necessary Page 431 CONFERENCE LXXIII I. Of the Earth-quake II. Of Envy Page 437 CONFERENCE LXXIV I. Whence comes trembling in men II. Of Navigation and Longitudes Page 441 CONFERENCE LXXV I. Of the Leprosie why it is not so common in this Age as formerly II. Of the ways to render a place populous Page 447 CONFERENCE LXXVI I. Of Madness II. Of Community of Goods Page 452 CONFERENCE LXXVII I. Of Sorcerers II. Of Erotick or Amorous Madness Page 457 CONFERENCE LXXVIII I. Why the Sensitive Appetite rules over Reason II. Whether Speech be natural and peculiar to Man Page 461 CONFERENCE LXXIX I. What the Soul is II. Of the apparition of Spirits Page 466 CONFERENCE LXXX I. Of the Epilepsie or Falling-sickness II. Whether there be any Art of Divination Page 471 CONFERENCE LXXXI I. Of Chiromancy II. Which is the noblest part of the Body Page 475 CONFERENCE LXXXII I. Which is most powerful Art or Nature II. Whether Wine is most to be temper'd in Winter or in Summer Page 480 CONFERENCE LXXXIII I. Of Baths II. Whether the Wife hath more love for her Husband or the Husband for his Wife Page 485 CONFERENCE LXXXIV I. Of Respiration II. Whether there be any certainty in humane Sciences Page 489 CONFERENCE LXXXV I. Whether the manners of the Soul follow the temperament of the Body II. Of Sights or Shews Page 495 CONFERENCE LXXXVI I. Of the Dog-days II. Of the Mechanicks Page 500 CONFERENCE LXXXVII I. Whether the Souls Immortality is demonstrable by Natural Reasons II. Whether Travel be necessary to an Ingenious Man Page 505 CONFERENCE LXXXVIII I. Which is the best sect of Philosophers II. Whence comes the diversity of proper Names Page 512 CONFERENCE LXXXIX I. Of Genii II. Whether the Suicide of the Pagans be justifiable Page 517 CONFERENCE XC I. Of Hunting II. Which is to be preferr'd the weeping of Heraclitus or the laughing of Democritus Page 522 CONFERENCE XCI I. Whether heat or cold be more tolerable II. Who are most happy in this World Wise Men or Fools Page 527 CONFERENCE XCII I. Which is most healthful moisture or dryness II. Which is to be preferr'd the Contemplative Life or the Active Page 531 CONFERENCE XCIII I. Of the spots in the Moon and the Sun II. Whether 't is best to use severity or gentleness towards our dependents Page 536 CONFERENCE XCIV I. Of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon II. Whether all Sciences may be profitably reduc'd to one Page 544 CONFERENCE XCV I. Of the diversity of Wits II. Of New-years Gifts Page 548 CONFERENCE XCVI I. Of Place II. Of Hieroglyphicks Page 554 CONFERENCE XCVII I. Of Weights and the causes of Cravity II. Of Coat-Armour Page 559 CONFERENCE XCVIII I. Of the causes of Contagion II. Of the ways of occult Writing Page 566 CONFERENCE XCIX I. Of Ignes fatui II. Of Eunuchs Page 571 CONFERENCE C I. Of the Green-sickness II. Of Hermaphrodites Page 575 THE First Conference I. Of Method II. Of Entity I. Of Method EVery one being seated in the great Hall of the Bureau Report was made That the Resolve of the last Conference was to Print the Matters which should be propos'd henceforward and the Disquisitions upon them which deserv'd it As also that for the bringing in of all the most excellent Subjects that are found in the Sciences and for the doing it orderly the Method requisite to be observ'd therein should this day be taken into consideration The practice of which Method was likewise thought fit to be begun upon the most Universal Subject which is Entity Wherefore every one was intreated to set cheerfully about opening the way in this so pleasant and profitable an Enterprize The first Speaker defin'd Method The succinct order of things which are to be handled in Arts and Sciences and said that it is of two sorts One of Composition which proceedeth from the Parts to the Whole and is observ'd in Speculative Disciplines The other of Resolution which descendeth from the whole to the parts and hath place in Practical disciplines He said also that hereunto might be added the Method of Definition which is a way of defining a thing first and then explicating the parts of its definition but it participateth of both the former The second said That besides those two general Methods there is a particular one which is observ'd when some particular Subject is handled according to which it behoveth to begin with the Name or Word Distinguish the same by its divers acceptations then give the Definition assign its Principles and Causes deduce its Proprieties and end with its Species or Parts After this some dilated upon the Method of Cabalists which they begin with the Archetypal World or Divine Idea thence descend to the World Intellectual or Intelligences and lastly to the Elementary which is Physicks or Natural Philosophy That of Raymond Lullie follow'd next And here the Difference of humane judgements came to be wonder'd at Most other Nations could never fancy this Art which he calls Great and Wonderful and yet the Spaniards profess it publickly at Majorca in a manner ingrossing it from all other places He maketh the same to consist in thirteen Parts The first of which he calleth the Alphabet from B to K to each of whose Letters he assigneth 1. a Transcendent after his mode 2. a Comparison 3. a Question 4. a Substance 5. a Virtue and 6. a Vice as to B 1. Goodness 2. Difference 3. Whether a thing is 4. Deity 5. Justice 6. Covetousness To C 1. Greatness 2. Agreement 3. What it is 4. Angel 5. Prudence 6. Gluttony and so of the rest The Second Part containes 4. Figures The Third Definitions Then follow Rules Tables containing the several combinations of Letters The Evacuation Multiplication and mixture of Figures The 9. Subjects The Application The Questions The custome and manner of teaching which I should deduce more largely unto you but that they require at least a whole Conference In brief such it is that he promiseth his disciples that they shall be thereby enabled to answer ex tempore yet pertinently to all questions propounded unto them The fifth said That there was no need of recurring to other means then those of the Ordinary Philosophy which maketh two sorts of Order namely one of Invention and another of Disposition or Doctrine which latter is the same thing with the Method above defined And as for the Order of Invention it is observed when some Science is invented in which we proceed from Singulars to Universals As after many experiences that the Earth interpos'd between the Sun and the Moon caus'd a Lunar Eclipse this Vniversal Conclusion hath been framed That every Lunar Eclipse is made by the interposition of the Earth between the Sun and the Moon An other alledg'd that Method might well be call'd a Fourth Operation of the Mind For the First is the bare knowledge of things without affirmation or negation The Second is a Connexion of those naked Notices
Principles II. Of the End of all Things Page 5 CONFERENCE III I. Of Causes in general II. Whence it is that every one is zealous for his own Opinion though it be of no importance to him Page 12 CONFERENCE IV I. Of the First Matter II. Of Perpetual Motion Page 18 CONFERENCE V I. Of Resemblance II. Whether it behoveth to joyn Armes to Letters Page 24 CONFERENCE VI I. Of Fire II. Of the Vniversal Spirit Page 31 CONFERENCE VII I. Of the Air. II. Whether it be best for a State to have Slaves Page 38 CONFERENCE VIII I. Of Water II. Of Wine and whether it be necessary for Souldiers Page 44 CONFERENCE IX I. Of the Earth II. What it is that makes a Man wise Page 51 CONFERENCE X I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth II. Of two Monstrous Brethren living in the same Body which are to be seen in this City Page 57 CONFERENCE XI I. Of the little Hairy Girl lately seen in this City II. Whether it is more easie to resist Pleasure then Pain Page 64 CONFERENCE XII I. Of three Suns II. Whether an Affection can be without Interest Page 71 CONFERENCE XIII I. Whether Melancholy Persons are the most ingenious or prudent II. Which is most necessary in a State Reward or Punishment Page 77 CONFERENCE XIV I. Of the Seat of Folly II. Whether a Man or Woman be most inclin'd to Love Page 83 CONFERENCE XV I. How long a Man may continue without eating II. Of the Echo Page 89 CONFERENCE XVI I. How Spirits act upon Bodies II. Whether is more powerful Love or Hatred Page 95 CONFERENCE XVII I. Of the several fashions of wearing Mourning and why Black is us'd to that purpose rather then any other colour II. Why people are pleas'd with Musick Page 103 CONFERENCE XVIII I. Of the Original of Winds II. Why none are contented with their Condition Page 109 CONFERENCE XIX I. Of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Sea II. Of the Point of Honour Page 115 CONFERENCE XX I. Of the Original of Fountains II. Whether there be a commendable Ambition Page 121 CONFERENCE XXI I. Of Dreams II. Why Men are rather inclin'd to Vice then Virtue Page 127 CONFERENCE XXII I. Of Judiciary Astrologie II. Which is least blameable Covetousness or Prodigality Page 133 CONFERENCE XXIII I. Of Physiognomy II. Of Artificial Memory Page 139 CONFERENCE XXIV I. Which of the Five Senses is the most noble II. Of Laughter Page 144 CONFERENCE XXV I. Of the Diversity of Countenances II. Whether Man or Woman be the more noble Page 150 CONFERENCE XXVI I. Whether it be lawful for one to commend himself II. Of Beauty Page 157 CONFERENCE XXVII I. Whether the World grows old II. Of Jealousie Page 163 CONFERENCE XXVIII I. What is the greatest Delight of Man II. Of Cuckoldry Page 169 CONFERENCE XXIX I. Whence the saltness of the Sea proceeds II. Which is the best Food Flesh or Fish Page 174 CONFERENCE XXX I. Of the Terrestrial Paradise II. Of Embalmings and Mummies Page 180 CONFERENCE XXXI I. Whether the Life of Man may be prolong'd by Art II. Whether 't is better to be without Passions then to moderate them Page 185 CONFERENCE XXXII I. Sympathy and Antipathy II. Whether Love descending is stronger then ascending Page 191 CONFERENCE XXXIII I. Of those that walk in their sleep II. Which is the most excellent Moral Virtue Page 197 CONFERENCE XXXIV I. Of Lycanthropy II. Of the way to acquire Nobility Page 203 CONFERENCE XXXV I. Of feigned Diseases II. Of regulating the Poor Page 209 CONFERENCE XXXVI I. Of the tying of the Point II. Which is the greatest of all Vices Page 214 CONFERENCE XXXVII I. Of the Cabala II. Whether the Truth ought always to be spoken Page 220 CONFERENCE XXXVIII I. Of the Period called Fits of Fevers II. Of Friendship Page 226 CONFERENCE XXXIX I. Why all men naturally desire knowledge II. Whether Permutation or Exchange be more commodious then Buying and Selling Page 230 CONFERENCE XL I. Of Prognostication or Presaging by certain Animals II. Why all men love more to command then to obey Page 238 CONFERENCE XLI I. Of Comets II. Whether Pardon be better then Revenge Page 244 CONFERENCE XLII I. Of the Diversity of Languages II. Whether is to be preferr'd a great stature or a small Page 251 CONFERENCE XLIII I. Of the Philosophers stone II. Of Mont de piete or charitable provision for the Poor Page 256 CONFERENCE XLIV I. How Minerals grow II. Whether it be best to know a little of every thing or one thing exactly Page 262 CONFERENCE XLV I. Whether the Heavens be solid or liquid II. Whether it be harder to get then to preserve Page 268 CONFERENCE XLVI I. Of Vacuity II. Of the Extravagance of Women Page 274 CONFERENCE XLVII I. Of the Virtue of Numbers II. Of the Visible Species Page 280 CONFERENCE XLVIII I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have life II. Of Courage Page 286 CONFERENCE XLIX I. Whether there be Specifical remedies to every Disease II. Whether Tears proceed from Weakness Page 292 CONFERENCE L I. Whether Colours are real II. Whether is better to speak well or to write well Page 298 CONFERENCE LI I. At what time the year ought to begin II. Why the Load-stone draws Iron Page 309 CONFERENCE LII I. Of a Point II. Whether other Animals besides Man have the use of Reason Page 315 CONFERENCE LIII I. Whether there be more then five Senses II. Whether is better to speak or to be silent Page 319 CONFERENCE LIV I. Of Touch. II. Of Fortune Page 325 CONFERENCE LV I. Of the Taste II. Whether Poetry be useful Page 331 CONFERENCE LVI I. Of the Smelling II. Of Eloquence Page 337 CONFERENCE LVII I. Of the Hearing II. Of Harmony Page 343 CONFERENCE LVIII I. Of the Sight II. Of Painting Page 349 CONFERENCE LIX I. Of Light II. Of Age. Page 355 CONFERENCE LX I. Of Quintessence II. Which is the most in esteem Knowledge or Virtue Page 361 CONFERENCE LXI I. Which is hardest to endure Hunger or Thirst. II. Whether a General of an Army should endanger his person Page 367 CONFERENCE LXII I. Of Time II. Whether 't is best to overcome by open force or otherwise Page 373 CONFERENCE LXIII I. Of Motion II. Of Custome Page 379 CONFERENCE LXIV I. Of the Imagination II. Which is most powerful Hope or Fear Page 384 CONFERENCE LXV I. Of the Intellect II. Whether the Husband and Wife should be of the same humour Page 390 CONFERENCE LXVI I. Of Drunkenness II. Of Dancing Page 396 CONFERENCE LXVII I. Of Death II. Of the Will Page 402 CONFERENCE LXVIII I. Of the Magnetical Cure of Diseases II. Of Anger Page 408 CONFERENCE LXIX I. Of Life II. Of Fasting Page 414 CONFERENCE LXX I. Of Climacterical Years II. Of Shame Page 419 CONFERENCE LXXI I. Why motion produces heat II. Of Chastity Page 425 CONFERENCE LXXII I. Of Thunder II. Which of all the Arts is the most
