of all the violent desires malicious envies intemperate joyes and irregular griefs by which the lives of most men become miserable or guilty we shall find that they are chiefly produc'd by Idleness and may be most naturally cur'd by diversion Whatever Art shall be able to busy the minds of men with a constant cours of innocent Works or to fill them with as vigorous and pleasant Images as those ill impressions by which they are deluded it will certainly have a surer effect in the composing and purifying of their thoughts than all the rigid praecepts of the Stoical or the empty distinctions of the Peripatetic Moralists Now then it is requir'd in that study which shall attempt according to the force of Nature to cure the diseases of the mind that it keep it from idleness by full and earnest employments and that it possess it with innocent various lasting and even sensible delights How active and industrious the Art of Experiments ought to be may be concluded from the whole tenour of my discours wherein I have often prov'd that it can never be finish'd by the perpetual labours of any one man nay scarce by the successive force of the greatest Assembly That therefore being taken for granted that it will afford eternal employments It is also as true that its labors will contain the most affecting and the most diverting Delights and that thence it has power enough to free the minds of men from their vanities and intemperance by that very way which the greatest Epicure has no reason to reject by opposing pleasure against pleasure And I dare challenge all the corrupt Arts of our Senses or the devices of voluptuous wits to provide fuller more changeable or nearer objects for the contentment of mens minds It were indeed to be wish'd that severe virtu itself attended only by its own Authority were powerful enough to establish its dominion But it cannot be so The corruptions and infirmities of human Nature stand in need of all manner of allurements to draw us to good and quiet manners I will therefore propose for this end this cours of Study which will not affright us with rigid praecepts or sou'r looks or peevish commands but consists of sensible pleasure and besides will be most lasting in its satisfaction and innocent in its remembrance What raptures can the most voluptuous men fancy to which these are not equal Can they relish nothing but the pleasures of their senses They may here injoy them without guilt or remors Are they affrighted at the difficulties of Knowledge Here they may meet with a Study that as well fits the most negligent minds as the most industrious This consists of so many Works and those so obvious and facil that the most laborious will never find cause to be idle and the most idle may still have something to do with the greatest ease In this they need not weary themselves by searching for matter Whatever they feel or see will afford them Observations In this there is no tedious praeparation requir'd to fit them for such indeavors As soon as they have the use of their hands and eies and common sense they they are sufficiently furnish'd to undertake them Though we cannot comprehend the Arts of men without many praevious Studies yet such is the indulgence of Nature that it has from the beginning out of its own store sufficiently provided every man with all things that are needful for the understanding of itself Thus neither the sensual mind has any occasion to contemn Experiments as unpleasant nor the idle as burdensome or intollerable nor the virtuous as unworthy of his labors And the same influence they may have on all other moral imperfections of human Nature What room can there be for low and little things in a mind so usefully and successfully employd What ambitious disquiets can torment that man who has so much glory before him for which there are only requir'd the delightful Works of his hands What dark or melancholy passions can overshadow his heart whose senses are always full of so many various productions of which the least progress and success will affect him with an innocent joy What anger envy hatred or revenge can long torment his breast whome not only the greatest and noblest objects but every sand every pible every grass every earth every fly can divert To whom the return of every season every month every day do suggest a circle of most pleasant operations If the Antients prescrib'd it as a sufficient Remedy against such violent Passions only to repeat the Alphabet over whereby there was leasure given to the mind to recover itself from any sudden fury then how much more effectual Medicines against the same distempers may be fetch'd from the whole Alphabet of Nature which represents itself to our Consideration in so many infinit Volumes I will now proceed to the weightiest and most solemn part of my whole undertaking to make a defence of the Royal Society and this new Experimental Learning in respect of the Christian Faith I am not ignorant in what a slippery place I now stand and what a tender matter I am enter'd upon I know that it is almost impossible without offence to speak of things of this Nature in which all Mankind each Country and now almost every Family do so widely disagree among themselves I cannot expect that what I shall say will escape misinterpretation though it be spoken with the greatest simplicity and submission while I behold that most men do rather value themselves and others on the little differences of Religion than the main substance itself and while the will of God is so variously distracted that what appears to be Piety to some Christians is abhorr'd as the greatest superstition and heresy by others However to smooth my way as much as I can and to prepare all our several Spiritual Interests to read this part with some tolerable moderation I do here in the beginning most sincerely declare that if this design should in the least diminish the Reverence that is due to the Doctrine of Iesus Christ it were so far from deserving protection that it ought to be abhorr'd by all the Politic and Prudent as well as by the devout Part of Christendom And this I profess I think they were bound to do not only from a just dread of the Being the Worship the Omnipotence the Love of God all which are to be held in the highest veneration but also out of a regard to the peace and prosperity of men In matters that concern our opinions of another World the least alterations are of wonderful hazard how mischievous then would that enterprise be whose effects would abolish the command of Conscience the belief of a future life or any of those Hevenly Doctrines by which not only the eternal condition of men is secur'd but their natural Reason and their Temporal safety advanc'd Whoever shall impiously attempt to subvert the Authority of the Divine
especially above all others they have no reason to despise Trade as below them when it has so great an Influence on the very Government of the World In former ages indeed this was not so remarkeable The Seats of Empire and Trade were seldom or never the same Tyre and Sydon and Cades and Marseiles had more Trafic but less command than Rome or Athens or Sparta or Macedon But now it is quite otherwise It is now most certain that in those Coasts whither the greatest Trade shall constantly flow the greatest Riches and Power will be establish'd The caus of this difference between the antient times and our own is hard to be discover'd perhaps it is this that formerly the greatest part of the World liv'd rudely on their own Natural Productions but now so many Nations being Civiliz'd and living splendidly there is a far greater consumption of all forein Commodities and so the gain of Trade is become great enough to overbalance all other strength Whether this be the reason or no it matters not But the observation is true And this we see is sufficiently known to all our Neighbors who are earnestly bent upon the advancing of Commerce as the best means not only to inrich particular Merchants but to enlarge their Empire The next thing to be recommended to the Gentlemen of England has a neer kindred with the other and that is the Philosophy of Nature and Arts. For the want of such an easy cours of studies so many of them have miscarried in their first years and have ever after abhorr'd all manner of sober Works What else do signify the universal complaints of those who direct the Education of great mens Children Why do they find them so hard to be fix'd to any manner of Knowledge