Parts of the Body desir'd to know what was properly Death The School Divinity maintains that Death was a Separation of the rational Soul from the Body I own'd indeed that in Death the Soul was actually separated from the Body but I could not allow that that Separation was the cause of Death but that the Death of the Body was the Cessation of the Motion of the Heart of the Blood and of the Spirits which Cessation could not proceed from the Separation of the Soul since these don't at all depend upon it as I proved before but it was occasion'd by some Defects in the Organs and Fluids of the Body which losing their due Disposition and their mutual Correspondence with one another all their Actions cease which Cessation is properly called Death so that the Soul finding them incapable of receiving its Influence and of obeying its Commands quits the Body after it is dead by which it appears that the Separation of the Soul is not properly the Cause of Death but that the Death of the Body is the cause of the Separation The King himself illustrated this Opinion with a familiar Example of an Organ and an Organist While the Organs were in their due order and symetry the Organist play'd upon them but when by length of time they were either broke used too much or any other way quite put out of Tune he leaves off playing on them This Discourse my Lord held from three of the Clock till seven and the Divines were extreamly warm in it and some of them had the boldness to tell the King that his Majesty should not suffer such Heretical Opinions as they called them to be introduc'd before such a great Assembly contrary to the receiv'd Doctrine of the Church This Discourse caused a great many other Matters to be talk'd on of which it would be too long to inform your Lordship By this you may plainly see how fond the Divines are of their old Opinions relying upon the Doctrine of Aristotle whom we can't suppose to be so throughly acquainted with the Structure Springs and Motions of the Humane Body nor indeed with all other Natural Causes as the Modern Physicians are yet it is the Policy of the Divines not only in Poland but in Spain Italy and in most other Countries where their Power is very great not to let any Opinions creep in among them that would seem to contradict those of Aristotle for having built their Systems of Divinity upon the Principles of this Pagan Philosopher they are justly afraid that if Experience and Reason should shake the Foundation the Superstructure would fall to the Ground as doubtless it would for the most part This King built several fine Houses both in Russia and other parts of the Kingdom particularly three Miles from Warsaw a neat Country House call'd Villa Nova very richly furnished He has had several Natural Children but took no care of any of them for it is not customary in Poland to have that Consideration for them as there is in other Countries but he left vast Riches to his Lawful Children and made a Motion in the Diet five or six Years before he died to settle the Succession on one of them He told the Assembly of the Disorders that usually happened in Elections after the King's Death that the Turks and the Tartars took then Opportunities to make Inroads into the Country and ravage all before them that the Nobility of the Kingdom were generally divided headed by Factions and biass'd by Self-interest against the publick Good of their Country and that he himself would be glad to prevent all those dangerous Broils before he died out of the Love he bore to his Country and Subjects But the Diet finding that his private Design was to get one of his Sons elected answered That they hoped that his Majesty would live yet a long while that it was necessary to take a long time to consider of a Matter of that great moment which the King seeing it was a civil way of refusing to enter upon that Subject never after intimated any thing to them like it but took all possible care to enrich his Children in case none of them should be elected after his Death It was exactly computed to me that he laid up every Year for above twenty Years 100000 l. Sterl which he left partly in Bankers Hands at Dantzick Hamburgh and Amsterdam and put the rest into the hands of the Jews who are very numerous in that Kingdom to trade with it besides he bought great Territories in the Kingdom tho it is against the Constitution so that his three Sons James Alexander and Constantino if they manage their Affairs right may be worth each above 50000 l. Sterling per Annum for it is the Law in Poland to divide equally the Estate among the Children The Queen was but ten or twelve Years of Age when she together with the present Duke of Gordon's Aunt afterwards married to Count Morstin great Treasurer of Poland came from France into this Kingdom with Ladislaus King of Poland's Queen who made them both her Maids of Honour and took great care of Madamoiselle d' Arquien being very ingenious and beautiful She got her married first to Prince Zamoiski who soon left her a Widow with a Jointure of about 2000 l. a Year she was afterwards married in Casimir's Reign to John Sobieski then Captain of the Guards who was not very willing to marry her until the King promis'd that he would give him considerable Places which he accordingly did by the Instigation of the Queen for he made him Great Marshal and Great General of Poland which gave him Authority and Interest enough to make himself afterwards King and her Queen so that this Marriage was the occasion of his Rise in the World which he was so sensible of that he refus'd to be divorced from her as the Diet would have perswaded him to do after his Election The Queen is now about fifty four Years of Age tho she appears not to be forty she goes in the French Dress as all the Polish Ladies do she speaks almost naturally the Polish Tongue which with lier sweet Temper refin'd Sense and majestick Air gain'd her such Affection with the Poles such Influence over the King and such Interest always in the Diet that she manag'd all with a great deal of Prudence and that to the advantage of her native Country France whose Interest she generally espous'd upon most occasions during the King's Life which was believ'd to be the Cause that he did not carry on the War with vigour these late years against the Turks and Tartars She maintain'd at her Court her Father Cardinal D' Arquien and her Brother Count Maligny who had but a very small Estate of their own She has two Sisters one is the Widow of the late Count Bethune who was Ambassador from France in Poland and afterwards dy'd in his Embassy in
