entirely to the Will of God who is its Supreme Good who saith to it Eschew Evil and Follow Good The Fourth said That by the word Wisedom is generally understood all that which contributes to perfectionate a Man according to the rational part as by the word Faith we understand Christianity and a Summary of all the Christian Virtues Now it is hard to prescribe a way to such Wisedom seeing it requireth two points namely The Knowledge of Things and Moral Habits both which are infinite For all which is Sensible is the Object of our Senses and enters not by one but by all That which is Intelligible is the Object of our Understanding Moreover all the Good in the world is under the notion of Convenience or sutableness which gives it Amability the Object of our Sensitive appetite which is guided in this acquitst by the knowledge of the Senses If it is Spiritual it is the Object of the Will which pursues it by the light of the Understanding And for the eschewing of Errour in the search of those Goods Prudence intervenes which hath at its service an infinite of habits of the Mind yea the whole troop of Moral Virtues in the exercise of which there is always something to be got as there is always to be learnt in the knowledge of things Therefore every Man being fully furnish'd with what is needful to be wise he is not excusable if he become not so For he hath the seeds of Wisedom in as many manners as there are wayes to obtain it In the Understanding he hath from the Cradle Intelligence which is the Habit of first Principles and Maximes which he knoweth by the Induction of the Senses by the help of which he attaineth Science In the Will he hath the Synteresis or Conscience which is an Habitual Cognition of the Principles of Moral Actions by which he easily proceedeth to the exercise of Virtues and to the acquisition of them And further these pure Natural Principles may be assisted and reliev'd by good Instructions and especially if they who learn have Organs well dispos'd and a temper proper for becoming wise At the Hour of Inventions one undertook the proof of Archimedes's Proposition To move the Earth from its Centre if he had assign'd elsewhere a solid space and instruments proportion'd thereto in greatness and strength And it was prov'd that the Centre of Magnitude is different from that of gravity by many Mechanical Experiments After which it was resolv'd to treat at the next Conference First Of the Motion or rest of the Earth Secondly Of two monstrous Brethren living in one Body to be seen at present in this City CONFERENCE X. I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth II. Of Two Monstrous Brethren living in the same Body which are to be seen in this City I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth HE that spake first to this Point Said this Question had been in debate for more then two thousand years and the reasons brought on either side seem'd to him so strong that he knew not which to embrace That the most common opinion was that of Aristotle Ptolomy Tycho Brahe and the greatest part of Philosophers namely That the Earth is unmoveable and plac'd in the midst of the World Which Scituation is prov'd I. Because the Decorum and Symmetry of the Universe requires that every thing be plac'd according to its dignity But the Earth being the ignoblest and meanest of the Elements all which yield in point of dignity to the Heavens it ought consequently to be in the lowest place which is the Centre of the World II. The Gravity of the Earth inferreth both the one and the other namely its being in the Centre and its Immobility The former because the heaviest things tend toward the lowest place and the latter because by reason of their gravity they are less apt for motion then for rest whereunto the lowest place also contributeth For in a Circle the Centre remains unmoveable whilst the other parts thereof are mov'd III. In whatsoever place of the Earth we are we can alwayes discover one half of the Heaven and the opposite signes of the Zodiack as also experience witnesseth that when the Moon is at the Full we behold her rise just at the same time that the Sun sets Whence it followeth that the Earth is at the Centre and as it were a point in comparison to the Firmament IV. We alwayes see the Stars of the same magnitude both when they are directly over our heads and on the edge of the Horizon unless there be some hindrance by the refraction of Vapours and Clouds All which things would not be thus unless the Earth were in the midst of the World Now they have concluded the Rest and Immobility of the Earth from the following Reasons I. It is the nature of Simple Bodies to have but one Sole and Simple Motion For if two contrary Motions were in the same Subject the one would hinder the other Wherefore the Earth having by reason of its gravity a Direct perpendicular Motion of its own cannot have also a Circular and by reason of the same gravity it must needs be firm and stable not moveable II. If the Earth were mov'd then a stone or other heavy thing cast upwards would never fall down at the foot of the caster but at distance from him for during the short interval of its being in the Air the Earth will have made a great progress as it happens when one in a boat that passeth swiftly upon the Water casteth any thing upwards the same falleth a far off instead of falling into the boat III. If the Earth turn'd round then a Bullet discharg'd out of a Cannon from the West towards the East would not fly so far from the piece as one discharg'd from the East towards the West because the Earth will in the mean time by its Motion have carried the Cannon forwards to the former Bullet and remov'd it backwards from the latter IV. We should never see the Clouds unmov'd nor going towards the East but as for them that move Westward they would seem to fly as swift as lightning V. Cities and all kind of buidings would be shatter'd the Surface of the Earth would be disunited and all its parts dissipated being not so firmly link'd together as to endure such a Motion Lastly did the Earth turn round and the Air with it as is alledg'd in answer to the former reasons the Air would have been so heated since its Motion with that swiftness that the Earth would have been uninhabitable and all Animals suffocated Besides that the violence of that could Motion not have been supported by Men so long time for it is acknowledg'd that Daemons themselves cannot carry a Man from one Climate to another remote one within that short time that some Magicians have phanci'd because he would not be able to resist the violence of the agitation of the Air. The Second confirm'd this
