both draws them out and carries them away But the south wind doth this least of any and both timber and stones sweat more when the South wind blows a little than when it is calm and lies still 39. March winds are far more drying than summer winds insomuch that such as make Musical Instruments will stay for March winds to dry their stuff they make their Instruments of to make it more porous and better sounding 40. All manner of winds purge the air and cleanse it from all putrifaction so that such years as are most windy are most healthful 41. The Sun is like to Princes who sometimes having appointed Deputies in some remote Countries the subjects there are more obsequious to those Deputies and yield them more respect than to the Prince himself And so the winds which have their power and origine from the Sun do govern the temperatures of the Countries and the disposition of the air as much or more than the Sun it self Insomuch that Peru which by reason of the nearness of the Ocean the vastness of Rivers and exceeding great and high hills hath abundance of winds and blasts blowing there may contend with Europe for a temperate and sweet air 42. It is no wonder if the force and power of winds be so great as it is found to be Vehement winds being as Inundations Torrents and Flowings of the spacious air Neither if we attentively heed it is their power any great matter They can throw down trees which with their tops like unto spread sails give them advantage to do it and are a burden to themselves Likewise they can blow down weak buildings strong and firm ones they cannot without Earthquakes join with them Sometimes they will blow all the snow off the tops of hills buryng the Valley that is below them with it as it befel Soliman in the Sultanian fields They will also sometimes drive in waters and cause great Inundations 43. Sometimes winds will dry up Rivers and leave the Channels bare For if after a great drought a strong wind blows with the Current for many days so that it as it were sweeps away the water of the River into the sea and keeps the Sea water from coming in the River will dry up in many places where it doth uot use to be so Monition Turn the Poles and withal turn the Observations as concerning the North and South For the presence and absence of the Sun being the cause it must vary according to the Poles But this may be a constant thing that there is more sea towards the south and more land towards the North which doth not a little help the winds Monition Winds are made or engendred a thousand ways as by the subsequent Inquisition it will appear so to fix that Observations in a thing so various is not very easie Yet those things which we have set down are for the most part most certain Local beginnings of Winds To the eighth Article Connexion TO know the local beginnings of winds is a thing which requires a deep search and Inquisition seeing that the Whence and Whither of winds are things noted even in Scripture to be abstruse and hidden Neither do we now speak of the Fountains or beginnings of particular winds of which more shall be said hereafter but of the matrixes of winds in general Some fetch them from above some search for them in the deep but in the middle where they are for the most part engendred no body hardly looks for them such is the custom of men to enquire after things which are obscure and omit those things which lie as it were in their way This is certain that winds are either in-bred or strangers For winds are as it were Merchants of vapors which being by them gathered into Clouds they carry out and bring in again into Countreys from whence winds are again returned as it were by exchange But let us now enquire concerning Native winds for those which coming from another place are strangers are in another place Natives There are three local beginnings of them They either breath or spring out of the ground or are cast down from above or are here made up in the body of the Air. Those which are cast down from above are of a double generation for they are either cast down before they be formed into Clouds or afterwards composed of rarified and dispersed Clouds Let us now see what is the History of these things 1. The Poets feigned Eolus his Kingdom to be placed under ground in Dens and Caves where the winds prison was out of which they were at times let forth 2. Some Philosophical Divines moved by those words of Scripture He brings forth the winds out of his Treasures think that the winds come out of some Treasuries namely places under ground amongst the Mines of Minerals But this is nothing for the Scripture speaketh likewise of the Treasures of Snow and Hail which doubtless are engendred above 3. Questionless in subterraneal places there is great store of Air which it is very likely sometimes breaths out by little and little and sometimes again upon urgent causes must needs come rushing forth together An Indirect Experiment In great droughts and in the middle of Summer when the ground is cleft and chopped there breaks out water many times in dry and sandy places Which if waters being a gross body do though it be but seldom it is probable that the air which is a subtile and tenuous body may often do it 4. If the Air breaths out of the earth by little and little and scatteringly it is little perceived at the first but when many of those small emanations or comings out are come together there is a wind produced as a River out of several Springs And this seems to be so because it hath been observed by the Ancients that many winds in those places where they begin do at first blow but softly which afterward grow stronger and increase in their progress like unto Rivers 5. There are some places in the Sea and some Lakes also which swell extreamly when there is no wind stirring which apparently proceeds from some subterraneal wind 6. There is great quantity of subterraneal spirit required to shake or cleave the earth less will serve turn for the raising of water Wherefore earthquakes come but seldom risings and swellings of waters are more frequent 7. Likewise it is every where taken notice of that waters do somewhat swell and
rise before Tempests 8. The weak subterraneal spirit which is breathed out scatteringly is not perceived upon the earth until it be gathered into wind by reason the earth is full of pores but when it issues from under the water it is presently perceived by reason of the waters continuity by some manner swelling 9. We resolved before that in Cavernous and Denny places there were attendant winds insomuch that those winds seem to have their local beginnings out of the earth 10. In great and rocky Hills winds are found to breath sooner namely before they be perceived in the Valleys and more frequently namely when it is calm weather in the valleys But all mountains and rocks are cavernous and hollow 11. In Wales in the County of Denbigh a mountainous and rocky Country out of certain Caves as Gilbertus relateth are such vehement eruptions of wind that cloaths or linnen laid out there upon any occasion are blown up and carried a great way up into the air 12. In Aber Barry near Severn in Wales in a rocky cliff are certain holes to which if you lay your ear you shall hear divers sounds and murmurs of winds under ground An Indirect Experiment Acosta hath observed that the Towns of Plata and Potosa in Peru are not far distant one from the other and both situated upon a high and hilly ground so that they differ not in that And yet Potosa hath a cold and winter-like air and Plata hath a mild and spring-like témperature which difference it seems may be attributed to the silver Mines which are near Potosa Which sheweth that there are breathing places of the earth as in relation to hot and cold 13. If the earth be the first cold thing according to Parmenides whose opinion is not contemptible seeing cold and density are knit together by a strict knot it is no less probable that there are hotter breaths sent out from the Central cold of the earth than are cast down from the cold of the higher air 14. There are certain Wells in Dalmatia and the Country of Cyrene as some of the Ancients record into which if