Their Teachers indeed are wont to impute it to the delicacy of their breeding and to their Mothers fondness But the chief caus of the mischief lyes deeper They fill their heads with difficult and unintelligible Notions which neither afford them pleasure in learning nor profit in remembring them they chiefly instruct them in such Arts which are made for the beaten tracks of professions and not for Gentlemen Whereas their minds should be charm'd by the allurements of sweeter and more plausible Studies And for this purpose Experiments are the fittest Their Objects they may feel and behold Their productions are most popular Their Method is intelligible and equal to their capacities so that in them they may soon become their own Teachers Nor are they to contemn them for their plainess and the homely matters about which they are often employ'd If they shall think scorn to foul their fingers about them on this account let them cast their eies back on the Original Nobility of all Countries And if that be true that every thing is preserv'd and restor'd by the same means which did beget it at first they may then be taught that their present Honor cannot be maintain'd by intemperate pleasures or the gawdy shews of pomp but by true Labors and Industrious Virtu Let them reflect on those great men who first made the name of Nobility venerable And they shall find that amidst the Government of Nations the dispatch of Armies and nois of Victories some of them disdain'd not to work with a Spade to dig the Earth and to cultivate with Triumphing hands the Vine and the Olive These indeed were times of which it were well if we had more footsteps than in antient Authors Then the minds of men were innocent and strong and bountiful as the Earth in which they labor'd Then the vices of human Nature were not their Pride but their Scorn Then Virtu was itself neither adulterated by the false Idols of Goodness nor puff'd up by the empty forms of Greatness as since it has bin in some Countries of Europe which are arriv'd at that corruption of manners that perhaps some severe Moralists will think it had bin more needful for me to persuade the men of this Age to continue Men than to turn Philosophers But in this History I will forbear all farther complaints which are scarce acceptable to the humor of this time even in our Divine and Moral works in which they are necessary I therefore return to that which I undertook to the agreeableness of this design to all conditions and degrees of our Nobility If they require such Studies as are proportionable to the greatness of their Titles they have here those things to consider from whence even they themselves fetch the distinctions of their Gentility The Minerals the Plants the Stones the Planets the Animals they bear in their Arms are the chief Instruments of Heraldry by which those Houses are exalted above those of the vulgar And it is a shame for them to boast of the bearing of those Creatures they do not understand If they value the Antiquity of Families and long race of Pedigrees What can be more worthy their consideration than all the divers lineages of Nature These have more proof of their antient descent that any of them can shew For they have all continued down in a right line from Cause to Effect from the Creation to this day If they shall confine themselves to the Country they have this for there cheap diversion If they return to the City this will afford them in every Shop occasions to inform their judgments and not to devour their Estates If they go forth to public service to the leading of Armies or Navies they have this for their perpetual Counsailor and very often for their preserver There are so many Natural and Mechanical things to be accurately observ'd by the greatest Captains as the advantages of different Arms and ammunitions the passages of Rivers the streights of Mountains the cours of Tydes the signs of Weather the Air the Sun the Wind and the like that though I will not determin the Knowledge of Nature to be absolutely necessary to the great office of a General yet I may venture to affirm that it will often prove a wonderful assistance and ornament to the cours of Glory which he pursues All Histories are full of Examples of the great accidents which have happen'd by the ignorance of chief Commanders in Natural Motions and effects of these I will only instance in Three The First is of Caesar himself who had Conquer'd more Countries than most Travailers have seen and gain'd more Battels than others have read of yet he had like to have put a period to all his Victories by the want of an exact skill in one of the commonest Works of Nature This he himself relates in his second passage into Britain when his Army was so dismay'd at the ebbing of the Sea from their Fleet believing it to be a Stratagem of their Enemies that scarce the courage and conduct of Caesar could hinder them from being terrify'd to their own overthrow which had bin a fatal misfortune to the Britains as well as Romans becaus from his victorious
Royal Society did well foresee and therefore did not regard the credit of Names but Things rejecting or approving nothing because of the title which it bears preserving to it self the liberty of refusing or liking as it found and so advancing its stock by a sure and a double increase by adding new Discoveries and retaining antient Truths A largeness and generosity which certainly is an excellent Omen of its establishment In this me-thinks it excels any other Sect as the Roman Common-wealth did that of Venice The later began upon a small stock and has been careful to preserve it self unmingled bestowing the freedom of its City very sparingly And we see it has been still on the defensive making no great progress in the World whereas the Romans by a far more frank and honourable counsel admitted all that desir'd to be their confederates gave the liberty of Roman Citizens to whole Towns and Countreys excluded none but those that would obstinately stand out and so deservedly extended their Empire as farr as the bounds of the civil World did reach The second mischief in this great matter of causes is an eternal instability and aversion from assigning of any This arises from a violent and imprudent hast to avoid the first So easie is the passage from one extreme to another and so hard it is to stop in that little point wherein the right does consist The truth is they are both almost equally pernicious nothing sound is to be expected from those who wil fix blindly on whatever they can lay hold on and nothing great from them who will always wander who will never leave disputing whether they dream or wake whether there is any motion whether they have any being or no the one can produce nothing but unwholesome and rotten fruits and the other for fear of that will endeavour to have no Harvest nor Autumn at all To this fault of Sceptical doubting the Royal Society may perhaps be suspected to be a little too much inclin'd because they always professed to be so backward from setling of Principles or fixing upon Doctrines But if we fairly consider their intentions we shall soon acquit them Though they are not yet very daring in establishing conclusions yet they lay no injunctions upon their successors not to do the same when they shall have got a sufficient store for such a work It is their study that the way to attain a solid speculation should every day be more and more persued which is to be done by a long forbearing of speculation at first till the matters be ripe for it and not by madly rushing upon it in the very beginning Though they do not contemplate much on the general agreements of things yet they do on the particular from whence the others also will in time be deduc'd They are therefore as farr from being Scepticks as the greatest Dogmatists themselves The Scepticks deny all both Doctrines and Works The Dogmatists determine on Doctrines without a sufficient respect to Works and this Assembly though we should grant that they have wholly omitted Doctrines yet they have been very positive and affirmative in their Works But more than this It must also be confess'd that sometimes after a full inspection they have ventur'd to give the advantage of probability to one Opinion or Cause above another Nor have they run any manner of hazard by thus concluding For first it is likely they did hit the right after so long so punctual and so gradual an examination or if we suppose the worst that they should sometimes