Imprimatur November 20. 1663. WILLIAM MORICE A General Collection OF DISCOURSES OF THE Virtuosi of France Upon Questions of all Sorts of PHILOSOPHY AND OTHER Natural Knowledg Made in the Assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most Ingenious Persons of that Nation Render'd into English by G. HAVERS Gent. LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring and John Starkey and are to be sold at their Shops at the George in Fleet-street neer Clifford's-Inn and the Miter between the Middle-Temple-Gate and Temple-Bar 1664. To the Honourable ANCHITELL GRAY Esq IF it be compliance with Custom that induces me to a Dedication of the ensuing Discourse 't is obedience to Reason that moves me to inscribe them to your Honourable Name They are the ingenious Productions of the most accomplish'd Gentlemen of our Neighbour-Nation and so could not be more fitly presented then to One of our Own who to the advantages of a most Illustrious Descent hath conjoyn'd whatever is particularly excellent in Many That celebrated Aphorism of Plato which pronounceth Felicity to that State wherein either the Philosophers are of chief dignity or those of chief dignity are Philosophers holds no less true in the Commonwealth of Learning then in Political Governments Arts and Sciences when cultivated by Persons of quality not only derive lustre from the rank of their Professors but acquire enlargement of Territory by their Conduct Heroick souls disdaining the enslaving formalities practis'd hitherto by the Sovereigns of the Schools and by the restauration of Freedom laying open the way to Conquest I shall not undertake to determine whether the restitution of Philosophical Liberty began first by the French or by some great Personages of our own particularly the renowned Lord Bacon from whom 't is said not improbably their Des-Cartes took the grounds of his new Theory but 't is certain that his way of Experiment as now prosecuted by sundry English Gentlemen affords more probabilities of glorious and profitable Fruits then the attempts of any other Age or Nation whatsoever But as it would be a fault in me to insist upon Comparisons so it will be an injury in such as shall think you Sir any way concern'd in these Discourses either upon the account of their Matter or Translation 'T is true they are extreamly well fitted both for Instruction and Pleasure they handle weighty Questions with great facility and what would be a load in the ordinary modes of Writing thereupon is here as fully and substantially deliver'd and yet with exceeding Elegancy and perspicuity but however commendable in themselves 't were criminal to think that you need them but on the contrary I well understood that the Book needed you and therefore I must humbly beg your pardon if I have herein been too forward for its Interest by this Dedication as also for my own in taking upon me so publickly the quality of Sir Your most humble and obedient Servant G. HAVERS The Publisher of the Ensuing Conferences THinks it his Duty to advertise the Ingenious Readers I. That they are the Productions of an Assembly of the Choicest Wits in France whose design it was to rescue the Liberal Sciences from the bondage of Scholastical Obscurities and to render Things intelligible without obliging the studious to the unpleasing and perpetual Task of first surmounting the difficulties of Exotick Words To which purpose they judg'd fit to establish this as a principal Law of their Discourses That onely the French Language should be us'd therein in order to cultivate and improve the same and this in imitation of the Greeks and Romans whose writings are abundant evidences of the same Practice II. That amongst the Arguments for the several Opinions upon each Question it was thought fit to wave the alledging of Authorities except upon some very special occasion It being observ'd that the heaping Testimonies together serves commonly for Ostentation rather then Strength and to omit the consideration of Brevity if any man speaks Reason it ought to suffice without anothers Authority to recommend it Besides that Nothing hath been found more prejudicial to the Improvement of Philosophy then the attributing too much to the Magisterial Sayings of an Author of Great Name In which regard likewise these Virtuosi have acted with no less Prudence then Modesty in leaving the Determination of each Question to the judgement of the Reader who is made the Arbiter of the Dispute and may in the grateful Variety of Opinions freely give his suffrage to That which shall seem to him founded upon the most convincing Reasons or else having them all before him establish a better of his own III. That these Gentlemen leaving the way of arguing by Mode and Figure to Colledges have chosen to propose their sence in the freest and most natural form of Speech as being most sutable to Conferences and less subject either to the captious fallacies or pedantical janglings and heats resulting from Disputes by Syllogism To avoid which also the better care was taken that every one might have this Perswasion That he was no-wise interessed to maintain his Sentence upon any Point but being once produc'd it was as a thing expos'd to the company and no more accounted any mans Property then Truth it self the common subject of all their Inquiries IV. That as to the Promiscuous Variety of the Questions discuss'd in each Conference and the immethodical series of them all if it be not excuse enough that the Discoursers were French Gentlemen and besides willing in civility to gratifie one another by leaving the choice of Subjects free the Reader is desir'd to believe that there wanted not particular occasions for every one though they appear not upon the paper Besides that it seemed most expedient not to be confin'd to the Laws of Method since the Complyance therewith in comprizing the Sciences in Systems and Bodies as they call them would have requir'd the intermixture of many Questions less considerable and delightful and indeed is found by Judicious Men to have been a great Obstacle to the Improvement of Philosophy V. Lastly The Publisher craves Pardon of the Readers that he hath forborn to divulge the Names of the Persons of Honour who held these Conferences weekly on Mondays at Paris it being the principal condition which they requir'd of him Some that the judgement of their opinions might be left free to every one which the knowledge of the Authors commonly prepossesses and Others out of desire secretly to discover what Sentiment the publick would have of theirs like the Knights Errant of old who sought under borrow'd Arms leaving their Names to be conjectur'd by such as found any thing in them for which to desire it but All through a Modesty as commendable in respect of themselves as injurious to the Publick EUSEBIUS RENAUDOT Counsellor and Physitian in Ordinary to the King of France Doctor Regent of the Faculty of Physick at Paris THE CONTENTS CONFERENCE I. I. OF Method II. Of Entity Page 1 CONFERENCE II. I. Of
chastisement and blame ought to follow the Offenders This being done then onely when the precepts which were necessary to his education shall have taken such deep root in his Mind as not to be stifled by the multitude of others My Method proceeds to furnish him with those of the Liberal Sciences But with this order again that for the same reason the Rules be not confounded to him with Exceptions but that these latter be then onely taught him after he ha's well comprehended the former For conclusion there was an overture of a Way to teach by Playing from the A B C to the sublimest Sciences The Proposers reason was that the best Method of Sciences is that which takes away Difficulties the principal of which is The tediousness of Study That there is nothing less tedious then Play for the sake of which both great and small oftentimes lose their rest and food That 't was the intention of the first Authors that Children should learn as it were playing instead of the great rigors which cause them to study against their inclination with the loss of time and other inconveniences observ'd therein That hence the Place of Learning retains still in Latine the name of the Play of Letters and the Regents Masters of the Play Then he desired of the Company of Commissioners to receive their Judgement upon the Book which he had made upon this Subject and the same was deliver'd into their hands for them to make their report thereof that day seven night After which all were desired that they would please to report there at the following Conferences the Inventions which they conceiv'd likely to profit the publick with assurance that the honour and benefit thereof should be secur'd to themselves and so the Company was dismiss'd CONFERENCE II. I. Of Principles II. Of the End of all Things I. Of Principles THese five several acceptions of Principle were first considered I. As it is taken for a Cause especially the Efficient even that of all Things and which hath no Beginning namely God who also being the End of all is upon that account called Alpha and Omega II. For the beginning of quantity as a point is the beginning of a Line III. For the beginning of some Action as the first step is the beginning of the race IV. For that which is not made of it self nor any other but of which all things are made V. For that of which a thing is made is compos'd and is known Which definition comprehendeth the Principles of Generation Composition and Cognition For according to the Order of Nature a thing is made before it is and it is before it is known The Second said That the Principles of Entity and Cognition are the same For in that they constitute the thing they are called the Principles of Entity and inasmuch as Conclusions are drawn from them they are called Principles of Cognition Nevertheless deriving their original the one from the other As from this Principle of Cognition Nothing is made out of nothing it is concluded That then there must be a First Matter The Third said That that distinction of the Three Principles of Generation viz. Privation Matter and Form whereof the first and the last are contraries two