brought under their proper heads which are dispersed in many Voluminous Authors which will save him time in searching many Books Secondly He may find the Pith and Substance of what others have written in their Languages delivered in his own And thirdly here are besides many Experiments and Observations of my own very conducible I suppose to clear and explicate those Philosophical Principles I have undertook to defend in this Discourse Thirdly If any Man shall be so much a Moâ—us as to repine at the jâ—st commendations I often give to Van Helmont and Mr. Boyl I must needs say that I think his ill Nature proceeds from his want of throughly knowing these Authors for if he had taken the pains to search the depth of these two as I have done I doubt not but he would acknowledge I have fall'n short of giving them their deserved praise they having merited so much from all inquisitive and Learned Men. Lastly I think it necessary to tell thee how I would have to be understood those two words of Seed and Water the Principles upon which I have built this Discourse First then by Seed I understand a fine subtile Substance imperciptible by our grosâ— Organs of Sâ—osâ—tion in which God hath impressed a Character of that thing he will have it produce from the Matter it is to work upon which it doth perform by putting the parts of Matter into such a peculiar motion as is requisite to produce the intended Effect And this we may illustrate thus A Woman with Child by a strong desire forms in her Spirits an Idea of some Fruit she longs for and by the powerfull motion of that Idea working on the Child she forms a real Eâ—â—igies of the said Fruit upon that Member of the Child which corresponds to that of her own Body she touched with her hand which as Experience teacheth us will Vegetate grow Ripe and Wither according to the several mutations the Fruit it resembles undergoes And we are told by Esdras that God before he made the World did consider the things he intended to make and then produced them By which Expression I think may well be understood the Creation of all those Spiritual and Seminal Beings containing in them not only an Idea of the thing to be made but also a power to move the Matter after a peculiar manner by which means it reduceth it to a form like it self And as a Painter doth first conceive in his mind a Spirituall Idea of the Picture he intendeth to draw and afterwards by pecultar Motions of his hand which are guided by the said Idea he produceth a perfect Picture Corresponding with that in his mind So likewise by putting Matter into peculiar Motions the Seminal Idea makes it self visible By Water the Material Principle of all Concrets I understand a fluid Body consisting of very minute parts and variously figur'd Atoms or Corpuscules the Mass of it being full of pores and therefore subject to be contracted into less room and upon the same account it doth easily and readily submit to those motions it is put into by Seminal Beings from which moving of Matter all the visible and Tangible Bodies of the World have their result And therefore I have all along this ensuing Discourse took care to explicate the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Origin of Bodies by the Mechanical Principles That is by the Motion Shape Size Scituation and Connexion of the parts of Matter But though this be a way commonly used in explicating things by the Philosophers of our Age yet most of them leave out the first principle of Natural Motion viz. the Seminal principle which I have taken in to compleate my Hypothesis And now 〈◊〉 said they 〈◊〉 I shall say this further and let it not be counted a vanity that I think and hope I have in some considerable measure made out the truth of those principles I have assumed to defend It hath cost me some pains to Collect and draw into proper Sections the Body of this Discourse which I have also strengthned by the Authority of the best Philosophers and Learnedst of Men both Ancient and Modern All which I here present thee with heartily wishing all ingenious Mâ—n may see the usefulness of and receive as much satisfaction in this Doctrine as I do who am a Friend to all that industriously search after the Truth and Nature of Things THO SHERLEY From my House in Newton-street over against New South-hampton Building in High Holborn Ian. 27th 1672. The Reader is desired to Correct as he Reads these Errors of the Press as likewise any other he shall find ERRATA PAge 12. in the Margin leg Consensus p. 13. lin 2. read Concurrere page 15. lin ult leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 33. dele these words or intire p. 34. lin 5. leg a priori ib. lin 8. leg Springy p. 35. Lin. 11. dele whilst and they p. 16. dele p. 38. in the Margin leg Elementis p. 40. lin 23. leg faeces p. 103. lin 25. leg seminal p. 126. lin 26. leg apposition p. 124. lin 24. leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 110. lin 28. leg those p. 137. lin 1. leg