Fabrick and System of the World with the mutual Cohesion Influence and Dependance of its Parts 2. Of the Elements of Terrestrial Bodies where after various Chymical Experiments are consider'd the Nature Properties Figures and Effects of the four Chymical Principles Earth Water Salt and Sulphur and their main mutual Action Fermentation as also the Productions of Animals Vegetables and Minerals 3. Of the Structure of the Human Body and its division into fluid and solid Parts where a particular and new Account is given of the Nature and Contexture of the solid Parts being all made of Vascular Fibres and demonstrated to the Eye by Dissection 4. Of the fluid Parts of the Human Body of the Nature Principles Fermentation and Circulation of the Blood of Nutrition of the Temperaments of the Humours contain'd in the Blood of the seat and nature of Fevers where likewise of Youth old Age and Death 5. Of the Reparation of the Blood of the Chyle Lacteous Vessels Chyliferous Duct of Appetite Mastication Digestion and the Ferment of the Stomach of the Precipitation or Separation of the Excrements from the Chyle where of the Structure of the Oesophagu Or Gullet of that of the Stomach and all the Intestines of the Peristaltic and Antiperistaltic Motions of the Guts of the Glands of the Mesentery of the Lympha and the Lymphatic Vessels 6. Of the Structure Motion and Vse of the Heart where of the various kinds of Pulses of the Polypus in the Heart Palpitation and Swooning likewise a new Hypothesis of the Motion of the Heart and of Sanguification 7. Of the Contexture of the Windpipe or Trachea Arteria and the Lungs where of the Cause and Vse of Respiration a new Account of the Nature of the Air Nitre and of the Vnvoluntariness of Respiration of the Hiccock 8. Of the Praecordi Or sanguiferous Vessels appended to the Heart where the Structure Motion and Difference of the Veins and Arterics are demonstrated 9. Of the numerous Ramifications of the Vena Porta and both the Vena Cava 's of Varix 's Hemorrhoides Bleeding c. 10. Of the Ramifications of both the Aorta 's throughout the whole Body of an Anevrism 11. Of the Brain and Cerebellum a new Account of the Animal Spirits their Generation Motion and Vse of Perception Sleeping Waking and the Influence of the Soul upon the Body where of Sensation and the five Senses 12. Of the Eye Tears Nasal and Aqueous Ducts Of Sight Blindness Light Colours and the sharp Sight of some Animals 13. Of the Fabrick of the Nose the Membrana Pituitaria Snot Smelling and Sneezing Of the mutual Influence of the Nose and Tongue 14. Of the Tongue Palat and Gums of the Muscles and Motions of the Tongue of Taste Voice Stuttering and Dumbness 15. Of the Larynx Pharynx the Os Hyoides Of the Glands Salivation and Spittle of the Almonds and Uvula c. 16. Of Feeling the Cuticula Skin Hairs milliary Glands the mucous and reticular Bodies of Fat Transpiration Sweat the Itch cutaneous Diseases Palsy and Plica Polonica 17. Of the Ear Aquaeduct Hearing Deafness Tinnitus c. 18. Of the Structure Vse and Number of the Nerves of Motion and Sense of the Par vagum and the Intercostal Nerves spread over all the Viscer Of the Breast and Abdomen 19. Of the Structure and various Figures of the Muscles the vascular Fibres where Muscular Natural and free Motion are explain'd as likewise stretching and gaping leaping swimming and flying with Convulsive Tonic Systaltic Epilectic and Hysteric Motions of Vapours and Rheumatisin 20. Of the Liver Gall and Pancreas where the Secretion Motion and Mixture of the Bile and Pancreatic Juice with the Chyle are shewn of the Green Sickness Yellow Jau idice and Pica 21. Of the Nature and Differences of all the Glands or Strainers of the Body a new account of the various Filtrations of the excrementitious and recrementitious Humours as Lympha Spittle Gall Vrine Seed c. Of Obstructions and Dropsies 22. Of the Structure and Vse of the Spleen and what Melancholy is what Symptoms happen when the Spleen is taken out of the Body 23. Of the Reins or Kidneys the Atrabilary Glands the Vreters and Bladder where of the Scrum of the Blood Vrine and what is contained therein of the Stone and Gravel 24. Of the Structure and Vse of the Bones Marrow Ligaments Periosteum and Apophyses of the different Articulations or Joints of the Nature and Seat of the Gout Spina Ventosa Caries Exfoliation and Rachitis 25. Of the Parts of Generation in Man of the Nature and Formation of the Seed with its Effects in the Body of the Woman the Cause and Seat of Venereal Diseases 26. Of the Parts of Generation in the Woman of the Eggs and Ovarium of Generation Conception going with Child Flowers Birth Monsters Floodings false Conceptions Whites c. 27. Of the Posture and Nourishment of the Embryo in the Womb of the Vmbilical Vessels the After-birth the Force of the Mother's Imagination and the peculiar way of the Circulation of the Blood in the Foetus of Longings 28. S ome Considerations of the Vnion of the Soul and Body where the Laws and Effects of that Vnion are inquired into You see Sir that after having