judg amiss as we cannot but allow they may seeing it will not be just to bestow infallibility on them alone while we deny it to all others yet they have taken care that their weaker reasonings and even their Errors cannot be very prejudicial to Posterity The causes upon which they have agreed they did not presently extend beyond their due strength to all other things that seem to bear some resemblance to what they try'd Whatever they have resolv'd upon they have not reported as unalterable Demonstrations but as present appearances delivering down to future Ages with the good success of the Experiment the manner of their progress the Instruments and the several differences of the matter which they have apply'd so that with their mistake they give them also the means of finding it out To this I shall add that they have never affirm'd any thing concerning the cause till the trial was past whereas to do it before is a most venomous thing in the making of Sciences for whoever has fix'd on his Cause before he has experimented can hardly avoid fitting his Experiment and his Observations to his own Cause which he had before imagin'd rather than the Cause to the truth of the Experiment it self But in a word they have hitherto made little other benefit of the causes to which they have consented than that thereby they might have a firm footing whereon new operations may proceed And for this Work I mean a continuation and variation of the Inquiry the tracing of a false Cause doth very often so much conduce that in the progress the right has been discover'd by it It is not to be question'd but many inventions of great moment have been brought forth by Authors who began upon suppositions which afterwards they found to be untrue And it frequently happens to Philosophers as it did to Columbus who first believ'd the clouds that hover'd about the Continent to be the firm Land But his mistake was happy for by sailing towards them he was led to what he sought so by prosecuting of mistaken Causes with a resolution of not giving over the persute they have been guided to the truth it self The last Defect is the rendring of Causes barren that when they have been found out they have been suffer'd to lye idle and have been onely us'd to increase thoughts and not works This negligence is of all others the most dangerous It is a Shipwrack in the end of the voiage and thence the more to be pitied It is a corruption that both hinders additions and eats out the knowledg that has been already obtain'd It is the fault of Philosophers and not of meer Inquirers of those that have been successfull and not of the unfortunate in their search and therefore it is as the miscarriages of those that are prosperous in humane actions which are always observ'd to be more destructive and harder to be cur'd than the failings of the afflicted or those that are still in persute To this the Royal Society has apply'd a double prevention both by endeavouring to strike out new Arts as they go along and also by still improving all to new experiments Of the possibility of their performing the first and the Method which is to be taken about it I shall shortly speak in another place It is enough here to say that by this they have taken care to satisfie the hopes of the present times which
and burden of Observation which is needful for the Beginning of so difficult a work This will appear if we remember that they were the Masters of the Arts of Speaking to all their Neighbours and so might well be inclin'd rather to choose such opinions of Nature which they might most elegantly express then such which were more useful but could not so well be illustrated by the ornaments of Speech Besides this their City was the General Schole and Seat of Education and therefore the Epitome's of knowledge best served their turn to make their Scholars in a short time finish the course of their Studies and go home satisfied with a belief of their own Proficience and their Teachers Wisdom They were also commonly as most of the other Grecians men of hot earnest and hasty minds and so lov'd rather to make sudden Conclusions and to convince their hearers by argument then to delay long before they fixt their judgments or to attend with sufficient patience the labour of Experiments But to say no more they had but a narrow Territory and the condition of those times would not allow a very large commerce with forein Nations they were much exercis'd in the civil Affairs of their Country they had almost a perpetual Warr at home or abroad which kinds of busie and active life breed men up indeed for great Employments but not so well for the diligent private and severe examination of those little and almost infinite Curiosities on which the true Philosophy must be founded In that City therefore the knowledge of Nature had its Original before either that of Discourse or of humane Actions but it was quickly forc'd to give way to them Both. For it was not yet come to a sufficient ripeness in the time of Socrates And he by the authority of his admirable wit made all parts of Philosophy to be taken off from a condition of encreasing much farther that they might be immediately serviceable to the affairs of men and the uses of life He was one of the first men that began to draw into some order the confus'd and obscure imaginations of those that went before him and to make way for the composing of Arts out of their scattered Observations All these various Subjects the vastness of his Soul comprehended in his casual Disputations but after his death they were divided amongst his Followers according to their several inclinations From him most of the succeeding Sects descended and though every one of them had its different principles and rendezvouses yet they all laid claim to this one common title of being his Disciples By this means there was a most specious appearance of the increase of Learning all places were fill'd with Philosophical disputes controversies were rais'd Factions were made many subtilties of confuting and defending were invented but so insteed of joyning all their strength to overcome the Secrets of Nature all which would have been little enough though never so wisely manag'd they onely did that which has undone many such great attempts before they had yet fully conquer'd her they fell into an open dissension to which of them her spoyls did belong 'T is true at the same time some few men did continue an earnest and laborious pursuit after Natural causes and effects and took that course which if it had met with us much incouragement as the others had would without question have produc'd extraordinary things But these Philosophers digging deap out of the sight of men and studying more how to conceive things aright then how to set off and persuade their conceptions to others were quickly almost quite overwhelm'd by the more plausible and Talkative Sects This was the success of that Famous Age of the Grecian Learning in respect of Natural knowledge They stay'd not for an information sufficient for such a noble Enterprise They would not suffer their posterity to have any share with them in the honor of performing it But too suddenly for present use they clap'd up an entire Building of Sciences and therefore it is not to be wonder'd if the hasty Fabrick which they rais'd did not consist of the best materialls But at last with their Empire their Arts also were transported to Rome the great spirit of their Law-givers and Philosophers in course of time degenerating into Rhetoricians and wandring Teachers of the opinions of their private Sects Amongst the Romans the studies of Nature met with little or no entertainment They scarce ever dream't of any other way of Philosophy then only just reducing into New Method and eloquently translating into their own Language the Doctrines which they had receiv'd from the Greeks And it was a long time too before even that could obtain any countenance amongst them For in the first warlick and busie Ages of that State they onely apply'd themselves to a severity of Moral vertue indeavor'd after no other skill then that of the Customes and Laws of their Country the Ceremonies of their Religion and the Arts of Government esteeming every thing that came out of Greece as an outlandish fashion which would corrupt the manners of their Youth and allure them from that strictness of Discipline and Integrity of Life by which they had inlarg'd the Bounds of their Common-wealth Till at length