doubts but every cause is a principle and that all niceties concerning this matter are altogether useless Philosophers do commonly reckon all Causes to be but Five in number they give the first place to that which they call the Efficient Cause which is that Agent which produces the things that are in Nature and gives them their essence and existences In the next place they rank the Material Cause being that subject which receives the impression of the efficient and operating cause The third is called the Formal Cause which gives a being to every thing as the most Noble and principal part of it The fourth is called the Exemplary Cause according to whose rule the efficient produces its action when it operates by Knowledge The fifth and last is the Final Cause which is the end for whose sake the efficient produces its effect In this first Part we shall speak of all things which concern these several Causes not omitting any thing which shall be thought necessary to the knowledge of them CHAP. I. Of the Efficient Cause and of its Essence and Differences THere is such a relation and connection between the Cause and the Effect that we cannot have a true notion of the cause unless at the same time we have a conception of the effect so in general we say that a cause is nothing else but that which gives being to another thing which is the effect of it which way soever it happens according to the Five Causes before mentioned All Philosophers do agree That of all Causes the Efficient is the most Noble because properly speaking this alone hath Effect though it be produced after several ways as we shall shew hereafter If the Efficient Cause acts by a power proper to it self then it is called the Principal cause but if onely by the force and impression of another then it is termed the Instrumental cause So we distinguish betwixt the Painter and the Pencil though both contribute to the production of the Picture Also the Universal Cause which produces many effects as the Sun the Stars and the Elements is distinguished from a Particular Cause which is determinate to one effect in particular Of this kind there are many sublunary causes acting in this inferior World. There is also a difference between the Total Cause which produces its effect without the help of another and That Cause which cannot act alone but only produces part of the effect There are also necessary and free causes the first acts necessarily and without choice as Fire the Sun and all created causes except Men and Angels for they act by a Free Will wherein consists the essence of Liberty The Efficient Cause is likewise either Physical or Moral the Physical acts really and immediately as Fire consuming a House with its Flame and he that sets fire to it for that purpose is the next moral cause and he who advises it is a moral but a remote cause of the consequential burning But if the Fire happens by chance and by the imprudence of one that carries a Candle in his hand and some sparks fall into the thatch which takes fire whereby the House is burnt here this Man is only an accidental cause of the Burning Lastly it is rightly distinguished between the First Cause which is Author of Nature and Nature created under which are comprehended all second causes and such are all Creatures As to the Efficient Cause whereof we speak it may be observed that when it acts by Knowledge all the said causes after their respective manner do concurr to the production of one and the same effect As the Painter drawing his Picture is the principal cause the Pencil the instrumental the End proposed by the Painter is the final cause and the Idea directing is the exemplary cause the form and disposition of the parts of the Piece that is painted may be taken for the form of it the Colours and the Cloath whereupon they are laid may be reckoned the material cause because they are the constituent matter of the Work. But if a Limner in his anger throws his Pencil as it is reported to have hapned to him who had in vain endeavoured to represent to the life a high mettled Horse Foaming at his Mouth or if a Limner undesignedly and by chance touches the Picture which thereby as it befell the former in his anger is made better the representation more agreeable the lines stronger or more piercing this would be only an effect of an accidental cause There are some things to be observed in an efficient cause when it acts which are inseparable from it such as these the nature of the Agent the existence of the cause the power which makes it act the intervening act the effect which is produced the subject whereby into which and wherein it is produced as we shall see in what follows CHAP. II. Of the first Cause THE existence of the first Cause or first Princple is so evident and so necessary that it is like Truth known by it self and ought not to be supposed liable to any difficulty especially amongst Christians who are illuminated by the Light of Divine Revelation And since a Man that submits himself to Faith hath not thereby