to the nature of its figure and proper for each sort of respiration Besides although Air may be a fit substance for Respiration to Fire and to some other Creatures yet I cannot believe that the sole agitation of Air is the cause of Fire no more then it can be called the cause of Man for if this were so then Houses that are made of Wood or cover'd with Straw would never fail to be set on fire by the agitation of the Air. Neither is it requisite that all Respirations in all Creatures should be either hot or cold moist or dry by reason there are many different sorts of Respiration acording to the nature and propriety of every Creature whereof some may be hot some cold some hot and dry some cold and dry some hot and moist some cold and moist c. and in Animals at least in Mankind I observe that the respiration performed by the help of their lungs is an attraction of some refrigerating air and an emission of some warm vapour What other Creatures respirations may be I leave for others to inquire 5. Of Pores AS I have mentioned in my former Discourse that I do verily believe all or most natural Creatures have some certain kind of respiration so do I also find it most probable that all or most natural Creatures have Pores not empty Pores for there can be no Vacuum in Nature but such passages as serve for respiration which respiration is some kind of receiving and discharging of such matter as is proper to the nature of every Creature And thus the several Organs of Animal Creatures are for the most part imployed as great large pores for Nature being in a perpetual motion is always dissolving and composing changing and ordering her self-moving parts as she pleases But it is well to be observed that there is difference between Perception and Respiration for Perception is onely an action of Figuring or Patterning when as the Rational and Sensitive Motions do figure or pattern out something but Respiration is an action of drawing sucking breathing in or receiving any ways outward parts and of venting discharging or sending forth inward parts Next although there may be Pores in most natural Creatures by reason that all or most have some kind of Respiration yet Nature hath more ways of dividing and uniting of parts or of ingress and egress then the way of drawing in and sending forth by Pores for Nature is so full of variety that not any particular corporeal figurative motion can be said the prime or fundamental unless it be self-motion the Architect and Creator of all figures Wherefore as the Globular figure is not the prime or fundamental of all other figures so neither can Respiration be called the prime or fundamental motion for as I said Nature has more ways then one and there are also retentive Motions in Nature which are neither dividing nor composing but keeping or holding together 6. Of the Effluvium's of the Loadstone IT is the opinion of some that the Magnetical Effluviums do not proceed intrinsecally from the stone but are certain extrinsecal particles which approaching to the stone and finding congruous pores and inlets therein are channelled through it and having acquired a motion thereby do continue their current so far till being repulsed by the ambient air they recoil again and return into a vortical motion and so continue their revolution for ever through the body of the Magnet But if this were so then all porous bodies would have the same Magnetical Effluviums especially a Char-coal which they say is full of deep pores besides I can hardly believe that any Microscope is able to shew how those flowing Atomes enter and issue and make such a vortical motion as they imagine Concerning the argument drawn from the experiment that a Magnet being made red hot in the fire not onely amits the Magnetical Vigor it had before but acquires a new one doth not evince or prove that the Magnetical Effluviums are not innate or inherent in the stone for fire may over-power them so as we cannot perceive their vigour or force the motions of the Fire being too strong for the motions of the Loadstone but yet it doth not follow hence that those motions of the Loadstone are lost because they are not perceived or that afterwards when by cooling the Loadstone they may be perceived again they are not the same motions but new ones no more then when a man doth not move his hand the motion of it can be said lost or annihilated But say they If the Polary direction of the Stone should be thought to proceed intrinsecally from the Stone it were as much as to put a Soul or Intelligence into the Stone which must turn it about as Angels are feigned to do Celestial Orbs. To which I answer That although the turning of the Celestial Orbs by Angels may be a figment yet that there is a soul and intelligence in the Loadstone is as true as that there is a soul in Man I will not say that the Loadstone has a spiritual or immaterial soul but a corporeal or material one to wit such a soul as is a particle of the soul of Nature that is of Rational Matter which moves in the Loadstone according to the propriety and nature of its figure Lastly as for their argument concluding from the different effluviums of other as for example electrical and odoriferous bodies c. as Camphire and the like whose expirations they say fly away into the open air and never make any return again to the body from whence they proceeded I cannot believe this to be so for if odoriferous bodies should effluviate and waste after that manner then all strong odoriferous bodies would be of no continuance for where there are great expences there must of neeessity follow a sudden waste but the contrary is sufficiently known by experience Wherefore it is more probable that the Effluviums of the Loadstone as they call them or the disponent and directive faculty of turning it self towards the North is intrinsecally inherent in the stone it self and is nothing else but the interior natural sensitive and rational corporeal motions proper to its figure as I have more at large declared in my Philosophical Letters and Philosophical Opinions then that a stream of exterior Atomes by beating upon the stone should turn it to and fro until they have laid it in such a position 7. Of the Stings of Nettles and Bees I Cannot approve the opinion of those who believe that the swelling burning and smarting pain caused by the stinging of Nettles and Bees doth proceed from a poysonous juice that is contained within the points of Nettles or stings of Bees for it is commonly known that Nettles when young are often-times eaten in Sallets and minced into Broths nay when they are at their full growth good-huswifes use to lay their Cream-cheeses in great Nettles whereas if there were any poyson in them the interior
is of the exterior object and the sentient or else the perception of all exterior objects would be made by such an intermixture which is against sense and reason and therefore even in such a commixture where the parts of the object enter into the body of the sentient as fire doth into fuel the perception of the motions of fire in the fuel and the fuels consumption or burning is not made by the fire but by the fuels own perceptive motions imitating the motions of the fire so that fire doth not turn the fuel into ashes but the fuel doth change by its own corporeal figurative motions and the fire is onely an occasion of it The same may be said of Cold. Neither is every Creatures perception alike no more then it can be said that one particular Creature as for example Man hath but one perception for the perception of sight and smelling and so of every sence are different nay one and the same sense may have as many several perceptions as it hath objects and some sorts of peceptions in some Creatures are either stronger or weaker then in others for we may observe that in one and the same degree of heat or cold some will have quicker and some slower perceptions then others for example in the perception of touch if several men stand about a fire some will sooner be heated then others the like for Cold some will apprehend cold weather sooner then others the reason is that in their perception of Touch the sensitive motions work quicker or slower in figuring or patterning out heat or cold then in the perception of others The same may be said of other objects where some sentient bodies will be more sensible of some then of others even in one and the same kind of perception But if in all perceptions of cold cold should intermix with the bodies of animals or other Creatures like as several Ingredients then all bodies upon the perception of cold would dissolve their figures which we see they do not for although all dissolving motions are knowing and perceptive because every particular motion is a particular knowledg and perception yet not every perception requires a dissolution or change of its figure 'T is true some sorts or degrees of exterior heat and cold may occasion some bodies to dissolve their interior figures and change their particular natures but they have not power to dissolve or change all natural bodies Neither doth heat or cold change those bodies by an intermixture of their own particles with the parts of the bodies but the parts of the bodies change themselves by way of imitation like as men put themselves into a mode-fashion although oftentimes the senses will have fashions of their own without imitating any other objects for not all sorts of perceptions are made by Imitation or patterning but some are made voluntarily or by rote as for example when some do hear and see such or such things without any outward objects Wherefore it is not certain steams or agitated particles in the air nor the vapours and effluviums of exterior objects insinuating themselves into the pores of the sentient that are the cause of the Perception of Heat and Cold as some do imagine for there cannot probably be such differences in the pores of animal Creatures of one sort as for example of Men which should cause such a different perception