onely of Composition viz. the two last do's not signifie that there are three Principles of the thing which is made Seeing that in the instant that a thing is made to be making fieri and to be made factum esse are the same Since then the thing made hath but two Principles that which is in making hath no more Privation being but a Condition requisite to Generation as the Agent the End and some other External Principles are The Fourth said That our Mind alone doth not make distinction between those three Principles but they differ in reality Those who say Privation is more a Principle of Generation then the rest are mistaken in that they make Generation participate more of Non-entity then of Entity But it is not seeing it ariseth out of the former to tend to the latter being in truth neither the one nor the other He added that the Principle of Cognition is either First or Second The First proves all and is prov'd by none 't is the basis of all Sciences and hath two conditions namely that it can neither be deny'd nor prov'd As it cannot be deny'd That of two Contradictories one is true and the other false Neither can the same be prov'd because there is nothing beyond it or more clear and evident The Second Principles are those of the Sciences which they prove as themselves are prov'd by the first Principle For example That Principle of Physick Contraries are cured by their Contraries proves this Evacuation cureth the diseases caused by plenitude and it self is proved by that other Principle of Natural Philosophy to which it is subordinate that Action is onely between Contraries which is again prov'd by this That Action tendeth to render the Patient like to the Agent Which if it be deny'd 't is answer'd that if the Agent do not render the Patient like to it self then this latter would not be altered and so not be a Patient Which cannot be by the first Principle of Knowledge That a thing cannot be and not be at the same time The Fift divided Principles into those of Logick which constitute a Definition viz. The Genus and the Difference into those of Physicks which constitute corporeal things viz. Matter and Form into those of Metaphysicks which are Act and Power Essence and Existence and the Nature and Inherence in all Accidents And lastly into Principles Mathematical which are a point in continu'd quantities and an Vnite in Numbers The sixth fram'd this Question Since every thing that hath a Beginning hath also an End how is Number which hath a Unite for its Beginning Infinite It was answer'd by another That that infinity of Number is not in Act as its Beginning is but onely in Power For when 't is said That there is no Number so great but may be made greater to infinity this ought not to be accounted more strange then that other Proposition which is also true viz. That a Quantity which hath a Beginning may be divided without End There being no Body so small but may be divided again into a less For that some thing cannot be resolv'd into nothing as of nothing cannot be made some thing naturally This matter was ended with another division of Principles into General and Particular The General said they are some times but indiscreetly confounded with Causes and Elements For every Principle is not a Cause nor every Cause an Element nor any Element a Principle Although every Element be a Cause and every Cause be a Principle External or Internal That every Principle is not a Cause appears by Privation which is a Principle notwithstanding what hath been otherwise argu'd by the Maxim above alledg'd That Action is onely between Contraries Principles then
themselves had knowledge enough though under several names by the sole Light of Nature to cause them to make the Fiction of the Elizian Fields in comparison of which they held that there was nothing but unpleasantness in this world But as the barbarousness of some Ages past is not to be compar'd with the Politeness and Learning of this and yet there was alwayes some or other amongst them that pass'd for an accomplish'd Man so because there is a great Felicity in Heaven it is not to be infer'd that there is none at all upon Earth Besides we might contrary to the receiv'd Maxime accuse Nature of having made some thing in vain by Imprinting in Man that desire of becoming happy in this world if he cannot be so The Seventh said That a Man is not happy by possessing some Excellent Thing but by the satiating of his desire And therefore if which is impossible a happy Man should desire some greater Good he were no longer happy As on the contrary he who can satisfie himself with the least Good is nevertheless happy For 't is the correspondence or sutableness which makes a Good to be estemed such A Good may content the Appetite without reflection but ifthe conditions of the Enjoyment be reflected upon it will suffice for the rendring it perfect that the Imagination exempt it from all imperfection and attribute all the Prerogatives to it which the Will desires in it although it deceive it self The Eight defined The Supreme Good after Aristotle The Action of the most perfect Virtue which is Wisedom and Prudence in a perfect Age and a long Life accompani'd with the Goods of the Body and of Fortune viz. Health Beauty Nobility Riches and Godly Children Not that the Felicity which is call'd Formal consists in these Goods but they serve for instruments and ornaments unto it as 't is hard for a sick Man to become Learned and for a poor to exercise the Virtues of Liberality and Magnisicence The Ninth said That in Morality the General Propositions are easier to be assented to then the Particular Yea that there are many to which all the world assents in general termes As That Virtue ought to be Loved For then we willingly embrace it wholly naked But by reason of the difficulties which accompany it Opinions become divided The Prudent who knows how to moderate his Passions willeth it The Incontinent who pleaseth to let himself be hurried by the torrent willeth it not And denying in the retail what he before approv'd in the gross contradicts himself Another willeth and willeth it not because he willeth it too faintly or doth not sufficiently avoid the occasions which lead to Vice Thus all the world agrees That it behoveth to render to every one that which belongs to him but in the Application the honest Man doth so the dishonest doth the contrary There is not the Man but confesseth That the End ought to be prefer'd before the Means which conduce to that End But one takes for an End that which another takes for a Means The Covetous and indeed most Men take Riches for the End and Virtue for the Means On the contrary the Good Man takes Riches for the Means and Virtue for his End In my Judgement the true Felicity of Man in this world comprehendeth the Goods of the Mind as the End the Goods of the Body and Fortune onely as the Means There was none in the Company but seem'd to have a Mind to speak something to this great Question of which out of this Conference even every particular Man daily passeth Judgement without speaking For he who forgets all things else for the acquiring of Honour or Riches or for the taking of his Pleasure doth he not imply that he maketh the same his Supreme Good He that entreth into a Religious Order doth he not seek the same in Religion And so of others But for that the Second Hour was slipt away the Company proceeded to determine the matter to be treated of at the next Conference which was for the First Hour Of Causes in General And because there is observ'd in some even the most equitable an ardour in maintaining their Judgements though every one was sufficiently warn'd that this place is to have no disputings and that none is oblig'd to uphold what he hath said with new Reasons our sentiments here being all free It was propos'd for the second point to be particularly inquir'd Why every one desires to have his own Judgement follow'd though he have no interest therein The Hour design'd for Inventions began with the Report made by the Commissioners nominated at the last Conference for examining the Book containing the Method of Teaching the Liberal Disciplines by Playing The Report was That the Author seem'd very capable of performing it the Discourse being written in a good stile That he evidently prov'd that the thing is Practicable as well in respect of the Method it self which seemes feasable as the Masters of the Play and the Disciplines But for that he discover'd his meaning onely in the Art of Teaching to read and write and not in the other Disciplines they could not give their Judgements upon more then what appear'd to them and so much they lik'd and approv'd Then an Other presented a Latine Poem Entitl'd Fulmen in Aquilam containing in Twelve Books Twelve Thousand Heroick Verses in which was compriz'd the Life Atchievments and Death of the King of Sweden Having first Remonstrated to the Company that the great reputation of these Conferences brought him from his own Country to this City that he might correct refine and polish his work by the censure of so many great Wits as met there Conceiving there is no better way to write things for lasting then to pass them under the Judgements of many Whereupon Commissioners were assigned to him for that end into whose hands he deliver'd his Work After which to shew that something has a Beginning and yet no End Another offer'd to make appear the Experiment of a Perpetual Motion if the matter could be kept from decaying A Third answer'd That making it of Glass the matter would be Eternal Glass being the last Product of Nature And that thence the Conjecture is probable that the Earth will be vitrifi'd by the last Conflagration and by that means become diaphanous and resplendent And thus ended this Conference CONFERENCE III. I. Of Causes in General II. Whence it is that every one is zealous for his own Opinion though it be of no importance to him I. Of Causes in General HE who spoke first said That the word Cause must not be confounded with that of Reason though it seemes so in our manner of Speech because an Effect serves sometime for a Reason to prove its Cause As when I am ask'd the reason by which I know that Fire is Light I Answer By its ascending upwards which is the Effect of Fire and the proof but not the Cause of its lightness Cause also
