all those things that are compact or solid do contain Salt and where there is no Salt there can be no hardness And for this reason they esteem Salt to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Solidity which they that deny say they are obliged to shew some other cause from which Salts have that aptitude to coagulate themselves and become solid bodies For it is manifest that the Salts of Vegetables as Crystals of Tartar c. also Nitre Allom Vitriol Salt Gemm and divers other of this Nature do coagulate themselves not only into hard but even brittle bodies in the bosome of the water and to this end they alleadge that if the Salt be washed from ashes no heat of fire will make them hard but if the Salt be left in them and they be mixt with a little water the fire will not only quickly make them become hard but if they be strongly press'd with it turn them into Glass The Learned Kircherus is also of the same opinion with the Ghymists viz. that Salt is the cause of stonifying and giveth us this experiment to confirm it Si saxum inquit quodcunque in tenuissimum pâ—llinem resolveris aqua perfectè commixtum per Manicam Hippocratis Colaveris illa nil prorsus saxeum sed preter arenaceum solummodo sedimentum nil relinquet si verò Nitrum vel Tartarum aqua perfecté commixtum addideris illa quacunque tetigerint intra subjectam concham posita sive frondes similiaque post exiguum temporis curriculum aeri exposita vel in saxum ejusdem generis conversum si non totum saltem cortice Saxco vestient If saith he you reduce any sort of stone into a most subtile powder and mixing it throughly with water you strain it through Hippocrates's bagg therewill nothing of it remain that is stony nor will it leave any thing of it behind but a certain sandy sediment but if you shall add to this Nitre or Tartar perfectly dissolved in water whatsoever body they shall touch being placed in the same Dish whether it be the twiggs of a Vine or the like after a little while being exposed to the Air it will be turned into stone or at least it will be covered with a stony Crust And though this opinion be held by Crollius Hartman Quercetanus Severinus and Sennertus who are but Neoterick or late Writers yet is it no new opinion but hath been asserted by the venerable Ancients as long agoe as the time of Hermes Tresmegistus who is said to have lived in the Age of Ioshua who in his Smaragdine Tables as they are called hath left us these words Salis est ut corporibus in Mundum prodituris soliditatem coagulando praestet Sal enim corpus est Mercurius Spiritus Sulphur anima that is T is from Salt that Bodies are produced in the World it causeth Coagulation and Solidity for Salt is the Body Mercury the Spirit and Sulphur the Soul This Doctrine though much more rational than the former and seeming to be confirmed by experiment and to be verified by the account our senses give us of it cannot yet gain my full assent to it so far as to allow Salt to be the Primary either Matter or Efficient of Solidity in bodies or the cause from whence stones are produced For it is observabe that Salts are reducible into Liquors and do seem to lose their solidity either by being mixed with water or exposed to the Air in which many of them run per deliquium But to let this pass what Salt can be supposed to be communicated to Quick-silver when it is coagulated by the fumes of melted Lead by which it becomes so solid that it may be cast into Moulds and Images formed of it and when cold is not only hard but somewhat brittle like Regulus of Antimony What access of Salt can be fancied is added to the white of an Egg from whence the whole Chick is formed which is a Liquor so near water that by beating it with a whisk it is reduced into so fluid a substance that it will easily mix with water and is hardly distinguishable from it And yet this white of the Egg by the assistance of a gentle heat to stir up its seminal Principle and enable it to turn and new shuffle the parts of that liquid substance by the means of which motion divers of its parts are broken into shapes and sizes fit to adhere one to another is all of it turned into solid bodies some of them very tough as the Membranes and Nerves and some of them hard and brittle as the Beak Bones Claws c. of the Chick and all this without any new addition of salt 'T is likewise remarkable that very credible witnesses assure us that Corral though it grow in salt water at the bottom of the Sea is yet whilst it remains there soft like other Plants and juicy also neither will the example of Kircherus alleadged above avail much sinceit is commonly known that the powder of Plaster of Paris or burnt Alabaster if it be mixed with water without any sort of salt will coagulate into an entire stony lump or Mass. I do not deny but that salt may very much conduce towards the coagulation of some bodies as we see in the curdling of Milk with Runner Spirit of salt Oyl of Vitriol juice of Limmons and the like but then this happens but to some bodies and is caused from the shape and motion of its small parts which entring the pores of some bodies that are naturally fitted to be wrought upon by it it fills up many of the cavities of such bodies and also affixing it self to the particles of them it causeth them not only to stick to it self but also adhere closely one to another I say salts do this to some bodies not to all for to some other bodies instead of being an Instrument either to cause or confirm their solidity it by dissociating the parts of which they consist and putting them into motion doth reduce them into the appearance of Liquor as we see in the action of corrosive saline spirits both upon Metals and stones Now for that Argument that salts do shoot even in the water into hard and brittle Crystals if I should say they do so upon the account of a seminal Principle I should not perhaps be thought to have much mistaken the cause by those that have well consider'd the curious and regular Figures yet constantly distinct from each other which their Crystals shoot into which certainly cannot proceed from chance for they do as constantly keep their own figure as for Example that of Nitre alwayes appears in a Sexangular form that of Sea-salt in a Cubical As Wheat produceth Wheat and the seed of a Man a Man Philosophers hold there are two sorts of Agents one they stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the principal cause or Agent from which immediately and primarily the Action depends and