which hath sometimes conferr'd the Scepter in elective Kingdoms And our Saviour amidst all the infirmities of our nature caus'd to shine in himself the most perfect beauty that ever was in the rest of mankind Now several beautiful things gratifie variously White is esteem'd amongst Northern Nations because there issues out of white bodies a certain brightness or light agreeable to the eyes of those people But the same colour loseth that pre-eminence proportionably to a nearer approach toward the South CONFERENCE XXVII I. Whether the World grows old II. Of Jealousie I. Whether the World grows old WEre we in those Commonwealths where the voice of the people is admitted this Question would be very easie to resolve there being no body but proclaims that the world is declining and thinks that we are now in the very dregs of Time 'T is the ordinary discourse of old men But possibly herein they resemble the old woman who when she was grown blind said the Sky was overcast or those who sailing from the shore think that the earth retreats back while 't is themselves that are in motion These good people no longer finding the same gust and pleasure in the delights of the world that they found in their youth lay the fault upon the world instead of imputing the same to themselves Indeed their accusation is too old to be receivable having been from all time which made Horace say that to represent an old man right he must be introduc'd praising the time past Yet we may give their reasons the hearing They affirm that every thing which hath had a beginning and must have an end grows old That since all the parts of the world are variously corrupted the same ought to be believ'd of the whole That as for the Heavens all the observations of Ptolomy are found at this day false unless they be rectifi'd by the addition of certain motions of Trepidation which cause all the rest to vary In the Air the inconstancy of it and the irregularity of the Seasons makes us not know when we are sure of any the Spring sometimes appearing in Winter as at present and Winter in Autumn In the Sea you see it dismembers Provinces gains and loses whole Countries by its inundations and recessions And as for the Earth it is very probably shown that in time it must naturally return to its first state in which it was all cover'd with water and consequently void of men and most part of animals and plants which make the three noblest parts of the Universe For they who endeavour the raising of low grounds know that the same is accomplish'd by giving entrance to the slime which the water brings thither and which gathers together at the bottom whence it comes to pass that Valleys through which torrents and brooks of rain-water pass grow hollower daily the impetuousness of the water sweeping the surface of the earth into rivers and thence into the Sea Wherefore though the world should not end by Conflagration as it must do since all the rain-waters those of rivers and brooks go into the Sea and carry thither with them the upper parts of the Earth which is that that makes the waters so troubled and muddy it is necessary that this earth in time fill up the cavities of the Sea and reduce it to exact roundness and then the water having no longer any channel must as necessarily cover the whole surface of the earth excepting perhaps some points of rocks which will decay and fall down in time as about fifteen years ago a mountain in Suizzerland by its fall crush'd under its ruines the Town of Pleurs which by that means made good the importance of its name And although this may not come to pass till after divers thousands of years if the world should last so long yet it is not the less feasible since it is a doing at the present though by little and little The second said That since the end of the world is to be supernatural it shall not proceed from old age that though the earth were all cover'd over with waters yet the world would not perish for all that since the Elements would subsist yea the same earth and the winds by succession of time would come to imbibe and dry up those waters and so again discover the face of the earth That if one of the Elements be diminish'd another increases if the water evaporate the air is augmented if the air be condens'd it addes to the water and so the world cannot fail by all the alterations and changes which happen in simple and mixt bodies For its order consists in the alternative succession of various dispositions and not in one sole disposition like a circle which being finite in its parts is infinite in its whole Moreover if the world perish it must be either by the annihilation of its whole or of its parts or else by their transmutation into some matter which cannot be part of the world Not the first for there needs no less a miracle to annihilate then to create and therefore nothing is annihilated Not the second for mixt bodies cannot be chang'd but either into other mixt bodies or into the Elements now these are transmuted one into another wherefore in either case they are still parts of the world The most active of the Elements Fire without the miracle of the last conflagration if you consider it in the Sphere which some have assign'd to it it cannot burn the rest for should it act in its own Sphere which it doth not it would at length be extinguish'd for want of air into which consequently part of it would be converted or if you place it in the subterranean parts the vapours and the exhalations which it would raise from the Sea and the Earth being resolv'd into water and air would always preserve the being of those Elements Moreover the world would not serve at the day of judgement as Philo the Jew saith for a Holocaust to its author if it were then found defective in any of its parts The third said If you take the world for all the inferiour bodies contain'd under the concave of the Moon it is certain that it changeth For the Heavens are not alter'd according to their substance though they be according to their places But it is impossible that the Elements acting so powerfully one against another by their contrary qualities be not at length weakned and their activities refracted and impair'd and particularly the earth wherein those subterranean fires do the same thing that natural heat doth in animals when by the consumption of their radical humidity it makes them grow dry and old External Agents as the Air and the Celestial Bodies which in time undermine Palaces of Marble Brass and other bodies contribute greatly to this alteration of the earth which is the mark and but of actions of the superiour bodies by whom it suffers incessantly This declination is observ'd in Plants which had
seen in our days a dumb man who answer'd pertinently to all that was spoken to him only by beholding the motion of the speaker's lips which is also the reason why blind men attending only to improve the sense of Hearing best observe all differences of speech Whence I draw this consequence that the same may be practis'd in all other things which signifie by humane institution and so there may be an universal Language But the easiness every one finds in making himself understood by the Language and Writing which is familiar to him renders men careless of advancing this excellent Design which would be a means to spare the best time which our youth spends in learning the words of strange Tongues instead of applying themselves solely to the knowledge of things The Fourth said That the possibility of this Project appears in that there is an order in nature or at least consequent to the very nature of things according to which we may place next after the Creator the created spiritual substances then the corporeal one after another according to their dignity particularly the corporeal according to their place as the Heavens first and in them the Stars according to their dignity the Earth and its Animals the Sea and its Fishes the Plants according to their magnitudes those which are equal therein according to their vertues and other accidents doing the same with Metals Minerals bodies perfectly and imperfectly compounded by nature and by art and with the Elements then we may come to the Categories of accidents to which every thing in the world may be reduc'd and put in its right place Whereby it is evident that not only all things have their order but also that he who learns them according to this order easily avoids confusion the mother of ignorance It remains now to find out an order of words too which answers to that of things the first to the first and the second to the second which order is so natural to them that children make use of it to find out every thing which they seek in Dictionaries and Lexicons according to the order of the Alphabet And I know not whether we ought not to begin this handsome gradation