thriddes of iett or amber do in their streaming abroad meete with a piece of straw or of hay or of a dryed leafe or some such light and spungy body it is no maruayle if they glew themselues vnto it like birdlime and that in their shrinking backe by being condensed againe and repulsed through the coldnesse of the ayre they carry it along with them to their entire body Which they that onely see the effect and can not penetrate into a possibility of a naturall cause thereof are much troubled withall And this seemeth vnto me to beare a fairer semblance of truth then what Cabeus deliuereth for cause of Electricall attractions Whose speculation herein though I can not allow for solide yet I must for ingenious And certainely euen errors are to be commended when they are witty ones and do proceed from a casting further about then the beaten tracke of verball learning or rather termes which explicate not the nature of the thing in question He sayth that the coming of strawes and such other light bodies vnto amber iett and the like proceedeth from a wind raysed by the forcible breaking out of subtile emanations from the Electricall bodies into the ayre which bringeth those light bodies along with it to the Electricall ones But this discourse can not hold for first it is not the nature of vnctuous emanations Generally speaking to cause smart motions singly of themselues Secondly although they should rayse a wind I do not comprehend how this wind should driue bodies directly backe to the source that raysed it but rather any other way and so consequently should driue the light bodies it meeteth with in its way rather from then towardes the Electricall body Thirdly if there should be such a wind raysed and it should bring light bodies to the Electricall ones yet it could not make them sticke therevnto which we see they do turne them which way you will as though they were glewed together Neyther do his experiences conuince any thing for what he sayth that the light bodies are sometimes brought to the Electricall body with such a violence that they rebound backe from it and then returne againe to it maketh rather against him for if wind were the cause of their motion they would not returne againe after they had leaped backe from the Electricall body no more then we can imagine that the wind it selfe doth The like is of his other experience when he obserued that some little graines of sawdust hanging att an Electricall body the furthermost of them not onely fell of but seemed to be driuen away forcibly for they did not fall directly downe but sidewayes and besides did fly away with a violence and smartnesse that argued some strong impulse The reason whereof might be that new emanations might smite them which not sticking and fastening vpon them whereby to draw them neerer must needes push them further or it might be that the emanations vnto which they were glewed shrinking backe vnto their maine body the latter graines were shouldered of by others that already besieged the superficies and then the emanations retiring swiftly the graines must breake of with a force or else we may conceiue it was the force of the ayre that bore them vp a little which made an appearance of their being driuen away as we see feathers and other light thinges descend not straight downe THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER Of the Loadstones generation and its particular motions THere is yet remaining the great mystery of the Loadstone to discourse of Which all Authors both auntient and moderne haue agreed vpon as an vndenyable example and euidence of the shortenesse of mans reach in comprehending and of the impossibility of his reason in penetrating into and explicating such secrets as nature hath a mind to hide from vs. Wherefore our reader I am sure will not in this subiect expect cleare satisfaction or plaine demonstrations att our handes but will iugde we haue fairely acquitted our selues if what we say be any whitt plausible Therefore to vse our best endeauours to content him lett vs reflect vpon the disposition of partes of this habitable globe whereof we are tenants for liues And we shall find that the sunne by his constant course vnder the zodiake heateth a great part of it vnmeasurably more then he doth the rest And consequently that this zodiake being in the middest betweene two as it were endes which we call the Poles these poles must necessarily be extremely cold in respect of the torride zone for so we call that part of the earth which lyeth vnder the zodiake Now looking into the consequence of this we find that the sunne or the sunnes heate which reflecteth from the earth in the torride zone must rarify the ayre extremely and according to the nature of all heate and fire must needes carry away from thence many partes of the ayre and of the earth sticking to that heate in such sort as we haue formerly declared Whence it followeth that other ayre must necessarily come from the regions towardes both the poles to supply what is carryed away from the middle as is the course in other fires and as we haue explicated aboue especially cōsidering that the ayre which cometh from the polewardes is heauyer then the ayre of the torride zone and therefore must naturally presse to be still neerer the earth and so as it were shouldereth vp the ayre of the torride zone towardes the circumference by rouling into its place and this in great quantities and consequently the polar ayre must draw a great trayne after it Which if we consider the great extent of the torride zone we shall easily persuade our selues that it must reach on each side to the very pole for taking from Archimedes that the sphericall superficies of a portion of a spher◠is to the superficies of the whole sphere according as the part of the axis of that sphere comprised within the said portion is to the whole axis and considering that in our case the part of the axis comprised within the torride zone is to the whole axis of the earth in about the proportion of 4. to 10 it must of necessity follow that a fire or great heate raigning in so vast an extent will draw ayre very powerfully from the rest of the world Neyther lett any man apprehend that this course of the sunnes eleuating so great quantities of atomes in the torride zone should hinder the course of grauity there for first the medium is much rarer in the torride zone then in other partes of the earth and therefore the force of the descending atomes needeth not to be so great there as in other places to make bodies descend there as fast as they do else where Secondly there being a perpetuall supply of fresh ayre from the polar partes streaming continually into the torride zone it must of necessity happen that in the ayre there come atomes to the torride zone of that grossenesse that
theire necessity as they runne along the shore Thus then remembring how wee determined that Quantity is Diuisibility it followeth that if besides Quantity there be a substance or thing which is diuisible that thing if it be condistinguished from its Quantity or Diuisibility must of it selfe be indiuisible or to speake more properly it must be not diuisible Putt then such substance to be capable of the Quantity of the whole world or vniuerse and consequently you putt it of it selfe indifferent to all and to any part of Quantity for in it by reason of the negation of Diuisibility there is no variety of partes whereof one should be the subiect of one part of Quantity or another of another or that one should be a capacity of more another of lesse This then being so wee haue the ground of more or lesse proportion between substance and quantity for if the whole quantity of the vniuerse bee putt into it the proportion of Quantity to the capacity of that substance will bee greater then if but halfe that quantity were imbibed in the same substance And because proportion changeth on both sides by the single change of onely one side it followeth that in the latter the proportion of that substance to its Quantity is greater and that in the former it is lesse howbeit the substance in it selfe be indiuisible What wee haue said thus in abstract will sinke more easily into vs if we apply it to some particular bodies here among vs in which we see a difference of Rarity and Density as to ayre water gold or the like and examine if the effects that happen to them do follow out of this disproportion betweene substance and Quantity For example lett vs conceiue that all the Quantity of the world were in one vniforme substance then the whole vniuerse would be in one and the same degree of Rarity ad Density lett that degree be the degree of water it will then follow that in what part soeuer there happeneth to be a change from this degree that part will not haue that proportion of quantity to its substance which the quantity of the whole world had to the presupposed vniforme substance But if it happeneth to haue the degree of rarity which is in the ayre it will then haue more quantity in proportion to its substance then would be due vnto it according to the presupposed proportion of the quantity of the vniuerse to the foresaid vniforme substance which in this case is as it were the standard to try all other