as is found in them for although exterior heat or cold be the same yet several animals of the same sort will have several and different perceptions of one and the same degrees of exterior heat and cold as above mentioned which difference would not be if their perception was caused by a real entrance of hot and cold particles into the pores of their bodies Besides Burning-Fevers and Shaking-Agues prove that such effects can be without such exterior causes Neither can all sorts of Heat and Cold be expressed by Wind Air and Water in Weather-glasses for they being made by Art cannot give a true information of the Generation of all natural heat and cold but as there is great difference between Natural and Artificial Ice Snow Colours Light and the like so between Artificial and Natural Heat and Cold and there are so many several sorts of heat and cold that it is impossible to reduce them all to one certain cause or principle or confine them to one sort of Motions as some do believe that all sorts of Heat and Cold are made by motions tending inward and outward and others that by ascending and descending or rising and depressing motions which is no more probable then that all Colours are made by the reflexion of Light and that all White is made by reflecting the beams of light outward and all black by reflecting them inward or that a Man when he is on Horse-back or upon the top of an House or Steeple or in a deep Pit or Mine should be of another figure then of the figure and nature of man unless he were dissolved by death which is a total alteration of his figure for neither Gravity nor Levity of Air nor Almospherical Pillars nor any Weather-glasses can give us a true information of all natural heat and cold but the several figurative corporeal motions which make all things in Nature do also make several sorts of heat and cold in several sorts of Creatures But I observe experimental Philosophers do first cry up several of their artificial Instruments then make doubts of them and at last disapprove them so that there is no trust nor truth in them so much as to be relied on for it is not an age since Weather-glasses were held the onely divulgers of heat and cold or change of weather and now some do doubt they are not such infallible Informers of those truths by which it is evident that Experimental Philosophy has but a brittle inconstant and uncertain ground and these artificial Instruments as Microscopes Telescopes and the like which are now so highly applauded who knows but may within a short time have the same fate and upon a better and more rational enquiry be found deluders rather then true Informers The truth is there 's not any thing that has and doth still delude most mens understandings more then that they do not consider enough the variety of Natures actions and do not imploy their reason so much in the search of natures actions as they do their senses preferring Art and Experiments before Reason which makes them stick so close to some particular opinions and particular sorts of Motions or Parts as if there were no more Motions Parts or Creatures in Nature then what they see and find out by their Artificial Experiments Thus the variety of Nature is a stumbling-block to moft men at which they break their heads of understanding like blind men that run against several posts or walls and how should it be otherwise since Natures actions are Infinite and Mans understanding finite for they consider not so much
stiff rare dense moist dry contracting dilating ascending descending and other numerous sorts of colds nay there are some sorts of candied figures made by heat which appear as if they were frozen Also there are fluid colds which are not wet as well as fluid heats that are not dry for Phlegm is fluid and yet not wet and some sorts of air are fluid and not wet I say some not all for some are hot and moist others hot and dry The same may be said of some sorts of heat and cold for some are moist and some dry and there may be at one and the same time a moist cold in the air and a dry cold in water which in my opinion is the reason that in sealed Weather-glasses according to some Experimenters relations sometimes the air doth not shrink but rather seems to be expanded when the weather grows colder and that the water contracts not that the cold contraction of water causes an expansion of the air to prevent a Vacuum for there cannot be any such thing as a Vacuum in Nature but that there is a moist cold in the air and a dry cold in the water whereof the dry cold causes a contraction and the moist cold an expansion nay there is often a moist and dry cold in the air at one and the same time so that some parts of the air may have a moist cold and the next adjoying parts a dry cold and that but in a very little compass for there may be such contractions and dilations in Nature which make not a hairs breadth difference Nature being so subtil and curious as no particular can trace her ways and therefore when I speak of contractions and dilations I do not mean they are all such gross actions perceptible by our exterior senses as the works of Art but such as the curiosity of Nature works Concerning the several sorts of animal heat and cold they are quite different from the Elemental and other sorts of heat and cold for some men may have cold fits of an Ague under the Line or in the hottest Climates and others Burning-Feavers under the Poles or in the coldest climates 'T is true that Animals by their perceptions may pattern out the heat or cold of the air but these perceptions are not always regular or perfect neither are the objects at all times exactly presented as they should which may cause an obscurity both in Art and in particular sensitive perceptions and through this variety the same sort of Creatures may have different perceptions of the same sorts of heat and cold Besides it is to be observed that some parts or Creatures as for example Water and the like liquors if kept close from the perception either of heat or cold will neither freeze nor grow hot and if Ice and Snow be kept in a deep Pit from the exterior object of heat it will never thaw but continne Ice or Snow whenas being placed near the perception of the Sun Fire or warm Air its exterior figure will alter from being Ice to Water and from being cold to hot or to an intermediate temper betwixt both nay it may alter from an extream degree of cold to an extream degree of heat according as the exterior object of heat doth occasion the sensitive perceptive motions of Water or Ice to work for extreams are apt to alter the natural temper of a particular Creature and many times so as to cause a total dissolution of its interior natural figure when I name extreams I do not mean any uttermost extreams in Nature for Nature being Infinite and her particular actions being poised and ballanced by opposites can never run into extreams but I call them so in reference onely to our perception as we use to say it is extream hot or extream cold And the reason of it is that Water by its natural perceptive motions imitates the motions of heat or cold but being kept from the perception of them it cannot imitate them The same reason may be given upon the experiment that some bodies being put into water will be preserved from being frozen or congealed for they being in water are not onely kept from the perception of cold but the water doth as a guard preserve them which guard if it be overcome that is if the water begin to freeze then they will do so too But yet all colds are not airy nor all heats sunny or fiery for a man as I mentioned before may have shaking fits of an Ague in the hottest climate or season and burning fits of a Fever in the coldest climate or season and as there is difference between elemental and animal cold and heat so betwixt other sorts so that it is but in vain to prove all sorts of heat and cold by Artificial Weather-glasses suppressions and elevations of water Atmosphaerical parts and the like for it is not the air that makes all cold no not that cold which is called Elementary no more then it makes heat but the corporeal figurative self-moving perceptive rational and sensitive parts of Nature which make all other Creatures make also heat and cold Some Learned make much ado about Antiperistasis and the flight of those two contrary qualities heat and cold from each other where according to their opinion one of them being surrounded and besieged by the other retires to the innermost parts of the body which it possesses and there by recollecting its forces and animating it self to a defence is intended or increased in its degree and so becomes able to resist its adversary which they prove by the cold expelled from the Earth and Water by the Sun-beams which they say retires to the middle region of the Air and there defends it self against the heat that is in the two other viz. the upper and the lower Regions and so it doth in the Earth for say they we find in Summer when the air is sultry hot the cold retreats into Cellars and Vaults and in Winter when the air is cold they are the Sanctuary and receptacle of heat so that the water in wells and springs and the like places under ground is found warm and smoaking when as the water which is exposed to the open air by cold is congealed into Ice But whatsoever their opinion be I cannot believe that heat and cold run from each other as Children at Boe-peep for concerning the Earths being warm in Winter and cold in Summer it is not in my opinion caused by hot or cold Atoms flying like Birds out of their nests and returning to the same nor is the Earth like a Store-house that hoards up cold and heat at several seasons in the year but there is a natural temper of cold and heat as well in the Earth as in other Creatures and that Vaults Wells and Springs under ground are warm in Winter when the exterior air is cold the reason is not that the heat of the air or the Calorifick atomes as they call them are retired
