of intension and Remission and others do not ibid. § 7. That in euery part of our habitable world all the foure Elements are found pure in small atomes but not in any great bulke pag. 142. CHAP. XVII Of Rarefaction and Condensation the two first motions of particular bodies pag. 144. § 1. The Authors intent in this and the following chapters ibid. § 2. That bodies may be rarifyed both by outward heat aud how this is performed pag. 145. § 3. Of the great effects fo Rarefaction pag. 147. § 4. The first manner of condensation by heate pag. 148. § 5. The second manner of condensation by cold pag. 149. § 6. That yce is not water rarifyed but condensed pag. 151. § 7. How wind snow and haile are made and wind by raine allayed pag. 152. § 8. How partes of the same or diuers bodies are ioyned more strongly together by condensation pag. 153. § 9. Vacuites can not be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstanding receiue more of an other pag. 154. § 10. The true reason of the former effect pag. 155. § 11. The reason why bodies of the same nature do ioyne more easily together then others pag. 156. CHAP. XVIII Of an other motion belonging to particular bodies called Attraction and of certaine operations termed Magicall pag. 157. § 1. What Attraction is and from whence it proceedeth ibid. § 2. The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhorreth from vacuity pag. 158. § 3. The true reason of attraction pag. 159. § 4. Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soeuer pag. 160. § 5. The doctrine touching the attraction of water in syphons ibid § 6. That the syphon doth not proue water to weigh in its owne orbe pag. 161. § 7. Concerning attraction caused by fire pag. 162. § 8. Concerning attraction made by vertue of hoat bodies amulets etc. pag. 163. § 9. The naturall reason giuen for diuers operations esteemed by some to be magicall ibid. CHAP. XIX Of three other motions belonging to particular bodies Filtration Restitution and Electricall attraction pag. 166. § 1. What is Filtration and how it is effected ibid. § 2. What causeth the water in filtration to ascend pag. 167. § 3. Why the filter will not droppe vnlesse the labell hang lower then the water ibid. § 4. Of the motion of Restitution and why some bodies stand bent others not pag. 168. § 5. Why some bodies returne onely in part to their natural figure others entirely pag. 170. § 6. Concerning the nature of those bodies which do shrinke and stretch pag. 171. § 7. How great and wonderfull effects proceed from small plaine and simple principles ibid. § 8. Concerning Electricall attraction and the causes of it pag. 172. § 9. Cabeus his opinion refuted concerning the cause of Electricall motions pag. 174. CHAP. XX. Of the Loadestones generation and its particular motions pag. 175. § 1. The extreme heat of the sunne vnder the zodiake draweth a streame of ayre from each Pole into the torride zone ibid. § 2. The atomes of these two streames coming together are apt to incorporate with one an other pag. 176. § 3. By the meeting and mingling together of these streames att the Equator diuers riuolets of atomes of each Pole are continuated from one Pole to te other pag. 177. § 4. Of these atomes incorporated with some fitt matter in the bowels of the earth is made a stone pag. 179. § 5. This stone worketh by emanations ioyned with agreeing streames that meete them in the ayre and in fine it is a loadestone ibid. § 6. A methode for making experiences vpon any subiect pag. 181. § 7. The loadestones generation by atomes flowing from both Poles is confirmed by experiments obserued in the stone it selfe ibid. § 8. Experiments to proue that the loadestone worketh by emanations meeting with agreeing streames pag. 182. CHAP. XXI Positions drawne out of the former doctrine and confirmed by experimentall proofes pag. 185. .1 The operations of the loadestone are wrought by bodies and not by qualities ibid. § 2. Obiections against the former position answered pag. 186. § 3. The loadestone is imbued with his vertue from an other body ibid. § 4. The vertue of the loadestone is a double and not one simple vertue 188. § 5. The vertue of the laodestone worketh more strongly in the Poles of it then in any other part ibid. § 6. The laodestone sendeth forth its emanations spherically Which are of two kindes and each kind is strongest in that hemisphere through whose polary partes they issue out ibid. § 7. Putting two loadestones within the sphere of one an other euery part of one laodestone doth not agree with euery part of the other loadestone pag 189. § 8. Concerning the declination and other respects of a needle towardes the loadestone it toucheth ibid. § 9. The vertue of the laodestone goeth from end to end in lines almost paralelle to the axis pag. 191. § 10. The vertue of loadestone is not perfectly sphericall though the stone be such pag. 192. § 11. The intention of nature in all the operations of the loadestone is to make an vnion betwixt the attractiue and attracted bodies ibid. § 12. The maine globe of the earth is not a loadestone ibid. § 13. The laodestone is generated in all partes or climats of the earth pag. 193. § 14. The conformity betwixt the two motions of magnetike thinges and of heauy thinges ibid. CHAP. XXII A solution of certaine Problemes concerning the loadestone and a short summe of the whole doctrine touching it pag. 194. § 1. Which is the North and which the South Pole of a loadestone ibid. § 2. Whether any bodies besides magnetike ones be attractiue ibid. § 3. Whether an iron placed perpendicularly towardes the earth doth gett a magneticall vertue of pointing towardes the north or towardes the south in that end that lyeth downewardes pag. 195. § 4. Why loadestones affect iron better then one an other ibid. § 5. Gilberts reason refuted touching a capped loadestone that taketh vp more iron then one not capped and an iron impregnated that in some case draweth more strongly then the stone it selfe ibid. § 6. Galileus his opinion touching the former effects refuted pag. 196. § 7. The Authors solution to the former questions pag. 197. § 8. The reason why in the former case a lesser loadestone doth draw the interiacent iron from the greater pag. 198. § 9. Why the variation of a touched needle from the north is greater the neerer you go to the Pole pag. 199. § 10. Whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may att one time vary more from the north and att an other time lesse pag. 200. § 11. The whole doctrine of the loadestone summed vp in short pag. 201. CHAP. XXIII A description of the two sortes of liuing creatures Plantes and Animals and how they are framed in common
surfaces 9 A body of greater partes and greater pores maketh a greater refraction then one of lesser partes and lesser pores 10 A coÌ„firmation of the former doctrine out of the nature of bodies that refract light 1 The coÌ„nexion of this chapter with the rest and the Authors intent in it 2 That there is a least cise of bodies and that this least cise is found in fire 3 The first coniunction of partes is in bodies of least cise and it is made by the force of Quantity 4 The second sort of coniunction is coÌ„pactednesse in simple Elements and it proceedeth from density 5 The third coniunction is of partes of different Elements and it proceedeth from quantity and density together 6 The reason why liquide bodies do easily ioyne together and dry ones difficultly 7 That no two hard bodies can touch one an other immediately 8 How mixed bodies arâ— framed in generall 9 The cause of the seuerall degrees of solidity in mixed bodies 10 The rule wherevnto are reduced all the seuerall combinations of Elements in compounding of mixed bodies 11 Earth and water are the basis of all permanent mixed bodies 12 What kind of bodies those are where water is the basis and earth the predominant Element ouer the other two 13 Of those bodies where water being the basis ayre is the predominant Element 14 What kind of bodies result where water is the basis and fire the predominant Element 15 Of those bodies where water is in excesse it alone being both the basis and the predominant Element 16 Of those bodies where Earth alone is the basis and also the predominant in excesse ouer the other threâ— Elements 17 Of those bodies where Earth is the basis and water the predominâ—t Element ouer the other two 18 Of those bodies where earth being the basis ayre is the predominant 19 Of those bodies where Earth being the basis fire is the predominant 20 All the second qualities of mixed bodies arise from seuerall combinations of the first qualities and are att last resolued into seuerall degrees of rarity and density 21 That in the planets and starres there is a like varietâ— of mixed bodies caused by light as here vpon Earth 22 In what maÌ„ner the Elements do worke vpon one an other in the compositioÌ„ of mixed bodies and in particular fire which is the most actiue 23 A particular declaration touching the generation of mettalls 1 Why some bodies are brittle and others tough or apt to withstand outward violence the first instrument to dissolue mixed bodies 2 How outward violence doth worke vpon the most compacted bodies 3 The seuerall effects of fire the second and chiefest instrumeÌ„t to dissolue all coÌ„pounded bodies 4 The reason why some bodies are not dissolued by fire 5 The reason why fire molteth gold but can not consume it 6 Why leade is easily consumed and calcined by fire 7 Why and how some bodies are diuided by fire into spirits waters oyles saltes and earth And what those partes are 8 How water the third iâ—strumeÌ„t to dissolue bodies dissolueth calx into salt and so into Terra damnata 9 How water mingled with salt becometh a most powerfull Agent to dissolue other bodies 10 How putrefactioÌ„ is caused 1 What is the sphere of actiuity in corporeall Agents 2 The reason why no body can worke in distance 3 An obiection answered against the manner of explicating the former axiomâ— 4 Of reaction and