refraction 6. An answer to the arguments brought in favour of Monsieur des Cartes his opinion 7. The true cause of refraction of light both at its entrance and at its going out from the refleing body 8. A general rule to know the nature of reflection and refractions in all sorts of surface 9. A body of greater parts and greater pores makes a greater refraction than one of lesser parts and lesser pores 10. A confirmation of the former doctrine out of the nature of bodies that refract light CHAP. XIV Of the composition qualities Generation of mixed Bodies 1. The connexion of this chapter with the rest and the Authours intent in it 2. That there is a least sise of bodies and that this least sise is found in fire 3. The first conjunction of parts is in bodies of least sise and it is made by the force of Quantity 4. The second sort of conjunction is compactedness in simple Elements and it proceeds from density 5. The third conjunction is of parts of different Elements and it proceeds from quantity and density together 6. The reason why liquid bodies do easily joyn together and dry ones difficultly 7. That no two hard bodies can touch one another immediately 8. How mixed bodies are framed in general 9. The cause of the several degrees of solidity in mixed bodies 10. The Rule whereto are reduced all the several 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 over the other two 13. Of those bodies where water being the basis air 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 excess 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 excess over the other three Elements 17. Of those bodies where earth is the basis water is the predominant element over the other two 18. Of those bodies where earth being the basis air 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 several combinations of the first qualities and are at last resolv'd into several degrees of rarity density 21. That in the Planets Stars there is a like variety of mixed bodies caused by light as here on earth 22. In what manner the Elements work on one another in the composition of mixed bodies and in particular fire which is the most active 23. A particular declaration touching the generation of Metals CHAP. XV. Of the Dissolution of Mixed Bodies 1. Why some bodies are brittle and others tough or apt to withstand outward violence the first instrument to dissolve mixed bodies 2. How outward violence doth work on the most compacted bodies 3. The several effects of fire the second and chiefest instrument to dissolve all compounded bodies 4. The reason why some bodies are not dissolved by fire 5. The reason why fire melteth gold but cannot consume it 6. Why Lead is easily consumed and calcinted by fire 7. Why and how some bodies are divided by fire into Spirits Waters Oyls Salts and Earth And what those parts are 8. How water the third instrument to dissolve bodies dissolvs calx into salt and so into terra damnata 9. How water mingled with salt becomes a most powerful Agent to dissolve other bodies 10. How putrefaction is caused CHAP. XVI An Explication of certain Maxims touching the operations and qualies of bodies and whether the Elements be found pure in any part of the world 1. What is the Sphere of activity in corporeal agents 2. The reason why no body can work in distance 3. An objection answer'd against the manner of explicating the former axiome 4. Of re-action and first in pure local motion that each Agent must suffer in acting and act in suffering 5. The former Doctrine applyed to other local motions design'd by particular names And that Suisseths argument is of no force against this way of doctrine 6. Why some notions do admit of intension and remission and others not 7. That in every part of our habitable world all the four elements are found pure in small atoms but not in any great bulk CHAP. XVII Of Rarefaction and Condensation the two first motions of Particular bodies 1. The Authours intent in this and the following chapters 2. That bodies may be rarified both by outward and inward heart and how this is perform'd 3. Of the great effects of Rarefaction 4. The first manner of condensation by heat 5. The second manner of condensation by cold 6. That Ice is not water rarified but condensed 7. How Wind Snow and Hail are made and wind by rain allaid 8. How parts of the same or divers bodies are joyn'd more strongly together by condensation 9. Vacuities cannot be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstanding receive more of another 10. The true reason of the former effect 11. The reason why bodies of the same nature do joyn more easily together than others CHAP. XVIII Of another motion belonging to Particular bodies called Attraction and of certain operations term'd Magical 1. What Attraction is and from whence it proceeds 2. The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhors from vacuitys 3. The true reason of attraction 4. Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soever 5. The doctrine touching the attraction of water in Syphons 6. That the Syphon doth not prove water to weigh in its own orb 7. Concerning attraction caus'd by fire 8. Concerning attraction made by virture of hot bodies amulets c 9. The natural reason given for divers operations esteem'd by some to be magical CHAP. XIX Of three other motions belonging to particular bodies Filtration Restitution and Electrical attraction 1. What is Filtration and how it is effected 2. What causes the water in Filtration to ascend 3. Why the filter will not drop unless the label hang lower than the water 4. Of the motion of Restitution and why some bodies stand bent others not 5. Why some bodies return only in part to their natural figure others entirely 6. Concerning the nature of those bodies which shrink aand stretch 7. How great and wonderful effects proceed from small plain and simple principles 8. Concerning Electrical attratâ—on and the causes of it 9. Cabeus his opinion refuted concerning the cause of Electrical motions CHAP. XX. Of the Loadstones generation and its particulas motions 1. The extreme heat of the Sun under the Zodiack draws a stream of air from each Pole into the torrid Zone 2. The atomes of these two streams coming together are apt to incorporate with one another 3. By the meeting and mingling together
Of the great effects of Rarefaction 4. The first manner of condensation by heat 5. The second manner of condensation by cold 3. That Ice is not water rarifiâ—d but condensed 7. How wind snow and hail are made and wind by rain allayed 8. How parts of the same or divers bodies are joyned more strongly together by condensation 9. Vacuities cannot be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstanding receive more of another 10. The true reason of the former effect 11. The reason why bodies of the same nature jâ—yn more easily together then others 1. What attraction is and from whence it proceeds 1. The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhors from vacuity 3. The true rea son of attraction 4. Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soever 5. The doctrine touching the attraction of water in Syphons 6. That the Syphon doth not prove water to weigh in its own orb 7. Concerning attraction caused by fire 8. Concerning attraction made by virtue of hot bodies amulets c. 9. The natural reason given for divers operations esteemed by some to be magical 1. What is Filtration and how it is effected 2. What causes the water in filtration to ascend 3. Why the filter will not drop unless the label hang lower then the water 4. Of the motion of Râ—stitution and why some bodies stand bent others not 5. Why some bo dies return only in part to their natural figure others entirely 6. Concerning the nature of those bodies which shrink and stretch 7. How great wonderful effects proceed from smal plain and simple principles 8. Concerning Electrical at action and the causes of it 6. Cabeus his opinion reâ—uted concerning the cause of Electrical motions 1. The extreme heat of the Sun under the Zodiack draws a stream of air from each pole into the Torrid Zone * Chap. 18. Sect. 7. 2. The Atoms of these two streams coming together are apt to incorporate with one another 3. By the meeting and mingling together of these streams at the Equator divers rivolets of Atoms of each Pole are continuated from one Pole to the other 4. Of these Atoms incorporated with some fit matter in the bowels of the earth is made a stone 5. This stone works by emanations joyned with agreeing streams that meet them in the air and in fine it is a Loadstone 6 A methode for making experiences on any subject 7. The Loadstones generation by atoms flowing from both Poles is confirmd by experiments observ'd in the stone it self 8. Experiments to prove that the Loadstone works by emanations meeting with agreeing streames 1. The operations of the loadstone are wrought by bodies and not by qualities 2. Objections against the former position answer'd 3. The Loadstone is imbued with his virtue from another body 4 The virtue of the Loadstone is a double and not one simple virtue 5. The virtue of the Loadstone works more strongly in the poles of it then in any other part 6. The loadstone sends forth its emanations spherically Which are of two kindâ— and each kind is strongest in that Hemisphere through whose polary parts they issue out 7. Putting two loadstones within the sphere of one another every part of one loadstone doth not agree wâ—th every part of the other loadstone 8. Concetning the declination and other respects of a needle towards the loadstone it touches 8. The virtue of the Loadstone goes from end to end in lines almost