is euident out of many experiences as for example in trees the barke which is opposed to the north wind is harder and thicker then the contrary side which is opposed to the south and a great difference will appeare in the graine of the wood euen so much that skilfull people will by feeling and seeing a round piece of the wood after the tree is felled tell you in what situation it grew and which way each side of that peece looked And Iosephus Acosta writeth of a tree in America that on the one side being situated towardes great hills and on the other being exposed to the hoat sunne the one halfe of it flourisheth att one time of the yeare and the other halfe att the opposite season And some such like may be the cause of the strāge effects we sometimes see of trees flourishing or bearing leafes att an vnseasonable time of the yeare as in particular in the famous oake in the Newforest and in some others in our Iland in which peraduenture the soyle they grow in may do the same effect as the windes and sunne did in the tree that Acosta maketh mention of For we dayly see how some soyles are so powerfull ouer some kind of corne that they will change the very nature of it so that you shall reape oates or rye after you haue sowen wheate there Which sheweth euidently that since the outward circumstances can make the partes or the whole of any substance become different from what they were att the first generation is not made by aggregation of like partes to presupposed like ones nor by a specificall worker within but by the compounding of a seminary matter with the iuice which accreweth to it from without and with the steames of circumstant bodies which by an ordinary course of nature are regularly imbibed in it by degrees and which att euery degree do change it into a different thing such an one as is capable to result out of the present compound as we haue said before vntill it arriue to its full perfection Which yet is not the vtmost periode of natures changes for from that for example from corne or an animal it carryeth it on still changing it to be meale or a cadauer from thence to be bread or durte after that to be bloud or grasse And so still turning about her wheele which suffereth nothing to remaine long in the state it is in she changeth all substances from one into an other And by reiterated reuolutions maketh in time euery thing of euery thing as when of mudde she maketh tadpoles and frogges of them and afterwardes mudde againe of the frogges or when she runneth a like progresse from earth to wormes and from them to flyes and the like so changing one animal into such an other as in the next precedent steppe the matter in those circumstances is capable of being changed into or rather to say better must necessarily be changed into To confirme this by experience I haue beene assured by one who was very exact in noting such thinges that he once obserued in Spaine in the spring season how a sticke lying in a moyst place grew in tract of time to be most of it a rotten durty matter and that att the durty end of the sticke there began a rude head to be formed of it by litle and litle and after a while some litle legges began to discouer themselues neere this vnpolished head which dayly grew more and more distinctly shaped And then for a pretty while for it was in a place where he had the conueniencye to obserue dayly the progresse of it and no body came neere to stirre it in the whole course of it he could discerne where it ceased to be a body of a liuing creature and where it began to be dead stiche or durt all in one continuate quantity or body But euery day the body grew longer and longer and more legges appeared till att the length when he saw the animal almost finished and neere seperating it selfe from the rest of the sticke he stayed then by it and saw it creepe away in a catarpillar leauing the sticke and durt as much wanting of its first length as the wormes body tooke vp Peraduenture the greatest part of such creatures maketh their way by such steppes into the world But to be able to obserue their progresse thus distinctly as this Gentleman did happeneth not frequently Therefore to satisfy our selues herein it were well we made our remarkes in some creatures that might be continually in our power to obserue in them the course of nature euery day and houre Sir Ihon Heydon the Lieutenant of his Maiesties ordinance that generous and knowing Gentleman and consummate souldier both in theory and practise was the first that instructed me how to do this by meanes of a furnace so made as to imitate the warmeth of a sitting henne In which you may lay seuerall egges to hatch and by breaking them at seuerall ages you may distinctly obserue euery hourely mutation in them if you please The first will bee that on one side you shall find a great resplendent clearnesse in the white After a while a litle spott of red matter like bload will appeare in the middest of that clearnesse fastened to the yolke which will haue a motion of opening and shutting so as sometimes you will see it and straight againe it will vanish from your sight and indeede att the first it is so litle that you can not see it but by the motion of it for att euery pulse as it openeth you may see it and immediately againe it shutteth in such sort as it is not to be discerned Frō this red specke after a while there will streame out a number of litle almost imperceptible red veines Att the end of some of which in time there will be gathered together a knotte of matter which by litle and litle will take the forme of a head and you will ere long beginne to discerne eyes and a beake in it All this while the first red spott of blood groweth bigger and solider till att the length it becometh a fleshy substance and by its figure may easily be discerned to be the hart which as yet hath no other enclosure but the substance of the egge But by litle and litle the rest of the body of an animal is framed out of those red veines which streame out all aboute from the hart And in processe of time that body incloseth the heart within it by the chest which groweth ouer on both sides and in the end meeteth and closeth it selfe fast together After which this litle creature soone filleth the shell by conuerting into seuerall partes of itselfe all the substance of the egge And then growing weary of so straight an habitation it breaketh prison and cometh out a perfectly formed chicken In like manner in other creatures which in latin are called Viuipara because their yong ones are quicke in their mothers
