trunk of the body unto which all the other parts are to be fastned and the Sinews or Nerves to the binders of the hedge which fasten and unite all the other parts to that trunke and as for motion or drawing it is well known that there is none in all the body performed whether voluntary or natural but by the influence of the animal spirits upon the Nerves and Fibers and their contraction thereupon in those several parts into which they are inserted Now although all the several and innumerable Filaments are to be accounted hereunto yet they are most aptly expressed in the singular number by funiculus argenteus the silver Cord because they are but the continuation of the same thing The Fibers being nothing else but the Nerves divided and dispersed and the Nerves nothing else but the marrow in like manner separated as so many arms and branches of the same tree they are all one in their original the brain they are all one in their continuation for a long time in the spine they are all one in their colour white they are all one in their form long and round they are all one in their Coats having each the same three Tunicles they are all one in their use to convey the animal spirits and all this in an apt resemblance to a Cord to which also they are not unlike in their division for then they are but as so many wreaths or wattles of the same Cord and that which is most observable to our present purpose is that by how much the more distant they are from their original by so much the thinner and finer the harder and more compact do they grow like the several smaller and better twisted ends of the same Cord. It is called the silver Cord first from its colour for it appears to the eye of a white shining resplendent beauty bright as silver and thus it is even when it is taken out of the body after it is dead but how much more admirable and glorious must it needs be while it remains in the body yet living and actuated with abundance of most refined spirits which continually ascend and descend thereupon An Ancient and an admirable Anatomist upon consideration of the great lustre and perspicuity of it compares it to the Crystalline humour of the eye and farther affirms that he never saw any thing in all his life more beautiful than those two things Secondly It may be called the silver Cord from its place in which it is seated in the body it is placed very deep secret and secure Job saith Surely there is a vein for the silver that is there is an intricate hidden and mysterious Cavity in the earth in which this Lunar Mineral doth more securely pass its branches just thus the Cord of our body as soon as ever it hath left its original it is passed into the most inward and secret Cavity of the Spine which by reason of that admiration and reverence the Ancients had for it they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Pipe and when in several places it passeth thencefrom it is conveyed all along with wonderful artifice both for secresie and security which is continued to the most minute Filaments for throughout the whole body it lieth lower and deeper and safer than the Veins or Arteries or any other common Conveyers in the body of man Lastly and chiefly It is called the silver Cord because of its excellency For as Silver above all other Minerals whatsoever save only that most absolute and perfect one of Gold is and ought to be most valued and esteemed so is and ought this part we are now speaking of next unto that most absolute and perfect part the brain which in the very next following Symptome is assimulated unto Gold The ingenious Chymists take pleasure to liken the several Metals they find in the bowels of the earth to the heavenly Luminaries who after they have compared the most perfect aptly to the Sun they in the next place liken this of Silver as aptly to the Moon and therefore decipher it also by the self-same Character shewing us hereby that as the Moon in Heaven is far more glorious and excellent than all other Coelestial Bodies whatsoever the Sun alone excepted so Silver in the earth above all Terrestrial Bodies whatsoever Gold alone excepted hath the same preheminence Micat inter omnes Velut inter ignes Luna minores And this dignity hath the Spinal Marrow with all its branches above all other parts of the body except the brain it hath been in such esteem among Philosophers that the best of them hath acknowledged it the foundation of life and the great Master of Physicians hath dignified it with the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby clearly intimating that if vitality be not chiefly therein placed yet the highest and most noble operations thereof are performed thereupon And such an exact likeness there is between the Nerves and Silver that they do by a mutual and reciprocal Metaphor sutably express one another in the two several Worlds For as the Nerves or Sinews are here said to be the Silver of the Microcosme or little World so is Silver as aptly said to be the Sinews of the Macrocosme or greater World There being nothing in the whole World that is vigorously carried on among Men but by the help thereof Silver is the Sinewes of War and of Peace of Merchandize and of Tillage nay I may farther add of Learning and of vertue too Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas Now as all the Works of the greater World soon come to nought if the influences of the Sinewes thereof be intercepted so do all those of the Lesser World if the Silver thereof perish and decay and therefore the loosning of the Silver Cord is here given as an undoubted