proportions by And contrariwise if it happeneth to haue the degree of Density which is found in Earth or in gold then it will haue lesse quantity in proportion to its substance then would be due vnto it according to the fore said proportion or common standard Now to proceede from hence with examining the effects which result out of this compounding of Quantity with substance we may first consider that the definitions which Aristotle hath giuen vs of Rarity and Density are the same wee driue att hee telleth vs that that body is rare whose quantity is more and its substance lesse that contrariwise dense where the substance is more and the quantity lesse Now if wee looke into the proprieties of the bodies wee haue named or of any others wee shall see them all follow cleerely out of these definitions For first that one is more diffused an other more compacted such diffusion and compaction seeme to be the very natures of Rarity and Density supposing them to be such as we haue defined them to be seeing that substance is more diffused by hauing more partes or by being in more partes and is more compacted by the contrary And then that rare bodies are more diuisible then dense ones you see is coincident into the same conceit with their diffusion and compaction And from hence againe it followeth that they are more easily diuided in great and likewise that they are by the force of naturall Agents diuisible into lesser partes for both these that is facility of being diuided and easye diuisibility into lesser partes are contained in being more diuisible or in more enioying the effect of quantity which is diuisibility From this againe followeth that in rare bodies there is lesse resistance to the motion of an other body through it then in dense ones and therefore a like force passeth more easily through the one then through the other Againe rare bodies are more penetratiue and actiue then dense ones because being by theire ouerproportion of quantity easily diuisible into small partes they can runne into euery litle pore and so incorporate themselues better into other bodies then more dense ones can Light bodies likewise must be rarer because most diuisible if other circumstances concurre equally Thus you see decyphered vnto your hand the first diuision of bodies flowing from Quantity as it is ordained to substance for the composition of a bodie for since the definition of a body is A thing which hath partes and quantity is that by which it hath partes and the first propriety of quantity is to be bigger or lesse and consequently the first differences of haueing partes are to haue bigger or lesse more or fewer what diuision of a body can be more simple more plaine or more immediate then to diuide it by its Quantity as making it to haue bigger or lesse more or fewer partes in proportion to its substance Neither can I iustly be blamed for touching thus on Metaphysickes to explicate the nature of these two kindes of bodies for Metaphysickes being the science aboue Physickes it belongeth vnto her to declare the principles of Physickes of which these wee haue now in hand are the very first steppe But much more if wee consider that the composition of quantity with substance is purely Metaphysicall wee must necessarily allow the inquiry into the nature of Rarity and Density to be wholy Metaphysicall seeing that the essence of Rarity and Density standeth in the proportion of quantity to substance if we beleeue Aristotle the greatest master that euer was of finding out definitions and notions and trust to the vncontroulable reasons we haue brought in the precedent discourse This explication of Rarity and Density by the composition of substance with quantity may peraduenture giue litle satisfaction vnto such as are not vsed to raise theire thoughts aboue Physicall and naturall speculations who are apt to conceiue there is no other composition or resolution but such as our senses shew vs in compounding and diuiding of bodies according to quantatiue partes Now this obligeth vs to shew that such a kind of composition and diuision as this must necessarily be allowed of euen in that course of doctrine which seemes most contrary to ours To which purpose lett vs suppose that the position of Democritus or of Epicurus is true to witt that the originall composition of all bodies is out of very litle ones of various figures all of them indiuisible not
and giue the like motion to any body they find in their way if it be susceptible of such a motion which it is euident that all bodies are vnlesse they be strucken by some contrary impulse For since that a bodies being in a place is nothing else but the continuity of its outside to the inside of the body that containeth it and is its place it can haue no other repugnance to locall motion which is nothing else but a successiue changing of place besides this continuity Now the nature of density being the power of diuiding and euery least power hauing some force and efficacy as we haue shewed aboue it followeth that the stroake of euery atome eyther descending or ascending will worke some thing vpon any body though neuer so bigge it chanceth to encounter with and strike vpon in its way vnlesse there be as strong an impulse the contrary way to oppose it But it being determined that the descending atomes are denser then those that ascend it followeth that the descending ones will preuayle And consequently all dense bodies must necessarily tend downewardes to the center which is to be Heauy if some other more dense body do not hinder them Out of this discourse we may conclude that there is no such thing among bodies as positiue grauity or leuity but that their course vpwardes or downewardes happeneth vnto them by the order of nature which by outward causes giueth them an impulse one of these wayes without which they would rest quietly wheresoeuer they are as being of themselues indifferent to any motion But because our wordes expresse our notions and they are framed according to what appeareth vnto vs when we obserue any body to descend constantly towardes our earth we call it heauy and if it mooue contrarywise we call it light But we must take heed of considering such grauity and leuity as if they were Entities that worke such effects since vpon examination it appeareth that these wordes are but short expressions of the effects themselues the causes whereof the vulgar of mankinde who impose names to thinges do not consider but leaue that worke vnto Philosophers to examine whiles they onely obserue what they see done and agree vpon wordes to expresse that Which wordes neither will in all circumstances alwayes agree to the same thing for as corke doth descend in ayre and ascend in water so also will any other body descend if it lighteth among others more rare then it selfe and will ascend if it lighteth among bodies that are more dense then it And we terme bodies light and heauy onely according to the course which we vsually see them take Now proceeding further on and considering how there are various degrees of density or grauity it were irrationall to conceiue that all bodies should descend att the same rate and keepe equall pace with one an other in their iourney downewardes For as two knifes whereof one hath a keener edge then the other being pressed with equall strength into like yielding matter the sharper will cutt deeper then the other so if of two bodies one be more dense then the other that which is so will cutt the ayre more powerfully and will descend faster then the other for in this case density may be compared to the knifes edge since in it consisteth the power of diuiding as we haue heretofore determined And therefore the pressing them downewardes by the descending atomes being equall in both or peraduenture greater in the more dense body as anone we shall haue occasion to touch and there being no other cause to determine them that way the effect of diuision must be the greater where the diuider is the more powerfull Which the more dense body is and therefore cutteth more strongly through the resistance of the ayre and consequently passeth more swiftly that way it is determined to mooue I do not meane that the velocities of their descent shall be in the same proportion to one an other as their densities are for besides their density those other considerations which we haue discoursed of aboue when we examined the causes of velocity in motion must likewise be ballanced And out of the comparison of all them not out of the consideration of any one alone resulteth the differences of their velocities and that neither but in as much as concerneth the consideration of the mooueables for to make the calculation exact the medium must likewise be considered as by and by we shall declare for since the motion dependeth of all them together although there should be difference betweene the mooueables in regard of one onely and that the rest were equall yet the proportion of the difference of their motions must not follow the proportion of their difference in that one regard because their difference considered single in that regard will haue one proportion and with the addition of the other considerations though alike in both to their difference in