renounced the light of Reason it will not be amiss to confirm this truth with natural reasons lest any doubt should remain in Spirits less tractable Which the better to effect I suppose a Truth so well known that no Man can deny unless he hath a mind to be thought ridiculous and infatuated This Truth so obvious that it ought to pass for a Principle whereupon as a sure foundation the existence of the first cause ought to be built is grounded upon our own proper existence there is nothing so evident nothing so certain than That we are in the World this truth is confirmed by the testimony of all our senses whatsoever we think whatsoever we say and whatsoever we do will not suffer us to imagine that our existence is an illusion Therefore it is certain and more than evident that we are in the World but that we are in it from our selves or by our selves or by casualty or chance or by the necessity of being is absolutely impossible so that it is necessary that we are in the World by the means and assistance of a certain other Being who as the Author was also the free Principle of that essence which we possess This Principle is necessarily either a first or second cause if the first then you shall see that we are agreed and that the true existence of the first cause which some would deny is rightly built upon the truth of our Being which no Man can deny if we make the cause of our being to be a second cause then it must be confessed that this second cause is produced by a third and the third by a fourth and so in going upwards as they do in the Genealogies of ancient and Noble Progenies at last we find the
so by the dissolution of the parts the compound would cease which is plainly inconsistent with that Idea which we have of God who is simple in his Nature Independent and every way Incorruptible The first cause is not only One and without its like in its Essence but also one sole and without a second in that action by which the world was produced And for this reason this action is called Creation supposing nothing but meer nothing out of which all things were made by the only power of God without the help of any other having either the quality of an Agent or a Subject The world being produced by this first cause remains subject to the will and pleasure of it And in the same manner as it was produced by the sole act of this first cause so it is preserved in the same State by the sole influence of the same cause who as it did not want any other second cause in the Creation of the Universe so neither doth it stand in need of any assistance in the conservation of it Being and Nothing are so opposite to one another that the Philosophers always had it for a Maxim That out of nothing nothing could be made which is to be understood only in reference to second causes and not in respect of the first whose power is infinite and who can do what he pleases this power in the creation of the Universe was not applyed according to the extensiveness of its activity because it pleased God to terminate the being qualities and number of second causes which are created The Creation was no necessary action for the first Cause did not Create the World but at such a Time in such a Place and in such a Manner as seemed good to it self so it made all those things with the highest Liberty there being no other cause either equal or superior to it self who was able to compel perswade animate or incite it to the Creation of the world The World it self could not terminate a necessary action because it could not be Eternal for every thing that is of necessity is eternal neither had it ever a beginning nor can it have an end because it is against the nature of a created being which is limited in its qualities and duration no less than in its natural Substance If the first cause was free in the Creation of the world thence it follows that all things were made by direction of reason and understanding and by consequence according to a certain Idea and Rule But because the first cause operates after an independent manner it could not have the Type of its production any where else but from it self neither could it act by a rule distinct from its own being so God is not only the efficient but the exemplary cause of all things For the same reason it may be said That the first Cause which is God is the final cause of all things for when he as an intelligent and free cause produced the World he did propose to himself an end answerable to his Dignity that is himself and his own proper Glory so that the first cause is necessarily the ultimate end of all its effects CHAP. IV. Of second Causes and their Actions ALL Creatures are called second Causes because they depend upon the first neither do they operate but by the Command and Impression of the first this First or Universal Cause does act Uuniversally with particular Causes but after a manner agreeing with the Nature of every particular thing and according to the power which was given it when it was created which does not alter