Creatures may cause several refractions reflections and inflections of the rayes of light Wherefore Mechanicks may very much be mistaken concerning the truth of the interior Nature of bodies or natural Creatures by judging them onely according to their exterior figures 24. Of Salt and of Sea or Salt-water THe reason why Salt is made or extracted out of Salt-water is that the Circular lines of Sea or Salt-water are pointed exteriously but not interiously which is the cause that the saltish parts may be easily divided from those watry lines and it is to be observed that those points when joyned to the watry circles are rare but being once separated either by Art or a more natural way by some sorts of dividing motions they become more dense yet not so dense but they may melt or return again into the first figure which is a rare figure and so become liquid salt and afterwards they may be densed or contracted again for there is no other difference between dry and liquid salt but what is made by the rarity or density of those sorts of points As for that sort of Salt which is named volatile it is when some of those rare points become more dilated or rarified then when they are joyned to the watry circle-lines I say some not all for as some points do condense or contract into fixt salt so others do dilate or arise into volatile salt But perchance some will say How can there be several sorts of points since a point is but a point I answer There may very well be several sorts considering the Nature of their substance for some sorts are rare some dense some contracting some dilating some retenting c. besides all points are not alike but there is great difference amongst several pointed figures for all are not like the point of a Pin or Needle but to alledg some gross examples there be points of Pyramids points of Knives points of Pins points of the flame of a Candle and numerous other sorts which are all several points and not one like another for I do not mean a Mathematical or imaginary point such as is onely made by the rational matter in the mind although even amongst those imaginary points there is difference for you cannot imagine or think of the several pointed figures of several sorts or kinds of Creatures or parts but you will have a difference in your mind but I mean pointed figures and not single points It is also to be observed that as some watry Circles will and may have points outwardly so some have also points inwardly for some watry Circles as I have mentioned in my Philosophical Opinions are edged to wit such as are in vitriol water others pointed as those in salt water and others are of other sorts of points as those in cordial or hot waters but those last are more artificial and all these are different in their sorts or kinds although a litttle difference in their own natures may appear great in our humane perception Concerning Oyl there is also difference between Oyl and other wet bodies for Oyl although it be rare liquid and moist yet we cannot say it is absolutely that which we name wet as other liquors are viz. Water and Wine or natural juices and since the interior natural figure of oyl is burning and hot it is impossible to divide those interior fiery points from the circle figure of Oyl without dissolving those liquid circle lines But as the Penetrations of other acid and salt liquors are caused by their exterior points so oyl whose points are interiously in the circle-lines cannot have such quick effects of penetration as those that are exteriously pointed But mistake me not I do not mean such exterior parts as are onely subject to our humane perception but such as cause those Creatures or parts to be of such a figure or nature 25. Of the Motions of Heat and Cold. THose which affim that Heat and Cold are the two primary and onely causes of the Productions of all natural things do not consider sufficiently the variety of Nature but think that Nature produces all by Art and since Art is found out and practised by Man Man conceits himself to be above Nature But as neither Art nor any particular Creature can be the cause or principle of all the rest so neither can heat and cold be the prime cause of all natural productions no more then paint can produce all the parts of a man's face as the Eyes Nose Forehead Chin Cheeks Lips and the like or a 〈◊〉 can produce a natural Head or a suit of Clothes can make the body of Man for then whensoever the fashioned Garments or Mode-dresses do change men would of necessity change also but Art causes gross mistakes and errors not onely in sensitive but also in rational perceptions for sense being deluded is apt to delude Reason also especially if Reason be too much indulgent to sense and therefore those judgments that rely much upon the perception of sense are rather sensitive then rational judgments for sense can have but a perception of the exterior figures of objects and Art can but alter the outward form or figure but not make or change the interior nature of any thing which is the reason that artificial alterations cause false at least uncertain and various judgments so that Nature is as various in mens judgments as in her other works But concerning heat and cold my opinion is that they are like several Colours some Natural and some Artificial of which the Artificial are very inconstant at least not so lasting as those that are not made by Art and they which say that both heat and cold are not made by the sensories or sensitive organs are in the right if their meaning be that both heat and cold in their natures and with all their proprieties as they are particular Creatures are not made or produced by humane or animal senses nevertheless the sensitive animal perception of heat and cold is made by the sensitive motions in their sensitive organs for what heat and cold soever an animal Creature feels the perception of it is made in the sense of touch or by those sensitive motions in the parts of its body for as the perception of any other outward object is not made by a real entrance of its parts into our sensories so neither is all perception of heat and cold made by the intermixture of their particles with our flesh but they are patterned and figured out by the sensitive motions in the exterior parts of the body as well as other objects I will not say that cold or heat may not enter and intermix with the parts of some bodies as fire doth intermix with fuel or enters into its parts but my meaning is that the animal perception of heat and cold is not made this way that is by an intermixture of the parts of the Agent with the parts of the Patient as the learned call them that
thither to defend themselves from the coldness of the air but they being so deep in the Earth where the cold cannot enter are kept from the perception of cold so as they cannot imitate so well the motions of cold as other Creatures that are exposed to the open air The like may be said of the heat of the Sun in Summer which cannot penetrate deeper into the bowels of the Earth then cold can The truth is the Earth is to them like an Umbrello which defends or keeps men from the Sun rain wind dust c. but although it defends them from the heat of the Sun or coldness of wind yet they have those qualities naturally within themselves sometimes more and sometimes less and so has the Earth its natural temper of heat and cold But what Umbrello the middle region has whether it be some Planet or any thing else I am not able to determine unless I had been there and observed it nay ten to one but I might even then have been mistaken Wherefore all the contentions and disputes about the doctrine of Antiperistasis are in my judgment to little purpose since we are not able to know all the differences of heat and cold for if men conceive there is but one heat and cold in Nature they are mistaken and much more if they think they can measure all the several sorts of heat and cold in all Creatures by artificial experiments for as much as a Natural man differs from an artificial statue or picture of a man so much differs a natural effect from an artificial which can neither be so good nor so lasting as a natural one If Charles's Wain the Axes of the Earth and the motions of the Planets were like the pole or axes or wheels of a Coach they would soon be out of order Indeed artificial things are pretty toys to imploy idle time nay some are very useful for our conveniency but yet they are but Natures bastards or changelings if I may so call them and though Nature takes so much delight in variety that she is pleased with them yet they are not to be compared to her wise and fundamental actions for Nature being a wise and provident Lady governs her parts very wisely methodically and orderly also she is very industrious and hates to be idle which makes her imploy her time as a good Huswife doth in Brewing Baking Churning Spinning Sowing c. as also in Preserving for those that love Sweet-meats and in Distilling for those that take delight in Cordials for she has numerous imployments and being infinitely self-moving never wants work but her artificial works are her works of delight pleasure and pastime Wherefore those that imploy their time in Artificial Experiments consider onely Natures sporting or playing actions but those that view her wise Government in ordering all her parts and consider her changes alterations and tempers in particulars and their causes spend their time more usefully and profitably and truly to what purpose should a man beat his brains and weary his body with labours about that wherein he shall lose more time then gain knowledg But if any one would take delight in such things my opinion is that our female sex would be the fittest for it for they most commonly take pleasure in making of Sweet-meats Possets several sorts of Pyes Puddings and the like not so much for their own eating as to imploy their idle time and it may be they would prove good Experimental Philosophers and inform the world how to make artificial Snow by their