signe of instant Dissolution For as it was said of the Tabernacle That it was spoiled and neer its utter ruine when the Cords thereof were broken so may it also be said of this earthly Tabernacle of our Bodies when we shall be unstrung and the Cords of our Bodies broken asunder we must then expect suddenly to be dissolved The Word here is variously translated rumpatur elongetur contrahatur revertatur dissolvatur which variety may give very great light unto the several causes of the symptome here intended but because such a narrow scrutiny may make a digression from what is here intended I shall for the present pass it by and onely take notice of the symptome it self which is here aimed at and that the Latine word dissolvatur and the English loosned do directly point at namely the solution of the Nerves or Marrow called in Latine from the Greeks and their Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solvo paralysis and in English the Palsy Sometime this solution hapneth only to one part of the Silver Cord which causeth paralysis particularis and then the enlivening influence
every cursory and superficial Reader all which may also be communicated to you in a convenient season FINIS The INDEX THe Introduction from page 1 to 12 The use of the Scripture P. 1 2. the several interpretations of this place 3 the true 4 the names of age 5 the bounds 6 7. the Analysis 9 the onely Panacea 10. Vers 1. From page 12 to 23 the exhortation p. 12 the general diseases and inleâ—s to all the rest 13 the certainty of this state 13 14 the continuation 15 how evill dayes are to be understood 15 16 17. what old Age is called good 18 how pleasure is to be understood 21 incredible in Age ib. Vers 2. From Page 23 to 54 the several interpretations of this Verse p. 23 24 the proper 26 the union of the Soul and Body ib. their communion 27 the inward Man which doth not decay 29 30 the sun or rational faculty superiour 31 the difference between soul and spirit 32 33 the light or rationâ— faculty inferiour 30 the speculative operations ib the practical 37 Solomons declension 38 the Wiâ—â— 39 the Moon or sensitive faculty 40 its operations 41 the common sense and phansie the same faculty 42 the Stars or the Species in the memory 45 not onely of the phansie but of the understanding 46 the use of this faculty 4â— 48 the diseases 49 Clouds after Rain i. e. one misery after another 50 51 notwithstanding what nature can do 52 or art 53. V. 3. From page the 54 to 101 the Body compared to an House p. 55 the keepers of the house not the Thorax but the Hands 56 how they keep the house 57 58 the bones 59 60 the thumb 61 the muscles 61 62 the diseases 63 the causes of them 63 64 the strong Men or the Feet 65 66 67. their likeness to the keepers of the house 69 the femur 70 the Patella 71 the conjunction of the fibula 72 the variety of the flexures of the hands and feet 73 the muscles 73 74 the diseases 75 the grinders the jaw-bones 76 77 the teeth several wayes fitted for grinding 77 78 79 the division of them 80 the reasons why the great and broad teeth are most properly the grinders 81 82 Creatures that have teeth onely on one jaw and how that want is supplied 83 84 the diseases 85 how the Eyes may be called the lookers out of the Windowes 86 the pellucide parts 87 the humours ib. the tunicles 88 the use of the tunica cornea 90 the visible species ib. how vision is made 91 the holes 92 the orbitae 93 the palpebrae or eye-lids 94 the Iris or party-coloured part of the eye 95 the pupilla or apple of the eye 96 the optick nerve 97 the diseases 99 100. V. 4. From page 101 to 150 The connexion p. 101 the cause of former Interpreters mistake upon this Verse p. 102 103 a double grinding 104 why fermentation is called grinding 104 105 Chylification 106 Sanguification 107 108 Assimulation 109 110 Lâ—ctification 111 Spermification 112 the Grinding of Samson 114 115 the sound of the Grinding 116 117 the lowness thereof or the diseases 118 the doores 119 the fore-doores 120 the back-doores 121 the intermediate doores 122 123 the Streets 124 the shutting of the doores or the diseases 125 the voice of the bird 126 127 the diseases 129 how both sleep and waking may be accounted infirmities of Age 130 131 why Age is defined morbus naturalis 133 the active Daughters of Musick ib. the lungs 134 135 the Organs of Speech 136 the Aspera Arteria ib. the Tongue 137 the Pallate 138 139 theTeeth 140 the Lips ib. the Organs of Singing 141 the Larynx ib. the Glottis 142 the passive Daughters of Musick 143 144 the outward Ear 145 the Elices ib. the inward Ear 147 how hearing is performed 148 the diseases 149 150. Vers 5. From page 150 to 202 The Connection p. 150 151 the Passions of the Mind 152 fear 153 its attendants and causes 154 155 its consequences 156 the fearfulness of Jacob and Eli 157 the objects of Old Mens fear 158 high things ib. plain and easie things 159 the division of the parts of the Body 160 the Almond Tree or Hoary Head 161 which agree in colour 162 in hastiness 163 in eminency 164 in diagnosticks 165 in Prâ—gnosticks 167 Canities 169 the Grashopper shall be a burden or rather shall grow or shew big and burdensome 170 the mistake of former Interpreters 171 how removed 172 the division of the animate parts 173 the Grashopper resembleth the bones 175 and their protuberancies 176 chiefly the Vertebrae of the spine 177 the other spermatical parts and the skin 179 the diseases 180 defire shall fail or rather the Capers shall shrink 181 the reasons for this Interpretation 182 183 the diseases 184 the blood and humours