parallel to the Axis 10. The virtue of the Loadstone is not perfectly spherical though the stone be such 11. The intention of nature in all the operations of the loadstone is to make an union betwixt the attractive and attracted bodies 12. The main globe of the earth is not a Loadstone 13. The loadstone is generated in all parts or Climâ—t's of the earth 14. The conformity betwixt the two motions of magnetick things and of heavy things 1. Which is the North and which the South Pole of a Loadstone 2. Whether any bodies besides magnetick ones be attractive 3. Whether an iron placed perpendicularly towards the earth gets a magnetical virtue of pointing towards the north or towards the south in that end that lies downwards 4. Why loadstones affect iron better than one another 5. Gilberts reason refuted touching a cap'd Loadstone that takes up more iron then one not cap'd and an iron impregnated that in some case draws more strongly then the stone it self Galileus his opinion touching the former effects refuted 7. The Authors solution to the former questions 8. The reason why in the former case a lesser Loadstones draws the interjacent iron from the greater 9. Why the variation of a touched needle from the North is greater the nearer you go to the Pole 10. Whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may it one time vary more fâ—om the North and at another time less 11. The whâ—le doctrine of the loâ—dstone sum'd up in short 1. The connexion of the following Chapters with the precedent ones 2. Concerning several compositions of mixed bodies 3. Two sorts of Living Creatures 4. An engine to express the first sort of living creatures 5. Another Engine by which may be expressed the second sort of living creatures 4. The two former engines and some other comparisons applied to express the two several sorts of living creatures 7. How plants are framed 8. How Sensitive Creatures are formed 1. The opinion that the seed contains formally every part of the parent 2. The former opinion rejected 3. The Authours opinion of this question 4. Their opinion refuted who hold that every thing contains formally all things 5. The Authors opinion concerning the generation of Animals declared and confirm'd That one substance is changed into another 7. Concerning the hatching of Chickens and the generation of the other Animals 8. From whence it happens that the deficiences or excresences of the parents body are often seen in their children 9. The difference between the Authors opinion anâ—â—he former 〈◊〉 10 That the heart is imbued with the general specifike vertues of the whole body wherby is confirm'd the doctrine of the two former Paragraphes 11 That the heart is the first part generated in a living creatures 1. That the figure of an Animal is produced by ordinary second causes as well as any other corporeal effect 2. That the several figures of bodies proceed from a defect in one of three dimensions caused by the circumference of accidental causes 3. The former doctrine is confirmd by several instances 4. The same doctrine applyed to plants 4. The same doctrine declared in leaves of trees 16. The same applied to the bodies of Animals 7. In what sense the Author admits of vis formatrix 1. From whence proceeds the primary motion growth in Plants 2. Mr. des Cartes his opinion touching the motion of the heart 3. The former opinion rejected 4. The Authors opinion
activity and the great activity shews a great percussion burning being effected by a kind of attrition of the thing burned And the great force which fire shews in Guns and in Mines being but a multiplication of the same evidently convinces that of its own nature it makes a stong percussion when all due circumstances concur Whereas it has but little effect if the due circumstances be wanting as we may observe in the insensible burning of so rarified a body as pure spirit of wine converted into flame But we must examine the matter more parrticularly and seek the cause why a violent effect doth not always appear wherever light strikes For which we are to note that three things concur to make a percussion great The bigness the density and the celerity of the body moved Of which three there is onely one in light to wit celerity for it has the greatest rarity and the rays of it are the smallest parcels of all natural bodies and therfore 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 aire nay even feathers and straws do make no sensible percussion when they fall upon us therefore we must in light have at the least a celerity that may be to the celerity of the straw falling upon 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 us take a corn of gunpowder instead of a straw between which there cannot be much difference and then putting that the density of fire is to the density of Gunpowder as 1. to 125000. and that the density of the light we have here in the earth is to the density of that part of fire which is in the Suns body as the body of the Sun is to that body which is called Orbis magnus whose Semidiameter is the distance between the Sun and the Earth which must be in subtriple proportion of the Diameter of the Sun to the Diameter of the great Orb it follows that 125000. being multiplyed by the proportion of the great Orb to the Sun which Galileo tells us is as 106000000. to one will give a scantling of what degree of celerity light must have more then a corn of Gunpowder to recompence the excess of weight which is in a corn of Gunpowder above that which is in a ray of light as big as a corn of Gunpowder Which will amount to be much greater than the proportion of the Semediameter of Orbis magnuâ— to the Semidiameter of the corn of Gunpowder for if you reckon five grains of Gunpowder to a Barly-corns breadth and 12. of them in an inch and 12. inches in a foot and 3. feet in a pace and 1000. paces in a mile and 3500. miles in the Semidiameter of the earth and 1208. Semidiamiters of the earth in the Semidiameter of the Orbis magnus there will be in it but 913 2480000000. grains of Gunpowder whereas the other calculation makes light to be 13250000000000 times rarer then gunpowder which is almost ten times a greater proportion then the other And yet this celerity supplies 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 bulk doth not make so great a percussion as it doth in a bigger body and that the littleness of the least parts of bodies follows the proportion of their rarity this vast proportion of celerity must again be drawn into it self to supply for the excess in bigness that a corn of gunpowder hath over an atome of light and the product of this multiplication will be the celerity required to supply for both defects Which evidently shews it is impossible that a ray of light should make any sensible percussion though it be a body Especially considering that sense never takes notice of what is perpetually done in a moderate degree And therefore after this minute looking into all circumstances we need not have difficulty in allowing to light the greatest celerity imaginable and a percussion proportionate to such a celerity in so rare a body and yet not fear any violent effect from its blow unless it be condens'd and many parts of it be brought together to work as if they were but one As concerning the last objection that if light were a body It would be fanned by the wind we must consider what is the cause of a thing appearing to be moved and then examine what force that cause hath in light As for the first part we see that when a body is discern'd now in one place now in another then it appears to be moved And this we see happens also in light as when the Sun or a candle is carried or moves the light thereof in the body of the Candle or Sun seems to be moved along with it And the like is in a shining cloud or comet But to apply this to our purpose We must note that the intention of the objection is that the light which goes from the fire to an opacous body far distant without interruption of its continuity should seem to be jog'd or put out of its way by the wind that crosses it Wherein the first failing is that the Objector conceives light to send species to our eye from the midst of its line whereas with a little consideration he may perceive that no light is seen by us but that which is reflected from an opacous body to our eye so that the light he means in his objection is never seen at all Secondly 't is manifest that the light which strikes our eye strikes it in a straight line and seems to be at the end of that straight line wherever that is and so can never appear to be in another place but the light which we see in another place we conceive to be another light Which makes it again evident that the light can never appear to shake though we should suppose that light may be seen from the middle of its line for no part of wind or air can come into any sensible place in that middle of the line with such speed that new light from the sourcce doth not illuminate it sooner then it can be seen by us wherefore it will appear to us illuminated as being in that place and therefore the light can never appear shaken And lastly it is easier for the air or wind to destroy the light then to remove it out of its place wherefore it can never so remove it out of its place as that we should see it in another place But if it should remove it it would wrap it up within it self and hide it In conclusion after this long dispute concerning the nature of light If we consider well what hath been said on both sides
