of the Days comprehended in half a year And the obliquity of the Horizon is the cause that these parallels are cut by it unequally Otherwise if these parallels were not different from the Equator or although different if they were cut equally by the Horizon as it happens in a Right Sphere the Horizon which is a great Circle passing by the Poles of these parallels which are the same with those of the World both the Days and Nights would be equal so that where the Sphere is not inclin'd as in the Right and Parallel Spheres there is no inequality of Days nor consequently of Climate so call'd from its Inclination but only in the oblique Sphere 'T is defin'd a Region of Earth comprehended between two circles parallel to the Equator in which there is the difference of half an hour in the longest days of the year It encompasses the Terrestrial Globe from East to West as a Zone doth which differs from it only as the Zone is broader whence there are many Climats in the same Zone The Ancients having regard only to so much of the Earth as they believ'd inhabited made but seven Climats which they extended not beyond the places where the longest days are 16 hours and denominated from the most remarkable places by which they made them pass as the first Northern Climat was call'd Dia Meroes hy Meroe which they began at 12 deg 43 min. from the Aequinoctial where the longest day hath 12 hours three quarters and which at present is the end of our first Climat and beginning of the second This first Climat passes by Malaca a City of the East-Indies and begins at 4 deg 18 min. Its middle from which all Climats are reckon'd hath 8 deg 34 min. and its end 12 deg 43 min. The other six Climats of the Ancients pass'd by Siene Alexandria Rhodes Rome Pontus Euxinus and the River Boristhenes Ptolomy reckons twenty one as far as the Island Thule which lies in 63 deg of Northern Latitude Our modern Astronomers make twenty four from the Aequinoctial to the Polar Circles in each of which Climats the longest day of Summer encreases half an hour above twelve according as they approach nearer those Circles beyond which to the Poles of the World they place six more not distinguish'd by the variation of half an hour but of 30 days So that there is in all sixty Climats 30 Northern and as many Southern each comprehended by two Parallels which Climats are easily found by doubling the excess whereby the longest day surpasses twelve hours the Product being the Climat of the place As if you know the longest Summer day at Paris to be 16 hours double 4 the excess above 12 and you will have 8 which is the Climat of Paris and so of others And though there be the same reason of Seasons and other variations in the Southern and Northern Climats yet since experience shews us that those of the South are not inhabited beyond the 8th which is about the Cape of Good Hope at the farthest point of Africa beyond which no Inhabitants are as yet discover'd it may seem that the diversity of Climats is not alone sufficient for long or short life but there are other causes concurring thereunto The Second said That since a thing is preserv'd by that which produces it the Sun and Stars which concur to the generation of all living Creatures must also contribute to their preservation and continuance in life which being maintain'd by use of the same things variety and change though delightful yet being the most manifest cause of brevity of life that Climat which is most constant and least variable will be the properest for longaevity and so much the more if it suits with our nature such is the first Climat next the Aequinoctial where things being almost always alike bodies accustom'd thereunto receive less inconvenience thereby then under others whose inequalities and irregularities produce most diseases The natural purity of the Air promoted by the breath of a gentle East Wind there reigning continually and the want of vapours and humidities which commonly infect our Air conduce greatly to the health of the Inhabitants also when the dryness and coldness of their temper makes longer-liv'd as appears by Ravens and Elephants the most melancholy of all Animals which are common in these parts where they live above 300 years Moreover Homer testifies that Memnon King of Aethiopia liv'd 500 years which by the report of Xenophon was the common age of most men of the same Country where Francis Alvarez affirms in our time that he saw lusty men at 150 years of age and that in Aegypt which lies near it there are more old men then in any place of the World and that women are so fruitful there that they bring forth three or four children at a time rather through the goodness of the Climat then any nitrous vertue that is in the waters of Nilus Hence possibly most Doctors place the Terrestial Paradise under the Aequinoctial and the cause of our first Fathers longaevity who having been created under this Climat seem to have lost of its duration proportionably as they remov'd from the same Northwards whence all evil comes and towards the Zones wrongfully call'd Temperate since more subject to alteration then that call'd Torrid by the Ancients who thought it unhabitable by reason of extream heat although the continual Flowers and Fruits wherewith the always verdant Trees are laden testifie the contrary The Third said Since Heaven is immutable and always like to it self the Earth and Elements alone subject to change the length and shortness of Life seems not to depend on Heaven but on Earth and the several dispositions of our Bodies and the whole World being Man's Country there is no place in it but is equally proper for his habitation provided he be born there because the Air he breathes and the Food he eats from his Nativity altering his Body at length make his temper suitable to that of the place of his Education which therefore he loves above any other The Fourth said That Heaven remaining it self immutable is nevertheless the cause of motions and mutations here below its light producing different effects in the Earth according as it is receiv'd the most sensible whereof are heat dryness and other qualities which diversifie the Seasons and Zones of which the two temperate especially the Northern seems most habitable and proper for longaevity 'T is also the most populous and its Natives are not only the most healthy and lusty but also the most refin'd and civiliz'd of all others Now of the Climats of this Zone the eighth wherein Paris lyes seems to me the healthiest of all as well for pureness of Air as all other Causes The Fifth said That the goodness of Climats depends not so much upon Heaven as the situation of each place in reference to the Winds of which the Southern being the most unhealthy therefore Towns defended by