and situation of all things in their rank correspondent to the order of the letters with the style that God gives himself Alpha and Omega But it cannot but be admir'd that the first combination of the letters makes Ab and Aba which signifies Father the first place being due to the Author and Father of all things II. Whether is to be preferr'd a great Stature or a small Upon the second Point it was said That largeness of body seems to be preferrable as well because the word Magnitude or Grandeur always includes some perfection in it self as because the Gods were anciently represented of a size exceeding the ordinary Which made Aristotle say that not only the greatness of the Heroes render'd them famous of old but that their Figures and Statues are venerable at this day Moreover we see that Saul the first King chosen by God for his own people was taller by the head then all the rest of the Israelites And amongst the conditions of Beauty magnitude so universally holds the first place that women advance themselves upon high Shooes and Patins that they may seem the handsomer How well shap'd soever a little man be he is never of so majestical a presence as one that is taller Whence you see little men affect to seem greater but never any tall men desire to be less Now the same Proportion which is between a Man and his habitation is found between the soul and the body which is its Mansion For as he who hath the largest house will be accounted to be better lodg'd then he who dwells in a Cottage though they be persons otherwise of equal condition so 't is probable that souls which are all equal find themselves better lodg'd in a great body then in a small and exercise all their functions with much more freedom The Second said That if magnitude put the value upon men the same should hold in animals nevertheless the Elephant yields to the Fox yea to the Pismire the Estrich to the Nightingale and the Whale is the most stupid of all Fishes Moreover nothing hinders the divine operations of the soul but the load of the body whereby the imperfection of our nature places us below the wholly incorporeal Intelligences and therefore the less the body is the neerer we approach the Angelical nature and our spirit is less impeded by the matter Hence little men are not only the most quick-witted but also the most active and nimble for that the strength is more united in them and diffus'd and dissipated in others Great and robust bodies as being fitter for labour were made to obey the small and tender which have more spirit then flesh Whence the Romans gave the Civil and Military charges to little men and sent the greater to guard the Baggage as those who gave the enemies more aim then the less Nor are the greater more proper for other Arts which made the Poet say as a thing impossible Sambucam potiùs caloni aptaveris alto And Samuel was reprov'd by God for offering to prefer the tall Stature of the eldest son of Jesse before the small size of David his youngest as if the Israelites had been displeas'd with the large body of Saul The Poets could not represent an enraged Cyclops and furious Ajax but under great bodies as on the contrary they made Vlysses very small And indeed natural Reasons agree well herein For amongst the causes of the bodie 's growth the material is a slimy or viscous humidity whence Fish grow most and in shortest time This Humidity is as it were Glew or Bird-lime to the soul hindring it from exercising its functions freely and therefore women being more humid have less wit then men and Fish are less disciplinable then the rest of animals The efficient is a very gentle heat for were it too great it would consume the matter in stead of dilating and fashioning it and dry the solid parts too much upon the increasing of which depends that of the rest of the body This is the reason why all gelt animals grow most and amongst Birds of prey the females are always greater then the males the excess of their heat being temper'd by the humidity of their Sex and young persons are found to have grown extraordinarily after Quotidian Agues which are caus'd by Phlegme so that it is not hard for such pernicious causes to produce a good effect The Third said That every thing is to be commended and esteem'd according to the use for which it is appointed Now Man being born for Reason and the functions of the Mind and having receiv'd a Body to be an instrument to him of Knowledg by making a faithfull report to him of what passes without by means of the species convey'd through the senses into
upon trees it is wont to fall 'T is held also that strong smells have the same virtue as amongst Animals the Sea-calf and Hyaena and amongst Plants the Fig-tree and Lawrell of which Caesar commonly wore a wreath rather for this purpose then to cover his bald head But 't is little probable what they relate of Zoroaster and Numa as that they still'd Thunder when they pleas'd and that Tullus Hostilius attempting to do the same was Thunder-struck II. Which of all the Arts is the most necessary Upon the Second Point it was said That if we take the judgement of each Artist there 's none but thinks himself more necessary then his companion Whence commonly there is contention for dignity among those that profess several Arts. Which made a Physitian tell his Patient who complain'd that his Apothecary told him he needed a medicine and his Chyrurgion that he wanted nothing but blood-letting that if he took the advice of his Shoe-maker 't was requisite for him to have a pair of boots And even a seller of matches finding himself in danger in a boat upon the Seine embracing his merchandize cry'd out Ville de Paris que tu perdes O Paris what a losse wilt thou have But to consider things in themselves Agriculture call'd by Cicero the most worthy employment of an ingenuous mind by Aristotle the justest manner of acquisition and the Mother of all the Arts seems to be most absolutely necessary No private person much lesse Republicks ever thought of any thing so carefully as their provision which is the foundation upon which all the other projects of Man depend the hungry belly having no ears and consequently being incapable of discipline And good Architects alwayes build the kitching first Our first Father exercis'd Tillage at his first going out of Eden and 't was from the plough that Coriolanus Seranus Curius and Cato and so many other great Roman Captains were taken In brief the styling of Earth Mans Mother and Nurse argues that 't is not lesse necessary to us then a Mother and Nurse to Children and consequently those that till it then Fathers The Second said As the beauty of nature consists chiefly in the variety of Natural Agents determin'd each to a particular work so that of a State appears principally in the multitude of Work-men and Artisans And as the meanest of these Natural Agents like small Simples are more necessary and have more virtue then the tallest Cedars and Cypresses so amongst the Arts the basest in appearance are the most noble and necessary as Agriculture and keeping of Sheep which was exercis'd by Apollo Paris Saul and David Whence the Greek Poet calls Kings Pastors of the people a name still retain'd by the Prelates of the Church and Plato conceiv'd that the daemons and happy spirits were sometimes Shepherds and Philo the Jew saith that the Pastoral Art was a praelude to Royalty as that of hunting is the apprentisage of war Moreover hunting its neer sister was much practis'd by the Persians and all warlike Nations and Xenophon highly recommends it but specially to Princes in his institution of Cyrus as Julius Pollex did to the Emperor Commodus for an heroical recreation serving to strengthen both body and mind and rendring men