wits but are capable to rank severall words together and of them to compose a Discourse by which they make known their thoughts and that on the contrary there is no other creature how perfect or happily soever brought forth which can do the like The which happens not because they want organs for we know that Pyes and Parrots can utter words even as we can and yet cannot speak like us that is to say with evidence that they think what they say Whereas Men being born deaf and dumb and deprived of those organs which seem to make others speak as much or more then beasts usually invent of themselves to be understood by those who commonly being with them have the leisure to learn their expressions And this not onely witnesseth that Beasts have lesse reason than men but that they have none at all For we see there needs not much to learn to speak and forasmuch as we observe inequality amongst Beasts of the same kind aswell as amongst men and that some are more easily managed then others 't is not to be believed but that an Ape or a Parrot which were the most perfect of its kinde should therein equall the most stupid child or at least a child of a distracted brain if their souls were not of a nature wholly different from ours And we ought not to confound words with naturall motions which witness passions and may be imitated by Machines aswell as by Animals nor think as some of the Ancients that beasts speak although we do not understand their language for if it were true since they have divers organs which relate to ours they could aswell make themselves understood by us as by their like It s likewise very remarkable that although there are divers creatures which express more industry then we in some one of their actions yet we may well perceive that the same shew none at all in many others So that what they do better then we proves not at all that they have reason for by that reckoning they would have more then any of us and would do better in all other things but rather that they have none at all and that its Nature onely which works in them according to the disposition of their organs As wee see a Clock which is onely composed of wheels and springs can reckon the hours and measure the times more exactly then we can with all our prudence After this I had described the reasonable Soul and made it appear that it could no ways be drawn from the power of the Matter as other things whereof I had spoken but that it ought to have been expresly created And how it suffiseth not for it to be lodg'd in our humane body as a Pilot in his ship to move its members onely but also that its necessary it be joyned and united more strongly therewith to have thoughts and appetites like ours and so make a realâ— man I have here dilated my self a little on the subject of the Soul by reason 't is of most importance for next the errour of those who deny God which I think I have already sufficiently confuted there is none which sooner estrangeth feeble minds from the right way of vertue then to imagine that the soul of beasts is of the same nature as ours and that consequently we have nothing to fear nor hope after this life no more then flies or ants Whereas when we know how different they are we comprehend much better the reasons which prove that ours is of a nature wholly independing from the body and consequently that it is not subject to die with it And that when we see no other cause which destroys it we are naturally thence moved to judge that it 's immortall PART VI ITs now three years since I ended the Treatise which contains all these things and that I began to review it to send it afterwards to the Presse when I understood that persons to whom I submit and whose authority can no lesse command my actions then my own Reason doth my thoughts had disapproved an opinion in Physicks published a little before by another of which I will not say that I was but that indeed I had observed nothing therein before their censure which I could have imagined prejudiciall either to Religion or the State or consequently which might have hindred me from writing the same had my Reason perswaded mee thereto And this made me fear lest in the same manner there might be found some one amongst mine in which I might have been mistaken notwithstanding the great care I always had to admit no new ones into my belief of which I had not most certain demonstrations and not to write such as might turn to the disadvantage of any body Which was sufficient to oblige me to change my resolution of publishing them For although the reasons for which I had first of all taken it were very strong yet my inclination which alwayes made me hate the trade of Book-making presently found me out others enough to excuse my self from it And these reasons on the one and other side are such that I am not only somewhat concern'd to speak them but happily the Publick also to know them I never did much esteem those things which proceeded from mine own brain and so long as I have gathered no other fruits from the Method I use but onely that I have satisfied my self in some difficulties which belong to speculative Sciences or at least endeavoured to regulate my Manners by the reasons it taught me I thought my self not obliged to write any thing of them For as for what concerns Manners every one abounds so much in his own sense That we may finde as many Reformers as heads were it permitted to others besides those whom God hath established as Soveraigns over his people or at least to whom he hath dispensed grace and zeal enough to be Prophets to undertake the change of any thing therein And although my Speculations did very much please me I did beleeve that other men also had some which perhaps pleas'd them more But as soon as I had acquired some generall notions touching naturall Philosophy and beginning to prove them in divers particular difficulties I observed how far they might lead a man and how far different they were from the principles which to this day are in use I judg'd that I could not keep them hid without highly sinning against the Law which obligeth us to procure as much as in us lies the general good of all men For they made it appear to me that it was possible to attain to points of knowledge which may be very profitable for this life and that in stead of this speculative Philosophy which is taught in the Schools we might finde out a practicall one by which knowing the force and workings of Fire Water Air of the Starrs of the Heavens and of all other Bodies which environ us distinctly as we know the several trades of our Handicrafts