you cast a stone there will presently arise tempests as if the stone had broken some covering of a place in which the force of the winds was inclosed An Indirect Experiment Aetna and divers other Mountains cast out fire therefore it is likely that air may likewise break forth especially being dilatated and set into motion by heat in subterraneal places 15. It hath been noted that both before and after Earth-quakes there hath blown certain noxious and forraign winds as there are certain little smothers usually before and after great firings and burnings Monition The Air shut up in the earth is forced to break out for several causes sometimes a mass of earth ill joined together falls into a hollow place of the earth sometimes waters do ingulf themselves sometimes the Air is extended by subterraneal heats and seeks for more room sometimes the earth which before was solid and vaulted being by fires turned into ashes no longer able to bear it self up falls And many such like causes And so these Inquisitions have been made concerning the first local beginning of winds Now followeth the second origine or beginning from above namely from that which they call the middle Region of the air Monition But let no man understand what hath been spoken so far amiss as if we should deny the rest of the winds also are brought forth of the earth by vapours But this first kind was of winds which come forth of the earth being already perfectly framed winds 16. It hath been observed that there is a murmuring of woods before we do plainly perceive the winds whereby it is conjectured that the wind descends from a higher place which is likewise observed in Hills as we said before but the cause is more ambiguous by reason of the concavity and hollowness of the hills 17. Wind follows darted or as we call them shooting stars and it come that way as the star hath shot whereby it appears that the air hath been moved above before the motion comes to us 18. The opening of the Firmament and dispersion of Clouds are Prognosticks of winds before they blow here on earth which also shews that the winds begin above 19. Small stars are not seen before the rising of winds though the night be clear and fair Because it should seem the Air grows thick and is less transparent by reason of that matter which afterward is turned into wind 20. There appears Circles about the body of the Moon the Sun looks sometimes blood red at its setting the Moon rises red at her fourth rising and there are many more Prognosticks of winds on high whereof we will speak in its proper place which shews that the matter of the winds is there begun and prepared 21. In these Experiments you must note that difference we spake of namely of the two-fold generation of winds on high that is to say before the gathering together of vapours into a Cloud and after For the Prognosticks of Circles about and colours of the Sun and Moon have something of the Cloud but that darting and occultation of the lesser stars is in fair and clear weather 22. When the wind comes out of a Cloud ready formed either the Cloud is totally dispersed and turned into wind or it is torn and rent in sunder and the wind breaks out as in a storm 23. There are many Indirect Experiments in the world concerning the repercussion by cold So that it being certain that there are most extream colds in the middle region of the Air it is likewise plain that vapours for the most part cannot break through that place without being joined and gathered together or darted according to the opinion of the Ancients which in this particular is true and sound The third local beginning of winds is of those which are ingendred here in the lower part of the air which we also call swellings or overburthenings of the Air. A thing very familiar and frequent yet passed over with silence A Commentation The generation of those winds which are made up in this lower part of the Air is a thing no more obscure than this namely that the Air newly composed and made up of water and attenuated and resolved vapours joined with the first Air cannot be contained within the same bounds as it was before but groweth out and is turned and takes up further room Yet there are in this two things to be granted First that one drop of water turned into air whatsoever they fabulously speak of the tenth proportion of the Elements requires at least a hundred times more room than it had before Secondly that a little new air and moved added to the old air shaketh the whole and sets it into motion as we may perceive by a little wind that comes forth of a pair of Bellows or in at a little crevise of a window or wall
certain that winds do rise and increase by degrees unless they be meer storms but they allay sooner sometimes as it were in an instant Successions of Winds To the 19 20 21 Articles 1. IF the Wind doth change according to the motion of the Sun that is from East to South from South to West from West to North from the North to the East it doth not return often or if it doth it doth it but for a short time But if it go contrary to the motion of the Sun that is from the East to the North from the North to the West from the West to the South and from the South to the East for the most part it is restored to its first quarter at least before it hath gone round its whole compass and circuit 2. If rain begin first and the wind begins to blow afterwards that wind will outlast the rain but if the wind blow first and then is allayed by the rain the wind for the most part will not rise again and if it does there ensues a new rain 3. If winds do blow variously for a few hours and as it were to make a trial and afterward begin to blow constantly that wind shall continue for many days 4. If the South wind begin to blow two or three days sometimes the North wind will blow presently after it But if the North wind blows as many days the south wind will not blow until the wind have blown a little from the East 5. When the year is declining and Winter begins after Autumn is past if the Southwind blows in the beginning of winter and after it comes the North-wind it will be a frosty winter But if the North-wind blow in the beginning of winter and the South-wind come after it will be a mild and warm winter 6. Pliny quotes Eudoxus to shew that the order of winds returns after every four years which seems not to be true for revolutions are not so quick This indeed hath been by some mens diligence observed that greatest and most notable seasons for heat snow frost warm winters and old summers for the most part return after the revolution of five and thirty years The Motion of the Winds To the 22 23 24 25 26 27 Articles Connexion MEn talk as if the wind were some body of it self and by its own force did drive and agitate the air Also when the wind changes its place they talk as if it did transport it self into another place This is the vulgars opinion yet the Philosophers themselves apply no remedy thereunto but they likewise stammer at it and do not any way contradict and oppose these errors 1. We must therefore enquire concerning the raising of the motion of the winds and of the Direction of it having already enquired of the local beginnings And of those winds which have their beginning of motion in their first impulsion as in those which are cast down from above or blow out of the earth the raising of their motion is manifest others descend below their own beginnings others ascend and being resisted by the Air become voluminous especially near the Angles of their violence But of those which are engendred every where in this inferiour Air which are the frequentest of all the winds the Inquisition seems to be somewhat obscure although it be a vulgar thing as we have set down in the Commentation under the eighth Article 2. We found likewise an image or representation of this in that close Tower which we spake of before For we varied that trial three ways The first was that which we spake of before namely a fire of clear burning coals The second was a Kettle of seething water the fire being set away and then the motion of the cross of Feathers was more slow and dull The third was with both fire and