this they will haue an other As for example reckon the density of one mooueable to be double the density of an other mooueable so that in that regard it hath two degrees of power to descend whereas the other hath but one suppose then the other causes of their descent to be alike in both and reckon them all three and then ioyne these three to the one which is caused by the density in one of the mooueables as likewise to the two which is caused by the density in the other mooueable and you will find that thus altogether their difference of power to descend is no longer in a double proportion as it would be if nothing but their density were considered but is in the proportion of fiue to foure But after we haue considered all that concerneth the mooueables we are then to cast an eye vpon the medium they are to mooue in and we shall find the addition of that to decrease the proportion of their difference exceedingly more according to the cessibility of the medium Which if it be ayre the great disproportion of its weight to the weight of those bodies which men vse to take in making experiences of their descent in that yielding medium will cause their difference of velocity in descending to be hardly perceptible Euen as the difference of a sharpe or dull knife which is easily perceiued in cutting of flesh or bread is not to be distinguished in diuiding of water or oyle And likewise in weights a pound and a scruple will beare downe a dramme in no sensible proportion of velocity more then a pound alone would do and yet putt a pound in that scale instead of the dramme and then the difference of the scruple will be very notable So then those bodies whose difference of descending in water is very sensible because of the greater proportion of weight in water to the bodies that descend in it will yield no sensible difference of velocity when they descend in ayre by reason of the great disproportion of weight betweene
and which it afterwardes drew along with it the body that resulteth out of them is diuersifyed In confirmation of all which they that deale in mines tell vs they vse to find mettalls oftentimes mingled with stones as also coagulated iuices with both and earths of diuers natures with all three and they with it and one with an other among themselues And that sometimes they find the mines not yet consolidated and digested throughly into mettall when by their experience knowing after how many yeares they will be ripe they shutt them vp againe till then Now if the hollow place wherein the body stayed which att the first was liquid and rouling be not att once filled by it but it taketh vp onely part of it and the same liquor continueth afterwardes to flow thither then this body is augmented and groweth bigger and bigger And although the liquors should come att seuerall times yet they become not therefore two seuerall bodies but both liquors do grow into one body for the wett parts of the aduentitious liquor do mollify the sides of the body already baked and both of them being of a like temper and cognation they easily sticke and grow together Out of this discours it followeth euidently that in all sortes of compounded bodies whatsoeuer there must of necessity be actually comprised sundry partes of diuers natures for otherwise they would be but so many pure degrees of rarity and density that is they would be but so many pure Elements and each of them haue but one determinate vertue or operation THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER Of the dissolution of Mixed bodies THus much for composition of bodies Their dissolution is made three wayes eyther by fire or by water or by some outward violence We will beginne with examining how this last is done To which end we may consider that the vnity of any body consisting in the connexion of its partes it is euident that the force of motion if it be exercised vpon them must of necessity separate them as we see in breaking cutting filing drawing a sunder and the like All these motions because they are done by grosse bodies do require great partes to worke vpon and are easily discerned how they worke so that it is not difficult to find the reason why some hard bodies breake easily and others with much adoe The first of which are called brittle the others tough For if you marke it all breaking requireth that beÌ„ding hould precede which on the one side compresseth the partes of the bended body and condenseth them into a lesser roome then they possessed before and on the otherside stretcheth them out and maketh them take vp more place This requireth some fluide or moueable substance to be within the body else it could not be done for without such helpe the partes could not remoue Therefore such hard bodies as haue most fluide partes in them are most flexible that is are toughest And those which haue fewest though they become thereby hardest to haue impression made vpon them yet if the force be able to do it they rather yield to breake then to bend and thence are called brittle Out of this we may inferre that some bodies may be so soddainely bent as that thereby they breake asunder whereas if they were leisurely and gently dealed withall they would take what ply one desireth And likewise that there is no body be it neuer so brittle and hard but that it will bend a litle and indeed more then one would expect if it be wrought vpon with time and dexterity for there is none but coÌ„taineth in it some liquide partes more or lesse euen glasse and bricke Vpon which occasion I remember how once in a great storme of wind I saw the high slender bricke chimnyes of the Kinges house att St Iames one winter when the ourt lay there bend from the wind like bowes and sharke exceedingly and totter And at other times I haue seen some very high and pointy spire steeples do the like And I haue beene assured the like of the whole pile of a high castle standing in a gullett in the course of the wind namely the castle of Wardour by those who haue often seene it shake notably in a fierce wind The reason of all which may be deduced out of what we haue said aboue for seeing that the bending of a body maketh the spirits or humors that are within it to sally forth it is cleare that if the violence which forceth it be not so soddaine nor the motion it receiueth be not so quicke but that the moisture may oose gently out the body will bend still more and more as their absence glueth it leaue But if the motion that is wrought in it be too quicke then the spirits not hauing time allowed them to goe leisurely and gently out do force their prison and breake out with a violence and so the body is snapped into two Here peraduenture some remembring what we haue said in an other place namely that it is the shortenesse and littlenesse of the humide partes in a body which maketh it sticke together and that this shortenesse may be in so high a degree as nothing can come betweene the partes they glew together to diuide them may aske how a very dense body of such a straine can be broken or diuided But the difficulty is not great for seeing that the humide partes in whatsoeuer degree of shortenesse they be must necessarily haue still some latitude it can not be doubted but there may be some force assigned greater then their resistance can be All the question is how to apply it to worke its effect vpon so close a compacted body in which peraduenture the continuity of the humide partes that bind the others together may be so small as no other body whatsoeuer no not fire can goe betweene them in such sort as to separate part from part Att the worst it can not be doubted but that the force may be so applyed att the outside of that body as to make the partes of it presse and fight one against an other and att the length by multiplication of the force constraine it to yield and suffer diuision And this I conceiue to be the condition of gold and of some pretious stones in which the Elements are vnited by such little partes as nothing but a ciuill warre within themselues stirred vp by some subtile outward enemy whereby they are made to teare their owne bowels could bring to passe their destruction But this way of dissoluing such bodies more properly belongeth to the next way of working vpon them by fire yet the same is done when some exterior violence pressing vpon those partes it toucheth maketh them cuâ—t a way betweene their next neighbours and so continuing the force diuide the whole body As when the chisell or euen the hammer with beating breaketh gold a sunder for it is neyther the chisell nor the hammer that doth that effect immediately but they make