in proportion to their causes it follows that this encrease is in a determinate proportion Which Galileus to whom we owe the greatest part of what is known concerning motion teaches us how to find out and to discover what degree of celerity any movable that is moved by nature has in any determinate part of the space it moves in Having 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 moved as also in the mover that occasions the motion And because we have already shewed that local motion is nothing in substance but division we may determine that those causes which cōtribute to division or resist it are the causes which make or resist local motion It has also been said that Density has in it a power of dividing and that Rarity is the cause of being divided likewise we have said that fire by reason of its smal parts intow ch it may be cut which makes them sharp has also an eminence in dividing So that we have two qualities density and tenuity or sharpness which concur actively to division We have told you also how Galileus has demonstrated that a greater quantity of the same figure and density has a priviledge of descending faster than a lesser And that priviledge consists in this that the proportion of the superficies to the body it limits which proportion the greater it is the more it retards is less in a greater bulk than in a smaller We have therfore three conditions concurring to make the motion more efficacious namely the density the sharpness and the bulk of the movable and more then these three we cannot expect to find in a moved body For quantity hath but three determinations one by density rarity of which density is one of the three conditions another by its parts as by a foot a span c. and in this way we have found that the greater excells the lesser the third and last is by its figure and in this we find that subtile or edged quantities do prevail over blunt ones Seeing therfore that these three determinations be all that are in quantity there can be no more conditions in the body moved which of necessity is a finite quantity but the three named And as for the medium which is to be divided there is only rarity and density the one to help the other to hinder that require consideration on its side For neither figure nor littleness and greatness do make any variation in it And as for the Agent it is not as yet time before we have look'd further into the nature of motion to determine his qualities Now then let us reflect how these three conditions do all agree in this circumstance that they help nothing to division unless the body in which they are to be moved and press'd against the body that is to be divided so that we see no principle to perswade us that any body can move it self towards any determinate part or place of the universe of its own intrinsecal inclination For besides that the learned Author of the Dialogues de Mundo in his third Dialogue and the second Knot hath demonstrated that a body cannot move unless it be moved by some extrinsecal Agent we may easily frame to our selves a conceit how absurd it is to think that a body by a quality in it can work upon it self as if we should say that rarity which is but more quantity could work upon quantity or that figure which is but that the body reaches no further could work upon the body and in general that the manner of any thing can work upon that thing whose manner it is For Aristotle and St. Thomas and their Intelligent Commentators declaring the notion of Quality tell us that to be a Quality is nothing else but to be the determination or modification of the thing whose quality it is Besides the natural manner of operation is to work according to the capacity of the subject but when a body is in the midst of an uniform medium or space the subject is equally prepar'd on all sides to receive the action of that body Wherfore though we should allow it a force to move if it be a natural Agent and have no understanding it must work indifferently on all sides and by consequence cannot move on any side For if you say that the Agent in this case where the medium is uniform works rather upon one side than upon another it must be because this determination is within the Agent it self and not out of the circumstant dispositions which is the manner of working of those substances that work for an end of their own that is of understanding creatures and not of natural hodies Now he that would exactly determine what motion a body has or is apt to have determining by supposition the force of the Agent must calculate the proportions of all these three conditions of the movable and the quality of the medium which is a proceeding too particular for the intention of our discourse But to speak in common it will not be amiss to examine in what proportion motion doth increase since we have concluded that all motion proceeds from quiet by a continual encrease Galileus that miracle of our age and whose wit was able to discover whatever he had a mind to employ it about hath told us that natural motion encreases in the proportion of the odd numbers Which to express by example is thus suppose that in the going of the first yard it has one degree of velocity then in the going of the second yard it will have three degrees and in going of the third it will have five and so onwards still adding two to the degrees of the velocity for every one to the space Or to express it more plainly if in the first minute of time it goes one yard of space then in the next minute it will go three yards in the third it will go five in the fourth seaven and so forth But we must enlarge this proposition to all motions as we have done the former of the encrease it self in velocity because the reason of it is common to all motions Which is that all motion as may appear out of what we have formerly said proceeds from two causes namely the Agent or the force that moves and the disposition of the body moved as it is composed of the three qualities we lately explicated In which is to be noted that the Agent doth not move simply by its own virtue but applyes also the virtue of the body moved which it hath to divide the medium when it is put on As when we cut with a knife the effect proceeds from the knife press'd on by the hand or from the hand as applying and putting in action the edge and cutting power of the knife Now this in Physicks and Nature is clearly parallel to what in Geometry
could strike it But it is evident say you out of these pretended causes of this motion that such atomes cannot move so swiftly downwards as a great dense body since their littleness and their rarity are both of them hindering to their motion Therefore this cannot be cause of that effect which we call gravity To this I reply That to have the atoms give these blows to a descending dense body 't is not requir'd that their natural and ordinary motion should be swifter then the descent of such a dense body but the very descent of it occasions their striking it for as it falls and makes it self a way through them they divide themselves before it and swell on the sides and a little above it and presently close again behind it and over it assoon as it is past Now that closing to hinder vacuity of space is a sudden one and thereby attains great velocity which would carry the atoms in that degree of velocity further than the descending body if they did not encounter with it in their way to retard them which encounter and tarding implyes such strokes upon 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 divided by the stone and swells on the sides higher then it was before closes upon the back of the descending stone and follows it so violently that for a while after it leaves a purling hole in the place where the stone went down till by the repose of the stone the water returns likewise to its quiet and so its superficies becomes even In the third place an enquiry occurs emergent out of this doctrine of the cause of bodies moving upwards and downwards Which is Whether there would be any natural motion deep in the earth beyond the activity of the Sun beams for out of these principles it follows that there would not and consequently there must be a vast Orb in which there would be no motion of gravity or levity For suppose the Sun beams might pierce a thousand miles deep into the body of the earth yet there would still remain a mass whose Diameter would be near 5000 miles in which there would be no gravitation nor the contrary motion For my part I shall make no difficulty to grant the inference as far as concerns motion caused by our Sun for what inconvenience would follow out of it But I will not offer at determining whether there may not be enclosed within that great sphere of earth some other fire such as the Chymists talk of an Archeus a Demogorgon seated in the centre like the heart in animals which may raise up vapours and boyl an air out of them and divide gross bodies into atoms and accordingly give them motions answerable to ours but in different lines from ours according as that fire or Sun is situated Since the far-searching Authour of the Dialogues de Mundo hath left that speculation undecided after he had touched upon it in the Twelfth knot of his first Dialogue Fourthly it may be objected that if such descending atoms as we have described were the cause of a bodies gravity and descending towards the center the same body would at divers times descend more and less swiftly for example after midnight when the atoms begin to descend more slowly the same body would descend more slowly in a like proportion and not weigh so much as it did in the heat of the day The same may be said of Summer and Winter for in Winter time the atoms seem to be more gross and consequently to strike more strongly upon the bodies they