Kettle and then the agitation of the Cross of Feathers was very vehement so that sometimes it would whirle up and down as if it had been in a petty whirlwind the water yielding store of vapours and the fire which stood by it dissipating and dispersing them 3. So that the chief cause of exciting motion in the winds is the overcharging of the air by a new addition of air engendred by vapours Now we must see concerning the direction of the motion and of the whirling which is a chang of the direction 4. The Nurseries and food of the winds doth govern their progressive motion which nurseries and feedings are like unto the springs of rivers namely the places where there are great store of vapours for there is the native Country of the winds Then when they have found a Current where the air makes no resistance as water when it finds a falling way then whatsoever semblable matter they find by the way they take into their fellowship and mix it with their Currents even as Rivers do So that the winds blow always from that side where their Nurseries are which feed them 5. Where there are no notable Nurseries in any certain place the winds stray very much and do easily change their Current as in the middle of the sea and large spacious fields 6. Where there are great nurseries of the winds in one place but in the way of its progress it hath but small additions there the winds blow strongly in their beginnings and by little and little they allay And contrariwise where they find good store of matter to feed on by the way they are weak in the beginning but gather strength by the way 7. There are moveable nurseries for the winds namely in the Clouds which many times are carried far away from the Nurseries of vapours of which those Clouds were made by winds blowing high then the Nursery of the wind begins to be in that place where the Clouds do begin to be dissolved into wind 8. But the whirling of winds does not happen because the wind which blows at first transports it self but because either that is allayed and spent or brought into order by another wind And all this business depends on the various placings of the Nurseries of winds and variety of times when vapours issuing out of these Nurseries are dissolved 9. If there be Nurseries of winds on contrary parts as one Nursery on the South another on the North-side the strongest wind will prevail neither will there be contrary winds but the stronger wind will blow continually though it be somewhat dulled and tamed by the weaker wind as it is in Rivers when the flowing of the sea comes in for the Sea's motion prevails and is the only one but it is somewhat curbed by the motion of the river And if it so happen that one of those contrary winds namely that which was the strongest be allayed then presently the contrary will blow from that side where it blew before but lay hidden under the force and power of the greater 10. As for example if the Nursery be at the North-East the North-East wind will blow
But if there be two Nurseries of winds namely another in the North those winds for some tract of way will blow severally but after the angle of confluence where they come together they will blow to the North-East or with some inclination according as the other Nursery shall prove stronger 11. If there be a Nursery of wind on the North-side which may be distant from some Country twenty miles and is the stronger another on the East-side which is distant some ten miles and is weaker Yet the East-wind shall blow for some hours and a while after namely when its journy is ended the North wind 12. If the Northern wind blow and some Hill stands in the way of it on the West side a little while after the North-East wind will blow compounded by the original and that which is beaten back again 13. If there be a Nursery of winds in the earth on the Northern side and the breath thereof be carried directly upward and it find a cold Cloud on the West side which turns it off the contrary way there will blow a North-East wind 14. Monition Nurseries of winds in Sea and Land are constant so that the spring and beginning of them may be the better perceived But the Nurseries of winds in the Clouds are moveable so that in one place there is matter furnished for the winds and they are formed in another which makes the direction of motion in winds to be more confused and uncertain Those things we have produced for examples sake the like are after the like manner And hitherto of the direction of the motion of winds Now we must see concerning the Longitude and as it were the Itinerary or journy of the winds though it may seem we have already enquired of this under the notion of the Latitude of winds For Latitude may by unlearned men also be taken for Longitude if winds take up more space Laterally than they go forward in Longitude 14. If it be true that Columbus could upon the Coasts of Portugal judge of the Continent of America by the constant winds from the West truly the winds can travel a long journy 15. If it be true that the dissolution of Snows about the frozen seas and Scandia do excite and raise Northerly winds in Italy and Greece c. in the Dog days surely these are long journeys 16. It hath not yet been observed how much sooner a storm does arrive according to the way it comes as for example if it be an Eastern wind how much sooner it comes from the East and how much later from the West And so much concerning the motion of winds in their progression or going forward now we must see concerning the Undulation or swelling of winds 17. The Undulation or swelling of winds is done in a few moments So that a wind will though it be strong rise and fall by turns at the least a hundred times in an hour Whereby it appears that the violence of winds is unequal for neither Rivers though swift nor Currents in the Sea though strong do rise in waves unless the blowing of wind be joined thereunto Neither hath the swelling of winds any equality in it self For like unto the pulse of ones hand sometimes it beats and sometimes it intermits The Undulation or swelling of the air differs from the swelling of waters into waves in this that in waters after the waves are risen on high they of themselves and their own accord do again fall to the place of them whence it comes that whatsoever Poets say when they aggravate tempests namely that the waves are raised up to heaven and again sink down to hell the descent of the waves do not precipitate much below the plane and superficies of the water But in the swelling of the air where the motion of gravity or weight is wanting the air is thrust down and raised almost in an equal manner And thus much of Undulation Now we must enquire of the motion of Conflict or Striving 19. The Conflicts of winds and compounded Conflicts we have partly enquired already It is plain that winds are Ubiquitary especially the mildest of them Which is likewise manifest by this that there are few days and hours wherein some gales do not blow in free places and that inconstantly and variously enough For winds which do not proceed from greater Nurseries are vagabond and voluble as it were playing one with the other sometimes driving forward and sometimes flying back 20. It hath been seen sometimes at Sea that winds have come from contrary parts together which was plainly to be perceived by the perturbation of the water on both sides and the calmness in the middle between them but after those contrary winds have met either there hath followed a general calm of the water every where namely when the winds have broken and quelled one another equally or the perturbation of the water hath continued namely when the stronger Wind hath prevailed 21. It is certain that in the mountains of Peru it hath often chanced that the winds at one time have blown on the tops of the Hills one way and in the Valleys the clean contrary way 22. It is likewise certain here with us that the Clouds are carried one way when the wind near us hath blown the contrary way 23. That is likewise certain that sometimes the higher Clouds will out-flie the lower Clouds so that they will go diverse yea and contrary ways as it were in contrary Currents 