first in pure locall motion that each AgeÌ„t must suffer in acting and actâ— in suffering 5 The former doctrine applyed to other locall motions designed by particular names And that Suisseths argument is of no force against this way of doctrine 6 Why some notions do admitt of intension and Remission and others do not 7 That in euery part of our habitable world all the foure ElemeÌ„ts are found pure in small atomes but not in any great bulke 1 The Authors intent in this and the following chapters Mr. Thomas White 2 That bodies may be rarifyed both by outward and inward heat and how this is performed 3 Of the great effects of Rarefaction 4 The first manner of condensation by heate 5 The second manner of condensation by cold 6 That yce is not water rarifyed but condensed 7 How wind snow and haile are made and wind by raine allayed 8 How partes of the same or diuers bodies are ioyned more strongly together by condensation 9 Vacuites can not be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstaÌ„ding receiue more of an other 10 The true reason of the former effect 11 The reason why bodies of the same nature do ioyne more easily together then others 1 What AttractioÌ„ is and from whence it proceedeth 2 The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhorreth from vacuity 3 The true reasâ— of attraction 4 Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soeuer 5 The doctrine touching the attraction of water in syphons 6 That the syphon doth not proue water to weigh in its owne orbe 7 Concerning attraction caused by fire 8 Concerning attractioÌ„ made by vertue of hoat bodies amulets etc. 9 The naturall reason giuen for diuers operations esteemed by some to be magicall 1 What is Filtration and how it is effected 2 What causeth the water in filtration to ascend 3 Why the filter will not droppe vnlesse the labell hang lower then the water 4 Of the motion of Restitution and why some bodies stand bent others not 5 Why some bodies returne onely in part to their natural figure others entirely 6 Concerning the nature of those bodies which do shrinke and stretch 7 How great and wonderfull effects proceed from small plaine and simple principles 8 Concerning Electricall attraction and the causes of it 9 Cabeus his opinion refuted concerning the cause of Electricall motâ—ons 1 The extreme heat of the sunne vnder the zodiacke draweth a streame of ayre from each Pole into the torride zone Chap. 18. §. 7. 2 The atomes of these two streames coming together are apt to incorporate with one an other 3 By the meeting and mingling together of these streames att the Equator diuers riuolets of atomes of each Pole are continuatâ—d from one Pole to the other 4 Of these atomes incorporated with some fitt matter in the bowels of the earth is made a stone 5 This stone worketh by emanations ioyned with agreeing streames that meete them in the ayre and in fine it is a loadestone 6 A methode for making experiences vpon any subiect 7 The Loadestones generatioÌ„ by atomes flowing from both Poles is confirmed by experiments obserued in the stone it selfe 8 Experiments to proue that the loadestone worketh by emanations meeting with agreeing streames 1 The operations of the loadestone are wrought by bodies and not by qualities 2 Obiections against the former positioÌ„ answered 3 The loadestone is imbued
vnresistable force to pierce and shatter not onely the ayre but euen the hardest bodies that are Peraduenture some may thinke it reasonable to grant the consequence in due circumstances since experience teacheth vs that the congregation of a litle light by a glasse will sett very solide bodies on fire and will melt mettals in a very short space which sheweth a great actiuity and the great actiuity sheweth a great percussion burning being effected by a kind of attrition of the thing burned And the great force which fire sheweth in gunnes and in mines being but a multiplication of the same doth euidently conuince that of its owne nature it maketh a strong percussion when all due circumstances concurre Whereas it hath but litle effect if the due circumstances be wanting as we may obserue in the insensible burning of so rarifyed a body as pure spiritt of wine conuerted into flame But we must examine the matter more particularly and must seeke the cause why a violent effect doth not alwayes appeare wheresoeuer light striketh for the which wee are to note that three thinges do concurre to make a percussion great The bignesse the density and the celerity of the body mooued Of which three there is only one in light to witt celerity for it hath the greatest rarity and the rayes of it are the smallest parcels of all naturall bodies And therefore since only celerity is considerable in the account of lights percussions we must examine what celerity is necessary to make the stroke of a ray sensible first then we see that all the motes of the ayre nay euen feathers and strawes do make no sensible percussion when they fall vpon vs therefore we must in light haue att the least a celerity that may be to the celerity of the straw falling vpon our hand for example as the density of the straw is to the density of light that the percussion of light may be in the least degree sensible But let vs take a corne of gunnepowder insteede of a straw betweene which there can not be much difference and then putting that the density of fire is to the density of gunnepowder as 1. to 125000 and that the density of the light we haue here in the earth is to the density of that part of fire which is in the sunnes body as the body of the sunne is to that body which is called Orbis magnus whose semidiameter is the distance betweene the sunne and the earth which must be in subtriple proportion of the diameter of the sunne to the diameter of the great orbe it followeth that 125000. being multiplyed by the proportion of the great orbe vnto the sunne which Galileo telleth vs is as 106000000. vnto one will giue a scantling of what degree of celerity light must haue more then a corne of gunnepouder to recompence the excesse of weight which is in a corne of gunnepouder aboue that which is in a ray of light as bigge as a corne of gunnepouder Which will amount to be much greater then the proportion of the semidiater of Orbis magnus to the semidiater of the corne of gunnepouder for if you reckon 5. graines of gunnepouder to a barley cornes breadth and 12. of them in an inch and 12. inches in a foote and 3. feete in a pace and 1000. paces in a mile and 3500. miles in the semidiameter of the earth and 1208. semidiameters of the earth in the semidiameter of the Orbis magnus there will be in it but 9132480000000. graines of gunnepouder whereas the other calculation maketh light to be 13250000000000. times raver then gunnepouder which is almost tenne times a greater proportion then the other And yet this celerity supplyeth but one of the two conditions wanting in light to make its percussions sensible namely density Now because the same velocity in a body of a lesser bulke doth not make so great a percussion as it doth in a bigger body and that the littlenesse of the least partes of bodies followeth the proportion of their rarity this vast proportion of celerity must againe be drawne into it selfe to supply for the excesse in bignesse that a corne of gunnepouder hath ouer an atome of light and the product of this multiplication will be the celerity required to supply for both defects Which euidently sheweth it is impossible that a ray of light should make any sensible percussion though it be a body Especially considering that sense neuer taketh notice of what is perpetually done in a moderate degree And therefore after this minute looking into all circumstances we neede not haue difficulty in allowing vnto light the greatest celerity imaginable and a percussion proportionate to such a celerity in so rare a body and yett not feare any violent effect from its blowes vnlesse it be condensed and many partes of it be brought together to worke as if they were but one As concerning the last obiection that if light were a body it would be fanned by the wind wee must first consider what is the cause of a thinges appearing to be mooued and then examine what force that cause hath in light As for the first part we see that when a body is discerned now in one place now in an other then it appeareth te be mooued And this we see happeneth also in light as when the sunne or a candle is carried or mooueth the light thereof in the body of the candle or sunne seemeth to be mooued along with it And the likes is in a shining cloud or comete But to apply this to our purpose wee must note that the intention of the obiection is that the light which goeth from the fire to an opacous body farre distant without interruption of its continuity should seeme to be iogged or putt out of its way by the wind that crosseth it Wherein the first fayling is that the obiectour conceiueth light to send species vnto our eye from the middest of its line whereas with a litle consideration he may perceiue that not light is seene by vs but that which is reflected from an opacous body to our eye so that the light he meaneth in his obiection is neuer seene att all Secondly it is manifest that the light which stricketh our eye doth strike it in a straight line and seemeth to be att the end of that straight line wheresoeur that is and so can neuer appeare to be in an other place but the light which wee see in an other place wee conceiue to be an other light Which maketh it againe euident that the light can neuer appeare to shake though wee should suppose that light may be seene from the middle of its line for no part of wind or ayre can come into any sensible place in that middle of the line with such speede that new light from the source doth not illuminate it sooner then it can be seene by vs wherefore it will appeare to vs illuminated as being in that place and therefore the light can neuer