thing having several times happen'd to him he had given his wife a strict charge that no Body should touch his Body during his Soul's being abroad upon the account aforesaid but some persons of his acquaintance bearing him a grudg having with much importunity obtain'd of her the favour to see his Body lying on the ground in that immoveable posture they caus'd it to be burnt to prevent the Soul's return into it which yet it being not in their power to do and the Clazomenians being inform'd of that injury done to Hermotimus built him a Temple into which Women were forbidden to enter And Plutarch in his Book of Socrates's Daemon or Genius confirming this Relation and allowing it to be true affirms that those who had committed that crime were then tormented in Hell for it Saint Augustine in his Book of the City of God Lib. xiv relates that a certain Priest named Restitutus when-ever and as often as he was desir'd to do it became so insensible at the mournful tone of some lamenting voice and lay stretch'd along as a dead Carkase so as that he could not be awak'd by those who either pinch'd or prick'd him nay not by the application of fire to some part of his Body inasmuch as he could not feel any thing while he continu'd in the Ecstacy only afterwards it was perceiv'd that he had been burnt by the mark which remain'd upon his Body after he was come to himself before which time be had not any respiration and yet he would say that he had heard the voices of those who had cry'd aloud in his Ears calling to mind that he had heard them speaking at a great distance The same Author in the xix Book of the same Work affirms that the Father of one Praestantius was apt to fall into such Ecstacies that he believ'd himself chang'd into a Pack-Horse and that he carry'd Provisions upon his back into the fields with other Horses when all the while his Body continu'd immoveable in the House Among other Examples of this kind of Ecstacy Bodin in his second Book of his Daemonomania chap. 5. relates a story of a certain Servant-maid living in the Danphine having been found lying all along upon a dung-hill in such a dead sleep that all the noise made could not awake her nay her Master 's banging her with a switch not prevailing any thing he ordered fire to be set to the most sensible and tenderest parts of her Body to try whether she were really dead or not Which being upon tryal believ'd they left her in the same place till the morning and then sending to look after her she was found very well in her bed Whereupon the Master asking her What she had been doing all the night before Ah Master said she how unmercifully have you beaten me Upon that discovery she was accus'd for a Witch and confess'd it To be short Cardan in his eighth Book of the Variety of Things affirms of himself that he fell into an Ecstacy when he pleas'd insomuch that he sleightly heard the voices of those who spoke to him but understood them not Nay what is more was not sensible of any pinching nor yet feeling the exquisite pain of his Gout whereto he was much subject as being not sensible at that time of any thing but that he was out of himself He afterwards explicates the manner how that Ecstacy is wrought affirming that he felt it begin at the Head especially in the hinder part of the Brain and thence spread it self all along the Back-bone He affirmed further that at the very beginning of it he was sensible of a certain separation about the Heart as if the Soul with-drew at a kind of wicket or sally-port the whole Body concerning it self therein and adds that then he sees what-ever he would with his Eyes and not by the strength of the Understanding and that those Images which he sees are in a continual transiency and motion in the resemblance of Forests Animals and such other things The Cause whereof he attributes to the strength of the Imagination and sharpness of the Sight He further relates of his Father such things as are much more miraculous and occasion'd the suspicion of his being a Magician Now from all these Sacred and Prophane Histories it may be inferr'd that of Ecstacies some are miraculous and others natural The former not submitting to ordinary Causes any more than all the other things do that concern Religion which stands much upon the preheminence of being above Reason The latter proceeding from the great disproportion there is between the Body and the Mind the one being extreamly vigorous the other extreamly weak Whence it follows that there are two sorts of persons subject to Natural Ecstacies to wit those transcendent Minds which are dispos'd into weak Bodies and weak Minds in strong and robust Bodies inasmuch as there being not a perfect connexion and correspondence between them the Soul finds it no great difficulty to disengage her self from the Body or the Body from the Soul which by that means obtains a freedom in her operations it being supposd that they do not all at depend one upon another as may be seen in the Formation of the Embryo wherein the Soul making her self a place of aboad plainly shews that she is able to act without it as also in swoundings and faintings during which the Body continues so destitute of sense that no active faculty at least no operation of the Soul is observable in it The Third said That the Vegetative Soul which is without motion being the first whereby we live it is not to be much admir'd if the other two Souls to wit the Sensitive and the Rational do sometimes separate themselves from it and this is that which they call Ecstacy whereof we have a certain instance in all the faculties wich are in like manner separated one from another without the loss of their Organs Accordingly he who is most sharp-sighted as to the Understanding hath commonly but a weak corporeal sight the most robust Body is ordinarily joyn'd to the weakest Mind Those persons who walk and talk in their sleep do also shew that the Rational Soul does quit the Government of the Body and leaves it to the direction and disposal of the sensitive and the same thing may be also said of the Vegetative exclusively to the other two To come to Instances we have at this day the experience of some who continue a long time in Ecstacies and that not only in matters of great importance but also in some things of little concernment which they are not able to comprehend nay there are some have the knack of falling into Trances and Ecstacies when they please themselves And this hath been affirm'd to me of a certain person who was able to do it without any other trouble than this He caus'd to be painted on the wall a great Circle all white in the Centre whereof he set a black mark
most occurrences of humane life as we see that in syllables diversly transpos'd and put together all things in the world may be found The Third said That the Ancients are not be thought so credulous as to attribute such authority to the Sibylls if there had not been some young Maids and Women who had effectually fore-told things to them True it is chance may be fortunate in one or two cases as a blind Archer may casually hit the mark but it is very unlikely that one who cannot shoot at all should have the reputation of a good Archer all the world over And yet Authors are full in asserting the authority wherein the answers made by those women were Virgil grounding his discourse on that common perswasion says Vltima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas And the Satyrist confirms what he had said with another verse to wit Credite me vohis folium recitare Sibyllae And it was ordinary to inscribe on Monuments the names of those who were appointed for the keeping of those books of the Sibylls and took care for the Sacrifices which the Romans offered up to appease the wrath of the Gods according to the counsel which as occasion requir'd they took from their verses Nay there was such a strict prohibition that any should have them in their private Libraries that one of those who were entrusted with the custody of the Sibylline Books named Marcus Atilius was sown up in a bag and cast into the Sea for lending Petronius Sabinus one of those Books to be transcrib'd or as some affirm only their simple Commentary containing the secrets of the Sacrifices which were made according to them Upon the same consideration that it pleas'd God to sanctifie Job though out of