examin'd the different Parts of the World and the Elements of Bodies by Chymistry I have divided the Human Body into solid and fluid Parts Before I consider'd the solid Parts in particular I thought it necessary by way of Chymistry to be acquainted with all the Humours and specially with the Principles and Motions of the Blood which is the Primum Mobile of the whole Machine for which purpose it is fit to know how by Digestion the Meat becomes Chyle the Chyle becomes Blood how the Blood becomes Flesh and Bone and consequently how it must be continually repaired by Aliment how the Heart is put in motion to communicate the same to the Blood how the Blood expelled by the Heart after having been rarefied by the Air in the Lungs is convey'd by Arterial Tubes to all the Parts of the Body and from these Parts is brought back again by the Veins to the Heart To know why this Blood is carried to all the Parts and what Alteration it receives in them we must by ocular Inspection see the different Structure of all the Parts of the Body and first follow the Blood to the Brain to generate Animal Spirits which Spirits furnish the Soul with Ideas in the Brain and convey'd through the Nerves to all the Parts of the Body they are the Causes of Motion in the Muscles and of Sense in the five Organs which convey the Impression of exteriour Bodies to the Soul I follow the same Blood into the Liver where it discharges its Bilious Juice and into all other Glands where it leaves some superfluous Humonr into the Spleen where its Motion is moderated into the Reins where it leaves its serous Particles into the Testicles where is strained from
it a glutinous oily Substance called Seed In short after knowing Man in himself I examine the natural Ways which he uses to propagate his Kind in begetting another by way of Generation Man as I said before is made of two Substances Soul and Body The Soul preserves the Body by Reason and governs it by voluntary Motion The Body furnishes the Soul with Ideas of Corporeal Beings The Life of Man is the Correspondence between Soul and Body but the Life of the Body is the natural Motion of the Blood and Splrits the Cessation of which Motion is Death The solid Parts of the Body have no Motion or Life of their own but such as they borrow from the Blood and Spirits The Blood and Spirits have none neither but such as they are allowed by the general Laws of Nature establish'd by a Supreme Being To maintain this mutual Correspondence and Dependance between Soul and Body all the Organs Springs and Humours of the body must be in their due Disposition for the Death of the Body is properly the loss of this Disposition and not the Separation of the Soul as is commonly believ'd for the Body is dead before the Soul is gone out of it and the going out of the Soul is but the Cessation of its Correspondence with the Body for want of Motion in the latter This Disposition is disordered or ruined by Diseases all which Diseases have their first Seat in the Blood from whence they are communicated to the solid Parts and the solid Parts being affected they reciprocally insect the Blood But tho the Blood was never infected and Man never sick yet he should die of course by the Relaxation and Attrition of his solid Parts from the long and continual Circulation of the humours through them which we call Old Age. As to what relates to the Materia Medica or the Account I have given of the Virtue and due Application of inward Medicines in the Practice of Physick I should likewise give you a Series of the different Subjects I treated of as I have in my Plan of the Animal Oeconomy but finding it too tedious and needless I will only mention in general that all inward Diseases have their first Seat in the Mass of Blood that they are caused by a Ferment or Matter hid in it which deriv'd its Origin from some outward Causes That there are no Specific Medicines for any part of the Body as for the Head Heart Liver Stomach Spleen but that they must all operate upon the whole Mass of Blood that consequently outward Applications cannot avail much for inward Distempers that the Medicines must be carried in a convenient Vehicle through the Blood to the place where the Distemper lies and that then they either carry its Cause out of the Body by Evacuation or change the Nature of it within by altering the Mass of Blood I may therefore reasonably divide all the Materia Medica described by so many voluminous Authors only into two Classes of Medicines Evacuating and Alterating I did not so much talk of those Remedies that evacuate only from some parts of the Body as Bleeding Clysters Leeches Issues Blisters Setons Gargles Snush and the like for they can hardly ever cure any inward Disease but of such as evacuate the Morbific Matter from the whole Mass of Blood by the five general ways Stool Vomit Vrine Sweat and Salivation where without recurring to occult or precarious Qualities I reduced to the Principles of Chymistry and Reason the Nature and Operations of Purgatives Emetics Diuretics Diaphoretics of Antimony and Mercury of Venereal and other Diseases as likewise the Nature and Usefulness of Baths and other Mineral Waters I have likewise examin'd and endeavour'd to explain the Nature and different Effects of Alterating Medicaments which operate in the Mass of Blood without any Evacuation such as sweeten the Blood when sowr that thin it when gross and thick that hasten it s too slow Circulation that stop it s too rapid Motion as in Fevers that cool the Blood that heat it and raise the Spirits as Cordials that calm the Spirits as Narcotics that strengthen the Tone of the Parts as Styptics and Astringents that open Obstructions as Aperitives Here therefore I had occasion to consider the Vertues and Operations of Steel Opium Jesuits Powder of Alcalious and Acid Medicines and of the