vigilant laborious and indefatigable The Third said That Man sutable to his three principal Organs the Intellect the Tongue and the Hand spending his whole life in reasoning speaking or doing he therefore needs three sorts of Arts to serve him for rules in all his operations The first to form his Reason therefore call'd Logick The second to regulate his words and is either Grammar which instructs him to speak rightly or Rhetorick to speak handsomely or History to relate well or Dialectick to speak of every thing probably The third comprehends all real Arts whose number infinitely exceeds the two other for Men speak and reason after the same manner because they do it naturally but they operate in several manners according to the several usages and Customs of people and places Amongst these real Arts some are necessary to life as Agriculture and keeping of Cattle which supply us with Food and Raiment from the Earth and Animals Others are useful thereunto as the Art of building Houses that of Taylors and Shoe-makers and other manufactures which we cannot want without inconvenience Others are for ornament as Painting Embroidery Dancing Others are onely for pleasure as the Art of Cookery perfuming and all those which tickle the Ear by musical instruments In brief the scope of some is onely Truth as the Art of measuring Heaven and the Stars with some others which as the most excellent having Truth the divinest and noblest thing in the world for their object so they are the least necessary and therefore were invented last For the most necessary Arts are the most ancient The use of things the measure of their necessity having constrain'd Men to make but rude Arts at the first which they afterwards polish'd and refin'd by their industry which is continually adding to former inventions The Fourth said Since Divine Authority hath commanded to honour Physick for its necessity 't is no longer lawful to prefer any other Art before it Agriculture should in vain help the Earth's production of fruits did not Physick by preserving and restoring health enable Man to enjoy the same 'T is not considerable what some alledge That Physitians may be spar'd because there were none in Rome for 600. together after they had been expell'd from thence since to be without Physitians is not to be without Physick For then every one was his own Physitian As if the Magistrates be driven out of a State it does not follow that Justice is driven out too because others succeed into their places and the greatest Thieves keep some form of justice and laws among themselves The Fifth said That the onely means of keeping States being to get since in matters of Oeconomy the foundation of States not to gain and advantage is to go behind-hand Merchandize both in gross and retail being the surest and speediest means to enrich Cities seems the most necessary of all Arts besides it maintains society amongst Men who could not supply one anothers needs if there were not an Art of trafficking by Exchange or sale which makes but one City of the whole world both old and new The Sixth said That the Military Art being the sword and buckler of a State is both the noblest and most necessary of all 'T is in vain that Men labour travel plead traffick or heal themselves if the Souldier hinders not the Enemies invasion and keep not the State in liberty by securing it both from the disturbances of Rebels and incursiions of Forreiners If one be the weakest his plump and sound body being taken by Pirates will serve onely for the Galleyes of his conqueror There remains nothing to the conquer'd but sorrow Those goodly crops of Corn are for the Souldiers who are Masters of
the campaigne War is the fair where wares are had best cheap and in sack'd Cities commodities are taken without weighing and Stuffs are not measur'd but with the Pike instead of the Ell if any complain there needs no more but to imitate Brennus's treating with the Romans besiedg'd in the Capitol cast the sword into the balance it will carry it Wherefore being Master of all Arts it is more necessary then they For he that is strongest finds sufficient of every thing The Seventh said As amongst the Arts some have others subservient to them as the Ephippians to the Military Art Chyrurgery Pharmacy the Gymnastick and all that relate to Health to Medicine or Physick Carpentry Masonry and others employ'd about building to Architecture and these Master Arts are call'd Architectonical So there is one above all these which is Policy the Eye and Soul of the State which governs all Arts gives them their rewards and punishes their defects sets what price it pleases upon things affords convenient place for the merit of every one sends Armies into the field and calls them back according to the necessity of affairs hath care of Piety and Justice establishes Magistracy appoints quarters to Souldiers and gives free exercise to all other Arts. All which considerations and accounts argue it the most necessary of all CONFERENCE LXXIII I. Of the Earthquake II. Of Envy I. Of the Earthquake IRregular motions are as strange as regular are agreeable especially those of bodies destinated to rest as the Earth is being the immoveable centre about which the whole fabrick of the world is turn'd For though the whole Heaven cannot rest any more then the whole Earth move yet the parts of them may the Scripture informing us that Joshuah made the Sun stand still that he might have time to pursue the Amorites and every Age having experiences of Earthquakes To which Aristotle ascribes the appearing of a new Island in the Pontick Sea call'd Heraclia and of another call'd Sacrea Many Geographers affirm that the Islands of Rhodes and Delos were produc'd by the like cause and that Sicily sometimes joyn'd to Italy was separated from it by an Earthquake whence the place of separation is still call'd by the Greek word Rhegium which signifies separation and fracture Pliny affirms that the Island of Cyprus was by this means divided from Syria and Euboea from Boeotia Histories tell of some Mountains that have clash'd together contrary to the Proverb which saith that they never meet of Towns transported to some distance from their first situation as hapned by an Earthquake in Syria in the ninth year of Constantinus Copronomus of others swallowed up as sometimes the greatest part of the City of Sparta upon which at the same time fell a part of Mount Taygetus which completed its ruine twenty thousand inhabitants of which City were also overwhelm'd by an other Earthquake by the relation of Diodorus about the 78. Olympiade Josephus reports that thirty thousand Jews were swallow'd up by another And Justin that when Tigranes King of Armenia became Master of Syria there hapned so dreadful an Earthquake that a hundred and thirty thousand Syrians perish'd by it Four hundred years agoe twelve thousand houses were shaken down at Lisbon Italy was much endamag'd in the year 1116 by one which lasted forty dayes principally Tuscany Puglia the Territory of Venice and Campagnia where twelve Cities perish'd and that of Pompey was swallow'd up in Winter which season neverthelesse is accounted free from it Four years agoe the City of Naples was horribly shaken especially the borders of Mount Visuvius The common opinion refers these effects to a dry Exhalation which makes the same concussion in the belly of the Earth as in that of a cloud shattering many times both the one and the other when it cannot otherwise get free from its confinement how hard or dense soever the bodies be that inclose it The Second said That the causes of Earthquakes are either Divine or Astrological or Physical The first have no other foundation but the Will of God who thereby oftentimes manifests