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A50778 A new treatise of natural philosophy, free'd from the intricacies of the schools adorned with many curious experiments both medicinal and chymical : as also with several observations useful for the health of the body. Midgley, Robert, 1655?-1723. 1687 (1687) Wing M1995; ESTC R31226 136,898 356

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doubts but every cause is a principle and that all niceties concerning this matter are altogether useless Philosophers do commonly reckon all Causes to be but Five in number they give the first place to that which they call the Efficient Cause which is that Agent which produces the things that are in Nature and gives them their essence and existences In the next place they rank the Material Cause being that subject which receives the impression of the efficient and operating cause The third is called the Formal Cause which gives a being to every thing as the most Noble and principal part of it The fourth is called the Exemplary Cause according to whose rule the efficient produces its action when it operates by Knowledge The fifth and last is the Final Cause which is the end for whose sake the efficient produces its effect In this first Part we shall speak of all things which concern these several Causes not omitting any thing which shall be thought necessary to the knowledge of them CHAP. I. Of the Efficient Cause and of its Essence and Differences THere is such a relation and connection between the Cause and the Effect that we cannot have a true notion of the cause unless at the same time we have a conception of the effect so in general we say that a cause is nothing else but that which gives being to another thing which is the effect of it which way soever it happens according to the Five Causes before mentioned All Philosophers do agree That of all Causes the Efficient is the most Noble because properly speaking this alone hath Effect though it be produced after several ways as we shall shew hereafter If the Efficient Cause acts by a power proper to it self then it is called the Principal cause but if onely by the force and impression of another then it is termed the Instrumental cause So we distinguish betwixt the Painter and the Pencil though both contribute to the production of the Picture Also the Universal Cause which produces many effects as the Sun the Stars and the Elements is distinguished from a Particular Cause which is determinate to one effect in particular Of this kind there are many sublunary causes acting in this inferior World. There is also a difference between the Total Cause which produces its effect without the help of another and That Cause which cannot act alone but only produces part of the effect There are also necessary and free causes the first acts necessarily and without choice as Fire the Sun and all created causes except Men and Angels for they act by a Free Will wherein consists the essence of Liberty The Efficient Cause is likewise either Physical or Moral the Physical acts really and immediately as Fire consuming a House with its Flame and he that sets fire to it for that purpose is the next moral cause and he who advises it is a moral but a remote cause of the consequential burning But if the Fire happens by chance and by the imprudence of one that carries a Candle in his hand and some sparks fall into the thatch which takes fire whereby the House is burnt here this Man is only an accidental cause of the Burning Lastly it is rightly distinguished between the First Cause which is Author of Nature and Nature created under which are comprehended all second causes and such are all Creatures As to the Efficient Cause whereof we speak it may be observed that when it acts by Knowledge all the said causes after their respective manner do concurr to the production of one and the same effect As the Painter drawing his Picture is the principal cause the Pencil the instrumental the End proposed by the Painter is the final cause and the Idea directing is the exemplary cause the form and disposition of the parts of the Piece that is painted may be taken for the form of it the Colours and the Cloath whereupon they are laid may be reckoned the material cause because they are the constituent matter of the Work. But if a Limner in his anger throws his Pencil as it is reported to have hapned to him who had in vain endeavoured to represent to the life a high mettled Horse Foaming at his Mouth or if a Limner undesignedly and by chance touches the Picture which thereby as it befell the former in his anger is made better the representation more agreeable the lines stronger or more piercing this would be only an effect of an accidental cause There are some things to be observed in an efficient cause when it acts which are inseparable from it such as these the nature of the Agent the existence of the cause the power which makes it act the intervening act the effect which is produced the subject whereby into which and wherein it is produced as we shall see in what follows CHAP. II. Of the first Cause THE existence of the first Cause or first Princple is so evident and so necessary that it is like Truth known by it self and ought not to be supposed liable to any difficulty especially amongst Christians who are illuminated by the Light of Divine Revelation And since a Man that submits himself to Faith hath not thereby renounced the light of Reason it will not be amiss to confirm this truth with natural reasons lest any doubt should remain in Spirits less tractable Which the better to effect I suppose a Truth so well known that no Man can deny unless he hath a mind to be thought ridiculous and infatuated This Truth so obvious that it ought to pass for a Principle whereupon as a sure foundation the existence of the first cause ought to be built is grounded upon our own proper existence