meet with in their way as they descend yet on the other side they seem in the Summer to be more numerous as also to descend from a greater height both which circumstances will be cause of a stronger stroke and more vigorous impulse on the body they hit And the like may be objected of divers parts of the World for in the Torrid Zone it will always happen as in Summer in places of the Temperate Zone and in the Polar times as in deepest winter so that no where there should be any standard or certainty in the weight of bodies if it depended upon so mutable a cause And it makes to the same effect that a body which lies under a thick rock or any other very dense body that cannot be penetrated by any great store of atoms should not be so heavy as it would be in the open and free air where the atoms in their compleat numbers have their full strokes For answer to these and such like instances we are to note first that 't is not so much the number or violence of the percussion of the striking atoms as the density of the thing strucken which gives the measure to the descending of a weighty body and the chief thing which the stroak of the atoms gives to a dense body is a determination of the way which a dense body is to cut to it self therfore multiplication or lessening of the atoms will not make any sensible difference betwixt the weight of one dense body where manya toms strike and an other body of the same density where but a few strike so that the stroak downwards of the descending atoms be greater then the stroke upwards of the ascending atoms and therby determines it to weigh to the Centrewards and not rise floating upwards which is all the sensible effect we can perceive Next we may observe that the first particulars of the objection do not reach home to enfeeble our doctrine in this particular although we admit them to be in such sort as they are proposed for they withal imply such a perpetual variation of causes ever favourable to our position that nothing can be infer'd out of them to repugne against it As thus When there are many atoms descending in the air the same general cause which makes them be many makes them also be light in proportion to their multitude And so when they are few they are heavy likewise when the atoms are light the air is rarified and thin and when they are heavy the air is thick And so upon the whole matter 't is evident that we cannot make such a precise and exact judgement of the variety of circumstances as to be able to determine when there is absolutely more cause of weight and when less And as we find not weight enough in either side of these opposite circumstances to turn the scales in our discourse so likewise we find the same indifference in experience it self for the weights we use do weigh equally in mysty weather and in clear and yet in rigor of discourse we cannot doubt but that in truth they do not gravitate or weigh so much though the difference be imperceptible to sense when the air is thick and foggy as when its pure and rarified Which thickness of the Medium when it arrives to a very
to the iron though the other steam be never so great yet it cannot draw more then according to the proportion of its Antagonists coming from the iron Wherfore seeing the two steams betwixt the iron and the little Loadstone are more proportionable to one another and the steam coming out of the little loadstone is notably greater then the steam going from the iron to the greater Loadstone the conjunction must be made for the most part to the little loadstone And if this discourse doth not hold in the former part of the Probleme betwixt a second iron and Loadstone it is supplyed by the former reason which we gave for that particular purpose The third case depends also of this solution for the bigger an iron is so many more parts it hath to suck up the influence of the Loadstone and consequently doth it therby the more greedily and therfore the Loadstone must be carried to it more violently and when they aâ—e joyn'd stick more strongly The sixth question is Why the variations of the Needle from the true North in the Northern Hemisphere are greater the nearer you go to the Pole and lesser the nearer you approach to the Equator The reason wherof is plain in our doctrine For considering that the magnetick virtue of the earth streams from the North towards the Equator it follows of necessity that if there be two streams of magnetick flowrs issuing from the North one of them precisely from the pole the other from a part of the earth near the pole that the stream coming from the point by side the Pole be but a little the stronger of the two there will appear very little differences in their several operations after they have had a long space to mingle their emanations together which therby join and grow as it were into one stream wheras the nearer you come to the Pole the more you will find them severed and each of them working by its own virtue And very near the point which causes the variation each stream works singly by it self and therfore here the point of variation must be master and will carry the needle strongly to his course from the due North if his stream be never so little more efficacious then the other Again a line drawn from a point of the Earth wide of the Pole to a point of the Meridian near the Equator makes a less angle then a line drawn from the same point of the Earth to a point of the same Meridian nearer the Pole wherfore the variation being esteem'd by the quantities of the said angles it must needs be greater near the Pole then near the Equator though the cause be the same But because it may happen that in the parts near the Equator the variation may proceed from some piece of land not much more northerly then where the needle is but that it bears rather Easterly or Westerly from it and yet Gilbert's assertion goes universally when he says the variations in Southern regions are less then in Northern ones we must examine what may be the reason therof And presently the generation of the Loadstone shews it plainly For seeing the nature of the Loadstone proceeds out of this that the Sun works more upon the Torrid Zone then upon the poles and that his too strong operation is contrary to the Loadstone as being of the nature of fire it follows evidently that the lands of the Torrid Zone cannot be so magnetical generally speaking as the polar lands are and by consequence that a lesser land near the Pole will have a greater effect then a larger continent near the Equator and likewise a land further off towards the Pole will work more strongly then a nearer land which lyes towards the Equator The seventh question is Whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may at one time vary more from the true North point and at another time less In which Gilbert was resolute for the negative part but our latter Mathematicians are of another mind Three experiences were made neer London in three divers years The two first 42 years distant from one another and the third 12 years distant from the second And by them it is found that in the space of 54 years the Loadstone hath at London diminsh'd his variation from the North the quantity of 7 degrees and more But so that in the latter years the diminution hath sensibly gone faster then in the former These observations peradventure are but little credited by Strangers but we who know the worth of the men that made them cannot mistrust any notable errour in them for they were very able Mathematicians and made their observations with very great exactness and there were several judicious witnesses at the making of them as may be seen in Mr. Gillebrand's print concerning this subject And divers other particular persons confirm the same whose credit though each single might peradventure be slighted yet all in body make a great accession We must therfore cast about to find what may be the cause of an effect so paradox to the rest of the doctrine of the Loadstone for seeing that no one place can stand otherwise to the North of the earth at one time then at another how it is possible the needle should receive any new variation since all variation proceeds out of the inequality of the earth But when we consider that this effect proceeds not out of the main body of the earth but only out of the bark of it and that its bark may have divers tempers not as yet discover'd to us out of whose variety the influence of the earthy parts may be divers in respect of one certain place 't is not impossible but that such variation may be especially in England which Island lying open to the North by a great and vast Ocean may receive more particularly then other places the special influences and variation of the weather that happen in those Northeastern countreys from whence this influence comes to us If therfore there should be any cours of weather whose period were a hundred years for example or more or lesse and so might easily pass unmarked this variation might grow out of such a cours But in so obscure a thing we have already hazarded to guess too much And upon the whole matter of the Loadstone it serves our turn if we have proved as we conceive we have done fully that its motions which appear so admirable do not proceed from an occult quality but that the causes of them may be reduced to local motion and all perform'd by such corporeal instruments and means though peradventure more intricately disposed as all other effects are among bodies Whose ordering and disposing and particular progress there is no reason to despair of finding ouâ— would men but carefully apply themselvs to that work upon solid principles and with diligent experiences But because this matter has been very long and scatteringly