to Men his justice and power and sometimes contrary to the course of ordinary and natural causes Such was that at the death of our Saviour in the 18th year of Tiberius which was universal and wherewith twelve Cities of Asia perish'd and that mention'd by Sigonius hapning in the year 343. under Constantine the Arrian Emperor whereby the City of Neocaesaria was wholly swallow'd up except the Catholick Church and its Bishop The Astrological causes are if we may credit the professors of this Art the malignant influences of Jupiter and Mars in the Houses of Taurus Virgo and Capricorn But as the first are too general so these are very uncertain being built for the most part upon false principles as also those which suppose the Earth a great Animal whose tremors are made in the same manner as those which befall other Animals Wherefore holding to the most perceptible causes I conceive with Democritus that torrents of rain coming to fill the concavities of the Earth by their impetuousnesse drive out the other waters and that upon their motion and swaying from one side to another the Earth also reels this way and by and by the other or rather that these Torrents drive out the winds impetuously as Air issues out of a bottle when it is filling which wind repells and agitates the Earth till it find some issue whence also come the sounds and lowings which accompany Earthquakes As is seen in Hydraulick instruments which by arificial mixing Air and Water when they are impell'd into pipes fit to receive the same excite sounds like those emitted by the wind-pipe of Animals agitated with the wind of their lungs and moistned with the salivous liquor or natural water The Third said That he could not be of their mind who because water is found by digging to a good depth in the Earth therefore interpret that place literally where 't is said That God hath founded the Earth upon the Water upon which it floats and that according to their agitation the Earth is like a Ship which fluctuates in a tempestuous Sea and lyes even and still in a calm since if this were so then the whole Earth should tremble at the same time which is contrary to experience The opinion of Anaximenes is more probable that as part of the Earth upon a droughth after a wet season cleaves and crackles so the same happens to Regions and whole Countries The Fourth said That if this opinion were true then they would begin increase diminish and cease by degrees nor would they last long Yet 't is observ'd some have continu'd forty days yea six moneths as that of Constantinople under Theodosius the younger and miraculously ceas'd upon the first singing of those words by all the people Sanctus Sanctus c. Aristotle also makes mention of some that lasted two years the cause whereof depends either upon the quality or
of the Sun and Moon the former is caus'd by the shadow of the Moon upon the Earth and the latter by that of the Earth upon the Moon by reason of their vicinity For the Sun's course being alwayes in the Ecliptick of the Zodiack which they ordinarily but improperly call a line being rather a plane superficies and a great circle cutting the sphere into two equal parts in which the Sun ascends in his Apogaeum and descends in his Perigaeum The Moon likewise according to her proper motion is found every moneth in the same sign with the Sun which is call'd her Conjunction and makes the New Moon Yet with this difference that she is either in the South or the North in respect of the Sun in the same sign unless when passing from one to another she crosses the Ecliptick wherein the Sun makes his course in the middle of such sign in which intersection is made the Eclipse of the Sun the Moon being then directly between the Sun and our sight This point of intersection is call'd the Dragon's head when she moves from the South to the North and the Dragon's taile when from the North to the South Now forasmuch as the Lunar Body is less then that of the Earth and much less then that of the Sun scarce taking up the latitude of the pyramide form'd by the visual rayes hence the Suns Eclipse is never either total or universal the Moon not being capable to hide the body of the Sun from those who behold him from the Earth in another situation After her conjunction with the Sun she with-draws from him by little and little increasing in roundness and light till she become fully opposite to the Sun at which time half of her Globe is perfectly enlightned and then 't is Full Moon Now because in this perfect opposition the Earth casts its shadow upon that part of the Ecliptick which is opposite to the Sun if in this opposition the Moon happen to cut the Ecliptick she enters into the Earths shadow and becomes darkned by privation of the Suns light So that the Moon is never eclips'd but in her opposition when she is at the Full nor the Sun but at New Moon when she is in conjunction Whence that eclipse of the Sun which appear'd at our Lords death was miraculous the Moon being then naturally unable to eclipse the Sun by her interposition because she was directly opposite to him and at the Full. The Second said That in this common explication of Eclipses the Parallaxes of the Sun and Moon cause many difficulties in their calculations being the cause that the same Eclipse is total to some partial to others none to others and to some sooner and longer then to others besides that 't is requisite to have as many new calculations as there are different places But a general way whereby to explicate Eclipses so perfectly that one single calculation may suffice for the whole Earth and oftentimes for several Eclipses cannot be had without knowledge of the distances magnitudes and shadows of the Sun the Earth and the Moon which are these the Sun is distant from the Earth about 1200. semidiametres of the Earth which amount to almost 2000000. of our leagues The Moon is distant from the Earth near 56. semidiametres of the Earth making about 90000. leagues or the two and twentieth part of the Sun's distance Whence at New Moon the distance of the Moon from the Sun is 109000. leagues and so the Sun is distant from the Earth twenty one times more then the Moon As for the magnitude of these bodies the Diametre of the Sun is about six times as big as that of the Earth and twenty one times as great as that of the Moon and consequently exceeds the one five and the other twenty times Whence it follows that the length of the shadows of the Earth and the Moon being proportionate to their distances from the Sun as their Diametres are to that Excess the shadow of the Earth shall have in length the fifth part of its distance from the Sun namely 400000. leagues and the shadow of the Moon the twentieth part of her distance from the Sun namely 95500. leagues These shadows of the Earth and the Moon are of a conical figure the base whereof is one of the circles of the Earth or the Moon and the cusp is the point remov'd from their bases according to the abovesaid distances Which figure proceeds from the Sun 's being greater then the Moon or the Earth and all three of a round or spherical figure and the conical shadow is a perfect shadow admitting no direct ray from the Sun but there is an imperfect shadow about the same admitting rayes from some parts of the Sun but not from all And as the imperfect shadow diminishes conically so the imperfect increases conically so that the Moons imperfect shadow reaches 90000. leagues which is the distance of the Moon from the Earth occupying round about the perfect shadow near 1000. leagues on each side because 't is in proportion to the Diametre of the Sun as the distance of the Earth from the Moon is to the distance of the Moon from the Sun Now since the shadow of the Moon which is 