whole Tribe of other alterating Remedies It would Sir be too prolix and needless to mention to you all that can be said in this nice and weighty Subject which includes in a manner the whole Machine of the Universe which requires several Years fervent Application for any one to attain a tolerable Knowledge of and which cost me some Months Labour to demonstrate at Oxford what small Insight I was thought to have in it Yet still I am not unwilling to comply with your Desires and to spare some time from my other Business here to communicate what I know of these Matters to any Persons of both Universities or to such other ingenious Gentlemen as have a Curiosity for things of this Nature And I shall take care that all be perform'd in such a decent and creditable manner as may be for the Benefit and Satisfaction of others as well as my own particular Reputation For not only my Duty but likewise the Usefulness and Agreeableness of my Profession tho in it self very abstruse and difficult inclines me naturally to improve it as much as I can and I hope I shall be able in few Years to publish a Latin Treatise of the Principles of Physick and of the Oeconomia Animals which perhaps then will give You and the Publick more Satisfaction than they or your self can at present expect from From Bow-street in Covent-Garden London Nov. 2. 1695. SIR Your very Obedient Servant B. Connor A LETTER to James Tyrrel Esq from Dr. Connor Fellow of the Royal Society Containing a further Explanation and Vindication of the Plan of the Animal Oeconomy or of the Chymical and Anatomical Method for understanding the Fabrick Springs Tempers and Diseases of the Human Body SIR IT is upon all hands acknowledg'd that the Acquaintance of Men of Learning and Worth is of great benefit towards acquiring not only the Knowledg of Men and Manners but of Nature too But of all the Advantages to be reap'd from their Conversation that of correcting our Prejudices or Mistakes and of setting us in the right way is the most valuable I should be too disingenuous Sir if I should not concur with the Publick in justly allowing you to be as discerning a Judg as you are a true Friend The World is convinc'd of the first by your shewing your self so great a Master as well of the Laws of Nature and Nations as of those of your own Country and none that have the Honour to know you can be ignorant of your Sincerity aâ—â—d Zeal in correcting the Errors and Oversights of your Friends To whom then should I more allowably communicate
any that I have seen in Europe for their Furs are very fine and dear their very Fur Caps cost sometimes 20 or 30 Guineas they change the Fashion of making their Clothes as often as our Western Countries do The King was a well spoken Prince of very easy Access and extream civil and had most of the good Qualities requisite in a Gentleman he was not only well vers'd in all Military Affairs but likewise in all Polite and Scholastick Learning besides his own Tongue the Sclavonian he understood the Latin French Italian German and Turkish Languages he delighted much in Natural History and in all the parts of Physick he us'd to reprimand the Clergy for not admitting into the University and Schools the Modern Philosophy he lov'd to hear Persons discourse of those Matters and had a particular Talent to set People about him very artfully by the Ears that by their Disputes he might be diverted as hapned often in my time especially once when I was undesignedly concerned my self the King being at Dinner and having the Bishops of Posnania Plosko Vilna and other Divines about him particularly Father Vota an ingenious Jesuit the King ask'd me in Latin What part of the Body I thought the Soul was in I was willing to decline talking of that Subject and told the King That being a Physician my chief Enquiry was about the Body and that the Divines there present were able to satisfy his Majesty The King reply'd That since the Soul has an Influence upon the Body and since the Passions of the Mind as Anger and Fear breed Fevers and other Distempers it was necessary that the Physicians should examine the Soul in that respect as well as the Body I answer'd That Physicians did enquire into the Nature of Passions and observ'd that there was such an Influence of the Soul upon the Body and of the Body upon the Soul that alter'd the thoughts of the one as well as the Operations of the other but that the Soul being a Substance invisible and without Extension it was impossible for Physicians to conceive the Nature of it themselves or explain it to others as they do that of the Body which they take into pieces by Anatomy and resolve into its minutest Elements by Chymistry that the Physicians only agree in the main that the supreme Author of things has establish'd such Laws between the Soul and the Body which make a mutual Correspondence between them that as for the Seat of the Soul I might perhaps differ from the Divines then present and consequently oppose the common Doctrine of the Schools for they hold with Aristotle that the Soul is entire in all the Body and wholly in every part of the Body which was impossible to conceive for if the Soul was entire in every part of the Body there would be as many Souls in the Body as there are Parts since it is impossible that the self-same Substance tho an indivisible Spirit can ever be in two places at the same time besides the Soul can't be but where it does think and every one finds by Experience that his Thought is not in his Hands nor Feet but is conscious to himself that his Thought is in his Head and that consequently the Soul must be only in the Brain which is the Seat of Sensation and the Origin of all the Nerves which are the Organs of Perception and Motion Father Vota being alarm'd at this Doctrine which seem'd altogether new in that part of Europe said