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	part_n	soul_n	2,761	5	5.3627	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43764	The history of generation examining the several opinions of divers authors, especially that of Sir Kenelm Digby, in his discourse of bodies : with a general relation of the manner of generation, as well in plants as animals : with some figures delineating the first originals of some creatures ... : to which is joyned, A discourse of the cure of wounds by sympathy, or without any real applycation of medicines to the part affected, but especially by that powder, known chiefly by the name of Sir Gilbert Talbots powder / by Nath. Highmore ...	Highmore, Nathaniel, 1613-1685.; Digby, Kenelm, Sir, 1603-1665. Discours fait en une célèbre assemblée, touchant la guérison des playes par la poudre de sympathie. English.	1651 (1651)	Wing H1969; ESTC R11065	44,928	157

transparent liquor as in the ●gg the other inclosing both that and the other parts of the seed from which these Atomes are enlarged and nourished This outward Membrane sticking to and about those asperities or papillar extuberancies which are caused by the orifices of Arteries and Veins opening into the cavity of the womb gives way to the gently distilling blood to descend to these Atomes to furnish them with store of cognate parts to be selected by and added to them for their future growth But that these yet tender parts may not be overwhelmed with too great a flux of blood and be stifled with too much nourishment before they are able to dispose of it a frequent cause of abortion Nature suffers it to wander through a Labyrinth of an infinite number of vessels dispers'd through this outmost membrane from whence by one chanel it is conveighed to this new Animal But not to remain all of it within the limits of this little frame but being conveighed to the heart of the Infant by its continuall motion some is thrown into every part according to the capacity of their vessels And because all parts of this too are not fit for the repair of these young Atoms but do require a greater choice therefore at every motion of the heart some of this blood is thrown out of this Infant by appropriated Arteries back to the Mother again So that by this continual circulation of the blood through this new Animal fresh and cognate moisture is supplied to irrigate and augment every part of it From whence as at the first cognate Atomes are selected adjoyned to every particle until the Foetus come to perfection and then breaking through those membranes it is brought forth a living creature It will be requisite I should here satisfie a doubt which may perhaps perplex some in the receiving this opinion of generation viz. why there should be a distinction of Sexes and why there should be a collection of these seminal Atomes by both Sexes and that without the admixture of both these there could be no generation The reason why there are distinct Sexes is because one of them must supply the part and office that the Earth doth to Vegetables which is to contain preserve and supply it with fitting nourishment which is done by the Female But why cannot all bee done by this one what need is there of another seed The use of these differing seeds is evidenced in the former discourse of Plants where I shewed you that these seminal Atomes were of two sorts spiritual and more material whose duty was to fix and cement the spiritual Atomes together that they might mutually cohere the one to the other the Masculine are to actuate enliven and to act for all the rest and this diversity of Atomes makes a difference in seeds and a distinction in Sexes The Masculine seed having undergone concoctions and separations by a greater and purer heat becomes more spiritualiz'd subtile and is like to those spiritual Atomes of the appearing and rising Plants out of the spirits of a former Plant corrupted as I before declared Which contains in it all parts fitting to constitute such a body as that was from whence it was taken and being thrown into a convenient pl●ce where it may have room and agreeable heat would by the disposing of every Atome into his pro●er place constitute a perfect body But not being furnisht with those more material particles it would soon vanish as the appearing supposititious Plants did these spiricual Atomes not being cemented and conjoyned together The feminine seed being extracted after the same manner from the same vessels by the female testicles containing the same particles but cruder and lesse digested from a cruder matter by lesse perfect Organs is left more terrene furnished with more material parts which being united in the womb with the spiritual particles of the masculine seed every one being rightly according to his proper place disposed and ordered with the other fixes and conjoynes those spiritual Atomes that they still afterwards remain in that posture they are placed in I shall forbea● the prosecution of this any further having sufficiently cleared the wayes of generation of perfect bodies I shall proceed to shew the causes of similitude in the Foetus to the generators and of mutilated and imperfect births How different Sexes and similitu●e of the ●oetus with the generators is caused Chapter the Tenth THe conjunction of these seminal material Atomes of both Sexes causeth this similitude of parts and marks with the parents that begot them For according to the exuber●ncy or power of the Atomes of either Sex so is the Foetus fashioned and distinguished If the Atomes constituting the Masculine parts prevail then is a Male generated but if the Atomes of the Females seed prevail either in quantity or energy over the Masculine then is the product a Female and those Atomes which were ordained for and belong to the Masculine parts being but few in number and lesse in power are obscured being scattered amongst the rest or else being of no use and having no parts to joyn with them to unite and cement them together are quite lost This is the cause too why the Foetus or Infant hath parts some resembling the Father some the Mother having sometimes the Mothers Lip the Fathers Eye c. according to the prevalency of the respective Atomes Besides by how much the more the Masculine Atomes abound in a Female Infant by so much the more the Foetus is stronger healthier and more Manlike a Virago If the Female Atomes abound much in a Male Infant then is that issue more weak and effeminate If either parent hath any extraordinary Mark or part more then usual as the Woman with six fingers whom our Author relates to have born all her Females with the like number of fingers It is caused by these seminal Atomes extracted from the blood carrying along with them Atomes belonging to every part communicated to the seed and so to the Infant especially if the Atomes in which these supernumerary parts or marks reside prevail over the rest As the example of that Woman illustrates who brought forth all her Males with the usual number of fingers all her Females with six upon an hand like her self The Sex shewed the prevalency of her seed which having the mastery of the Masculine all the several Atomes contained in her seed shewed themselvs in the same posture as in her own body In the Males those particles of her seed being weaker served onely to cement the masculine Atomes and no more The cause of defect of some parts or an ill disposition of them in places they ought not to be in may be from the avocation and disturbance of the imagination of the parent at that time when these Atomes are in disposing and ordering by the soul of the Infant in their proper places This I say is done by the imagination of the Mother disturb'd representing

