Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	nature_n	part_n	3,516	5	4.5867	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56627	Two essays sent in a letter from Oxford to a nobleman in London the first concerning some errors about the creation, general flood, and the peopling of the world : in two parts : the second concerning the rise, progress, and destruction of fables and romances, with the state of learning / by L.P., Master of Arts.	L. P., Master of Arts.	1695 (1695)	Wing P77; ESTC R857	17,432	56

for settling this Terraqueous Globe of ours in the Figure and Texture we now behold it Suppose then all the Solids dissolv'd or intermixt floating and subsiding in the great Fluid of the Chaos or in the vast Abyss of the Deluge the most ponderous must subside first deepest or nearest the Center and the rest according to their several respective weights or specifick gravities must take their places in this new Bed or Mass of Sediments The Metals would be the lowest the rest of the Fossils above them the Abyss of Water above these and so on to the Animal and Vegetable Bodies which could not Statically subside with parts heavier in Bulk or in Specie But let us view these Layers or Strata of the Globe as far as they appear to our Senses The Metals are often at the top Beds of Marble near the superficies Vegetables Testaceous and other Animal-like Bodies lower still and the Abyss or sphere of Water said to be lowest of all an odd face of Sediments a fantastical descent of Solids in a Fluid neither Natural nor Preternatural nor Supernatural without Design or any End Besides the same Shells and Marine-like Bodies are not only found deep in Beds of Earth and Stone of different specifick Gravity but also on the very superficies of the Earth it self as Cockles and Cornua Ammonis the most ponderous under which are several Layers of Earth lighter than they if the latter viz. Cornu Ammonis is any Species of Testaceous Animal it is either not extant at this day or else lies deep in the bottom of the Sea remote from the Shoars where 't is hard to conceive Broods of such Shell-fish where there is such want of Air of Food and such a mighty pressure of Water sufficient to squeeze and break much firmer Bodies But perhaps the Water might be so kind as to dissever * See Dr. Woodward's late Essay or take to pieces the Adamantine Rocks Porphyry and Talc insuperable to fire and to most Inventions of Art and to preserve at the same time her brittle Shells and the tender Plants entire and whole whilst the stubborn Mass of Fossils was forc'd to yeild and lye dissolv'd in a furious Abyss this may pass with Romantick Readers but scarce with any sound or thinking Philosophers 'T is hard to conceive how Leaves and light Shells should fall in Aequilibrio with the much heavier parts of Marbles Minerals and other Fossils and be embodied with them in the same Beds Layers or Strata by the Principles of the same specifick Gravity whose Laws are certain and constant Crab's and Lobster's claws and all light Shells whatsoever are said very seldom to occur upon Land because being left on the surface of the Earth after the Deluge and so expos'd to the Air and other accidents they were rotted and destroyed Dr. Woodward in his Essay To which 't is answered That the lightest Shells on our Shoars are the Echini yet the Echinites of divers kinds or sorts with respect to the number of Shells on our British Coasts are the most common Fossil Shells or Shell-stones of England and they are often found at the depth of at least Three or Four Fathom and that under Rocks of solid Stone and as for joints of Crab's Claws they have been found lodged about Six Fathom deep upon the sinking of a Well Coral and the Astroites Vndulatus or the Sea-Mushroom are sometimes found sticking to these supposed Anti-deluvian Shells Which is an Argument that the whole Mineral Kingdom of which these are properly Members was not dissolv'd in the Hodg-Podg or Pudding of the Deluge The Author of the late Essay censures Dr. Burnet for broaching and vending Opinions contrary to the sense of Scripture yet he himself will be found to contradict the History of Moses For whereas he gathers from his Anti-deluvian Plants that the Earth was not only totally drowned but also dissolved sometime betwixt the 17th of May and the end of the same Month Moses tells us the Waters prevailed i. e. as I understand it the Flood increased for 150 days ere the Fountains of the Deep were shut up nor was it necessary in case the World was dissolved in a Fortnight's space that it should Rain 40 days and 40 nights for the drowning of it But 't is no wonder to see Physical Theorists and Hypothetical Speculators grope and stumble in the dark as sooon as they begin to desert the day-light of Sense and to float out of all depth Upon enquiries made into the bottom of the Sea by Divers and Navigators it appears to consist of inequalities of Rocks Mountains Valleys Beds of Sand and Earth of Fossils and Plants though of different kinds from those at Land In this Aqueous part of the Globe the Water is uppermost whereas in the other 't is lowermost an Argument that the manner of the subsiding or descent in the general Fluid at the Chaos or Flood of Solid Bodies was quite different in these two parts of the Globe and therefore not proceeding from the same Causes or Principles whereas Nature is uniform in all her parts and Providence Beautiful in her Symmetry To conclude