and entrails 185 the Glandules 186 the Muscles 186 187 long home implying secrecy 189 long duration 191 eternity 192 that interrogation if a Man die shall he live again intends the Negative 193 194 195 the Resâ—rrection 196 the Mourning at the Funeral 197 no cause of it in respect of the dead 198 199 but of the living 200. Vers 6. From page 202 to 249 the Connection p. 202 203 the Cord 204 205 the instrument of sense and motion after it hath proceeded out of the scull 206 why expressed in the singular number 207 it is called the Silver Cord from its colour and place 208 from its excellency 209 210 the loosning of the Cord 211 the symptome of death here intended 212 the bowl 213 the contained parts of the Head ib. the containing parts 215 external 216 internal 216 217 the Pia mater principally here intended 218 why called the Golden Bowl 219 220 221 the symptome of death here intended 222 how an Apoplex may be reckoned both as a disease of Age and a symptome of Death 223 224 why this part of the Allegory could never be understood formerly 226 wherein the life of Man consists 227 the use of the heart 228 229 230 its vessels 231 the Circulation of the blood how performed 232 233 the Pitcher or the Veines 234 235 the fountain or right Ventricle of the heart 236 237 the symptome of death here intended 238 239 the wheel is the in strument of circulation 240 241 242 the Cistern or left Ventricle of the Heart 243 the agreement of King Solomon and Dr. Harvey 245 the symptome of Death here intended 246 the summ of all the diseases 248. The Conclusion from page 249 to the end Solomons Systeme to be compared with others p. 249 the Scripture light the best in natural things 250 its excellency 251 252 the Vindication of Physicians 253 254 Natural things lead to Divine 255 the inducement to study the Scripture 257 and the Gerocomical part of Physick 257 258 what cures in respect of Age are already found out 259 what are wanting 260 the retarding of Age 261 the prolonging of life 261 262 the
to follow their own hearts lusts with greediness do voluntarily bring upon themselves but it seems to me to be otherwise and that chiefly from these two reasons 1. Because I find nothing in the Allegory that is not competible to every particular person that lives to the time of this state both to the good and bad both to the righteous and the wicked Weaknesses infirmities diseases both of body and mind attend them all Isaac Jacob Eli David as well as those who lead never so contrary lives must bear the burden of their age if they live to the time It is most certainly true a course of wickedness doth wonderfully hasten both old age and death it self The wicked man shall not live out half his daies nor shall he keep off decrepitness half the time his honour shall be given away and his years unto the cruel And beside the hastening of these evils he doth infinitely augment them both for number quality he shall have a thousand fold more and a thousand fold greater Every sore shall be a Plague and every ach shall be an hell unto him but this is not the condition in this Text described but the declension of mans life as a man and that from this second reason drawn from the Context when I look immediately before the description I find youth mentioned Remember thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth when I look immediately after it I find death described The dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it Now as youth and death are appointed for all living without any discrimination of him that sweareth or him that feareth an oath as terms à quo and ad quem of their pilgrimage so this state also as an intermediate stage is as certainly appointed to them all unless it please God before that constituted time to give them a deliverance by immature dissolution It is said of Old Age Expectata diu votisque optata secundis Objicit innumeris corpus lacerabile morbis Though this state be never so much desired of men yet when it comes it brings along with it abundance of all manner of evils as the following Discourse will sufficiently make appear and therefore may well be called an evil state But here I must needs meet with this most obvious objection Is not Old Age a great blessing from God and are not gray hairs an honour do not you call that evil which God calls good How often in Scripture is it said A good old age and counted as a priviledge I must needs therefore here distinguish of old age and consider it in a threefold state First Crude green and while it is yet in the beginning while men are able to do business and go about their employments and this is but one little remove from manhood and doth immediately border upon it The second is full mature or ripe age when men begin to leave off their employments and betake themselves to retiredness when God hath no more work for them and they have no more strength for him or lastly extream sickly decrepit overgrown old age in which it may be truly said Old Age is perished when their breath is corrupt when their daies are extinct and the grave is ready for them And this only is the state the Wise man here so Rhetorically describes And that age which is so often called good I take to be the second before mentioned state and so much the rather because in most places where it is said they dyed in a good old age it is also added and full of daies by which I understand not a fulness of possibility that they lived so long as from the principles of their Composition they could not have lived any longer but a fulness as I may so say of satiety