Creams or Possets beaten into froth and Ice by their clear candied or crusted quiddinies or conserves of fruits and Frost by their candied herbs and flowers and Hail by their small comfits made of water and sugar with whites of Eggs and many other the like figures which resemble Beasts Birds Vegetables Minerals c. But the men should study the causes of those Experiments and by this society the Commonwealth would find a great benefit for the Woman was given to Man not onely to delight but to help and assist him and I am confident Women would labour as much with Fire and Furnace as Men for they 'l make good Cordials and Spirits but whether they would find out the Philosophers-stone I doubt for our sex is more apt to waste then to make Gold however I would have them try especially those that have means to spend for who knows but Women might be more happy in finding it out then Men and then would Men have reason to imploy their time in more profitable studies then in useless Experiments 27. Of Congealation and Freezing THe Congelation of Water into Ice Snow Hail and the like is made by its own corporeal figurative motions which upon the perception of the exterior object of cold by the way of imitation do contract and condense water into such or such a figure Some are of opinion that Water or the like liquors are not contracted but expanded or rarified by freezing which they prove both by the levity of congealed Water and the breaking of Glasses Earthen Bottles or other the like Vessels in which water is contained when it freezes But although I' mentioned in my former discourse that there are several sorts of colds as for example moist and dry colds whereof these contract and condense those dilate and rarifie so that there are cold dilations as well as cold contractions yet Freezing or Congelation being none of the sorts of moist but of dry colds it is not made by expanding or dilating but by contracting and condensing motions for that liquid bodies when frozen are more extended 't is not the freezing motions that cause those extensions but water being of a dilative nature its interior parts strive against the exterior which figurative motions do imitate the motions of cold or frost and in that strife the water becomes extended or dilated when congealed into Ice But the question is Whether solid bodies do dilate or extend when they freeze and my opinion is they do not for that solid bodies as Metal and the like are apt to break in a hard frost doth not prove an expansion but the division of their parts is rather made by contraction for though the motions of cold in metal are not so much exteriously contracting as to be perceived by our optick sense in its bulk or exterior magnitude as they are in the body of water whose interior nature is dilative yet by the division which cold causes it may well be believed that freezing hath an interior contractive effect otherwise it could not divide so as many times it doth Wherefore I believe that solid bodies break by an extream and extraordinary contraction of their interior parts and not by an extraordinary expansion Besides this breaking shews a strong self-motion in the action of congealing or freezing for the motions of cold are as strong and quick as the motions of heat Nay even those Experimental Philosophers which
irregularity or some other ways yet next to the rational they are the best informers we have for no man can naturally go beyond his rational and sensitive perception And thus in my opinion the nature of Congelation is not effected by expanding or dilating but contracting and condensing motions in the parts of the sentient body which motions in the congelation of water do not alter the interior nature of water but onely contract its exterior figure into the figure either of Ice Snow Hail Hoar-frost or the like which may be proved by their return into the former figure of water whensoever they dissolve for wheresoever is a total change or alteration of the interior natural motions of a Creature when once dissolved it will never regain its former figure and therefore although the exterior figures of congealed water are various and different yet they have all but one interior figure which is water into which they return as into their principle whensoever they change their exterior figures by dissolving and dilating motions for as a laughing and frowning countenance doth not change the nature of a man so neither do they the nature of water I do not speak of artificial but of natural congealed figures whose congelation is made by their own natural figurative motions But although all congelations are some certain kind of motions yet there may be as many particular sorts of congelations as there are several sorts of frozen or congealed bodies for though I name but one figure of Snow another of Ice another of Hail c. yet I do not deny but there may be numerous particular sorts and figures of Ice Snow Hail c. all which may have their several freezing or congealing motions nay freezing in this respect may very well be compared to burning as being opposite actions and as there are various sorts of burning much differing from each other so there are of freezing for although all burning is of the nature of fire yet not all burning is an elemental fire for example Lime and some Vegetables and other Creatures have burning effects and yet are not an Elemental fire neither doth the Sun and ordinary fire burn just alike The same may be said of Freezing and I observe that fluid and rare parts are more apt to freeze then solid and dense bodies for I do not believe all sorts of metal can freeze so as water or watery liquors unless they were made liquid I will not say that Minerals are altogether insensible of cold or frost but they do not freeze like liquid bodies nay not all liquid bodies will freeze as for example some sorts of spirituous liquors Oil Vinous spirits Chymical extracts c. which proves that not all that is to say the infinite parts of Nature are subject to one particular kind of action to wit the action of freezing for if Congelation did extend to the infinite parts of Nature it would not be a finite and particular but an infinite action but as I said liquid bodies are more apt to freeze especially water and watery liquors then dense and hard bodies or some sorts of oil and spirits for as we see that fire cannot have the same operation on all bodies alike but some it causes to consume and turn to ashes some it hardens some it softens and on some it hath no power at all So its opposite Frost or Cold cannot congeal every natural body but onely those which are apt to freeze or imitate the motions of cold Neither do all these bodies freeze alike but some slower some quicker some into such and some into another figure as for example even in one kind of Creatures as animals some Beasts as Foxes Bears and the like are not so much sensible of cold as Man and some other animal Creatures and dead animals or parts of dead animals will freeze much sooner then those which are living not that living animals have more natural life then those we call dead for animals when dissolved from their animal figure although they have not animal life yet they have life according to the nature of the figure into which they did change but because of their different perceptions for a dead or dissolved animal as it is of another kind of figure then a living animal so it has also another kind of perception which causes it to freeze sooner then a living animal doth But I cannot apprehend what some Learned mean by the powerful effects of cold upon inanimate bodies whether they mean that cold is onely animate and all other bodies inanimate or whether both cold and other bodies on which it works be inanimate if the later I cannot conceive how inanimate bodies can work upon each other I mean such bodies as have neither life nor motion for without life or motion there can be no action but if the former I would fain know whether Cold be self-moving if not I ask What is that which moves it Is it an Immaterial Spirit or some corporeal being If an Immaterial Spirit we must allow that this Spirit is either self-moving or must be moved by another if it be moved by another Being and that same Being again by another we shall after this manner run into infinite and conclude nothing But if that Imaterial Spirit have self-motion why may not a natural corporeal being have the like they being both Creatures of God who can as well grant self-motion to a corporeal as to an incorporeal Being nay I am not able to comprehend how Motion can be attributed to a Spirit I mean natural motion which is onely a propriety of a body or of a corporeal Being but if Cold be self-moving then Nature is self-moving for the cause can be no less then the effect and if Nature be self-moving no part of Nature can be inanimate for as the body is so are its parts and as the cause so its effects Thus some Learned do puzle themselves and the world with useless distinctions into animate and inanimate Creatures and are so much afraid of self-motion as they will rather maintain absurdities and errors then allow any other self-motion in Nature but what is in themselves for they would fain be above Nature and petty Gods if they could but make themselves Infinite not considering that they are but parts of Nature as all other Creatnres Wherefore I for my part will rather believe as sense and reason guides me and not according to interest so as to extoll my own kind above all the rest or above Nature her self And thus to return to Cold as Congelation is not a Universal or Infinite action which extends to the Infinite parts of Nature and causes not the like effects in those Creatures that are perceptible of it so I do also observe that not any other sorts of bodies but Water will congeal into the figure of Snow when as there are many that will turn into the figure of Ice besides I observe that air doth not freeze beyond