24. It is likewise certain that sometimes in the higher part of the air winds have been neither distracted nor moved forward when here below they have been driven forward with a mad kind of violence for the space of half a mile 25. And it is likewise certain that contrariwise that here below the air hath been very still when above the Clouds have been carried with a fresh and merry gale But that happens more seldom An Indirect Experiment Likewise in waves sometimes the upper water is swifter sometimes the lower and sometimes there are but that is seldom several Currents of water of that which is uppermost and that which lyeth beneath 26. Nor are Virgils testimonies altogether to be rejected he being not utterly unskilful in Natural Philosophy Together rush the East and South-East wind Nor doth wave calling South-West stay behind And again I all the winds have seen their battels join We have considered of the Motions of winds in the nature of things we must now consider their Motions in humane Engines and first of all in the Sails of Ships The Motion of Winds in the Sails of Ships 1. IN our greatest Brittain Ships for we have chosen those for our pattern there are four Masts and sometimes five set up one behind the other in a direct line drawn through the middle of the ship Which Masts we will name thus 2. The main Mast which stands in the middle of the ship the fore-Mast the Mizon-Mast which is sometimes double and the
free noise for the most part signifies fair weather especial in winter 72. Birds pearching in trees if they flie to their nests and give over feeding betimes it presages tempest But the Hearn standing as it were sad and melancholy upon the sand or a Crow walking up and down do presage wind onely 73. Dolphins playing in a calm sea are thought to presage wind from that way they come and if they play and throw up water when the Sea is rough they presage fair weather And most kinds of fishes swimming on the top of the water and sometimes leaping do prognosticate wind 74. Upon the approach of wind Swine will be so terrified and disturbed and use such strange actions that Country people say that Creature onely can see the wind and perceive the horridness of it 75. A little before the wind spiders work and spin carefully as if they prudently forestall'd the time knowing that in windy weather they cannot work 76. Before rain the sound of Bels is heard further off but before wind it is heard more unequally drawing near and going further off as it doth when the wind blows really 77. Pliny affirms for a certain that three leaved grass creeps together and raises its leaves against a storm 78. He sayes likewise that vessels which food is put into will leave a kind of sweat in Cupboards which presage cruel storms Monition Seeing rain and wind have almost a common matter and seeing alwayes before rain there is a certain condensation of the air caused by the new air received into the old as it appears by the sounding of the shoars and the high flight of Hearns and other things and seeing the wind likewise thickens but afterward in rain the air is more drawn together and in winds contrariwise it is enlarged of necessity winds must have many Prognosticks common with the rain Whereof advise with the Prognosticks of rain under their own title Imitations of Winds To the three and thirtieth Article Connexion IF men could be perswaded not to fix their contemplations over-much upon a propounded subject and reject others as it it were by the bye and that they would not subtilize about that subject in infinitum and for the most part unprofitably they would not be seized with such a stupor as they are but transferring their thoughts and discoursing would find many things at a distance which near at hand are hidden So that as in the Civil Law so we must likewise in the Law of Nature we must carefully proceed to semblable things and such as have a conformity between them 1. Bellows with men are Aeolus his Bags out of which one may take as much as he needeth And likewise spaces between and openings of Hills and crooks of buildings are but as it were large bellows Bellows are most useful either to kindle fire or for Musical Organs The manner of the working of Bellows is by sucking in of the air to shun vacuity as they say and to send it out by compression 2. We also use Hand Fans to make a wind and to cool only by driving forward of the air softly 3. The cooling of Summer rooms we spake of in Answer to the ninth Article There may other more curious means be found especially if the air be drawn in somewhere after the manner of bellows and let out at another place But those which are now in use have relation only to meer compression 4. The breath in mans Microcosmos and in other Animals do very well agree with the winds in the greater world For they are engendred by humours and alter with moisture as wind and rain doth and are dispersed and blow freer by a greater heat And from them that observation is to be transferred to the winds namely that breaths are engendred of matter that yields a tenacious vapour not easie to be dissolved as Beans Pulse and Fruits which is so likewise in greater winds 5. In the distilling of Vitriol and other Minerals which are most windy they must have great and large receptacles otherwise they will break 6. Wind composed of Niter and Gun-powder breaking out and swelling the flame doth not only imitate but also exceed winds which blow abroad in the world unless they be such as are made by thunder 7. But the forces of it are pressed in as in humane Engines as Guns Mines and Powder-houses set on fire But it hath not yet been tried whether in open air a great heap of Gun-powder set on fire would raise a wind for certain hours by the commotion of the air 8. There lies hidden a flatuous and expansive spirit in Quick-silver so that it doth in some mens opinions imitate Gun-powder and a little of it mixed with Gun-powder will make the Powder stronger Likewise the Chymists speak the same of gold that being prepared some way it will break out dangerously like to Thunder but these things I never tried A greater Observation THe Motion of winds is for most things seen as it were in a Looking-glass in the motion of waters Great winds are Inundations of the air as we see Inundations of waters both through the augmentation of the quantity As waters either descend from above or spring out of the earth so some winds are cast down and some rise up As sometimes in Rivers there are contrary motions one of the flowing of the Sea the other of the Current of the River yet both become one motion by the prevailing of the flood so when contrary winds blow the greater subdues the lesser As in the Currents of the sea and of some rivers it sometimes falls out that the waves above go contrary to the waves below So in the air when contrary winds blow together one flyes over the other As there are Cataracts of Rain within a narrow space so there are Whirlwinds As waters however they go forward yet if they be troubled swell up into waves sometimes ascending grow up into heaps sometimes descending are as it were furrowed so the winds do the same but only want the Motion of Gravity There are also other similitudes which may be observed and gathered out of those things which have already been enquired about Moveable Rules concerning Winds Connexion RUles are either particular or general both with us are moveable for as yet we have not affirmed any thing positively Particular Rules may be taken and gathered almost out of every Article We will cull out some general ones and those but a few and adde thereunto 1. Wind is no other thing but moved air but the air it self moved either by a simple impulsion or by commixion of vapors 2. Winds by a simple Impulsion are caused four ways either by the natural Motion of the air or by expansion of the air in the Suns ways or by reception of air thorow a sudden cold or by the compression of the air by external bodies There may be also a fifth way by the agitation and concussion of the air by stars But let these