Liquor in the Earth is by Paracelsus and Helmont by a Barbarous name call'd Leffas Terrae and is the proximate matter of all Vegetables For proof of what I seem to have with some boldness asserted in this place Let any sort of Grain be put for a small time in an Oven or any analogous heaâ— that the external warmth may suscitate and excite this ferment of the Seed to take wing and desert its body This Grain though entire to sight if it be committed to the Earth shall never by any Art be brought to produce its like As Vegetables and Animals have their Original from an invisible Seminal Spirit or breath so also have Minerals Metals and Stones To this purpose Dr. Iordan tells us There is a Seminal Spirit of all Minerals in the Bowels of the Earth which meeting with convenient Matter what that is we shall shew in its place and Adjuvant Causes is not idle but doth proceed to produce Minerals according to the Nature of it and the Matter which it meets withal which matter it works upon as a Ferment and by its motion procureth an actual heat as an Instrument to further its work which actual heat is increased by the fermentation of the Matter The like we see in making of Malt where the Grains of Barley being moyst'ned with water the Generative Spirit in them is dilated and put in Action and the superfluity of the water being removed which might choak it and the Barley laid up in heaps the Seeds gather heat which is increased by the contiguity of many Grains lying one upon another In this work Natures intent is to produce more individuals according to the Nature of the Seed and therefore it shoots forth in spires but the Artist abuses the intention of Nature and converts it to his ends that is to increase the Spirit of his Malt. The like we find in Mineral Substances where this Spirit or Ferment is resident as in Allom and Copperas-Mines which being broken exposed and Moystned will gather an actual heat and produce much more of these Minerals than else the Mine would yield as Agricola and Thurniser do affirm and is proved by common experience The like is generally observed in Mines as Agricola Erastus Libavius c. do avouch out of the daily experience of Mineral Men who affirm that in most places they find their Mines so hot as they can hardly touch them although it is likely that where they work for perfect Minerals the heat which was in fermentation whilst they were yet in breeding is now much abated the Minerals being now grown to their perfection And for this heat we need not call for the help of the Sun which a little Cloud will take away from us much more the body of the Earth and Rocks nor for subterranean fires This imbred heat is sufficient as may appear also by the Mines of Tinglass which being digged and laid in the moyst Air will become very hot so Antimony and Sublimate being mixed together will grow so hot as that they are not to be touched If this be so in little quantities it is likely to be much more in great quantities and huge Rocks Heat of it self differs not in kind but only in degree and therefore is inclined no more to one Species than to another but as it doth attend and serve a more worthy Superiour such as this Generative Spirit is Thus far he Moreover that Minerals and Metals have their proper Seeds hear further what a Mystical Chymist but a very rational Man Cosmopolita sayes Semen Minerale vel Metallorum creat natura in visceribus terrae propterea non creditur tale semen esse in rerum natura quia invisible est Nature doth Create the Mineral or Metalline Seed in the Bâ—wels of the Earth therefore it is not believed that there is such a Seed in Nature because it is invisible And the same Author again thus Et quam praerogativam vegetabilia prae Metallis habent ut Deus illis semen inderet haec immeritò excluderet Nonne ejusdem dignitatis Metalla apud Deum cujus arbores Hoc pro certo statuatur nihil sine semine crescere ubi enim nullum est semen res est Mortua that is And what prerogative have Vegetables above Metals that God should put Seed into them and undeservedly exclude these Are not Metals of the same dignity with God that Trees are This may be held for certain that nothing doth increase without Seed for where there is no Seed that thing is Dead So that it is plain you see by the afore-cited Authorities that Minerals and Metals have Seed that this Seed is invisible and that it works by the help of its ferment or as a ferment That stones grow common experience teacheth us as also the tenth History alleadged in the first Section of this present Essay and consequently must be endowed with seed and ferment so that here is at least an analogous way of production to that of Animals and Vegetables which we have declared above and was the thing we intended here to prove But before I proceed that I may be the more clearly understood I shall declare what I understand by the Ferment of the seed The word Fermentum which signifieth Leaven is by â— some esteem'd to be quasi fervimentum or a thing made hot and generally is used to denote not only a turgescence and dilatation of the parts of Matter as in Leavened Bread c. but also signifieth the working of any sort of Liquor till it become Maturated and exalted into a generous and sprightly Drink Fermentation is thus defined by the Learnned Dr. Willis Fermentatio est motus intestinus particularum seu principiorum cujusvis corporis cum tendentia ad perfectionem ejusdem Corporis vel propter mutationem in aliud Fermentation is an intestine or intire motion of the Principles or particles of which day Body consists with an intent to perfect the said Body or change it into another Ferments then are subtile tenuous Bodies which we generally call Spirits for as to Leaven Yeast c. they are but the cloathings of these Spiritual and finer Substances as we before shewed the Grains of Vegetables and the Sperm of Animals were which fine subtile breath the Ferment hath an expansive power by which being immersed in any Matter or Substance it desiring to dilate it self variously agitates the small particles of that matter it is joyned to and making Excursions through all parts of the Subject it is resident in it adhering intimately to every small part of the Matter doth first by the peculiar motion it hath put them into alter and break the particles into new shapes and sizes and then by conveneing together with them constitute a new texture of that Matter and thus a new Concrete is made by the power of the Ferment So that in truth the Ferment of a Seed I mean Natural Ferment is not any Substance