do arise out of the reciprocall yielding of the medium And that is likewise diuisible in the same infinite proportion Since then the power of all naturall Agents is limited the moouer be it neuer so powerfull must be confined to obserue these proportions and can not passe ouer all these infinite designable degrees in an instant but must allott some time which hath a like infinity of designable partes to ballance this infinity of degrees of velocity and so consequently it requireth time to attaine vnto any determinate degree And therefore can not recede immediately from rest vnto any degree of celerity but must necessarily passe through all the intermediate ones Thus it is euident that all motion which hath a beginning must of necessity encrease for some time And since the workes of nature are in proportion to their causes it followeth that this encrease is in a determinate proportion Which Galileus vnto whom we owe the greatest part of what is knowne concerning motion teacheth vs how to find out and to discouer what degree of celerity any mooueable that is moued by nature hath in any determinate part of the space it moueth in Hauing settled these conditions of motion we shall do well in the next place to enquire after the causes of it as well in the body moued as also in the mouer that occasioneth the motion And because we haue already shewed that locall motion is nothing in substance but diuision we may determine that those causes which contribute to diuision or resist it are the causes which make or resist locall motion It hath also beene said that Density hath in it a power of diuiding and that Rarity is the cause of being diuided likewise we haue said that fire by reason of its small partes into which it may be cutt which maketh them sharpe hath also an eminence in diuiding so that we haue two qualites density and tenuity or sharpnesse which concurre actiuely to diuision We haue told you also how Galileus hath demonstrated that a greater quantity of the same figure and density hath a priuiledge of descending faster then a lesser And that priuiledge consisteth in this that the proportion of the superficies to the body it limiteth which proportion the greater it is the more it retardeth is lesse in a greater bulke then in a smaller We haue therefore three conditions concurring to make the motion more efficacious namely the density the sharpenesse and the bulke of the mooueable And more then these three we can not expect to find in a moued body for quantity hath but three determinations one by density and rarity of which density is one of the three conditions an other by its partes as by a foote a spanne and in this way wee haue found that the greater excelleth the lesser the third and last is by its figure and in this we find that subtile or edged quantities do preuayle ouer blunt ones Seeing therefore that these three determinations be all that are in quantity there can be no more conditions in the body moued which of necessity is a finite quantity but the three named And as for the medium which is to be diuided there is onely rarity and density the one to helpe the other to hinder that require consideration on its side For neither figure nor littlenesse and greatnesse do make any variation in it And as for the Agent it is not as yet time before we haue looked further intâ— the nature of motion to determine his qualities Now then lett vs reflect how these three conditions do all agree in this circumstance that they helpe nothing to diuision vnlesse the body in which they are be moued and pressed against the body that is to be diuided so that we see no principle to persuade vs that any body can mooue it selfe towards any determinate part or place of the vniuerse of its owne intrinsecall inclination For besides that the learned Author of the Dialogues de Mundo in his third Dialogue and the second knott hath demonstrated that a body can not mooue vnlesse it be mooued by some extrinsecall Agent we may easily frame vnto our selues a conceite of how absurd it is to thinke that a body by a quality in it can worke vpon it selfe as if wee should say that rarity which is but more quantity could worke vpon quantity or that figure which is but that the body reacheth no further could worke vpon the body and in generall that the manner of any thing can worke vpon that thing whose manner it is For Aristotle and St. Thomas and their intelligent commentatours declaring the notion of Quality tell vs that to be a Quality is nothing else but to be the determination or modification of the thing whose quality it is Besides that the naturall manner of operation is to worke according to the capacity of the subiect but when a body is in the middest of an vniforme medium or space the subiect is equally prepared on all sides to receiue the action of that body Wherefore though we should allow it a force to mooue if it be a naturall Agent and haue no vnderstanding it must worke indifferently on all sides and by consequence can not mooue on any side For if you say that the Agent in this case where the medium is vniforme worketh rather vpon one side then vpon an other it must be because this determination is within the Agent it selfe and not out of the circumstant dispositions which is the manner of working of those substances that worke for an end of their owne that is of vnderstanding creatures and not of naturall bodies Now he that would exactly determine what motion a body hath or is apt to haue determining by supposition the force of the Agent must calculate the proportions of all these three conditions of the mooueable and the quality of the medium which is a proceeding too particular for the intention of our discourse But to speake in common it will not be amisse to examine in what proportion motion doth encrease since we haue concluded that all motion proceedeth from quiet by a continuall encrease Galileus that miracle of our age and whose witt was able to discouer whatsoeuer he had a mind to employ it about hath told vs that naturall motion encreaseth in the proportion of the odde numbers Which to expresse by example is thus suppose that in the going of the first yard it hath one degree of velocity then in the going of the second yard it will haue three degrees and in going the third it will haue fiue and so onwardes still adding two to the degrees of the velocity for euery one of the space Or to expresse it more plainely if in the first minute of time it goeth one yard of space then in the next minute it will goe three yardes in the third it will goe fiue in the fourth seauen and so forth But we must enlarge this proposition vnto all motions as we haue
shew vs that the lesse the atomes should penetrate into a moouing body by reason of the extreme density of it the more efficaciously they would worke and the greater celerity they would cause in its motion And hence we may giue the fullest solution to the obiection aboue which was to this effect that seeing diuision is made onely by the superficies or exteriour part of the dense body and that the vertue whereby a dense body doth worke is onely its resistance to diuision which maketh it apt to diuide it would follow that a hollow boule of brasse or iron should be as heauy as a solide one For we may answere that seeing the atomes must stricke through the body and that a cessible body doth not receiue their stroakes so firmely as a stiffe one nor can conuey them so farre if vnto a stiffe superficies there succeede a yielding inside the stroakes must of necessity loose much of their force and consequently can not mooue a body full of ayre with so much celerity or with so much efficacy as they may a solide one But then you may peraduenture say that if these stroakes of the descending atomes vpon a dense body were the cause of its motion downewardes we must allow the atomes to mooue faster then the dense body that so they may still ouertake it and driue it along and enter into it whereas if they should mooue slower then it none of them could come in their turne to giue it a stroake but it would be past them and out of their reach before they could strike it But it is euident say you out of these pretended causes of this motion that such atomes can not mooue so swiftly downewardes as a great dense body since their litlenesse and their rarity are both of them hindering to their motion and therefore this can not be the cause of that effect which we call grauity To this I reply that to haue the atomes giue these blowes to a descending dense body doth not require that their naturall and ordinary motion should be swifter then the descent of such a dense body but the very descent of it occasioneth their striking it for as it falleth and maketh it selfe a way through them they diuide themselues before it and swell on the sides and a litle aboue it and presently close againe behind it and ouer it as soone as it is past Now that closing to hinder vacuity of space is a suddaine one and thereby attaineth great velocity which would carry the atomes in that degree of velocity further then the descending body if they did not encounter with it in their way to retarde them which encounter and retarding implyeth such stroakes vpon the dense body as we suppose to cause this motion And the like we see in water into which letting a stone fall presently the water that was diuided by the stone and swelleth on the sides higher then it was before closeth vpon the backe of the descending stone and followeth it so violently that for a while after it leaueth a purling hole in the place where the stone went downe till by the repose of the stone the water returneth likewise to its quiet and so its superficies becometh euen In the third place an enquiry occurreth emergent out of this doctrine of the cause of bodies moouing vpwardes and downewardes Which is whether there would be any naturall motion deepe in the earth beyond the actiuity of the sunnes beames For out of these principles it followeth that there would not and consequently there must be a vast orbe in