done the former of the encrease it selfe in velocity because the reason of it is common to all motions Which is that all motion as may appeare out of what we haue formerly said proceedeth from two causes namely the Agent or the force that mooueth and the disposition of the body mooued as it is composed of the three qualities we lately explicated In which is to be noted that the Agent doth not mooue simply by its owne vertue but it applyeth also the vertue of the body mooued which it hath to diuide the medium when it is putt on As when we cutt with a knife the effect proceedeth from the knife pressed on by the hand or from the hand as applying and putting in action the edge and cutting power of the knife Now this in Physickes and nature is cleerely parallel to what in Geometry and Arithmetike the Mathematicians call drawing one number or one side into an other for as in Mathematikes to draw one number into an other is to apply the number drawne vnto euery part of the number into which it is drawne as if we draw three into seuen we make twenty one by making euery vnity or part of the number seuen to be three and the like is of lines in Geometry So in the present case to euery part of the handes motion we adde the whole vertue of the cutting faculty which is in the knife and to euery part of the motion of the knife we adde the whole pressing vertue of the hand Therefore the encrease of the effect proceeding from two causes so working must also be parallel to the encrease of the quantities arising out of the like drawing in Mathematikes But in those it is euident that the encrease is according to the order of the odde numbers and therefore it must in our case be the like that is the encrease must be in the said proportion of odde numbers Now that in those the encrease proceedeth so will be euident if you consider the encrease of an Equicrure triangle which because it goeth vpon a certaine proportion of length and breadth if you compare the encreases of the whole triangle that gaineth on each side with the encreases of the perpendicular which gaineth onely in length you will see that they still proceede in the foresaid proportion of odde numbers But we must not imagine that the velocity of motion will alwayse encrease thus for as long as we can fancy any motion but when it is arriued vnto the vtmost periode that such a mooueable with such causes is capable of then it keepeth constantly the same pace and goeth equally and vniformely att the same rate For since the density of the mooueable and the force of the Agent mouing it which two do cause the motion haue a limited proportion to the resistance of the medium how yielding soeuer it be it must needes follow that when the motion is arriued vnto that height which ariseth out of this proportion it can not exceede it but must continue at that rate vnlesse some other cause giue yet a greater impulse to the moueable For velocity consisting in this that the moueable cutteth through more of the medium in an equall time it is euident that in the encrease of velocity the resistance of the medium which is ouercome by it groweth greater and greater and by litle and litle gaineth vpon the foree of the Agent so that the superproportion of the Agent groweth still lesser and lesser as the velocity encreaseth and therefore att the length they must come to be ballanced And then the velocity can encrease no more And the reason of the encrease of it for a while att the beginning is because that coming from rest it must passe through all the intermediate degrees of velocity before it can attaine to the height of it which requireth time to performe and therefore falleth vnder the power of our sense to obserue But because we see it do so for some time we must not therefore conclude that the nature of such motion is still to encrease without any periode or limit like those lines that perpetually grow neerer and yet can neuer meete for we see that our reason examining the causes of this velocity assureth vs that in continuance of time and space it may come to its height which it can not exceede And there would be the pitch att which distance weights being lett fall would giue the greatest stroakes and make greatest impressions It is true that Galileus and Mersenius two exact experimenters do thinke they find this verity by their experiences But surely that is impossible to be done for the encrease of velocity being in a proportion euer diminishing it must of necessity come to an insensible encrease in proportion before it endeth for the space which the moueable goeth through is still encreased and the time wherein it passeth through that space remaineth still the same litle one as was taken vp in passing a lesse space immediately before and such litle differences of great spaces passed ouer in a litle time come soone to be vndiscernable by sense But reason which sheweth vs that if velocity neuer ceased from encreasing it would in time arriue to exceede any particular velocity and by consequence the proportion which the moouer hath to the medium because of the adding still a determinate part to its velocity concludeth plainely that it is impossible motion should encrease for euer without coming to a periode Now the impression which falling weights do make is of two kindes for the body into which impression is made either can yield backward or it can not If it can yield backward then the impression made is a motion as we see a stroak with a rackett vpon a ball or with a pailemaile beetle vpon a boule maketh it fly from it But if the strucken body can not yield backwardes then it maketh it yield on the sides And this in diuerse manners for if the smitten body be dry and brittle it is subiect to breake it and make the pieces fly round about but if it be a tough body it squeeseth it into a larger forme But because the effect in any of these wayse is eminently greater then the force of the Agēt seemeth to be it is worth our labour to looke into the causes of it To which end we may remember how we haue already declared that the force of the velocity is equall to a reciprocall force of weight in the vertue mouent wherefore the effect of a blow that a man giueth with a hammer dependeth vpon the weight of the hammer vpon the velocity of the motion and vpon the hand in case the hand accompanieth the blow But if the motion of the hand ceaseth before as when we throw a thing then onely the velocity and the weight of the hammer remaine to be considered Howsoeuer lett vs putt the hand and weight in one summe which we may equalise by some other vertue or weight Then lett vs