of this that a greater loadestone hath more effect then a lesser and that if you cutt away part of a loadestone part of his vertue is likewise taken from him and if the partes be ioyned againe the whole becometh as strong as it was before Againe if a loadestone touch a longer iron it giueth it lesse force then if it touch a shorter iron nay the vertue in any part is sensibly lesser according as it is further from the touched part Againe the longer an iron is in touching the greater vertue it getteth and the more constant And both an iron and a loadestone may loose their vertue by long lying out of their due order and situation eyther to the earth or to an other loadestone Besides if a loadestone do touch a long iron in the middle of it he diffuseth his vertue equally towardes both endes and if it be a round plate he diffuseth his vertue equally to all sides And lastly the vertue of a loadestone as also of an iron touched is lost by burning it in the fire All which symptomes agreeing exactly with the rules of bodies do make it vndenyable that the vertue of the loadestone is a reall and solide body Against this position Cabeus obiecteth that little atomes would not be able to penetrate all sortes of bodies as we see the vertue of the loadestone doth And vrgeth that although they should be allowed to do so yet they could not be imagined to penetrate thicke and solide bodies so soddainely as they would do thinne ones and would certainely shew then some signe of facility or difficulty of passing in the interposition and in the taking away of bodies putt betweene the loadestone and the body it worketh vpon Secondly he obiecteth that atomes being little bodies they can not moue in an instant as the working of the loadestone seemeth to do And lastly that the loadestone by such aboundance of continuall euaporations would quickely be consumed To the first we answere that atomes whose nature it is to pierce iron can not reasonably be suspected of inability to penetrate any other body and that atomes can penetrate iron is euident in the melting of it by fire And indeed this obiection cometh now too late after we haue so largely declared the diuisibility of quantity and the subtility of nature in reducing all thinges into extreme small partes for this difficulty hath no other auow then the tardity of our imaginations in subtilising sufficiently the quantitatiue partes that issue out of the loadestone As for any tardity that may be expected by the interposition of a thicke or dense body there is no appearance of such since we see light passe through thicke glasses without giuing any signe of meeting with the least opposition in its passage as we haue aboue declared att large and magneticall emanations haue the aduantage of light in this that they are not obliged to straight lines as light is Lastly as for loadestones spending of themselues by still venting their emanations odoriferous bodies furnish vs with a full answere to that obiection for they do continue many yeares palpably spending of themselues and yet keepe their odour in vigour whereas a loadestone if it be layed in a wrong position will not continue halfe so long The reason of the duration of both which maketh the matter manifest and taketh away all difficulty which is that as in a roote of a vegetable there is a power to change the aduenient iuice into its nature so is there in such like thinges as these a power to change the ambient ayre into their owne substance as euident experience sheweth in the Hermetike salt as some moderne writers call it which is found to be rapayred and encreased in its weight by lying in the ayre and the like happeneth to saltpeter And in our present subiect experience informeth vs that a loadestone will grow stronger by lying in due position eyther to the earth or to a stronger loadestone whereby it may be better impregnated and as it were feed it selfe with the emanatiōs issuing out of them into it Our next position is that this vertue cometh to a magnetike body from an other body as the nature of bodies is to require a being moued that they may moue And this is euident in iron which by the touch or by standing in due position neere the loadestone gaineth the power of the loadestone Againe if a smith in beating his iron into a rodde do obserue to lay it north and south it getteth a direction to the north by the very beating of it Likewise if an iron rodde be made red hoat in the fire and be kept there a good while together and when it is taken out be layed to coole iust north and south it will acquire the same direction towardes the north And this is true not only of iron but also of all other sortes of bodies whatsoeuer that endure such ignition particularly of pottearthes which if they be moulded in a long forme and when they are taken out of the kilne be layed as we sayd of the iron to coole north and south will haue the same effect wrought in them And iron though it hath not beene heated but only hath cōtinued long vnmoued in the same situation of north and south in a building yet it will haue the same effect So as it can not be denyed but that this vertue cometh vnto iron frō other bodies whereof one must be a secret influēce from the north And this is confirmed by a loadestones loosing its vertue as we said before by lying a long time vnduly disposed eyther towardes the earth or towardes a stronger loadestone whereby insteed of the former it gaineth a new vertue according to that situation And this happeneth not only in the vertue which is resident and permanent in a loadestone or a touched iron but likewise in the actuall motion or operation of them As may be experienced first in this that the same loadestone or touched irō in the south hemisphere of the world hath its operatiō strongest att that end of it which tendeth to the north and in the north hemisphere att the end which tēdeth to the south each pole communicating a vigour proportionable to its owne strēgth in the climate where it is receiued Secondly in this that an iron ioyned to a loadestone or within the sphere of the loadestones working will take vp an other piece of iron greater then the loadestone of it selfe can hold and as soone as the holding iron is remoued out of the sphere of the loadestones actiuity it presently letteth fall the iron it formerly held vp and this is so true that a lesser loadestone may be placed in such sort within the sphere of a greater loadestones operation as to take away a piece of iron from the greater loadestone and this in vertue of the same greater loadestone from which it plucketh it for but remoue the lesser out of the sphere of the greater
varieties of solide and liquide bodies all differences of naturall qualities all consistences and whatsoeuer else belongeth to similar bodies resulteth out of the pure and single mixture of rarity and density so that to make all such varieties as are necessary there is no neede of mingling or of seperating any other kindes of partes but only an art or power to mingle in due manner plaine rare and dense bodies one with an other Which very action and none other but with excellent methode and order such as becometh the great Architect that hath designed it is performed in the generation of a liuing creature which is made of a substance att the first farre vnlike what it afterwardes groweth to be If we looke vpon this change in grosse and consider but the two extremes to witt the first substance of which a liuing creature is made and it selfe in its full perfection I confesse it may well seeme incredible how so excellent a creature can deriue its origine from so meane a principle and so farre remote and differing from what it groweth to be But if we examine it in retayle and go along anatomising it in euery steppe and degree that it changeth by we shall find that euery immediate change is â—o neere and so palpably to be made by the concurrent causes of the matter prepared as we must conclude it can not possibly become any other thing then iust what it doth become Take a beane or any other seede and putt it into the earth and lett water fall vpon it can it then choose but that the beane must swell The beane swelling can it choose but breake the skinne The skinne broken can it choose by reason of the heate that is in it but push out more matter and do that action which we may call germinating Can these germes choose but pierce the earth in small stringes as they are able to make their way Can these stringes choose but be hardened by the compression of the earth and by their owne nature they being the heauyest partes of the fermented beane And can all this be any thing else but a roote Afterwardes the heate that is in the roote mingling it selfe with more moysture and according to its nature springing vpwardes will it not follow necessarily that a tender greene substance twhich we call a budd or leafe must appeare a litle aboue the earth since endernesse greenenesse and ascent are the effects of those two principles heate and moysture And must not this greene substance change from what it was att the first by the sunne and ayre working vpon it as it groweth higher till att the length it hardeneth into a stalke All this while the heate in the roote sublimeth vp more moysture which maketh the stalke att the first grow ranke and encrease in length But when the more volatile part of that warme iuice is sufficiently depured and sublimed will it not attempt to thrust it selfe out beyond the stalke with much vigour and smartnesse And as soone as it meeteth with the cold ayre in its eruption will it not be stopped and thickned And new partes flocking still from the roote must they not clogge that issue and grow into a button which will be a budd This budde being hardened att the sides by the same causes which hardened the stalke and all the while the inward