the Nature of the Causes nor the necessity or Liberty of their actions This power of acting which is granted to second Causes is not a quality different from their Nature and Being So the Power which the Atoms have of moving themselves doth not differ from the Atoms themselves the power of burning or heating doth not differ from the Fire to which it is inherent unless it be in the manner of our conceiving things and of speaking of them according to our conceptions So it is of an Action which terminates from the cause to the effect and which is nothing else than a certain relation or an actual subordination which is found betwixt the cause and the effect This action is never without motion or to say better action and motion is one and the same thing thence it is that a thing rests when it is without action and then it begins to move it self when it begins action so according to three ways of acting there are found in the nature of things three kinds of motion The first is made without Sense or Reason which we may see in Stones Mettals Plants and the Heavens The second kind of motion is made by sense and knowledge as are seen in all living Creatures The third kind joins Reason to Sense as we observe in man acting by Phancy who proposes an end to himself distinguishes between Good and Evil and hath the liberty of prosecuting the several Objects presented to his view either with love or hatred As an action is not indeed distinct from the cause acting nor from the effect which it doth produce so motion doth not differ from the thing moved or from the thing which moves it but both of them Is accordingly as they change their condition or cease to rest which from the Creation was never done without a certain local motion of the whole or some part thereof so the notion of rest is opposite to the notion of mutation and action as well as motion CHAP. V. Of Accidental Causes THere are many causes which are called Accidental Causes for properly speaking they are not true causes which sort of causes happens four manner of ways first a Musitian draws a Picture not as he is a Musitian but as a Painter so that the Art of Painting is the true cause of this work And as the Art of Singing contributes nothing here since it falls out by chance that the Art of Singing and the Art of Painting meet together in this Man and since the Art of Singing is no way requisite for the making of the Picture in this respect we may say that the Musitian is only an accidental cause of the Picture which he hath drawn Secondly a remote or indirect cause is called an accidental cause as when we say that the Sun is the cause of darkness because darkness is occasioned by the absence of the Sun Mirth is the cause of Sadness and Peace arises from War As a Man endeavouring to save his Friend whose Life is in danger and thereby unwillingly exposing him to a certain death is the indirect or accidental cause of his death As he who perswades his Friend to cross the Seas whereby he is cast away Thirdly an opposite cause which produces an effect quite contrary to that which it ought to produce is an accidental cause as it was with the subjects of such
A NEW TREATISE OF Natural Philosophy Free'd from the INTRICACIES OF THE SCHOOLS Adorned with many Curious Experiments both Medicinal and Chymical AS ALSO With Several Observations useful for the Health of the Body LONDON Printed by R. E. for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over against the Royal. Exchange in Cornhill 1687. LICENSED October 28. 1686. ROBERT MIDGLEY INDEX THe First Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature CHAP. I. Of the Efficient Cause and of its Essence and Differences CHAP. II. Of the First Cause CHAP. III. The Perfections of the First Cause CHAP. IV. Of Second Causes and their Actions CHAP. V. Of Accidental Causes CHAP. VI. Of Sympathy Antipathy and the Effects depending thereupon CHAP. VII Experiments about Iron and the Loadstone CHAP. VIII An Explication of many other Effects which are commonly attributed to Sympathy CHAP. IX Of Portative Remedies commonly called Amulets of Quick-Silver Gold Silver and Copper CHAP. X. Of Natural Phoenomenas which are attributed to Antipathy CHAP. XI Of Emeticks Sudorificks and Specificks CHAP. XII Of Poysons and Toxicks CHAP. XIII Of Sublimate Arsenick and other kinds of Poysons and their deadly Effects CHAP. XIV Of Antidotes CHAP. XV. Of the true Causes of our Diseases CHAP. XVI Of the Causes of our Health CHAP. XVII Of Formal Exemplary and Material Causes CHAP. XVIII Of the First Matter CHAP. XIX Of Atoms and their Nature CHAP. XX. The Properties Magnitude Figure Weight and Motion of Atoms CHAP. XXI The Difficulties arising from the Doctrine of Atoms CHAP. XXII Of a Disseminate Congregate and Separate Vacuum according to Gassendus CHAP. XXIII Of a Congregate Vacuum against Aristotle and Cartesius The Second Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Coelestial World and of those things which are above Man. CHAP. I. Of the immense