consider the way or space which a weight lying vpon the thing is to goe forwardes to do the same effect in the same time as the percussion doeth And what excesse the line of the blow hath ouer the line of that way or space such an excesse we must adde of equall weight or force to the weight we had already taken And the weight composed of both will be a fitt Agent to make the like impression This Probleme was proposed vnto me by that worthy religious man Father Mersenius who is not content with aduancing learning by his owne industry and labours but besides is alwayse out of his generous affection to verity inciting others to contribute to the publike stocke of it He proposed to me likewise this following question to witt why there is required a weight of water in double Geometricall proportion to make a pipe runne twice as fast as it did or to haue twice as much water runne out in the same time Vnto which I answere out of the same ground as before That because in running twice as fast there goeth out double water in euery part of time and againe euery part of water goeth a double space in the same part of time that is to say because double the celerity is drawne into double the water and double the water into double the celerity therefore the present effect is to the former effect as the effect or quadrate of a double line drawne into it selfe is to the effect or quadrate of halfe the said line drawne into it selfe And consequently the cause of the latter effect which is the weight then must be to the cause of the former effect that is to the former weight in the same proportion namely as the quadrate of a double line is to the quadrate of halfe that line And so you see the reason of what he by experience findeth to be true Though I doubt not but when he shall sett out the treatise which he hath made of this subiect the reader will haue better satisfaction In the meane while an experience which Galileo deliuereth will confirme this doctrine He sayth that to make the same pendant goe twice as fast as it did or to make euery vndulation of it in halfe the time it did you must make the line att which it hangeth double in Geometricall proportion to the line att which it hanged before Whence it followeth that the circle by which it goeth is likewise in double Geometricall proportion And this being certaine that celerity to celerity hath the proportion of force which weight hath to weight it is euident that as in one case there must be weight in Geometricall proportion so in the other case where onely celerity maketh the variance the celerity must be in double Geometricall proportion according as Galileo findeth it by experience But to returne to our maine intent there is to be further noted that if the subiect strucken be of a proportionate cessibility it seemeth to dull and deaden the stroake whereas if the thing strucken be hard the stroake seemeth to loose no force but to worke a greater effect Though indeed the truth be that in both cases the effects are equall but diuerse according to the natures of the thinges that are strucken for no force that once is in nature can be lost but must haue its adequate effect one way or other Lett vs then first suppose the body strucken to be a hard body of no exceeding biggnesse in which case if the stroake light perpendiculary vpon it it will carry such a body before it But if the body be too great and haue its partes so conioyned as that they are weaker thē the stroake in this case the stroake driueth one part before it and so breaketh it from the rest But lastly if the partes of the strucken body be so easily cessible as without difficulty the stroake can diuide them then it entereth into such a body vntill it hath spent its force So that now making vp our account we see that an equall effect proceedeth from an equall force in all the three cases though in themselues they be farre different But we are apt to account that effect greater which is more considerable vnto vs by the profitt or damage it bringeth vs. And therefore we vsually say that the blow which shaketh a wall or beateth it downe and killeth men with the stones it scattereth abroad hath a greater effect then that which penetrateth farre into a mudde wall and doth litle harme for that innocuousnesse of the effect maketh that although in it selfe it be as great as the other yet it is litle obserued or considered This discourse draweth on an other which is to declare how motion ceaseth And to summe that vp in short we say that when motion cometh vnto rest it decreaseth and passeth through all the degrees of celerity and tardity that are betweene rest and the height of that motion which so declineth And that in the proportion of the odde numbers as we declared aboue that it did encrease The reason is cleare because that which maketh a motion cease is the resistance it findeth which resistance is an action of a moouer that mooueth some thing against the body which is mooued or some thing equiualent to such an action wherefore it must follow the lawes that are common to all motions of which kind those two are that we haue expressed in this conclusion Now that resistance is a countermotion or equiualent to one is plaine by this that any body which is pressed must needes presse againe vpon the body that presseth it wherefore the cause that hindereth such a body from yielding is a force mouing that body against the body which presseth it The particulars of all which we shall more att large declare where we speake of the action and reaction of particular bodies THE TENTH CHAPTER Of Grauity and Leuity and of Locall Motion commonly termed Naturall IT is now time to consider that distinction of motions which is so famous in Aristotle to witt that some motions are naturall others violent and to determine what may be signifyed by these termes For seeing we haue said that no body hath a naturall intrinsecall inclination vnto any place to which it is able to moue it selfe we must needes conclude that the motion of euery body followeth the percussion of extrinsecall Agents It seemeth therefore impossible that any body should haue any motion naturall to it selfe And if there be none naturall there can be none violent And so this distinction will vainsh to nothing But on the other side liuing creatures do manifesty shew naturall motions hauing naturall instruments to performe certaine motions wherefore such motions must of necessity be naturall to them But these are not the motions which we are to speake of for Aristotles diuision is common to all bodies or att the least to all those we conuerse withall and particulary to those which are called heauy and