diffused in many several branches peradventure it will not be displeasing to the Reader to see the whole nature of the loadstone sum'd up in short Let him then cast his eyes upon one effect of it very easie to be tried and acknowledg'd by all writers though we have not as yet mention'd it 'T is that a knife drawn from the pole of a loadstone towards the Equator if you hold the point towards the pole gains a respect to one of the poles but contrariwise if the point of the knife be held towards the Equator and be thrust the same way it was drawn before that is towards the Equator it gains a respect towards the contrary pole 'T is evident out of this experience that the virtue of the loadstone is communicated by way of streams and that in it there are two contrary streams for otherwise the motion of the knife this way or that why could not change the efficacity of the same parts of the loadstone 'T is likewise evident that these contrary streams come from the contrary ends of the loadstone As also that the virtues of them both are in every part of the stone Likewise that one loadstone must of necessity turn certain parts of it self to certain parts of another loadstone nay that it must go and joyn to it according to the laws of attraction which we have above deliver'd and consequently that they must turn their disagreeing parts away from one another and so one loadstone seem to fly from another if they be so apply'd that their disagreeing parts be kept still next to one another for in this case the disagreeing and the agreeing parts of the same loadstone being in the same straight line one loadstone seeking to draw his agreeing part near to that part of the other loadstone which agrees with him must of necessity turn away his disagreeing parts to give way to his agreeing parts to approach nearer And thus you see that the flying from one another of two ends of two loadstones which are both of the same denomination as for example the two South ends or the two North ends doth not proceed from a pretended antipathy between those two ends but from the attraction of the agreeing ends Furthermore the earth having to a Loadstone the nature of a Loadstone it follows that a Loadstone must necessarily turn it self to the poles of the earth by the same laws and consequently must tend to the North must vary from the North must incline towards the centre and must be affected with all such accidents as we have deduced of the Loadstone And lastly seeing that iron is to a Loadstone a fit matter for it to impress its nature in and easily retains that magnetike virtue the same effects that follow between two Loadstones must necessarily follow between a Loadstone and a piece of iron fitly proportionated in their degrees excepting some little particularities which proceed out of the naturalness of the magneticke virtue to a Loadstone more then to iron And thus you see the nature of the Load-stone sum'd up in gross the particular joynts and causes whereof you may find treated at large in the main discourse Wherin we have govern'd our selvs chiefly by the experiences that are recorded by Gilbert and Cabeus to whom we remit our Reader for a more ample declaration of particulars CHAP. XXIII A description of the two sorts of Living Creatures Plants and Animals and how they are framed in common to perform vital motion HItherto we have endeavour'd to follow by a continual third all such effects as we have met with among Bodies and to trace them in all their windings and drive them up to their very root original source for the nature of our subject having been yet very common hath not exceeded the compass and power of our search inquiry to descend to the chief circumstances and particulars belonging to it And indeed many of the conveyance wherby the operations we have discoursed of are performed be so secret and abstruse as they that Look into them with less heedfulness and judgment then such a matter requires are too apt to impute them to mysterious causes above the reach of humane nature to comprehend and to calumniate them of being wrought by occult and specifick qualities wherof no more reason could be given then if the effects were infused by Angelical hands without assistance of inferiour bodies which uses to be the last refuge of ignorant men who not knowing what to say and yet presuming to say something fall often upon such expressions as neither themselvs nor their hearers understand but if they be well scan'd imply contradictions Therfore we deem'd it a kind of necessity to strain our selvs to prosecute most of such effects even to their notional connexions with Rarity and Density And the rather because it hath not been our luck yet to meet with any that has had the like design or done any considerable matter to ease our pains VVhich cannot but make the Readers journey somwhat tedious to him to follow all our steps by reason of the ruggedness and untrodenness of the paths we have walk'd in But now the effects we shall henceforward meddle with grow so particular and swarm into such a vast multitude of several little joynts and wreathy labyrinths of nature as were impossible in so summary a treatise as we intend to deliver the causes of every one of them exactly which would require both large discourses and abundance of experiences to acquit our selvs as we ought of such a task Nor is there a like need of doing it as formerly for as much as concerns our design since the causes of them are palpably material and the admirable artifice of them consists only in the Dedalean and wonderful-ingenious ordering and ranging them one with another VVe shall therfore intreat our Reader from this time forwards to expect only the common sequel of those particular effects out of the principles already laid And when some shall occur that may peradventure seem at first sight enacted immediately by a virtue spiritual and that proceeds indivisibly in a different strain from the ordinary process which we see in bodies and bodily things that is by the virtues of rarity and density working by local motion we hope he will be satisfied at our hands if we lay down a method and trace out a course wherby such events and operations may follow out of the principles we have laid Though peradventure we shall not absolutely convince that every effect is done just as we set it down in every particular and that it may not as well be done by some other disposing of parts under the same general scope for 't is enough for our turn if we shew that such effects may be perform'd by corporeal agents working as other bodies do without confining our selvs to an exactness in every link of the long chain that must be wound up in the performance
towards that side on which the shadow appears in respect of the opacous body or of the illuminant and so be a cause of deepness of Colour on that side if it happen to be fringed with colour CHAP. XXXI The causes of certain appearances in luminous Colours with a Conclusion of the discourse touching the Senses and the Sensible Qualities OUt of these grounds we are to seek the resolution of all such Symptoms as appear to us in this kind of colours First therfore calling to mind how we have already declared that the red colour is made by a greater proportion of light mingled with darkness and the blew with a less proportion it must follow that when light passes through a glass in such sort as to make colours the mixture of the light and darkness on that side where the light is strongest will encline to a red and their mixture on the otherside where the light is weakest will make a violet or blew And this we see fall out accordingly in the light which is tincted by going through a Prism for a red colour appears on that side from which the light dilates or encreases and a blew is on that side towards which it decreases Now if a dark body be placed within this light so as to have the light come on both sides of it we shall see the contrary happen about the borders of the picture or shadow of the dark body that is to say the red colour will be on that side of the picture which is towards or over against the blew colour made by the glass and the blew of the picture will be on that side which is towards the red made by the glass as you may experience if you place a slender opacous body along the Prism in the way of the light either before or behind the Prism The reason wherof is that the opacous body standing in the middle environ'd by light divides it and makes two lights of that which was but one each of which lights is comprised between two darknesses to wit between each border of Shadow that joyns to each extreme of the light that comes from the glass and each side of the Opacous bodies shadow Wherfore in each of these lights or rather in each of their comixtions with darkness there must be red on the one side and blew on the other according to the course of light which we have explicated And thus it falls out agreeable to the Rule we have given that blew comes to be on that side of the opacous bodies shadow on which the glass casts red and red on that side of it on which the glass casts blew Likewise when light going through a convex glass makes two cones the edges of the cone betwixt the glass the point of concourse will appear red if the room be dark enough and the edges of the further cone will appear blew both for the reason given For in this case the point of concourse is the strong light betwixt the two cones of which that betwixt the glass 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 these two cones both the sides of its picture