there is nothing so evident nothing so certain than That we are in the World this truth is confirmed by the testimony of all our senses whatsoever we think whatsoever we say and whatsoever we do will not suffer us to imagine that our existence is an illusion Therefore it is certain and more than evident that we are in the World but that we are in it from our selves or by our selves or by casualty or chance or by the necessity of being is absolutely impossible so that it is necessary that we are in the World by the means and assistance of a certain other Being who as the Author was also the free Principle of that essence which we possess This Principle is necessarily either a first or second cause if the first then you shall see that we are agreed and that the true existence of the first cause which some would deny is rightly built upon the truth of our Being which no Man can deny if we make the cause of our being to be a second cause then it must be confessed that this second cause is produced by a third and the third by a fourth and so in going upwards as they do in the Genealogies of ancient and Noble Progenies at last we find the
so by the dissolution of the parts the compound would cease which is plainly inconsistent with that Idea which we have of God who is simple in his Nature Independent and every way Incorruptible The first cause is not only One and without its like in its Essence but also one sole and without a second in that action by which the world was produced And for this reason this action is called Creation supposing nothing but meer nothing out of which all things were made by the only power of God without the help of any other having either the quality of an Agent or a Subject The world being produced by this first cause remains subject to the will and pleasure of it And in the same manner as it was produced by the sole act of this first cause so it is preserved in the same State by the sole influence of the same cause who as it did not want any other second cause in the Creation of the Universe so neither doth it stand in need of any assistance in the conservation of it Being and Nothing are so opposite to one another that the Philosophers always had it for a Maxim That out of nothing nothing could be made which is to be understood only in reference to second causes and not in respect of the first whose power is infinite and who can do what he pleases this power in the creation of the Universe was not applyed according to the extensiveness of its activity because it pleased God to terminate the being qualities and number of second causes which are created The Creation was no necessary action for the first Cause did not Create the World but at such a Time in such a Place and in such a Manner as seemed good to it self so it made all those things with the highest Liberty there being no other cause either equal or superior to it self who was able to compel perswade animate or incite it to the Creation of the world The World it self could not terminate a necessary action because it could not be Eternal for every thing that is of necessity is eternal neither had it ever a beginning nor can it have an end because it is against the nature of a created being which is limited in its qualities and duration no less than in its natural Substance If the first cause was free in the Creation of the world thence it follows that all things were made by direction of reason and understanding and by consequence according to a certain Idea and Rule But because the first cause operates after an independent manner it could not have the Type of its production any where else but from it self neither could it act by a rule distinct from its own being so God is not only the efficient but the exemplary cause of all things For the same reason it may be said That the first Cause which is God is the final cause of all things for when he as an intelligent and free cause produced the World he did propose to himself an end answerable to his Dignity that is himself and his own proper Glory so that the first cause is necessarily the ultimate end of all its effects CHAP. IV. Of second Causes and their Actions ALL Creatures are called second Causes because they depend upon the first neither do they operate but by the Command and Impression of the first this First or Universal Cause does act Uuniversally with particular Causes but after a manner agreeing with the Nature of every particular thing and according to the power which was given it when it was created which does not alter the Nature of the Causes nor the necessity or Liberty of their actions This power of acting which is granted to second Causes is not a quality different from their Nature and Being So the Power which the Atoms have of moving themselves doth not differ from the Atoms themselves the power of burning or heating doth not differ from the Fire to which it is inherent unless it be in the manner of our conceiving things and of speaking of them according to our conceptions So it is of an Action which terminates from the cause to the effect and which is nothing else than a certain relation or an actual subordination which is found betwixt the cause and the effect This action is never without motion or to say better action and motion is one and the same thing thence it is that a thing rests when it is without action and then it begins to move it self when it begins action so according to three ways of acting there are found in the nature of things three kinds of motion The first is made without Sense or Reason which we may see in Stones Mettals Plants and the Heavens The second kind of motion is made by sense and knowledge as are seen in all living Creatures The third kind joins Reason to Sense as we observe in man acting by Phancy who proposes an end to himself distinguishes between Good and Evil and hath the liberty of prosecuting the