Spaces which are without the Heavens CHAP. II. Of the Heavens and their Nature CHAP. III. Of Stars and their Substance CHAP. IV. Of the Figures and Magnitude of Stars CHAP. V. Of the Motion of the Stars CHAP. VI. The System of the World according to Ptolomy Examined CHAP. VII The System of the World according to Copernicus Examined CHAP. VIII Of the Motion of the Earth CHAP. IX Of the Sun the true Centre and Heart of the World. CHAP. X. Of the Moon and its Changes CHAP. XI Of Planets Comets and the Fixed Stars CHAP. XII Of Meteors in the Air. CHAP. XIII Of Winds Tempests and Whirl-winds CHAP. XIV Of Thunder Lightning and the Thunderbolt CHAP. XV. Of Aurum-Fulminans which imitates Thunder CHAP. XVI Of Hail Snow Frost c. CHAP. XVII Of the Rainbow Halones and Parrhelis CHAP. XVIII Of the Air its Substance and Qualities The Third Part of Physick of those things which are beneath Man viz. of the Earth and Terrestrial Things which are called Inanimate CHAP. I. Of the Earth and Water in General CHAP. II. Of Terrestrial Inanimate Bodies in General CHAP. III. Of the various Qualities observed in Compound Bodies CHAP. IV. Of Special Qualities which arise from the Composition of Bodies CHAP. V. Of the Quantity Weight and Figure of Compound Bodies CHAP. VI. The Difference betwixt Natural Artificial and Compound Bodies CHAP. VII Of Mettals and their Formation CHAP. VIII Of Gold the King of Mettals CHAP. IX Of Silver Copper and other imperfect Mettals CHAP. X. Of Lead Tin and Iron CHAP. XI Of Quick-Silver Arbor Diana or the Silver Tree CHAP. XII Of Minerals CHAP. XIII Of Salts CHAP. XIV Of Subterranean Fires aend Earthquakes CHAP. XV. Of Waters and their Differences CHAP. XVI Of the Sea its Ebbing and Flowing and of the Saltness of the Sea-Water CHAP. XVII Of Springs and Rivers The Fourth Part of Physick Of those things which are in Man and of Man himself as he is a Compound Physical and Animate Body CHAP. I. Of Life in General CHAP. II. Of the difference of Lives CHAP. III. Of the Vegetative Life common to Man and Plants CHAP. IV. Of the Nature of Seeds and their Propagation CHAP. V. Of Nutrition which is common to Plants and Brutes as well as Man. CHAP. VI. How and with what Food an Embryo is nourished in the Womb 'till the time of its Nativity CHAP. VII How a Man is nourished after he is Born. CHAP. VIII The Sensitive Life of Man and other Animals CHAP. IX Of Seeing its Organ and Object viz. Light. CHAP. X. How illustrated Objects are visible CHAP. XI Of Hearing its Organ and Object CHAP. XII Particular Questions about Hearing CHAP. XIII Smelling its Organ and Object CHAP. XIV Of Tast and its Object CHAP. XV. Of Feeling CHAP. XVI Of Speech the Pulse and Breathing of Man. CHAP. XVII Of the Motion of the Heart CHAP. XVIII Of the irregular motion of the Heart in Animals and in Feavers CHAP. XIX Of the Circulation of the Blood. CHAP. XX. Of the inward Senses and the inferiour Appetite CHAP. XXI Of Sleep want of Rest and Death CHAP. XXII Of the Death of Brutes Plants and Mettals CHAP. XXIII Of the Rational Soul and its Powers NATURAL PHILOSOPHY OR Natural Science FREED FROM The Intricacies of the Schools THE desire of Knowledge is natural to Man Curiosity is inseparable from his Spirit neither is he ever at rest until he hath attained to the perfect knowledge of things that is until he becomes a Wise Man. Science is the Knowledge of things by their Causes therefore there is no Man Wise who is ignorant of the Original Principles and Causes of all things occurring to him and since it is impossible for any Man in this Life to attain to a clear distinct and an undubitable knowledge of all things therefore there is no Man that is absolutely Wise Those who have the Reputation of being Wise and Excellent Philosophers have obtained that preheminence in regard they are less ignorant than others Sciences differ according to the diversity of Mens Conditions and Professions The Noble Man is conversant and wise in the Art of War the Physitian in the Precepts of Medicine and the Advocate in matters of Law and Right but all these Sciences nay Theology it self cannot subsist without Philosophy especially without that part of it which we call Physick or natural Science The First Part of Physick wherein is Treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature BY Nature is understood the Universe composed of Heaven and Earth and all that is found between both this is the Object of Physick this every natural Philosopher ought to know and because this Knowledge cannot be obtained without knowing the principles and causes of things hence it is evident that a Natural Philosopher ought to use his utmost endeavour to enquire into the principles and causes of Nature and of all things which happen in this World. I shall not examine here whether there be any difference betwixt a Cause and a Principle for every principle after its manner I conceive to be a cause of that thing whereof it is the principle and no Man