the cause of the plummets remounting as long as grauity is said to be a quality for still grauity must be the cause of an effect contrary to its owne inclination by setting on foote the immediate cause to produce it The second thing we are to note in this experiment of the plummets ascent is that if grauity be a quality there must bee as much resistance to its going vp as there was force to its coming downe Therefore there must be twice as much force to make it ascend as there was to make it descend that is to say there must be twice as much force as the naturall force of the grauity is for there must be once as much to equalise the resistance of the grauity and then an other time as much to carry it as farre through the same medium in the same time But it is impossible that any cause should produce an effect greater then it selfe Againe the grauity must needes be in a determinate degree and the vertue that maketh the plummett remount whatsoeuer it be may be putt as litle as we please and consequently not able to ouersway the grauity alone if it be an intrinsecall quality and yet the plummet will remount in which case you putt an effect without a cause An other experience we may take from the force of sucking for take the barrell of a long gunne perfectly bored and sett it vpright with the breech vpon the ground and take a bullett that is exactly fitt for it but so as it sticke not any where both the barrell and it being perfectly polished and then if you sucke att the mouth of the barrell though neuer so gently the bullett will come vp so forcibly that it will hazard the striking out of your teeth Now lett vs consider what force were necessary to sucke the bullett vp and how very slowly it would ascend if in the barrell it had as much resistance to ascend as in the free ayre it hath inclination to goe downe But if it had a quality of grauity naturall to it it must of necessity haue such resistance whereas in our experiment we see it cometh as easily as the very ayre So that in this example as well as in the other nature teacheth vs that grauity is no quality And all or most of the arguments which we haue vrged against the quality of grauity in that explication we haue considered it in haue force likewise against it although it be said to be an inclination of its subiect to mooue it selfe vnto vnity with the maine stocke of its owne nature as diuers witty men do putt it for this supposition doth but chāge the intention or end of grauity and is but to make it an other kind of intellectuall or knowing Entity that determineth it selfe to an other end which is as impossible for a naturall quality to do as to determine it selfe to the former endes And thus much the arguments we haue proposed do conuince euidently if they be applyed against this opinion THE TWELTH CHAPTER Of Violent Motion ANd thus we haue giuen a short scātling whereby to vnderstand in some measure the causes of that motion which we call naturall by reason it hath its birth from the vniuersall oeconomy of nature here among vs that is from the generall working of the sunne whereby all naturall thinges haue their course and by reason that the cause of it is att all times and in all places constantly the same Next vnto which the order of discourse leadeth vs to take a suruay of those forced motions whose first causes the more apparent they are the more obscurity they leaue vs in to determine by what meanes they are continued When a tennis ball is strucken by a rackett or an arrow is shott from a bow we plainely see the causes of their motion namely the stringes which first yielding and then returning with a greater celerity do cause the missiues to speed so fast towardes their appoynted homes Experience informeth vs what qualities the missiues must be endued withall to mooue fast and steadily They must be so heauy that the ayre may not breake their course and yet so light that they may be within the command of the stroake which giueth them motion the striker must be dense and in its best velocity the angle which the missiue is to mount by if we will haue it goe to its furthest randome must be the halfe of a right one and lastly the figure of the missiue must be such as may giue scope vnto the ayre to beare it vp and yet not hinder its course by taking too much hold of it All this we see but when withall wee see that the moouer deserteth the moueable as soone as he hath giuen the blow wee are att a stand and know not where to seeke for that which afterwardes maketh it flye for motion being a transient not a permanent thing as soone as the cause ceaseth that begott it in that very point it must be att an end and as long as the motion continueth there must be some permanent cause to make it do so so that as soone as the rackett or bowstring goe backe and leaue the ball or arrow why should not they presently fall straight downe to the ground Aristotle and his followers haue attributed the cause hereof to the ayre but Galileo relisheth not this conception His arguments against it are as I remember to this tenor first ayre by reason of its rarity and diuisibility seemeth not apt to conserue motion next we see that light thinges are best carried by the ayre and it hath no power ouer weighty ones lastly it is euident that ayre taketh most hold of the broadest superficies and therefore an arrow would flye faster broadwayes then longwayes if this were true Neuerthelesse since euery effect must haue a proportionable cause from whence it immediately floweth and that a body must haue an other body to thrust it on as long as it mooueth lett vs examine what bodies do touch a moueable whilest it is in motion as the onely meanes to find an issue out of this difficulty for to haue recourse vnto a quality or impressed force for deliuerance out of this straight is a shift that will not serue the turne in this way of discourse we vse In this Philosophy no knott admitteth such a solution If then we enquire what body it is that immediately toucheth the ball or arrow whiles it flyeth we shall find that none other doth so but the ayre and the atomes in it after the stringes haue giuen their stroake and are parted from the missiue And although we haue Galileos authority and arguments to discourage vs from beleeuing that the ayre can worke this effect yet since there is no other body besides it left for vs to consider in this case lett vs att the least examine how the ayre behaueth it selfe after the stroake is giuen by the stringes First then it is euident that as soone