will be red if it be held in the first cone which is next to the glass 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 own cone there is nothing to vary the colours but only the strength and weakness of the two lights of the cones on this that side the point of the concourse which point being in this case the strong and clear light wherof we made general mention in our precedent note the cone towards the glass and the illuminant is the stronger side and the cone from the glass is the weaker In those cases where this reason is not concern'd 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 appear on that side of the opacous bodies shadow that is furthest from the illuminant But where both causes concur and contest for precedence there the course of the light carries 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 otherside where the shadow is not so strong although the shadow be cast that way that the red appears as is to be seen when a slender body is placed betwixt the Prism and the reflectant body upon which the light colours are cast through the Prism And 't is evident that this cause of the course of the shadow is in it self a weaker cause than the other of the course of light and must give way to it whenever they incounter as it cannot be expected but that in all circumstances shadows should be light because the colours which the glass casts in this case are much more faint and dusky than in the other For effects of this latter cause we see that when an opacous body lyes cross the Prism whiles it stands end-ways the red or blew colour will appear on the upper or lower side of its picture according as the illuminant is higher or lower then the transverse opacous body the blew ever 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 either of the cones we have explicated before the blew will appear on that side of the picture which is furthest advanced 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 appear 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 next the axis but if it be placed on one side of the axis in the second cone then the blew will appear on that side the picture is next the circumference and the red on that side which is next the center of the basis of the cone There remains yet one difficulty of moment to be determined which is Why when through a glass two colours namely blew and red are cast from a Candle upon a paper or wall if you put your eye in the place of one of the colours that shines upon the wall and so that colour comes to shine upon your eye so that another man who looks upon it will see thot colour plainly upon your eye nevertheless you shall see the other colour in the glass as for example if on your eye there shines a red you shall see a blew in the glass and if a blew shines upon your eye you shall see a
Which being so no body can quarrel with us for Aristotle's sake who as he was the greatest Logician and Metaphysician and universal Scholar peradventure that ever lived and so highly esteem'd that the good turn which Sylla did the world in saving his works was thought to recompence his many outragious cruelties and tyranny so his name must never be mention'd among Scholars but with reverence for his unparalleld'd worth and with gratitude for the large stock of knowledge he hath enriched us with Yet withal we are to consider that since his reign was but at the beginning of Sciences he could not choose but have some defects and shortnesses among his many great and admirable perfections SECOND TREATISE DECLARING THE NATURE AND OPERATIONS OF MANS SOUL OUT OF WHICH THE IMMORTALITY OF REASONABLE SOULS IS CONVINCED LONDON Printed in the Year 1669. PREFACE 'T Is now high time for us to cast an Eye on the other Leaf of our Accounts or peradventure I may more properly say to fall to the perusal of our own accounts for hitherto our time and pains have been taken up in examining and casting the accounts of others to the end that from the Foot and Total of them we may drive on our own the more smoothly In ours then we shall meet with a new Capital we shall discover a new World of a quite different strain and nature from that which all this while we have imploy'd our selves about We will enter into them with taking a survey of the great Master of all that large Family we have so summarily view'd I mean of Man as Man that is not as he is subject to those Laws wherby other bodies are govern'd for therin he hath no preeminence to raise him out of their throng but as he exceeds the rest of Creatures subject to his managing and rules over nature her self making her serve his designes and subjecting her noblest powers to his Laws and is distinguish'd from all other creatures whatever To the end we may discover whether that principle in him from whence those actions proceed which are properly his be but some refined composition of the same kind we have already treated of or whether it derives its Sourse and Origine from some higher Spring and Stock and be of a quite different nature Having then by our former Treatise master'd the oppositions which else would have taken arms against us when we should have been in the midst of our edifice and clear'd the objections which lay in our way from the perverse Qualities of the Souls Neighbours the several Common-wealths of Bodies we must now begin with David to gather together our Materials and take a survey of our own provisions that so we may proceed with Solomon to the sacred building of Gods Temple But before we go about it it will not be amiss that we shew the reason why we have made our Porch so great and added so long an entry that the house is not likely to have therto a correspondent bulk and when the necessity of doing so shall appear I hope my pains will meet with a favourable censure and receive a fair admittance We proposed to our selves to shew That our Souls are immortal wherupon casting about to find the grounds of Immortality and discerning it to be a negative we conceiv'd that we ought to begin our search with enquiring what Mortality is and what be the causes of it Which when we should have discover'd and brought the Soul to their test if we found they trench'd not upon her nor any way concern'd her condition we might safely conclude that of necessity she must be immortal Looking then into the causes of mortality we saw that all Bodies round about us were Mortal whence perceiving that Mortality extended it self as far corporeity we found our selvs obliged if we would free the Soul from that Law to shew that she is not corporeal This could not be done without enquiring what corporeity was Now it being a rule among Logicians that a definition cannot be good unless it comprehend and reach to every particular of that which is defined we perceiv'd it impossible to know compleatly what a Body is without taking a general view of all those things which we comprise under 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 parts that all the Differences of Bodies are reduced to having more or less parts in comparison to their substance thus and thus order'd and lastly that all their operations are nothing else but Local Motions which follows naturally out of having parts So as it appears evidently from hence that if any thing have a being and yet have no parts it is not a body but a substance of another quality and condition and consequently if we can find the Soul's being to be without parts and that her operations are no local translation we evidently conclude her to be an immaterial or spiritual substance Peradventure it may be objected that all this might have been done a much more shorter way than we have taken and that we needed not have branc'd our discourse into so many particulars nor driven them so home as we have done but might have taken out our first rise from this ground which is as evident as light of reason can make it that seeing we know bigness and a body to be one and the same as well in the notion as in the thing it must of necessity follow that what hath not parts nor works nor is wrought upon by Division is not a Body I confess this Objection appears very reasonable and the consideration of it weigh'd so much with me as were all men of a free judgment and not imbued with artificial errours I would for its sake have saved my self a great deal of pains but I find as in the former Treatise I have frequently complain'd that there is crept into the world a Fansy so contrary to this pregnant truth and that it is so deeply setled in many mens minds not of the meanest note as all we have said is peradventure too little to root it out If any satisfied with the rational Maxime we even now mentioned therfore not deeming it needful to employ his time in reading the former Treatise should wish to know how this is come to pass I shall here represent to to him the Summe of what I have more at large scatter'd in several places of the former Treatise And shall intreat him to consider how Nature teaches us to call the Proprieties of things wherby one is distinguished from another the Qualities of those things and that according to their varieties they have divers names suited out to divers of them some being called Habits others Powers and others by other names Now what Aristotle and the Learned Grecians meant by these things is clear by the examples