95500. leagues reaches further then the Moons distance from the Earth which is but 90000. leagues it follows that at New Moon when she is directly between the Sun and the Earth which happens when the Moon is twenty degrees before or after either the head or the taile of the Dragon the point of her shadow reaches to the Earth covering sometimes near 30. leagues round of Earth with perfect shadow which is surrounded with another imperfect one of a thousand leagues And as the Moon by her proper motion passes beneath the Sun from West to East so her shadow traverses the Earth from the West part to the East so that whereever the point of the perfect shadow passes there is a total Eclipse of the Sun and where the imperfect shadow passes the Eclipse is onely partial but greater according as you are nearer the perfect shadow From these consequences may be drawn That the Eclipse of the Sun is seen sooner in the West part of the Earth then in the East by almost five hours which is the time that the shadow of the Moon is crossing the plane of the Earth That one and the same Eclipse of the Sun cannot be seen in all parts of the Earth because though as the shadow moves it crosses from West to East yet it is not large enough to cover the whole Earth from North to South That in one and the same year there are at least two Eclipses of the Sun visible in some parts of the Earth sometimes three and four at most For every half year in which the Sun passes by the Dragon's head if the New Moon be made at the same head there will be an Eclipse which will be total in the torrid zone and partial
out of which the Agents which destroy the formes opposite to their own may draw forth those which they will produce which is the term of their Action Otherwise Things must become nothing to pass from one being to another which would presuppose Creation and destroy those Two Maximes That a Thing cannot be reduc'd into Nothing and Of Nothing is not made something It is defin'd An Imperfect and Incomplete Substance the First Subject of Natural Things which are compos'd of it as an Internal and Essential part not by accident It s quality is to be a pure Passive Power which is nothing distinct from it self but is taken for a Thing begun and not perfected yet design'd to be finished by the Supervening of the Form and the interposing of Agents who by their activities drawing the Form out of the bosome of it perfect and accomplish it It serves for two purposes First To give durance and Consistence to all Things which last so much the longer as their Matter is less compounded That is to say less alienated from its naked and pure Nature of First Matter As it appears in the Heavens and the Elements which I conceive are not changed one into another In the Second place it serves Agents for to act and Patients to resist Whence it comes to pass that the more compact and close their Matter is the more powerfully they resist As appears in a hot Iron which burnes more then common flame in Water which moistens more then aire though it be less humid and in Steel which resists more then Lead The Fourth said That to know what this First Matter is it behoveth to proceed thereunto by the way of the Senses and then examine whether Reason can correct what they have dictated to us Now our Senses tell us that most part of mixt Bodies are resolved into Salt Sulphur and Mercury And the Chymists affirm that these Three Bodies cannot be reduced into any other Matter by any Artifice But Reason correcting Sense teacheth us that though these Three Bodies are Chymical Sensible Principles yet they are not First Principles nor the true First Matter for that all Bodies are not made of them as 't is seen in the Coelestial and they may yet be reduc'd into another Matter viz. into the Elements For in Sulphur there is Fire seeing it is inflamable And it hath also some Aqueous or Terrestrial Substance which makes visible that Fire Likewise there is Fire in Salt seeing it is tart and biting and according to the Chymists the subject of natural heat There is Water too for it melteth and it extinguisheth Fire There is also Earth in it for it is dry fixt compact and weighty Wherefore Reason leading us as far as the Elements it remaineth to consider whether we must stop there or go yet further to find out a Matter into which these are reduc'd But not finding any I conceive they must be the First Matter The Fifth reply'd That the Elements being complete Substances and consequently compounded of Matter and Form we must not stop there but go further in search of that first and ultimate subject of all Natural Mutations it being inconsistent that a Compound of Matter and Form should be but one of those Two The sixth held That Water is the First Matter if not the Elementary at least the Aethereal Water which was for that purpose created first The Holy Scripture witnessing that In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth Where the Hebrew word that is render'd Heaven signifie The Waters and 't is added That the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters Moreover our Life consisteth solely in Humidity which failing Death ensueth The Seventh said That the First Matter being a Thing most imperfect and least active such as the Earth is too she ought rather to bear that Name then any of the Elements To shew further that the Elements are the First Matter it was alledg'd that they are not transmuted one into another but are ingenerable and incorruptible that consequently in every kind of Generation or Corruption there is not made any Substantial Mutation but only an Vnion or Separation of the Elements And therefore it is not needful to recur to another First Matter that may be Permanent under all Mutations since Entities are not to be multiply'd without necessity For as to the former They are not transmuted one into another because before the Transmutation or Substantial Generation of a Thing Alteration is requisite that is the Introduction of Quality and Dispositions sutable to the Form which is to be produc'd For Example before Fire be turn'd into Water Air or Earth it must first receive Cold Moisture and Gravity which are the Qualities sutable to those Formes which it is to receive but this is impossible For Fire while it is Fire cannot be Cold Moist and Heavy As for the Second viz. That the Elements are ingenerable and incorruptible he shew'd it by this other Example From Wood that burnes proceed the Four Elements or Four different Natures correspondent to them viz. Flame Smoke Liquor and Ashes but they were in it before because they could not be produc'd out of Nothing And in the Conflagration of this Wood there is onely the Fire that Acts which being Hot Light and Dry cannot produce such Things as are contrary to it self Here Experience was alledg'd against him which evidenceth that Water upon the Fire is turn'd into Vapour and then into Air that Air is turnd into Fire and so of the other Elements But he reply'd That the Water is not turn'd into Vapour or into Air but the Fire insinuating and joyning it self with the Water frames that Vapour composed Actually of Water and Fire Whence when you put a Cover upon a Dish of hot Viands the Particles of Fire which are in those Vapours being subtle pass through the Pores of the Cover and sever themselves from those of the Water which being unable to pass through too by reason of their grosness they adhere to the upper part of it In like manner said he when the Air seemes set on fire 't is not chang'd or turn'd into Fire but onely the Particles of Fire which were dispers'd here and there in the Air become collected and united together And when the Fire disappears it proceeds from its Particles being diffus'd amongst the other Particles of Air Water and Earth The Last strengthned this Opinion saying That the pure Elements have the same Proprieties that are attributed to the First Matter and amongst the rest fall not under the perception of Sense Yea that 't is as hard to see a pure Element as to see the First Matter For the Elementary Fire ex gr cannot be expos'd to the Air nor the Air to the Water nor the Water to the Earth and much less those which are contrary to one another without being alter'd by their mutual contract that is to say without losing their Nature of Element which moreover cannot be