which there would be no motion of grauity or of leuity for suppose that the sunne beames might pierce a thousand miles deepe into the body of the earth yet there would still remaine a masse whose diameter would be neere 5000 miles in which there would be no grauitation nor the contrary motion For my part I shall make no difficulty to grant the inference as farre as concerneth motion caused by our sunne for what inconuenience would follow out of it But I will not offer att determining whether there may not be enclosed within that great sphere of earth some other fire such as the Chymistes talke of an Archeus a Demogorgon seated in the center like the hart in animals which may raise vp vapours and boyle an ayre out of them and diuide grosse bodies into atomes and accordingly giue them motions answerable to ours but in different lines from ours according as that fire or sunne is situated since the farre-searching Author of the Dialogues de Mundo hath left that speculation vndecided after he had touched vpon it in the 12 knott of his first Dialogue Fourthly it may be obiected that if such descending atomes as we haue described were the cause of a bodies grauity and descending towardes the center the same body would att diuers times descend more and lesse swiftly for example after midnight when the atomes begin to descend more slowly then likewise the same body would descend more slowly in a like proportion and not weigh so much as it did in the heate of the day The same may be said of summer and winter for in winter time the atomes seeme to be more grosse and consequently to strike more strongly vpon the bodies they meete with in their way as they descend yet on the other side they seeme in the summer to be more numerous as also to descend from a greater height both which circumstances will be cause of a stronger stroake and more vigourous impulse vpon the body they hitt And the like may be obiected of diuers partes of the world for in the torride zone it will alwayes happen as in summer in places of the temperate zone and in the polar climes as in deepest winter so that no where there would be any standard or certainty in the weight of bodies if it depended vpon so mutable a cause And it maketh to the same effect that a body which lyeth vnder a thicke rocke or any other very dense body that can not be penetrated by any great store of atomes should not be so heauy as it would be in the open and free ayre where the atomes in their complete numbers haue their full stroakes For answere to these and such like instances we are to note first that it is not so much the number or the violence of the percussion of the striking atomes as the density of the thing strucken which giueth the measure to the descending of a weighty body and the chiefe thing which the stroake of the atomes giueth vnto a dense body is a determination of the way which a dense body is to cutt vnto it selfe therefore multiplication or lessening of the atomes will not make any sensible difference betwixt the weight of one dense body where many atomes do strike and an other body of the same density where but few do strike so that the stroake downewardes of the descending atomes be greater then the stroake vpwardes
it a permanent vertue by which it worketh like a weake loadestone The second is that as it maketh the iron worke towardes the lesser loadestone by its permanent vertue so also it accompanyeth the steame that goeth from the iron towardes the little loadestone with its owne steame which goeth the same way so that both these steames do in company clymbe vp the steame of the little loadestone which meeteth them and that steame clymbeth vp the enlarged one of both theirs together The third effect which the greater loadestone worketh is that it maketh the steame of the little loadestone become stronger by augmenting its innate vertue in some degree Now then the going of the iron to eyther of the loadestones must follow the greater and quicker coniunction of the two meeting steames and not the greatnesse of one alone So that if the coniunction of the two steames between the iron and the little loadestone be greater and quicker then the coniunction of the two steames which meete between the greater loadestone and the iron the iron must sticke to the lesser loadestone And this must happen more often then otherwise for the steame which goeth from the iron to the greater loadestone will for the most part be lesse then the steame which goeth from the lesser loadestone to the iron And though the other steame be neuer so great yet it can not draw more then according to the proportion of its Antagonists coming from the iron Wherefore seeing the two steames betwixt the iron and the little loadestone are more proportionable to one an other and the steame coming out of the little loadestone is notably greater then the steame going from the iron to the greater loadestone the coniunction must be made for the most part to the little loadestone And if this discourse doth not hold in the former part of the Probleme betwixt a second iron and a loadestone it is supplyed by the former reason which we gaue for that particular purpose The third case dependeth also of this solution for the bigger an iron is so many more partes it hath to sucke vp the influence of the loadestone and consequently doth it thereby the more greedily and therefore the loadestone must be carried to it more violently and when they are ioyned sticke more strongly The sixt question is why the variations of the needle from the true north in the northerne hemisphere are greater the neerer you go to the Pole and lesser the neerer you approach to the Aequator The reason whereof is plaine in our doctrine for considering that the magnetike vertue of the earth streameth from the north towardes the aequator it followeth of necessity that if there be two streames of magnetike fluours issuing from the north one of them precisely from the pole and the other from a part of the earth neere the pole and that the streame coming from the point by side the pole be but a little the stronger of the two there will appeare very little differencies in their seuerall operations after they haue had a long space to mingle their emanations together which thereby do ioyne and grow as it were into one streame Whereas the neerer you come to the pole the more you will find them seuered and each of them working by its owne vertue And very neere the point which causeth the variation each streame worketh singly by it selfe and therefore here the point of variation must be master and will carry the needle strongly vnto his course from the due north if his streame be neuer so little more efficacious then the other Againe a line drawne from a point of the earth wyde of the pole to a point of the meridian neere the aequator maketh a lesse angle then a line drawne from the same point of the earth to a point of the same meridian neerer the pole wherefore the variation being esteemed by the quantities of the said angles it must needes be greater neere the pole then neere the aequator though the cause be the same But because it may happen that in the partes neere the aequator the variation may proceed from some piece of land not much more northerly then where the needle is but that beareth rather easterly or westerly from it and yet Gilberts assertion goeth vniuersally when he sayth the variations in southerne regions are lesse then in northerne ones we must examine what may be the reason thereof And presently the generation of the loadestone sheweth it plainely for seeing the nature of the loadestone proceedeth out of this that the sunne worketh more vpon the torride zone then vpon the poles and that his too strong operation is contrary to the loadestone as being of the nature of fire it followeth euidently that the landes of the torride zone can not be so magneticall generally speaking as the polar landes are and by consequence that a lesser land neere the pole will haue a greater effect then a larger continent neere the aequator and likewise a land further off towardes the pole will worke more strongly then a neerer land which lyeth towardes the aequator The seuenth question is whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may att one time vary more from the true north point and att an other time lesse In which Gilbert was resolute for the negatiue part but our latter Mathematiciens are of an other mind Three experiences were made neere London in three diuers yeares The two first 42 yeares distant from one an other and the third 12 yeares distant from the second And by them it is found that in the space of 54 yeares he loadestone hath att London diminished his variation from the north the quantity of 7 degrees and more But so that in the latter yeares the diminution hath sensibly gone faster then in the former These obseruations peraduenture are but little credited by strangers but we who know the worth of the men that made them can not mistrust any notable errour in them for they were very able mathematicians and they made their obseruations with very greate exactnesse and there were seuerall iuditious wittnesses att the making of them as may be seene in Mr. Gillebrand his print concerning this subiect And diuers other particular persons do confirme the same whose creditt though each single might peraduenture be slighted yet all in body make a great accession We must therefore cast about to find what may be the cause of an effect so paradoxe to the rest of the doctrine of the loadestone for seeing that no one place can stand otherwise to the north of the earth att one time then att an other how is it possible that the needle should receiue any new variation since all variation proceedeth out of the inequality of the earth But when we consider that this effect proceedeth not out of the maine body of the earth but only out of the barke of it and that its barke may haue diuers tempers not as yet