its degree of consistency for if it did no animal Creature would be able to breath since all or most of them are subject to such a sort of respiration as requires a certain intermediate degree of air neither too thick nor too thin what respirations other Creatures require I am not able to determine for as there are several infinite parts and actions of Nature so also several sorts of Respirations and I believe that what is called the ebbing and flowing of the Sea may be the Seas Respiration for Nature has ordered for every part or Creature that which is most fitting and proper for it Concerning Artificial Congelations as to turn Water or Snow into the figure of Ice by the commixture of Salt Nitre Allum or the like it may very probably be effected for Water and watery liquors their interior figure being Circular may easily change by contracting that Circular figure into a Triangle or square that is into Ice or Snow for Water in my opinion has a round or Circular interior figure Snow a Triangular and Ice a square I do not mean an exact Mathematical Triangle or Square but such a one as is proper for their figures and that the mixture of those or the like ingredients being shaken together in a Vial doth produce films of Ice on the outside of the Glass as Experimenters relate proves not onely that the motions of Cold are very strong but also that there is perception in all parts of Nature and that all Congelations both natural and artificial are made by the corporeal perceptive motions which the sentient has of exterior cold which is also the reason that Salt being mixt with Snow makes the liquor always freeze first on that side of the Vessel where the mixture is for those parts which are nearest will imitate first the motions of frost and after them the neighbouring parts until they be all turned into Ice The truth is that all or most artificial experiments are the best arguments to evince there is perception in all corporeal parts of Nature for as parts are joyned or commix with parts so they move or work accordingly into such or such figures either by the way of imitation or otherwise for their motions are so various as it is impossible for one particulare to describe them all but no motion can be without perception because every part or particle of Nature as it is self-moving so it is also self-knowing and perceptive for Matter Self-motion Knowledg and Perception are all but one thing and no more differing nor separable from each other then Body Place Magnitude Colour and Figure Wherefore Experimental Philosophers cannot justly blame me for maintaining the opinion of Self-motion and a general Perception in Nature But to return to Artificial Congelations there is as much difference between Natural and Artificial Ice and Snow as there is between Chalk and Cheese or between a natural Child and a Baby made of Paste or Wax and Gummed-silk or between artificial Glass and natural Diamonds the like may be said of Hail Frost Wind c. for though their exterior figures do resemble yet their interior natures are quite different and therefore although by the help of Art some may make Ice of Water or Snow yet we cannot conclude from hence that all natural Ice is made the same way by saline particles or acid Spirits and the like for if Nature should work like Art she would produce a man like as a Carver makes a statue or a Painter draws a picture besides it would require a world of such saline or acid particles to make all the Ice that is in Nature Indeed it is as much absurdity as impossibility to constitute some particular action the common principle of all natural heat or cold and to make a Universal cause of a particular effect for no particular Part or Action can be prime in Nature or a fundamental principle of other Creatures or actions although it may occasion some Creatures to move after such or such a way Wherefore those that will needs have a Primum Frigidum or some Body which they suppose must of necessity be supremely cold and by participation of which all other cold Bodies obtain that quality whereof some do contend for Earth some for Water others for Air some for Nitre and others for Salt do all break their heads to no purpose for first there are no extreams in Nature and therefore no Body can be supreamely cold nor supreamly hot Next as I said it is impossible to make one particular sort of Creatures the principle of all the various sorts of heat or cold that are in Nature for there is an Elemental heat and cold a Vegetable Mineral Animal heat and cold and there may be many other sorts which we do not know and how can either Earth or Water or Nitre or Salt be the Principle of all these different colds Concerning the Earth we see that some parts of the Earth are hot and some cold the like of Water and Air and the same parts which are now hot will often in a moment grow cold which shews they are as much subject to the perception of heat and cold as some other Creatures and doth plainly deny to them the possibility of being a Primum Frigidum I have mentioned in my Poetical Works that there is a Sun in the Center of the Earth and in another place I have described a Chymical heat but these being but Poetical Fancies I will not draw them to any serious proofs onely this I will say that there may be degrees of heat and cold in the Earth and in Water as well as there are in the Air for certainly the Earth is not without Motion a dull dead moveless and inanimate body but it is as much interiously active as Air and Water are exteriously which is evident enough by the various productions of Vegetables Minerals and other bodies that derive their off-spring out of the Earth And as for Nitre and Salt although they may occasion some sorts of Colds in some sorts of Bodies like as some sorts of food or tempers of Air or the like may work such or such effects in some sorts of Creatures yet this doth not prove that they are the onely cause of all kinds of heat and cold that are in Nature The truth is if Air Water Earth Nitre or Salt or insensible roving and wandering atomes should be the only cause of cold then there would be no difference of hot and cold climates but it would freeze as well under the Line as it doth at the Poles But there 's such a stir kept about Atoms as that they are so full of action and produce all things in the world and yet none describes by what means they move or from whence they have this active power Lastly Some are of opinion that the chief cause of all cold and its effects is wind which they describe to be air moved in a considerable quantity and that
either forwards onely or in an undulating motion which opinion in my judgment is as erroneous as any of the former and infers another absurdity which is that all Winds are of the same nature when as there are as many several sorts and differences of Winds as of other Creatures for there are several Winds in several Creatures Winds in the Earth are of another kind then those in the Air and the Wind of an animal breath is different from both nay those that are in the air are of different sorts some cold and dry some hot and moist and some temperate c. which how they can all produce the effect of cold or freezing by the compression of the air I am not able to judg onely this I dare say that if Wind causes cold or frost then in the midst of the Summer or in hot Climates a vehement wind would always produce a great Frost besides it would prove that there must of necessity be far greater winds at the Poles then under the AEquinoctial there being the greatest cold Neither will this principle be able to resolve the question why a man that has an Ague feels a shaking cold even under the Line and in the coldest weather when there is no stirring of the least wind All which proves that it is very improbable that Wind should be the principle of all Natural Cold and therefore it remains firm that self-moving Matter or corporeal figurative self-motion as it is the Prime and onely cause of all natural effects so it is also of Cold and Heat and Wind and of all the changes and alterations in Nature which is and hath always been my constant and in my simple judgment the most probable and rational opinion in Natural Philosophy 28. Of Thawing or dissolving of Frozen bodies AS Freezing or Congelation is caused by contracting condensing and retentive Motions so Thawing is nothing else but dissolving dilating and extending motions for Freezing and Thawing are two contrary actions and as Freezing is caused several ways according to the various disposition of congelable bodies and the temper of exterior cold so Thawing or a dissolution of frozen bodies may be occasioned either by a sympathetical agreement as for example the thawing of Ice in water or other liquors or by some exterior imitation as by hot dilating motions And it is to be observed That as the time of freezing so the time of dissolving is according to the several natures and tempers both of the frozen bodies themselves and the exterior objects applied to frozen bodies which occasion their thawing or dissolution for it is not onely heat that doth cause Ice or Snow or other frozen bodies to melt quicker or slower but according as the nature of the heat is either more or less dilative or more or less rarifying for surely an exterior actual heat is more rarifying then an interior virtual heat as we see in strong spirituous liquors which are interiously contracting but being made actually hot become exteriously dilating The like of many other bodies so that actual heat is more dissolving then virtual heat And this is the reason why Ice and Snow will melt sooner in some Countries or places then in others and is much harder in some then in others for we see that neither Air Water Earth Minerals nor any other sorts of Creatures are just alike in all Countries or Climates The same may be said of heat and cold Besides it is to be observed that oftentimes a different application of one and the same object will occasion different effects as for example if Salt be mixed with