several Objects presented to his view either with love or hatred As an action is not indeed distinct from the cause acting nor from the effect which it doth produce so motion doth not differ from the thing moved or from the thing which moves it but both of them Is accordingly as they change their condition or cease to rest which from the Creation was never done without a certain local motion of the whole or some part thereof so the notion of rest is opposite to the notion of mutation and action as well as motion CHAP. V. Of Accidental Causes THere are many causes which are called Accidental Causes for properly speaking they are not true causes which sort of causes happens four manner of ways first a Musitian draws a Picture not as he is a Musitian but as a Painter so that the Art of Painting is the true cause of this work And as the Art of Singing contributes nothing here since it falls out by chance that the Art of Singing and the Art of Painting meet together in this Man and since the Art of Singing is no way requisite for the making of the Picture in this respect we may say that the Musitian is only an accidental cause of the Picture which he hath drawn Secondly a remote or indirect cause is called an accidental cause as when we say that the Sun is the cause of darkness because darkness is occasioned by the absence of the Sun Mirth is the cause of Sadness and Peace arises from War As a Man endeavouring to save his Friend whose Life is in danger and thereby unwillingly exposing him to a certain death is the indirect or accidental cause of his death As he who perswades his Friend to cross the Seas whereby he is cast away Thirdly an opposite cause which produces an effect quite contrary to that which it ought to produce is an accidental cause as it was with the subjects of such
Tyrants as persecuted the Church and thereby procured Glory to Martyrs and as those who were the death of our Lord Jesus Christ obtained us Life destroyed the Synagogue built the Church they fulfilled the Prophecies and laid the foundation of the Gospel In the fourth and last place That is an accidental cause which produces a particular effect not foreseen and according to the course of Nature unavoidable if it hath respect to an intelligent cause and the effect be agreeable to wish the Heathens did point at this by the name of Fortune and according to their way of speaking we say such a thing is the effect of Fortune as when a Man is digging up the Foundation of a house and by chance finds a Treasure but if the effect be otherwise than prosperous then it is misfortune or the chance of Fortune As when a Tile falls from the top of a House upon a Mans Head that is passing by and Kills him here the Tile is the Physical and accidental cause of this Mans death which was inevitable according to the course of second causes having either their free or necessary motions These accidental causes gave the Heathens occasion to frame to themselves a Blind Goddess which they called Fortune to whom they did attribute an unconstant an uncertain and a various disposition of good and evil to this Man 's good to that Man's prejudice Of all errors this is not the least neither was it entertained by any but the ignorant and the meaner sort of People The wiser sort in that age did aim at a cause of all the effects which happen in the World that was less feigned and more solid this they would have to be Fate and that what without any reason was ordained by this universal and chief cause was inevitable so when any great misfortune happened as the loss of a Battel the defeat of an Army the change of State the subversion of a Common Wealth or the sudden death of some Illustrious Person all this was ascribed to Fate and they did commonly say Sic erat in Fatis this was the inevitable will of Fate so the Fates would have it And when any person undertook any great Enterprise as it was said of Aeneas being in search of the Golden Fleece if the Fates call thee that is if the Fates favour thee thou shalt attain thy end The great Wits of our Age are almost of the same Opinion concerning all the various successes of Prosperity and Adversity and all things which come to pass in this Life as if humane Prudence had been of no use and Divine Providence without any care had been idle But that we may speak like a Christian Philosopher supposing the existence of the First Cause and having demonstrated that it hath all the perfections of the Chief Cause since Wisdom and Power are the two inseparable perfections of the Supream Being and indeed so necessary for the conservation and government of humane affairs we ought to conclude that nothing happens in this World which is not decreed foreseen directed and perfected by the wisdom and strong hand of some Supream Cause which so exactly directs all things that they come to pass according to the end that was proposed in the production of them and indeed all those things by means unknown to humane Wisdom yet notwithstanding in respect of God who is the first cause they are certain and infallible who established the infallibility of effects in such manner that causes in their motion should be neither forced nor too violent There is nothing but what God soresees nothing but what is absolutely inevitable and free causes act always freely in actions which ought to be free CHAP. VI. Of Sympathy and Antipathy and the effects depending upon them THe wonderful effects which we see in Nature whose true and natural causes are not easily found out obliges Philosophers to have recourse to Occult Causes and to attribute all these effects to natural Sympathy and Antipathy which happens amongst the several Bodies whereof the World is compounded but if you press these Philosophers to tell you and to explain wherein this Sympathy and Antipathy doth consist they will give you no other reason but onely tell you they are done by certain