after The Fourth reply'd That this Motion seemed to him impossible to find not for its being unprofitable for it would be one of the greatest helps that Art could afford Man to ease him in his labours but because there is in all Arts some thing of impossibility as the Quadrature of the Circle in Geometry in Rhetorick the perfect Orator the Philosophers Stone in Chymistry the Common-wealth of Plato in Polity and in the Mechanicks Perpetual Motion And whereas it is said that a less weight or less strength can lift up a greater this is to be understood in more time So that what is gotten in strength is lost in time which comes all to one For Example one Man or one hundred weight shall raise as high in one hour as much weight as four Men or 400. weights shall raise in a quarter of an hour by any Mechanick Invention whatsoever The Last Hour was imployed in the mentioning of some Engines which had some likelihood of moving themselves endlesly And amongst others it was propos'd That a Wind-mill having a large wing which the wind should alwayes drive behind as it doth weather-cocks and by that means alwayes present its four ordinary sails to the wind might lift up so weighty a burthen whilst the wind blows that the same burden coming to descend while the wind ceaseth would cause a Motion of Continual Duration Which also may be more easily practis'd in a Perpetual Fountain by help of a Great Reservor which should be fill'd by help of the wind and be emptying it self all the time that it bloweth not One Demanded Whence it cometh that some are inclin'd to Mechanicks others onely to Contemplation and Literature It was answer'd that this proceeds from the Resemblance which their Mind hath with the Things which they affect The time being past for this Conference this Question afforded the Subject to the next for the first point concerning Resemblance and chiefly that of kinred one to another And for the Second Whether Letters ought to be joyn'd with Armes CONFERENCE V. I. Of Resemblance II. Whether it behoveth to joyn Armes to Letters I. Of Resemblance UPon the First It was said That there are Three Sorts of Resemblance viz. Of Species of Sex and of Aspect The Resemblance of Species comes from the Univocal Cause determined to produce an Effect like to it self That of Sex comes from the Predominancy either of the Masculine or Feminine Geniture or from the weakness of both The End of Nature being alwayes to make a perfect work viz. a Male to which if she cannot attain she maketh a Female The Resemblance of Aspect or individual which is that we are speaking of comes from the Formative Virtue inherent in the Geniture which being like a Quintessence or Extract not onely of all the parts which contribute to its Generation but also of the Spirits which accompany move and inform it in some manner it is not to be wonder'd if what is produc'd thereof bear their image and likeness as the Visible Species representeth the luminous or coloured Thing from whence it proceedeth To which if the Imagination also concur it sends still to the Faetus more Spirits then there were before which being the Principal Artificers in Formation imprint a shape or figure upon it like the Body from whence they streamed and of which themselves partake in some sort As the Water which issueth out of Pipes though it spout far retaineth the form thereof The strength of which Imagination is too great to doubt of being such as it is able to change the colour of a Child and to cause some to be born all hairy by the sight of the like Objects Of which the marks which are imprinted on the Bodies of Infants in the womb of their Mothers through some such Imagination are sufficient proofs and that in Brutes too The Second said That indeed this is an Effect of the Imagination seeing Galen having caus'd the picture of a white Child to be hang'd at the beds-feet of a Moor-Lady she brought forth a Child of the same colour And besides the Example of Lahan's sheep which brought forth streaked young by reason of the Rods of that colour plac'd in their drinking-troughs Experience of Hens who bring forth white Chickens if they be cover'd with Linnen while they brood verifieth the same The way that that Faculty produceth such an Effect is thus The Animal Spirits which reside in the Brain slide thence into the whole Body but especially into the Matrice by reason of the near Sympathy which is between them by the Nerves of the Sixth Conjugation which unite them and render Women subject to so many several accidents whereof the field of Nature is too fertile The Spirits then imprinting their qualities into that solid part it serves as a mould for the forming of the tender Embryo Which is not to be understood of Simple Imagination but of those upon which the Mind maketh a vehement and constant reflexion The Third said That if the Imagination contributed any Thing to the Resemblance we should see no unhandsome Children For could a Man beget what he would he would alwayes make it resemble some fair Idea in his Imagination Besides this Faculty can have no influence saving at the moment of the Act or during the bearing Not in the former for nothing acts upon that which is not Now the Parts exist not yet during that Act. Not the latter for the parts are then already form'd It will then be demanded in what time of the bearing this Imagination hath power If it be said in the former part it is held that the parts expos'd to our view are not then form'd and yet 't is in those that Resemblance is observ'd But in those first dayes onely the Principal pars viz. The Liver the Heart and the Brain are form'd If you will have it to be in the latter dayes the Soul being by that time introduc'd which is its true form and imprints upon the body the traces of the Inclinations it cannot thence forward be susceptible of alterations by a meer fancy Now that the manners of the Soul follow the External Form of the Body appears by Physiogmony wholly founded upon that Principle The Fourth argued that the Geniture is the superfluous aliment of the Third Concoction which proceeding from all the parts of the Body retaines the Characters of the same and imprints them upon the Body of the Embryo And hence come hereditary diseases as also the usual Resemblance of Twins And such is the Law of Nature that Children resemble their Fathers and Mothers just as Plants do the Plants which produce them As for the unlikness it comes usually from the diversity of the Genitures of Father and Mother which make a Third Temperament as of the colours yellow and blew mingled together is made a green The Fifth attributed the Cause to the divers Constellations because seeing all the alterations which happen here below cannot said he
that evil is the cause that we are never contented therewith I add further If it were possible to heap all the goods of the world into one condition and all kind of evils were banish'd from the same yet could it not fill the Appetite of our Soul which being capable of an infinite Good if she receive any thing below infinite she is not fill'd nor contented therewith Nevertheless this dissatisfaction doth not proceed from the infirmity and ignorance of the Humane Soul but rather from her great perfection and knowledge whereby she judging all the goods of the world less then her self the goods intermingled with miseries serve her for so many admonitions that she ought not to stay there but aspire to other goods more pure and solid Besides these I have two natural reasons thereof First Every Good being of it self desirable every one in particular may desire all the goods which all Men together possess Yet it is not possible for him to obtain them wherefore every one may desire more then he can possess Whence there must alwayes be frustrated desires and discontents Secondly The Desires of Men cannot be contented but by giving them the enjoyment of what they desire Now they cannot be dealt withall butas a bad Physitian doth with his Patients in whom for one disease that he cures he causeth three more dangerous For satisfie one Desire and you raise many others The poor hungry person asketh onely Bread give it him and then he is thirsty and when he is provided for the present he is sollicitous for the future If he hath money he is troubled both how to keep it and how to spend it Which caus'd Solomon after he had deny'd his Soul nothing that it desir'd to pronounce That All is vanity and vexation of Spirit The Third conceiv'd That the Cause of this Dissatisfaction is for that the conditions of others seem more suitable to us and for that our Election dependeth on the Imagination which incessantly proposeth new Objects to the Soul which she beholding afar off esteemes highly afterwards considering them nearer sees as the Fable saith that what she accounted a treasure is but a bottle of Hay The Fourth said That because every thing which we possess gives us some ground of disgust and we do not yet perceive the inconvenience of the thing we desire therefore we are weary of the present and hope to find less in the future Whence we despise the one and desire the other The Fifth added That Man being compos'd of two parts Body and Soul which love change it is necessary that he love it too Choose the best posture and the best food you will it will weary you in a little time Let the most Eloquent Orator entertain you with the most excellent Subject suppose God himself you will count his Sermon too long if it exceed two hours or perhaps less Is it a wonder then if the Whole be of the same Nature with the Parts The Sixth attributed the Cause of this Discontent to the comparison which every one makes of his own State with that of others For as a Man of middle stature seemes low near a Gyant so a Man of moderate fortune comparing his own with the greater of another becomes discontented therewith Wherefore as long as there are different conditions they of the lowest will always endeavour to rise to the greatest and for the taking away of this Displeasure Lycurgus's Law must be introduc'd who made all the people of Sparta of equal condition If it be reply'd that nevertheless they of the highest condition will be contented I answer that our Mind being infinite will rather fancy to it self Epicurus's plurality of worlds as Alexander did then be contented with the possession of a single one and so 't will be sufficient to discontent us not that there is but that there may be some more contented then our selves The Seventh said That the Cause hereof is the desire of attaining perfection which in Bodies is Light whence they are alwayes chang'd till they become transparent as Glass and in Spirits their satisfaction which is impossible For Man having two principles of his Actions which alone are capable of being contented namely the Vnderstanding and the Will he cannot satiate either of them One truth known makes him desire another The sign of a moderate Mind is to be contented with it self whereas that of a great Mind is to have alwayes an insatiable appetite of knowing Whence proceedeth this It is for that it knows that God created every thing in the world for it and that it cannot make use thereof unless it have an exact and particular knowledge of the virtues and properties of all things It knows also that it self was created for God and the knowledge of the Creatures is nothing but a means to guide it to that of God So that if it take those means which lead it to the end for the end it self it deceives it self and finds not the contentment which it seeks and will never find the same till it be united to its First Principle which is God who alone can content the Vnderstanding His Will is also hard to be satifi'd The more goods it hath the more it desires It can love nothing but what is perfect It finds nothing absolutely perfect but goodness it self For the Light and knowledge wherewith the Understanding supplieth it discover to it so many imperfections and impurities in the particular goods it possesseth that it distasts and despises them as unworthy to have entertainment in it Wherefore it is not to be wonder'd if Man can never be contented in this world since he cannot attain his utmost End in it either for Body or Soul CONFERENCE XIX I. Of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Sea II. Of the Point of Honour I. Of the Flux of the Sea THe First said That if there be any other cause of this Flux then the heaping together of the Waters from the beginning under the Aequinoctial by Gods Command whence they descend again by their natural gravity and are again driven thither by the obedience which they owe to that Command which is so evident that they who sail under the Aequator perceive them selves lifted up so high by the currents that are usually there that they are many times terrifi'd thereat there is none more probable then the Moon which hath dominon overall moist Bodies and augments or diminishes this Flux according as she is in the increase or the wane The Second said That the Moon indeed makes the Flux and Reflux of the Sea greater or less yea she governes and rules it because being at the Full she causeth a Rarefaction of its Waters But this doth not argue that she is the Efficient Cause of the said Flux The Sea rises at the shore when the Moon riseth in the Heaven and retires again when the Moon is going down their motions are indeed correspondent one to the other yet I know not how