therefore the First Part of this Essay I cannot but continue in my old Opinion That the World was thus form'd from the Beginning no total Dissolution nor any universal Inundation Some particular great Changes have happened as new Mountains by turning up of the Earth some new Islands especially at the Mouths of great Rivers by their Sediments of Earth brought down from the Land some new Lakes by Earthquakes and some other Mutations from particular Floods or Vulcano's though a late Author will scarce allow of any of these sorts * Dr. Woodward in his Essay nothing but a General Dissolution of the whole Terrestrial Globe will go down with him the smaller Changes by Earthquakes not passing currant though History and the Observations of Sense make for the latter and only Dreams and Phantomes for the former All these Marine-like Bodies digg'd out of the Bowels of the Earth may with more appearance of Reason be peculiar sorts of Fossils as an Ingenious Writer supposes † Dr. Lister in Transact Philosoph and de Cochlit or Natives or Original Creatures of the Earth call them what you please rather than Strangers brought in by I know not what barbarous Inundations and universal Dissolutions and settled there by I know not what Laws or Force or Power I am confident not by any Divine Appointment for that acts more regularly and more discretely I would gladly know why these Shell-like Bodies or Plant-like Substances may not be Congenial to the Earth Plants will propagate on Land and in Water withont any visible or manifest Seed Shells will shoot or grow in the Glands of Animals and Infects may sometimes breed without Animal Parents or Eggs or Seed therefore why not Testaceouslike Substances or Shells themselves in Beds of Earth or Stone where they are found rather than be

Belle Lettre to reassume its utmost strength in Joseph Scaliger and Isaac Casaubon therefore he drew another Plan and laid the foundation of a New Experimental Learning upon the Observations of Sense and Matter of Fact which hath been since prosecuted in the Mathematicks the Mechanicks Natural and Physical History with a happy success in most parts of Europe 'T is therefore that the present Age affords so much of real Knowledge and will not endure empty Notions and vain Speculations which had so long amus'd and vapoured the World We presently call for clear Proof Fact or ocular Demonstration What Improvements in all the parts of Life might not be expected from such sound Principles if we had a Richelieu or a Colbert to put the Springs and Wheels in motion For want of such a fund the True Philosophy begins to degenerate and dwindle into Gossiping into Tale-telling into Jests into Romantick Hypotheses and idle Whimsies Nubes pro Junone POSTSCRIPT MY LORD I Thought to have troubled Your Lordship no further at present my Temper disposing me to speak little and write short but observing in many late Authors a false method of making general and Universal Conclusions from some Particulars I could not but take notice of it in this place because Your Lordship has a true Logical Head and a sound way of Reasoning Some Writers because they find Shells on the Shoars to be the Spoils or Exuviae of Sea-Animals and Plants at Land to rise from Seed therefore they conclude That all other Shells or Shell-stones resembling them must come from the same place and all Vegetables be produced in the same manner so they affirm all Insects to be Generated by Animal Parents because they observe some to proceed from Eggs as though Nature or the Almightier Governor of the Vniverse must be confined in all the various mysterious ways of Generation to their singular or narrow Caprice founded upon a few particular Observations Many Crustaceous and Testaceous Animals are peculiar to Lakes Rivers Thickets Caves Rocks Beds of Mud and Sand of which many Species are unknown to us at this day and perhaps the Land or Fresh-water Shells may be as numerous as those at Sea therefore we need not fetch all our Subterraneous Shell-Stones from the Ocean but I see no Contradiction or Absurdity in Nature in ascribing the Origine of These resembling Marine Shells to the Plastick Power or call it what Principle you please of the Earth the same may be said of the Subterraneous Vegetables for this way of explicating these Appearances is not attended with half so many or great difficulties as that of bringing them in by an Vniversal Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge Shells or Testaceous figured Bodies may be Generated in Beds of Earth or Stone as easily as Animals or Plants themselves which are sometimes found alive upon the breaking of Rocks and Stones asunder into which neither Water nor Air nor Animal Parent nor Ieed could have any ingress especially if we suppose with the late Author of the Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth c. that Quarries or the Strata of Stone were formed upon the Settlement of our Globe when dissevered and taken all to pieces in the Flood Men conversant in Medical Observations and Anatomical History observe great variety of Stones curiously Figured and Coloured as also wonderful diversity of Worms and other Insects to be daily formed in the Bodies of Animals especially in the Gall Bladders Stomachs and Glands but they meet with insuperable difficulties when they attempt to bring them into the Microcosm they know not what ways nor from what places So the Subterraneous Speculators viewing Testaceous and