occult and unknown causes to which they ascribe all those effects whose true causes they do not at all know But they would do much better plainly to confess their ignorance and say they know nothing of the matter That we may the better understand what may be said upon a subject so nice and delicate and give a reason of those wonderful effects which are attributed to Simpathy and Antipathy without the help of occult causes in the first place I suppose that the difficulty which occurs in explaining an Effect of this nature doth arise from this That the Mind is not able to know the truth of things but by the Senses which are the gates through which the Objects enter and form their Ideas in our understanding but because there are abundance of things which escape our senses it is no wonder that it is so hard to give a reason of things which are so remote from the reach of our senses as for example Iron moves it self and that by way of local motion and joins it self to the Load-stone we do not see that which draws the Iron to it though we see it attracted but we know not by what ways or means it is done but if we explicate this and such like Effects by saying they are wrought by Sympathy obscure and occult causes we deceive our selves for that is only a shelter and the true way of hiding our ignorance which we are loath to discover for there is no man in nature so blockish but after this manner can resolve all the Phoenomena in the Universe If it be asked why the Needle turns always to the North Pole is it enough to say that there is a Sympathy betwixt this Needle which is touched with the Load-stone and the Pole and that the cause of this Sympathy is obscure unsearchable and past finding out But if this be the way of Philosophising I refer it to those who are competent Judges of the matter Therefore that we may give a more ingenuous and solid Reason in the second place I suppose that there are no Bodies but that continually emit certain subtile particles and imperceptible corpuscles which are dispersed through the air and are at sometimes carried at a great distance unless they justle with other Bodies in their way By the help of this principle we find the reason why a Dog follows the foot-steps of a Hare or from a heap of a thousand stones he readily knows that stone which his Master threw and picks it out and by his command brings it to him From this dispersion of corpuscles we find the reason how the contagion of the Plague either from the person infected or from the wind blowing from that Region is carried a
A NEW TREATISE OF Natural Philosophy Free'd from the INTRICACIES OF THE SCHOOLS Adorned with many Curious Experiments both Medicinal and Chymical AS ALSO With Several Observations useful for the Health of the Body LONDON Printed by R. E. for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over against the Royal. Exchange in Cornhill 1687. LICENSED October 28. 1686. ROBERT MIDGLEY INDEX THe First Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature CHAP. I. Of the Efficient Cause and of its Essence and Differences CHAP. II. Of the First Cause CHAP. III. The Perfections of the First Cause CHAP. IV. Of Second Causes and their Actions CHAP. V. Of Accidental Causes CHAP. VI. Of Sympathy Antipathy and the Effects depending thereupon CHAP. VII Experiments about Iron and the Loadstone CHAP. VIII An Explication of many other Effects which are commonly attributed to Sympathy CHAP. IX Of Portative Remedies commonly called Amulets of Quick-Silver Gold Silver and Copper CHAP. X. Of Natural Phoenomenas which are attributed to Antipathy CHAP. XI Of Emeticks Sudorificks and Specificks CHAP. XII Of Poysons and Toxicks CHAP. XIII Of Sublimate Arsenick and other kinds of Poysons and their deadly Effects CHAP. XIV Of Antidotes CHAP. XV. Of the true Causes of our Diseases CHAP. XVI Of the Causes of our Health CHAP. XVII Of Formal Exemplary and Material Causes CHAP. XVIII Of the First Matter CHAP. XIX Of Atoms and their Nature CHAP. XX. The Properties Magnitude Figure Weight and Motion of Atoms CHAP. XXI The Difficulties arising from the Doctrine of Atoms CHAP. XXII Of a Disseminate Congregate and Separate Vacuum according to Gassendus CHAP. XXIII Of a Congregate Vacuum against Aristotle and Cartesius The Second Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Coelestial World and of those things which are above Man. CHAP. I. Of the immense Spaces which are without the Heavens CHAP. II. Of the Heavens and their Nature CHAP. III. Of Stars and their Substance CHAP. IV. Of the Figures and Magnitude of Stars CHAP. V. Of the Motion of the Stars CHAP. VI. The System of the World according to Ptolomy Examined CHAP. VII The System of the World according to Copernicus Examined CHAP. VIII Of the Motion of the Earth CHAP. IX Of the Sun the true Centre and Heart of the World. CHAP. X. Of the Moon and its Changes CHAP. XI Of Planets Comets and the Fixed Stars CHAP. XII Of Meteors in the Air. CHAP. XIII Of Winds Tempests and Whirl-winds CHAP. XIV Of Thunder Lightning and the Thunderbolt CHAP. XV. Of Aurum-Fulminans which imitates Thunder CHAP. XVI Of Hail Snow Frost c. CHAP. XVII Of the Rainbow Halones and Parrhelis CHAP. XVIII Of the Air its Substance and Qualities The Third Part of Physick of those things which are beneath Man viz. of the Earth and Terrestrial Things which are called Inanimate CHAP. I. Of the Earth and Water in General CHAP. II. Of Terrestrial Inanimate Bodies in General CHAP. III. Of the various Qualities observed in Compound Bodies CHAP. IV. Of Special Qualities which arise from the Composition of Bodies CHAP. V. Of the Quantity Weight and Figure of Compound Bodies CHAP. VI. The Difference betwixt Natural Artificial and Compound Bodies CHAP. VII Of Mettals and their Formation CHAP. VIII Of Gold the King of Mettals CHAP. IX Of Silver Copper and other imperfect Mettals CHAP. X. Of Lead Tin and