they had enough of living they lived as long as living was good they lived to a full ripe and mature age such an one as would force them to be of the mind with him in the Fable to refuse immortality in this present life and earnestly to desire it in a better There is an excellent illustration of this in the speech of Eliphaz wherein he sets down the special Providences of God towards them that fear him and are betteâ—ed by Correction Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like a shock of corn in its season Now if a shock of Corn stand very long in the field it sheds and is spoiled and the season of it is as well lost as if it had been taken in too green Jacob most certain it is died in this good old age as well as others yet he himself saith unto the King a little before he died that the dayes of his years were few and he had not attained the dayes of the years of his Fathers in their pilgrimage Had St. Paul departed when he had fought the good fight finished his course kept the faith and was ready to be offered he had surely dyed in a good old age although his pulse had not then beaten above threescore years Now most certain it is that the arriving at this state is one of the greatest outward blessings that man is capable of in this life Nor dare I say otherwise if it should please the Lord to protract the life of man to the extreamest point it is capable of If he should withhold his hand from pushing down the house which he hath made and let it fall to decay upon its own principles his forbearance would be the greater its fall would be the lesser however in the mean time it would stand most ruinate deformed useless and incumbred with infinite inconveniencies that it was never lyable to before Heâ— quam continuis quantis longa senectus plena malis But this is not all it is not only an evil age but there is no pleasure in it As there is no condition that frail mortality is capable of so good that hath not a participation of evil so there is scarce any condition so evil that is not attempered with some good but this seems to be excluded from such a mercy as this It is said of a good Companion she will do a man good and no harm all the daies of her life But contrariwise it may be inverted concerning this bad and morose Companion she will do a man evil and no good so long as she continueth with him I have no pleasure in them I take pleasure here also in the best sense not for any sinful content whatsoever not for the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes or the pride of life but for those lawful pleasures and repasts both of body and mind that the nature of man while able might comfortably have solaced her self in The mind of man busiing it self and taking contentment in the speculation of natural causes the body of man
Pollex à pollendo being as it were an antagonist grasper to the whole hand and doth as much towards the firm holding and dextrous using of a weapon as all the hand And therefore it is that idle persons or effeminate men or whosoever are unfit for service in war are called polletrunci as who should say men that have not the use of their thumbs And it was a Custome among the Nations for the Conquerours to cut off the thumbs of the Conquered thereby rendering them disgraced and utterly unable for future employments either at Sea or Land And Scriptural Story also seems to confirm this in Adonibezek who said Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off gathered their meat under my table as I have done so God hath requited me Thus far on the part of the bones Again if we consider on the part of the Muscles how they are variously shaped and formed according to their several uses how they are perforated according to necessity how they are seated to the best advantage how they are to one another friends or antagonists how they are derived from one part and inserted into another how much strength and vigour they have how by their hormetick power and contraction into their own bodies they can readily perform whatsoever motion the Organ is capable of they can stir the limb inward outward forward backward upward downward they can perform adduction abduction flexion extension pronation supination the Tonick motion circumgiration and all these with so great expedition and agility that they are much sooner done than said yea as soon done as thought on the actions of the Muscles keeping pace nay many times out-stripping the volubility of the mind If we yet further consider them in their Tendons and the variety of them how they are either solid plain round broad long short one many or of whatsoever form may render them most expeditious in their motions how they are strengthned by several Ligaments especially that annulary Ligament in the Wrist I say if we consider these wonderful things wherein man differs from all other Creatures and many others which good skill in the anatomy of these parts would easily furnish a man with all which would be too large here to insert It would enforce us to say that these of all the parts of man do most properly defend him and may justly be stiled the keepers of the house Now that these may be said to tremble needs no words to make appear forasmuch as the experience of every old man doth sufficiently confirm it Which word doth comprehend within it self all the weaknesses infirmities inabilities of these parts in this condition Whether they be outward as stiffness contraction rugosity or inward as aches pains numness palsies cramps tremblings yet notwithstanding it hath in a more especial manner