we approach or go farther from the Poles we see the same more or less elevated 4. Because the Sun is seen daily to rise and set sooner in one place then in another Lastly it is prov'd by the conveniency of habitation For as of all Isoperimeter Figures the Circle is most capacious so the Sphere containeth more then any other Body and therefore if the Earth were not round every part of it would not have its Antipodes So that I wonder at the opinion of Lactantius and Saint Augustine who denyed them For as for that story that in the year 745. by the relation of Aventinus Virgilius a German Bishop was deprived of his Bishoprick and condemned as an Heretick by Pope Zachary it was not onely for maintaining this truth which experience hath since confirm'd but because he drew conclusions from it prejudicial to Religion Now whereas it may be doubted whether as there are uneven parts in the Earth some higher then other so there be not also Seas some of whose waters too are more elevated then the rest I affirm that since all the Seas except the Caspian have communication amongst themselves they are all level and no higher one then another And had they no such communication yet the Water being of its Nature fluid and heavy flowing into the lowest place would equal its surface with the rest and so make a perfect Sphere Whence it follows that they were mistaken who disswaded Sesostris King of Aegypt from joyning the Red Sea with the Mediterranean for fear lest the former which they judg'd the higher should come to drown Greece and part of Asia For want of which demonstration several Learned Men have been mistaken and no less then the Angelical Doctor The Second said That the Earth is very dry not for that it dispelleth moisture as Fire doth but for that it receiveth and imbibeth it into it self But it cannot be cold of its own Nature if it were it could produce nothing It is cold onely by the Air as 't is sometimes moist by the Water and hot by the Fire which insinuateth into its cavities It is also very heavy since it holdeth the lowest place in the world and hath its motion from the circumference to the Centre which is the progression that Aristotle attributeth to heavy Bodies Whence for being the lowest stage it is called the Foot-stool of God But this heaviness seemeth to me not to proceed from humidity as was urged For though the Water and Earth joyn'd together seem to weigh more then Earth alone 't is not that they weigh more indeed but this Earth which was imagined to be alone is fill'd with a quantity of Air and the Water coming to succeed in its place it appeareth more heavy For Earth and Water joyn'd together weigh more then Earth and Air so joyn'd in like quantity because Water is heavier then Air. And to justifie that Earth is heavier then Water a bucket fill'd with sand weighes more then an other fill'd with Water For that sand is Water congealed is as hard to prove as that Earth is Water The Third said That Earth composeth a Mixt Body by a double action viz. from its coldness and of its driness As for the former it secondeth the Water compacting by its coldness the parts which are to be mix'd and which moisture hath united For the Second it giveth hardness and consistence imbibing and sucking up the superfluous moisture after the due union of the parts made thereby It cannot but be cold for as good Polititians willingly reconcile two great Families at Enmity by their mutual alliances so all the strength of the mixture consisting onely in the union of Dry and Moist and its destruction coming from their disunion and the Dry and Moist being wholly Enemies and contraries in the highest degree Nature reconciles them together and brings them into union by the mediation of Water For this being ally'd to Air by the moisture which it hath in a remiss degree and Earth being ally'd to Water by the coldness which it hath in a less degree it becometh ally'd to the Air and its humidity Since according to the maxime Things which agree in the same third agree among themselves Thus you see coldness is necessary to the Earth to cause a lasting composition amongst them Earth hath also this advantage by its siccity that as the same is less active then heat and yieldeth thereunto in vigour of action so heat yieldeth to it in resistance For the dryness inducing hardness resisteth division more powerfully and consequently better preserveth the mixt Body in being resisting the Agents which are contrary to it Whereto its gravity serveth not a little it rendring the Earth less managable by the agitations of the agents its Enemies So that gravity by this means assisteth the hardness and consistence of the dryness like two Kinsmen uniting together to keep off the affronts of their Enemies The Fourth said That the gravity of the Earth and of every other Body yea that of Gold too the heaviest of all mixt Bodies dependeth onely upon its Figure since not onely a Vessel convex on the side toward the Water sinketh not but also a single leaf of Gold swimeth upon it Which is seen likewise in Tera Lemnia or Sigillata which sinketh not in the Water so that there is no probility in that decuple proportion of the Elements according to which Earth ought to weigh ten times more then Water and Water onely ten times more then Air and supposing one were in the Region of Fire and there weigh'd the Air as we do here the Water he would find it likewise ten times heavier then the Fire This is more certain that the proportion of the weight of Earth to that of Sea-water is as 93. to 90 that of Sea-water to fresh as 92. to 74. But that which makes more for those who hold Water more heavy then Earth is that the proportion of Earth to Salt is found to be as 92. to 106. In fine It was remark'd that though the Earth is consider'd by Astronomers but as a point in respect of the vast extent of the Coelestial Orbs yet no Man encompas'd it round before the year 1420. when Jean de Betancourt a Norman Gentleman by the discovery of the Canaries trac'd out the way to the Spaniards who attributed the honour thereof to themselves though they began not till above fourscore years after Moreover it is 15000. leagues in circumference of which there is not much less Land uncover'd then there is cover'd by the Water But if you compare their greatness together there is far less Earth then Water For 't is held that there is no Sea that hath a league in depth there is little without bottom many to which the Anchors reach yea several places not capable of great vessels for want of Water On the other side There are Mountains upon which you still ascend upwards for many dayes journey others inaccessible even to the sight