governing and directing all things to their proper and peculiar Offices Functions and Ends. And this Providence was by them somtimes stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul of the World by which sayth Seranus they understood nothing else but the Fire Spirit or Efficacy which is universally diffused in the Symmetry of the Universe for the Forming Nourishing and Fomenting all things according to their respective natures Which Vivifick Principle Plato calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 effective Fire but this they never understood or meant to be a material part of any Body but is the same which Moses calls the Spirit of God And now in the last place I am come to give you the mind of Plato and his â—onformity with Moses His judgment hath always been soâ—esteemed that men to express the Reverence they had of him did usually call him the Divine Plato And in delivering his opinion I shall also at the same time give you that of Timaeus Locrius that great Philosopher and Disciple of Pythagoras from whom Plato borrowed much First then Plato tells us that the World was made For he puts the question whether the World had a beginning or was made To which he answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was made Then as to the first matter of which the World and all the Bodies in it were made he says thus in his Timaeus it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Genus or Species out of which every thing is composed and He calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first Matter and is indeed the same with Sanchoniathans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mot c. and Thales and Orpheus's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all of them the same with Moses his Chaos and Water as will appear by comparing their descriptions together Thus first Moses calls his first matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ohu without from which Rabby Kinchi calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Fabius tells us which is the same word that Plato uses to express his first matter by and differs little in sound but less in the sence from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Sanchoniâ—thon which Philo Biblius stiles Mot from the Hebrew and Phenitian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mod which signifieth Matter Yea Plato expresly calls his first Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somewhat without form just like Moses his Bohu And in his Timaus he tells us that God out of this first matter wâ—ter commonly called Chaâ—s because disordered and irregular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beautified Ordered and Figured or Form'd the Universe and as Moses says the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the waters So Plato affirmeth that God made the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by an importunate mâ—tion fluctuating and not quiescing upon the matter And as for Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Soul of the World we are assured by Ludovieus Vives he meanâ— by it the same Spirit of God which Moses says moved upon the waters in the Beginning and which the Psalmist calls the breath of his mouth Psalm 33. verse 6. For according to Platoes Philosophy as well as that of Moses God is the Executive cause and productive Efficient of all things and therefore he usually stiles God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Supream Fabricator Perfector and Essentialisor of all things And as to the manner how all things were made he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every thing was essentialised by certain Prolifick or efformative words which the Stoicks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spermatick or Seedy word Which agrees exactly both with Moses his Fiat and with that of St. Paul The Worlds were framed by the word of God that is Gods Fiat was the Creator of all the Seminal and Prolifick Principles of all things and those created Seeds were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Efficients and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 water was the Matter of which they were all made These Seminal or Efficient Principles of things do contain within themselves certain Pictures or Images of those things which they are to make out of the matter viz. water To which purpose let us here what Plato says of his Ideas which is to this effect There are two sorts of Worlds one that hath the form of a Paradigm or Exemplar which is an intelligible Subject and always the same in being but the second is the Image of the Exemplar which had a beginning and is visible By his Intelligible World Plato means the Divine Decrees which are inherent in the Mind and wisdom of God and these Original Idea's he says do produce a Secondary sort of Idea's that is the Seeds of things and these he makes to be the more immediate Delineation or Image of the whole work somtimes calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Exemplar somtimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Image His words run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making use of this Exemplar he frames the Idea and Powers that is the Seeds of things So that he makes the first and Original Idea which is resident in the Divine Wisdom or Mind of God and which Divines call the Decrees of God to be much more Noble than the latter or secondary Idea or Seed and to be the cause of it And this last Idea and Seed contains the Picture of the thing to be made and depends upon the Primary or Original Idea and Exemplar which is seated in God himself Which Doctrine rightly considered we have a satisfactory account of the cause why the last Idea's viz. the Seeds of things do proceed so regularly constantly and unerringly in the producing their likes For if we consider that the Seeds of things do depend upon their Paradigmes and that they are inherent in the Mind of God himself who is a God of Order this will appear not so abstruse as it hath hitherto done And though we out of Pride and self-love to our own Nature are unwilling to afford any creature that is not of our Species the Priviledg of doing any thing by a Principle of reason that is with a design tending towards the accomplishment of such an End yet it is certain that all creatures even those that we count inanimate do enjoy upon the account of their Seminal Principles not only Life but even reason in some measure Which wanting the use of Languages they do nevertheless plainly declare to heedful and inquisitive men not only by their regular and consequently designed working the parts of matter till they have produced such a distinct sort of Body but also by those affections which wee call Sympathy and Antipathy and for want of this knowledg have hitherto referred to occult or hidden causes the usual Sanctuary of Ignorance by which Sympathy and Antipathy of theirs it is very manifest they have hatred and love and have a knowledg of those things which are either pleasing or agreeable too or else unpleasant or hurtful to their natures And