relation to that grand symptome that doth most certainly attend this condition which is called Tremor artuum the continual and unavoydable trembling of the hands and arms Now forasmuch as the last age of man is eminently above all others he passeth the cold and the dry it must needs incline him and at last most certainly cast him into this distemper For these two qualities and for ought I understand these alone are the natural fathers of this trembling child If we remember how going abroad in a bitter cold morning how drinking a great deal of cold water or swimming in the water if we know how the use of Poppies Henbane Opium the cold fit of an Ague and other cold things will easily set us a shaking if we consider that long fastings great evacuations especially Venerial which do most dry the Nerves violent heat in Feavers fluxing by the use of Quicksilver immoderate sweatings in hot houses or elsehow do cause the same distemper we shall be induced chiefly to attribute this terrible symptome to these two deadly enemies of a well tempered Constitution coldness and dryness which are so contrary to the instruments of voluntary motion whose life and vigour consists in radical heat and moysture that they take off their strength and render them unable to perform their duties making them so weak that even the weight of the member they are to move is now their equall Antagonist for they going about to move the member as they usually had done are resisted with equal force by the weight of that member which causeth as it were a continual combate between the strength of the mover and the weight of the moved so that the Limb is alwaies drawn one way by that and another way by this which causeth a perpetual trembling of the keepers of the house which is reckoned here as the first and indeed is one of the most remarkable symptomes upon the body of man in this decrepit state The strong men shall bow themselves Having before treated of the infirmities of the superiour Limbs he comes now to those of the inferiour the keepers of the house being the hands the strong men can be no other than the feet now as the hand was divided before so also is the anatomical foot containing not only tarsum metatarsum and phalanges digitorum but also femur tibiam and extremum pedem and as before I shewed the beginning of the hand was to be accounted from the Scapula so here I must also tell you that the beginning of the foot is from the Os Iliuns◠And those Muscles which are inserted into the thigh and have their use for the motion thereof notwithstanding their origination may be either from the back inwardly as the chief flector the Psoas or outwardly as the first extendor Gloutaeus major or from the 〈◊〉 Ilium as most other movers of the thigh have ought all to be accounted into the number of the strong men And if we well consider the true nature of progressive motion and firm station on the ground we shall soon conclude that the instruments of them both which are none other than those we are treating of are the best demonstrators of humane strength and may more aptly than any other parts of the body be called the strong men And this we may also have confirmed in the holy Writings of God the strength of the legs as the instruments of motion seem to be expressed by the Prophet when he saith He delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man their strength as they are the instruments of firm station is excellently expressed by the Spouse when she saith concerning her Beloved His legs are as pillars of marble And as they are the Instruments of both you have them notified in the Story of Peters curing the lame man wherein as if the use of legs both for standing and walking and strength were Convertible terms signifying the same thing we have his cure once expressed by these words Immediately his feet and his ancle bones received strength and he leaping up stood
so hinder that open view must of necessity cause a diminution and in time a perfect abolition of the sight and here give me leave to name one or two principal symptomes of vision that are the chief attendants of this declining state The first is Caligo which is the obscurity of vision by reason of the Crassitude or thickness of the Tunica Cornea which by reason of the driness of age doth together with the nails of the fingers grow darker and thicker and consequently lose dayly somewhat of its perspicuity Another is Glaucoma which is the change of the colour of the Crystalline humour by reason of its dulness and thickness whereby old men do look upon all things as it were through smoak or a cloud and so do but darkly discern them Another is Zinifisis which is a change of the figure of the whole eye whereby it becomes more plain and depressed and a driness in the Crystalline humour whereby it is unable to reduce the eye to that form which may be most advantagious to vision so that they cannot perceive any thing at an equal distance but must have their objects more remote from the eye or the species first refracted and directed by the use of Spectacles Another is Suffusio ex cruditate or any interposition of any preternatuâ—al matter between the sight and the Tunica Cornea I might also add Corrugatio relaxâ—tio uveae tunica the contraction or dilatation of the apple of the eye or whatsoever else by obscuring the glass or obstructing the holes may be justly said to darken the lookers out of the windows Verse 4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird and all the Daughters of musick shall be brought low THus far the Preacher hath