because that next the Stars I know nothing in the world but Fire which produceth light I studied to make all clearly understood which belongs to its nature how it 's made how it 's fed how sometimes it hath heat onely without light and sometimes onely light without heat how it can introduce several colours into several bodies and divers other qualities how it dissolves some and hardens others how it can consume almost all or convert them into ashes and smoak and last of all how of those ashes by the only violence of its action it forms glass For this transmutation of ashes into glass seeming to me to be as admirable as any other operation in Nature I particularly took pleasure to describe it Yet would I not inferre from all these things that this World was created after the manner I had proposed For it is more propable that God made it such as it was to be from the beginning But it 's certain and 't is an opinion commonly received amongst the Divines That the action whereby he now preserveth it is the same with that by which he created it So that although at the beginning he had given it no other form but that of a Chaos provided that having established the Laws of Nature he had afforded his concurrence to it to work as it used to do we may beleeve without doing wrong to the miracle of the Creation that by that alone all things which are purely material might in time have rendred themselves such as we now see them and their nature is far easier to conceive when by little and little we see them brought forth so then when we consider them quite form'd all at once From the description of inanimate Bodies and Plants I pass'd to that of Animals and particularly to that of Men But because I had not yet knowledge enough to speak of them in the same stile as of the others to wit in demonstrating effects by their causes and shewing from what seeds and in what manner Nature ought to produce them I contented my self to suppose That God form'd the body of a Man altogether like one of ours aswel in the exteriour figure of its members as in the interiour conformity of its organs without framing it of other matter then of that which I had described and without putting in it at the beginning any reasonable soul or any other thing to serve therein for a vegetative or sensitive soul unless he stirr'd up in his heart one of those fires without light which I had already discovered and that I conceiv'd of no other nature but that which heats hay when it s housed before it be dry or which causeth new Wines to boyl when it works upon the rape For examining the functions which might be consequently in this body I exactly found all those which may be in us without our thinking of them and to which our soul that is to say that distinct part from our bodies whose nature as hath been said before is onely to think consequently doth not contribute and which are all the same wherein we may say unreasonable creatures resemble us Yet could I not finde any of those which depending from the thought are the onely ones which belong unto us as Men whereas I found them all afterwards having supposed that God created a reasonable soul and that he joyn'd it to this body after a certain manner which I describ'd But that you might see how I treated this matter I shall here present you with the explication of the motion of the heart and of the arteries which being the first and most general which is observed in animals we may thereby easily judge what we ought to think of all the rest And that we may have the less difficulty to understand what I shall say thereof I wish those who are not versed in Anatomy would take the pains before they read this to cause the heart of some great animal which hath lungs to be dissected for in all of them its very like that of a Man and that they may have shewn them the two cels or concavities which are there First that on the right side whereto two large conduits answer to wit the vena cava which is the principal receptacle of bloud and as the body of a tree whereof all the other veins of the body are branches and the arterious vein which was so mis-call'd because that in effect its an artery which taking its origine from the heart divides it self after being come forth into divers branches which every way spred themselves through the lungs Then the other which is on the left side whereunto in the same manner two pipes answer which are as large or larger then the former to wit the veinous artery which was also il named forasmuch as it s nothing else but a vein which comes from the lungs where it s divided into several branches interlaid with those of the arterious vein and those of that pipe which is called the Whistle by which the breath enters And the great artery which proceeding from the heart disperseth its branches thorow all the body I would also that they would carefully observe the eleven little skins which as so many little doors open and shut the four openings which are in these two concavities to wit three at the entry of the vena cava where they are so disposed that they can no wayes hinder the bloud which it contains from running into the right concavity of the heart and yet altogether hinder it from coming out Three at the entry of the arterious vein which being disposed quite contrary permit only the bloud which is in that concavity to pass to the lungs but not that which is in the lungs to return thither And then two others at the entry of the veinous artery which permits the bloud to run to the left concavity of the heart but opposeth its return And three at the entry of the great artery which permit it to go from the heart but hinder its return thither Neither need we seek any other reason for the number of these skins save only that the opening of the veinous artery being oval-wise by reason of its situation may be fitly shut with two whereas the other being round may the better be clos'd with three Besides I would have them consider that the great artery and the arterious vein are of a composition much stronger then the veinous artery or the vena cava And that these two later grow larger before they enter into the heart and make as it were two purses call'd the ears of the heart which are composed of a flesh like it and that there is always more heat in the heart then in any other part of the body And in fine that if any drop of bloud enter into these concavities this heat is able to make it presently swell and dilate it self as generally all liquors do when drop by drop we let them fall into a