least p. 129. lin 1. leg etherel p. 114. lin 1. leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 119. lin 9. leg OVTOV THE FIRST ESSAY Being a Discourse intended to demonstrate that not only Stones but all other Bodies owe their Original to Seeds and Water Section the First HAving in complyance with the impottunate desires or rather commands of many of my Worthy and ingenious Friends obliged my self to acquaint the World with my thoughts concerning the most probable cause of the Stone both in the Kidneyes and Bladder 〈…〉 the greater World in general and I was encouraged the more to do so by a Passage I met with in the Works of that Noble Philosopher Mr Boyl whose words are there Since we know very little a Priorâ— the observation of many effects manifesting that Nature doth actually produced them so and so suggests to us several wayes of explicating the same Phaenomenon some of which we should perhaps never have else dreamed of which ought to be esteemed no small advantage to the Physitian And again He that hath not had the curiosity to inquire out and consider the several wayes whereby Stones may be generated out of the Body not only must be unable satisfactorily to explicate how they come to be proâ—uced in the Kidneys and Bladder â—ut will perhaps scarce keep himself from embracing such errors because Authoriz'd by the suffrage of eminent Physitians as the knowledge I am recommending would easily protect him from Let us then in the first place examine how Nature produceth Stones without the Body of Man that is in the greater World after which we will see if the causes of generating Stones in the Bodies of Animals be not the same or at least bear some Analogy or resemblance thereunto Which that we may the better be enabled to
A Philosophical Essay DECLARING The probable Causes whence Stones are produced in the Greater World From which occasion is taken to search into the Origin of all Bodies discovering them to proceed from Water and Seeds Being a Prodromus to a Medicinal Tract concerning the Causes and Cure of the Stone in the Kidneys and Bladders of Men. WRITTEN By Dr. Thomas Sherley Physitian in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed for William Cademan at the Pope's Head in the Lower Walk of the New-Exchange 1672. To the Illustrious GEORGE Duke Marquis and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villiers Baron Whaddon of Whaddon Lord Ross of Hamlock Belvoir and Trusbut c. Master of the Horse Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and one of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please your Grace T Is not the sublime condition in which you are nor the eminent and great Honours with which you deservedly shine as a bright Star of the first Magnitude in our little World that hath induced me to address this ensuing Discourse to you but the great and excellent knowledge of Natural Beings your Grace hath acquired by a constant and curious Anatomizing of all sort of Concrets in your Laboratory a way certainly the most likely to give you a faithful and solid account of the Nature of things by discovering to you the real principles of which they are constituted This it is which made me conclude I should have done a great injustice had I put this Tract under any other Protection than yours And indeed at whose feet can a Subject of this Nature be so fitly plac'd as at your Grace's you being so great an Experimental Philosopher But lest I prove tedious I will conclude this Epistle with assuring you that not only this Book but the Author of it are both Dedicated to your Graces Service by him that in all Humility subscribes himself My Lord Your Graces most Obedient and Faithful Servant THO. SHERLEY TO THE READER READER Custome which hath the power to make and establish Laws hath obliged me to comply in this particular of writing to thee Otherwise I was resolved to suffer this ensuing Discourse to appear naked and without an Advocate as Philosophical Subjects ought to do that so the minds of the studious being free from preposession might be the better able to judge of the truth of the Matter in hand and of the validity of the Arguments I produce to evince it This I say I would have done could I have been assur'd that this Book should have fallen under the censure of none but Philosophical and knowing Men to whom I should have thought my self happy to have submitted my labours in this kind To which sort of inquisitive and industrious Men I pretend not to have done any further service in these Lucubrations then by having laid together those Arguments and Experiments which did readily occurr to my mind and which I thought might conduce to prove the Matter in hand a Subject â—it to be seriously look'd into and though I seem in some places to be determinate yet I declare once for all I have not the vanity to think I have put such a Ne plus ultra to the inquiries into this Subject that â—o further discoveries are to be made