That if the Soul was only in the Head the rest of the Body would be dead since the receiv'd Opinion was that the Soul was the Life of the whole Body and that to enliven the whole Body the Soul must be wholly present in every part of it This drew on a longer Dispute than I expected for I answer'd That the Rational Soul was not the Life of the Body but the Blood only and the Animal Spirits and that this Blood and Spirits circulated equally all over the Body and gave it its natural Heat and Motion which is properly its Life and that this Circulation of the Blood and Spirits could not possibly depend on the Rational Soul because it was an involuntary Motion formed by the Mechanic Structure of the Body and by the natural Impulse of the Heart which is the Primum Mobile of the whole Machine and that tho they all held not only in Poland but in other Countries that the Rational Soul perform'd every minute Action in the Body yet this Opinion was irreconcilable with the free Will of the Mind which they all admitted for since they allow that whatever the Soul does not only it is conscious of it but likewise does it freely without being necessitated thereto when as it is evidently obvious to every one that the vital Motions in our Bodies I mean the Motion of the Heart and that of Respiration with the Peristaltic Motion of the Stomach and Guts are perform'd naturally with such Mechanism that the Soul can't stop them no nor as much as hasten or retard them and that the Soul is not at all conscious of them for if we think of any Object or not think at all as when we are asleep or in an Apoplex those vital Motions go on equally the same The Bishop of Posnania who was bred up in his Youth a Physician seem'd to speak in favour of this Opinion as did likewise some others of the Company which made the Jesuit very angry insomuch that he acquainted them in a kind of Passion That neither the King nor they ought to hearken to any Discourse contrary to the receiv'd Opinion of the Church that it might have been a pernicious Discourse had it been publick for says he if the Soul be not in all the Body and if it does not animate the Body and perform all its vital Functions it would be of no use and consequently we should live like other Animals I answer'd him That doubtless the Operations of Life were perform'd by the same Mechanism in us as they were in Brutes since we have the same Organs with them as likewise the same Fluids to enliven us That the Prerogatives of the Soul are not less for its not being present to every Action of the Body for the Soul tho it is not the cause of spontaneous or vital Motion in us yet it performs all voluntary Actions as speaking walking and all other free Motions of the Body it receiv'd all Impressions from the five Senses it forms to it self all Ideas of ambient Objects it reasons upon them to know what 's most useful and hurtful to it self and to the Body The Soul in short is like the Pilot tho it does not set the Body in motion as the Wind does a Ship yet it is capable of governing its Actions and directing voluntarily its Course The King being thus satisfied that the rational Soul did not actuate as they call it or enliven all the
the Principles of the Blood and of all Remedies likewise I know that the Chymists will immediately answer That they have with a great deal of Toil and Labour not only separated from mixt Bodies the before mentioned four Principles but also discovered their Nature for they confidently tell us that the nature of Earth is to be porous to absorb Water Salt and Oil that the nature of Water is to dissolve Salt of Sulphur to be inflammable and of Salt to prick and be dissolved by Water But they need not take so much pains to tell us of a thing that every body knows without the least insight in Chymistry A Country-man knows that a Pot full of Ashes will soak a great deal of Water or any other fluid Body That Water dissolves Sugar and Salt that Oil burns and Salt pricks the Tongue This is not answering the Question for they take the Effects of those Elements for their Nature To say that Earth absorbs that Water dissolves Salt that Oil takes flame and that Salt bites is to tell me only what these Principles are capable of doing not what they really are in themselves If being asked by a Person What is Man I should answer that he is a reasonable Animal or an Animal capable of Reason he should not doubtless be satisfied with my Answer because I tell him what Man can do not what he is since he exists before he can reason I desire to know what is the particular Figure the Specifick Fabrick and the inward Nature of Earth that makes it produce an Effect different to that of Water and of Salt to produce a different Effect to that of Oil. Until therefore we are more intimately acquainted with the different Bulk Texture and Figure which are the ground of the Virmes and Qualities of all these Elements we can give no satisfactory Account of their Effects and we must consequently be uncertain as to the Operation of a Remedy which has any of 'em predominating in it I confess it will be a difficult matter to determine the different bulk and figure of the Atoms of Principles à priori as they term it for they are so small and imperceptible that we cannot discern any of 'em even with the most refin'd Microscopes Yet I do not despair but by calculating and summing up all the Effects and Proprieties of each of 'em by Reason I may discover at least à posteriori as they call it their different Bulk and Figure which are the only primary Qualities they differ in For it is plain to me that when I consider that a drop of Water is insipid transparent easily evaporated that it penetrates most Bodies and dissolves all Salts I can reasonably determine the Figure and Bulk of its Particles that are sutable to these Phenomena I can say as