their power being increas'd and their minds a little softned by the Greatness of their commands and having tasted of the pleasures of the East they were content too by degrees to admit their Philosophy And yet all the use that they made of it at last was onely either that they might thereby make their speech more plentiful or else that when they were at leisure from Civil affairs they might have that as a companion and comfort of their Retirements This was the condition of Philosophy when the Christian Religion came into the World That maintain'd it self in its first Age by the innocence and miracles and suff'rings of its Founder and his Apostles But after their Deaths when Christianity began to spread into the farthest Nations and when the power of working wonders had ceas'd it was thought necessary for its increase that its professors should be able to defend it against the subtilties of the Hethens by those same ways of arguing which were then in use among the Hethen Philosophers It was therefore on this account that the Fathers and chief Doctors of our Church apply'd themselves to the Peripatetick and Platonick Sects But chiefly to the Platonick Because that seem'd to speak plainer about the Divine Nature and also because the sweetness and powerfulness of Plato's Writings did serve as well to make them popular speakers as disputers Having thus provided themselves against their adversaries they easily got the victory over them and though the Idolatrous Gentiles had kept the instruments of disputing in their own hands so many hundred years yet they soon convinc'd them of the ridiculousness of their worships and the purity and reasonableness of ours But now the Christians having
of its common works If any shall be inclinable to follow the directions of such men in Natural things rather then of those who make it their employment I shall believe they will be irrational enough to think that a man may draw an exacter Description of England who has never been here then the most industrious Mr. Cambden who had travell'd over every part of this Country for that very purpose Whoever shall soberly profess to be willing to put their shoulders under the burthen of so great an enterprise as to represent to mankind the whole Fabrick the parts the causes the effects of Nature ought to have their eyes in all parts and to receive information from every quarter of the earth they ought to have a constant universall intelligence all discoveries should be brought to them the Treasuries of all former times should be laid open before them the assistance of the present should be allow'd them so farr are the narrow conceptions of a few private Writers in a dark Age from being equall to so vast a design There are indeed some operations of the mind which may be best perform'd by the simple strength of mens own particular thoughts such are invention and judgement and disposition For in them a security from noise leaves the Soul at more liberty to bring forth order and fashion the heap of matter which had been before supply'd to its use But there are other works also which require as much aid and as many hands as can be found And such is this of observation Which is the great Foundation of Knowledge Some must gather some must bring some separate some examine and to use a Similitude which the present time of the year and the ripe fields that lye before my eyes suggest to me it is in Philosophy as in Husbandry Wherein we see that a few hands will serve to measure out and fill into sacks that Corn which requires very many more laborers to sow and reap and bind and bring it into the Barn But now it is time for me to dismiss this subtle generation of Writers whom I would not have prosecuted so farr but that they are still esteem'd by some men the onely Masters of Reason If they would be content with any thing less then an Empire in Learning we would grant them very much We would permit them to be great and profound Wits as Angelicall and Seraphical as they pleas'd We would commend them as we are wont to do Chaucer we would confess that they are admirable in comparison of the ignorance of their own Age And as Sir Philip Sidney of him we would say of them that it is to be wonder'd how they could see so cleerly then and we can see no cleerer now But that they should still be set before us as the great Oracles of all Wit we can never allow Suppose that I should grant that they are most usefull in the controversies of our Church to defend us against the Heresies and Schisms of our times what will thence follow but that they ought to be confin'd within their own Bounds and not be suffer'd to hinder the enlargement of the territories of other Sciences Let them still prevail in the Scholes and let them govern in disputations But let them not over-spread all sorts of knowledge That would be as ridiculous as if because we see that Thorns and Briers by reason of their sharpness are fit to stop a gap and keep out wild Beasts we should therefore think they deserv'd to be planted all over every Field And yet I should not doubt if it were not somewhat improper to the present discourse to prove that even in Divinity itself they are not so necessary as they are reputed to be and that all or most of our Religious controversies may be as well decided by plain reason and by considerations which may be fetch'd from the Religion of mankind the Nature of Government and humane Society and Scripture itself as by the multitudes of Authorities and subtleties of disputes which have been heretofore in use And now I am come to the time within our view and to the third great Age of the flourishing of Learning Whether this recovery of knowledge did happen by the benefit of Printing invented about that time which shew'd a very easie way of communicating mens thoughts one to another or whether it came from the hatred which was then generally conceiv'd against the blindness and stupidity of the Roman Fryers or from the Reformation which put men upon a stricter inquiry into the Truth of things whatever the cause was I will not take much pains to determine But I will rather observe what kinds of knowledge have most flourish'd upon it If we compare this Age of Learning with the two former we shall find that this does far exceed both the other in its extent there being a much larger plot of ground sown with Arts and civility at this time then either when the Grecian or Roman Empires prevail'd For then especially under the Romans so many Nations being united under one Dominion and reduc'd into the Form of Provinces that knowledge which they had was chiefly confin'd to the walls of the Imperial Cities themselves But now not to insist on the Learning of farr remote Countries of which we have onely imperfect Relations but to contract our observation to Christendom alone there being so many different States and Governments in Europe every Country sets up for itself almost in every place the liberal Arts as they are call'd are cherish'd and publick allowance is made for their support And in this compass the infinit numbers of Wits which have appear'd so thick for these many years have been chiefly taken up about some of these three studies either the Writings of the Antients or Controversies of Religion or Affairs of State The First thing that was undertaken was to rescue the excellent works of former Writers from obscurity To the better performing of this many things contributed about that time Amongst which as to us in England I may reckon and that too it may be not the least whatever the action was in itself the dissolution of Abbyes whereby their Libraries came forth into the light and fell into industrious Mens hands who understood how to make more use of them then their slothfull possessors had done So that now the Greek and Latine Tongues began to be in request and all the ancient Authors the Hethen Philosophers Mathematicians Orators Historians Poets the various Copies and Translations of the Bible and the Primitive Fathers were produc'd All these by the severall Transcriptions and the ignorance of the Transcribers had very many different readings and many parts wholly lost and by the distance of times and change of customs were grown obscure About the interpreting explaining supplying commenting on these almost all the first Wits were employed A work of great use and for which we ought to esteem our selves much beholding to