the Judaick Church the only one wherein salvation was then to be found I may say there is no inconvenience to imagine that he might as well bestow the Spirit of Prophecy on those Virgins at least commonly accounted such And consequently what is said to the contrary deserving rather to pass for adulterate and supposititious then that there should be any question made of what divers of the holy Fathers have affirmed of them the gift of Prophecy having been communicated also to Balaam and God having miraculously opened the eyes and unloos'd the tongue of his Ass What remains to this day imprinted in the minds of a great number of persons concerning Merluzina and other Fairies contributes somewhat to the proof of what hath been said some illustrious Families deriving their origin thence For as to the inserting of some supposititious verses into the body of their Works it should be no more prejudice to them then it is to those of the most excellent Authors among which the spurious productions of others are sometimes shuffled in And if it be true that Homer's Verses were at first confusedly pronounced by him and that it hath been the employment of others to reduce them into that noble order wherein we read them Why should the same observance of order be censur'd in the disposal of the Sibylline Verses Plato in his Theagines affirms That Socrates acknowledged them to be Prophetesses and in his Phoedon the same Socrates shews by their example That extravagance or distraction of mind does many times bring great advantages to Mankind Aristotle in the first question of the thirtieth Section of his Problems affirms That Women become Sibylls when the brain is over-heated not by sickness but through a natural distemper And elsewhere he describes the subterraneous Palace of a Sibyll whom he affirms according to the common report of her to have liv'd a long time and continu'd a Virgin Plutarch in his Treatise Why the Prophetess Pythia renders not her Answers in verse affirms that by a particular favour of God a Sibyll had spoken things during the space of a thousand years and elsewhere that she foretold the destruction of several Cities that were afterwards swallow'd up the fire of Mount Gibel and divers other things setting down near the time when what she had said should come to pass Pausanias affirms that the Sibyll Herophila had certainly foretold the bringing up of Helen at Sparta and that it should occasion the destruction of Troy Justin having related what account Plato made of persons who foretold things to come who he says deserve the name of Divine though they do not themselves comprehend the great and certain things which they predict says That that is to be understood of the Sibylline Verses the Writers whereof said he had not the same power as the Poets have to wit that of correcting and polishing their works inasmuch as the inspiration ceasing they do not so much as remember what they had said though some have been of opinion that the agitation of Mind wherewith they have prophesy'd seem'd to be the Effect of the evil Spirit producing as a confirmation of this opinion one of the Sibyls who sayes of her self that for her enormous crimes she was condemn'd to the fire Yet allowing these Verses to be ranked among the supposititious there is still a greater probability inclining us to judge otherwise of them when we consider the good instructions given us and the mysteries of our Salvation contain'd therein it being not the function of Devils and evil Spirits to encourage us to piety But however it be this is clearly evinc'd that there have been Sibyls and that they fore-told things to come CONFERENCE CCXV Whether of two Bodies of different weight the one descends faster than the other and why OF Natural Bodies some move from the Centre to the Circumference as Fire others from the Circumference to the Centre as the Earth others are in the mean between both as Air and Water the latter whereof inclines downwards but both of them are principally design'd to fill the Vacuum Whence it comes that the Air descends as much nay faster to the bottom of a Well when it is dry'd up than the Water had done before which consideration hath given occasion to some to attribute a mean or circular Motion to those two Elements as they have done a direct Motion to the two first And whereas these two kinds of Local Motion to wit the direct and the circular are the Principles of the Mechanicks the most profitable parts of the Mathematicks and that among the said Motions that which tends downwards which proceeds from weight is the most ordinary Agent and such as is the most commonly us'd in Machins or Engins where it is the most considerable either for the assistance it gives to fixt and setled instruments or for the obstruction it gives those which are moveable thence comes that famous dispute there is concerning the causes of Motion from above to beneath Which since it must needs proceed from one of these three to wit the weight of the Body descending and lightness of the mean through which the descent is made or from the impulsion of the said mean Or lastly from the
besides true Friendship suspicion may as well arise in the Receivers as in the givers Mind Many give onely that they may receive with Usury others out of vanity and to make Creatures and Clients which they regarding no longer but as their inferiors and dependents 't is as dangerous for these to confide in their Benefactors as for a slave to use confidence towards his Master or a Vassal towards his Lord not often allow'd by the respect and timerousness of the less towards the great as commonly those are that give Whereas we ordinarily find in him whom we have oblig'd nothing but Subjection and Humility Virtues much disposing the mind to Gratitude which cannot but assure their Benefactors of their fidelity Nor can they easily be ungrateful if they would your confidence in them obliging them continually to fidelity and withall giving them occasion to requite your kindnesses by their assiduity and services Which was the recompence wherewith the poor amongst the Jews pay'd their Creditors by serving them for some years So that he is scarce less blameable who distrusts him whom he hath oblig'd and by this diffidence deprives him of the means of requital then he who having receiv'd a benefit betrayes his Benefactor the Injustice being almost alike in both If the first complains of having been deceiv'd by him whom he finds ungrateful the second in whom his Benefactor puts not the confidence which he ought will have no less cause of complaint that on the contrary he hath distrusted him and soil'd the lustre of the first Obligation by his diffidence and bad opinion of him which is to tax himself of impudence for having done good to one unworthy of it The Third said That if Men were perfect Communicative Justice would require of them that the receiver of a benefit should repay the like or at least some acknowledgment by his endeavours Which the Poets intimated by the Graces holding Hand in Hand But the perversity of Man is such that the more he is oblig'd to this Duty the worse he acquits himself thereof not doing any thing handsomely but what he does freely and because being a vain-glorious Creature he hates nothing so much as to be subject and to pay homage to him that hath done him good whose presence seems to upbraid him with his own meaness If he loves his Benefactor 't is with an interess'd and mercenary affection whereas that of the former is free from all self-respect and proceeds meerly