else but various mixtures of light and of darkness in bodies our Discourse assures us that by several compoundings of these extreams Reds Blews Yellows Greens and all other intermediate colours may be generated accordingly we shall find in effect that by the several minglings of black and white bodies because they reflect or drown light most powerfully or by interweaving streams of pure light and shadows one with another we may procreate new colours in bodies and beget new luminous appearances to our eys So that hence it appears clearly that the same nature is in our Understanding and in the Things and that the same Ordering which in the one makes Science in the other causes natural transmutations Another reflexion which will be fit for us to make upon these long discourses is this that of necessity there must be a joyning of some things now actually in our knowledg to other things we think not of For it is manifest that we cannot at the same time actually think of a whole book of Euclide and yet to the due knowledg of some of the last Propositions the knowledg of almost all the former is required likewise it is impossible we should at the same time think of all the multitude of rules belonging to any Art as of Grammar of Metering of Architecture and yet when we write in Latine make a Poem or lay the design of a House we practise them whiles we think not of them and are assured we go not against them however we remember them not Nay even before we know a thing we seem to know it for since we can have a desire of nothing but of what we know how could we desire to know such or such a thing unless we know both it and the knowledg of it And for the most part we see a horse or man or herb or workmanship and by our sense have knowledg that such a thing it is before we know what or who or how it is That grows afterwards out of the diligent observation of what we see which is that wherby learned men differ from the unlearned For what strikes the sense is known alike by them both but then here is the difference between them the latter sort sits still with those notions that are made at first by the beating of our sense upon us without driving them any further and those that are learned resolve such compounded notions into others made by more common beatings and therfore more simple and this is all the odds in regard of knowledg that a Scholar has of an unletter'd man One observation more we will draw out of what we have said and then end this Chapter it is how a man oftentimes enquires among his own thoughts and turns up and down the images he hath in his head and beats his brains to call such things into his mind as are useful to him and are for the present out of his memory Which as we see so necessary that without it no matter of importance can be perform'd in the way of discourse wherof I my self have too frequent experience in writing this Treatise so on the other side we cannot perceive that any creature besides Man doth it of set purpose and formally as man doth CHAP. IV. How a man proceeds to Action HAving thus taken a summary view of the principal Qualities a man is endued with Apprehending Judging and Discoursing and shew'd how he is inrich'd in and by them with the natures of all things in the world it remains for our last work in this part to consider in what manner he makes use of this treasure in his ordinary Actions which 't is evident are of two different kinds and consequently have two several principles Understanding and Sense they sway by turns and somtimes joyn together to produce a mixed action of both If only Sense were the fountain from whence his actions spring we should observe no other strain in any of them than meerly that according to which Beasts perform theirs they would proceed evermore in a constant unvariable tenour according to the law of material things one body working upon another in such sort as we have declared in the former Treatise On the other side if a man were all Understanding and had not this bright lamp enclosed in a pitcher of clay the beams of it would shine without any allay of dimness thorough all he did and he could do nothing contrary to reason in pursuit of the highest end he hath prefix'd unto himself For he neither would nor could do any thing whatever till he had first consider'd all the particular circumstances that had relation to his action in hand and had then concluded that upon the whole matter at this time and in this place to attain this End 't is fitting and best to do thus or thus which conclusion could be no sooner made but the action would without any further disposition on his side immediately ensue agreeable to the principles it spring from Both parts of this assertion are manifest For the first 't is evident that whenever an Agent works by knowledge he is unresolved whether he shall work or not work as also of his manner of working till his knowledg that ought to direct and govern his working be perfect and complete but that cannot be as long as any circumstance not-as-yet consider'd may make it seem fit or unfit to proceed and therfore such actions as are done without exact consideration of every particular circumstance do not flow from a pure understanding From whence it follows that when an understanding is not satisfied of every particular circumstance and consequently cannot determine what he must immediately do but apprehends that some of the circumstances not-as-yet consider'd may or rather must change some part of his action he must of necessity be undetermin'd in respect of the immediate action and consequently must refrain absolutely from working The other part is clear to wit that when the understanding upon consideration of all circumstances knows absolutely what is best the action follows immediately as far as depends of the understanding without any further disposition on his behalf For since nothing but knowledge belongs to the understanding he who supposes all knowledg in it allows all that is requisite or possible for it to work by Now if all be put nothing is wanting that should cause it to work but where no cause is wanting but all requisite causes actually in being the effect must also actually be and follow immediately out of them and consequently the action is done in as much as concerns the understanding and indeed absolutely unless some other cause fail as soon as the understanding knows all the circumstances belonging to it So as it is manifest out of this whole discourse that if a man wrought only by his understanding all his actions would be discreet and rational in respect of the end he hath proposed to himself and till he were assured what were best he
side an Incorporated Soul by reason of her being confined to the use her Senses can look on but one single definite place or time at once and needs a long chain of many discourses to comprehend all the circumstances of any one action and yet after all how short is she of comprehending all So that comparing one of these with the other 't is evident that the proportion of a Separated Soul to one in the Body is as all time or all place in respect of any one piece or least parcel of them or as the entire absolute comprehender of all time and all place is to the discoverer of a small measure of them For whatever a Soul wills in that state she wills it for the whole extent of her duration because she is then out of the state or capacitity of changing and wishes for whatever she wishes as for her absolute good and therfore employs the whole force of her judgment upon every particular wish Likewise the eminencie which a Separated Soul hath over place is also then entirely employ'd upon every particular wish of hers since in that state there is no variety of place left her to wish for such good in one place and to refuse it in another as while she is in the Body hapneth to every thing she desires Wherefore whatever she then wishes for she wishes for it according to her comparison to place that is to say that as such a Soul hath a power to work at the same time in all places by the absolute comprehension which she hath of place in abstract so every wish of that Soul if it were concerning a thing to be made in place were able to make it in all places through the excessive force and efficacy which she employs upon every particular wish The third effect by which among bodies we gather the vigour and energy of the cause that produces it to wiâ— the doing of the like action in a lesser time in a larger extent is but a combination of the two former 〈◊〉 therfore it requires no further particular insistance upon it to shew tha◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this the proportion of a Separated to an 〈◊〉 Soul must needs be the self same as in the other seeing a Separated Soul's activity is upon all place is in an Indivisible of time Therfore to shut up this point there remains only for us to consider what addition may be made to the efficacity of a judgment by the concurrence of other extrinsecal helps We see that when an understanding man will settle any judgment or conclusion in his mind he weighs throughly all that follows out of such a judgment and considers likewise all the antecedents that lead him to iâ— and if after due reflection and examination of whatever concerns this conclusion which he is establishing in his mind he finds nothing to cross it but that every particular and circumstance goes smoothly along with and strengthens it he is then satisfied and quiet in his thoughts and yields a full assent therto which assent is the stronger the more concurrent testimonies he has for it And though he should have a perfect demonstration or sight of the thing in it self yet every one of the other extrinsecal proofs being as it were a new perswasion hath in it a further vigour to strengthen and content his mind in the fore-had demonstration for if every one of these be in it self sufficient to make the thing evident it cannot happen that any one of them should hinder the