thoughts But rather to keep themselves free and change their course according to the different circumstances that occurr to them in their operations and the several alterations of the Bodies on which they work The true Experimenting has this one thing inseparable from it never to be a fix'd and settled Art and never to be limited by constant Rules This perhaps may be shewn too in other Arts as in that of Invention of which though in Logick and Rhetorick so many bounds and helps are given yet I believe very few have argued or discoursed by those Topicks But whether that be unconfin'd or no it is certain that Experimenting is like that which is call'd Decence in humane life which though it be that by which all our Actions are to be fashion'd and though many things may be plausibly said upon it yet it is never wholly to be reduc'd to standing Precepts and may almost as easily be obtain'd as defin'd Their other care has been to regard the least and the plainest things and those that may appear at first the most inconsiderable as well as the greatest Curiosities This was visibly neglected by the Antients The Histories of Pliny Aristotle Solinus Aelian abounding more with pretty Tales and fine monstrous Stories than sober and fruitful Relations If they could gather together some extraordinary Qualities of Stones or Minerals some Rarities of the Age the food the colour the shapes of Beasts or some vertues of Fountains or Rivers they thought they had perform'd the chiefest part of Natural Historians But this course is subject to much corruption It is not the true following of Nature For that still goes on in a steddy Rode nor is it so extravagant and so artificial in its contrivances as our admiration proceeding from our ignorance makes it It is also a way that of all others is most subject to be deceiv'd For it will make men inclinable to bend the Truth much awry to raise a specious Observation out of it It stops the severe progress of Inquiry Infecting the mind and making it averse from the true Natural Philosophy It is like Romances in respect of True History which by multiplying varieties of extraordinary Events and surprizing circumstances makes that seem dull and tastless And to say no more the very delight which it raises is nothing so solid but as the satisfaction of Fancy it affects us a little in the beginning but soon wearies and surfets whereas a just History of Nature like the pleasure of Reason would not be perhaps so quick and violent but of farr longer continuance in its contentment Their Matter being thus collected has been brought before their weekly meetings to undergo a just and a full examination In them their principal endeavours have been that they might enjoy the benefits of a mix'd Assembly which are largeness of Observation and diversity of Judgments without the mischiefs that usually accompany it such as confusion unsteddiness and the little animosities of divided Parties That they have avoided these dangers for the time past there can be no better proof than their constant practice wherein they have perpetually preserv'd a singular sobriety of debating slowness of consenting and moderation of dissenting Nor have they been onely free from Faction but from the very Causes and beginnings of it It was in vain for any man amongst them to strive to preferr himself before another or to seek for any great glory from the subtilty of his Wit seeing it was the inartificial process of the Experiment and not the Acuteness of any Commentary upon it which they have had in veneration There was no room left for any to attempt to heat their own or others minds beyond a due temper where they were not allow'd to expatiate or amplifie or connect specious arguments together They could not be much exasperated one against another in their disagreements because they acknowledg that there may be several Methods of Nature in producing the same thing and all equally good whereas they that contend for truth by talking do commonly suppose that there is but one way of finding it out The differences which should chance to happen might soon be compos'd because they could not be grounded on matters of speculation or opinion but onely of sence which are never wont to administer so powerful occasions of disturbance and contention as the other In brief they have escap'd the prejudices that use to arise from Authority from unequality of Persons from insinuations from friendships But above all they have guarded themselves against themselves lest the strength of their own thoughts should lead them into error lest their good Fortune in one Discovery should presently confine them onely to one way of trial lest their failings should discourage or their success abate their diligence All these excellent Philosophical Qualities they have by long custom made to become the peculiar Genius of this Society and to descend down to their successors not onely as circumstantial Laws which may be neglected or alter'd in the course of time but as the very life of their constitution to remain on their minds as the laws of Nature do in the hearts of Men which are so near to us that we can hardly distinguish whether they were taught us by degrees or rooted in the very foundation of our Being It will not be here seasonable to speak much of the Ceremonies which they have hitherto observ'd in these Meetings because they are almost the same which have been since establish'd by their Council which we shall have a more proper occasion to produce hereafter Let this onely be said in brief to satisfie the curious The Place where they hitherto assembled is Gresham-College where by the munificence of a Citizen there have been Lectures for several Arts indow'd so liberally that if it were beyond Sea it might well pass for an Vniversity And indeed by a rare happiness in the constitution of which I know not where to find the like example the Professors have been from the beginning and chiefly of late years of the most Learned Men of the Nation though the choice has been wholly in the disposal of Citizens Here the Royal Society has one publick Room to meet in another for a repository to keep their Instruments Books Rarities Papers and whatever else belongs to them making use besides by permission of several of the other Lodgings as their occasions do require And when I consider the place it self me thinks it bears some likeness to their Design It is now a College but was once the Mansion-house of one of the greatest Merchants that ever was in England And such a Philosophy they would build which should first wholly consist of Action and Intelligence before it be brought into Teaching and Contemplation There Time is every Wednesday after the Lecture of the Astronomy Professor perhaps in memory of the first occasions of their Rendezvouses Their Elections perform'd by Ballotting every member having a Vote
finishing the roof before the foundation has been well laid For this I shall first allege this cure that though the Experiment was but the private task of one or two or some such small number yet the conjecturing and debating on its consequences was still the employment of their full and solemn Assemblies I have already upon several occasions preferr'd Companies before single endeavours in Philosophical matters and yet I am not asham'd here to repeat it again especially seeing in this place it is most apparent to which of them the prerogative of freedom and clearness of judging belongs To this purpose I shall affirm that there can never be found in the breast of any particular Philosopher as much wariness and coldness of thinking and rigorous examination as is needfull to a solid assent and to a lasting conclusion on the whole frame of Nature How can it be imagin'd that any single mind can comprehend and sustain long enough the weight of so many different Opinions and infinite Observations when even the best Mathematicians are soon tyr'd with a long train of the most delightful Propositions which were before made to their hands Or if there could be a man of that vastness of Soul yet how can we be assur'd that he will hold the scale even where have we ever had an example of so much streightness and impartiality of judgment to persuade us that the calmest Philosopher will not be insensibly inclin'd to preferr his own Doctrines before those of a stranger We see all the world flatter themselves in their strength beauty nay even as some have noted in their very Statures the lowest men scarce believing but that they are tall enough Why then should they be singly