Ice it may cause the contracted body of Ice to change its present motions into its former state or figure viz. into water but being applied outwardly or on the out-side of the Vessel wherein Snow or Ice is contained it may make it freeze harder instead of dissolving it Also Ice will oftentimes break into pieces of its own accord and without the application of any exterior object and the reason in my opinion is that some of the interior parts of the Ice endeavouring to return to their proper and natural figure by vertue of their interior dilative motions do break and divide some of the exterior parts that are contracted by the motions of Frost especially those which have not so great a force or power as to resist them But concerning Thawing some by their trails have found that if frozen Eggs Apples and the like bodies be thawed near the fire they will be thereby spoiled but if they be immersed in cold water or wrapt into Ice or Snow the internal cold will be drawn out as they suppose by the external and the frozen bodies will be harmlesly though not so quickly thawed And truly this experiment stands much to reason for in my opinion when frozen bodies perceive heat or fire the motions of their frozen parts upon the perception endeavour to imitate the motions of heat or fire which being opposite to the motions of cold in this sudden and hasty change they become irregular in so much as to cause in most frozen parts a dissolution of their interior natural figure Wherefore it is very probable that frozen bodies will thaw more regularly in water or being wrapt into Ice or Snow then by heat or fire for Thawing is a dilating action and Water as also Ice and Snow which are nothing but congealed water being of a dilative nature may easily occasion a thawing of the mentioned frozen parts by Sympathy provided the Motions of the exterior cold do not over-power the motions of the interior frozen parts for if a frozen body should be wrapt thus into Ice or Snow and continue in an open cold frosty air I question whether it would cause a thaw in the same body it would preserve the body in its frozen state from dissolving or disuniting rather then occasion its thawing But that such frozen bodies as Apples and Eggs c. immersed in water will produce Ice on their out-sides is no wonder by reason the motions of Water imitate the motions of the frozen bodies and those parts of water that are nearest are the first imitators and become of the same mode By which we may see that some parts will cloath themselves others onely vail themselves with artificial dresses most of which dresses are but copies of other motions and not original actions It makes also evident that those effects are not caused by an ingress of frigorifick atomes in water or other congelable bodies but by the perceptive motions of their own parts And what I have said of Cold the same may be spoken of heat for it is known that a part of a mans body being burned with fire the burning may be cured by the heat of the fire which in my opinion proceeds from a sympathetical agreement betwixt the motions of the fire and the motions of the burned part for every part of a mans body hath its natural heat which is of an
intermediate temper which heat being heightened by the burning motions of fire beyond its natural degree causes a burning and smarting pain in the same part and therefore as the fire did occasion an immoderate heat by an intermixture of its own parts with the parts of the flesh so a moderate heat of the fire may reduce again the natural heat of the same parts and that by a sympathetical agreement betwixt the motions of the Elemental and Animal heat But it is to be observed first that the burning must be done by an intermixture of the fire with the parts of the body Next that the burning must be but skin deep as we use to call it that is the burned part must not be totally overcome by fire or else it will never be restored again Neither are all burned bodies restored after this manner but some for one and the same thing will not in all bodies occasion the like effects as we may see by Fire which being one and the same will not cause all fuels to burn alike and this makes true the old saying One Mans Meat is another Mans Poyson The truth is it cannot be otherwise for though Nature and natural self-moving Matter is but one body and the onely cause of all natural effects yet Nature being divided into infinite corporeal figurative self-moving parts these parts as the effects of that onely cause must needs be various and again proceeding from one infinite cause as one matter they are all but one thing because they are infinite parts of one Infinite body But some may say If Nature be but one body and the Infinite parts are all united into that same body How comes it that there is such an opposition strife and war betwixt the parts of Nature I answer Nature being Material is composeable and divideable and as Composition is made by a mutual agreement of parts so division is made by an opposition or strife betwixt parts which opposition or division doth not obstruct the Union of Nature but on the contrary rather proves that without an opposition of parts there could not be a union or composition of so many several parts and creatures nor no change or variety in Nature for if all the parts did unanimously conspire and agree in their motions and move all but one way there would be but one act or kind of motion in Nature when as an opposition of some parts and a mutual agreement of others is not onely the cause of the Miraculous variety in Nature but it poyses and ballances as it were the corporeal figurative motions which is the cause that Nature is steady and fixt in her self although her parts be in a perpetual motion 29. Several Questions resolved concerning Cold and Frozen Bodies c. FIrst I will give you my answer to the question which is much agitated amongst the Learned concerning Cold to wit Whether it be a Positive quality or a bare Privation of Heat And my opinion is That Cold is both a Positive quality and a privation of heat For whatsoever is a true quality of Cold must needs be a privation of Heat since two opposites cannot subsist together in one and the same part at one point of time By Privation I mean nothing else but an alteration of Natures actions in her several parts or which is all one a change of natural corporeal motions and so the death of Animals may be called a privation of animal life that is a change of the animal motions in that particular Creature which made animal life to some other kind of action which is not animal life And in this sense both Cold and Heat although they be positive qualities or natural beings yet they are also privations that is changes of corporeal figurative motions in several particular Creatures or parts of Nature But what some Learned mean by Bare Privation I cannot apprehend for there 's no such thing as a bare Privation or bare Motion in Nature but all Motion is Corporeal or Material for Matter Motion and Figure are but one thing Which is the reason that to explain my self the better 〈…〉 of Motion I do always add the word corporeal 〈◊〉 â—â—gurative by which I exclude all bare or immaterial Motion which expression is altogether against sense and reason The second Question is Whether Winds have the power to change the Exterior temper of the Air To which I answer That Winds will not onely occasion the Air to be either hot or cold according to their own temper but also Animals and Vegetables and other sorts of Creatures for the sensitive corporeal Motions in several kinds of Creatures do often imitate and figure out the Motions of exterior objects some more some less some regularly and some irregularly and some not at all according to the nature of their own perceptions By which we may observe that the Agent which is the external object has onely an occasional power and the Patient which is the sentient works chiefly the effect by vertue of the perceptive figurative motions in its own sensitive organs or parts Quest. 3. Why those Winds that come from cold Regions are most commonly cold and those that come from hot Regions are for the most part hot I answer The reason is That those Winds have more constantly patterned out the motions of cold or heat in those parts from which they either separated themselves or which they have met withal But it may be questioned Whether all cold and hot winds do bring their heat and cold along with them out of such hot and cold Countries And I am of opinion they do not but that they proceed from an imitation of the nearest parts which take patterns from other parts and these again from the remoter parts so that they are but patterns of other patterns and copies of other copies Quest. 4. Why Fire in some cold Regions will hardly kindle or at least not burn freely I answer This is no more to be wondered at then that some men do die with cold for cold being contrary to fire if it have a predominate power it will without doubt put out the fire not that the cold corporeal motions do destroy fire by their actual power over it but that fire destroys it self by an imitation of the motions of cold so that cold is onely an occasional cause of the fires destruction or at least of the alteration of its motions and the diminution of its strength But some might ask What makes or causes this imitation in several sorts of Cretures I answer The wisdom of Nature which orders her corporeal actions to be always in a mean so that one extream as one may call it does countervail another But then you 'l say There would always be a right and mean temper in all things I answer So there is in the whole that is in Infinite Nature although not in every particular for Natures Wisdom orders her particulars to the best of the whole and although