the causes of euery one of them exactly which would require both large discourses and aboundance of experiences to acquitt our selues as we ought of such a taske Nor is there a like neede of doing it as formerly for as much as concerneth our designe since the causes of them are palpably materiall and the admirable artifice of them consisteth only in the Daedalean and wunderfull ingenious ordering and ranging them one with an other We shall therefore entreat our Reader from this time forwardes to expect only the common sequele of those particular effects out of the principles already layed And when some shall occurre that may peraduenture seeme att the first sight to be enacted immediately by a vertue spirituall and that proceedeth indiuisibly in a different straine from the ordinary processes which we see in bodies and in bodily thinges that is by the vertues of rarity and density working by locall motion we hope he will be satisfyed att our handes if we lay downe a methode and trace out a course whereby such euents and operations may follow out of the principles we haue layed Though peraduenture we shall not absolutely conuince that euery effect is done iust as we sett it downe in euery particular and that it may not as well be done by some other disposing of partes vnder the same generall scope for it is enough for our turne if we shew that such effects may be performed by corporeall agents working as other bodies do without confining ourselues to an exactnesse in euery linke of the long chaine that must be wound vp in the performance of them To come then to the matter the next thing we are to employ ourselues about now that we haue explicated the natures of those motions by meanes whereof bodies are made and destroyed and in which they are to be considered chiefely as passiue whiles some exteriour agent working vpon them causeth such alterations in them and bringeth them to such passe as wee see in the changes that are dayly wrought among substances is to take a suruay of those motions which some bodies haue wherein they seeme to be not so much patients as agents and do containe with in themselues the principle of their owne motion and haue no relation to any outward obiect more then to stirre vp that principle of motion and sett it on worke which when it is once in act hath as it were within the limits of its owne kingdome and seuered from commerce with all other bodies whatsoeuer many other subalterne motions ouer which it presideth To which purpose we may consider that among the compounded bodies whose natures we haue explicated there are some in whom the partes of different complexions are so small and so well mingled together that they make a compound which to our sense seemeth to be all of it quite through of one homogeneous nature and howsoeuer it be diuided each part retaineth the entire and coÌ„plete nature of the whole Others againe there are in which it is easy to discerne that the whole is made vp of seuerall great partes of very differing natures and teÌ„pers And of these there are two kindes the one of such as their differing partes seeme to haue no relation to one an other or correspondence together to performe any particular worke in which all of them are necessary but rather they seeme to be made what they are by chance and by accident and if one part be seuered from an other each is an entire thing by it selfe of the same nature as it was in the whole and no harmony is destroyed by such diuision As may be obserued in some bodies digged out of mines in which one may see luÌ„pes of mettall oore stone and glasse and such different substances in their seuerall distinct situations perfectly compacted into one continuate body which if you diuide the glasse remaineth what it was before the Emerald is still an Emerald the syluer is good syluer and the like of the other subsâ—aÌ„ces the causes of which may be easily deduced out of what we haue formerly said But there are other bodies in which this manifest and notable difference of partes carrieth with it such a subordinatioÌ„ of one of them vnto an other as we can not doubt but that nature made such engines if so I may call them by designe and intended that this variety should be in one thing whose vnity and being what it is should depend of the harmony of the seuerall differing partes and should be destroyed by their seperation As we see in liuing creatures whose particular partes and members being once seuered there is no longer a liuing creature to be found among them Now of this kind of bodies there are two sortes The first is of those that seeme to be one continuate substance wherein we may obserue one and the same constant progresse throughout from the lowest vnto the highest part of it so that the operation of one part is not att all different from that of an other but the whole body seemeth to be the course and through fare of one constant action varying it selfe in diuers occasions and occurrences according to the disposition of the subiect The bodies of the secoÌ„d sort haue their partes so notably seperated one froÌ„ the other and each of them haue such a peculiar motion proper vnto them that one might conceiue they were eueâ—y one of them a complete distinct totall thing by it selfe and that all of them were artificially tyed together were it not that the subordination of these partes to one an other is so great and the correspondence betweene them so strict the one not being able to subsist without the other from whom he deriueth what is needefull for him and againe being so vsefull vnto that other and hauing its action and motion so fitting and necessary for it as without it that other can not be as plainely conuinceth that the compound of all these senerall partes must needes be one indiuiduall thing I remember that when I trauailed in spaine I saw there two engines that in some sort do expresse the natures of these two kindes of bodies The one att Toledo the other att Segouia both of them sett on worke by the current of the riuer in which the foundation of their machine was layed That att Toledo was to force vp water a great hieght from the riuer Tagus to the Alcazar the King his pallace that standeth vpon a high steepe hill or rocke almost perpendicular ouer the riuer In the bottome there was an indented wheele which turning round with the streame gaue motion att the same time to the whole engine which consisted of a multitude of little troughes or square ladles sett one ouer an other in two parallele rowes ouer against one an other from the bottome to the toppe and vpon two seuerall diuided frames of tymber These troughes were closed att one end with a trauerse bord to retaine the water from running out there which
the glasse and each side of the opacous bodies shadow Wherefore in each of these lights or rather in each of their commixtions with darkenesse there must be red on the one side and blew on the other according to the course of light which we haue explicated And thus it falleth out agreable to the rule we haue giuen that blew cometh to be on that side of the opacous bodies shadow on which the glasse casteth red and red on that side of it on which the glasse casteth blew likewise when light going through a conuexe glasse maketh two cones the edges of the cone betwixt the glasse and the point of concurse will appeare red if the roome be darke enough and the edges of the further cone will appeare blew both for the reason giuen for in this case the point of concurse is the strong light betwixt the two cones of which that betwixt the glasse and the point is the stronger that beyond the point the weaker and for this very reason if an opacous body be put in the axis of thâ—se two cones both the sides of its picture will be red if it be held in the first cone which is next to the glasse and both will be blew if the body be situated in the further cone for both sides being equally situated to the course of the light within its owne cone there is nothing to vary the colours but only the strength and the weakenesse of the two lights of the cones on this side and on that side the point of concurse which point being in this case the strong and cleare light whereof we made generall mention in our precedent note the cone towardes the glasse and the illuminant is the stronger side and the cone from the glasse is the weaker In those cases where this reason is not concerned we shall see the victory carried in the question of colours by the shady side of the opacous body that is the blew colour will still appeare on that side of thâ— opacous bodies shadow that is furthest from the illuminant But where both causes do concurre and contrast for precedence there the course of the light carryeth it that is to say the red will be on that side of the opacous bodies shadow where it is thicker and darker and blew on the other side where the shadow is not so strong although the shadow be cast that way that the red appeareth as is to be seene when a slender body is placed betwixt the prisme and the reflectent body vpon which the light and colours are cast through the prisme and it is euident that this cause of the course of the shadow is in it selfe a weaker cause then the other of the course of light and must giue way vnto it whensoeuer they encounter as it can not be expected but that in all circumstances shadowes should to light because the colours which the glasse casteth in this case are much more faint and dusky then in the other For effects of this later cause we see that when an opacous body lyeth crosse the prisme whiles it standeth endwayes the red or blew colour will appeare on the vpper or lower side of its picture according as the illuminant is higher or lower theÌ„ the transuerse opacous body the blew euer keeping to that side of the picture that is furthest from the body and the illuminant that make it and the red the contrary likewise if an opacous body be placed out of the axis in eyther of the cones we haue explicated before the blew will appeare on that side of the