trusted in their votes about their own thoughts where the comparison of Wit makes them more eagerly concern'd If we follow the Philosopher home into his study we shall quickly discover by how many plausible degrees the wisest men are apt to deceive themselves into a sudden confidence of the certainty of their knowledg We will suppose him to begin his Inquiry with all the sincerity imaginable resolving to pass by no small mistake and to forgive to himself no slight error in the accompt with these fair purposes he pitches on some particular subject This he turns and tortures every way till after much labour he can make some ghesses at its Causes upon this his industry increases he applies the same matter to several other operations he still finds the effects answer his expectations Now he begins to mould some general Proposition upon it he meets with more and more proofs to confirm his judgment thus he grows by little and little warmer in his imaginations the delight of his success swells him he triumphs and applauds himself for having found out some important Truth But now his Trial begins to slacken now impatience and security creeps upon him now he carelesly admits whole crouds of Testimonies that seem any way to confirm that Opinion which he had before establish'd now he stops his survay which ought to have gone forward to many more particulars and so at last this sincere this invincible Observer out of weariness or presumption becomes the most negligent in the later part of his work in which he ought to have been the most exact Such is the universal inclination of mankind to be mis-led by themselves which I have mention'd not to beat down the credit of any particular Philosophers whose superstructures have not bin answerable to the strength of their first assertions but I have onely complain'd of it in general as we use to do of Man's mortality and being subject to diseases the aggravating of which common infirmities can never be esteem'd by any private man as an effect of malice or ill nature But now on the other side this doubtfulness of thoughts this fluctuation this slowness of concluding which is so usefull in this case is so natural to a multitude of Counsellors that it is frequently urg'd against them as their inseperable Imperfection Every man has this Argument in his mouth wherewith to condemn a great and mixt number of advisers that their deliberations are so tedious that commonly the seasons of Action are lost before they can come to any result 'T is true this unweildiness and want of dispatch is most destructive in matters of State and Government as Christendom lately felt But it has a quite contrary influence on Philosophy It is not here the most speedy or the swiftest determination of thoughts that will do the business here many delays are requir'd here he that can make a solid objection or ask a seasonable question will do more good than he who shall boldly fix on a hundred ill-grounded resolutions Every rubb is here to be smooth'd every scruple to be plain'd every thing to be foreseen the satisfaction of the reason of all past present and future times to be design'd so that here that which is so much cry'd down in policy a striving still to do better can never be too much regarded Nor is the Society only fore-arm'd against this great inconvenience this rashness of setling upon causes by the multitude of Judges that are to be satisfy'd but also by their indifferent hearing of all conjectures that may be made from the Tenents of any Sect of Philosophy and by touching every effect that comes before them upon all the varieties of opinions that have been either of late found out or reviv'd By this equality of respect to all parties it has allow'd a sufficient time to ripen whatever it debated By this too it has made it self the common Cherisher and Vmpire of them all and has taken the right way of finding out what is good in any one of them A course which if the Antients had more follow'd their Sects would not so soon have destroy'd each other It was a most perverse custom amongst their Disciples not to make any strict choice to leave some and embrace others of their Masters Doctrines but to swallow all at once He that became a Stoick an Epicurean a Peripatetick in Logick or Moral Philosophy or Physicks never stuck presently to assent to whatever his Founder had said in all the other Sciences though there was no kind of connexion between his Doctrines in the one and the other Thus was the whole image of Philosophy form'd in their minds altogether And what they receiv'd so carelesly they defended the same way not in parcels but in gross Of this the Errors are apparent for by so partially believing all sorts of Tenents they had no time to be fully convinc'd and so became rather formal Asserters of them than judicious And by thus adhering to all without making any distinction between the Truths and falshoods weaknesses and strengths of their Sects they deny'd to themselves a farr more calm and safe knowledg which might have been compounded out of them all by fetching something from one and something from another This the
fabulous but shall still serve you with truth A METHOD For making a History of the Weather By Mr. HOOK FOr the better making a History of the Weather I conceive it requisite to observe 1. The Strength and Quarter of the Winds and to register the Changes as often as they happen both which may be very conveniently shewn by a small addition to an ordinary Weather-clock 2. The Degrees of Heat and Cold in the Air which will be best observed by a sealed Thermometer graduated according to the Degrees of Expansion which bear a known proportion to the whole bulk of Liquor the beginning of which gradation should be that dimension which the Liquor hath when encompassed with Water just beginning to freeze and the degrees of Expansion either greater or less should be set or marked above it or below it 3. The Degrees of Dryness and Moisture in the Air which may be most conveniently observed by a Hygroscope made with the single beard of a wild Oat perfectly ripe set upright and headed with an Index after the way described by Emanuel Magnan the conversions and degrees of which may be measured by divisions made on the rim of a Circle in the Center of which the Index is turned round The beginning or Standard of which Degree of Rotation should be that to which the Index points when the beard being throughly wet or covered with Water is quite unwreathed and becomes straight But because of the smalness of this part of the Oat the cod of a wild Vetch may be used instead of it which will be a much larger Index and will be altogether as sensible of the changes of the Air. 4. The degrees of Pressure in the Air which may be several wayes observed but best of all with an Instrument with Quicksilver contrived so as either by means of water or an Index it may sensibly exhibit the minute variations of that Action 5. The constitution and face of the Sky or Heavens and this is best done by the eye here should be observed whether the Sky be clear or clouded and if clouded after what manner whether with high Exhalations or great white Clouds or dark thick ones Whether those Clouds afford Fogs or Mists or Sleet or Rain or Snow c. Whether the under side of those Clouds be flat or waved and irregular as I have often seen before thunder Which way they drive whether all one way or some one way some another and whether any of these be the same with the Wind that blows below the Colour and face of the Sky at the rising and setting of the Sun and Moon what Haloes or Rings may happen to encompass those Luminaries their bigness form and number 6. What Effects are produc'd upon other bodies As what Aches and Distempers in the bodies of men what Diseases are most rife as Colds Fevours Agues c. What putrefactions or other changes are produc'd in other bodies As the sweating of Marble the burning blew of a Candle the blasting of Trees and Corn the unusual sprouting growth or decay of any Plants or Vegetables the putrefaction of bodies not usual the plenty or scarcity of Insects of several Fruits Grains Flowers Roots Cattel Fishes Birds any thing notable of that kind What conveniences or inconveniences may happen in the year in any kind as by flouds droughts violent showers c. What nights produce dews and hoar-frosts and what not 7. What Thunders and Lightnings happen and what Effects they produce as souring Beer or Ale turning Milk killing Silk-worms