head of the Family that is the first cause who by his great Atchievements purchased to himself the Quality and Title of Nobility and left those Titles to his Illustrious Family It is likewise true that there is no Family so Illustrious or so Ancient but the Genealogy of it terminates in one private person who gave it both its Name and Original and which was the first Cause of its Nobility no certainly unless we erect a ridiculous and an infinite Genealogie or like the Egyptians who imagined themselves to be older than the Moon will say that its Origine is as unknown as the Head of Nilus In the same manner after we have by way of ascent to our Fathers and Ancestors examined what kind of Author we had of our being whom we may call the first cause of all things which are in us we do necessarily find a certain Being which was before all things and which is the effect of no other causes and which is the Cause of all things which are in the World and consequentially the first who is that God whom we adore This demonstration doth abundantly convince any Person who hath in him the least spark of the light of reason It is ridiculous to say that we our selves were the cause of our Being because from thence it would follow that we did exist before we had a being that we gave our selves that which we were not in posession of and that the cause and the effect was one and the same thing which is impossible It is no less an errour to affirm That we are in the World by Necessity for if we were so in the World our existence would never have had a beginning and we would have been immutable and independent and infinite in every kind of perfection which is repugnant to experience and right Reason That perswasion of Epicurus and his Followers is no less ridiculous That the first Authors of our existence were produced by Chance or by a fortuitous occurrence of Attoms This opinion of it self falls to the ground Let it be supposed that the World was produced by this fortuitous occurrence of Atoms yet still the question will be Whether these Atoms were Created or Uncreated If created they acknowledge a Cause of their existence and this cause must own another and so ad infinitum which cannot be maintained for then the World would be eternal and thence to this present time there would have been an infinite number of rational Souls in the World Aristotle who supposed the eternity of the World and the immortality of the Soul yet did deny the Transmigration of Souls and would allow nothing in Nature to be actually infinite whereby he makes himself guilty of an absurd contradiction The same Aristotle stumbles upon another Contradiction in Relation to the First Cause for if the World be Eternal and without a beginning this Second Cause is of no use for the same Reason which proves the World to have a beginning proves likewise the existence of the first cause on the other hand the same reason which proves the existence of the first cause does at the same time prove that the World once had a beginning and doth demonstrate that it was not Eternal In the same manner Epicurus is guilty of an absurd contradiction when he says that Atoms which according to his opinion he makes to be the causes of all things were produced and created by another But if he says these Atoms were Uncreated and that they were Eternal Beings necessary and independent then every Atom must be some Divinity and that they are both the efficient and material cause of all things which is impossible because the opposition and relation which is necessarily betwixt a principle acting and the subject whereupon it acts do imply a necessary distinction CHAP. III. The Perfections of the first Cause THey who are throughly satisfied with the existence of the first cause must of necessity attribute to it all the Perfections which are or can be in the World that it is not only the most perfect and most noble of causes but also it ought to be supposed that all the effects which it hath produced or is yet capable of producing are in its Being in all perfections and that every one of them is infinite and as it is the first cause in the unity of its Being for it is necessary it should have the perfections of those beings which it hath or can produce for otherwise it would or could communicate that which it neither hath nor can have The first cause would not be absolutely perfect if it were not eternal for so it would have had a beginning and might have an end and then it could not be the first cause in so much that it derives its existence from that which was pre-existent to it and by consequence this cause which we suppose to be first would be a second cause limited in its being and perfections as in its duration and it would seem to have a dependence upon another Whereas when we suppose it to be the first all others must depend upon it and be subordinate to it whence it follows that these qualities of the first cause are inseparable from it Independence Eternity Infinity and Supreme Authority and that we cannot conceive any first cause but at the same