been treating of all those faculties which are termed Animal and their decaies in the time of age he passeth in this verse to those other which are called natural of which he treateth in the beginning of this verse and then to those that are mixed in the latter end and that in a double respect first those that are mixed of the faculties inward and outward and that is expressed in the want of sleep in those words He shall rise up at the voice of the bird forasmuch as sleep if perfect and sound is the ligation of all the senses both inward and outward for the refreshment both of the mind and body The other mixture of faculties is of vital and Animal in the last words All the daughters of musick shall be brought low For the passive daughters of Musick belong to the Animal faculty being the Instruments of an outward sense viz. hearing And the active daughters of Musick belong to the vital being the instruments of respiration as you shall hear hereafter Now to the understanding of this verse especially the former part of it I hope to let in some glimmering of light which formerly hath lain undiscovered The doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low For the right understanding of these words we must be sure in the first place to take notice that all these words are but one Sentence and confequently but one Clause of the description of age the former words viz. The doors shall be shut in the streets are not a distinct symptome of themselves as most men have formerly said but they have their reference to the ensuing words viz. When the voice of the grinding is low And the doors and streets here mentioned are no other than such as concern the grinding and are as inlets and outlets waies and passages unto that And I perswade my self that the hitherto miscarriage in the Interpretation of these words hath proceeded from neglect of this consideration The doors shall be shut when the grinding is low and only then and the lowness of the grinding is the cause of the shutting of the doors In humilitate vocis molentis saith the Vulgar Latine Ob per vel propter depressionem vocis molentis say others and that very consonant to the Original inasmuch as the grinding shall be low or by reason of the lowness of the grinding the doors shall be shut in the streets Wherefore for the better clearing of the whole Sentence we must first of all shew what is to be understood by the grinding and afterwards what the doors and the streets are and what the sound of the grinding will easily be made appear The wisdome of Solomon is so famous throughout all Regions and Ages that I need not here Apologize for it It would be unbecoming an ordinary Writer much more the Penman of this Allegory to deliver the same thing twice in a breath And I wonder with what face any Interpreters could put so great an absurdity upon the Wise man as to make this grinding signifie no more than that just mentioned before But for the clearing of this we must know that grinding is of two sorts either Per extra positionem or Per intra susceptionem as Philosophers use to distinguish of augmentation there is an extrinsecal or an intrinsecal grinding the former of these is performed when two hard bodies acting against each other do break and bruise into small parts that which is put between them And this is the grinding as in a Mill of which you heard before The latter of these is performed when the parts of the same mass by reason of the exaltation of some internal principle or the addition of some fermentum are so acted among themselves that the whole mass and every the least part thereof is changed and brought into a new Consistence And this Philosophy calls Fermentation and is that of which the Wiseman speaks in this place And it is therefore called grinding because it accomplisheth the end thereof better than any mill can do It will comminuate things of so hard a substance that no mill can break I would fain know what Mill could have ground Aarons golden Calf but by the help of fire and possibly some specifick menstruum as a proper key for that Solar Mineral it was easily ground to powder Again it can divide the matter that is to be ground into smaller parts than any mill can do it will not leave the most minute part unsearched A little leaven saith the Scripture leaveneth the whole lump And our Saviours expression of it is yet more significant The Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till the whole of mass and every one of the least parts thereof be leavened No Mill can be set so low as to grind every Corn and every part of every Corn but Leaven leaves none untouched but divides beyond what Philosophy gives way for into parts indivisible Now of this sort of grinding there is very much to