A Philosophical Essay DECLARING The probable Causes whence Stones are produced in the Greater World From which occasion is taken to search into the Origin of all Bodies discovering them to proceed from Water and Seeds Being a Prodromus to a Medicinal Tract concerning the Causes and Cure of the Stone in the Kidneys and Bladders of Men. WRITTEN By Dr. Thomas Sherley Physitian in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed for William Cademan at the Pope's Head in the Lower Walk of the New-Exchange 1672. To the Illustrious GEORGE Duke Marquis and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villiers Baron Whaddon of Whaddon Lord Ross of Hamlock Belvoir and Trusbut c. Master of the Horse Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and one of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please your Grace T Is not the sublime condition in which you are nor the eminent and great Honours with which you deservedly shine as a bright Star of the first Magnitude in our little World that hath induced me to address this ensuing Discourse to you but the great and excellent knowledge of Natural Beings your Grace hath acquired by a constant and curious Anatomizing of all sort of Concrets in your Laboratory a way certainly the most likely to give you a faithful and solid account of the Nature of things by discovering to you the real principles of which they are constituted This it is which made me conclude I should have done a great injustice had I put this Tract under any other Protection than yours And indeed at whose feet can a Subject of this Nature be so fitly plac'd as at your Grace's you being so great an Experimental Philosopher But lest I prove tedious I will conclude this Epistle with assuring you that not only this Book but the Author of it are both Dedicated to your Graces Service by him that in all Humility subscribes himself My Lord Your Graces most Obedient and Faithful Servant THO. SHERLEY TO THE READER READER Custome which hath the power to make and establish Laws hath obliged me to comply in this particular of writing to thee Otherwise I was resolved to suffer this ensuing Discourse to appear naked and without an Advocate as Philosophical Subjects ought to do that so the minds of the studious being free from preposession might be the better able to judge of the truth of the Matter in hand and of the validity of the Arguments I produce to evince it This I say I would have done could I have been assur'd that this Book should have fallen under the censure of none but Philosophical and knowing Men to whom I should have thought my self happy to have submitted my labours in this kind To which sort of inquisitive and industrious Men I pretend not to have done any further service in these Lucubrations then by having laid together those Arguments and Experiments which did readily occurr to my mind and which I thought might conduce to prove the Matter in hand a Subject â—it to be seriously look'd into and though I seem in some places to be determinate yet I declare once for all I have not the vanity to think I have put such a Ne plus ultra to the inquiries into this Subject that â—o further discoveries are to be made nothing less For though the Subject be rough and hard yet it is far from being unfruitful And if by my endeavours I shall prove Instrumental by giving of hints c. to put other industrious Philosophers who are fitted with better parts and more time to digg deeper in these Quarries I shall think it glory sufficient to have been thus far serviceable to the Common-wealth of Learning and if by the endeavours of such Wâ—rthy Men I shall find my self confirm'd in my Opinion I shall rely upon it with the greater security But if by their inquirius other and truer causes shall appear I shall not scruple to a knowledge that I will willingly become a Proselyte to Truth though at the same time it is discover'd it convince me of having been erroneous in my Opinion But at present thinking I defend a verity I shall not easily recede from my Opinion without my Iudgment be convinc'd by the same means I make use of to Proselyte others that is both by reason and Experiments And likewise let me add this that I shall expect the same Candid and civil dealing from such who intend to confute me which I have shew'd to those whose Opinions I reject For otherwise I shall conclude a railing Adversary fitter for my slight than reply I knowing a better use of my time then to spend it so unfruitfully As I court not applause which is a vanity anbefitting a Philosopher So having as I suppose appear'd in a good Cause that is the defence of a philosophical truth viz. that the Matter of Stones and all other Bodies is Water and their Efficient Seed I shall not fear Censure though I must be exposed to that of any Man which shall take the pains to peruse my Book I am not ignorant of the Proverb So many Men so many Minds Nor of that other Habenâ—â—sua fata Likelli And therefore cannot expect that impossibility of pleasing every body but that I may be as useful as I can to those Readers which though they may have large Souls have yet been little Conversant with things of this Nature I say that I may be as Instructive as I can and that my meaning may not be mistaken I shall therefore inform them of these things following First that there are many Men of great Natural parts which yet want the advantage of understanding the Greek and Latinâ— â—ongâ—â—s for whose sakes I have that I might be the more useful Translated into the English all those quotations which I make use of from Authors which have writ in those Learned Languages and that for the most part Verbatim though sometimes I only deliver their sense And to satisfie the scrupulous yet Learned sort of Readers of my integrity I have almost constantly given them the very words and in the same Language they are delivered by those I quâ—te together with the Book and for the most part Page where the Original words may be found marked in the Margin Secondly If it shall be objected that I am very frequent in quotations a thing much out of fashion and that therefore it may be supposed I have said little but what will be found expressed by others I shall acknowledge I have wilfully done so because I had a desire to get my self strongly Seconded in my Opinion by the determinations of Learned Men And of the Testimony of such only have I made use For I verily believes that if an Angel himself should avouch any thing singly and as his own Opinion he would not be believed by some Men. But however the Reader will have these Advantages by it First those things are here contracted and