this charge comes to may be taken for profit upon the Pawn and added to the principal but the remainder restor'd to the owner And nothing above this is to be suffer'd CONFERENCE XLIV I. How Minerals grow II. Whether it be best to know a little of every thing or one thing exactly I. How Minerals grow UNder Minerals are comprehended Metals Stones and all sorts of Fossilia or things dig'd out of the earth The causes of their growing or augmentation are here inquir'd All the world agrees that they grow excepting those who hold that God created them at the beginning together with the earth But they who have kept a stone in water for a long time and find the same increas'd in bigness will confute that opinion by this experiment as also the experience of Miners doth who having exhausted a Mine of its Metal find more in it after some years and when they discover Mines as yet imperfect they cover the same again with earth and after some space of time find them fit to be wrought upon and as it were arriv'd to their maturity This is also verifi'd by that Chymical operation call'd vegetable Gold and pieces of Cinnabar or Quick-silver mingled with Sulphur melted and put amongst the filings of Silver being set over a furnace in a well luted Vessel produceth pure Silver though of less profit then curiosity For this visible artifice seems to prove the invisible one of nature according to the opinion of Philosophers who hold that all Metals are made of Quick-silver and Sulphur So that we must not seek other causes of their generation and increasing then a new accession of that matter either gliding along the veins of the earth or reduc'd first into vapour by heat and then condens'd by cold The Second said That he was of Cardan's opinion who assigns a particular vegetative soul to all Minerals as well as to all Plants whereunto they have great resemblance not only in that they have some virtues and faculties alike yea far more excellent which cannot come but from a principle of life since action is the indication of life but also because they grow according to all their dimensions as Plants do have a conformation and configuration which is common to Plants with them attract retain and concoct the nourishment which they receive from the earth by their veins and passages and have also an expulsive faculty which is not in Plants casting forth their dross and exhaling their superfluous vapours They have also roots and barks as Trees have their substance is of parts organical and really dissimilar though in appearance some of them seem to be similar and homogeneous and Lead out of which are extracted Salt or Sugar Quick-silver and Sulphur is no more a similar body then Ebeny Box and Milk out of which such different substances are drawn The Third said That before we can know whether Minerals live we must first understand how life is caus'd in man who is to be as the rule of all living things It consists but in one sole action to wit that of Heat upon Humidity which it rarefies and subtilizes causing the same to ascend by little and little out of the intestines through the Mesentery to the Liver Heart and Brain in each of which it casting off its excrementitious parts it acquires a new perfection the utmost in the Brain where it becomes a very thin spirit capable of receiving any form even that of light as appears by the internal splendor of our sight and that brightness which is sometimes seen outwardly upon some Bodies In Plants are found the like cavities destinated to receive and prepare their nourishment which heat attracts into them and their knots are so many repositories wherein that heat is re-united and takes new strength till being arriv'd at the top of the Plant according to the rectitude of the fibres it circulates the matter so carried up that it spreads into branches leaves and fruit For as humidity is of it self immoveable and incapable of any action so being accompani'd with heat it moves every way and there is no need of admitting an attractive faculty in each part since it is carried thereunto sufficiently of it self Natural heat indeed drives it upwards but all unusual heat makes it break out collaterally as is seen in sweat for no eruption of humidity is caus'd but by the excess of some strange heat not proper or natural Now we may observe these tokens of life in the production of Minerals their vaporous matter being first sublim'd and purifi'd by heat and then incorporated with themselves But because all Natures works are occult and the instrument she uses to wit natural heat is imperceptible 't is no wonder if it be hard to know truly how Minerals hid in the earth grow since we are ignorant how the accretion of Plants expos'd to our view is made we perceive them to have grown but not to grow as the shadow on on the Dyal is observ'd to have gone its round yet appears not to move at all Nevertheless the Arborists would have us except the Plant of Aloes out of this number whose flower and trunk at a certain time shoot forth so high and so speedily that the motion thereof is perceptible to the eye The Fourth said That the generation of some Minerals is effected by heat and of others by cold the former by coction and the latter by concretion or co-agulation which two agents are discover'd by the dissolution of Metals For such as are made by cold are melted by its contrary Heat as Lead Silver and other Metals and those which are made by heat dissolve in water as all Salts provided neither the one nor the other be so compact and close that they admit not the qualities of their contraries for which reason Glass which is concocted by fire is not dissolv'd in water and the Diamond Marble and some other stones congealed by cold are not melted by fire But their accretion is not made by any vital principle but only by a new apposition of matter Moreover they have no sign of inward life as nutrition equal and uniform augmentation in all their parts which should be distinct and organiz'd certain constant terms and limits of magnitude and resemblance of figure and conformation both internal and external between all individuals of the same species For Minerals having no cavities cannot receive aliment inwardly They grow as long as matter is supply'd to them and that inequally Their figure is indeterminate and various according to the casual application of their matter in the veins of the earth and their parts are all alike The barks roots and veins attributed to them have nothing but the shape of those things not the use no more then the paps of men Nor do they bear flowers fruits or seeds nor produce or multiply themselves any other way as Plants do The Fifth said We give appellations or names to things from their external form because
Medals representing the upper part of a woman and the lower of a Mule commend this Sex whilst they think to blame it For there is nothing more healthy strong patient of hunger and the injuries of seasons or that carries more and is more serviceable then a Mule Nature shews that she is not satisfi'd with her other productions whilst she makes other animals propagate by generation but when she has made a Mule she stops there as having found what she sought Now if certain actions of women seem full of perverseness and capricio to some possibly others will account them to proceed from vivacity of spirit and greatness of courage And as the Poet in great commendation of his black Mistress chanted her cheeks of Jet and bosom of Ebeny so whatever some people's mistake may say to the contrary the most capricious woman is the most becoming Nor is this humour unprofitable to them for as people are not forward to provoke a Mule for fear of kicks so we are more shie of women then otherwise we should be for fear of capricioes well understanding the difference which the Proverb puts between the van of the one and the rear of the other Yet some hold that this capriciousness of women follows the Moon no less then their menstruosities do Others that the flower of beans contributes very much to it The Fifth said That if credit is to be given to experience Solomon who had experience of a thousand women compares an ill capricious woman to a Tygress and a Lyoness Such were Medea Xantippe and many others Moreover the Poets say that the Gods intending to punish Prometheus for having stoln the celestial fire gave him a wife And when Satan afflicted Job he depriv'd him of his flocks of his houses and of his children but had a care not to take his wife from him knowing that this was the onely way to make him desperate as it would have done without God's special grace The Rabbins say three sorts of persons were exempted from publick charges and could not be call'd into judgement to wit the Poor the Nephritick and he that had a bad wife because they had business enough at home without needing any abroad The Laws likewise exempted new marry'd men from going to the wars the first year of their marriage allowing them this time which is the roughest and most important to repress their quarrelsomeness and reduce their fierce Spouses to duty Which if the Husbands could not effect a little bill of Divorce appointed by God and the Laws for putting an end to the poor Man's miseries did the business Though the Chaldeans us'd not so much formality but onely extinguish'd the domestick fire which the Priest kindled at the marriage Yet the priviledge was not reciprocal neither Divine nor Humane Laws having ever allow'd women to relinquish their Husbands for then being as capricious and inconstant as they are they would have chang'd every day For the same reason the Laws have alwayes prohibited to women the administration of publick affairs And the Religion of the Mahumetan Arabians assignes them a Paradise apart because say they if the women should come into that of the men they would disturb all the Feast CONFERENCE XLVII I. Of the Virtue of Numbers II. Of the Visible Species I. Of the Virtue of Numbers THe Mind of Man resembles those who make the point of their tools so small that they spoil them with too much sharpning and in the contemplation of natural causes there is more then enough to satisfie his desire of knowledge were it not that he will attempt every thing Hence it is that the causes of different effects here below are sought in things the most remote and no otherwise appertaining to them then that as accidents and circumstances Of these accidents some have action as Quality others have none as Quantity under which are comprehended Number Figure Lines Surface and its other species which are consider'd either in some matter or else abstracted from it in the former of these wayes they have some virtue in regard of their matter but not in the latter An Army of fifty thousand Men is potent but the number of fifty thousand can do nothing yea is nothing if taken abstractedly Wherefore as reasonable as it is to seek the virtues of simple and compound bodies in their qualities and to say e. g. that Pepper bites and alters the Tongue because it is hot and dry so absurd it seemes to think that five or seven leaves of Sage apply'd to the Wrist have more virtue then six or eight The Second said Nothing includes more wonders in it self then Number and if our Reason cannot penetrate their cause they ought to be the more esteem'd for being unknown This is the universal opinion of all Antiquity both Jewish and Pagan which otherwise would not have made so much adoe with them Yea there 's divine authority for it contain'd in the eleventh Chapter of Wisedom God made all things in number weight and measure Experience justifies their Energy teaching us that certain numbers