much of a spoonful of Earth when I observe that it is spongy solid poroud friable opaque insipid that it sinks in Water that it cannot be raised by Fire in Distillation that it is the Matrix and Support of the rest of the Principles of any mixt Body Likewise of Oil or Sulphur when I find it is fluid insipid ropy inflammable extreamly penetrating and immiscible with Water I can guess the Nature or Texture of Parts which is capable of such Effects When I see that an Acid Salt is always of its own nature fluid sharp transparent penetrating that it dissolves solid Bodies and coagulates sulphureous ones as Blood Milk c. When I consider that an Alkali Salt is always of its own nature solid white porous friable sharp dissolvable by Water easily movable that it ferments with Acids absorbs them and dissolves sulphureous Bodies I can reasonably conjecture the Figure that renders both Salts capable of producing such different nay contrary Effects which I endeavour to perform in the Chymical and Anatomical Experiments which I make at present in my Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Library which his Grace out of his wonted Inclination to serve the Publick has been pleased to give me the use of for this purpose After having examin'd the nature of the different Atoms of Matter I trace their Effects and Operations all which I find are perform'd by Motion which is the only Cause of all things and which has no other Cause or Nature it self that I know but the pure Will of the Deity For a Body cannot be moved without it receives all its Motion from another Body that is in motion which Motion this second Body receiv'd from a third that was put in motion by a fourth and this fourth by a fifth So tracing backward to the Creation the successive Transit of Motion from one Body to another we must come to a first Motion of Bodies which flowed immediately from the Creator A Body cannot lose its Motion without communicating it all to another Body consequently there must be the same quantity of Motion now in the World as was in the beginning For no Motion can be lost and no new Motion can be produced By examining the Laws and Occasions of Motion I consider the Nature Conditions and Effects of Fermentation which is the chiefest and most universal Motion in Nature by the means of which are formed so many different Minerals Vegetables and Animals of the different Proportion different Situation and different Application of our four Elements Earth Water Salt and Sulphur But my chief Design is to shew how the different Parts of Man's Body which is the principal Subject of this Animal Oeconomy are made of them For out of his Bones his Flesh his Viscera and even his Blood and other Humours I draw in more or less quantity first Water then Volatil Spirit or Salt afterwards an inflammable Oil and there remains the Earth out of which I draw by Water a fixt Salt I do not only examine the Nature and Proportion of the four essential Principles of our Body but also what is more necessary I design by Anatomy to demonstrate to the Eye the Structure Texture and Use of its solid sensible and integrant Parts as Bones Cartilages Ligaments Muscles Membranes Veins Arteries Nerves Lymphatic Vessels and Glands all which I find to be formed of vascular Fibres of the same kind for I do not see that the Fibres of a Muscle differ from them of a Tendon nor the Fibres of a Membrane from them of a Ligament nor them of a Cartilage from the Fibres of a Bone nor the Fibres of any part as for their Structure from the Fibres of all the parts I confess the Fibres of some parts of the Body are more strictly united together than others which makes the Compactness of some Parts and the Limberness of others so all parts differ from one another only in a stricter or looser Union of their Fibres since we find by Experience that Flesh becomes as hard as Bone and Bone as soft as Flesh For we frequently discover in dissecting dead Bodies that the Center of the Heart which is naturally
shew'd it to some Friends They owned the Notions I advanced and the ways of Explication I proposed were new to them and might be so to others and tho they were not nor could be convinc'd that these were the very ways the Supream Power proceeded in the effecting of such Operations yet they seemed inclinable to imagine that upon these Principles supernatural Effects and the Operations of them were conceivable by such as know any thing of the Nature and Laws of Motion This Communication of my Thoughts gave oecasion to others to discourse with me about them and to desire that if I did intend to publish them I would in the mean time give them at least the general Heads of my Design This I was willing to have been excused in as having not digested them into that Order I might at last publish them in and was willing to reserve to my self a Power of making what Additions or Retrenchments I should afterwards think fit to make but the Plan of the Essay happening not to be fully represented and afterwards being worse understood and commented upon I at last resolv'd to publish it as soon as I could seeing Persons industriously reported things I never thought of My Design therefore Sir is to endeavour to make it no longer a Difficulty to conceive and make evident by Reason and the Principles of Physick I mean the Principles of Nature all the supernatural Effects authentically delivered to us concerning Bodies chiefly but particularly the Humane I mean supposing those Effects to be true Matters of Fact and all Matters of Fact as well Natural as Supernatural to be immediate Effects of a Supream Being which must be granted it is as easy to conceive the manner how this Infinite Power may be apply'd to Bodies to work supernatural Effects as to produce the common Phaenomena of Nature By this I hope to convince our Scepticks