heate still streaming vp and not enduring to be long enclosed especially when by its being stopped it multiplyeth it selfe will it not follow necessarily that the tender budde must cleaue and giue way to that spirituall iuice which being purer then the rest through its great sublimation sheweth it selfe in a purer and nobler substance then any that is yet made and so becometh a flower From hence if we proceed as we haue begunne and do weigh all circumstances we shall see euidently that an other substance must needes succeed the flower which must be hollow and containe a fruite in it and that this fruite must grow bigger and harder And so to the last periode of the generation of new beanes Thus by drawing the thridde carefully along through your fingers and staying att euery knott to examine how it is tyed you see that this difficult progresse of the generation of liuing creatures is obuious enough to be comprehended and that the steppes of it are possible to be sett downe if one would but take the paines and afford the time that is necessary lesse then that Philosopher who for so many yeares gaue himselfe wholy vp to the single obseruing of the nature of bees to note diligently all the circumstances in euery change of it In euery one of which the thing that was becometh absolutely a new thing and is endewed with new properties and qualities different from those it had before as Physitians from their certaine experience do assure vs. And yet euery change is such as in the ordinary and generall course of nature wherein nothing is to be considered but the necessary effects following out of such Agents working vpon such patients in such circumstances it is impossible that any other thing should be made of the precedent but that which is immediately subsequent vnto it Now if all this orderly succession of mutations be necessarily made in a beane by force of sundry circumstances and externall accidents why may it not be conceiued that the like is also done in sensible creatures but in a more perfect manner they being perfecter substances Surely the progresse we haue sett downe is much more reasonable then to conceiue that in the meale of the beane are contained in litle seuerall similar substances as of a roote of a leafe a stalke a flower a codde fruite and the rest and that euery one of these being from the first still the same that they shall be afterwardes do but sucke in more moysture from the earth to swell and enlarge themselues in quantity Or that in the seede of the male there is already in act the substance of flesh of bone of sinewes of veines and the rest of those seuerall similar partes which are found in the body of an animall and that they are but extended to their due magnitude by the humidity drawne from the mother without receiuing any substantiall mutation from what they were originally in the seede Lett vs then confidently conclude that all generation is made of a fitting but remote homogeneall compounded substance vpon which outward Agents working in the due course of nature do change it into an other substance quite different from the first and do make it lesse homogeneall then the first was And other circumstances and agents do change this second into a thirde that thirde into a fourth and so onwardes by successiue mutations that still make euery new thing become lesse homogeneall then the former was according to the nature of heate mingling more and more different bodies together vntill that substance be produced which we consider in the periode of all these mutations And this
wombe we haue by the relation of that learned and exact searcher into nature Doctor Haruey that the seede of the male after his accoupling with the female doth not remaine in her wombe in any sensible bulke but as it seemeth euaporateth and incorporateth it selfe eyther into the body of the wombe or rather into some more interior part as into the seminary vessells Which being a solide substance much resembling the nature of the females seede is likely to sucke vp by the mediation of the females seede the male seede incorporated with it and by incorporation turned as it were into a vapour in such sort as we haue formerly explicated how the body of a scorpion or viper draweth the poyson out of a wound And after a certaine time Doctor Haruey noted the space of sixe weekes or two months in does or hindes these seedes distill againe into the wombe and by litle and litle do clarify in the middest and a litle red specke appeareth in the center of the bright clearnesse as we said before of the egge But we should be too blame to leaue our Reader without clearing that difficulty which can not choose but haue sprung vp in his thoughts by occasion of the relations we made att the entrance into this point concerning the catte whose kittlinges were halfe with tayles and halfe without and the womans daughters att Argires that had as well as their mother excrescences vpon their left thumbes imitating an other lesser thumbe and the like effects whensouer they happen which they do frequently enough Lett him therefore remember how we haue determined that generation is made of the bloud which being dispersed into all the partes of the body to irrigate euery one of them and to conuey fitting spirits into them frō their source or shoppe where they are forged so much of it as is superaboundant to the nourishing of those partes is sent backe againe to the hart to recouer the warmeth and spirits it hath lost by so long a iourney By which perpetuall course of a continued circulation it is euident that the bloud in running thus through all the partes of the body must needes receiue some particular concoction or impression from euery one of them And by consequence if there be any specificall vertue in one part which is not in an other then the bloud returning from thence must be endewed with the vertue of that part And the purest part of this bloud being extracted like a quintessence out of the whole masse is reserued in conuenient receptacles or vessels till there be vse of it and is the matter or seede of which a new animal is to be made in whom will appeare the effect of all the specificall vertues drawne by the bloud in its iterated courses by its circular motion through all the seuerall partes of the parents body Whence it followeth that if any part be wanting in the body whereof this seede is made or be superaboundant in it whose vertue is not in the rest of the body or whose superaboundance is not allayed by the rest of the body the vertue of that part can not be in the bloud or will be too strong in the blood and by consequence it can not be at all or it will be too much in the seede And the effect proceeding from the seede that is the yong animal will come into the world sauouring of that origine vnlesse the mothers seede do supply or temper what the fathers was defectiue or superaboundant in or contrariwise the fathers do correct the errors of the mothers But peraduenture the Reader will tell vs that such a specificall vertue can not be gotten by concoction of the bloud or by any pretended impression in it vnlesse some litle particles of the nourished part do remaine in the bloud and returne backe with it according to that maxime of Geber Quod non ingreditur non immutat no body can change an other vnlesse it enter into it and mixing it selfe with it do become one with it And that so in effect by this explication we fall backe into the opinion which we reiected To this I answere that the difference is very great betweene that opinion and ours as will appeare euidently if you obserue the two following assertions of theirs First they affirme that a liuing creature is made meerely by the assembling together of similar partes which were hidden in those bodies from whence they are extracted in generation whereas we say that bloud coming to a part to irrigate it is by its passage through it and some litle stay in it and by its frequent returnes thither att the length transmuted into the nature of that part and thereby the specificall vertues of euery part do grow greater and are more diffused and extended Secondly they say that the embroyn is actually formed in the seede though in such litle partes as it can not be discerned vntill each part haue enlarged and encreased it selfe by drawing vnto it from the circumstant bodies more substance of their owne nature But we say that there is one homogeneall substance made of the bloud which hath beene in all partes of the body and this is the seede which containeth not in it any figure of the animal from which it is refined or of the animal into which it hath a capacity to be turned by the addition of other substances though it haue in it the vertues of all the partes it hath often runne through By which terme of specifike vertues I hope we haue said enough in sundry places of this discourse to keepe men from conceiuing that we do meane any such vnconceiueable quality as moderne Philosophers too frequently talke of when they know not what they say or think nor can giue any account of But that it is such degrees and such numbers of rare and dense partes mingled together as constitute a mixed body of such a temper and nature which degrees and proportions of rare and dense partes and their mixture together and in corporating into one homogeneall substance is the effect resulting from the operations of the exteriour agent that cutteth imbibeth kneadeth and boyleth it to such a temper which exteriour agent in this case is each seuerall part of the animals body that this iuice or bloud runneth through and that hath a particular temper belonging to it resulting out of such a proportion of rate and dense partes as we haue euen now spoken of and can no more be withheld from communicating its temper to the bloud that first soaketh into it and soone after drayneth away againe from it according as other succeeding partes of bloud driue it on then a minerall channell can choose but communicate its vertue vnto a streame of water that runneth through it and is continually grating of some of the substance of the minerall earth and dissoluing it into it selfe But to goe on with our intended discourse The seede thus imbued with the specificall vertues of all