time we acknowledge the existence of God. This first Cause or to say better this first Being which is God must necessarily have that perfect Unity which admits no multiplication either of Nature or Perfections Certainly if God was not one in his being but had several Natures the number of them ought to be infinite and that none of these Beings in particular would be infinite because when the perfection of one cannot be the perfection of another there will not be one to be found but will stand in need of the perfection of the other that is in whom there would not be requisite that perfection which the other Beings do possess I add moreover That all these supposed Beings would be opposite independent and all Supreme which is impossible or that all would be subject to one or other of them which is ridiculous whence it follows that there is but one only God who is one in his existence incapable of any multiplication and who is the Primary and Universal Cause of all things The great number or rather the infinity of perfections which we apprehend to be in the First Cause is not repugnant to the Supreme Unity because that does not divide the being and they are but one and the same thing though we give them several Names and do consider them under several Ideas which we are forced to correct since without that Unity there would be necessarily a composition of parts which would be the cause of the whole Compound and which would precede its existence which cannot be the ingredient of that composition without something else intervening they might also be divided and separated
full and absolute Cure or partly which allays the violence of the Distemper But without doubt or contradiction the true Antidote of the Plague is changing of the Air or correcting of it by good Scents which being attracted within us together with the Air do attemper and correct it and their Corpuscles do check the impatience and the too-free motion of the emancipated Atoms The Poison of a Mad Dog is very hard to be cured and as that sort of Madness is accounted incurable and is publickly attended with a very deadly and fatal issue we are forced to bind those who are infected or suspected and at length to smother them between two Feather-beds The ordinary Remedy is to send them to the Sea to throw them into it several times Experience teaches us that that kind of Remedy is not altogether useless but is to be accounted amongst those which are most safe though it be not altogether infallible The antipathy of the Sea-water hath no room here and it were vain to alledge it in the confirmation of this practice Therefore I say that according to our Principles the emancipated Atoms proceeding from the spittle of the mad dog while they penetrate the substance of the Brain or at least begin to penetrate it or to be turned round its foldings to enter into its Cavities are interrupted in their motion so that they cannot enter into the Cavities of it nay and they are thrown partly out by those struglings which the Patient must necessarily suffer when he is cast into the Sea I do not nor will not deny but that there are Atoms or Corpuscles proceeding from the Froth of the Sea which entring into the Patients body thro' the Pores made open by the agitation or by breathing in of the Air and being comunicated to the blood do with their cubicular figures fix and withstand the emancipated Atoms which produce the madness or nearly dispose the body to it To comprehend in a word all that can be said concerning this matter whatsoever can heal or give ease to a Distemper so dangerous it does it only by hindring the Motion of those loosed Atoms or by quite expelling them out of the body The same thing may be said of the third sort of Poison that is the Venerial which is called the French disease That also hath its general and specifick Antidotes Quick-silver is commonly used for this business and that by reason of that antipathy which is betwixt it and the disease it is most certainly held to be the one only Remedy for it Others use Sudorificks as Guajacum Salsaparilla or animal or Mineral Bezoar or the salt of Vipers Others are only contented with one Remedy which is Mercury perfected by Nature and radically divided by Art also the more industrious do use Philosophical water prepared from the Beams of the Sun and Moon But tho' we may provide an excellent Remedy against this Distemper nevertheless it must be confessed that it is not radically taken away but by the help of those things which expel the Venerial emancipated Atoms from the Centre to the Circumference whether it be done by sweat or by an insensible transpiration this doth not happen by Antipathy or some occult quality but by the motion of the Particles of the Medicine which strike against these miserable Atoms and drive them out by those most convenient ways that is the Pores of our Body Therefore let us proceed to those Antidotes which are opposite to Toxicks not by Antipathy or some occult quality but by their different figures