meanes she vseth to auoyde it For to putt it as an enemy that nature fighteth against or to discourse of effects that would follow from it in case it were admitted is a great mistake and a lost labour seeing it is nothing and therefore can do nothing but is meerely a forme of expression to declare in short nothing else but that it is a contradiction or implication in termes and an impossibility in nature for vacuity to haue or to be supposed to haue a Being Thus then since in our case after we haue cast all about we can pitch vpon nothing to be considered but that the two stones do touch one an other and that they are weighty we must apply our selues onely to reflect vpon the effects proceeding from these two causes their contiguity and their heauynesse and we shall find that as the one of them namely the weight hindereth the vndermost from following the vppermost so contiguity obligeth it vnto that course and according as the one ouercometh the other so will this action be continued or interrupted Now that contiguity of substances do make one follow an other is euident by what our Masters in Metaphysickes teach vs when they shew that without this effect no motion att all could be made in the world nor no reason could be giuen for those motions we dayly see For since the nature of quantity is such that whensoeuer there is nothing between two partes of it they must needes touch and adhere and ioyne to one an other for how should they be kept asunder when there is nothing betweene them to part them if you pull one part away eyther some new substance must come to de close vnto that which remoueth or else the other which was formerly close to it must still be close to it and so follow it for if nothing do come between it is still close to it Thus then it being necessary that something must be ioyned close to euery thing vacuity which is nothing is excluded from hauing any being in nature And when we say that one body must follow an other to auoyde vacuity the meaning is that vnder the necessity of a contradiction they must follow one an other and that they can not do otherwise For it would be a contradiction to say that nothing were between two thinges and yet that they are not ioyned close to one an other And therefore if you should say it you would in other wordes say they are close together and they are not close together In like manner to say that vacuity is any where is a pure contradiction for vacuity being nothing hath no Being att all and yet by those wordes it is said to be in such a place so that they affirme it to be and not to be att the same time But now lett vs examine if there be no meanes to auoyde this contradiction and vacuity other then by the adhesion and following of one body vpon the motion of an other that is closely ioyned to it and euery where contiguous For sense is not easily quieted with such Metaphysicall contemplations that seeme to repugne against her dictamens and therefore for her satisfaction we can do no lesse then giue her leaue to range about and cast all wayes in hope of finding some one that may better content her which when she findeth that she can not she will the lesse repine to yield her assent to the rigourous sequeles and proofes of reason In this difficulty then after turning on euery side I for my part can discerne no pretence of probability in any other meanes then in pulling downe the lower stone by one corner that so there may be a gaping between the two stones to lett in ayre by little and little And in this case you may say that by the interuention of ayre vacuity is hindered aud yett the lower stone is left att liberty to follow its owne naturall inclination and be gouerned by its weight But indeed if you consider the matter well you will find that the doing this requireth a much greater force then to haue the lower stone follow the vpper for it can not gape in a straight line to lett in ayre since in that position it must open at the bottome where the angle is made at the same time that it openeth at the mouth and then ayre requiring time to passe from the edges to the bottome it must in the meane while fall into the contradiction of vacuity So that if it should open to lett in ayre the stone to compasse that effect must bend in such sort as wood doth when a wedge is putt into it to cleaue it Iudge then what force it must be that should make hard marble of a great thicknesse bend like a wand and whether it would not rather breake and slide off then do so you will allow that a much lesse will raise vp the lower stone together with the vppermost It must then of necessity fall out that it will follow it if it be moued perpendicularly vpwardes And the like effect will be though it should be raysed at oblique angles so that the lowermost edge do rest all the way vpon some thing that may hinder the inferior stone from sliding aside from the vppermost And this is the very case of all those other experiments of art and nature which we haue mentioned aboue for the reason holdeth as well in water and in liquide thinges as in solide bodies vntill the weight of the liquide body ouercometh the continuity of it for then the thridde breaketh and it will ascend no higher Which height Galileo telleth vs from the workmen in the Arsenall of Venice is neere 40. foote if the water be drawne vp in a close pipe in which the aduantage of the sides helpeth the ascent But others say that the inuention is enlarged and that water may be drawne to what height one pleaseth Howsoeuer the force which nature applyeth to maintaine the continuity of quantity can haue no limitt seeing it is grounded vpon contradiction And therefore Galileo was much mistaken when he throught to make an instrument whereby to discouer the limits of this force We may then conclude that the breaking of the water must depend from the strength of other causes As for example when the grauity is so great by encreasing the bulke of the water that it will eyther ouercome the strength of the pipe or else make the sucker of the pumpe rather yield way to ayre then draw vp so great a weight for which defects if remedies be found the art may surely be enlarged without end This is particular in a syphon that when that arme of it which hangeth out of the water is lower then the superficies of the water then it will runne of it selfe after it is once sett on running by sucking The reason whereof is because the weight which is in water pendant is greater then the weight of the ascending water and thereby supplyeth