Vertues whereby men awake no more nor look after the finding and searching out of true causes but acquiesce and lie still in these idle ways Then it insinuates an innumerable company of fictions like unto Dreams And vain men hope to know the Nature by the outward shape and shew and by extrinsecal similitudes to discover inward Properties Their Practise also is very like unto their Enquiry For the Precepts of Natural Magick are such as if men should be confident that they could subdue the earth and eat their bread without the sweat of their Brow and to have power over things by idle and easie applications of bodies and still they have in their mouths and like undertakers or Sureties they call upon the Loadstone and the consent which is between Gold and Quicksilver and some few things of this kind they alledge for to prove other things which are not bound by any such like contract But God hath appointed the best of things to be enquired out and be wrought by labours and endeavours We will be a little more carefull in searching out the law of Nature and the mutual Contracts of things neither favouring Miracles nor making too lowly and straightned an Inquisition The History of Sulphur Mercury and Salt The Entrance THis triple of Principles hath been introduced by the Chymists and as concerning Speculatives is of them which they bring the best Invention The most subtile and acute of these and those who are most Philosophical will have the Elements to be Earth Water Air and the skie And those they will not have to be the Matter of things but the Matrixes in which the Specifical seeds of things do engender in the nature of a Matrix But for the Materia prima or primary matter which Scholars do lay down as it were naked and indifferent they substitute those three Sulphur Mercury and Salt out of whith all bodies are gathered together and mixed We do accept of their words but their opinions are not very sound Yet that doth not ill agree with their opinion namely that we hold two of them to wit Sulphur and Mercury taken according to our sence to be very first and prime natures and most inward figurations of matter and almost chief amongst the forms of the first Classis But we may vary the words of Sulphur and Mercury and name them otherwise Oyly Waterish Fat Crude Inflamable not Inflamable or the like For these seem to be two very great things of the three and which possess and penetrate the Universe for amongst subterraneal things they are Sulphur and Mercury as they are called in the Vegetable and Animal kind they are Oyl and Water in the inferior spiritual things they are Air and Flame in the heavenly the body of a Star and the pure skie but of this last Duality we yet say nothing though it seem to be a probable decyphering For if they mean by Salt the fixed part of the body which is not resolved either into flame or smoak this belongeth to the Inquisition of fluid and determinate things But if we take Salt according to the Letter without any Parabolical meaning Salt is no third thing from Sulphur and Mercury but mixed of both connexed into one by an acrimonious and sharp spirit For all manner of Salt hath inflamable parts and other parts also which not only will not take fire but do also abhor it and flie from it Yet the Inquisition of Salt being somewhat allyed to the Inquisition of the other two and exceeding useful as being a tye and band of both Natures Sulphurous and Salt and the very Rudiment of life it self we have thought fitting to comprehend it also within this History and Inquisition But in the mean time we give you notice that those spiritual things Air Water Stars and Skie we do as they very well deserve it reserve them for proper and peculiar Inquisitions and here in this place to set down the History only of tangible that is to say Mineral or Vegetable Sulphur and Mercury The History of Life and Death The Entrance THere is an old complaint of the shortness of life and tediousness of Art Therefore it seems very fitting to us who strive to the uttermost of our powers to make Arts perfect to take care also of prolonging the Life of man the Author of Life and Truth assisting us therein For although mens lives be nothing else but an increase and accumulation of sins and miseries and that life is but of small advantage to those who aspire to Eternity Yet we who are Christians should not contemn or despise a continuation of works of Charity And the beloved Disciple lived longer than any of the rest and many of the Fathers especially the holy Monks and Hermites were long lived And there was less taken away from this blessing so often made mention of in the old Law than from any other earthly blessing after the coming of our Savior But it is plain manifest enough that this is held for a great good but how to attain thereunto is a high and mysterious question and so much the more because it hath been abused both by false opinions and false Praeconiums For those things which are commonly spoken of by the Rabble of Physicians concerning the Radical Humour and Natural Heat are deceitful And the immoderate praises of Chymical Medicines first swell men up with hopes and then forsake them and leave them in the mire Neither is our Inquisition now of that death which proceeds from suffocation putrifaction and divers other Diseases for that belongs to a Physical or Medicinal Historie but of that Death only which comes by the Resolution and consumption of old age Yet to enquire of the last passage or step to death and the very extinction or putting out of life which may be done by many both internal and external ways which notwithstanding have as it were one and the self same place of habitation before we come unto the very pangs of death I believe hath some affinity with our present Inquisition but we will set that in the last place That which may be repaired by degrees and without destruction the primary entire thing that in potentia is eternal as the Vestal fire Wherefore when the Philosophers and Physicians saw that creatures were nourished and that their bodies were repaired and made up again yet that it could not last long but that a while after they grew old and dyed they sought for death in some thing which properly could not be repaired thinking that some Radical and first engendred Humor is not totally repaired but that there is even from the infancy some degenerate addition and not a precise solid and just reparation which by degrees is depraved with age and at last brings that which is depraved to nothing These unskilful and erroneous opinions they hold For all things in youth and young age are fully and wholly repaired and for a time increase in quantity and are bettered
we also hold all manner of scum or froth by reason that it contains air to be less cold than the liquor it self To the fourteenth one To this there is no Negative added For there is not any thing either Tangible or Spirital but will heat if it be set to the fire Yet there is this difference that some things will heat sooner as Air Oil and Water and some will be longer a heating as Stone and Metals But this belongs to the table of Degrees To the fifteenth one To this Instance there is no other Negative added but that it is carefully to be observed that no sparkles can be drawn out of a Flint or out of Steel or any other hard substance but there are some parcels of the substance it self beaten off either of the stone or Mettall and that the attrition of the aire it self can never produce or engender any sparkles as it is commonly believed And those very sparkles by reason of the weight of the fired body do tend downward rather than upward and at their going out do turn to a kind of bodily soot To the sixteenth one We hold there can be no Negative added to this instance For there is not any Tangible body to be found that will not manifestly heat with attrition or violent rubbing So that the Ancients did dream that there was no other heating power or vertue in heavenly things but by reason of the attrition or chasing of the air through a violent wheeling about But concerning this or in this kind we must enquire further whether such bodies or substances as are shot out of Engines as Bullets out of Guns do not receive some degree of heat from the percussion