from a principle of Virtue and consequently is with more reason to be rely'd upon Moreover a Work-man loves his Production more then he is lov'd by it as also God doth his Creatures and Fathers their Children Now a Benefactor who is a kind of Work-man and Artificer of our good Fortune cherishes and loves us as his work and creatures because he seems concern'd for our preservation just as Causes are for that of their Effects in which themselves revive and seem to be reproduc'd The Fourth said That our Natural Sentiments incline us more to rely upon those whom we have oblig'd then upon those who have oblig'd us not so much by way of challenging a requital for Obligations are not to be done in hope of recompence which would be exchange rather than kindness as because we are apt to trust those most whom we love most But we love those most to whom we have given greatest Testimony of our Affections A Man may be deceiv'd in reckoning his benefits as causes of Amity in the receiver but they are certain Effects and Signs of Affection in the bestower So that in respect of us 't is manifestly better to trust him whom we have oblig'd than him who hath oblig'd us The same is prov'd also in respect of him that is oblig'd even the wild beasts are tam'd and instead of hurting obey those that feed them and therefore 't were injurious to humanity not to judge It capable of acknowledging a benefit which it knows how to conferr without provocation For upon examination the Causes of Ingratitude will be found to arise from those who boast of the title of Benefactors the imprudence whereof is so great in some that they displease more than oblige by Presents unseasonably given of no value and contrary to Seneca's advice of little duration intermixt with ill Offices instead of being fenc'd with new to keep out the rain of the disgusts and coldnesses which destroy Friendship with regret and not with a chearful Countenance after denials and delayes so that the thing seemes rather snatch'd then receiv'd diminish'd by burthensome conditions and lastly nullifi'd by reproaches if not requited as soon as was expected Whence such pretended benefits deserve rather the name of Out-rages And nevertheless being there are many that are grateful even for such benefits we may justly conclude that Courtesies done with their due circumstances are far more capable to oblige the receivers to Gratitude which cannot consist with Unfaithfulness The Fifth said That the Decision of this as of all other Moral Questions depends upon persons times places and other circumstances whereupon Prudence is founded which teaches when how and whom we are to trust Yet supposing circumstances alike and two persons equally virtuous one of which hath done me good and the other receiv'd good from me the contrary Reason of the Law which presumes him alwayes bad who hath been once bad makes me judge That he who hath once done me good will sooner do me good again then another and therefore that I ought rather to trust him CONFERENCE CXXV Of the Causes of Freezing and Thawing AS Heat and Cold are the Efficient Causes of all Meteors so Driness and Moisture supply Matter for them sublim'd and made volatil by extraneous Heat Vapours which make Aqueous Meteors are of two sorts some ascend to the Middle Region of the Air whose coldness condenses them into a Cloud which afterwards turnes into Rain Snow or Hail Others through the weakness of Heat or tenuity of their Matter unable to ascend turn into Mists and Dew and the Serene which preceedes it and Frost For the Matter both of Frost and Dew is a subtil thin Vapour which when spread equally and uniformly about the Earth hinders not the Air 's transparency which therefore in time of Frost is alwayes clear and serene But their Efficient is distinct that of Dew is the moderate Coldness of the Night whence 't is most frequent in temperate Seasons that of a Frost is Vehement Cold whereby being first condens'd it falls down in form of Crystal Yet Cold alone suffices not to produce Frost for then Water which is cold in an eminent degree should be alwayes frozen But some terrene and gross parts must serve for an uniting medium to compact the moist parts of the Water or Vapour which being naturally fluid cannot be link'd together but by means of some dry parts fixing and restraining their fluidity Hence the impurest and most compounded Liquors are soonest frozen
which is so far from being rich enough of its self that it borrows from the Greek and Latine to express the most common things and consequently is not sufficient to teach all the Sciences The Second said The French Tongue is deriv'd from the Greek Latine and Gothick which are Languages much more copious then it and therefore they that will recur to originals will find those Tongues more adapted for teaching the Sciences then the French and yet not any single one of them sufficient for it since the Romans to become and deserve the name of Learned were oblig'd to learn Greek Moreover since Books are the chief instruments for attaining the Sciences the ancient Latine and Greek ones which yet were not sufficient for it are much more numerous than the French and by consequence the French Tongue is not capable to teach every Science and had it more Translations then it hath yet these are but small Rivulets deriv'd from that grand Source of Sciences which is found in the original Languages The Third said If we regard the order of times and particularly that of the Creation when all things were in their perfection and purity 't is most likely that that Language which took birth with Adam and all the Sciences is more fit to teach them then the much more Novel French and since there must be a proportion between Instruments and the Matters upon which they act and this proportion is not found between the French Tongue lately invented and the Sciences which are as ancient as the World who can think it sufficient to teach them and the Cabalists hold that the Language fit to teach the Sciences perfectly must have words adapted to signifie the Vertues and Properties of things which ours hath not The Fourth said That all the Language of Adam who gave names suitable to the nature of every thing being lost except the the name of God for that reason so much esteemed by the Jews The Cabalists in imitation of that Tongue invented one whereof I shall give you a taste It hath five Vowels E A V I O which answer to the Elements and the Heaven E to Earth A to the Water V to the Air I to the Fire and O to Heaven E produceth in pronunciation c d f g l m n p r s t z forasmuch as these Consonants cannot be produc'd without it A produceth h and k v produceth q I produceth nothing because pure and single Fire doth not O likewise produceth nothing because the Heaven only moves and excites Generations whereas E produceth abundance of Letters resembling the Earth which produceth every thing in its bosom being the Centre of Heaven and the Matrix of the Elements Now to form words according to the Elementary Qualities they will have the Vowels which compose such a word answer to the Elements which compose such a mixt body And to specifie degrees because the Vowels whereby they are denoted meeting together would spoil the pronunciation therefore they make foure orders of the sixteen Consonants viz. b c d f denote the four degrees of Fire g l m n those of Air p r s t those of Water x z ss st those of Earth Upon this foundation they build the composition of all their Words which they compose of Vowels according to the Elements