the Deists who must give their Assent when they have the same evident Reason to conceive the Possibility and consequently to believe the Truth of such miraculous Effects that are authentically related as they have to conceive that Straw can burn in a flaming Fire The Foundation I go upon is the Structure of the Human Body which I have often taken to pieces by Anatomy and resolv'd into its essential Elements or minute Particles by Chymistry for I find it as necessary to be acquainted with its Fabrick to give an Account of the miraculous States it is supposed to have been in supernaturally as it is to explain the natural Effects commonly produc'd in it For want of a sufficient Insight in this matter several Divines of the latter Ages have given very gross Ideas of the supernatural Effects they have pretended to explain and in several places where I have been I saw them either through Ignorance or for Interest give out for Miracles Phaenomena that were only surprizing Effects of Natural Causes which has given so great an occasion to Scepticism and increase of Deism Having laid down for my Basis the Structure of the Human Body as far as I could discover from my Senses Anatomy Fire Microscopes and Experiments I proceed to examine and endeavour to explain the different ways its natural State is suppos'd to have been supernaturally alter'd by an Infinite Power For finding that the Human Body is all Matter and that all this Matter is nothing but a Union of Particles with Bulk Figure and respective Situation I thought that all the Alterations that could supernaturally happen to this Bulk Figure or situation could be conceiv'd But before I enter upon those nice Subjects I find it first necessary to enquire into the Cause Nature and Laws of Motion because Motion is the only true Cause of all Natural Phaenomena and the Suspensions of the Laws of this Motion are the only Causes of all supernatural Effects I conceive the Laws of Motion can be suspended three different ways and by one or more of those Laws of Suspension it is as easy to solve clearly all supernatural Effects as it is to explain the most evident Effects of Natural Causes by the common Laws of Motion Tho I mention that all supernatural Effects whatsoever can be easily reduc'd to some of the three Laws of Suspension of Motion notwithstanding I do not design to speak of them all in particular but of such only as are most in dispute among the Learned Yet any understanding Man may easily make his Application and resolve all other miraculous Effects into one or other of ' em By the Suspension of the Laws of Motion I do not mean that these Laws are changed or abrogated but only that their Course is stopt while an Effect is produc'd by the immediate Action of the Deity without any Influence of theirs for some particular end and it cannot be denied but that the Supream Legislator who made first the Laws may suspend them when he pleases and in that state of Suspension produce of himself alone without their Concurrence the same Effects which are wont to be produced only by the same Laws put in Execution So that tho a Body for Example of a hundred Pound Weight by the established Laws of Motion must be moved by another that has several degrees of Motion yet an Infinite Power may of himself either move it without the Concurrence of another Body or hinder its being moved by any other Body of what weight soever tho put into the most rapid Motion as if combustible Matter should be in a flaming Fire without burning Because my Design in that Book is to explain all the supernatural States that our Body is supposed to have been put into and since its being in two places at once is the State the most disputed and doubted of I thought it convenient to examine the Reasons of those that assert it capable of being in several places at once to see whether they are reconcileable with our Senses and with the Nature and Structure of a Human Body which is the chief thing to be consider'd I find it impostible to conceive that a Human Body can be in two places at the same time after the manner they have hitherto describ'd since the same Human Body can never be in two places at once with the same Bulk and with the same quantity of Matter It is true that considering the Divisibility of Matter the Structure of the Human Body the smalness of the first Stamina of the Embryo and Foetus and the Principles and Mechanism of Generation I have thought of one particular way different from all that has ever been said upon this Subject by which I may conceive that tho the self-same numerical Particles of Matter can never be in two places at once yet a Human Body tho not the rational Soul can be multiplied by an Infinite Power But since we have no evident Proof or Experience that any Human Body has ever been thus multiplied and because from conceiving the poslibility of it it is thought
People may perhaps hereafter take occasion to draw several Consequences that may be liable to dangerous Constructions and lead into erroneous Speculations I was advised and was willing to decline treating of this Subject having no mind to meddle with Scripture or Religion being not my Province Wherefore I have endeavour'd only 〈◊〉 explain those supernatural Effects that most People agree upon submitting my Judgment to greater Capacities For I had no other Design in that Book but to enquire how far we may look into and confirm Supernatural Effects those chiefly that râ—â—â—te to Organical Bodies by the Principles of Physick Sir the Learned and Judicious Gentlemen of your Gown can have no reason to complain that I have invaded their Province or encroached upon their Prerogatives For I do not undertake to prove that there were ever any supernatural Effects produced that matter I think belongs entirely to Divines to make evident from authentick