or blow it self so that we find them somewhat hot after they fall But the air being mov'd rather cools than heats as we find in winds and in a pair of Bellows and the breath of a mans mouth drawn up together But this motion is not so violent as to excite heat and it must be done without intermission and not by parcels so that it is no marvail if it does not cause any heat To the seventeenth one There must be a more diligent Inquiry made about this Instance for green and moist Herbs and Vegetables seem to have some occult or hidden heat within them But that heat is so small and weak that it cannot be felt in each several one but being laid and shut up together so that their spirit cannot breath out into air but feedeth and nourisheth each others then there ariseth a manifest heat and sometimes a flame when the matter is fitting for it To the eighteenth one Also concerning this Instance there must be a more diligent Enquiry made For quick or unslackt Lime seems to take heat by having water thrown upon it either by the union of the heat which before was distracted as we said before of Herbs laid up close together or by the irritation and exasperation of the fiery spirit by the Water there being some conflict and antiperistasis between them Now which of those two things may be the cause will more easily appear if there be Oil thrown on instead of water For the Oil will serve as well for the uniting of the inclosed spirit though not for the irritation or provoking of it Also there must be a larger experiment or trial made as well in ashes and lines of divers bodies as by the putting in of divers sorts of liquors To the nineteenth one To this Instance is added the Negative of other Metals which are more soft and fluid For thin leaves of gold dissolved into liquor with the Royal water yield no palpable heat in their dissolving nor Lead in Aqua-fortis nor yet Quick-silver as far as I can remember but silver doth excite a little heat and Copper as I remember but Pewter doth it more manifestly and most Iron and Steel which in their dissolution cause not only a strong heat but also a violent kind of boyling So that the heat seems to be caused by the conflict when the strong waters do pierce and rent in sunder the parts of the body But where there is less resistance in the bodies and that they easilier yield there is hardly any heat excited To the twentieth one There is no Negative to be added to the heat of creatures unless it be of Insects by reason of the smalness of their bodies For in Fishes compared with earthly Creatures there is rather to be noted a degree of heat than a privation In Vegitables and Plants there is no degree of heat to be perceived in the feeling of them nor in their gums nor in their very Marrows being opened But in Animal Creatures there is a great diversity of heat to be found as well in their parts for one is the heat about the heart another in the brain another about the external parts as in their accidents as in their vehement exercitation and Feavers To the one and twentieth one To this Instance there is scarce any Negative to be added For the Excrements of Beasts even after they are old and long ejected manifestly have some potential heat in them as may be perceived by their fattening of the ground To the two and twentieth one All manner of liquors which have a great and strong acrimony in them be they either Waters or Oils do execute the operations of heat in the rending in sunder or divulsion of bodies and the adustion or burning of them after some continuance yet at the first touching of them there can be no heat perceived And they operate according to the analogie and pores of the body to which they are applyed Aqua Regis dissolves Gold but not Silver And contrariwise Aqua fortis dissolves Silver but not Gold and neither of both these waters will dissolve Glass and so of others To the four and twentieth one Let there be a trial of the spirit of Wine made in wood or Butter Wax or Pitch and see if it will any way melt any of them with its heat For the four and twentieth Instance sheweth an imitative power of heat in it in incrustations or hardnings So let there trial be made also in Liquefactions or Meltings Let there also be a trial made or Experience tried by a Glass of Degrees or a Weather-glass and let it have an outward hollow place at the top and put spirit of Wine well rectified into that outward hollow place and let the hollow place be covered that it may the better contain the heat and let it be observed whether by its heat it will cause the water to descend To the five and twentieth one Drugs and Herbs which are sharp and biting upon the Palate much more being taken inward are perceived to be hot Let us therefore see upon what other Materials they do execute the works and operations of heat Sea-men do report that when heaps and great masses of Drugs or Spices which have been long shut and heaped up together
are opened on a suddain they who turn them or take them out first are in great danger of Feavers and Inflamations of their spirits Likewise there may be trial made whether the Powders of such Drugs or Herbs will dry Lard or other flesh hanged over them as the smoak of fire will To the six and twentieth one Acrimony or Penetration is as well in cold things as Vinegar and Oil of Vitriol as in hot things as Oil of Origanum or the like And so likewise in Animate things they cause pain and smart and in inanimate things they pull in sunder the parts and consume them neither is there any Negative added to this Instance And in animate or living things there is never any pain but is accompanied with some kind of heat To the seven and twentieth one Many are the actions and operations which are common both to heat and cold though in a diverse way For Snow seems a while after the handling of it to burn childrens hands and cold keeps flesh from put refaction as well as fire and heat contracts bodies and makes them less and so doth cold But it is better to leave these and the like things till we come to enquire of cold The third Aphorism THirdly there is apparance to be made before understanding of Instances in which Nature of which Inquiry is made is according to more or less either making comparison of the increase and decrease in the same subject or making comparison the one with the other in divers subjects For the form of a thing being the very thing it self and the thing not differing from the form otherwise than Apparancy and Existency or Outward and Inward do differ as well in order to man as to the Universe It therefore necessarily followeth that no Nature must be taken for a true form unless it continually decrease when Nature it self decreaseth and likewise continually increaseth when Nature it self is increased And this Table we commonly call the Table of Degrees or Table of Comparative The Table of Degrees or Comparatives in Heat WE will first speak of those things in which there is no Degree at all of Heat but seem only to have a kind of a Potential heat or a disposition or preparation to heat Then we will descend to those things which are indeed actually and palpably hot to the touch and of their strength and degrees 1. In solid and tangible bodies there is not any thing that of its own Nature is originally hot For there is no stone no metal no sulphur nothing that may be digged up no wood no water no carkass of a beast that is hot And the hot waters of Baths seem to gain their heat by some chance or accident either by some fire or flame within the earth such as we see is cast out of Mount Aetna and other hills or by the conflict and strife of bodies as we see a certain heat excited in the dissolving of Iron and Pewter so that there is no degree at all of heat in things inanimate which can be felt by man yet they differ in degrees of coldness for wood is not so cold as Metal But this belongs to the Table of degrees in coldness 2. Yet many inanimate things are very much disposed to Potential heats and preparations to flame as Sulphur Marle and Salt Peter 3. Those things which before were hot as Horse-dung or Lime or peradventure Ashes or Soot do retain certain hidden Relicks of their