predominant in things and of Consonants according to their degree But who sees not the absurdity of this invention which by this means would extend only to corporeal mixts whereof the quality and very degree is known Concerning which Naturalists are so far from being agreed that many attribute most natural effects to other causes as to Occult Properties so call'd in opposition to the Elementary 'T is best therefore not to rove from the common tract which teaches us the Sciences by real Languages amongst which those call'd Dead ones to wit the Hebrew Greek and Latine and others now disus'd suffice not for teaching the Sciences because they are not pronounc'd well and the learned agree not about the importance of many Letters and Syllables Besides the most eloquent express not themselves so naturally in those antick obsolete Tongues as in their own And all confess that in order to obtain the perfection of a Science too much plainness cannot be us'd either on the Teacher's part in establishing their Rules and Precepts or on the Learner's in propounding their difficulties for resolution CONFERENCE CLXXXVII Of diversity of Colours in one and the same subject THe diversity of Colours is commonly deduc'd from the mixtion and proportion of the Elements but more truly from the several degrees of Sulphur which produces them as Salt doth Sapors the most certain indications what degree the quality of a Plant is of For if Colours had relation to the Elements then all red things should be hot and white things cold which is not true in Poppy and Roses on the one side nor Orange-flowers and Jasmin on the other So also green things should be always moist because this colour proceeds from an indigested humidity mixt with a part of putrifi'd earth as appears in standing waters and yet the greenness of Lawrel and Mint hinders them not from being hot and dry nor that of Ranunculus from burning But Colours are either natural or artificial which latter as we find it in Stuffs and Silks is neither the cause nor the effect of their temperament But natural colour such as that in the parts of living Animals is an effect of their Life and alterable after their death Wherefore I conclude that colour and its varieties proceeds from the different degrees of Sulphur in the subject but that one and the same subject is of several colours the causes may be First for that some of its parts are more compact others more loose and so differently receive the impression of the Sulphur and the Internal Fire Secondly the Sun shining more upon one part than another draws the internal colour from the Centre to the Circumference as Apples are colour'd on the side next the Sun Thirdly the same difference which is found between the Root Trunk Leavs Flower Fruit and other parts of Plants and Animals is also found in each portion of those parts as the lower part of the Rose is green the middle part whitish and the top red and the Tulip variegated is compounded of as many several particles which variety of places and matrices serves to determine the colour which Sulphur paints thereon being guided by the pencil of Nature The Second said That this diversity of colours proceeds only from the divers aspect of light which varies the colours of certain Bodies to our Eye as in the Rain-bow the Camelion and the necks of Pigeons in things expos'd to the Sun which seem far brighter than before To which you must add the distance and station of the beholders so water seems black or blew afar off but near hand colourless Turpentine Crystal and the whites of Eggs in several situations do the like
The Third said That there are four colours answering to the Elements viz. Black to Earth White to Water Yellow to Air and Red to Fire For discovering the Causes of whose diversities the ancient Philosophers prepar'd a Matter which by the degrees of fire they pass'd through all the colours of Nature and perceiv'd sometimes in their vessel what they call'd the Peacock's tail representing all colours in one single Matter whence they concluded the variety of colours to proceed from that of External Fire moving the Matter less in one part than in another Thus Antimony which is at first Black is rais'd into White Yellow Red and mixt Flowers according as they are sublim'd more or less But you can draw no consequence from hence to the Colours of Plants since redness which in works of Art argues perfect Digestion and Fire predominant doth not so in Simples CONFERENCE CLXXXVIII Whether we are more perspicacious in the Affairs of others or our own and why IT may seem superfluous to make this a Question since by the enumeration of all sorts of Affairs it appears that we are Moles yea perfectly blind in the Judgement we make of our selves and more clear-sighted than the Lynx in those we make of others Which also the Gospel testifies by the comparison of a mote which we espy in the Eye of a Neighbour not seeing the beam which is in our own for according to the direction of the Lawyers who are to be believed in point of affairs in the first place in reference to persons every one understands himself much less either in Mind or Body than he doth another most esteeming themselves more capable and worthy of praise for Witt than they are and as the Eye sees not it self but every other visible thing so he that hath any perfection or imperfection cannot consider the same in its true Latitude but easily adds something to the first or diminishes from the second whilst the various bent of our Passions always exalts and depresses the balance and keeps it from that aequilibrium which is necessary to a right Judgement Hence Physicians although they ought to know themselves better than they can be known by others yet when sick permit themselves to be treated by their Companions and never succeed so well in the Cure of themselves or their domesticks as they do abroad elsewhere In the second place we are less quick-sighted in things that concern our selves than in those of others whence commonly the greatest Lawyers leave the affairs of their own Houses more imbroiled than others Which was the cause that the Wife of Pacius the famous Lawyer of our time sent to him to ask his Advice concerning his own affairs under fancied names making him pay a Solicitor with his own Money In the third place Actions are in a very evill hand when they are to be managed or defended by their Authors either Modesty on the one hand extenuating them or Thrasonical pride dilating them and adding thereunto more than is fit Lastly the Laws shew sufficiently what hath been the opinion of Legislators upon this matter when they forbid Advocates and Procurators to plead and practise in their own Cause and when they injoyn Judges to forbear not only their own but also from all those wherein their kinred or alliances may have any interest Thus much for the first Head of the Question The Reason which is the second ariseth hence That the Eye as well as all other Organs of External and Internal Senses such as the Judgement is must be serene and not prepossessed by any tincture or Prejudice Now to require this serenity and indifferency in our own affairs is to demand an impossibility The Cause whereof may come from the pureness and subtilty of the Humane Spirit above that of other Animals compared to the Elements of Earth and Water which contracting themselves round about their own Centre move not but in quest of their food others more ayerious rise a little higher but yet have a bounded Region such are the spirits of Women whose Knowledg and Curiosity