do cause a swelling or a contraction of it against this or that part doth stoppe and hinder the the entrance of the spirits into some sinewes and doth open others and driueth the spirits into them so as in the end by a result of a chaine of swellinges and contractions of seuerall partes successiuely one against an other the due motions of prosecution or auersion are brought about As for example an obiect that affecteth the hart with liking by dilating the spirits about the hart sendeth some into the optâ—ke nerues and maketh the liuing creature turne his eye towardes it and keepe it steady vpon what he desireth as contrariwise if he dislike and feare it he naturally turneth his eye and head from it Now of this motion of the eye and head may depend the running to the thing in one case and the running from it in the other for the turning of the necke one way may open a passage for the spirits into those sinewes which carry the rest of the body towardes the obiect and the turning of it to the other side may open other sinewes which shall worke a contrary effect and carry the animal from the obiect and the mouing of those sinewes which at the first do turne the necke doth proceed from the quality and number of the spirits that ascend from the hart and from the region of the hart from whence they are sent according to the variety whereof there are diuers sinewes fitted to receiue them To make vp which discourse we may call to mind what we haue said a litle aboue concerning the motions caused in the externall partes of the body by passion mouing within as when feare mingled with hope giueth a motion to the legges anger to the armes and handes and all the rest of the body as well as to the legges and all of them an attention in the outward senses which neuerthelesse peruerteth euery one of their functions if the passion be in extremity And then surely we may satisfy our selues that eyther this or some way like it which I leaue vnto the curious in Anatomy to settle with exactenesse for it is enough for my intent to shew in grosse how these operations may be done without calling in some incomprehensible qualities to our ayde is the course of nature in motions where no other cause interueneth besides the obiect working vpon the sense which all the while it doth it is the office of the eye of fantasy or of common sense to lye euer open still watching to obserue what warninges the outward senses do send vnto him that accordingly he may direct and change the motions of the hart and of the whole body But if the obiect do make violent impressions vpon the sense and the hart being then vehemently moued do there vpon send abouÌ„dance of spirits vp to the braine this multitude of spirits thronging vpon the common sense oppresseth it as we haue already said in such sort that the notice which the sense giueth of particular circumstances can not preuayle to any effect in the braine and thus by the misguidance of the hart the worke of nature is disordered which when it happeneth we expresse in short by saying that passion blindeth the creature in whom such violent and disorderly motions haue course for passion is nothing else but a motion of the bloud and spirits about the hart and is the preparation or beginning of the animals working as we haue aboue particularly displayed And thus you see in common how the circuite is made from the obiect to the sense and from it by the common sense and fantasy to the hart and from the hart backe againe to the braine which then setteth on worke those organes or partes the animal is to make vse of in that occasion and they eyther bring him to or carry him from the obiect that at the first caused all this motion and in the end becometh the periode of it THE SIX AND THERTIETH CHAPTER Of some actions of beastes that seeme to be formall actes of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting IN the last Chapter the foundations are layed and the way is opened for the discouering how all operations which proceed from nature and passion are performed among liuing creatures and therefore I conceiue I haue thereby sufficiently complyed with the obligation of my intention which is but to expresse and shew in common how all the actions of sensible bodies may be reduced to locall motion and to materiall application of one boy vnto an other in a like manner though in a different degree as those motions which we see in liueliest bodies Yet because among such animals as passe for irrationall there happen some operations of so admirable a straine as resemble very much the highest effects which proceed from a man I thinke it not amisse to giue some further light by extending my discourse to some more particulars then hitherto I haue done whereby the course and way how they are performed may be more clearely and easily looked into and the rather because I haue mette with some men who eyther wanting patience to bestow on thoughts of this kind so much time as is necessary for the due scanning of them or else through a promptitude of nature passing swiftly from the effect they looke vpon in grosse to the most obuious seeming cause do suddainely and strongly resolue that beastes vse discourse vpon occasions and are endewed with reason This I intend not to doe quite in particular for that were to write the history of euery particular animal but will content my selfe with touching the causes in common yet in such sort that the indifferent Reader may be satisfyed of a possibility that these effects may proceed from materiall causes and that I haue poynted out the way to those who are more curious and haue the patience and leisure to obserue diligently what passeth among beastes how they may trace these effects from steppe to steppe vntill at length they discouer their true causes To beginne then I conceiue we may reduce all those actions of beastes which seeme admirable and aboue the reach of an irrationall animal vnto three or foure seuerall heades The first may be of such as seeme to be the very practise of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting and the like The next shall be of such as by docility or practise beastes do oftentimes arriue vnto In the third place we will consider certaine continuate actions of a long tract of time so orderly performed by them as that discourse and rationall knowledge seeme clearely to shine through them And lastly we will cast our eye vpon some others which seeme to be euen aboue the reason that is in man himselfe as the knowing of thinges which the sense neuer had impression of before a prescience of future euents prouidences and the like As for the first the doubting of beasts and their long wauering sometimes betweene obiects that draw them seuerall wayes and at the