first heat so that certain distillations and separations may be caused in some things by burying them in Horse-dung and heat is excited in Lime by casting water upon it as we said before 4. Amongst Vegetables there is not any Plant or part thereof as the Gum or Marrow that seems hot being touched But as we said before green Herbs laid up close together do heat And so the inward feeling as that of the Palate and Stomack yea and to the outward feeling also after they have been applyed for a while as in Plaisters and ointments some Vegetables are hot and some cold 5. There is no part of any Beast after it is dead or severed from the rest of the body wherein man can feel any heat For horse-dung it self retains no heat in it unless it be close laid up or buried Yet all manner of dung seems to have a Potential kind of heat as appears by its fattening and enriching of soil And likewise the carkasses of living things have such a kind of hidden and Potential heat So that in Church-yards where people are buried dayly the earth gathers a kind of occulted and hidden heat which will sooner consume a body that is laid in it than another pure earth And amongst the Indians as it is reported they have a certain kind of thin and soft web made of Birds Feathers which hath a kind of in-bred force by which it will dissolve and melt Butter that is wrapped up in it 6. All things that are of force to fatten and enrich soil as Dung of all sorts Chalk Sea-sand Salt and the like have a kind of disposition to heat 7. Every Putrefaction hath in it self the beginnings or grounds of some small heat though it cannot be perceived by the sense of feeling For even those things which putrified turn to Maggots as Flesh and Cheese seem not hot when you touch them neither doth that rotten wood which shineth and glistereth in the dark feel hot But there is a kind of heat in putrified things which some time betrays it self by the smell 8. Therefore the first degree of heat which by the sence of feeling is perceived to be hot seems to be the heat of living things which hath a great extent of degrees for the lowest degree which is in Insects is scarce to be felt and the highest degree will hardly reach to that degree of heat which is in the Sun-beams in hottest Countries and seasons neither is it so sharp and vehement but that you may endure your hand on it And yet it is reported of Constantius and some others who were of an exceeding dry constitution of body that being taken with a burning Feaver they were so hot that you could not endure to hold your hand upon them 9. Living Creatures have their heat increased in them by Motion and exercise by Wine and high food venery burning Feavers and pain 10. Living Creatures in Feavers which have intermission in the beginning of their fits are taken with a chilliness and cold and a while after they grow extream hot which they likewise do in burning Agues and Pestilent Feavers 11. Let further Enquiry be made of the Comparative heat in divers Creatures as Fishes four-footed Beasts Serpents Birds and likewise according to their several and special kinds as in a Lion a Kite a Man For according to the common opinion the Inwards of Fishes are not very hot but the Entrails of Birds are extream hot as Pigeons Hawks and Estridges 12. Let there also further
some Concavity in which the flame may move and play unless it be in flatuous and windy flames of Gun-powder and the like where the compression and imprisoning of the flame increaseth the fury of it 31. An Anvil is much heated by the hammer so that if the Anvil were of a thin plate we believe it might be heated by strong and continual blows of the Hammer so far as to be red hot as if it had been put in the fire But this may be made trial of 32. But in such fired things which are porous and give space and way for the exercising of the Motion of the fire if that Motion be hindered by a strong compression the fire is presently put out as when tinder or a burning snuff of a Candle or Lamp is pressed or trodden out presently the operations of the fire do cease 33. The approaching or setting near of a thing to a hot body increaseth the heat according to the degree of approaching and the same effect is in light For the nearer the object is set to the light the more visible it is 34. The union of divers heats increaseth the heat For a great fire and a little fire in the same place do somewhat one with the other increase the heat But lukewarm water put into boyling water cools it 35. The remaining or long staying in a place of a hot body increaseth the heat For the heat continually proceeding and issuing out is mixed with the heat which was there before so that it multiplyeth the heat For a fire will not heat a Chamber so much in half an hour as it will do in a whole hour But it is not so in light for a Lamp or a Candle set in a place will give no more light after a long stay than it did at the very first 36. An irritation or exasperation by the coldness which is round about increaseth the heat as we find by fire in frosty weather which we believe to be done not only by the keeping in and contracting of the heat which is a kind of uniting it but also by exasperation as when Air or a stick is violently drawn together it doth not flie out again punctually into its proper place but goes further the contrary way So let there be a diligent trial made by a stick or some such thing thrust into the flame whether it doth not burn sooner thrust on the one side of the flame than if it be thrust into the middle of it 37. The degrees of taking in or receiving of heat are many And first of all you must note how small and little a heat will alter and in some measure heat even such things as are least sit to take heat For a Bullet of Lead or any other metal will be somewhat heated by holding it for some time in a mans hand so easily is heat excited and transmitted into any thing the body being no way apparently changed 38. Of all bodies air doth most easily take and send back heat which may be easiliest perceived in the Weatherglasses They are made in this kind Take a glass with a hollow belly and a long and small neck let this glass be turned topsie turvie the mouth downward and the belly upward and so let it be put into another glasse where there is water touching the bottome of the receiving-glasse with the mouth of the glass which is put in And let the neck of the glass which is put lean a little upon the mouth of the receiving-glass which that it may the better do let a little wax be laid about the mouth of the lower glass but the Mouth must not be quite stopped for fear lest for want of succeeding Air the Motion which we shall presently speak be hindred which is very delicate and easie But the glass which is put in must first have the top of it which is the belly warmed Then after the glass is placed as we have said the Air will retreat and draw it self up together which before was dilated and spread abroad by heating after a sufficient pause to quench that acquired heat to such an extent and dimension as the air at that time shall be when the glass is put in and the water shall be drawn up to such a measure And there must be a long and narrow paper hanged about it and marked out with as many degrees as you shall think fitting And you shall see as the time of the day grows hot or cold that the Air will contract it self into the lesse compass by reason of cold and extend and dilate it self by reason of heat which shall be perceived by the water ascending when the Air closes up together and descending when the air dilates or spreads it self abroad And the sence of the air concerning heat and cold is so subtile and exquisite that it goes far beyond the faculty of mans feeling so that a Sun beam or the heat of ones breath and much more the heat of ones hand it being laid a top of the glass will manifestly cause the water to descend But we believe that the spirit of Beasts hath yet a more exquisite feeling of heat and cold if it were not hindred and dulled by the mass of the body 39. Next to the Air we believe those bodies to be most sensible of heat which are most immediately changed and altered from