Therefore who will say that Milk hath an aversion to Sublimate or Arsenick though it be a most speedy Remedy and that no less than Oyl which doth resist Poyson because descending into the Ventricle and in its passage touching the Gullet and the orifice of the Ventricle as well as Milk doth lessen the motion of the Corpuscles of the Poison and blunts the sharp points and corners of them and defends all those Parts But of all things a Vomit is most useful in this Case being assisted with the help of Milk or Oyle Slackning the Tunicles of the Stomach and making the Passage more easie For if a Vomit should be given without smoothing and besmearing the Passage the Venome in coming out would Excoriate all the parts that it touched by its sharp-pointed Saw-like and Hooked Particles which are covered by the Particles of Oyl or Milk going out with them and are so prohibited and hindred from hurting In the Conclusion of this Chapter I do observe that Corrupt Humours in our Body as Physicians do affirm to us do degenerate into Poisons and Toxicks but they are silent as to the Reason of this Confusion and all the manner of avoiding it First they ascribe this Corruption to External Causes or to inward Occult and Maligne Qualities or to the excess of certain Qualities as Cold Hot Dry Moist or to certain unwholesom Diet and to ill Digestion or lastly to Obstructions hindring the necessary distribution of them But truly it is not demonstrated from thence that crude and an undigested Diet or Corrupt Humours do degenerate into Poison therefore the true Cause of this thing and the solid Reason of it must be enquired into To this purpose I do suppose that the Humours or Nourishment being any manner of way divided may be said to be Corrupted because I acknowledge no difference between a division and a corruption of a thing but in a separation which is not total there remain some Bodies which are neither Poisons nor Toxicks though they Oppress and Obstruct the Parts and hinder the intercourse of the Spirits as it happens in Phlegm Melancholly and Slimy Humours which are joyned with the Earthy part of the Excrements Besides these Bodies there are other Corpuscles which with their Hooks Sharp points and Stings do pierce prick and penetrate Man's Body and the Membranes of it as also the Veins Muscles and Nerves and do Corrode the Stomach and in the same manner with Poison do occasion Ulcers Imposthumes and Pustles These are those which the Physicians do call sharp biting and Chollerick Humours whereof that I may end this Tract concerning Sympathy and Antipathy and the Actions depending thereon and without these Occult Causes assign a true and an Efficient Cause of all our Distempers I am compelled to treat in a Chapter by it self and in that which follows shall be delivered the General means whereby the Causes and Roots of all Diseases may be Removed CHAP. XV. The True Cause of our Diseases THe Effects of our Diseases are pernicious and have their Origine either from within or without the Causes of them sometimes are so obscure that the Original of them cannot be discovered and though we define a Disease to be a disposition against Nature or an inordinate Constitution of those Qualities which are Constituent of a Right Temperature yet for all this we are not Wiser or more Learned than we were before Therefore after
That is the First matter out of which all bodies are composed and into which by an Universal Division they may be reduced the Second is nothing else but Bodies made of the first and upon which the efficient Causes do exercise their activities Therefore it is apparent That there is nothing in the World but what is a Compound and that there is no Compound without matter It is also certain That there is nothing made without an Efficient Cause which acts upon Compounds and destroys them that of them others may be made because the matter of the first serves for the composition of the second the Matter which goes to the composition of the first and second is the first Matter or Material Cause of the Compound and that Matter which serves the Efficient Cause for a Subject and Patient is called the Second Matter Both of them may be an efficient cause for Compounds do act upon one another as the Elements which drive one another backwards and forwards that which drives another is called the Agent as that which is driven is called the Patient and if there be any thing which resists it and drives back another this regress of the motion is called a reaction so one and the same thing may be the Subject and cause of Motion and that to give and receive being the Principle of Agent and Patient may Be at the same time but in divers respects CHAP. XVIII Of the first Matter ALL Philosophers do unanimously agree That there is a first Matter in the World which was produced from the beginning and tho' it can never be altered by any Change yet it is to be seen in all the Generations and Corruptions which are in Nature this doth suppose that the first Matter did exist