of the windows And it is wonderful to consider how ready they are in this work that they might be no impediment to vision so that an instantaneous action is no way better expressed than by the motion of the eye lids Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinckling of an eye And when we look earnestly upon any thing we steadfastly keep the windows open and a shut eye in Scripture phrase signifieth imposibility of seeing Shut their eyes lest they see and an open eye signifieth power of looking or beholding Open the eyes of these men saith Elisha that they may see and the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold they were in the midst of Samaria And a Seer and a man whose eyes are opened are the same thing Balaam the son of Beor hath said and the man whose eyes are open hath said he hath said who heard the words of God who saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance but having his eyes open And thus also may the eyes be said to look through the holes and all those that have taken exact notice of the Foramina Cutis in the body of man have been sure not to neglect these Thirdly They may be said to look through the holes in respect of that outward Membrane of the eye which is called Adnata or Conjunctiva and this is that which being divided from the Pericranium is next of all to the Orbita and firmly holdeth the eye in that Cavity it encompasseth the eye round on the back part and on the fore-part so far as the white of the eye goeth and no further and so leaveth the whole Iris the rainbow or party-coloured part of the eye as an open hole which the visible species may freely without interruption pass through the truth of this any one may discern in the inflammation of the eyes for that is a disease for the most part seated in this part alone then you may see the veins and the Arteries very red and swollen so far as this Membrane or the white of the eye reacheth and the Iris or darker part of the eye in the mean while wholly free Fourthly The eyes may be said to look through the holes in respect of the Pupilla or the apple of the eye which is nothing else but an open hole in one of the coverings of the eye as I may say bored for that very purpose that the lookers through the windows might have an open view for that Covering which is called Tunica Uvea is a thick and a close a dusky and a dark Membrane through which the visible Species or the light cannot easily make its way And therefore on the back part its use is to preserve and to keep together the innate light of the eye and also to give a stop to the visible species so that they can pass no farther but must there impress their Images like the lead or the steel or whatsoever else is put on the backside of the Looking-glass without which there can be no impression made but on the fore-part it is most conveniently perforated and at such a proportion that the light or the species through it have freedom of access which perforation is the apple of the eye that wonderful part which is so often noted in Scripture to be above all other parts of the body tendered and observed and therefore here I would principally take notice of it and of all the parts of the eyes and of all the holes through which they look let this be alwaies accounted the most observable For it may be dilated or contracted as it may be conducible to a more perfect sight if there be requisite thereunto a greater or a lesser light if the object we would look upon be farther off or nearer to the eye or if we do more carelesly or curiously look upon it this hole is presently made wider or narrower that it may be the more serviceable for the present occasion Lastly They may be said to look through the holes in respect of the Optick Nerves for these above all the other Nerves of the body are apparently perforated and although neither these nor any other doth so appear in a body that hath been long dead yet doubtless they have open passages while the body is yet alive forasmuch as they are the Conveyers of matter though more pure and refined from one part unto another as the other Chanels of the body are And here the Cavity and Porosity of the Optick nerves ought as well to be reckoned among the holes through which sight is made as any other that are placed before the proper Organ upon which the representation of outward objects is first made and that because there can be no perfect perception of any thing unless the impression made upon the Sensory be truly conveyed into the most inward recesses of the brain where the soul makes its seat of judicature For as all the things in a Chamber may have their firm representation in a glass that stands upon the Table yet if any thing interpose between me and the glass I discern nothing at all and they are all as much hid from me as if they had never been there represented And thus we know a total obstruction of the Optick Nerve which is called Gutta Serena makes as perfect a blindness as an obstruction of the humour Aqueus which is called a Cataract And thus I have endeavoured to shew and that I hope with some satisfaction how the eyes may be called the lookers through the windows Now as age comes on and encreaseth it is well known to all men how sight goeth away and decreaseth the lookers out of the windows must assuredly be darkned and by how much the more excellent these parts are by so much the more apparent are their decayes It is said of the heart it is primum vivens and ultimum moriens but contrariwise it may very well be said of the eye that it is ultimum vivens and primum moriens This most wonderful and tender part of man in that it hath more curious and more various work in its formation is the last that lives and in that it hath need of more life and vigour more firmness and purity in its operation it is the first that dieth and indeed the insensible encroach of age is no where so soon discovered as in the eye and men are loath to think themselves declining in age so soon as the eye gives warning thereof and we have scarce any description of an old man by his infirmities wherein those of the eye are not principally mentioned When Isaac Jacob Eli and others are recorded as old it is said of them Their eyes were dim and they could not see for whatsoever may either incrassate the diaphanous bodies before mentioned and render them less transparent or stop the several perforations and