Iron CHAP. XI Of Quick-Silver Arbor Diana or the Silver Tree CHAP. XII Of Minerals CHAP. XIII Of Salts CHAP. XIV Of Subterranean Fires aend Earthquakes CHAP. XV. Of Waters and their Differences CHAP. XVI Of the Sea its Ebbing and Flowing and of the Saltness of the Sea-Water CHAP. XVII Of Springs and Rivers The Fourth Part of Physick Of those things which are in Man and of Man himself as he is a Compound Physical and Animate Body CHAP. I. Of Life in General CHAP. II. Of the difference of Lives CHAP. III. Of the Vegetative Life common to Man and Plants CHAP. IV. Of the Nature of Seeds and their Propagation CHAP. V. Of Nutrition which is common to Plants and Brutes as well as Man. CHAP. VI. How and with what Food an Embryo is nourished in the Womb 'till the time of its Nativity CHAP. VII How a Man is nourished after he is Born. CHAP. VIII The Sensitive Life of Man and other Animals CHAP. IX Of Seeing its Organ and Object viz. Light. CHAP. X. How illustrated Objects are visible CHAP. XI Of Hearing its Organ and Object CHAP. XII Particular Questions about Hearing CHAP. XIII Smelling its Organ and Object CHAP. XIV Of Tast and its Object CHAP. XV. Of Feeling CHAP. XVI Of Speech the Pulse and Breathing of Man. CHAP. XVII Of the Motion of the Heart CHAP. XVIII Of the irregular motion of the Heart in Animals and in Feavers CHAP. XIX Of the Circulation of the Blood. CHAP. XX. Of the inward Senses and the inferiour Appetite CHAP. XXI Of Sleep want of Rest and Death CHAP. XXII Of the Death of Brutes Plants and Mettals CHAP. XXIII Of the Rational Soul and its Powers NATURAL PHILOSOPHY OR Natural Science FREED FROM The Intricacies of the Schools THE desire of Knowledge is natural to Man Curiosity is inseparable from his Spirit neither is he ever at rest until he hath attained to the perfect knowledge of things that is until he becomes a Wise Man. Science is the Knowledge of things by their Causes therefore there is no Man Wise who is ignorant of the Original Principles and Causes of all things occurring to him and since it is impossible for any Man in this Life to attain to a clear distinct and an undubitable knowledge of all things therefore there is no Man that is absolutely Wise Those who have the Reputation of being Wise and Excellent Philosophers have obtained that preheminence in regard they are less ignorant than others Sciences differ according to the diversity of Mens Conditions and Professions The Noble Man is conversant and wise in the Art of War the Physitian in the Precepts of Medicine and the Advocate in matters of Law and Right but all these Sciences nay Theology it self cannot subsist without Philosophy especially without that part of it which we call Physick or natural Science The First Part of Physick wherein is Treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature BY Nature is understood the Universe composed of Heaven and Earth and all that is found between both this is the Object of Physick this every natural Philosopher ought to know and because this Knowledge cannot be obtained without knowing the principles and causes of things hence it is evident that a Natural Philosopher ought to use his utmost endeavour to enquire into the principles and causes of Nature and of all things which happen in this World. I shall not examine here whether there be any difference betwixt a Cause and a Principle for every principle after its manner I conceive to be a cause of that thing whereof it is the principle and no Man
head of the Family that is the first cause who by his great Atchievements purchased to himself the Quality and Title of Nobility and left those Titles to his Illustrious Family It is likewise true that there is no Family so Illustrious or so Ancient but the Genealogy of it terminates in one private person who gave it both its Name and Original and which was the first Cause of its Nobility no certainly unless we erect a ridiculous and an infinite Genealogie or like the Egyptians who imagined themselves to be older than the Moon will say that its Origine is as unknown as the Head of Nilus In the same manner after we have by way of ascent to our Fathers and Ancestors examined what kind of Author we had of our being whom we may call the first cause of all things which are in us we do necessarily find a certain Being which was before all things and which is the effect of no other causes and which is the Cause of all things which are in the World and consequentially the first who is that God whom we adore This demonstration doth abundantly convince any Person who hath in him the least spark of the light of reason It is ridiculous to say that we our selves were the cause of our Being because from thence it would follow that we did exist before we had a being that we gave our selves that which we were not in posession of and that the cause and the effect was one and the same thing which is impossible It is no less an errour to affirm That we are in the World by Necessity for if we were so in the World our existence would never have had a beginning and we would have been immutable and independent and infinite in every kind of perfection which is repugnant to experience and right Reason That perswasion of Epicurus and his Followers is no less ridiculous That the first Authors of our existence were produced by Chance or by a fortuitous occurrence of Attoms This opinion of it self falls to the ground Let it be supposed that the World was produced by this fortuitous occurrence of Atoms yet still the question will be Whether these Atoms were Created or Uncreated If created they acknowledge a Cause of their existence and this cause must own another and so ad infinitum which cannot be maintained for then the World would be eternal and thence to this present time there would have been an infinite number of rational Souls in the World Aristotle who supposed the eternity of the World and the