particulars do oppose each other yet all opposition tends to the conservation of a general peace and unity in the whole But to return to Fire since Air is the proper matter of respiration for fire extream colds and frosts either of air or vapour are as unfit for the respiration of fire as water is which if it do not kill it quite yet it will at least make it sick pale and faint but if water be rarified to such a degree that it becomes thin vapour then it is as proper for its respiration as air Thus we see although fire hath fuel which is its food yet no food can keep it alive without breath or respiration The like may be said of some other Creatures Qu. 5. Whether Wood be apt to freeze My Answer is That I believe that the moist part of Wood which is sap may freeze as hard as Water but the solid parts cannot do so for the cracking noise of Wood is no proof of its being frozen because Wainscot will make such a noise in Summer as well as in Winter And it is to be observed that some bodies will be apter to freeze in a weak then in a hard frost according to their own dispositions which is as much to be considered as the object of cold or frost it self for some bodies do more and some less imitate the motions of some objects and some not at all and thus we see that solid bodies do onely imitate the contractive motions of cold but not the dilative motions of moisture which is the cause they break in a hard frost like as a string which being tied too hard will fly asunder and as they imitate Cold so they do also imitate Thaw Quest. 6. Whether Water be fluid in its nature or but occasionally by the agitation of the air I answer That Waters is fluid in its own nature needs no proof but 't is known enough by the force of its dilating motions for Water when it gets but liberty it overflows all and dilates everywhere which proves it is not air that makes it fluid but it is so in its own nature Quest. 7. What produces those great Precipices and Mountains of Ice which are found in the Sea and other great waters I answer That Snow as also thick Fogs and Mists which are nothing but rarified water falling upon the Ice make its out-side thicker and many great shelves and broken pieces of Ice joyning together produce such Precipices and Mountains as mentioned Quest. 8. Whether Fishes can live in frozen Water I answer If there be as much water left unfrozen as will serve them for respiration they may live for it is well known that Water is the chief matter of respiration for Fish and not Air for Fish being out of water cannot live long but whilst they live they gasp and gape for water I mean such kinds of Fish which do live altogether in Water and not such Creatures as are of a mixt kind and live in water as well as by land which the Learned call Amphibious Creatures as Otters and the like which may live in the air as well as in water Those Fish I say if the water be thorowly frozen or if but the surface of water be quite frozen over to a pretty depth will often die by reason the water that remains unfrozen by the contraction of Ice has altered for that time its dilative motions to retentive motions and like as men are smothered in a close air so Fish in close water that is in water which is quite covered and inclosed with Ice but at some men have not so nice and tender natures as others and some have larger organs for respiration then others and some are more accustomed to some sorts of air then others which may cause them to endure longer or respire more freely then others so some Fishes do live longer in such close waters then others and some may be like Men that are frost-bitten which may chance to live even in those waters that are quite thorowly frozen as Experimenters relate but yet I cannot believe that the water in which Fishes have been observed to live can be so thorowly frozen to solid Ice that it should not leave some liquidity or wetness in it although not perceptible by our sight by which those Fishes were preserved alive However it is more probable for Fish to live in Ice then for other Creatures because the Principle of Ice is Water which is the matter of the Fishes respiration which keeps them alive Quest. 9. Whether in decoctions of Herbs when congealed or frozen into Ice the figures of the Herbs do appear in the Ice This is affirmed for Truth by many Learned and though I do not deny but that such liquors in freezing may have some resemblance of their solid parts yet I do not believe it to be universal for if the blood of an animal should be congealed into Ice I doubt it would hardly represent the figure of an animal Indeed there 's much difference between the exterior figures of Creatures and their interior natures which is evident even in frozen water whose exterior Icy figures are numerous when as their interior nature is but water and there may also several changes and alterations of exterior figures be made by Art when their interior nature is but one and the same Quest. 10. Whether Cold doth preserve Bodies from Corruption I answer That in my opinion it may be very probable For Corruption or Putrefaction is nothing but irregular dissolving motions when as Freezing or Congelation is made by regular contracting and condensing motions and so long as these motions of Freezing are in force it is impossible the motions that make Corruption should work their effect But that such bodies as have been thorowly frozen after being thawed are most commonly spoiled the reason is that the freezing or congealing motions being not natural to those bodies have caused such a thorowalteration of the natural motions of their parts as a hundred to one but they will never move regularly and orderly again afterward but on the contrary their interior motions do quite and absolutelely change by which the figure is totally altered from its former nature but if a solid body be not throughly frozen it may be reduced to a perfect regularity again for those natural motions that are not altered may occasion the rest to act as formerly to the preservation of that figure 30. Of Contraction and Dilation THere have been and are still great disputes amongst the Learned concerning Contraction and Extension of bodies but if I were to decide their controversie I would ask first Whether they did all agree in one principle that is whether their principle was purely natural and not mixt with divine or supernatural things for if they did not well apprehend one anothers meaning or argued upon different principles it would be but a folly to dispute because it would be impossible for them to agree But
Aristotle makes the Principles of Nature Matter Form and Privation and leaves out the chief which is Motion for were there no motion there would be no variety of figures besides Matter and Form are but one thing for wheresoever is Matter there is also form or figure but privation is a non-being and therefore cannot be a principle of natural bodies 4. There is no such thing as simple bodies in Nature for if Nature her self consists of a commixture of animate and inanimate Matter no part can be called simple as having a composition of the same parts besides no part can subsist single or by it self wherefore the distinction into simple and mixt bodies is needless for Elements are as much composed bodies as other parts of Nature neither do I understand the difference between perfect and imperfect mixt bodies for Nature may compose mix and divide parts as she pleaseth 5. The primary Qualities of the Elements as Heat and Cold Humidity and Siccity says Aristotle are the cause of Generation when heat and cold overcome the Matter I wonder he makes qualities to be no substances or bodies but accidents which is something between body and no body and yet places them above Matter and makes Generation their effect But whatsoever he calls them they are no more but effects of Nature and cannot be above their cause which is Matter neither is it probable there are but eighteen passive qualities he might have said as well there are but eighteen sorts of motions for natural effects go beyond all number as being infinite 6. Concerning the Soul Aristotle doth not believe That it moves by it self but is onely moved accidentally according to the Motion of the body but he doth not express from whence the motion of the Soul proceeds although he defines it to be that by which we live feel and understand Neither says he is there a Soul diffused through the World for there are inanimate bodies as well as animate but sense and reason perceives the contrary to wit that there is no part of Nature but is animate that is has a soul. Sense says he is not sensible of it self nor of its organ nor of any interior thing for sense cannot move it self but is a mutation in the organ caused by some sensible object But the absurdity of this opinion I have declared heretofore for it is contrary to humane Reason to believe first that sense should be sensible of an outward object and not of it self or which is all one have perception of exterior parts and not self-knowledg Next that an external object should be the cause of sense when as sense and reason are the chief principles of Nature and the cause of all natural effects Again Sense says he is in all Animals but Fancy is not for Fancy is not Sense Fancy acts in him that sleeps Sense not To which I answer first Fancy or Imagination is a voluntary action of Reason or of the rational parts of Matter and if reason be in all Animals nay in all Creatures Fancy is there also Next it is evident that Sense acts as much asleep as awake the difference I have expressed elsewhere viz. That the sensitive motions Work inwardly in sleep and outwardly awake The Intellect to Aristotle is that part of the Soul by which it knows and understands and is onely proper to man when as sense is proper to animals It is twofold Patient and Agent whereof this is Immortal Eternal not mixt with the body but separable from it and ever in action The Patient Intellect is mortal and yet void of corruptive passion not mixt with the body nor having any corporeal organs But these and many other differences of Intellects which he rehearses are more troublesome to the understanding