is limited to the affairs of their houswifrie or at most to those of their neighbourhood But the Mind of Man resembling Fire which hath no other bound but Heaven penetrates even to the Centre of the Earth carries its point every where and is like flame in a perpetual agitation oftentimes resembling our natural heat in Summer which abandons the Internal parts to carry it self to the extremities The Second said There is as great diversity of Judgements and Witts as there is of Eyes amongst Men. As there are some blind other Eyes from which the Objects must be set at distance to become visible some also to which they must be approached and lastly others which require a moderate distance between the Visible Object and the Organ Iin like manner there are some Judgements absolutely blind others which judge not things too near but require to have them removed or set at a middle distance there are others also which judge them better near hand than a far off and this truly is the custom of the best Judgements and of such as least suffer themselves to be prepossess'd Indeed what is more absurd than for us to remove far from Objects in order to judging of them after the manner of old men and of those that are short-sighted and if the saying of Aristotle be true The Species of the thing to be known must be not only introduced into but also made like the Mind Is the divesting our selves of it away to know it well By this reckoning we shall never see clear in any affair not in our own because 't is ours nor in those others in regard of the Envy Men bear to the prosperity of their Neighbours which makes them think that their Vines are more fruitful and their afflictions less severe If some Physicians resign themselves to the cure of others of the same profession 't is because they believe them as able as themselves or perhaps because their own Judgement is disturbed by the disease otherwise since the particular Knowledge of every one's Temper is the condition most requisite to a good Physician for curing his Patient and every one knowing his own better than another can in along time none can be a better Physician of another than of himself and if domestick cures be effected with less notice yet they are not less sure and remarkable to him that would consider them That Lawyers are not admitted to plead in their own Case is rather from their too much than too little Knowledge the Court foreseeing that they would be too prolix and hot in the prosecution thereof besides the greater temptation to dishonesty in disguising their own actions Nor is exception against Judges in the case of their kinred allowed because they see not clear enough into the affair in question but because interest which is inseparably fixed in humane minds might lead them to relieve their Relations to
attraction made by the Centre the Question is To which of those three Causes that Motion is to be referr'd If it be attributed to the weight it will follow that the heaviest Body shall descend soonest if to the impulsion the celerity or slowness of the Agent shall accordingly render that Motion swift or slow but if only the attraction made by the Centre be the Cause of it the lesser weight shall descend as fast nay faster than the greater upon the same account as that the same piece of Loadstone more easily draws a small needle than it does a great key Nor can Experience always assist us in this case in regard the different composure and form of heavy Bodies as also the diversity of the means and the variety of the Agents whereby they are thrust forwards will not permit us to make an allowable Comparison between them Thus a ball of Cork which descended as fast in the Air as one of Lead shall not do the like in the water to the bottom whereof the Lead shall fall but not the Cork And again the same Lead being put into the form of a Gondola or other hollow vessel shall swim on the water which it could not before A Cloak folded close together into a bundle shall have a speedy descent in both Air and Water but let a Man fasten the same Cloak under the arm-pit so as that it may spread into a circle it shall so sustain him the Air that he shall fall very gently and receive no hurt by his fall Hence it also comes that many Women have been sav'd when falling into the Water their Clothes were spread all abroad The same thing may also be observ'd in those frames beset with Feathers or cover'd with Paper which Children call Kites and sustain in the Air and suffer to be carryed away with the Wind giving them ever and anon little checks or jerks by drawing the pack-thread to them whereby they are held imitating in that action the beating of the wings in Birds In fine the different manner of giving the first shock to weighty Bodies does accordingly diversifie their Motion towards the Centre For as the impulsion made downwards hastens its bent towards the Centre so when it is forc'd circularly it is retarded Whence it comes that a glass so cast down that it hath certain turns by the way does sometimes fall to the ground without breaking But to speak absolutely all conditions being suppos'd equal it should seem that the more weighty a Body is the sooner it falls to the Centre And this is made good by daily Experiences as may be seen in the weighing of Gold and Silver in the balance which hath a speedier and shorter cast when the piece is much weightier or lighter than it hath when there is but half a grain difference between both the scales The Second said That the Nature of weight or heaviness was to be number'd among the occult things Aristotle defines it to be a Quality inclining Bodies downwards and towards the Centre Others would have it to be an Effect of density which proceeds from the great quantity of Substance and Matter comprehended and contracted in a small room There are yet others who would have it to be an impulsion or fastning of one Body upon another in order to Motion downwards But to come nearer the business it is only the relation or report there is between a Body and its mean and its comparison with another Body According to this account of it the same piece of Gold is said to be light in respect of one weight and heavy in respect of another Wood is heavy in the Air and light in the Water Tin is light in comparison of Gold though very weighty in respect of Wood. Whence it follows that weight hath only a respective being and such as depends on some other thing and not on it self The Cause of it therefore is not to be sought in it self but else-where as must be that of the recoiling of a Tennis-ball which is not in the Ball nor in the arm of him that playes nor yet in the walls of the Tennis-Court but resulting from all these three together And whereas Experience seems to decide the Question propos'd 't is fit we should refer our selves to it Now it is certain that of two Bodies of unequal weight and of the same Figure and Matter equally forc'd or suffer'd to fall the one will as soon come to its Centre as the other as those may see who shall let fall at the same time from the top of a Tower two leaden bullets one of two pounds and the other of a quarter of a pound both which will come to the ground at the same instant the reason whereof is That the stronger impulsion in the bullet of two pounds meets with a stronger resistance of the Air to break through as it falls than that of quarter of a pound Whence we are to make a distinction between the greater impulsion which the weightier Body makes upon another Body and the celerity or slowness of the Motion wherewith