immortality of the Soul yet did deny the Transmigration of Souls and would allow nothing in Nature to be actually infinite whereby he makes himself guilty of an absurd contradiction The same Aristotle stumbles upon another Contradiction in Relation to the First Cause for if the World be Eternal and without a beginning this Second Cause is of no use for the same Reason which proves the World to have a beginning proves likewise the existence of the first cause on the other hand the same reason which proves the existence of the first cause does at the same time prove that the World once had a beginning and doth demonstrate that it was not Eternal In the same manner Epicurus is guilty of an absurd contradiction when he says that Atoms which according to his opinion he makes to be the causes of all things were produced and created by another But if he says these Atoms were Uncreated and that they were Eternal Beings necessary and independent then every Atom must be some Divinity and that they are both the efficient and material cause of all things which is impossible because the opposition and relation which is necessarily betwixt a principle acting and the subject whereupon it acts do imply a necessary distinction CHAP. III. The Perfections of the first Cause THey who are throughly satisfied with the existence of the first cause must of necessity attribute to it all the Perfections which are or can be in the World that it is not only the most perfect and most noble of causes but also it ought to be supposed that all the effects which it hath produced or is yet capable of producing are in its Being in all perfections and that every one of them is infinite and as it is the first cause in the unity of its Being for it is necessary it should have the perfections of those beings which it hath or can produce for otherwise it would or could communicate that which it neither hath nor can have The first cause would not be absolutely perfect if it were not eternal for so it would have had a beginning and might have an end and then it could not be the first cause in so much that it derives its existence from that which was pre-existent to it and by consequence this cause which we suppose to be first would be a second cause limited in its being and perfections as in its duration and it would seem to have a dependence upon another Whereas when we suppose it to be the first all others must depend upon it and be subordinate to it whence it follows that these qualities of the first cause are inseparable from it Independence Eternity Infinity and Supreme Authority and that we cannot conceive any first cause but at the same time we acknowledge the existence of God. This first Cause or to say better this first Being which is God must necessarily have that perfect Unity which admits no multiplication either of Nature or Perfections Certainly if God was not one in his being but had several Natures the number of them ought to be infinite and that none of these Beings in particular would be infinite because when the perfection of one cannot be the perfection of another there will not be one to be found but will stand in need of the perfection of the other that is in whom there would not be requisite that perfection which the other Beings do possess I add moreover That all these supposed Beings would be opposite independent and all Supreme which is impossible or that all would be subject to one or other of them which is ridiculous whence it follows that there is but one only God who is one in his existence incapable of any multiplication and who is the Primary and Universal Cause of all things The great number or rather the infinity of perfections which we apprehend to be in the First Cause is not repugnant to the Supreme Unity because that does not divide the being and they are but one and the same thing though we give them several Names and do consider them under several Ideas which we are forced to correct since without that Unity there would be necessarily a composition of parts which would be the cause of the whole Compound and which would precede its existence which cannot be the ingredient of that composition without something else intervening they might also be divided and separated
mixture of the humours doth not proceed but from things constituting and preserving this just temperament and by the same it is conserved As there are many things which destroy Health so there are also a great number of those things which restore and confirm it The things which destroy it are those which rarifie the humours and occasion winds which dissolve bodies and do emancipate Atoms Those which restore it are such things or such remedies which hinder the division rarefaction and dissolution of the Humours and Parts of our body or since it happens that necessarily there is a corruption in every digestion and a division of the aliment chyle and the blood as we observed before from the same Principle it necessarily follows that every thing that preserves Health hinders the alteration of it and also restores it being lost which drives out of the body these Winds these Corpuscles or these injurious Atoms And that also which removes these Seeds or internal Principles of our Diseases out of our Bodies doth not produce that Effect by a certain Vertue or Physical quality or by a certain Antipathy as it is said of Rubarb and Senna but by motion and action which is made upon these rarified bodies these loosed Corpuseles or emancipated Atoms proceeding from every digestion in the bodies of those which are most healthful This Motion is performed either by Purgatives or Emeticks or by Sudorificks the two former of these are fitted to eject those which arise from the first and second digestion and Sudorificks do expel Corpuscles or Atoms of the third digestion but here is no room to shew the differences of these Remedies however we must trace out