brought under their proper heads which are dispersed in many Voluminous Authors which will save him time in searching many Books Secondly He may find the Pith and Substance of what others have written in their Languages delivered in his own And thirdly here are besides many Experiments and Observations of my own very conducible I suppose to clear and explicate those Philosophical Principles I have undertook to defend in this Discourse Thirdly If any Man shall be so much a Moâ—us as to repine at the jâ—st commendations I often give to Van Helmont and Mr. Boyl I must needs say that I think his ill Nature proceeds from his want of throughly knowing these Authors for if he had taken the pains to search the depth of these two as I have done I doubt not but he would acknowledge I have fall'n short of giving them their deserved praise they having merited so much from all inquisitive and Learned Men. Lastly I think it necessary to tell thee how I would have to be understood those two words of Seed and Water the Principles upon which I have built this Discourse First then by Seed I understand a fine subtile Substance imperciptible by our grosâ— Organs of Sâ—osâ—tion in which God hath impressed a Character of that thing he will have it produce from the Matter it is to work upon which it doth perform by putting the parts of Matter into such a peculiar motion as is requisite to produce the intended Effect And this we may illustrate thus A Woman with Child by a strong desire forms in her Spirits an Idea of some Fruit she longs for and by the powerfull motion of that Idea working on the Child she forms a real Eâ—â—igies of the said Fruit upon that Member of the Child which corresponds to that of her own Body she touched with her hand which as Experience teacheth us will Vegetate grow Ripe and Wither according to the several mutations the Fruit it resembles undergoes And we are told by Esdras that God before he made the World did consider the things he intended to make and then produced them By which Expression I think may well be understood the Creation of all those Spiritual and Seminal Beings containing in them not only an Idea of the thing to be made but also a power to move the Matter after a peculiar manner by which means it reduceth it to a form like it self And as a Painter doth first conceive in his mind a Spirituall Idea of the Picture he intendeth to draw and afterwards by pecultar Motions of his hand which are guided by the said Idea he produceth a perfect Picture Corresponding with that in his mind So likewise by putting Matter into peculiar Motions the Seminal Idea makes it self visible By Water the Material Principle of all Concrets I understand a fluid Body consisting of very minute parts and variously figur'd Atoms or Corpuscules the Mass of it being full of pores and therefore subject to be contracted into less room and upon the same account it doth easily and readily submit to those motions it is put into by Seminal Beings from which moving of Matter all the visible and Tangible Bodies of the World have their result And therefore I have all along this ensuing Discourse took care to explicate the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Origin of Bodies by the Mechanical Principles That is by the Motion Shape Size Scituation and Connexion of the parts of Matter But though this be a way commonly used in explicating things by the Philosophers of our Age yet most of them leave out the first principle of Natural Motion viz. the Seminal principle which I have taken in to compleate my Hypothesis And now 〈◊〉 said they 〈◊〉 I shall say this further and let it not be counted a vanity that I think and hope I have in some considerable measure made out the truth of those principles I have assumed to defend It hath cost me some pains to Collect and draw into proper Sections the Body of this Discourse which I have also strengthned by the Authority of the best Philosophers and Learnedst of Men both Ancient and Modern All which I here present thee with heartily wishing all ingenious Mâ—n may see the usefulness of and receive as much satisfaction in this Doctrine as I do who am a Friend to all that industriously search after the Truth and Nature of Things THO SHERLEY From my House in Newton-street over against New South-hampton Building in High Holborn Ian. 27th 1672. The Reader is desired to Correct as he Reads these Errors of the Press as likewise any other he shall find ERRATA PAge 12. in the Margin leg Consensus p. 13. lin 2. read Concurrere page 15. lin ult leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 33. dele these words or intire p. 34. lin 5. leg a priori ib. lin 8. leg Springy p. 35. Lin. 11. dele whilst and they p. 16. dele p. 38. in the Margin leg Elementis p. 40. lin 23. leg faeces p. 103. lin 25. leg seminal p. 126. lin 26. leg apposition p. 124. lin 24. leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 110. lin 28. leg those p. 137. lin 1. leg least p. 129. lin 1. leg etherel p. 114. lin 1. leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 119. lin 9. leg OVTOV THE FIRST ESSAY Being a Discourse intended to demonstrate that not only Stones but all other Bodies owe their Original to Seeds and Water Section the First HAving in complyance with the impottunate desires or rather commands of many of my Worthy and ingenious Friends obliged my self to acquaint the World with my thoughts concerning the most probable cause of the Stone both in the Kidneyes and Bladder 〈…〉 the greater World in general and I was encouraged the more to do so by a Passage I met with in the Works of that Noble Philosopher Mr Boyl whose words are there Since we know very little a Priorâ— the observation of many effects manifesting that Nature doth actually produced them so and so suggests to us several wayes of explicating the same Phaenomenon some of which we should perhaps never have else dreamed of which ought to be esteemed no small advantage to the Physitian And again He that hath not had the curiosity to inquire out and consider the several wayes whereby Stones may be generated out of the Body not only must be unable satisfactorily to explicate how they come to be proâ—uced in the Kidneys and Bladder â—ut will perhaps scarce keep himself from embracing such errors because Authoriz'd by the suffrage of eminent Physitians as the knowledge I am recommending would easily protect him from Let us then in the first place examine how Nature produceth Stones without the Body of Man that is in the greater World after which we will see if the causes of generating Stones in the Bodies of Animals be not the same or at least bear some Analogy or resemblance thereunto Which that we may the better be enabled to