it descends a hundred weight being heavier on the shoulders of a Porter than one pound but not coming sooner to the ground than it In like manner a stone descending so much the more swiftly the nearer it comes to its Centre clearly shews that it derives the force of its Motion from the Centre as its principle as we conclude that the strength of a bullet is spent and the Motion of it grows fainter the further it is at a distance from the arm and gun from which it came and which we hold to have been the cause and principle of it The Third said That the weightiest Bodies make the more haste to their Centre the nearer they approach it for their weight is increas'd by their approaching of it gravity in the scent of weighty Bodies increasing by the continuance of Motion quite contrary to violent Motion which admits of remission thereby artifice it seems in this point giving place to Nature so as that the latter never grows weary nay is infallible in all her Motions and that such a propension of weight to the centre is the only certain rule to draw direct lines to that centre and which is yet the more certain the greater the weight is And whereas the Mind of Man judges the better of things when they are oppos'd one to the other behold one of those little Atomes which dance up and down in the beams of the Sun striking in at a window it is a Body sustain'd in the Air only by its smalness and requires a long time to make an impression in that part of the Air which is under it which thing cannot be said of a Musket-bullet It is therefore deducible thence that the heaviest Bodies descend fastest to the Centre The Fourth said That we are not to seek for any other reason for the speedier descent of heavy Bodies than there is in all the other
Motions of Nature which proceed from the instinct imprinted by her in all things of loving their good which is their rest and natural place which till they have attain'd they are in perpetual disquiet and whereas the heavier a Body is the more parts there are in it concern'd in the pursuance of that good it is not to be wonder'd if it happens to them as to divers sollicitors in the same cause who press it more earnestly than one alone would do We may therefore say that the same natural instinct that makes the Mulberry-tree expect till the cold weather be over before it buds and the Halcyons till the tempests be past before they build their nests and makes them to secure their young ones before the Rain may much rather cause the most massie and weighty Bodies to make more haste For these fore-seeing that the Centre is not able to lodge all the Bodies tending thereto endeavour to get to it as soon as they can adding to their haste the nearer they approach it But the most certain reason of this speedier Motion is the general rule that the more the Cause is increas'd the more is the Effect augmented whence it follows that if weight be the Cause of Motion downwards the greater the weight is the more intense ought to be the Motion CONFERENCE CCXVI Of the Silk-worm THe use of Silk was brought over from the East-Indies into Europe above a thousand years since and was particularly introduc'd into Italy by two Religous Men who brought thither the grain of it somewhat above three hundred years since in which Country of Italy that commodity hath been much cultivated and that upon several accounts as the preciousness of it the easie transportation from one place to another by reason of its lightness And lastly for that it is one of the principal instruments of Luxury which never wanted Partizans and Abettors in any Age not to mention the great advantages and wealth attending the manufacture of it The Latine word Sericum is receiv'd from that of Seres an Oriental people who were more sedulous in the cultivation of it than any other and the same thing hath happen'd to this as to many other excellent productions deriv'd from mean and despicable Principles For the Animal from whose labour we have the silk is an Insect as are all those which spin to wit the Spider and the Caterpillar and it differs in nothing from this latter save that the Caterpillar hath a little hairiness and the silk of the Silk-worm is stronger than the web of the Caterpillar and of another colour but as to figure and bulk there is little difference between them Whereto may be added that their production is much at one as being as it were hatch'd of certain eggs living on leaves enclosing themselves in certain webs out of which they make their way after they are become a kind of Butterflies by a strange Metamorphosis which forces them from one extremity to another that is from the nature of Reptiles to that of Volatiles which transformation is such as were it not for the frequency of it might be plac'd among the greatest miracles of Nature considering the great difference there is between those two forms And that indeed is such as hath given some occasion to doubt whether the Silkworm becoming a Butterfly did not change its Species as it would be true were it not that every thing produces its like and the Silkworm deriving its birth from the seed of the Butterfly it is an argument that both are of the same Species Thus much as to their progress The Kingdom of Spain commonly furnishes us with the best grain or seed of these worms which are like heads of pins but black or resembling Rape-seed somewhat flatted on both sides This grain sometime in the Month of April being put between two warm pillows or expos'd to the Sun enclos'd in the linings of ones cloaths or otherwise chafed by a moderate heat but without any moisture there are produc'd of it little certain worms of the same colour that is black at their first coming forth which by reason of their smalness as resembling the points of needles pass through certain little holes made in a paper wherewith they are cover'd and fasten themselves on the Mulbery-leaves which are also placed on the said paper full of little holes upon which leaves all the best grain being hatch'd within five or six days goes creeping after the first worm that gets out of her shell all that is hatch'd afterwards never coming to any good These worms are thence transported with the leaves laid upon little boards or hurdles into a temperate place and dispos'd in a lightsom and spacious room where they are entertain'd with fresh leaves twice a day among which those of the white Mulbery makes finer silk than those of the black for want whereof the leaves of the Rose-bush Lettice and some others may be used but though the Worm makes a shift to subsist by that nourishment yet either it will not spin at all or the Silk will be like the web or clue wrought by the Caterpillars Thus it feeds for the space of forty days during which it becomes grey and changes its colour four times not eating for some days before each change by reason of the fulness it is then sensible of The Worm is subject to certain diseases and those oblige such as have the care of them to remove them out of one room into another and that even when they are dying in great quantities Perfume Incense Benjamin Vinegar and Wine recovering and comforting them as also the smell of broyl'd Bacon To prevent which Diseases and the assaults of Flies and Pismires who will make havock among them they are very carefully to be kept clean the boards on which the leaves lie to be rubb'd with wormwood or sprinkled with Wine which must be well dry'd up before they come near them all moisture being hurtful to them as also salt or the hands that have handled it All harsh sounds as those of the discharging of Muskets Bells and Trumpets destroys them nay the strong breaths of those who come near them especially such as have eaten or handled Garlick or Onions are very prejudicial to them When their time of spinning draws nigh which is about six weeks after their being first alive at which time they are about the bigness of a man's little finger more transparent than they use to be and the little snowt so lengthen'd as that it represents the form of a Nose the Animal by an extraordinary motion expresses the inconvenience it endures by reason of its burden Then is it cleans'd oftner and there is so much the less given it to eat and afterwards they set on the boards some dry'd branches of Heath Broom or Vines and above all of Birch as being the most delicate and least prickly least it should prick the Worm or entangle the Silk Then you shall see them