cylindrical as the Trunks of Trees do The Fruit also and Seed which he calls a Button or greater quantity of those hot and moist parts collected and dust or parts dried into the form of dust by the external heat of the Sun and innate heat of the Plant are in a more orderly method framed and repos'd For not onely in qualities but in figure they much vary one from another One producing a seed inclos'd onely in a husk another a seed of differing figure inclos'd in a fruit and hard shell Is cold Air the fruitful Mothe● of this variety too Nay if we bu more seriously examine this dust w● shall finde it orderly set with nave strings affixt to some part of their in closing Matrix by which nourishmen is conveighed for their growth an● subsistance And if we shall further anatomize these dusts we shall find● laid up in them Plants the very sam● Identical Plants which first grow up after the seeds are committed to th● ground In which indeed resides th● nature of the whole And this youn● seminal Plant we may truly call th● extracted tincture or Magistery of th● whole Plant as shall more largely appear hereafter Neither doth his 25 Chapter wher● he endeavours to shew how this wonderful effect as he calls it is performed how a Plant or Animal comes by tha● figure it hath afford us any greate● satisfaction For if we examine his firs● principle viz. That the several figure● of Bodies proceed from a defect in one of the three dimensions caused by the concurrence of accidental causes we shall finde it extreamly straightning the most delightful variety of the Creation and the infinite power of the Creator For upon these grounds it must be supposed that the most perfect figure is to be cubical and all Bodies should have been cast into that mould but that some external causes stepping in hinder almost all from obtaining that perfection the Creator not being able to withstand their prevalency or by patching up that defect could not give perfection to all that which his own mouth assures us was good The examples also which he produceth teach us there is but little truth in this position for how can we conceive the watry drops of rain falling should suffer violence as to be pared round by the softer Air which is not able so much as to hinder it from falling The fashioning of Salts as he relates doth as little satisfie As for Alume it is not of such unctuous parts as he reports for how then could it so indiscernably be dissolved in Water and so much resist Fire which is not proper to unctuous Bodies Besides being dissolved and falling again what should hinder the parts from meeting all in a lump and conforming themselves to the fashion of the bottom of the Vessel in which they are contained as we see all unctuous Bodies do As for Salt if that should acquire his figure on the superficies of the Water as he informes us it should be only long and broad without thicknesse whence then come those exact cubical forms in Salts which are suffered to coagulate of themselvs Where you shall finde the most exact Mathematician out-gone by this natural Art Neither is this caused by the falling of parts one upon another as hee speaks be●ore of Alume ere the former are throughly hardned for then why should it not arise still in height by the continual addition of descending parts as long as there are any Attoms to fall by which meanes it should not become cubical but a long square But we finde the contrary while it most exactly casts it self into cubes the angles sometimes looking upwards sometimes transversly which were impossible if those squares were made by long and broad Bodies falling one upon another And vitriol though calcined to perfect redness if dissolv'd and fixt again not onely recovers his bright shining greenness but is squared out into various angles looking every way as if it had been fashioned by the hand of the Artificer The figure of Saltpeeter is almost neglected by him onely he tels us that by reason of its drinesse it is more difficultly figured and therefore is not equally increased But if we examine it well we shall finde it more unctuous then the other two and is more readily cast into that figure then the other For it doth not onely shoot forth presently almost in water after it is removed from the heat but we shall finde it oftentimes upon new Wals shot forth to a great length without the help of Water to fashion it in So that there seems to be some more particular agent to be found out that immediately imprinteth these determinable figures which should rather work by a conceived designe of producing such a figure in such a Body How else could such effects continually be wrought accidental causes working not still alike and therefore it were impossible to expect ●arce a similitude in the works The formation of Animals affords us little lesse perplexity How heat sending forth or how those vapours emitted should settle themselves in such and such method and form such variety of parts without some other di●ector cannot appear That there are in all Animals three sorts of chanels is an unquestionable truth but that there are distinct Bodies conveighed by them though taught us by our Masters is not granted nor by him received for a truth For in the next Chapter we shall finde him applauding the circulation of the blood and describing its motion through and from the Arteries to the Veins and from them to the Arteries again Both of these chanels then must be filled with the same liquor onely perhaps in the Veins it may be something cooler and thicker as our Bath waters are lesse hot in the gutters then in the spring That which is conveighed in the other chanel the Nerves we can scarce afford it the distinction of another Body it being only the pure and most subtile selected parts of the blood which was conveighed in the other two chanels Neither if it were granted that three distinct Bodies were continually traversing those three several chanels into the Bodies of all Animals doth he shew us how they put themselves into such various shapes and figures when they have escaped this conquering expelling heat as we finde them wonderfully exprest in every creature All things arising in fumes steams as moist Bodies wrought on by heat will do when they are freed from that which rarified them return to their own nature and forms again As Water rarified when those minute particles of heat that divides it into such small Atomes and mixed themselves with it are either lost or overcome by the watery Atomes returns again to water Or if those particles remain still active they do but further divide it and so it becomes more like Fire by having a greater number of fiery Atomes mixed with it yet is not made another thing either in substance or figure But in the generation