happened amongst the Carini a People of Germany which similitudes or Images of Men and Beasts were seen both by him and the Chancellor of Austria To the like purpose Helmont tells us of a whole Army consisting of Men Women Camels Horses Doggs with their Armour Weapons and Waggons which were all transmuted into stone and remain so to this day a horrible spectacle And this saith he happened in the Year 1320. betwixt Russia and Tartary in the Latitude of 64. degrees not far from a Fen of Kataya a Village or Horde of the Biscardians which he very rationally concludes to have happened from a strong hory petrifying breath or Ferment making an eruption through some clefts of the Earth the Land being stony underneath and the Winds having been silent for many dayes He that desireth more Examples of this kind let him consult Gorgius Wernerus de ungaricis Godfrid Smoll in lib Princip Philosoph Et Medic. antiquitatis Cap. 10. F. Leander Albertus in descript Italiae Andreas Laurentius lib. 2. de strumis Cap. 2. Georgius Agricola lib. 7. de Natura fossil Cap. 22. Johannas Wigandus in libellâ— de Succino Lobelius in fine Observat. Caelius c But I suppose what I have here related sufficient and therefore I think it now time to inquire into the Causes of Petrification and the Efficients of these Transmutations SECT Section the Second THe Doctrine of the four Elements with their qualities concutring as is suppos'd to the production of Bodies which was intorduced by the Authority of Aristotle and hath since prevailed with most Men even to this Age of ours hath been the cause why we have hitherto received but an unsatisfactory account not only of the Origine of all concretes but more particularly concerning stones and that not only in Relation to the Material Cause but also to the Efficient of Petrifications in general For they seem to think it sufficient to have crudely told us that Stones and all other Minerals and Metals are made of Earth with a slight mixture of the other three Elements as the Material and by the assistance of Heat Cold Moisture and Driness as the External and efficient Cause For perceiving the weight of Minerals and Stones to exceed the weight of water they therefore assign the matter of Minerals and Stones to be chiefly Earth and without any further Controversie or search after the matter they are content to believe and would have us do so too that all sorts of stones are nothing but Earth from which the other three Elements are forced by heat by which means it becomes baked into a stone And this they viz. the Aristotelians think they prove by alleadging the Example of Potters Earth which being burnt gains a stone-like hardness And because neither Stones nor Earth do commonly melt in the fire they therefore conclude stones are made of Earth But there being on such heat in the Superficies of the Globe much less in the bottom of the Water where commonly stones are bred I must confess I can receive but little satisfaction from this account And I find the Learned Sennertus is as unsatisfied with this Doctrine as my self for he will by no means allow the Elements or their qualities to be the Primary Efficients of Stonification His words are these Licèt vulgò multi é qualitatibus primis Calculorum Concretionum Coagulationum causas deducere conantur tamen frustrae laborant Nam neque exsiccatiâ— nec calor nec frigus hîc locum habere possunt ut primariae causae nam ut causam sine qua non concurre posse non negamus dum scilicet aquam quae concretioni obstat absumit neque à quoquam hactenus commonstrari potuit quomodo calor nudus talem Concrescendi dispositionem generare succum Lapidescentem producere possit Imo fit hoc etiam ubi omnis Calor abest in frigidis etiam membraneisque locis item in Infantibus ubinullus concedatur Caloris excessus sed manifesta potius cruditatis indicia deprehendantur in vesiâ—a generantur Calculi quomodo quaeso in fontibus frigidis in quibus ligna immersa in lapides transformantur succus lapidescens à Calore producitur Deinde frigus quod attinet non semper in loco frigido vel minus calido Calculi concrescant cùm in capite in pulmonibus circa basin Arteriae magnae in Cordis arteriis imo in Corde reperti sint uti Legimus in Observation Cornel. Gemmae lib. 1. Cosmocritic Cap. 6. Anton. Beniven de abdit Morb. Sanat Causs Cap. 24. Fernel 5. Pâ—tholog Cap. 12. Hollerii 1. de Morb. internis in schol Cap. 29. 50. Et in balneis etiam Calidissimis Trophos at stirias saxeas concrescere ubi frigus nullo modo admitti potest experientia compertum habetur in English thus Though it hath been much endeavour'd by many to deduce the causes of the concretion coagulation of stones from the first or primary qualities yet hath their labour been in vain for neither can drought heat or cold be here allowed as a primary cause but we do not deny that they may concur as a cause sine qua non so that it may for Example waste the water which hinders concretion neither could it hitherto be demonstrated by any body how heat of it self could be able to generate such a disposition of compaction and that it could produce a Lapidescent juice Nay this is performed where all heat is wanting and that in cold and Membranous places as also in Infants who are not allow'd to have any excess of heat but are rather found to have manifest crudity the stone is generated in the Biadder and how I pray is the stonisying juice produced in cold Fountains into which wood being cast is changed into stone Then as to cold stones do grow in the Head in the lungs about the basis of the great artery in the Arteries of the Heart nay they are in the Heart it self Also there grows in hot Baths as experience sheweth sandy stones stony Isicles where cold can by no means be admitted Thus far he by which you see he is clearly of opinion that neither heat nor cold can be the primary or chief cause of Petrification contrary to the Axiom which Aristotle layes down to this effect Of those bodies which adhere together and are hard they are wont to be thus affected some by the fervour of heat some by cold that drying up the moysture this pressing it forth Let us then inquire what the Chymical Philosopher's opinion is in this point and the rather because it is constantly affirmed by most of them that the Art of Pyrotechny is the only true means of informing the mind with Truth and acquainting it with realities and we shall find that they hold Salt to be the principle of solidity and the genuine cause of coagulation in all bodies as also of stonification For say they if you consult experience