nothing less For though the Subject be rough and hard yet it is far from being unfruitful And if by my endeavours I shall prove Instrumental by giving of hints c. to put other industrious Philosophers who are fitted with better parts and more time to digg deeper in these Quarries I shall think it glory sufficient to have been thus far serviceable to the Common-wealth of Learning and if by the endeavours of such Wâ—rthy Men I shall find my self confirm'd in my Opinion I shall rely upon it with the greater security But if by their inquirius other and truer causes shall appear I shall not scruple to a knowledge that I will willingly become a Proselyte to Truth though at the same time it is discover'd it convince me of having been erroneous in my Opinion But at present thinking I defend a verity I shall not easily recede from my Opinion without my Iudgment be convinc'd by the same means I make use of to Proselyte others that is both by reason and Experiments And likewise let me add this that I shall expect the same Candid and civil dealing from such who intend to confute me which I have shew'd to those whose Opinions I reject For otherwise I shall conclude a railing Adversary fitter for my slight than reply I knowing a better use of my time then to spend it so unfruitfully As I court not applause which is a vanity anbefitting a Philosopher So having as I suppose appear'd in a good Cause that is the defence of a philosophical truth viz. that the Matter of Stones and all other Bodies is Water and their Efficient Seed I shall not fear Censure though I must be exposed to that of any Man which shall take the pains to peruse my Book I am not ignorant of the Proverb So many Men so many Minds Nor of that other Habenâ—â—sua fata Likelli And therefore cannot expect that impossibility of pleasing every body but that I may be as useful as I can to those Readers which though they may have large Souls have yet been little Conversant with things of this Nature I say that I may be as Instructive as I can and that my meaning may not be mistaken I shall therefore inform them of these things following First that there are many Men of great Natural parts which yet want the advantage of understanding the Greek and Latinâ— â—ongâ—â—s for whose sakes I have that I might be the more useful Translated into the English all those quotations which I make use of from Authors which have writ in those Learned Languages and that for the most part Verbatim though sometimes I only deliver their sense And to satisfie the scrupulous yet Learned sort of Readers of my integrity I have almost constantly given them the very words and in the same Language they are delivered by those I quâ—te together with the Book and for the most part Page where the Original words may be found marked in the Margin Secondly If it shall be objected that I am very frequent in quotations a thing much out of fashion and that therefore it may be supposed I have said little but what will be found expressed by others I shall acknowledge I have wilfully done so because I had a desire to get my self strongly Seconded in my Opinion by the determinations of Learned Men And of the Testimony of such only have I made use For I verily believes that if an Angel himself should avouch any thing singly and as his own Opinion he would not be believed by some Men. But however the Reader will have these Advantages by it First those things are here contracted and
all those things that are compact or solid do contain Salt and where there is no Salt there can be no hardness And for this reason they esteem Salt to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Solidity which they that deny say they are obliged to shew some other cause from which Salts have that aptitude to coagulate themselves and become solid bodies For it is manifest that the Salts of Vegetables as Crystals of Tartar c. also Nitre Allom Vitriol Salt Gemm and divers other of this Nature do coagulate themselves not only into hard but even brittle bodies in the bosome of the water and to this end they alleadge that if the Salt be washed from ashes no heat of fire will make them hard but if the Salt be left in them and they be mixt with a little water the fire will not only quickly make them become hard but if they be strongly press'd with it turn them into Glass The Learned Kircherus is also of the same opinion with the Ghymists viz. that Salt is the cause of stonifying and giveth us this experiment to confirm it Si saxum inquit quodcunque in tenuissimum pâ—llinem resolveris aqua perfectè commixtum per Manicam Hippocratis Colaveris illa nil prorsus saxeum sed preter arenaceum solummodo sedimentum nil relinquet si verò Nitrum vel Tartarum aqua perfecté commixtum addideris illa quacunque tetigerint intra subjectam concham posita sive frondes similiaque post exiguum temporis curriculum aeri exposita vel in saxum ejusdem generis conversum si non totum saltem cortice Saxco vestient If saith he