are to be observ'd in cases where we would have the like effects which possibly is the canse why the operations of one and the same remedy are found so frequently different We see Nature so religious in this observation in all her works that she never produces an Animal but the proportion of seeds is adjusted most exactly that in Plants their grains and all other parts have the same taste colour and virtue whence it is that simple medicaments are alwayes more certain then compound because Nature either produces them not at all or makes them with the same number weight and measure of matter and qualities 'T is through the virtue of number that such a Plant as Coloquintida is mortal when it grows alone and medicinal when many of them grow together The Third said The Pythagoreans and Platonists ascrib'd so great power to numbers that they thought all things were compos'd of them and more or less active according to their several proportion Of which they made four sorts First the Poetical or Musical the virtue whereof is such that it gave occasion to the Fable of Orpheus who is said to have drawn even beasts trees and rocks by the harmonious sound of his Harp 'T was by the cadence of the like numbers that David chas'd away Saul's evil spirit and Poetry which differs from Prose onely by its numbers hence derives the power it hath over mens souls The Second sort is the Natural and is found in the composition of all mixt bodies The Third is Rational peculiar to Man whose soul they term'd a moving number the connexion whereof with the body they said continu'd so long as the numbers which link'd them remain'd united together The Fourth Divine upon which and the Natural the Cabalists and Magicians have founded their profoundest secrets and Agrippa his Occult Philosophy But above all others they particularly esteem'd the odd number styling
not be made in the Eye but in the Air. CONFERENCE XLVIII I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have life II. Of Courage I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have Life EVery thing in the world is effected by an order and disposition of causes and means subalternate one to another God makes himself known to Men by the marvellous effects of Nature The immaterial and incorruptible Heavens communicate their virtues and influences here below first through the Element of Fire which is most subtile and then through the Air which is most pure in the upper Region more gross in the middle and in the lower infected by the vapours and exhalations of the Water and Earth and all compounds in the production whereof Nature observes such order as that she begins alwayes with the more simple and never passes from one extremity to another without a medium Thus the Plant springeth out of the ground like an herb becomes a shrub and then a tree The Embryo lives onely a vegetable life at first then arrives to motion and lastly is indu'd with reason Even in civil life too speedy advancements are taken ill whereas he who grows great by degrees do's not so much offend the Minds of others and provokes less jealousie Hence also the deaths and especially the violent astonish us more then the births of Men because they come into the world and grow up by little and little but are cut off in a moment So likewise the burning of Cities and overthrow of States cause the more admiration because sudden vicissitudes seem less conformable to the order of Nature then their progressive erections That which is observ'd in the composition and generation of bodies holds also in their nutrition for both of them proceed from the same Faculty and are almost the same thing For to nourish is to be chang'd into the substance of that which is nourish'd Nature makes no change from one term to another by a violent motion and progress but by little and little of a matter capable of being converted into the substance of the living thing as onely that is which hath life it being as impossible to make a living thing of that which never was such and consequently whose matter hath no disposition to become such as 't is to make a thing be which cannot be The Second said setting aside Cardan's opinion who extends life even to Stones as there are three orders of living things so there are three that have need of nutrition Plants Animals and Men. Plants are nourish'd with the juice of the earth Animals for the most part with Plants and Men better with the Flesh of Animals then with any other thing by reason of the resemblance of their natures The first order is not here spoken of because Plants must needs be nourish'd with that which hath not had life unless we will say that the universal spirit informing the earth gives it vertue to produce and nourish them The two latter are only in question and I think it no more inconvenient that what hath not had life may serve for aliment and be converted into the substance of a living creature then that the earth and water simple elements in respect of a Plant are assimilated by it and made partakers of vegetable life For as fire makes green wood combustible by exsiccating its humidity so an Animal may render such matter fit for its nourishment which was not so before Not only the Oestrich is nourish'd with Iron which it digests Pigeons and Pullen with gravel the stones of which are found in their crops smooth and round but also men may be nourish'd with bread made of earth And the Spaniards are much addicted to the use of an earth call'd Soccolante which they mingle with water and sugar its terrene consistence refuting their opinion who hold it to be the juice of a Plant. Yea some in Sieges have supported their lives with inanimate things as with bread of Slate as 't is reported of that of Sancerre And moreover 't is manifest that some sick people are nourish'd with water alone for many days together The Third said Nutrition is made by the help of heat which alters and divides the aliments and reduces them to a most simple substance capable of being converted into every similary part the property of heat being to separate heterogeneous things and conjoyn those of the same nature Hence things least compounded are more easily assimilated And as among Medicaments so among aliments the more simple are the best and make fewest excrements The air doth not only refresh the natural heat but serves for food and aliment to the spirits our best and noblest parts with which air alone as the common opinion holds the Camelion is nourish'd as the Grashopper with dew which is nothing but concreted air and the Jews were fed fourty years with Manna which is a kind of dew for the Scripture saith it vanish'd with the heat of the Sun yea the Manna which is found at this day in Calabria other places is capable of nourishing an animal and yet it never had life but fall's from heaven upon the stones from which it is collected The same may be said of hony which is a kind of dew too falling upon the leaves flowers of Plants and serving for food to Bees who only gather it without other preparation And a sort of Flyes call'd Pyraustae live with nothing but fire as many Fishes do of plain water Moles and Worms of simple earth Antimony and divers other Minerals purg'd from their malignant qualities serve for aliment and they who are expert in Chymistry make a kind of bread of them The Magistery of Pearls and Coral many precious Stones and Gold it self by the consent of all antiquity wonderfully repair our radical moisture by their fix'd spirits whence they are call'd Cordials The Fourth said If man were homogeneous and all of a piece he would be not only immortal according to Hippocrates but need no food which is necessary only for reparation of what substance is consum'd now nothing would be destroy'd in man were it not for the heterogeneous pieces of which he is made up Wherefore since we are nourish'd with the same things whereof we are compos'd and we are not compos'd of one pure and simple element but of four it follows that whatever nourishes us must be mix'd of those four Elements and therefore the more compounded it is as animate things are the more proper it is to nourish Otherwise were the aliment pure it could not be assimilated And although it could be assimilated yet it could not nourish the whole body but only either the terrestrial parts if it were earth or the humours if it were water or the spirits if it were fire or air The Fifth said The life of man cost Nature dear if it must be maintain'd at the expence of so many other animals lives If you say that being
motion we must first discover their nature which is the principle of motion Now the particular nature of every thing is unknown to all men as well as the proportion of the mixture of their substances whereon their occult properties depend as the manifest qualities do on the mixtion of their first qualities which we are wont to call manifest not but that the reason of them is as difficult as of the rest but because they are more ordinary Which indeed has caus'd us to give them the name e. g. of lightness to the fire heaviness to the earth though no person has hither to assign'd the cause thereof Give but a name to this quality which the Iron hath of moving towards the Load-stone it will be as manifest as the motive virtue which carries a stone towards its centre We may indeed alledge the final cause of both and say in general that 't is the good of the thing mov'd that sets it in motion or on the contrary the good of the thing whereunto it tends that moves and attracts it but the formal cause which we here inquire is equally unknown The Sixth said That Iron is carri'd to the Load-stone as to its good and as the stone to its centre and hence it is that the Iron turns towards the North which is the native place of the Magnet For being a natural not a violent motion the motive faculty must be in the Iron which moves it self the goodness of the object attracting only by a metaphorical motion which supposes a motive faculty in the thing mov'd CONFERENCE LII I. Of a Point II. Whether other Animals besides Man have the use of Reason I. Of a Point IF it be true that there are more wonders in a Hand-worm then in an Elephant because all the faculties which are extended and have their manifest causes and instruments in the latter are found compendiously Epitomiz'd in the former and as it were independent of their organs there will be more wonders in a Point then in all the rest of the bodies which are compos'd of it Indeed there 's nothing so small as a Point and yet 't is the object of most Sciences Grammar treats of the Point of distinction Natural Philosophy of the Point of reflection and that which serves for the Centre of the Earth Astrology of the vertical points Zenith and Nadir and makes use of them to compute the motions of the Celestial Bodies Geography hath its four Cardinal Points All Sciences and Arts borrow this word to give some order to the things whereof they treat Lastly it serves for a principle to Geometry which begins its first Propositions with it And because if we believe Plato every beginning is divine a Point which is the principle of a line as this is of a surface this of a body an instant of time and an unite of number hath something of Divinity which Trismegistus for that reason calls a Centre or Point whose Circumference is no where and therefore they who hear us speak of a Point must not think that it is of an inconsiderable matter The Second said Although much is not to be argu'd from our manner of speaking in which the word Point with us French signifies a negation yet it seems to imply that if it be something it wants but little of being nothing For to speak truth a Point is the mean which is found between nothing and something 'T is not an accident for it doth not betide befall or