by whose power the thing is made and this as we shall prove in its due place is an Architectonick stonifying Spirit or Petrifick seed The other cause they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Adjuvant or assisting cause of which sort there are many by which the principal Agent may be furthered in its acting upon matter of which last sort of causes of the solidity in Bodies viz. the Helping or Assistant we will not deny but that salt may be one as being such a praevious disposition of the parts of Matter as renders them more apt to be wrought upon by the first kind of Agent viz. the Seed So that in some sence we may for the reasons above alloadg'd allow the Chymist to think salt is though Nec prima materia nec efficiens Yet Proxima maâ—eria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soliditatis The Proximate matter and Adjuvant cause of Solidity But since not only salt but the whole Tria prima or Three first Principles of the Chymists as also the Quaternary or four Elements of the Peripateticks are justly enough denyed to be the first Elements or constitutive Principles of all Bodies they themselves being further resolvable into more simple parts as we shall prove by and by I say since it is so I must be excused if denying my suffrage to both their Doctrines in that large sence they propose it in I offer to render other causes by which not only solidity but Petrification also may be introduced into Matter Section the Third THe Doctrine I am now about to affirm is no Novel conceit but so Ancient that we shall find that it was held and by them transmitted to Posterity not only by Plato Timaeus Locrus Parmenides Pythagoras c. Philosophers of the Academick and Italick Sect but also by Orpheus Thales the Milesian and also by Mochos and Sanchoniathon the great and Ancient Phoenitian Philosophers nay by that Divinely illuminated Man Moses I urge this point of the Antiquity of the Doctrine I am now going to affirm because I know it is the custom of some Men to disgust any Philosophical truth that cannot shew it self to be as ancient as Aristotle's time but to please such let them consider that the Hypothesis we intend to make use of in this ensuing Discourse beareth an equal Date with the World and was at first deliver'd to Man by the Ancient of Dayes himself This Doctrine then which hath of late years been revived and assumed by the Noble Helmont and other great wits I now am come to lay down and explain and in the next place shall endeavour to prove and confirm it first by reaâ—on then by experiment and lastly by Authority The Hypothesis is this viz. That stones and all other sublunary bodies are made of water condensed by the power of seeds which with the assistance of their fermentive Odours perform these Transmutations upon Matter That is that the matter of all Bodies is originally meer water which by the power of proper seeds is coagulated condensed and brought into various forms and that these seeds of things do work upon the particles of water and alter both their texture and figure as also that this action ceaseth not till the seed hath formed it self a Body exactly corresponding with the proper Idea or Picture contained in it And that the true seeds of all things are invisible Beings though not incorporial this I affirm and shall endeavour to prove But to make this the better to be understood I shall praemise some generals and then descend to particular proofs of what I assert First then nothing is produced by chance or accident And therefore in every Generation or Production there must necessarily be presupposed some kind of seed which hath a power or faculty to alter the Matter and dispose it to such a Being and Form as God and Nature have design'd to produce Secondly all seeds in some degree are endow'd with Life and a power of acting for nothing that is not Vital can promote it self to perfection And if Bodies are distinguishable from their internal Efficients and are specificated by them then must they be allowed to contain a seed These positions will not pâ—rhaps be denyed to Animals nor Vegetables because their supposed feed is visible For the seed or rather sperm of perfect Animals is an efflorescence of the best parts of the blood elaborated in the Testicles and impregnated with Spirits from all parts of the Body in which resideth the vis Plastica or Efficient and this indeed is the real seed or geniture though it be invisible which containeth in it self the Image or Type of the thing to be made which it performs by a Fermental Odor or Aura and by breathing upon those proper juices it finds in a Female Womb it first coagulates them and then by degrees explicates it self working this Female Matter into a Body exactly corresponding with its own pre-conceived Figure the grosse body of the Male-seed all this while being but a vehicle to convey with safety this subtile fermentative breath to its proper place of action which being done the body of the sperm is ejected from the Womb as useless to Generation That this is so hath been proved by the industrious and curious dissection of divers sorts of Beasts made at several seasons after their Conceptions and continued till the formation of the foetus and yet no Vestigiae or foot-steps of the Male-sperm could be found in the womb This is asserted by that incomparable Man Dr. Harvy to whom I refer him that desireth further satisfaction in this point The sperm of Man if but for a moment it be exposed to the touch of the external Air becomes dead and unprolifick and that by reason of the subtilty of the spermatick ferment it being very apt to desert the body of the seed This is a truth so generally known that the Virtue of that Lady is justly suspected by all rational Men who pretended to have Conceived with Child by attracting the seed of a Man which floated in a Bath wherein she Bathed her self As to Vegetables They also take their beginnings are propagated and do fructifie from the like invisible cause viz. a fermentative Odor or Aura which also contains the Idea of the Plant to be produced The body of the Seed or Grain which is the Casket that contains this invisible Workman being committed to the Earth its proper Womb is softened by the Nitrosulphurous juice of the soyl that the Vis Plastica which is the Efficient of the Plant may being loosened from its body be at Liberty to act Which being done the body of the seed or Grain is destroyed according to the sacred Writ Except Seed committed to the ground dye it produceth no fruit But the Architectonick Spirit being now at Liberty ferments by its Odor the Liquors it finds in the Earth converting them into a juice fit to work the Plant out of it which it by degrees performs This