the distance of working vpon vs those only within whose sphere of actiuity we are planted can offend or aduantage vs and of them some are neere vs others further from vs. Those that are next vnto vs we discerne according as they are qualifyed eyther by our touch or by our tast or by our smelling which three senses do manifestly appeare to consist in a meere gradation of more or lesse grosse and their operations are leuelled to the three Elements that presse vpon vs earth water and ayre By our other two senses our hearing and our seeing we haue notice of thinges further off and the agents which worke vpon them are of a more refined nature But we must treat of them all in particular and that which we will beginne with shall be the touch as being the grossest of them and that which conuerseth with none but the most materiall and massye obiects We see it dealeth with heauy consistent bodies and iudgeth of them by coniunction vnto them and by immediate reception of something from them And according to the diuers impressions they make in it it distinguisheth them by diuers names which as we said of the qualities of mixed bodies are generally reduced to certaine payres as hoat and cold wett and drye soft and hard smooth and rough thicke and thinne and some others of the like nature which were needelesse to enumerate since we pretend not to deliuer the science of them but only to shew that they and their actions are all corporeall And this is sufficiently euident by meere repeating but their very names for it is plaine by what we haue already said that they are nothing else but certaine affections of quantity arising out of different degrees of rarity and density compounded together And it is manifest by experience that our sense receiueth the very same impressions from them which an other body doth for our body or our sense will be heated by fire and will also be burned by it if the heate be too great as well as wood it will be constipated by cold water moystened by humide thinges and dryed by dry bodies in the same manner as any other body whatsoeuer likewise it may in such sort as they be wounded and haue its continuity broken by hard thinges be pleased and polished by those that are soft and smooth be pressed by those that are thicke and heauy and be rubbed by those that are rugged c. So that those masters who will teach vs that the impressions vpon sense are made by spirituall or spiritelike thinges or qualities which they call intentionall specieses must labour att two workes the one to make it appeare that there are in nature such thinges as they would persuade vs the other to proue that these materiall actions we speake of are not able to performe those effects for which the senses are giuen vnto liuing creatures And vntill they haue done that I conceiue we should be much too blame to admitt such thinges as we neyther haue ground for in reason nor can vnderstand what they are And therefore we must resolue to rest in this beliefe which experience breedeth in vs that these bodies worke vpon our senses no other wayes then by a corporeall operation and that such a one is sufficient for all the effects we see proceede from them as in the processe of this discourse we shall more amply declare The element immediately next to earth in grossenesse is water And in it is the exercise of our tast our mouth being perpetually wett within by meanes of which moysture our tongue receiueth into it some litle partes of the substance which we chewe in our teeth and which passeth ouer it You may obserue how if we take any herbe or fruite and hauing chopped or beatē it small we thē putt it into a wooden dish of water and do squeese it a litle the iuice communicating and mingling it selfe with the water infecteth it with the tast of it selfe and remaining a while in the bowle sinketh by litle and litle into the very pores of the wood as is manifest by its retaining a long time after the tast and smell of that herbe In like manner nature hath taught vs by chewing our meate and by turning it into our mouthes and pressing it a litle that we may the more easily swallow it to imbue our spittle with such litle partes as easily diffuse themselues in water And then our spittle being continuate to the moysture which is within our tongue in such sort as we declared of the moysture of the earth that soaketh into the roote of a plant and particularly in the sinewes of it must of necessity affect those litle sensible stringes with the qualities which these petty bodies mixed euery where with the moysture are themselues imbued withall And if you aske what motions or qualities these be Physitians vnto whom it belongeth most particularly to looke into them will tell you that some dilate the tongue more and some lesse as if some of these litle bodies had an aereall and others a watry disposition and these two they expresse by the names of sweete and fatty That some do contract and draw the tongue together as choaky and rough thinges do most and next to them crabby and immature sharpenesse That some do corrode and pierce the tongue as salt and soure thinges That bitter thinges do search the outside of it as if they swept it and that other thinges do as it were pricke it as spices and hoat drinkes Now all these are sensible materiall thinges which admitt to be explicated clearely by the varieties of rarity and density concurring to their compositions and are so proportionable to such materiall instruments as we can not doubt but that they may be throughly declared by our former principles The next element aboue water is ayre which our nosethrilles being our instrument to sucke in we can not doubt but what affecteth a man by his nose must come vnto him in breath or ayre And as humidity receiueth grosser and weightier partes so those which are more subtile and light do rise vp into the ayre and these we know attaine vnto this lightnesse by the commixtion of fire which is hoat and dry And therefore we can not doubt but that the nature of smell is more or lesse tending to heate and drought which is the cause that their commixtion with the braine proueth comfortable vnto it because of its owne disposition it is vsually subiect to be too moyst and too cold Whether there be any immediate instrument of this sense to receiue the passion or effect which by it other bodies make vpon vs or whether the sense it selfe be nothing but a passage of these exhalations and litle bodies vnto the braine fittly accommodated to discerne what is good or hurtfull for it and accordingly to moue the body to admitt or reiect them importeth not vs att present to determine lett Physitians and Anatomistes resolue that question
fluide and getting into the eare maketh vibrations vpon the drumme of it like vnto those of ayre But all this is nothing in respect of what I might in some sort say and yet speake truth Which is that I haue seene one who could discerne soundes with his eyes It is admirable how one sense will oftentimes supply the want of an other whereof I haue seene an other strange example in a different straine from this of a man that by his grosser senses had his want of sight wonderfully made vp He was so throughly blind that his eyes could not informe him when the sunne shined for all the crystalline humour was out in both his eyes yet his other senses instructed him so efficaciously in what was their office to haue done as what he wanted in them seemed to be ouerpayed in other abilities To say that he would play att cardes and tables as well as most men is rather a commendation of his memory and fansye then of any of his outward senses But that he should play well att boules and shouelbord and other games of ayme which in other men do require cleare sight and an exact leuell of the hand according to the qualities of the earth or table and to the situation and distance of the place he was to throw att seemeth to exceede possibility and yet he did all this He would walke in a chamber or long alley in a garden after he had beene a while vsed to them as straight and turne as iust att the endes as any seeing man could do He would go vp and downe euery where so confidently and demeane himselfe att table so regularly as