arrive to a substance but is before and inseparable from the same Nor is it a substance since a substance is infinitely divisible but a Point is that which hath no parts that is to say is indivisible We cannot compare it to an instant in respect of time for the time past hath been instant or present and the future shall be so but a Point is not and never shall be a quantity nor to a Unite in regard of Number since Number is made of Unites and an Unite added to the greatest number whatever renders the same yet greater whereas a hundred Millions of of Points together make but a Point because that which hath no quantity of it self cannot give any Nevertheless 't is most probable that a Point exists really since 't is the foundation of all other quantities and two Spheres exactly round touch one another but in a Point The Third said As there is no mean between contradictories so neither can there be any between nothing and something Entity and Non entity Now a Point being the term of a line and every where in it must consequently be some thing Yea I maintain that it is a body and divisible by this argument One sole Being is not finite to wit the Creator all others to wit the Creatures and every part of them are finite Every finite thing is compos'd of parts being compos'd of ends or extremities and a middle For it would be as ridiculous to say that a thing is finite with out ends as to say that a thing is long without length or hot without heat A mathematical point is a finite thing Therefore 't is compos'd of parts To say that it is finite negatively and not positively cannot hold For as every mensurable solid is compos'd of and terminated by Mathematical surfaces these by lines and lines by points so a point is compos'd of and terminated by its ends which are its parts and extremities these again being compos'd of parts external and internal are also finite and consequently divisible to infinity Therefore a Point is not finite by negation which is nothing since nothing is not the term of a Point Neither is it terminated by it self since every thing is bounded by some term which is without it and if nothing cannot measure it self much less can it bound or perfect it self For 't is so true that every solid how small soever is divisible to infinity that the Naturalists maintain that if by Divine Omnipotence Humane and Angelical power being too short a grain of Millet should be divided into a hundred millions of parts every moment from the Creation to the end of the World the progression would never come to an Indivisible Point This is justifi'd by the Section of a Circle or Globe For if the Diametre of a Circle be divided into two equal parts the Centre of it which is a point will be semblably into two equal parts for it must not be all on one side otherwise the division would be unequal nor must it be turn'd into nothing since 't is not possible for any thing to be annihilated naturally But if those two Semidiametres were re-united as at first the two parts of the divided Point would be rejoyn'd into one point which would make the Centre again In like manner if a Globe perfectly round touch'd a perfect plain all agree that it would be in a Mathematical point which is not indivisible For the point of the plain hath parts since it hath
neighbours The diversity of Climates Winds Waters Diets Exercises and generally all external and internal things making some impression upon the temper makes likewise some diversity in Wits The Fourth said That diversity of actions cannot proceed but from diversity of forms and therefore those of men must be unequal 'T is likely the Souls of Aristotle Socrates and the like great Philosophers were of another stamp then those of people so stupid that they cannot reckon above five And who dares say that the Soul of Judas was as perfect as that of our Lord Moreover the Wise man saith Wisd. c. 8. that he receiv'd a good Soul Plato distinguishes Wits into as many Classes as there are Metals And experience shews us three sorts in the world some few are transcendent and heroical being rais'd above the rest others are weak and of the lowest rank such as we commonly say have not common sense others are of an indifferent reach of which too there are sundry degrees which to attribute wholly to the various mixture of elementary material qualities is to make a spiritual effect as the action of the Understanding is depend upon a corporeal cause between which there is no proportion And 't were less absurd to ascribe these effects to the divers aspects of the stars whose influences and celestial qualities are never altogether alike The Fifth said That wit is a dexterity or power of the soul seated in the Cognoscitive rational faculty not in the Appetitive or Sensitive 'T is a certain capacity of the Understanding to know things which is done either by invention or instruction of others Invention requires acuteness of wit and judgement Learning docility and likewise judgement Memory serves as well to invent as to learn And thus three things are requisite to Wit namely Memory Acuteness and Judgement The first furnishes matter and sundry things without supply whereof 't is impossible to have a good wit The Judgement disposes things in order resolving the whole into its parts when 't is requisite to learn or teach and reducing the parts to their whole when 't is requir'd to invent which is the more difficult our mind finding it of more facility to divide things then to compound them Whence Inventors of Arts and things necessary to life have been plac'd in the number of the gods But because each of these three faculties require a contrary temperature Memory a hot and moist as in children Acuteness of wit a temper hot and dry as that of Poets and Magicians Judgement a cold and dry proper to old men hence it is that a perfect Wit which excells in all three is rarely found II. Of New-years Gifts Upon the second Point 't was said That the Poet who said that he who begins a work well hath already done half of it spake no less judiciously of humane actions then those who advise to have regard to the end For as this crowns the work so 't is not to be doubted but a good beginning makes half of this wreath and that both joyn'd together perfect the circle the Hieroglyphick of the revolution of years Hence we see antiquity contriv'd to begin them with some festival solemnities with intent thereby to consecrate their first actions to the Deity The Hebrews had their most remarkable feasts in the moneth Nisan the first of the year answering to our March and amongst others that solemn Passover when they invited their Neighbours to the feast of the Lamb. The Greeks began their Olympiads with Games and Sacrifices to Jupiter and the superstitious Egyptians not only took omens from what they first met every day but made it their god for that day And being next the divine assistance men value nothing more then the favour and good will of their friends 't is no wonder if after sacrifices and publick ceremonies they have been so careful to continue this mutual friendship by feasts and presents at the beginning of the year which some extended to the beginnings of moneths which are Lunar years as the Turks do at the beginning of each Moon of which they then adore the Croissant And if they who make great Voyages after having doubled the Cape of Good Hope or some other notable passage have reason to make feasts and merriment for joy of the happy advancement of their Navigation those who are embarqu'd together in the course of this life and whom the series of years which may be call'd so many Capes and Points mark'd in the Chart of our Navigation transports into new Countries ought to rejoyce with their friends for the dangers which they have escap'd and felicitate them for the future by presents and wishes in the continuation of this journey Or else considering the difference of years as great as that of Countries we renew our correspondencies by presents as hospitalities were anciently by those which they call'd Xenia which is still the name of our New-years Gifts since in respect of the great alterations hapning in those years we may be said to be new Guests or Hospites of a New-year The Second said That this laudable custome was founded upon reason and example our Druides being wont to gather with great ceremonies the Misletoe of the Oak which they consecrated to their great Tutates and then distributed to the people as of great virtue Whence our New-years Presents are still call'd in many places Guy-l'an-neuf But the first day of the year was not the same with all Nations some of our first Kings began it at Martin's day as appears by the dates of some old Ordinances and the yet continu'd openings of our Parliaments whence possibly remains the fashion of making good cheer on this day The Romans us'd this custom sometimes in March which was the first moneth of the year when the year had but ten moneths each of 36 days and afterwards on the Calends and first day of January which was added with February to the other ten by Numa And ever from the foundation of Rome Tatius and Romulus appointed a bundle of Verven to be offer'd with other presents for a good augury of the beginning year Tacitus mentions an Edict of Tiberius forbidding to give or demand New-years Gifts saving at the Calends of January when as well the Senators and Knights as all other Orders brought presents to the Emperor and in his absence to the Capitol Of which I observe another rise in the cense or numeration of the people which was made in the beginning of the Lustres or every five years and began under Ancus Martius at which time money was cast amongst the people as the Emperors did afterwards when they review'd their Armies at the beginning of each year honouring the most eminent Souldiers with presents Now reason too is joyn'd with this practise for as we take presages from the first occurrences of a day week or year so none are more acceptable then gifts which gratifie the more because they come without pains or expence The Third said