should still be as farre to seeke for the causes whence they proceed What should moue a lambe to tremble at the first sight of a wolfe or a henne at a kite neuer before seene neither the grimmest mastife or the biggest owle will at all affright them That which in the ordinary course of nature causeth beastes to be affraide of men or of other beastes is the hurt and the euill they receiueÌ„ from them which coming into their fantasie together with the Idaea of him that did it is also lodged together with it in the memory from whence they come linked or glewed together whensoeuer the stroake of any new obiect calleth eyther of them backe into the fantasie This is confirmed by the tamenesse of the birdes and beastes which the first discouerers of Islandes not inhabitated by men did find in those they mett withall there Their stories tell vs that at their first arriuall vpon those coastes where it seemeth men had neuer beene the birdes would not flye away but suffered the marriners to take them in their handes nor the beastes which with vs are wilde would runne from them but their discourteous guestes vsed them so hardely as they soone changed their confidence into distrust and auersion and by litle they grew by their commerce with men and by receiuing iniuries from them to be as wilde as any of the like kind in our partes From the dammes and sires this apprehension and feare at the sight of men so deepely rooted in them is doubtlessely transmitted to their yong ones for it proceedeth out of the disposition of the body and out of the passion which is immediately made in the hart and that is as truly a materiall motion as any whatsoeuer can be and must haue settled materiall instruments sitted to it if it be constant as well as any other naturall operation whatsoeuer and this passion of the hart proceedeth againe from a perpetuall connexion of the two obiects in the memory which being a perpetually constant thing is as true a quality of that beastes braine in whome it is as the being of a quicke or dull apprehension or the being apt to know one kind of meate from an other which is natural to the whole species or any other quality whatsoeuer residing in that beast Wherefore it is no wonder that it passeth by generation to the offspring which is a thing so common euen in man kinde as there can be no doubt of it and is at the first made by a violent cause that greatly altereth the body and consequently their seede must be imbewed with a like disposition and so it passeth together with the nature of the fire or of the damme into the broode From hence proceedeth that children do loue the same meates and exercises that their fathers and mothers were affected with and feare the like harmes This is the reason why a grandchilde of my Lord of Dorset whose honoured name must neuer be mentioned by me without a particular respect and humble acknowledgement of the noble and steady frendshippe he hath euer beene pleased to honour we with was alwayes extremely sicke if but the nurse did eate any capers against which my Lords antipathy is famous whiles she gaue sucke to that pretty infant The children of great Mathematicians who haue beene vsed to busye their fantasies continually with figures and proportions haue beene oftentimes obserued to haue a naturall bent vnto those sciences And we may note that euen in particular gestures and in litle singularities in familiar conuersation children will oftentimes resemble their parents as well as in the lineaments of their faces The yong ones of excellent setting doggs will haue a notable aptitude to that exercise and may be taught with halfe the paines that their sire or damme was if they were chosen out of a race of spaniels not trained to setting All which effects can proceed from no other cause but as we haue touched already that the fantasy of the parent altereth the temper and the disposition of his body and seede according as it selfe is tempered and disposed and consequently such a creature must be made of it as retaineth the same qualities in such sort as it is said that sufficient tartar putt at the roote of a tree will make the fruite haue a winy tast But nothing doth confirme this so much as certaine notable accidents whereof though euery one in particular would seeme incredible yet the number of them and the weight of the reporters who are the witnesses can not choose but purchase a generall creditt to the kind of them These accidents are that out of some strong imagination of the parents but especially of the mothers in the time of conception the children draw such maine differences as were incredible if the testifying authority were not so great but being true they conuince beyond all question the truth we haue proposed of the parents imagination working vpon and making an impression in the seede whereof children or yong ones of their kind are made Some children of white parents are reported to haue beene blacke vpon occasion of a blacke moores picture too much in the mothers eye Others are said to haue beene borne with their skinnes all hairy out of the sight of St. Iohn Baptistes picture as he was in the desert or of some other hairy image An other childe is fâ—med to haue beene borne deformed in such sort as diuels are painted because the father was in a diuels habitt when he gott the childe There was a Lady a kâ—nswoman of mine who vsed much to weare blackâ— patches vpon her face as was the fashion among yong women which I to putt her from vsed to tell her in iest that the next childe she should go with whiles the sollicitude and care of those patches was so strong in her fantasy would come into the world with a great blacke spott in the middest of its forehead and this apprehension was so liuely in her imagination at the times she proued with childe that her daughter was borne maâ—kâ—d iust as the mother had fansied which there are at hand witnesses enough to confirme but none more pregnant then the yong Lady herselfe vpon whom the marke is yet remaining Among other creatures it is said that a henne hatched a chicken with a kites bill because shâ— was frighâ—ed with a kite whiles the cocke was treading her The story of Iacobs sheepe is knowne to all and some do write that the painting of beautifull coloured pigeons in a douehouse will make the following race become like them and in Authors store of such examples may be found To giue a reasonable and fully satisfying cause of this great effect I confesse is very difficult seeing that for the most part the parents seede is made long time before the accoupling of the male and female and though it were not we should be mainely to seeke for a rationall ground to discourse in particular vpon it Yet not to leaue