do I shall relate some choice Histories of Petrifications taken out of approved Authors and then examine the causes by which they were performed Gabriel Falopius mentioneth a River called Else which receives into it self the Torrent of the River Sena into which Wood Herbs or any other thing being â—ast it converts it into stone Albertus Magnus relates that in the Danish Sea near Lubeck in his time there was found an Arm of a Tree with a Nest and Young Birds in it the Wood Nest and Birds being all converted into Stone Domitius Brusonius tells us not upon hear-say but upon his own knowledge that the branches of Trees with their Leaves being cast into the River of Sylar do turn into stone Marbodius acquaints us that there is a Fountain in Gothia or Guthland that changeth whatsoever is put into it into stone and that the Emperour Frederick being incredulous of the thing did send his Glove thither sealed with his Ring that that part of the Glove with the seal which was immersed in the Water was in a few dayes converted into stone the other part remaining Leather Iohannes Kentmannus concerning Fossils writes that Arms of Trees with the Leaves Bark Wood also Gloves and divers other things being cast into a certain Fish-pond near the Castle of Schellenlerge in Misnia are turned into stone Bartholomaeus à Clivola affirms thâ—re is a Lake betwixt Caesarea and Tuana two Cities of Capadocia into which part of a Reed or Stick being put it by degrees is changed into stone that part which is out of the Water remaining what it was before Anselmus Boethius declareth that in England near the River Dee by West-Chester there is a great Cave into which whatsoever water flows is turned into stone Thomas Moresinus relates that in Moravia there is a dark Water in which there doth not at all appear any viscous matter which water nevertheless coagulates into stone Iohannes Petrus Faber giveth us a wonderful account of a Spring in the Suburbs of Claremont in the County of Avernia It flows sayes he out of a Rock and in its very coming forth it produces Rocks and white stones and the Inhabitants of this City when they would make a Bridge to go over any of the small Rivulets which are made by this Fountain that so they may visit their Fields and Gardens do thus They cause the Water of this Fountain to glide over certain planks made Arch-like and within twenty four hours they have a solid stone Bridge by the help of which they can pass dry-foot over the Rivers The water of this Fountain is visibly changed into stone yet nevertheless it alwayes flows as other Springs do This water is exceeding clear nor doth it differ in colour or clearness from other Springs Beasts will drink of it if they be not hinder'd but if they do it coagulates in their stomacks into stone from whence Death follows by reason of a Collick caused from thence which kills with cruel torments all the Beasts that have drunk this water Wherefore the Inhabitants take care to drive their Cattel far enough from this Fountain for it is a present poyson to all sorts of living Creatures that drink of it When it is taken from the Spring it is quickly turned into stone the truth of which the Inhabitants do make manifest to all that doubt thereof by many experiments they fill a glass with this water and presently it is converted into stone which retaineth the shape of the glass so likewise if Earthen Vessels be filled with this water it is suddenly congealed into stone which keeps the form and figure of the Vessel that contained it This wonder of Nature sayes he every body admires but I believe hardly any body will be found that shall be able to render the Natural reason of this thing Thus far he Gassendus tells us that Peireskius according to his usual custom in the Summer going into a stream of the River Rhosne to wash himself he observed once the ground to be hard under his feet and uneven which had at all times before been soft and smooth being full of knobs and Balls about the bigness and likeness of Eggs boyled hard and the shells pilled off which he looking upon as somewhat strange took some of them up and cartied them home but a few dayes after he was surprized with a greater Admiration for going again into the same place of the River he found those soft and yielding lumps he had left there turned into perfect pebble stones and also viewing those he had laid up at home he found them likewise turned into true Pebbles Helmont likewise affirms that contrary to the Proverb Gutta Cavat Lapidem A drop by often falling doth hollow a stone there is a Spring in the Monastery of Zonia near Brussels that breeds stones so fast that the Monks are daily forced to break them off with Crooks and Hatchets And I my self have seen a Spring near Wrixham in North-wales that in a short space of time would convert Sticks Straws Leaves Leather or any other subject put into it into stone And of this Nature are divers other Springs to be found both in Ireland and England Our Industrious Countrey-man Gerard assureth us he knew several Springs of this Nature both in England and Wales As in Bedford-shire in warwick-shire near Newnam Regis and another near Knasborrow in York-shire he likewise tells us he knew divers pieces of Ground into which astake being struck that part in the ground would be changed into stone the other part remaining Wood. Libavius relates That a certain Hen sitting on her Eggs being struck with a Gorgonick Spirit was transformed into stone with her Eggs likewise Crollius relates that in a certain place of Moravia there is a stupendious Den in which are to be found divers and admirable sportive works of Nature for the drops distilling from the upper part of the Cave into the hollow of it do there form many intricate Labyrinths in the Mountain and do presently of their own accord convert into stone by the help as he thinks of the Spirit of Salt and in their falling from on high they form various Figures and Statues of stone Aristotle sayes that in the Metalline Grots of Lydia about the City Pergamos certain Workmen in the time of War having fled into them to hide themselves and the mouth of the Cave being stopp'd they perished there but afterwards being found not only their Bones but their Veins with the humours contained in them were found to be turned into stone Aventinus also writes thus In the Year 1348. by an Earthquake more than fifty Country men with their Milch Cows and Calves being killed and stifled by an Earthy saline Spirit as he supposeth they were reduced into saline Statues such as Lots Wife And this