then beneficial for the knowledg of Nature And why should we puzzle our selves with multiplicity of terms and distinctions when there 's no need of them Truly Nature's actions are easie and we may easily apprehend them without much ado If Nature be material as it cannot be proved otherwise sense and reason are material also and therefore we need not to introduce an incorporeal mind or intellect Besides if sense and reason be a constitutive principle of Nature all parts of Nature do partake of the same nor hath man a prerogative before other Creatures in that case onely the difference and variety of motions makes different figures and consequently different knowledges and perceptions and all Fancies Imaginations Judgment Memory Remembrance and the like are nothing else but the actions of reason or of the rational parts of Animate Matter so that there is no necessity to make a Patient and Agent Intellect much less to introduce incorporeal substances to confound and disturb corporeal Nature 6. Of Scepticisme and some other Sects of the Ancient THere are several sorts of Scepticks different from each other for though almost every one of the ancient Philosophers has his own opinions in Natural Philosophy and goes on his own grounds or principles yet some come nearer each other then others do and though Heraclitus Democritus Protagoras and others seem to differ from the Scepticks yet their opinions are not so far asunder but they may all be referred to the same sect Heraclitus is of opinion That contraries are in the same thing and Scepticks affirm That contraries appear in the same thing but I believe they may be partly both in the right and partly both in the wrong If their opinion be that there are or appear contraries in Nature or in the essence of Matter they are both in the wrong but if they believe that Matter has different and contrary actions they are both in the right for there are not onely real but also apparent or seeming contraries in Nature which are her irregularities to wit when the sensitive and rational parts of Matter do not move exactly to the nature of their particulars As for example Honey is sweet to those that are sound and in health but bitter to those that have the over-flowing of the Gall where it is to be observed that Honey is not changed from its natural propriety but the motions of the Gall being irregular make a false copy like as mad men who think their flesh is stone or those that apprehend a Bird for a Stone a Man for a Tree c. neither the Flesh nor Stone nor Tree are changed from their own particular natures but the motions of humane sense in the sentient are irregular and make false copies of true objects which is the reason that an object seems often to be that which really it is not However those irregularities are true corporeal motions and thus there are both real and seeming contraries in Nature but as I mentioned before they are not contrary matters but onely contrary actions Democritus says That Honey is neither bitter nor sweet by reason of its different appearance to differently affected persons but if so then he is like those that make
they gave according to their observation this following reason There is said they a certain heat within the bowels of the Earth proceeding from its swift circular motion upon its own axe which heat distills the rarest parts of the Earth into a fresh and insipid water which water being through the pores of the Earth conveighed into a place where it may break forth without resistance or obstruction causes Springs and Fountains and these distilled waters within the Earth do nourish and refresh the grosser and dryer parts thereof This Relation confirmed the Emperess in the opinion concerning the motion of the Earth and the fixedness of the Sun as the Bird-men had informed her and then she asked the Worm-men whether Minerals and Vegetables were generated by the same heat that is within the bowels of the Earth To which they could give her no positive answer onely this they affirmed That heat and cold were not the primary producing causes of either Vegetables or Minerals or other sorts of Creatures but onely effects and to prove this our assertion said they we have observed that by change of some sorts of corporeal motions that which is now hot will become cold and what is now cold will grow hot but the hottest place of all we find to be the Center of the Earth Neither do we observe that the torrid Zone does contain so much Gold and Silver as the Temperate nor is there great store of Iron and Lead wheresoever there is Gold for these metals are most found in colder climates towards either of the Poles This observation the Emperess commanded them to confer with her Chymists the Ape-men to let them know that Gold was not produced by a violent but a temperate degree of heat She asked further Whether Gold could not be made by Art They answered That they could not certainly tell her Majesty but if it was possible to be done they thought Tin Lead Brass Iron and Silver to be the fittest metals for such an Artificial transmutation Then she asked them Whether Art could produce Iron Tin Lead or Silver They answered not in their opinion Then I perceive replied the Emperess that your judgments are very irregular since you believe that Gold which is so fixt a metal that nothing has been found as yet which could occasion a dissolution of its interior figure may be made by Art and not Tin Lead Iron Copper or Silver which yet are so far weaker and meaner metals then Gold is But the Worm-men excused themselves that they were ignorant in that Art and that such questions belonged more properly to the Ape-men which were Her Majesties Chymists Then the Emperess asked them Whether by their sensitive perceptions they could observe the interior corporeal figurative motions both of Vegetables and Minerals They answer'd That their senses could perceive them after they were produced but not before Nevertheless said they although the interior figurative motions of natural Creatures are not subject to the exterior animal sensitive perceptions yet by their rational perception they may judg of them and of their productions if they be regular Whereupon the Emperess commanded the Bear-men to lend them some of their best Microscopes at which the Bear-men smilingly answered her Majesty that their Glasses would do them but little service in the bowels of the Earth because there was no light for said they our Glasses do onely represent exterior objects according to the various reflections and positions of light and wheresoever light is wanting the glasses wil do no good To which the Worm-men replied that although they could not say much of refractions reflections inflections and the like yet were they not blind even in the bowels of the Earth for they could see the several sorts of Minerals as also minute Animals that lived there which minute animal Creatures were not blind neither but had some kind of sensitive perception that was as serviceable to them as sight taste smell touch hearing c. was to other animal Creatures By which it is evident That Nature has been as bountiful to those Creatures that live under ground or in the bowels of the Earth as to those that live upon the surface of the Earth or in the Air or in Water But howsoever proceeded the Worm-men although there is light in the bowels of the Earth yet your Microscopes will do but little good there by reason those Creatures that live under ground have not such an optick sense as those that live on the surface of the Earth wherefore unless you had such glasses as are proper for their perception your Microscopes will not be any ways advantagious to them The Emperess seem'd well pleased with this answer of the Worm-men and asked them further whether Minerals and all other Creatures within the Earth were colourless At which question they could not forbear laughing and when the Emperess asked the reason why they laught We most humbly beg your Majesties pardon replied they for we could not chuse but laugh when we heard of a colourless body Why said the Emperess colour is onely an accident which is an immaterial thing and has no being of it self but in an other body Those replied they that informed your Majesty thus surely their rational motions were very irregular For how is it possible that a natural nothing can have a being in Nature If it be no substance it cannot have a being and if no being it is nothing Wherefore the distinction between subsisting of it self and subsisting in another body is a meer nicety and non-sense for there is nothing in Nature that can subsist of or by it self I mean singly by reason all parts of Nature are composed in one body and though they may be infinitely divided commixed and changed in their particulars yet in general parts cannot be separated from parts as long as Nature lasts nay we might as probably affirm that Infinite Nature would be as soon destroyed as that one Atome could perish and therefore your Majesty may firmly believe that there is no body without colour nor no colour without body for colour figure place magnitude and body are all but one thing without any separation or abstraction from each other The Emperess was so wonderfully taken with this discourse of the Worm-men that she not onely pardoned the rudeness they committed in laughing at first at her question but yielded a full assent to their opinion which she thought the most rational that ever she had heard yet and then proceeding in her questions enquired further whether they had observed any seminal principles within the Earth free from all dimensions and qualities which produced Vegetables Minerals and the like To which they answered That concerning the seeds of Minerals their sensitive perceptions had never observed any but Vegetables had certain seeds out of which they were produced Then she asked whether those seeds of Vegetables lost their species that is were annihilated in the production of their off-spring To which they