rest do nibble vpon it there and do feede themselues first with that which consequently hindereth the groweth of the corne And here againe men will contend that this must be done by prouidence and discourse to preuent that their store should not grow out of their reach and changing nature become vselesse to them in their neede To conclude the foreknowing of beastes is nothing else but their timely receiuing impressions from the first degrees of mutation in thinges without them which degrees are almost imperceptible to vs because our fantasies and spirits hâ—ue otherwise such violent agitations more then theirs which hinder them from discerning gentle impressioÌ„s vpon them If you be at sea after along calme a while before a gaile bloweth to fill your sailes or to be discernable by your sense in quality of wind you shall perceiue the sea beginne to wrinkle his smooth face that way the wind will come which is so infaillible a signe that a gaile will come fâ—om that coast as marriners immediately fall to trimming their sailes accordingly and vsually before they can haue done the wind is with them shall we therefore say that the sea hath a prouidence to foresee which way the wind will blow Or that the cornes vpon our toes or calluses or broken bones or ioyntes that haue beene dislocated haue discourse and can foretell the weather It is nothing else but that the wind rising by degrees the smooth sea is capable of a change by it before we can feele it and that the ayre being changed by the forerunners of worse weather worketh vpon the crasiest partes of our body when the others feele not so small a change so beastes are more sensible then we for they haue lesse to distract them of the first degrees of a changing weather and that mutation of the ayre without them maketh some change within them which they expresse by some outward actions or gestures Now they who obserue how such mutations and actions are constantly in them before such or such weather do thinke they know beforehand that raine for example or wind or drought is coming according to the seuerall signes they haue marked in them which proceedeth out of the narrownesse of their discourse that maketh them resort to the same causes whensoeuer they meere with like effects and so they conceiue that thinges must needes passe in beastes after the same tenour as they do in meÌ„ And this is a generall and maine errour running through all the conceptions of mankind vnlesse great heede be taken to preuent it that what subiect soeuer they speculate vpon whether it be of substances that haue a superiour nature to theirs or whether it be of creatures inferiour to them they are still apt to bring them to their owne standard and to frame such conceptions of them as they would do of themselues as when they will haue Angels discourse and moue and be in a place in such sort as is naturall to men or when they will haue beastes rationate and vnderstand vpon their obseruing some orderly actions performed by them which in men would proceed from discourse and reason And this dangerous rocke against which many fine conceptions do suffer shipperackâ— whosoeuer studyeth truth must haue a maine caution to auoyde Sed nos immensum spatijs confecimus aequor Etiam tempus equum fumantia soluere colla THE CONCLVSION OF THE FIRST TREATISE THus at the last by Gods assistance we are clymbed vp to the toppe of the hill from whence looking downe ouer the whole region of bodies we may delight our selues with seeing what a height the weary steppes we ascended by haue brought vs vnto It is true the path we haue walked in is of late so vntrodden and so ouergrowne with bryars as it hath not beene without much labour that we haue made our way through And peraduenture it may seeme toylesome vnto others to follow vs especially such as are not much enured to like iourneyes but I hope the fruite which both we and they are now arriued to gather of our paines in this generall view we haue taken of the empire of matter and of corporeall agents is such as none of vs hath reason to be ill satisfyed with the employing of them For what can more powerfully delight or more noblâ— entertaine an vnderstanding soule then the search and discouery of those workes of nature which being in their effects so plainely exposed to our eyes are in their causes so abstruse and hidden from our comprehension as through despaire of successe they deterre most men from inquiring into them And I am persuaded that by this summary discourse short indeede in regard of so large a scope how euer my lame expressions may peraduenture make it appeare tedious it appeareth euidently that none of natures greatest secrets whereof our senses giue vs notice in the effects are so ouershaded with an impenetrable veyle but that the diligent and wary hand of reason might vnmaske them and shew them to vs in their naked and genuine formes and delight vs with the contemplation of their natiue beauties if we had as much care and constancy in the pursuite of them as we dayly see men haue in heaping vp of wealth or in striuing to satisfy their boundelesse ambitions or in making their senses swimme in the muddy lake of base and contemptible pleasures For who shall througly consider and weigh what we haue hitherto said will plainely see a continuall and orderly progresse from the simplest heighest and most common conception that we frame of a body in generall vnto the furthest and most abstruse effects that in particular are to be found in any body whatsoeuer I meane any that is meerely corporeall without mixture of a nobler nature for hitherto we haue not moued nor so much as looked out of that oâ—be He shall find one continued thridde spunne out from the beginning to the end He will see that the various twisting of the two specieses of Bodies Rare and Dense do make the yarne of which all thinges and actions within the sphere of matter are wouen And although peraduenture in the drawing out of the thridde there may be some litle brackes or the stuffe made of it be not euery where so close wrought as a better workeman at more leisure might haue done yet truly I beleeue that the very consent of thinges throughout is such as demonstrateth that the maine contexture of the doctrine I haue here touched is beyond quarrelling at It may well be that in sundry particulars I haue not lighted vpon exact truth and I am so farre from maintaining peremptorily any thing I haue here said as I shall most readily haâ—ken to whatsoeuer shall be obiected against it and be as ready vpon cause to desert my owne opinions and to yield vnto better reason But withall I conceiue that as the fayling of a bricke here and there in the rearing of the walles of a house doth nothing at all preiudice the