a Gorgon's head a Crane a Dragon a Serpent a fish call'd Scarus or the Gilt-head a Mulberry-tree a Hiacynth Royalty by the reins of a bridle an Elephant and a Dog Wisdom by the breast or the wand of Pallas Concord by a Crow a Caduceus or Mercurius's rod a Peacock a Bee and a Lute Fear by waves a Dove a Hart a Hare and a Wolf All which figures signifi'd other things besides yea oftentimes contraries as the Ass is the Hieroglyphick of wisdom with the Cabalists and with us of stupidity and the same wisdom was denoted among the Egyptians by a sieve which with us is the emblem of a loose-tongu'd person that can retain nothing In fine this Hieroglyphical invention is good for nothing but to make the ignorant admire what they must reverence without knowing it For that which secures all professions from contempt is the use of terms not understood by the vulgar CONFERENCE XCVII I. Of Weights and the causes of Gravity II. Of Coat-Armour I. Of Weights and the causes of Gravity THe World is Man's Palace whereof God is the Architect sustaining the same with the three fingers of his Power Goodness and Wisdom And the Scripture saith He hath hung the Earth in the midst of the Air and ordained all things in number weight and Measure which are the three pillars of this stately Edifice Number is the cause of Beauty Measure of Goodness and Weight of Order which is not found but in the place towards which bodies are carry'd by their Gravity A quality depending upon the four first which by their rarefaction or condensation of things cause more or less ponderosity For light signifies nothing but less heavy it being certain that as the Earth gravitates in the Water and this in the Air so would the Air in the sphere of Fire Fire in the Heaven of the Moon this in the mixt and so forwards till you come to nothing which hath no weight because it hath no corporeity The Second said That gravity and the descent of natural bodies to the centre cannot proceed from the predominance of terrestrial parts in mixts since Gold the heaviest of metals and Mercury which is next it have more humidity then siccity that is to say more Water then Earth in comparison of other metallick bodies God being the most ductile and Mercury the most fluid So also Salt which is heavier then wood or stone is nothing but water cogeal'd and dissolving again in a moist place Wherefore Gravity seems rather to proceed from these three things namely place comparison and figure Place is so considerable herein that bodies gravitate not in their proper places but onely when they are remov'd from the same and more or less proportionally to their distance Comparison makes us judge a body light because 't is less heavy then an other On the contrary Figure makes heavy bodies light causing Leaf-gold to swim which in the same quantity reduc'd into a Globe would sink and an expanded body weighs less in a balance then when it is in a less volumn Which is also observ'd of the thinner parts of the Air which being of a more moveable figure are seen to play therein when the Sun shines clear The Third said That the cause why a broader figure swims or is upheld in the Air more easily then if it were in a Globe or other closer figure is not for that figure makes a thing lighter but from the resistance of the medium which hath more hold in one then in the other Nor do's gravity proceed from the inclination of a thing to its Centre since the Centre is but a Point wherein nothing can lodge And if the Centre of the world were the Centre of heavy things the stars which are the denser and solider parts of their orbs and consequently have more gravity which necessarily follows the density of corporeal matter especially the Moon which is demonstrated to be solid and massie because it reflects the light of the Sun should not remain suspended above the Air which is lighter but descend to this Centre of the Universe For to believe with some that the Moon is kept up like a stone in a sling by the rapid motion of the First Mover is to hold the Stars the greatest and noblest part of the Universe in a violent state onely to give rest and a natural state to the least and meanest which is the Earth Wherefore the descent of bodies is not because of themselves they affect the Centre of the Earth but for that they are upon a body lighter then themselves order obliging every thing to take its own place and till it be so every body being necessitated to move it self the heaviest downwards and the less heavy upwards Hence water gravitates not in its channel although it be not in its Centre because the upper part of the water is not heavier then the lower The Fourth said That Gravity is a certain quality which carries all bodies towards a common point continuing the union of the parts of the world hindring Vacuity by the concentration of all bodies which press one another the heavy having more matter in less quantity For when we see Air mount above Water and Fire above Air they yield and give place to heavier bodies as Oyle being in the bottom of Water ascends to the top not by its lightness but by the weight of the water which thrusts it up So Lead and all other metals except Gold swim in Mercury to which they yield in gravity For in equal quantities Gold weighs 19 Mercury 13 Lead 11 and ½ Silver 10 and ⅓ Copper 9 Iron 8 and Tin 7 and ½ As for the cause of this gravity which some say is in heavy bodies others in their Centre to which they attribute a magnetical virtue I conceive it consists in a reciprocal attraction of the same bodies which draw and are drawn and others are drawn to the inferiour body which attracts with all its parts so that bodies are carry'd towards the Earth and the Earth attracts them reciprocally as the Load-stone attracts Iron and is attracted by it For 't is evident that the Load-stone draws Iron and to prove that 't is drawn by Iron lay a Load-stone in one scale and in the other an equal weight to it If you apply Iron to the bottom of the scale where the Load-stone is this scale will raise up the other the Iron attracting the Load-stone to it self On the contrary if you approach with the Iron over the Load-stone the scale wherein it is will ascend towards the Iron which attracts it For whereas 't is objected that if the Earth attracted things with all its parts then it would follow that things let down in some hollow of the Earth being attracted by the parts above and those below would not descend by reason of contrary attractions I answer that those bodies being out of their Centres the greatest and strongest part of the Earth which is towards
crowned Or. Holland Or a Lyon gules Bavaria fuselé argent and azure of twenty one pieces placed bendwise Ireland gules a Harp Or. CONFERENCE XCVIII I. Of the causes of Contagion II. Of the ways of occult Writing I. Of the causes of Contagion DIseases being accidents must be divided as other accidents by their first subjects which are the solid parts the humours and the spirits and by their several causes some of which are manifest others unknown the malignity of the causes which produce them and the manner whereby they act being inexplicable Which diversity of causes depends upon those of mixtions which are of two sorts one of the qualities of the elements which makes the difference of temperaments the other of the elementary forms which being contrary only upon the account of their qualities when these put off their contrariety by alteration the forms easily become united and as amongst qualities so amongst forms one becomes predominant the actions whereof are said to proceed from an occult property because the form which produces them is unknown to us So Arsenick and Hemlock besides the power which the first hath to heat and the second to refrigerate have a particular virtue of assaulting the heart and killing speedily by a property hitherto unknown Such also are contagious and venomous diseases some whereof are caus'd by the inspir'd air as the Pestilence because air being absolutely necessary to the support of our natural heat if when it is infected with malignant and mortal vapours it be attracted by the mouth or the pores of the skin it corrupts the mass of the spirits as a crum of bread or other extraneous bodies makes milk or wine become sowre Others infect by bodily contact as the Itch the Pox the Measles and the Leprosie A third sort proceed from a venomous matter either communicated outwardly as by poyson and the biting of venomous beasts or generated in the body as it may happen to the blood black choler and the other humours being extravasated The Second said That diseases proceed either from the corruption and vitiosity of particular bodies some of which are dispos'd to the Pleurisie others to the Flux others to the Colick call'd therefore sporadical or dispers'd and promiscuous diseases or else from some common vitiosity as of the air aliments waters winds or other such common cause whereby many come to be seiz'd upon by the same disease at the same time so after Famines bad nourishment gives a great disposition to the Pestilence These maladies are fix'd to a certain Country seldom extending beyond it as the Leprosie to the Jews the Kings Evil to the Spaniards Burstenness to Narbon the Colick to Poitou the Phthisick to the Portugals the Pox to the Indians call'd by them Apua and brought by the Spaniards into Europe and such other diseases familiar to some particular Country and call'd Endemial Or else they are Epidemical and not ty'd to a certain region but produc'd by other external causes as pestilential and contagious diseases which again are either extraordinary as the Sweating-sickness of England the Coqueluche which was a sort of destillation or ordinary which manifest themselves by purple spots carbuncles and buboes But as the causes of the Small-pox and Measles are chiefly born within us being produc'd of the maternal blood attracted in the womb and cast forth by nature when become more strong so though the seeds of contagious diseases may come from without yet they are commonly within our selves The Third said That Contagion is the communication of a disease from one body to another the most violent so communicable is the Pestilence which is defin'd a most acute contagious venomous and mortal Fever accompani'd with purple spots Buboes and Carbuncles 'T is properly a species of a Fever being a venomous and contra-natural heat kindled in the heart manifesting it self by a high frequent and unequal pulse except when nature yields at first to the violence and malignity of the disease and then the pulse is slow small and languishing but always unequal and irregular Oftentimes it kills the first or second day scarce passes to the seventh if it be simple and legitimate but when 't is accompani'd with putrefaction it reaches sometimes to the fourteenth It s malignity appears in its not yielding to ordinary remedies which operate by their first qualities but only to medicaments which act by occult properties an argument that the cause of these diseases is so too Now four things are here to be consider'd 1. That which is communicated 2. The body which communicates the same 3. That to which it is communicated 4. The medium through which the same is done A thing communicated against nature is either the disease or the cause of the disease or the symptom Here 't is the cause of the disease which is either corporeal or incorporeal The incorporeal in my opinion are the malignant influences of the Stars as of Mars and Saturn and during Comets and Eclipses For since their benigne influences preserve motion and life in all things of the world by the reason of contraries the malignity of the same aspects may be the cause of the diseases and irregularities which we behold in it The corporeal cause must be moveable an humour a vapour or a spirit which malignant evaporations kill oftentimes without any sign of putrefaction or if there be any it proceeds not from the corruption of the humours but from the oppression and suffocation of the natural heat by those malignant vapours and then the humours being destitute of the natural heat and of that of the spirits which preserv'd them turn into poyson There must be some proportion between the body which communicates this vapour and that which receives it but the same is unknown to us and this proportion is the cause that some Contagions seise only upon some animals as Horses Dogs and Cattle others upon Men alone Children Women old Men Women with Child and their burthens others seize only upon certain parts as the Itch is communicated only to the skin the Phthisick to the Lungs the Ophthalmia to the eyes and not to the other parts The medium of this communication is the air which being rare and spongy is very susceptible of such qualities which it easily transmits by its mobility And these qualities happen to it either extrinsecally as from faetid and venomous vapours and fumes exhal'd from carrion marshes impurities and openings of the ground by Earth-quakes which are frequently follow'd by the Pestilence or else they arise in the Air it self in which vapours may acquire a pestilential malignity of which a hot and moist intemperature is very susceptible The Fourth said That the Pestilence is found indifferently in all seasons climates sexes ages and persons which argues that its proximate cause is not the corruption of the humors and intemperature of the first qualities Otherwise the Pestilence should be as other diseases whereof some are hot others cold and be cur'd