strangers haue sitten by him seuerall meales and haue seene him walke about the house without euer obseruing any want of seeing in him which he endeauoured what he could to hide hy wearing his hatt low vpon his browes He would att the first abord of a stranger as soone as he spoke to him frame a right apprehension of his stature bulke and manner of making And which is more when he taught his schollers to declame for he was schoolemaster to my sonnes and liued in my house or to represent some of Senecas Tragedies or the like he would by their voice know their gesture and the situation they putt their bodies in so that he would be able as soone as they spoke to iudge whether they stood or sate or in what posture they were which made them demeane themselues as decently before him whiles they spoke as if he had seene them perfectly Though all this be very strange yet me thinkes his discerning of light is beyond it all He would feele in his body and chiefely in his braine as he hath often told me a certaine effect by which he did know when the sunne was vp and would discerne exactly a cleare from a cloudy day This I haue knowne him frequently do without missing when for triall sake he hath beene lodged in a close chamber wherevnto the cleare light or sunne could not arriue to giue him any notice by its actuall warmeth nor any body could come to him to giue him priuate warninges of the changes of the weather But this is not the relation I intended when I mentioned one that could heare by his eyes if that expression may be permitted me I then reflected vpon a noble man of great quality that I knew in Spaine the yonger brother of the Constable of Castile But the reflection of his seeing of words called into my remembrance the other that felt light in whom I haue often remarked so many strange passages with amazement and delight that I haue aduentured vpon the Readers patience to recorde some of them conceiuing they may be of some vse in our course of doctrine But the spanish lord was borne deafe so deafe that if a gunne were shott off close by his eare he could not heare it and consequently he was dumbe for not being able to heare the sound of words he could neither imitate nor vnderstand them The louelinesse of his face and especially the exceeding life and spiritefulnesse of his eyes and the comelinesse of his person and whole composure of his body throughout were pregnant signes of a well tempered mind within And therefore all that knew him lamented much the want of meanes to cultiuate it and to imbue it with the notions which it seemed to be capable of in regard of its selfe had it not been so crossed by this vnhappy accident Which to remedy Physitians and Chirurgions had long imployed their skill but all in vaine Att the last there was a priest who vndertooke the teaching him to vnderstand others when they spoke and to speake himselfe that others might vnderstand him What att the first he was laught att for made him after some yeares be looked vpon as if he had wrought a miracle In a word after strange patience constancy and paines he brought the yong Lord to speake as distinctly as any man whosoeuer and to vnderstand so perfectly what others said that he would not loose a word in a whole dayes conuersation They who haue a curiosity to see by what steppes the master proceeded in teaching him may satisfy it by a booke which he himselfe hath writt in Spanish vpon that subiect to instruct others how to teach deafe and dumbe persons to speake Which when he shall haue looked heedefully ouer and shall haue considered what a great distance there is betweene the simplicity and nakednesse of his first principles and the strange readinesse and vast extent of speech resulting in processe of time out of them he will forbeare pronuncing an impossibility in their pedigree whiles he wondereth att the numerous effects resulting in bodies out of rarity and density ingeniously mingled together by an all knowing Architect for the production of various qualities among mixtes of strange motions in particular bodies and of admirable operations of life and sense among vegetables and animals All which are so many seuerall wordes of the mysticall language which the great master hath taught his otherwise dumbe schollers the creatures to proclayme his infinite art wisedome perfections and excellency in The priest who by his booke and art occasioned this discourse I am told is still aliue and in the seruice of the Prince of Carignan where he continueth with some that haue neede of his paines the same employment as he did with the Constables Brother with whom I haue often discoursed whiles I wayted vpon the Prince of Wales now our gratious Soueraigne in Spaine And I doubt not but his maiesty remembreth all I haue said of him and much more for his maiesty was very curious to obserue and enquire into the vtmost of it It is true one great misbecomingnesse he was apt to fall into whiles he spoke which was an vncertainty in the tone of his voyce for not hearing the sound he made when he spoke he could not steedily gouerne the pitch of his voyce but
sense the Author doth admitt of qualities 3 Fiue arguments proposed to proue that light is not a body 4 The two first reasoÌ„s to proue light to be a body are the resemblance it hath with fire and because if it were a quality it would alwayes produce an equall to it selfe 5 The third reason because if we imagine to our selues the substance of fire to be rarifyed it will haue the same appearances which light hath 6 The fourth reason from the manner of the generation and corruption of light which agreeth with fire 7 The fifth reason because such properties belong to light as agree only vnto bodies 1 That all light is hoat and apt to heate 2 The reason why our bodies for the most part do not feele the heate of pure light 3 The experience of burning-glasses and of soultry gloomy weather proue light to be fire 4 Philosophers ought not to iudge of thinges by the rules of vulgar people 5 The different names of light and fire proceede from different notions of the same substance 6 The reason why many times fire and heate are depriued of light 7 What becometh of the body of light when it dyeth 8 An experiment of some who pretend that light may be precipitated into pouder 9 The Authors opinion concerning lampes pretended to haue been found in tombes with inconsumptible lights 1 Light is not really in euery part of the roome it enlighteneth not filleth entirely any sensible part of it though it seeme to vs to do so 2 The least sensible poynt of a diaphanous body hath roome sufficient to containe both ayre and light together with a multitude of beames issuing from seuerall lights without penetrating one an other Willebrord Snell 3 That light doth not enlight en any roome in an instant and that the great celerity of its motion doth make it imperceptible to our senses 4 The reason why the motion of light is not discerned coming towardes vs and that there is some reall tardity in it 5 The planets are not certainely euer in that place where they appeare to be 6 The reason why light being a body doth not by its motion shatter other bodies into pieces 7 The reason why the body of lighlt is neuer perceiued to be fanned by the wind 8 The reasons for and against lights being a body compared together 9 A summary repetition of the reasons which proue that light is fire 1 No locall motion can be performed without succession 2 Time is the common measure of all succession 3 What velocity is and that it can not be infinite 4 No force so litle that is not able to moue the greatest weight imaginable 5 The chiefe principle of Mechanikes deduced out of the former discourse 6 No moueable can passe from rest to any determinate degree of velocity or from a lesser degree to a greater without passing through all the intermediate degrees which are below the obtained degree 7 The conditions which helpe to motioÌ„ in the moueable are three in the medium one Dialog 1. of Motion 8 No body hath any intrinsecall vertue to moue it selfe towardes any determinate part of the vniuerse 9 The encrease of motion is alwayse made in the proportion of the odde numbers 10 No motion can encrease for euer without coming to a periode 11 Certaine problemes resolued concerning the proportion of some mouing Agents compared to their effects 12 When a moueable cometh to rest the motion doth decrease according to the rules of encrease 1 Those motions are called naturall which haue constant causes and those violent which are contrary to them 2 The first and most generall operation of the sunne is the making and raising of atomes 3 The light rebounding from the earth with atomes causeth two streames in the ayre the one ascending the other desceÌ„ding and both of them in a perpendicular line 4 A dense body placed in the ayre betweene the ascending and descending streame must needes descend 5 A more particular explicatioÌ„ of all the former doctrine touching grauity 6 Grauity and leuity do not signify an intrinsecall inclination to such a motion in the bodies themselues which are termed heauy and light 7 The more deÌ„se a body is the more swiftly it descendeth 8 The velocity of bodies descending doth not encrease in