it comes that our Cellars are warm in Winter and cool in Summer as are also all other ground-rooms and low places That Water shrinks up and frames it self into little drops when it is spilt on dry ground whereas it spreads abroad and is diffus'd in moist places That Lime is set on fire by the casting of water upon it That the fire burns better in frosty than in hot weather That Wine drinks more cool out of a Glass that had been warm'd That the coldness of Snow causes an extraordinary heat in their hands who handle it and That generally all tactile qualities are rendred more active by the opposition of their contraries by reason of the concourse and the assistance they then receive from that general Cause which concerns it self in their preservation Of this we may give an instance in Politicks affirming that the procedure of the forementioned Cause is much like that of great Potentates who in a war between some petty Princes or neighbouring States if they find one party ready to be absolutely ruin'd supply it with such forces as shall enable it to recover it self so to bring the several interests into an Aequilibrium whereof there is as great a necessity in Nature which is kept up by that proportion wherein all things find their subsistence as their destruction proceeds only from their disproportion and inequality The Fifth said That we are not to look for the reason of Antiperistasis any otherwhere than in the Subjects themselves wherein we find the action whose intenseness and augmentation are to be referr'd not to that of the degrees of the active qualities but to their compression and reinforcement which renders them more sensible in regard they are more material as may be seeen in a red-hot iron the heat whereof burns much more violently then that of a fire of Straw or Aqua-vitae The sixth said That according to the principles which allow all things to participate of a certain degree of sentiment this condensation or compression of the degrees of heat or cold ought to be the effects of a sensitive Agent which having a knowledge of what may be hurtful or beneficial to it withdraws within it self the qualities which preserve it intire when it is press'd upon by others that are more violent and such as the meeting whereof might be prejudicial thereto which it forces from it in order to Action And herein it is that the good of every thing consists inasmuch as every thing hath being only so far as it hath action when it is assisted by friendly qualities and the like and by this means it is that Cold and Heat act more vigorously when they are oppos'd one to the other and that our cavities are hotter in Winter by reason of the compression of the Spirits and the natural Heat which are the more diffus'd in Summer in regard this latter goes to meet with its like as a little fire is put out by a great one and a weaker light obscur'd by a clearer CONFERENCE CCXXXVIII Of the Sympathetical Powder THough this Powder be now as much out of esteem as it was in vogue soon after the first finding of it out for the expeditious curing of wounds yet will it haply be a business of some advantage to examine their Motives who first made and publickly sold it as also those of such as have sometimes made use of it with good success And whereas novelty procures a certain esteem to Remedies as well as to other things so this Sympathetical Powder found so great belief at its first coming abroad among Persons addicted to a military life who were immediately flatter'd with a speedy and easie curing of their most mortal wounds by the means thereof without any trouble of making incisions or dilatations many times more painful then the hurt it self that we have had some persons these last Campagnes though destitute of learning and experience who had the subtlety to raise such a mist before the eyes of the generality with this Powder that they concluded this remedy to be true balm and the only Panacea or All-heal of all wounds But time having discover'd the vanity of it as also the impostures of those by whom it was so highly recommended it hath been clearly found out that there are few people in this age but are either deceiv'd themselves or make it their main business to deceive others For in fine this Powder is as much cry'd down at present as ever it was cry'd up and there is nothing left of it but the insolent name of Sympathetical impos'd upon it by the Authors thereof in imitation of the Unguent of the same name wherewith Goclenius and some other Physicians endeavour'd to make good the Magnetick cure of wounds wherein they only dress'd the arms or other instruments by which they were given and apply'd the convenient remedies thereto But in regard they could not always come at the arms which had done the mischief to keep up their practise and to make the cure yet more easie these upstart Doctors be thought themselves some years since of another expedient to compass their designs that is found out a remedy wherewith they make it their boast that they will cure all sorts of hurts only by applying this powder to some piece of Cloth which had been us'd either to bind up or make clean the wounded part And whereas there are two kinds of wounds one simple which makes a solution of continuity in the soft and fleshy parts of the body such as are the veins the arteries the nerves and the muscles the other compound which happens ih the solid parts especially where bones are broken these Gentlemen have accordingly two different kinds of Sympathetical Powder to wit a simple and a compound The former is made with Roman Vitriol which is our green and transparent Coppress which they beat or pound not over small and disposing it upon papers in such quantities as they think fit lay it in the Sun when he makes his entrance into the first degree of the Sign Leo and leaving it there for the space of three hundred and sixty hours which make just fifteen days answerably to the like number of degrees which that Planet travels over in the space of a year in the Zodiack During this time it is calcin'd into an exquisite whiteness and then they take it in and keep it carefully in some temperate place that is not too moist that is such as may not be likely to melt it for fear it should by that means lose its vertue for which reason also it is taken in during its calcination in the cool of the evening and in the night-time and when the air is inclinable to rain or over-moist But there must be a great care taken that it be not stirr'd with any instrument of iron when this powder is either in the preparation or ready made up these Authors affirming that it takes away its vertue instead whereof they order