picture which is furthest aduanced in the way that the shadow is cast and the red on the contrary and so if the opacous body be placed in the first cone beside the axis the red will appeare on that side of the picture in the basis of the second cone which is next to the circumference and the blew on that side which is next the axis but if it be placed on one side of the axis in the second cone then the blew will appeare on that side the picture which is next the circumference and the red on that side which is next the center of the basis of the cone There remayneth yet one difficulty of moment to be determined which is why when through a glasse two colours namely blew and red are cast from a candle vpon a paper or wall if you put your eye in the place of one of the colours that shineth vpon the wall and so that colour cometh to shine vpon your eye in such sort that an other man who looketh vpon it will see that colour plainely vpon your eye neuerthelesse you shall see the other colour in the glasse As for example if on your eye there shineth a red you shall see a blew in the glasse and if a blew shineth vpon your eye you shall see a red The reason hereof is that the colours which appeare in the glasse are of the nature of those luminous colours which we first explicated that arise from looking vpon white and blacke bordering together for a candle standing in the ayre is as it were a white situated betweene two blackes the circumstant dusky ayre hauing the nature of a blacke so then that side of the candle which is seene through the thicker part of the glasse appeareth red and that which is seene through the thinner appeareth blew in the same manner as when we looke through the glasse whereas the colours shine coÌ„trarywise vpon a paper or reflecting obiect as we haue already declared together with the reasons of both these appearances each fitted to its proper case of looking through the glasse vpon the luminous obiect serrownded with darkenesse in the one and of obseruing the effect wrought by the same luminous obiect in some medium or vpon some reflectent superficies in the other And to confirme this if a white paper be sett standing hollow before the glasse like halfe a hollow pillar whose flatt standeth edgewayes towardes the glasse so as both the edges may be seene through it the further edge will seeme blew and the neerer will be red and the like will happen if the paper be held in the free ayre parallele to the lower superficies of the glasse without any blacke carpet to limit both endes of it which serueth to make the colours the smarter so that in both cases the ayre serueth manifestly for a blacke in the first betweene the two white edges and in the second limiting the two white endes and by consequence the ayre about the candle must likewise serue for two blackes including the light candle betweene them Seuerall other delightfull experiments of luminous colours I might produce to confirme the groundes I haue layed for the nature and making of them But I conceiue that these I haue mentioned are aboundantly enough for the end I propose vnto my selfe therefore I will take my leaue of this supple and nice subiect referring
other Entity whose nature is to be likenesse and it maketh one thing like an other The consideration of which doctrine maketh me remember a ridiculous tale of a trewant schooleboyes latine who vpon a time when he came home to see his frendes being asked by his father what was latine for bread answered breadibus and for beere beeribus and the like of all other thinges he asked him adding only a termination in Bus to the plaine English word of euery one of them which his father perceiuing and though ignorant of Latine yet presently apprehending that the mysteries his sonne had learned deserued not the expence of keeping him at schoole bad him immediately putt of his hosibus and shoosibus and fall to his old trade of treading Morteribus In like manner these great Clerkes do as readily find a pretty Quality or moode whereby to render the nature or causes of any effect in their easy Philosophy as this Boy did a Bus to stampe vpon any English word and coyne it into his mockelatine But to be serious as the weight of the matter requireth lett these so peremptory pretenders of Aristotle shew me but one text in him where he admitteth any middle distinction such as those moderne Philosophers do and must needes admitt who maintaine the qualities we haue reiected betwixt that which he calleth Numericall and that which he calleth of Reason or of Notion or of Definition the first of which we may terme to be of or in thinges the other to be in our heades or discourses or the one Naturall the other Logicall and I will yield that they haue reason and that I haue grossely mistaken what he hath written and that I do not reach the depth of his sense But this they will neuer be able to do Besides the whole scope of his doctrine and all his discourses and intentions are carryed throughout and are built vpon the same foundations that we haue layed for ours Which being so no body can quarrell with vs for Aristotles sake who as he was the greatest Logician and Metaphysitian and Vniuersall scholler peraduenture that euer liued and was so highly esteemed that the good turne which Sylla did the world in sauing his workes was thought to recompence his many outragious cruelties and tyranny so his name must neuer be mentioned among schollers but with reuerence for his vnparalleled worth and with gratitude for the large stocke of knowledge he hath enriched vs with Yet withall we are to consider that since his raigne was but at the beginning of sciences he could not chose but haue some defects and shortenesses among his many great and admirable perfections THE SECOND TREATISE DECLARING THE NATVRE AND OPERATIONS OF MANS SOVLE OVT OF WHICH THE IMMORTALITY OF REASONABLE SOVLES IS CONVINCED Pro captu Lectoris habent sua fata libelli THE PREFACE IT is now high time for vs to cast an eye vpon the other leafe of our accounts or peraduenture I may more properly say to fall to the perusall of our owne accountes for hitherto our time and paines haue beene taken vp in examining and casting the accountes of others to the end that from the foote and totall of them we may driue on our owne the more smoothly In ours then we shall meete with a new Capitall we shall discouer a new world of a quite different straine and nature from that which all this while we haue employed ourselues about We will enter into them with taking a suruay of the great Master of all that large family we haue so summarily viewed I meane of Man as he is Man that is not as he is subiect to those lawes whereby other bodies are gouerned for therein he hath no praeeminence to raise him out of their throng but as he exceedeth the rest of creatures which are subiect to his managing and as he ruleth ouer nature herselfe making her serue his designes and subiecting her noblest powers to his lawes and as he is distinguished from all other creatures whatsoeuer To the end we may discouer whether that principle in him from whence those actions do proceede which are properly his be but some refined composition of the same kind we haue already treated of or whether it deriueth its source and origine from some higher spring and stocke and be of a quite different nature Hauing then by our former Treatise mastered the oppositions which else would haue taken armes against vs when we should haue beene in the middest of our aedifice and hauing cleared the obiections which lay in our way from the peruerse Qualities of the soules neighbours the seuerall common wealthes of Bodies we must now beginne with Dauid to gather together our Materialls and to take a suruay of our owne prouisions that so we may proceed with Salomon to the sacred building of Gods temple But before we goe about it it will not be amisse that we shew the reason why we haue made our porch so great and haue added so long an entry that the house is not likely to haue therevnto a correspondent bulke and when the necessity of my doing so shall appeare I hope my paines will meete with a fauourable censure and receiue a faire admittance We proposed vnto our selues to shew that our soules are immortall wherevpon casting about to find the groundes of immortality and discerning it to be a negatiue we conceiued that we ought to beginne our search with enquiring What Mortality is and what be the causes of it Which when we should haue discouered and haue brought the soule to their teste if we found they trēched not vpon her nor any way concerned her condition we might safely conclude that of necessity she must be immortall Looking then into the causes of mortality we saw that all bodies round about vs were mortall whence perceiuing that mortality extended it selfe as farre as corporeity we found our selues obliged if we would free the soule from that law to shew that she is not corporeall This could not be done without enquiring what corporeity was Now it being a rule among Logitians that a definition can not be good vnlesse it comprehend and reach to euery particular of that which is defined we perceiued it impossible to know compleatly what a Body is without taking a generall view of all those thinges which we comprise vnder the name and meaning of Bodies This is the cause we spent so much time in the first Treatise and I hope to good purpose for there we found that the nature of a Body consisted in being made of partes that all the differencies of bodies are reduced to hauing more or lesse partes in comparison to their substance thus and thus ordered and lastly thall all their operations are nothing else but locall motion which followeth naturally out of hauing partes So as it appeareth euidently from hence that if any thing haue a being and yet haue no partes it is not a body but a substance of an other quality and condition