c 8. Any thing extraordinary in the Tides as double Tides later or earlier greater or less Tides than ordinary Rising or drying of Springs Comets or unusual Apparitions new Stars Ignes fatui or shining Exhalations or the like These should all or most of them be diligently observed and registred by some one that is alwayes conversant in or neer the same place Now that these and some other hereafter to be mentioned may be registred so as to be most convenient for the making of comparisons requisite for the raising Axioms whereby the Cause or Laws of Weather may be found out It will be desirable to order them so that the Scheme of a whole Moneth may at one view be presented to the Eye And this may conveniently be done on the pages of a Book in folio allowing fifteen dayes for one side and fifteen for the other Let each of those pages be divided into nine Columes and distinguished by perpendicular lines let each of the first six Columes be half an inch wide and the three last equally share the remaining of the side Let each Colume have the title of what it is to contain in the first at least written at the top of it As let the first Colume towards the left hand contain the dayes of the Moneth or place of the Sun and the remarkable hours of each day The second the Place Latitude Distance Ages and Phaces of the Moon The third the Quarters and strength of Winds The fourth the Heat and Cold of the season The fifth the Dryness and Moisture of it The sixth the Degrees of pressure The seventh the faces and appearances of the Sky The eighth the Effects of the Weather upon other bodies Thunders Lightnings or any thing extraordinary The ninth general Deductions Corollaries or Syllogisms arising from the comparing the several Phaenomena together That the Columes may be large enough to contain what they are designed for it will be necessary that the particulars be expressed with some Characters as brief and compendious as is possible The two first by the Figures and Characters of the Signs commonly us'd in Almanacks The Winds may be exprest by the Letters by which they are exprest in small Sea-Cards and the degrees of strength by 1 2 3 4 c. according as they are marked in the contrivance of the Weather-cock The degrees of Heat and Cold may be exprest by the Numbers appropriate to the Divisions of the Thermometer The Dryness and Moisture by the Divisions in the rim of the Hydroscope The pressure by Figures denoting the height of the Mercurial Cylinder But for the faces of the Sky they are so many that many of them want proper names and therefore it will be convenient to agree upon some determinate ones by which the most usual may be in brief exprest As let Cleer signifie a very cleer Sky without any Clouds or Exhalations Checker'd a cleer Sky with many great white round Clouds such as are very usual in Summer Hazy a Sky that looks whitish by reason of the thickness of the higher parts of the Air by some Exhalation not formed into Clouds Thick a Sky more whitened by a greater company of Vapours these do usually make the Luminaries look bearded or hairy and are oftentimes the cause of the appearance of Rings and Haloes about the Sun as well as the Moon Overcast when the Vapours so whiten and thicken the Air that the Sun cannot
Congruity and Incongruity of Bodies A Discourse of the possible height of the Air and of its proportionable rarefaction upwards An Hypothetical Discourse about the suspension of the Clouds and their pressure An Hypothesis and Discourse of Earthquakes A Discourse of Petrifactions and an Hypothesis for explaining the several varieties of such Bodies Several Discourses about the Loadstone and an Hypothesis for salving its appearances A Discourse about the Pores of Stones A Discourse about Eggs. A Discourse concerning the Glass-drops A Discourse and Hypothesis of annealing and tempering Steel Discourses about Cyder and Coffee A Discourse of the original of Forms An Hypothesis of Light A Discourse and Hypothesis of the Nature and Proprieties of Colours A Discourse about improving Wood for Dying and for fixing Colours A Discourse about the improvement of Musick A Discourse of the differing Heat of Summer and Winter A Discourse and Hypothesis about Fluidity Discourses upon several Mercurial Experiments Discourses of Hydrostaticks Discourses about the force of falling Bodies A Treatise of the motion of the Muscles A Discourse of the usefulness of Experimental Philosophy A Treatise of the vanity of Dogmatizing The Sceptical Chymist Essayes about Salt-peter The Parallel of the Antient and Modern Architecture Microscopical Observations Micrographia or a Discourse of things discover'd by a Microscope Three Books of Feavors of the Brain and of the Scurvy which I will alledge as the great Instances of this head Wherein the Famous Author has with accurate diligence made prodigious improvements in all the parts of Physick and shewn that the largeness of his Knowledge in it is equal to the happy success of his practice In this Collection of their Discourses and Treatises my Reader beholding so many to pass under the name of Hypotheses may perhaps imagine that this consists not so well with their Method and with the main purpose of their Studies which I have often repeated to be chiefly bent upon the Operative rather than the Theoretical Philosophy But I hope he will be satisfied if he shall remember that I have already remov'd this doubt by affirming that whatever Principles and Speculations they now raise from things they do not rely upon them as the absolute end but only use them as a means of farther Knowledge This way the most speculative Notions and Theorems that can be drawn from matter may conduce to much profit The light of Science and Doctrines of causes may serve exceeding well to promote our Experimenting but they would rather obscure than illuminate the mind if we should only make them the perpetual Objects of our Contemplation as we see the light of the Sun is most beneficial to direct our footsteps in walking and our hands in working which would certainly make us blind if we should only continue fix'd and gazing on its Beams The Histories they have gather'd are either of Nature Arts or Works These they have begun to collect by the plainest Method and from the plainest Information They have fetch'd their Intelligence from the constant and unerring use of experienc'd Men of the most unaffected and most unartificial kinds of life They have already perform'd much in this way and more they can promise the world to accomplish in a very short space of Time There are already brought in to them the History of Comets in general and especially of the two last The History of English Mines and Oars and particularly two several Histories of Tinneries and Tin-working The Histories of Iron-making of Lignum Fossile of Saffron of Alkermes of Verdigreace of whiting of Wax of Cold of Colours of Fluidity and firmness The Histories of Refining of making Copperas of making Allum of Salt-peter of making Latten of Lead of making Salt out of Sea-water of refining Gold of making Pot-Ashes of making Ceruse of making Brass of Painting and Limning of Calcography of Enamelling of Varnishing of Dying The Histories of making Cloth of Worsted-Combers of Fullers of Tanners and Leather-making of Glovers and Leather-dressing of Parchment and Vellum-making and the way of making transparent Parchment of Paper-making of Hatters of making Marble-paper of the Rowling-Press The Histories of making Bread of Malt of brewing Beer and Ale in several places of Whale-fishing of the Weather for several years of Wind-mills and other Mills in Holland of Masonry of Pitch and Tar of Maiz of Vintners of Shot of making Gun-powder and of making some that is twenty times as strong as the common Pistol-powder The two last of these were communicated to the Royal Society by the favour of Prince Rupert whom I take the boldness to mention here for his excellent Knowledge and use in all manner of Mechanical Operations But his name will be recorded in all the Histories of this time for greater works for many glorious Enterprises by Sea and Land and for the Immortal Benefits whereby he has oblig'd the English Nation The Instances that I shall give of this their manner of collecting Histories shall be of Works that of Salt-peter of Arts that of Dying of Nature that of Oysters which last may perhaps seem a subject too mean to be particularly alledg'd but to me it appears worthy to be