we might in the same manner employ them to all uses to which they are fit and so become masters and possessours of Nature Which is not onely to be desired for the invention of very many expedients of Arts which without trouble might make us enjoy the fruits of the earth and all the conveniencies which are to be found therein But chiefly also for the preservation of health which without doubt is the first good and the foundation of all other good things in this life For even the minde depends so much on the temper and disposition of the organs of the body that if it be possible to finde any way of making men in the generall wiser and more able then formerly they were I beleeve it ought to be sought in Physick True it is that which is now in use contains but few things whose benefit is very remarkable But without any designe of slighting of it I assure my self there is none even of their own profession but will consent that whatsoever is known therein is almost nothing in comparison of what remains to be known And that we might be freed from very many diseases aswell of the body as of the mind and even also perhaps from the weaknesses of old age had we but knowledge enough of their Causes and of all the Remedies wherewith Nature hath furnished us Now having a designe to employ all my life in the enquiry of so necessary a Science and having found a way the following of which me thinks might infallibly lead us to it unless we be hindred by the shortness of life or by defect of experiments I judg'd that there was no better Remedie against those two impediments but faithfully to communicate to the publique all that little I should discover and to invite all good Wits to endevour to advance farther in contributing every one according to his inclination and power to those Experiments which are to be made and communicating also to the publique all the things they should learn so that the last beginning where the precedent ended and so joyning the 〈◊〉 and labors of many in one we might all together advance further then any particular Man could do I also observ'd touching Experiments that they are still so much the more necessary as we are more advanc'd in knowledg For in the beginning it 's better to use those only which of themselves are presented to our senses and which we cannot be ignorant of if we do but make the least reflections upon them then to seek out the rarest and most studied ones The reason whereof is that those which are rarest doe often deceive when we seldome know the same of the most common ones and that the circumstances on which they depend are as it were always so particular and so small that it 's very uneasie to finde them out But the order I observed herein was this First I endevoured to finde in generall the Principles or first Causes of whatsoever is or may be in the world without considering any thing for this end but God alone who created it or drawing them elsewhere then from certain seeds of Truth which naturally are in our souls After this I examined what were the first and most ordinary Effects which might be deduced from these Causes And me thinks that thereby I found out Heavens Starrs an Earth and even on the Earth Water Air and Fire Minerals and some other such like things which are the most common and the most simple of all and consequently the most easie to be understood Afterwards when I would descend to those which were more particular there were so many severall ones presented themselves to me that I did beleeve it impossible for a humane understanding to distinguish the forms and species of Bodies which are on the earth from an infinite number of others which might be there had it been the will of God so to place them Nor by consequence to apply them to our use unless we set the Effects before the Causes and make use of divers particular experiments In relation to which revolving in my minde all those objects which ever were presented to my senses I dare boldly say I observed nothing which I could not fitly enough explain by the principles I had found But I must also confesse that the power of Nature is so ample and vast and these principles are so simple and generall that I can observe almost no particular Effect but that I presently know it might be deduced from thence in many severall ways and that commonly my greatest difficulty is to finde in which of these ways it depends thereon for I know no other expedient for that but again to seek some experiments which may be such that their event may not be the same if it be in one of those ways which is to be exprest as if it were in another In fine I am gotten so far That me thinks I see well enough what course we ought to hold to make the most part of those experiments which may tend to this effect But I also see they are such and of so great a number that neither my hands nor my estate though I had a thousand times more then I have could ever suffice for all So that according as I shall hereafter have conveniency to make more or fewer of them I shall also advance more or lesse in the knowledge of Nature which I hop'd I should make known by the Treatise which I had written and therein so clearly shew the benefit which the Publick may receive thereby that I should oblige all those in general who desire the good of Mankinde that is to say all those who are indeed vertuous and not so seemingly or by opinion only aswell