Testimony I only endeavour to demonstrate the Possibility of them and if there were ever any to explain the Mode and Mechanism with which we may conceive how they might have been perform'd This is not doing any Prejudice to your Profestion for I have that Respect to the Church and that Deference to the Clergy that I did nothing in this matter without the Advice and Approbation of those of them that are in the highest Station And they own'd that tho this Subject had never been yet handled by any Physician nor indeed by any Divine that I know of yet it was only a Physician 's business to treat of according to the Principles of Natural Philosophy and Physick For since it is on all sides acknowledged that miraculous Effects are above Natural Causes no People can better judg whether any Effect is really supernatural than those that make it their Business and Profession to know how far the Activity of Natural Causes can reach For Physicians may find sometimes that what the wilful Mistakes of some and the Ignorance of others take for supernatural is the visible Effect of a Natural Cause as I observ'd once at Rome some Years since passing by chance through the Strada del Popolo I saw a multitude of People hurrying a Man to St. Mark 's Chappel which belongs to the Venetian Embassadors they told me that he was possess'd with the Devil and that they were carrying him to be exorcis'd I crowded thro the Throng into the Church and felt the Man's Pulse I found him in a Fever making hideous Grimaces and Motions with his Face Eyes Tongue and all his Limbs which were nothing else but a fit of Convulsive Motions all over his Body occasion'd by disorder of his Blood and Spirits being a Hypochondriacal Person The Clergy and People began very devoutly to fright the pretended Devil out of him and in a little time his disorderly Motions ceased which as they thought to be the miraculous Effect of their Prayers I attributed to the natural abatement and usual cessation of such Fits Every understanding Naturalist knows that an able Chymist can work such surprizing Effects in his Art as may very easily pass for Miracles with such as are unacquainted how far the force of Natural Causes can extend It would seem to 'em very astonishing to see two Liquors that are cold of their own nature ferment boil and become very hot without any visible Cause to put them in motion To see Aqua Regalis dissolve Massy Gold Aqua Fortis dissolve Silver Iron Mercury and most other Minerals to see the Spirit of Nitre and the Oil of Cloves which separately are very quiet turn into a burning Flame when mixed together to see transparent Liquors when mixed turn red green white and into all sorts of Colours I say nothing of the Phosphorus of the surprizing Effects of the Air Pump of the Elasticity of the Air of the Magnet nor of an infinite number of other wonderful Phaenomena in Nature which tho they may be common yet they are not the less surprizing because their Cause is as hid from those that do not and even to those that do study Nature as that of supernatural Effects is to those Naturalists who trace Natural Causes to their highest Sphere of Activity I do not doubt but that if the Missionaries that are sent from the Western Churches to convert the Pagans of the Eastern Nations were as well vers'd in Anatomy and Chymistry as they are in the Tenets of the Christian Religion and in the Mathematicks and that if they did but dazel the Eyes of these ignorant People with a great many curious and useful Experiments in these two fundamental Branches of Physick they would perhaps make as deep Impressions upon their Minds and give them as convincing Testimonies of the Power and Legality of their Mission as they can at present by the spiritual or indelible Character they say is inherent in them by virtue of their Commission Pope Clement the Tenth knew well the Effects Chymistry artfully applied might produce in the minds of ignorant People when he secured the Person of the famous Italian Signor Borri who about five and thirty Years ago by his Skill in Chymistry did work several extraordinary Cures on Diseases in Germany and gain'd such universal Reputation all over the Empire and the Northern Kingdoms that as it was reported of him he thought he had Credit and Opportunity sufficient to invent and propagate a new Religion by making his surprizing Experiments in Chymistry pass for Miracles which he might easily have done since Chymistry being then in its Minority was not much known in the World But the Pope foreseeing the ill Consequence such a Design might produce gave timely Orders to his Nuncio then at Vienna to desire the present Emperor to get him seiz'd which being accordingly done he was sent Prisoner to Rome on condition nevertheless that his Life should be safe here he lived in Castello St. Angelo for several Years where I saw him and his curious Laboratory for Chymistry allowed him for his Diversion no body was admitted to discourse him without special leave for fear I suppose he should inform the World either of his pretended new Doctrine or of the Injustice he might intimate that was done to him He died lately in this close Confinement since I have been at Rome Thus Sir I have given you as succinct and comprehensive an Account of my Design in that Book as I could well express in so few Lines by which you will believe perhaps that I have done nothing in treating of those Matters but what belongs peculiarly to one of my Profession to examine and tho I do not pretend to have explain'd this nice Subject with that Satisfaction the Publick might perhaps expect yet I hope that having been the first Person that has ever handled it after this manner no body will blame me for having at least given occasion to others to examine it better after me and to give a more satisfactory Explanation of it