before the Generation of the Compound wherein it is found and that it still remains and survives the Corruption of it as fire is made of Chips the Matter of the Fire was in the Chips and it is found partly in the Fire partly in the Smoak and partly also in the Ashes It is agreed by all Men That nothing is made out of nothing and that there is nothing in Nature which can be reduced into nothing so that the first remains one and the same in all the Revolutions which do happen Therefore in respect of Matter we may justly say that there is nothing new in the World since the Creation of it and that this Matter in its Nature is incorruptible so that to explain the Essence of this first Matter is all and the one only difficulty If we hearken to Aristotle he makes It the Subject of all Forms and that It is nothing but a passive Power or a meer Capacity of producing and receiving them in its Bosom He says in another place that Matter in it self hath neither quality nor quantity nor any Essence beside that which it received from that Form which perfected it But this explication gives us no Idea of Matter neither doth it teach us any thing of the nature of it on the other hand according to this Doctrine we may say that Matter is something and we may say at the same time that it is nothing and that it gives that Being to Form and receives the same from it and lastly that it hath distinct parts without any quantity which seems to be impossible They were more in the right who said That the first Matter was nothing else but the first Elements into which Compounds by a total dissolution are reduced also these Elements ought to be simple and indivisible for otherwise the first Elements are not such as we suppose them to be It follows from this Doctrine that neither Water nor Air nor Earth nor Fire are the first Elements of things because they are Compounds Therefore we must look out for other Elements which are simple and indivisible those things which the Chymists would fain establish that is Salt Sulphur and Mercury cannot be taken for the First Elements of Bodies since they are but Compounds of many other Bodies I am of the same Opinion concerning Descartes his three Elements which he would have to be the principles of things which is impossible because they are divisible Therefore we must acknowledge that only simple and indivisible Atoms are the first Matter and first Principles and Elements whereof Bodies are composed Out of these Atoms are Corpuscles made out of these Corpuscles small Masses out of Masses greater parts then of these parts greater Bodies whereof the Universe doth consist In the same manner going backward in an analytical method the World is divided into great Bodies those into parts parts into small Masses Masses into Corpuscles and lastly these Corpuscles are divided into Atoms CHAP. XIX Of Atoms and their Nature THat we may solidly evince the existency of Atoms we must suppose that every compound may be divided into so many parts as there are which make the compound Therefore division ought necessarily to cease when there is a failure of parts to be divided on the other side there is no end of it as long as there are Particles to be divided one of the two we must allow that is either that a body cannot be so exactly divided but that there always remain divisible parts in infinitum or that there are parts after a certain number of Divisions which will not admit any further division Aristotle stands for the former but Gassendus and the Ancient Philosophers do defend the latter and according to this last Doctrine after all the Divisions are made nothing can remain besides Atoms that is indivisible Beings which are the first Elements of Natural Bodies I confess it is hard to imagin a corporeal thing to be indivisible because we see nothing in this World which is not divisible but this makes nothing against Atoms which are Corporeal because they compose Bodies and are Indivisible because they are the first and most simple Elements of Bodies Hence arises another difficulty because it cannot be easily explained after what manner a thing that is divisible is composed of parts which are indivisible Impartial minds do not find so much difficulty in conceiving this matter as those do who follow the prejudices which they have received First these Men who are thus so prepossessed do not consider that there are many things which escape our Senses and yet are most real Secondly they do not consider that that which composes a Body is not a compound as we see that Unity makes number tho' it self be not a number Letters whereof Nouns and words are framed yet are neither the one nor the other The drops of Water whereof Rivers do consist are not Rivers so Atoms though they are invisible and indivisible yet they compose Bodies which are visible and divisible Aristotle and his Followers do teach us That a small body as for Example a Millet Seed is divisible in infinitum and that it contains an infinite number of Parts which being supposed