produc'd For though the British Oysters have been famous in the World ever since this Island was discover'd yet the skill how to order them aright has been so little consider'd amongst our selves that we see at this day it is confin'd to some few narrow Creeks of one single County THE HISTORY Of the Making of SALT-PETER By Mr. HENSHAW WHether the Nitre of the Antients be of the same species with the Salt which is commonly known by the name of Salt peter is variously disputed by very learned Authors amongst the modern Physitians on the negative side are Mathiolus and Bellonius the latter of which had the advantage by the opportunity of his travels in Egypt to have often seen and handled them both and is so positive as to pronounce that in all Christendom there is not one grain of Nitre to be found unless it be brought from other parts although at the time of his being in Grand Caire which was about the year 1550. it was so common there as he sayes that ten pounds of it would not cost a Mordin Among those that hold the affirmative the most eminent are Cardan and Longius and it should seem the general vote of Learned men hath been most favourable to that Opinion by reason that in all Latine Relations and Prescriptions the word Nitrum or Halinitrum is most commonly used for Salt-peter I have often enquired amongst our London Drugsters for Egyptian Nitre and if I had been so fortunate as to have found any I doubt not but I should have been able to have put an end to that Question by a Demonstration that is by turning the greatest part of it into Salt-peter However the Observations I have made in my own private Experiments and in the practice of Salt-peter men and Refiners of Salt-peter
alter their custom and turn themselves into new Rodes of Practice Besides this they chiefly labor for present livelyhood and therefore cannot defer their Expectations so long as is commonly requisit for the ripening of any new Contrivance But especially having long handled their Instruments in the same fashion and regarded their Materials with the same thoughts they are not apt to be surpriz'd much with them nor to have any extraordinary Fancies or Raptures about them These are the usual defects of the Artificers themselves Whereas the men of freer lives have all the contrary advantages They do not approach those Trades as their dull and unavoidable and perpetual employments but as their Diversions They come to try those operations in which they are not very exact and so will be more frequently subject to commit errors in their proceeding which very faults and wandrings will often guid them into new light and new Conceptions And lastly there is also some privilege to be allow'd to the generosity of their spirits which have not bin subdu'd and clogg'd by any constant toyl as the others Invention is an Heroic thing and plac'd above the reach of a low and vulgar Genius It requires an active a bold a nimble a restless mind a thousand difficulties must be contemn'd with which a mean heart would be broken many attempts must be made to no purpose much Treasure must sometimes be scatter'd without any return much violence and vigor of thoughts must attend it some irregularities and excesses must be granted it that would hardly be pardon'd by the severe Rules of Prudence All which may persuade us that a large and an unbounded mind is likely to be the Author of greater Productions than the calm obscure and fetter'd indeavors of the Mechanics themselves and that as in the Generation of Children those are usually observ'd to be most sprightly that are the stollen Fruits of an unlawful Bed so in the Generations of the Brains those are often the most vigorous and witty which men beget on other Arts and not on their own This came seasonably in to stop the undeserv'd clamors which perhaps in this humorous Age some Tradesmen may raise against the Royal Society for entring within the compass of their Territories Wherefore I proceed to my Third Particular which I have aym'd at in the Two former that the surest increas remaining to be made in Manual Arts is to be perform'd by the conduct of Experimental Philosophy This will appear undeniable when we shall have found that all other causes of such Inventions are defective and that for this very reason becaus the Trials of Art have bin so little united with the plain labors of mens hands I have already given this account of the former Arts that we use that the greatest Part of them has bin produc'd either by Luxury or chance or necessity all which must be confess'd to be mean and ignoble causes of the Rational Mechanics The First of these has bin that vanity and intemperance of life which the delights of Peace and greatness of Empire have alwayes introduc'd This has bin the original of very many extravagant Inventions of Pleasure to whose Promotion it is not requisit that we should give any help seing they are already too excessive And indeed if we consider the vast number of the Arts of Luxury compar'd to the sound and the substantial ones of use we shall find that the wit of men has bin as much defective in the one as redundant in the other It has been the constant error of mens labors in all Ages that they have still directed them to improve those of pleasure more than those of profit How many and how extravagant have bin the Ornaments about Coaches And how few Inventions about new frames for Coaches or about Carts and Ploughs What prodigious expence has bin thrown away about the fashions of Cloaths But how little indeavors have there bin to invent new materials for Cloathing or to perfect those we have The Furniture and magnificence of Houses is risen to a wonderful beauty within our memory but few or none have throughly studied the well ordring of Timber the hardning of Stone the improvement of Mortar and the making of better Bricks The like may be shewn in all the rest wherein the solid Inventions are wont to be overwhelm'd by gawdiness and superfluity which vanity has been caus'd by this that the Artists have chiefly bin guided by the fancies of the rich or the yong or of vain humorists and not by the Rules and judgments of men of Knowledge The Second occasion that has given help to the increas of Mechanics has bin Chance For in all Ages by some casual accidents those things have bin reveal'd which either men did not think of or else sought for in vain But of this the Benevolence is irregular and most uncertain This indeed can scarce by styl'd the work of a man The Hart deserves as much prays of Invention for lighting on the herb that cures it as the man who blindly stumbles on any profitable Work without foresight or consideration The last that I shall allege is necessity This has given rise to many great Enterprises and like the cruel Step-Mother of Hercules has driven men upon Heroic Actions not out of any tender affection but hard usage Nor has it only bin an excellent Mistress to particular men but even to whole States and Kingdoms For which reason some have preferr'd a Barren Soil for the Seat of an Imperial City before a Fruitful becaus thereby the inhabitants being compell'd to take pains and to live industriously will be secure from the dangerous inchantments of plenty and ease which are fatal to the beginnings of all Common-wealths Yet the defects of this severe Author of great Works are very many It often indeed ingages men in brave attempts but seldom carryes them on to finish what they begin It labors at first for want of Bread and that being obtain'd it commonly gives over It rather sharpens than enlarges mens Wits It sooner puts them upon small shifts than great designs It seldom rises to high or magnanimous things For the same necessity which makes men inventive does commonly depress and fetter their Inventions And now these Principal causes of Mechanic discoveries being found for the greatest part to be either corrupt or weak It is but just that Reason itself should interpose and have some place allow'd it in those Arts which ought to be the chief works of Reason It is a shame to the dignity of human Nature itself that either mens lusts should tempt them or their necessities drive them or blind fortune should lead them in the dark into those things in which consists the chief Praerogative of their condition What greater Privilege have men to boast of than this that they have the pow'r of using directing changing or advancing all the rest of the Creatures This is the Dominion which God has given us over the