proportion to the difference that may be betweene their seuerall densities 9 More or lesse grauity doth produce a swifter or a slower descending of a heauy body Aristotles argument to disproue motion in vacuo is made good 10 The reason why att the inferiour quarter of a circle a body doth descend faster by the arch of that quarter then by the chord â—f it 1 The first obiection answered why a hollow body descendeth slower then a solide one 2 The second obiection answered and the reasons shewne why atomes do continually ouertake the descending dense body 3 A curious question left vndecided 4 The fourth obiection answered why the descent of the same heauy bodies is equall in so great inequality of the atomes which cause it 5 The reason why the shelter of a thicke body doth not hinder the descent of that which is vnder ti 6 The reason why some bodies sinke others swimme 7 The fifth obiection answered concerning the descending of heauy bodies in streames 8 The sixt obiection answered and that all heauy elements do weigh in their owne spheres 9 The 7th obiection answered and the reason why we do not feele the course of the ayre and atomes that beat coÌ„tinually vpon vs. 10 How in the same body grauity may be greater then density and density then grauity though they be the same thing 11 The opinion of grauities being an intrinsecall inclination of a body to the center refuted by reason 12 The same opinion refuted by seuerall experiences 1 The state of the question touching the cause of violent motion 2 That the medium is the onely cause which continueth â—â—â—lent motioÌ„ 3 A further explication of the former doctrine 4 That the ayre hath strength enough to continue violent motion in a moueable Dial. 1. of motion pag. 98. 5 An answere to the first obiection that ayre is not apt to conserue motion And how violent moâ—â— cometh to cease 6 An answere to the second obiection that the ayre hath no power ouer heauy bodies 7 An answere to the third obiection that an arrow should fly faster broadwayes then loÌ„gwayes 1 That reflexion is a kind of violeÌ„t motion 2 Reflexion is made at equall angles 3 The causes and properties of vndulation 5 A refutation of Monsieur Des Cartes his explication of refraction 6 An answere to the arguments brought in fauour of Monsieur Des Cartes his opinion 7 The true cause of refraction of light both at its entrance and att its going out from the reflecting body 8 A generall rule to know the nature of reflexions and refractions in all sortes of
quantatiue thinges by which the Elements are diuersifyed And out of this discourse it will be euident that these complexions and qualities though in diuerse degrees must of necessity be found wheresoeuer there is any variation in bodies for seeing there can be no variation in bodies but by rarity and density and that the pure degrees of rarity and density do make heate cold moisture and drynesse and in a word the foure Elements it is euident that wheresoeuer there is variety of bodies there must be the foure Elements though peraduenture farre vnlike these mixed bodies which we call Elements And againe because these Elements can not consist without motion and because by motion they do of necessity produce mixed bodies and forge out those qualities which we come from explicating it must by like necessity follow that wheresoeuer there is any variety of actiue and passiue bodies there mixed bodies likewise must reside of the same kindes and be endewed with qualities of the like natures as those we haue treated of though peraduenture such as are in other places of the world remote from vs may be in a degree farre different from ours Since then it can not be denyed but that there must be notable variety of actiue and passiue bodies wheresoeuer there is light neyâ—her can it be denyed but that in all those great bodies from which light is reflected vnto vs there must be a like variety of complexions and of qualities and of bodies tempered by them as we find here in the orbe we liue in Which systeme how dâ—fferent it is from that which Aristotle and the most of the schoole haue deliuered vs as well in the euidencies of the proofes for its being so as in the position and modell of it I leaue vnto the prudent readers to consider and iudge Out of what hath beene already said it is not hard to discouer in what manner the composition of bodies is made In effecting of which the maine hinge whereon that motion depeÌ„deth is fire or heate as it likewise is in all other motions whatsoeuer Now because the composition of a mixed body proceedeth fâ—om the action of one simple body or element vpon the others it will not be amisse to declare by some example how this workâ— passeth for thâ—t purpose lett vs examine how fire or heate woâ—keth vpon his fâ—llowes By what wâ— haue formerly deliuered it is cleare that fire streaming out from its center and diffusing it selfe abroad so as to fill the circumference of a larger circle it must needes follow that the beames of it are most condensed and compacted together neere the center and the further they streame from the center the more thinne and rarifyed they must grow yet this is with such moderation as we can not any where discerne that one beame doth not touch an other and therefore the distances must be very small Now lett vs suppose that fire happeneth to be in a viscous and tenacious body and then consider what will happen in this case of one side the fire spreadeth it selfe abroad on the other side the partes of the tenacious body being moist as we haue formerly determined their edges on all handes will sticke fast to the dry beames of the fire that passe betweene them Then they stretching wider and wider from one an other must needes draw with them the partes of that tenacious body which sticke vnto them and stertch them into a greater widenesse or largenesse then they enioyed before froÌ„ wheÌ„ce it followeth that seeing there is no other body neere thereaboutes but they two eyther there must be a vacuity left or else the tenacious body must hold and fill a greater space then it did before and consequently be more rare Contrarywise if any of the other Elements be stronger then fire the denser Elements breake off from their continued streame the little partes of fire which were gotten into their greater partes and sticking on all sides about them they do so enclose them that they haue no more semblance of fire and if afterwardes by any accident there cometh a great compression they force them to loose their naturall rarity and to become some other Element Thus it fareth with fire both in acting and in suffering And the same course we haue in both these regardes expressed of it passeth likewise in the rest of the Elements to the proportion of their contrarieties Hence it followeth that when fire meeteth with humidity in any body it diuideth and subtiliseth it and disperseth it gently and in a kind of equall manner through the whole body it is in if the operation of it be a naturall and a gentle one and so driueth it into other partes which att the same time it prepareth to receiue it by subtilising likewise those partes And thus moderate fire maketh humour in very small partes to incorporate it selfe in an euen or vniforme manner with the dry partes it meeteth withall which being done whether the heate doth afterwardes continue or that cold succeedeth in lieu of it the effect must of necessity be that the body thus composed be bound vp and fastened more or lesse according to the proportion of the matter it is made of and of the Agents that worke vpon it and of the time they employ about it This is euery day seene in the ripening of fruites and in other frequent workes as well of art as of nature and is so obuious and sensible to any reasonable obseruation that it is needelesse to enlarge my selfe much vpon this subiect Onely it will not be amisse for examples sake to consider the progresse of it in the composing or augmenting of mettalls or of earths of diuers sorts first heate as we haue said draweth humour out of all the bodies it worketh vpon then if the extracted humour be in quantity and the steames of it do happen to come together in some hollow place fitt to assemble them into greater partes they are condensed and they fall downe in a liquide and running body These steames being thus corporifyed the body resulting out of them maketh it selfe in the earth a channell to runne in and if there be any loose partes in the channell they mingle themselues with the running liquor and though there be none such yet in time the liquor it selfe looseneth the channell all about and imbibeth into its owne substaÌ„ce the partes it raiseth And thus all of them compacted together do roule along till they tumble into some low place out of which they can not so easily gett to wander further When they are thus settled they do the more easily receiue into them and retaine such heate as is euery where to be mett withall because it is diffused more or lesse through the earth This heate if it be sufficient digesteth it into a solide body the temper of cold likewise concurring in its measure to this effect And according to the variety of the substances whereof the first liquour was made