the manner of those Operations I said a while that Medicaments do operate only by a vellication of Membranes Nerves and Fibres and which is produced by sharp Corpuscles flowing from the Medicines and sticking to the aforementioned parts whose motion is communicated to the subtle Foreign bodies that is the Excrements of every particular digestion whereby these matters are driven forth the nearest and most commodious way for evacuation I 'le make an end of this Chapter with an Example of a familiar Remedy by Means whereof every man may preserve his Health without either bleeding or Purging nevertheless I do allow that bleeding sometimes is necessary and very useful to evacuate those emancipated Atoms or Corpuscles which are loosed in the veins from the digestion in the Liver especially when they being shut up and cannot find their way out they stick to the Pleura Membrane and prick and vellicate it and thereon produce an inflammation known by the name of Pleurisie Therefore in this Distemper as also in continual Fevers Bleeding and Sudorificks are by no means to be omitted The same thing may be said of using Purgative Remedies or Emeticks to evacuate earthy Excrements as flegme and slimy humours arising from the first digestion and also Serosities or Choller and Melancholly being the Excrements of the second Concoction but because the defects of the first Concoction are not mended or repaired in the second and the first is more perfect as the Ventricle is more pure and more clean and cleared of that viscous Flegm which disturbs its action and hinders digestion Without either envy or prejudice I do here produce a vulgar Remedie as most useful to preserve or restore Health if it be rightly used as it should be as I have found it by experience besides that it manifests the Truth of my Principles which supposes every evacuation to be made by motion and vellication of the sharp Corpuscles or penetrating Atoms Therefore I take every morning a Goose Feather fit and slender as it is in its own Nature I put this gently into my mouth and I thrust it further to my jaws and hold it there for some time and I draw backwards and forwards and I perceive a vellication made by the Feather on my Jaw Palate and the other Parts adjoyning and likewise after this vellication I do observe that Water Phlegm and viscous humours being dissolved do flow in great quantity for the space of a quarter of an hour And all this is done without any violence or danger hereby I find that the Head is lightsome and the Stomach freed and disburthened and that thereby the Appetite is increased and that the Corpuscles which before ascended to the Brain by way of Vapours are evacuated incarcerated or involved in the viscuous humours which are flowing and afterward the first digestion is better made and it is evidenced by experience that as the ventricle is less burdned so our Sleep is longer sweeter and less interrupted Were it not that I fear to exceed those bounds which I proposed to my self I could make many useful Observations upon this Subject But I must remember that I do not speak of Medicine Remedies Health and Diseases but by chance and occasionally and it is sufficient if I oblige the Publick and the Learned with the Doctrine of Atoms and that I be helpful to Them as well as to the Sick by the means of those Remedies which I discover and which I freely propose And though I offer many things which were neither said taught nor writ before nevertheless I beg the Readers pardon for that I add no more to this matter for I am afraid if I should to be tedious to him and if I have enlarged my self too far I hope he will forgive me it were hard to say less of these things except a man would say nothing at all of them besides that it is grateful to every man to speak and write of those things which he loves and are agreeable with his Profession CHAP. XVII Of Formal Exemplary and Material Causes FOrm and Formal Cause is one and the same thing and when we say there are two sorts of Forms that is only according to our manner of conceiving things So we say there are two sorts of Formal Causes the Substantial and Accidental But all these Forms are imaginary neither do true Philosophers acknowledge any other Substance to be in Natural Compounds than Matter except only in man nor any other Form than the disposition of the Parts because all these Forms are altogether useless Moreover these great Sticklers for Forms cannot say what they would mean by a Substantial or Accidental Form Therefore we do with a great deal of Justice lay aside these fictitious Forms as being but Chimeras and of no use The Exemplary Cause may be referred to the formal because it is the Idea and inward form of that which we frame in our Spirit so the formal Cause of a Picture is the disposition of its parts according to the disposition and ordination which it then had in the Spirit of the Painter The same may be said of all rational Agents which are endued with understanding There is no difference be twixt Matter and a Material Cause and there are two sorts of material Causes as well as of matter