his head and beateth his braines to call such thinges into his minde as are vsefull vnto him and are for the present out of his memory which as we see it so necessary that without it no matter of importance can be performed in the way of discourse whereof I my selfe haue too frequent experience in the writing of this Treatise so on the other side we can not perceiue that any creature besides man doth it of sett purpose and formally as man doth THE FOVRTH CHAPTER How a man proceedeth to Action HAuing thus taken a summary view of the principall Qualities a man is endewed withall Apprehending Iudging and Discoursing and hauing shewed how he is enriched in and by them with the natures of all thinges in the world it remaineth for our last worke in this part to consider in what manner he maketh vse of this treasure in his ordinary actions which it is euident are of two different kindes and consequently haue two seuerall principles vnderstanding and sense these sway by turnes and sometimes ioyne together to produce a mixed action of both If only sense were the fountaine from whence his actions spring we should obserue no other straine in any of them then meerely that according to which beastes performe theirs they would proceede euer more in a constant vnuaryable tenour according to the law of materiall thinges one body working vpon an other in such sort as we haue declared in the former Treatise On the other side if a man were all vnderstanding and had not this bright lampe enclosed in a pitcher of clay the beames of it would shine without any allay of dimmenesse through all he did and he could do nothing contrary to reason in pursuite of the highest end he had prefixed vnto himselfe for he neyther would nor could do any thing whatsoeuer vntill he had first considered all the particular circumstaÌ„ces that had relation to his action in hand and had then concluded that vpon the whole matter at this time and in this place to attaine this end it is fitting and best to do thus or thus which conclusion could be no sooner made but that the action would without any further disposition on his side immediately ensue agreeable to the principles it springeth from Both partes of this assertion are manifest for the first it is euident that whensoeuer an Agent worketh by knowledge he is vnresolued whether he shall worke or not worke as also of his manner of working vntill his knowledge that ought to direct and gouerne his working be perfect and complete but that can not be as long as any circumstance not as yet considered may make it seeme fitt or vnfitt to proceede and therefore such actions as are done without exact consideration of euery particular circumstance do not flow from a pure vnderstanding From whence if followeth that when an vnderstanding is not satisfyed of euery particular circumstance and consequently can not determine what he must immediately do but apprehendeth that some of the circumstances not as yet considered may or rather must change some part of his action it must of necessity be vndetermined in respect of the immediate action and consequently it must refraine absolutely from working The other part is cleare to witt that when the vnderstanding vpon consideration of all circumstances knoweth absolutely what is best the act on followeth immediately as farre as dependeth of the vnderstanding without any further disposition on his behalfe for seeing that nothing but knowledge belongeth to the vnderstanding he who supposeth all knowledge in it alloweth all that is requisite or possible for it to worke by now if all be put nothing is wanting that should cause it to worke but where no cause is wanting but all requisite causes are actually being the effect must also actually be and follow immediately out of them and consequently the action is done in as much as concerneth the vnderstanding and indeede absolutely vnlesse some other cause do faile as soone as the vnderstanding knoweth all the circumstances belonging to it so as it is manifest out of this whole discourse that if a man wrought only by his vnderstanding all his actions would be discreete and rationall in respect of the end he had proposed to himselfe and till he were assured what were best he would keepe himselfe in suspens and do nothing and as soone as he were so he would admitt of no delayes but would at the instant proceede to action according to hiâ— knowledge the contrary of all which we dayly see by experience in euery man We may then safely conclude that in humane nature there are two different centers from whence crosse actions do flow the one he hath common with beasts and whose principles and lawes we deliuered in the former Treatise where we discoursed of life and the motions of life and of passions the other is the subiect of our present enquiry which in this place expecteth at our handes that we should consider how it demeaneth it selfe and what it doth in vs when by its guidance we proceede to any action Experience must be our informer in generall after which our discourse shall anatomise what that presenteth vs in bulke She giueth vs notice of three especiall effects of our vnderstaÌ„ding first that it ordereth a right those conceptions which are brought vnto it secondly that when they appeare to be not sufficient for the intended worke it casteth about and seeketh out others and thirdly that it strengthneth those actions which spring from it and keepeth them regular and firme and constant to their beginnings and principles Vnto which last seemeth to belong that it sometimes châ—cketh its owne thoughts and bringeth backe those it would haue and appeareth to keepe as it were a watch ouer its owne wayes As for the ordering of the present notions it is cleare that it is done by a secret dependance from the rules of discourse and from the maximes of humane action I call this dependance a secret one because a man in his ordinary course maketh vse of those rules and maximes which serue his turne as though they were instilled into him by nature without so much as euer thinking of them or reflecting vpon them to square out his actions by them nay some of them so farre out of the reach of most men as they can not thinke of them though they would for they know them not as in particular the rules of discourse the vse of which is so necessary as without it no man can conuerse with an other nor do any thing like a man that is reasonably From whence then can this proceede that so familiarly and readily a man maketh vse of what he is not conscious to himselfe that he hath any acquaintance withall It can be nothing else but that the soule being in her owne nature ordered to do the same thing which schollers with much difficulty arriue to know what it is by reflection and study and then frame rules
that can be imagined in nature For we haue already shewed how a separated soule comprehendeth at once all place and all times so that her actiuity requireth no application to place or time but she is of her selfe mistresse of both comprehending all quantity whatsoeuer in an indiuisible apprehension and ranking all the partes of motion in their complete order and knowing at once what is to happen in euery one of them On the other side an incorporated soule by reason of her being confined to the vse of her senses can looke vpon but one single definite place or time at once and needeth a long chaine of many discourses to comprehend all the circumstances of any one action and yet after all how short she is of comprehending all So that comparing the one of these with the other it is euident that in respect of time and place and in respect of any one singular action the proportion of a separated soule to one in the body is as all time or all place in respect of any one piece or least parcell of them or as the entire absolute comprehender of all time and all place is to the discouerer of a small measure of them For whatsoeuer a soule willeth in that state she willeth it for the whole extent of her duration because she is then out of the state or capacity of changing and wisheth for whatsoeuer she wisheth as for her absolute good and therefore employeth the whole force of her iudgement vpon euery particular wish Likewise the eminency which a separated soule hath ouer place is also then entirely employed vpon euery particular wish of hers since in that state there is no variety of place left vnto her to wish for such good in one place and to refuse it in an other as whiles she is in the body happeneth to euery thing she desireth Wherefore whatsoeuer she then wisheth for she wisheth for it according to her comparison vnto place that is to say that as such a soule hath a power to worke at the same time in all place by the absolute comprehension which she hath of place in abstract so euery wish of that soule if it were concerning a thing to be made in place were able to make it in all places through the excessiue force and efficacy which she employeth vpon euery particular wish The third effect by which among bodies we gather the vigour and energy of the cause that produceth it to witt the doing of the like action in a lesser time and in a larger extent is but a combination of the two former and therefore it requireth no further particular insistance vpon it to shew that likewise in this the proportion of a separated to an incorporated soule must needes be the selfe same as in the others seeing that a separated soules actiuity is vpon all place in an indiuisible of time Therefore to shutt vp this point there remaineth only for vs to consider what addition may be made vnto the efficacity of a iudgement by the concurrence of other extrinsecall helpes We see that when an vnderstanding man will settle any iudgement or conclusion in his mind he weigheth throughly all that followeth out of such a iudgement and considereth likewise all the antecedents that lead him vnto it and if after due reflection and examination of whatsoeuer concerneth that conclusion which he is establishing in his mind he findeth nothing to crosse it but that euery particular and circumstance goeth