others but contrariwise every one of them must needs concurr with all the rest to the effectual quieting of his understanding in its assent to that judgment Now then according to this rate let us calculate if we can what concurrence of proofs and witnesses a Separated Soul will have to settle and strengthen her in every one of her judgments We know that all verities are chain'd and connected one to another and that there is no true conclusion so far remote from any other but may by more or less consequences and discourses be deduced evidently out of it it follows then that in the abstracted Soul where all such consequences are ready drawn and seen in themselvs without extention of time or employing of pains to collect them every particular verity bears testimony to any other so that every one of them is believ'd and works in the sence and virtue of all Out of which it is manifest that every judgment in such a Separated Soul hath an infinite strength and efficacity over any made by an embodyed one To sum all up in a few words We find three roots of infinity in every action of a Separated Soul compar'd to one in the Body First the freedom of her essence or substance it self Next that quality of hers by which she comprehends place and time that is all permanent and successive quantity and Lastly the concurrence of infinite knowledges to every action of hers Having then this measure in our hands let us apply it to a Well-order'd and to a Disorder'd Soul passing out of this world let us consider the oneset upon those goods which she shall there have present and shall fully enjoy the other languishing after and pining away for those which are impossible for her ever to obtain What joy what content what exultation of mind in any living man can be conceiv'd so great as to be compared with the happiness of one of these Souls And what grief what discontent what misery can be like the others These are the different effects which the divers manners of living in this world cause in Souls after they are deliver'd from their Bodies Out of which and the discourse that hath discover'd these effects to us we see a clear resolution of that so main and agitated question among the Philosophers Why a rational Soul is imprison'd in a gross Body of Flesh and Blood In truth the question is an illegitimate one as supposing a false ground for the Soul 's being in the Body is not an imprisonment of a thing that was existent before the Soul and Body met together but her being there is the natural course of begining that which can no other way come into the lists of nature For should a Soul by the course of nature obtain her first being without a Body either she would in the first instant of her being be perfect in knowledg or she would not if she were then would she be a perfect compleat immaterial substance not a Soul whose nature is to be a copartner to the Body and to acquire her perfection by the medâ—ation and service of corporeal senseâ— but if she were not perfect in Science but were only a capacity therto and like white paper in which nothing were yet written then unless she were 〈◊〉 into a Body she could never arrive to know any thing because motion alteration are effects peculiar to Bodies Therfore 〈◊〉 be agreed that she is naturally
to express our notions the one common to all men the other proper to Scholars 7. Great errours arise by wresting words from their common meaning to express a more particular or studied notion 1. We must know the vulgar and common notion of Quantity that we may understand the nature of it 2. Extension or Divisibility is the common notion of Quantity 3 Parts of Quantity are not actually in their whole 4 If parts were actually in their whole Quantity would be composed of indivisibles 5. Quantity cannot be composed of indivisibles 6 An objection to prove that parts are actually in Quantity with a declaration of the mistake from whence it proceed 7 The solution of the former objection and that Sense and not discern whether one part be distinguish'd from another or no. Chap 〈◊〉 8. 2. 3. 8. An enumeration of the several specieses of Quantity which confirms that the essente of it is divisibilitie 1 What is meant by Rarity and Densitie 2. 'T is evident that some bodies are rare and others dense though obscure how they are such 3. A brief enumeration of the several properties belonging to rare and dense bodies 4. The opinion of those Philosophers declared who put Rarity to consist in an actual division of a Body into little parts 5. The former opinion rejected and the ground of their errour discover'd 6 The opinion of those Philosophers related who put Rarity to consist in the mixtion of Vacuity among bodies The opinion of Vacuities refuted Dialog 1. del Movim pag. 18. Archimed promot 8. Rarity and Density consist in the severall proportions which Quantity hath to its Substance 9. All must admit in Physical bodies a Metaphysical composition 1. The notions of density and rarity have a latitude capable of infinite variety 2. How mâ—istness and dryness are begotten in dense bodies 3. How moistness and drieess are begotten in rare bodies 4. Heat is a propertie of rare bodies and cold of dense ones 5. Of the two dense bodies the less dense is more cold but of the two rare ones the less rare is less hot 6 The extreme dense body is more dry then the extreme rare one 7. There are but four simplebodies and these are rightly named Elements 8 The Author doth not determine whether every Element comprehends under its name one only lower species or many nor whether any of them be found pure 1. The first operation of the Elements is division out of which resulreth local motion What place is both notionally and really 3. Locall motion is that division whereby a body changes its place 4. The nature of quantity of it self is sufficient to unite a body to its place 5. All operations amongst bodies are either local motion or such as follow out of local motion 6. Earth compared to water in activity S. 6. 7. The manner whereby fire gets into fewel proves that it exceeds earth in activity 8. The same is proved by the manner wherby fire comes out of fewel and works upon other bodies 1. In what sense the Author rejects Qualities In what sense the Author admits of qualities 3. Five arguments proposed to prove that light iâ— not a body 4. The two first reasons to prove light a body are the resemblance it hath with fire and because if it were a quality it would always produce an equall to it self 5. The third reason because if we imagine to our selves the substance of fire to be rarified it will have the sâ—me appearances which light hath 6. The fourth reason from the manner of the generation and corruption of light whcih agrees with fire 7. The fifth reason because such properties belong to light as agree only to bodies 1. That all light is hot and apt to heat 2. The reason why our bodies for the most part do not feel the heat of pure light 3. The experience of burning glasses and of soultry gloomy weather prove light to be fire 4. Philosophers ought not to judge of things by the rules of vulgar people 5. The different names of light and fire proceed from different notions of the same substance 6. The reason why many times fire and head are deprived of light 7. What becoms of the body of light when it dies 8. An experiment of some who petend that light may be precipitated into powder 9. The Authors opinion concerning lamps pretended to have been found in Tombes with inconsumptible lights 1. Light is not really in every part of the room it enlightens nor fills entirely any sensible part of it though it seem to us to do so 2. The least sensible point of a diaphanous body hath room sufficient to contain both air and light together with a multitude of beams issuing from several lights without penetrating one another * Willibrord Snell 3. That light doth not enlighten any room 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 discern'd coming towards us and that there is some reall tardity in it 5. The Planets are not certainly ever in that place where they appear 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 light is never perceiv'd to be fanned by the wind The reasons for and against lights being a body compared together A summary repetition of the reasons which prove that light is fire 1. No local motion can be perform'd without succession 2. Time is the common measure of all sucessione 3 What velocity is and that it cannot be infinite 4. No force so little that is not able to move the greatest weight imaginable 5. The chief principle of Mechanicks deduced out of the former discourse 6. No moveable 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 help to motion in the movable are three in the medium one Dialog 1. of Motion 8. No body hath any intrinsecal vertue to move it self towards any determinate part of the Universe 9. The encrease of motion is always made in the proportion of the odd numbers 11. Certain problems resolved concerning the proportion of some moving agents compared to their effects 12. When a moveable comes to rest the motion decreases according to the rules of encrease 1. Those motions are call'd natural which have constant causes and those violent which are contrary to them 2. The first and most general operation of the Sun is the making and raising of atomes 3. The light rebounding from the earth with atomes causes two streams in the air the one ascending the other descending and both of them in a perpendicular line 4. A dense body placed in the air between the ascending and descending streams must needs descend 5. A more particular explication of all the former doctrine