That is the First matter out of which all bodies are composed and into which by an Universal Division they may be reduced the Second is nothing else but Bodies made of the first and upon which the efficient Causes do exercise their activities Therefore it is apparent That there is nothing in the World but what is a Compound and that there is no Compound without matter It is also certain That there is nothing made without an Efficient Cause which acts upon Compounds and destroys them that of them others may be made because the matter of the first serves for the composition of the second the Matter which goes to the composition of the first and second is the first Matter or Material Cause of the Compound and that Matter which serves the Efficient Cause for a Subject and Patient is called the Second Matter Both of them may be an efficient cause for Compounds do act upon one another as the Elements which drive one another backwards and forwards that which drives another is called the Agent as that which is driven is called the Patient and if there be any thing which resists it and drives back another this regress of the motion is called a reaction so one and the same thing may be the Subject and cause of Motion and that to give and receive being the Principle of Agent and Patient may Be at the same time but in divers respects CHAP. XVIII Of the first Matter ALL Philosophers do unanimously agree That there is a first Matter in the World which was produced from the beginning and tho' it can never be altered by any Change yet it is to be seen in all the Generations and Corruptions which are in Nature this doth suppose that the first Matter did exist before the Generation of the Compound wherein it is found and that it still remains and survives the Corruption of it as fire is made of Chips the Matter of the Fire was in the Chips and it is found partly in the Fire partly in the Smoak and partly also in the Ashes It is agreed by all Men That nothing is made out of nothing and that there is nothing in Nature which can be reduced into nothing so that the first remains one and the same in all the Revolutions which do happen Therefore in respect of Matter we may justly say that there is nothing new in the World since the Creation of it and that this Matter in its Nature is incorruptible so that to explain the Essence of this first Matter is all and the one only difficulty If we hearken to Aristotle he makes It the Subject of all Forms and that It is nothing but a passive Power or a meer Capacity of producing and receiving them in its Bosom He says in another place that Matter in it self hath neither quality nor quantity nor any Essence beside that which it received from that Form which perfected it But this explication gives us no Idea of Matter neither doth it teach us any thing of the nature of it on the other hand according to this Doctrine we may say that Matter is something and we may say at the same time that it is nothing and that it gives that Being to Form and receives the same from it and lastly that it hath distinct parts without any quantity which seems to be impossible They were more in the right who said That the first Matter was nothing else but the first Elements into which Compounds by a total dissolution are reduced also these Elements ought to be simple and indivisible for otherwise the first Elements are not such as we suppose them to be It follows from this Doctrine that neither Water nor Air nor Earth nor Fire are the first Elements of things because they are Compounds Therefore we must look out for other Elements which are simple and indivisible those things which the Chymists would fain establish that is Salt Sulphur and Mercury cannot be taken for the First Elements of Bodies since they are but Compounds of many other Bodies I am of the same Opinion concerning Descartes his three Elements which he would have to be the principles of things which is impossible because they are divisible Therefore we must acknowledge that only simple and indivisible Atoms are the first Matter and first Principles and Elements whereof Bodies are composed Out of these Atoms are Corpuscles made out of these Corpuscles small Masses out of Masses greater parts then of these parts greater Bodies whereof the Universe doth consist In the same manner going backward in an analytical method the World is divided into great Bodies those into parts parts into small Masses Masses into Corpuscles and lastly these Corpuscles are divided into Atoms CHAP. XIX Of Atoms and their Nature THat we may solidly evince the existency of Atoms we must suppose that every compound may be divided into so many parts as there are which make the compound Therefore division ought necessarily to cease when there is a failure of parts to be divided on the other side there is no end of it as long as there are Particles to be divided one of the two we must allow that is either that a body cannot be so exactly divided but that there always remain divisible parts in infinitum or that there are parts after a certain number of Divisions which will not admit any further division Aristotle stands for the former but Gassendus and the Ancient Philosophers do defend the latter and according to this last Doctrine after all the Divisions are made nothing can remain besides Atoms that is indivisible Beings which are the first Elements of Natural Bodies I confess it is hard to imagin a corporeal thing to be indivisible because we see nothing in this World which is not divisible but this makes nothing against Atoms which are Corporeal because they compose Bodies and are Indivisible because they are the first and most simple Elements of Bodies Hence arises another difficulty because it cannot be easily explained after what manner a thing that is divisible is composed of parts which are indivisible Impartial minds do not find so much difficulty in conceiving this matter as those do who follow the prejudices which they have received First these Men who are thus so prepossessed do not consider that there are many things which escape our Senses and yet are most real Secondly they do not consider that that which composes a Body is not a compound as we see that Unity makes number tho' it self be not a number Letters whereof Nouns and words are framed yet are neither the one nor the other The drops of Water whereof Rivers do consist are not Rivers so Atoms though they are invisible and indivisible yet they compose Bodies which are visible and divisible Aristotle and his Followers do teach us That a small body as for Example a Millet Seed is divisible in infinitum and that it contains an infinite number of Parts which being supposed