to communicate such experiments as they have already made as to help me in the enquiry of those which are to be made But since that time other reasons have made me alter my opinion and think that I truly ought to continue to write of all those things which I judg'd of any importance according as I should discover the truth of them and take the same care as if I were to print them as well that I might have so much the more occasion throughly to examine them as without doubt we always look more narrowly to what we offer to the publick view then to what we compose onely for our own use and oftentimes the same things which seemed true to me when I first conceived them appear'd afterwards false to me when I was committing them to paper as also that I might lose no occasion of benefiting the Publick if I were able and that if my Writings were of any value those to whose hands they should come after my death might to make what use of them they think fit But that I ought not any wayes to consent that they should be published during my life That neither the opposition and controversies whereto perhaps they might be obnoxious nor even the reputation
understand wherein they might contribute to my designe And I thought it easie for me to choose some matters which being not subject to many Controversies nor obliging me to declare any more of my Principles then I would willingly would neverthelesse expresse clearly enough what my abilities or defects are in the Sciences Wherein I cannot say whether I have succeeded or no neither will I prevent the judgment of any man by speaking of my own Writings but I should be glad they might be examin'd and to that end I beseech all those who have any objections to make to take the pains to send them to my Stationer that I being advertised by him may endeavour at the same time to adjoyn my Answer thereunto and by that means the Reader seeing both the one and the other may the more easily judge of the Truth For I promise that I will never make any long Answers but only very freely confesse my own faults if I find them or if I cannot discover them plainly say what I shal think requisite in defence of what I have writ without adding the explanation of any new matter that I may not endlesly engage my self out of one into another Now if there be any whereof I have spoken in the beginning of the Opticks and of the Meteors which at first jarr by reason that I call them Suppositions and that I seem not willing to prove them let a man have but the tience to read the whole attentively and I hope he will rest satisfied For me thinks the reasons follow each other so closely that as the later are demonstrated by the former which are their Causes the former are reciprocally proved by the later which are their Effects And no man can imagine that I herein commit the fault which the Logicians call a Circle for experience rendring the greatest part of these effects most certain the causes whence I deduce them serve not so much to prove as to explain them but on the contrary they are those which are proved by them Neither named I them Suppositions that it might be known that I conceive my self able to deduce them from those first Truths which I have before discovered But that I would not expresly do it to crosse certain spirits who imagine that they know in a day al what another may have thought in twenty yeers as soon as he hath told them but two or three words and who are so much the more subject to erre and less capable of the Truth as they are more quick and penetrating from taking occasion of erecting some extravagant Philosophy on what they may beleeve to be my Principles and lest the fault should be attributed to me For as for those opinions which are wholly mine I excuse them not as being new because that if the reasons of them be seriously considered I assure my self they will be found so plain and so agreeable to common sense that they will seem less extraordinary and strange then any other which may be held on the same Subjects Neither do I boast that I am the first Inventor of any of them but of this indeed that I never admitted any of them neither because they had or had not been said by others but only because Reason perswaded me to them If Mechanicks cannot so soon put in practise the Invention which is set forth in the Opticks I beleeve that therefore men ought not to condemn it forasmuch as skill and practice are necessary for the making and compleating the Machines I have described so that no circumstrance should be wanting I should no less wonder if they should succeed at first triall then if a man should learn in a day to play excellently well on a Lute by having an exact piece set before him And if I write in French which is the language of my Country rather then in Latin which is that of my Tutors 't is because I hope such who use their meer naturall reason wil better judge of my opinions then those who only beleeve in old Books And for those who joyn a right understanding with study who I only wish for my Judges I assure my self they will not be so partiall to the Latin as to refuse to read my reasons because I expresse them in a vulgar tongue To conclude I will not speak here in particular of the progresse I hoped to make hereafter in Learning Nor engage my self by any promise to the Publick which I am not certain to perform But I shall onely say That I am resolved to employ the remainder of my life in no other thing but the study to acquire some such knowledge of Nature as may furnish us with more certain rules in Physick then we hitherto have had And that my inclination drives me so strongly from all other kind of designes chiefly from those which cannot be profitable to any but by prejudicing others that if any occasion obliged me to spend my time therein I should beleeve I should never succeed therein which I here declare though I well know it conduceth not to make me considerable in the world neither is it my ambition to be so And I shall esteem my self always more obliged to those by whose favour I shal without disturbance enjoy my ease then to them who should proffer me the most honourable imployment of the earth FINIS