you reduce any sort of stone into a most subtile powder and mixing it throughly with water you strain it through Hippocrates's bagg therewill nothing of it remain that is stony nor will it leave any thing of it behind but a certain sandy sediment but if you shall add to this Nitre or Tartar perfectly dissolved in water whatsoever body they shall touch being placed in the same Dish whether it be the twiggs of a Vine or the like after a little while being exposed to the Air it will be turned into stone or at least it will be covered with a stony Crust And though this opinion be held by Crollius Hartman Quercetanus Severinus and Sennertus who are but Neoterick or late Writers yet is it no new opinion but hath been asserted by the venerable Ancients as long agoe as the time of Hermes Tresmegistus who is said to have lived in the Age of Ioshua who in his Smaragdine Tables as they are called hath left us these words Salis est ut corporibus in Mundum prodituris soliditatem coagulando praestet Sal enim corpus est Mercurius Spiritus Sulphur anima that is T is from Salt that Bodies are produced in the World it causeth Coagulation and Solidity for Salt is the Body Mercury the Spirit and Sulphur the Soul This Doctrine though much more rational than the former and seeming to be confirmed by experiment and to be verified by the account our senses give us of it cannot yet gain my full assent to it so far as to allow Salt to be the Primary either Matter or Efficient of Solidity in bodies or the cause from whence stones are produced For it is observabe that Salts are reducible into Liquors and do seem to lose their solidity either by being mixed with water or exposed to the Air in which many of them run per deliquium But to let this pass what Salt can be supposed to be communicated to Quick-silver when it is coagulated by the fumes of melted Lead by which it becomes so solid that it may be cast into Moulds and Images formed of it and when cold is not only hard but somewhat brittle like Regulus of Antimony What access of Salt can be fancied is added to the white of an Egg from whence the whole Chick is formed which is a Liquor so near water that by beating it with a whisk it is reduced into so fluid a substance that it will easily mix with water and is hardly distinguishable from it And yet this white of the Egg by the assistance of a gentle heat to stir up its seminal Principle and enable it to turn and new shuffle the parts of that liquid substance by the means of which motion divers of its parts are broken into shapes and sizes fit to adhere one to another is all of it turned into solid bodies some of them very tough as the Membranes and Nerves and some of them hard and brittle as the Beak Bones Claws c. of the Chick and all this without any new addition of salt 'T is likewise remarkable that very credible witnesses assure us that Corral though it grow in salt water at the bottom of the Sea is yet whilst it remains there soft like other Plants and juicy also neither will the example of Kircherus alleadged above avail much sinceit is commonly known that the powder of Plaster of Paris or burnt Alabaster if it be mixed with water without any sort of salt will coagulate into an entire stony lump or Mass. I do not deny but that salt may very much conduce towards the coagulation of some bodies as we see in the curdling of Milk with Runner Spirit of salt Oyl of Vitriol juice of Limmons and the like but then this happens but to some bodies and is caused from the shape and motion of its small parts which entring the pores of some bodies that are naturally fitted to be wrought upon by it it fills up many of the cavities of such bodies and also affixing it self to the particles of them it causeth them not only to stick to it self but also adhere closely one to another I say salts do this to some bodies not to all for to some other bodies instead of being an Instrument either to cause or confirm their solidity it by dissociating the parts of which they consist and putting them into motion doth reduce them into the appearance of Liquor as we see in the action of corrosive saline spirits both upon Metals and stones Now for that Argument that salts do shoot even in the water into hard and brittle Crystals if I should say they do so upon the account of a seminal Principle I should not perhaps be thought to have much mistaken the cause by those that have well consider'd the curious and regular Figures yet constantly distinct from each other which their Crystals shoot into which certainly cannot proceed from chance for they do as constantly keep their own figure as for Example that of Nitre alwayes appears in a Sexangular form that of Sea-salt in a Cubical As Wheat produceth Wheat and the seed of a Man a Man Philosophers hold there are two sorts of Agents one they stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the principal cause or Agent from which immediately and primarily the Action depends and