smoothly along with it and strengtheneth it he is then satisfyed and quiett in his thoughts and yieldeth a full assent therevnto which assent is the stronger by how many the more concurrent testimonyes he hath for it And although he should haue a perfect demonstration or sight of the thing in it selfe yet euery one of the other extrinsecall proofes being as it were a new persuasion hath in it a further vigour to strengthen and content his mind in the forehad demonstration for if euery one of these be in it selfe sufficient to make the thing euident it can not happen that any one of them should hinder the others but contrariwise euery one of them must needes coucurre with all the rest to the effectuall quieting of his vnderstanding in its assent to that iudgement Now then according to this rate lett vs calculate if we can what concurrence of proofes and wittnesses a separated soule will haue to settle and strengthen her in euery one of her iudgemēts We know that all verities are chained and connected one to an other and that there is no true conclusion so farre remote from any other but may by more or lesse consequences and discourses be deduced euidently out of it it followeth then that in the abstracted soule where all such consequences are ready drawne and seene in themselues without extension of time or employing of paines to collect them euery particular verity beareth testimony to any other so that euery one of them is beleeued and worketh in the force and vertue of all Out of which it is manifest that euery iudgement in such a separated soule hath an infinite strength and efficacity ouer any made by an embodyed one To summe all vp in a few wordes we find three rootes of infinity in euery action of a separated soule in respect of one in the body first the freedome of her essence or substance in it selfe next that quality of hers by which she comprehendeth place and time that is all permanent and successiue quantity and lastly the concurrence of infinite knowledges to euery action of hers Hauing then this measure in our handes lett vs apply it to a well ordered and to a disordered soule passing out of this world lett vs consider the one of them sett vpon those goodes which she shall there haue present and shall fully enioy the other languishing after and pining away for those which are impossible for her euer to obtaine What ioy what content what exultation of mind in any liuing man can be conceiued so great as to be compared with the happinesse of one of these soules And what griefe what discontent what misery can be like the others These are the different effects which the diuers manners of liuing in this world do cause in soules after they are deliuered from their bodies out of which and out of the discourse that hath discouered these effects vnto vs we see a cleare resolution of that so maine and agitated question among the Philosophers why a rationall soule is imprisoned in a grosse body of flesh and bloud In truth the question is an illegitimate one as supposing a false ground for the soules being in the body is not an imprisonnement of a thing that was existent before the soule and body mett together but her being there is the naturall course of beginning that which can no other way come into the listes of nature for should a soule by the course of nature obtaine her first being without a body eyther
sense the Author doth admitt of qualities 3 Fiue arguments proposed to proue that light is not a body 4 The two first reasoÌ„s to proue light to be a body are the resemblance it hath with fire and because if it were a quality it would alwayes produce an equall to it selfe 5 The third reason because if we imagine to our selues the substance of fire to be rarifyed it will haue the same appearances which light hath 6 The fourth reason from the manner of the generation and corruption of light which agreeth with fire 7 The fifth reason because such properties belong to light as agree only vnto bodies 1 That all light is hoat and apt to heate 2 The reason why our bodies for the most part do not feele the heate of pure light 3 The experience of burning-glasses and of soultry gloomy weather proue light to be fire 4 Philosophers ought not to iudge of thinges by the rules of vulgar people 5 The different names of light and fire proceede from different notions of the same substance 6 The reason why many times fire and heate are depriued of light 7 What becometh of the body of light when it dyeth 8 An experiment of some who pretend that light may be precipitated into pouder 9 The Authors opinion concerning lampes pretended to haue been found in tombes with inconsumptible lights 1 Light is not really in euery part of the roome it enlighteneth not filleth entirely any sensible part of it though it seeme to vs to do so 2 The least sensible poynt of a diaphanous body hath roome sufficient to containe both ayre and light together with a multitude of beames issuing from seuerall lights without penetrating one an other Willebrord Snell 3 That light doth not enlight en any roome in an instant and that the great celerity of its motion doth make it imperceptible to our senses 4 The reason why the motion of light is not discerned coming towardes vs and that there is some reall tardity in it 5 The planets are not certainely euer in that place where they appeare to be 6 The reason why light being a body doth not by its motion shatter other bodies into pieces 7 The reason why the body of lighlt is neuer perceiued to be fanned by the wind 8 The reasons for and against lights being a body compared together 9 A summary repetition of the reasons which proue that light is fire 1 No locall motion can be performed without succession 2 Time is the common measure of all succession 3 What velocity is and that it can not be infinite 4 No force so litle that is not able to moue the greatest weight imaginable 5 The chiefe principle of Mechanikes deduced out of the former discourse 6 No moueable can passe from rest to any determinate degree of velocity or from a lesser degree to a greater without passing through all the intermediate degrees which are below the obtained degree 7 The conditions which helpe to motioÌ„ in the moueable are three in the medium one Dialog 1. of Motion 8 No body hath any intrinsecall vertue to moue it selfe towardes any determinate part of the vniuerse 9 The encrease of motion is alwayse made in the proportion of the odde numbers 10 No motion can encrease for euer without coming to a periode 11 Certaine problemes resolued concerning the proportion of some mouing Agents compared to their effects 12 When a moueable cometh to rest the motion doth decrease according to the rules of encrease 1 Those motions are called naturall which haue constant causes and those violent which are contrary to them 2 The first and most generall operation of the sunne is the making and raising of atomes 3 The light rebounding from the earth with atomes causeth two streames in the ayre the one ascending the other desceÌ„ding and both of them in a perpendicular line 4 A dense body placed in the ayre betweene the ascending and descending streame must needes descend 5 A more particular explicatioÌ„ of all the former doctrine touching grauity 6 Grauity and leuity do not signify an intrinsecall inclination to such a motion in the bodies themselues which are termed heauy and light 7 The more deÌ„se a body is the more swiftly it descendeth 8 The velocity of bodies descending doth not encrease in proportion to the difference that may be betweene their seuerall densities 9 More or lesse grauity doth produce a swifter or a slower descending of a heauy body Aristotles argument to disproue motion in vacuo is made good 10 The reason why att the inferiour quarter of a circle a body doth descend faster by the arch of that quarter then by the chord â—f it 1 The first obiection answered why a hollow body descendeth slower then a solide one 2 The second obiection answered and the reasons shewne why atomes do continually ouertake the descending dense body 3 A curious question left vndecided 4 The fourth obiection answered why the descent of the same heauy bodies is equall in so great inequality of the atomes which cause it 5 The reason why the shelter of a thicke body doth not hinder the descent of that which is vnder ti 6 The reason why some bodies sinke others swimme 7 The fifth obiection answered concerning the descending of heauy bodies in streames 8 The sixt obiection answered and that all heauy elements do weigh in their owne spheres 9 The 7th obiection answered and the reason why we do not feele the course of the ayre and atomes that beat coÌ„tinually vpon vs. 10 How in the same body grauity may be greater then density and density then grauity though they be the same thing 11 The opinion of grauities being an intrinsecall inclination of a body to the center refuted by reason 12 The same opinion refuted by seuerall experiences 1 The state of the question touching the cause of violent motion 2 That the medium is the onely cause which continueth â—â—â—lent motioÌ„ 3 A further explication of the former doctrine 4 That the ayre hath strength enough to continue violent motion in a moueable Dial. 1. of motion pag. 98. 5 An answere to the first obiection that ayre is not apt to conserue motion And how violent moâ—â— cometh to cease 6 An answere to the second obiection that the ayre hath no power ouer heauy bodies 7 An answere to the third obiection that an arrow should fly faster broadwayes then loÌ„gwayes 1 That reflexion is a kind of violeÌ„t motion 2 Reflexion is made at equall angles 3 The causes and properties of vndulation 5 A refutation of Monsieur Des Cartes his explication of refraction 6 An answere to the arguments brought in fauour of Monsieur Des Cartes his opinion 7 The true cause of refraction of light both at its entrance and att its going out from the reflecting body 8 A generall rule to know the nature of reflexions and refractions in all sortes of