other Animal and Vegetable-like Bodies in the Bowels of the greater world are forc'd upon the rack when they endeavour to fetch 'em in from strange places The safest way is to take the nearest cause and to explicate Nature by her immediate steps and appearances as Aristotle did very judiciously upon this occasion Testacea interdùm spontè è limo proveniunt alia ex alio ostreae in coenoso conchae quae suprà diximus in Sabuloso circa Saxorum cava Papillae seu Tethya Balani seu Glandes quae per summa adhaerent ut Lepades seu Patellae Neritae Neither are Shell-like Bodies sometimes thus Propagated but Vegetables themselves which will often spring up plentifully in Countries where they never grew before even out of the Trunks of Trees out of Stones and on the tops of the highest places What Myriads of Insects are produced upon Steeping Pepper in Rain water And shall we wonder to see Shell-stones Teeth and other Bone-like figured Bodies in the Bowels of the Earth when we find the same if not greater Wonders in our own Bodies and in those of Quadrupeds Birds and Fishes as Teeth in Abscesses perfect Shells in Glands Bezoar in Stomachs Testaceous or Laminated stones in the internal parts of Crustaceous and Finned Fishes as also In naked Snails besides curious varieties of Insects in many parts of most Animals Of which Physical Causes may be assigned without taking the Microcosm all to pieces in order to bring them in vi Armis by dissolving all that stands in their way 'T is hard to conceive how such innumerable Aquatick Animals should be destroyed by a Deluge of their own Element St. Austin knew better things Animalia quae in Aquis vivere possunt Diluvij plaga non tetigit haec enim terrena tantùm mortificavit for God inflicted this punishment only upon the Earth and its Creatures Why so many Millions of Fishes Bones and Integuments to be entomb'd in Graves or Beds perhaps a 1000 Miles below the surface of the Earth under Layers of Stones and Marble where they are said to fall or sink by their specifick Gravity during the General Dissolution of the Earth by the Deluge Moses seems to be of a different Opion from the Writer of the late Essay tho he pretends to corroborate and support the Mosaic System for Moses gives a plain and clear Relation of the Mountains standing firm and entire during the whole Scene of that Action read the 7th and 8th Chapter of Genesis and if the Hills continued in their Antidiluvian state I do not see how so many Millions of Shells Teeth and other Bones of Sea-Animals together with such numbers of Antidiluvian Vegetables could possibly be buried so deep in the Entrails of our Planet fortified and encompassed with Arches of Metallick Mines and Quarries If the Ocean did overflow the whole Globe against which many Batteries have been rais'd by the greatest Scholars of this Island Isaac Vossius and the Present Learned Bishop of Worcester and brought along with it many Marine Bodies out of their natural Site or Beds then 't is probable that the same fluid Principle or Mass might have rouled them back again from whence it had driven them for the Sea is said to return to its primaeval Channel immediately after the work was over so it might have carried them back again as easily as it rouz'd them at first from their native Depths or Marine Scituations Sir John Narborough in his Voyage to Chili observ'd in several Cliffs and Hills on the Coasts of Patagonia lumps of Oyster Shells buried up and down at Land yet he could never find any Oysters in those Seas though he had Sounded most of the Ports of Southern America Every body knows that this Shell-Fish always breeds near the Shoars so that flying to the deep can be no subterfuge here In Europe many shell-stones or Fossil shells as also subterraneous Vegetables are found which are not to be match'd either at Sea or Land to fancy them in dark and remote Parts of the Ocean seems but a weak evasion and because some may be sampled at Sea therefore all must come from thence is not a very sound Conclusion Several Authors have attempted to prove the Strata or Layers of our Globe to proceed from the several Sediments of the Vniversal Deluge and that the Lapis Judaicus the Astroites or Star-stone Columns of which there are some of enormous Dimensions the Bufonites or Toadstone the Glossopetrae and Cornua Ammonis though nothing like it at Sea are really the Teeth Spines Bones and other parts of Sea-Animals left behind in the Bowels of the Earth by the General Flood But I think all these Ingenious Writers have stronger Fancies than Judgments and a meaner Opinion of the Invention Art and Power of Nature then she deserves for any common Observer must find Her to vary and sport in nothing so much as in the Figures Textures Shootings and Growths of Fossils The common Problem That a Solid included within a Solid must of necessity pre-exist before the external or including Solid is notoriously false from the daily Generation of new Solids and new Animals as Ferrugineous and Testaceous Stones as also various Insects within the Solid parts of several Bodies Neither doth this necessarily induce any fortuitous or aequivocal Generation though the latter may perhaps sometimes be brought about in the imperfect kinds of Animals by the same power that intends over and governs the Vnivocal Generation of Insects for that Powerful Principle is not limited to one single plastick Method seeing Matter is capable of all Forms Jovis Omnia plena FINIS