cold as snow and Ice for they begin to melt and be dissolved with the least heat and luke-warmness Next to them peradventure is Quick silver Next unto it are your fat bodies or substances as Oil Butter and the like then Wood then Water and last of all Stons and Metals which do not easily grow hot especially inwardly But these being once hot do retain their heat for a long time so that a Brick or a stone or a hot Iron being put into a tub of water for a quarter of an hours space more or less will hold and keep their heat so that you shall hardly be able to touch them 40. The lesser the mass of the body is the sooner it heats a hot body being laid near to it which shewetht that all manner of heat with us is in some manner adverse and contrary to any tangible body 41. Heat as concerning the humane sense of feeling is a various and respective thing so that if we put our hand when it is cold into luke-warm water the water will seem hot if our hand be hot the same water will seem cold The fourth Aphorism HOw poor we are in History every one may easily perceive by that in the precedent Tables We have been forced not onely to insert Traditions and relations instead of History making some question and doubt of the Truth and Authority of them but we have also oftentimes been constrained to make use of these or the like words Let trial be made or let it be further enquired The fifth Aphorism ANd we use to call the work and office of these three Tables
living things which Motion doth temper together all the Motions of the rest of the parts as long as it self is in vigor and force It is likewise to be found in other bodies in a certain inferiour degree as hath been said of blood and urines which are not dissolved till the spirit which restrained and mixed their parts was let forth or suffocated Neither is this Motion altogether proper to Spirits though Spirits are predominant in most bodies by reason of their quick and penetrating Motion But in bodies which are more condensed and are not filled with a lively and vigorous spirit such as is in Quick-silver and Vitriol the thicker parts are predominant so that unless this curb and yoke be some way shaken off we must not hope for any new transformation of such bodies Let the seventeenth Motion be the Spontaneal or Willing Motion of Rotation or wheeling by which bodies that delight in Motion and are well placed do enjoy themselves and follow one another and not any thing else seeking as it were their own embraces For bodies seem either to move without any term or to stand quite still or to be carried to that term where through their own Nature they must either wheel or stand still And those things that are well placed if they enjoy Motion do move circularly namely with an Eternal an Infinite motion Those things which are well placed and are averse from motion do stand quite still Those which are not well placed do move in a direct line as by the shortest path to the company of their connaturals And this motion of Rotation or wheeling admits of seven differences The first of its Center about which the bodies move The second of their Poles upon which they move The third of its circumference or compass according as they are distant from the Center The fourth of their Incitation according as they move either more slowly or more swiftly The fifth of the consecution of their Motion as from East to West or from West to East The sixt of the Declination from the perfect Circle by threads or lines nearer to or further from the Center The seventh of its declination from the perfect circle by the Lines nearer to or further from their Poles The eighth of the further or nearer distance of their Lines one from the other The ninth and last of the variations of the Poles themselves if they be moveable the which doth not belong to Rotation or wheeling unless it be done circularly And this Motion by the common and inveterate opinion is held to be the proper Motion of the Heavens Yet there is a great Question amongst some as well ancient as modern concerning that Motion who have attributed this Rotation or wheeling to the earth But it would be a far more just question or controversie if the thing be not without question namely whether this Motion granted that the Earth doth stand still be contained within the bounds of the heaven or rather descends and communicates it self to the Air and to the Waters But the motion of Rotation in darted things as in Arrows Darts Bullets for Guns and the like we remit altogether to the motion of Liberty Let the eighteenth motion be the motion of Trepidation to which as it is understood by Astronomers we give no great credit But to us who seriously seek out every where the Appetites and Desires of Natural bodies this motion comes in our way and seems it ought to be placed in specie as of a several kind And this motion is as it were of a certain perpetual captivity or bondage namely in which bodies being not altogether well placed according to their Nature nor yet finding themselves altogether ill do trepidate or agitate continually taking no rest as not contented with the state they are in nor yet daring to proceed any further And such a motion is found in the heart and pulses of living Creatures and must of necessity be in all bodies which are in an anxious and doubtful case between commodities and discommodities that being distracted do trie to free themselves and still receive a repulse yet still go on trying Let the nineteenth and last motion be that to which the name of motion scarce belongeth and yet is a meer motion Which motion we may call the motion of lying down or the motion of abhorring of motion By this motion the earth stands in its own frame the extreams of it moving themselves into the middle not to the imaginative Center but to Union By this appetite also all things which are condensed or grown thick in a high degree do abhor motion and all their appetite is not to move and though they be provoked infinitely to move yet as far as they can they preserve their own Nature And if they be forced to motion yet they seem always to endeavour to recover their own estate and rest to move no more And indeed about this they are active enough and do strive swiftly and speedily enough as being impatient of any delay But the Image of this appetite can but partly be discerned because with us by the subagitation and concoction of the Celestials every tangible thing is not only not condensed to the height but is also mixed with some spirit We have therefore now proposed the species or simple Elements of Motions Appetites and Active Vertues which are most universal in Nature neither is there a small part of Natural Knowledg shadowed under these Yet we do not deny but that other species may peradventure be added and that these very Divisions may be transported according to the truer veins of things and be reduced into a smaller number Yet we do not mean this of any abstracted Divisions As who should say that bodies desire either the Preservation or Exaltation or Propagation or Fruition of their own Nature or as if one should say that the motions of things do tend to the Preservation and good either of the Universal as Antitypie or Connexion or of great Universalities as the motion of the greater Congregation or of Rotation and wheeling or of the abhorring of motion or of special Forms as the rest of motions For though these things be true yet unless they be terminated in Matter and Fabrick according to the true lines they are speculative and less profitable In the mean time they will be sufficient and of good use to weigh the Predominances of Virtues and enquire out the Instances of strife For of these motions whereof we have spoken some are altogether invincible some are stronger and bind curb and dispose them Some do shoot out and dart further some do prevent others in time and swiftness some do nourish strengthen enlarge and hasten the other The Motion of Antitypie is altogether Adamantive and Invincible But whether the Motion of Connexion be so or no we yet doubt of For we will not for a certainty affirm whether there be a Vacuity or Coacervation and heaping up or a Permixion