In a word where ever there is Sea there is Land but not on the contrary So that taking the sixt part of the compass of the Terrestrial Globe for its Semidiametre according to the ordinary proportion of the circle to its ray the Earth will be found several times greater then the Water the Springs that are found in opening it being not considerable in comparison of the rest of its bulk II. What it is that makes a Man wise He that spake first upon the second point said that he wonder'd not that Wisedom was taken for a Subject to be treated of in so good company since 't is the point which all desire most not onely in themselves but also in others with whom they are to converse But it behoveth to distinguish the same according to its several acceptions For anciently Wisedom was taken for the knowledge of things Divine and Humane before Pythagoras call'd it Philosophy At present it is confounded with Prudence and is either infused or acquired The former which springeth from the knowledge and fear of God joyn'd with a good life is obtain'd by begging it of God and rendring one's self worthy to receive it Such was that of Solomon which brought to him all other goods The latter of which we now speak is obtain'd by Precepts Experience or both Whereunto Travel is conceiv'd greatly to conduce according to the testimony of Homer who calls his wise Vlysses a Visitor of Cities and according to the opinion of the ancient French Gentry who would not have had a good opinion of their Children unless they had seen Italy and other forreign Countries It is also divided according to Sex Conditions and Age. For there is difference in the Wisedom of a Woman of a Child of a Man grown and of an Old Man and so there is in that of a Father of a Family of his Domestick of a Captain of a Souldier of a Magistrate of a Citizen of a Master of a Varlet and of infinite others who may become wise by several yea sometimes by contrary means For Example a wise Souldier ought to expose himself to all dangers and events of War quite the contrary to a wise Captain who ought to preserve himself the most he can A Prince a Magistrate a Master a Father are wise if they command as is fitting Whereas a Subject a Burgess a Servant and a Child are esteemed such in obeying them Besides Precepts and Experience Example serves much to the acquiring of Wisedom whether the same be drawn from the reading of Books or from converse and conference with wise persons or sometimes too from the sight of undecent things As of old the Lacedemonians taught their Children Sobriety by shewing their Helots drunk The Example of Animals is not useless thereunto and therefore Solomon sends the sluggard to the Pismire and Lycurgus taught the same Lacedemonians that Education alone made the difference between Men by shewing them two Dogs of the same litter run one after a Hare the other to his Meat Fables likewise have many times their use But true it is that Nature layeth the great Foundations Whence Cold and Dry Tempers such as the Melancholly have a natural restraint which participateth much of Wisedom Whereas the Sanguine by reason of their jollity and the Cholerick in regard of their hastiness have greater difficulty to attain the same as Socrates confessed of himself The Second said That the true Moral Wisedom of a Man consider'd alone consisteth in taming his Passions and subjecting them to the Command of Reason which alone serveth for a Rule and Square to all the Actions of Life whereas the common sort leave themselves to be govern'd by the Laws And the ancient Philosophy had no other aim but that Apathy That of a Master of a Family consisteth in the management of the same That of a Polititian in the Administration of the State punishing the evil-doers and recompencing the good establishing wholesome Laws and maintaining Trade The Third said That He alone deserves to wear the name of Wise who seeketh and embraceth the means whereby to be in favour with him who is the Chief Wisedom Those means are two First That his Understanding be duely inform'd of what he ought to know and what he ought to be ignorant of Secondly That his Will be dispos'd to what he ought either to love or hate As for the first he must be ignorant of Humane Sciences since they shake and undermine the foundations of true Wisedom their Principles being for the most part opposite to the Articles of our Faith For of the ancient Philosophers the Pythagoreans are full of Magical superstitions The Platonists hold a Matter coeternal to God Democritus and all the Epicureans have thought the same of their Atomes not to mention their Voluptuous End The Stoicks have made their Sage equal and sometimes superiour to God whom they subjected to their celebrated Destiny or Fate The Pyrrhonians have doubted of every thing and consequently of the truth of Religion The Cynicks publickly made Virtue of Vice The Peripateticks are as much to be fear'd as the former with their Eternity of the World which destroyeth all Religion and gave occasion to Saint Ambrose to say in his Offices That the Lycaeum was much more dangerous then the gardens of Epicurus Moreover the Principles of the Sciences do not accord with those of Faith And Saint Thomas said with good right that Humane Reason greatly diminisheth it And that happens oft times to those who busie themselves about those goodly principles which the Poets relate fabulously of Bellerophon who attempting to fly up to Heaven Jupiter angry at him sent onely a Fly which overturned the winged Horse-man So those vain-glorious wits puff'd up with some Humane Knowledge venturing to hoise themselves into Heaven and penetrate into the secret Cabinets of the Divine Providence it gives them up to a thousand dubious Controversies which precipitate them into the darkness of Confusion and Errour Moreover Solomon the pattern of Wisedom saith that after having lead his Mind through all Nature he perceiv'd that all was nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit And Saint Paul saith that Knowledge puffeth up and swelleth with Pride that this Humane Wisedom is nought but Folly before God by which he admonisheth us to beware of being deceived and that if any one will be wise let him profess Ignorance and become a fool since the Folly and Ignorance of the world is the true Wisedom and Knowledge in the sight of God who loveth the poor of spirit that is the simple ideots and ignorant As for what our Understanding ought to know for becoming wise 't is To know that Chief Wisedom and the Christian Doctrine by the example of the same Saint Paul who would not know any thing besides Jesus and him crucisi'd For the Second means which regardeth the Will of Man it will be disposed to that which is to be lov'd or hated when it hath submitted it self
in imitation of that which the Heavens excite here below The Third said The Philosophers stone is a Powder of Projection a very little of which being cast upon imperfect Metals as all are except Gold purifies and cures them of their Leprosie and impurity in such a manner that having first taken away their feculency and then multiply'd their degrees they acquire a more perfect nature Metals not differing among themselves but in degrees of perfection It is of two sorts the white which serves to make Silver and the red which being more concocted is proper to make Gold Now to attain it you need onely have the perfect knowledge of three things to wit the Agent the Matter and the Proportion requisite to the end the Agent may educe the form out of the bosome of that Matter duly prepar'd by the application of actives to passives The first two are easie to be known For the Agent is nothing else but Heat either of the Sun or of our common fire or of a dunghill which they call a Horse's belly or of Balneum Mariae hot water or else that of an Animal The patients are Salt Sulphur or Mercury Gold Silver Antimony Vitriol or some little of such other things the experience whereof easily shews what is to be expected from them But the Application of the Agent to the Patient the determination of the degrees of Heat and the utmost preparation and disposition of the Matter cannot be known but by great labour and long experience Which being difficult thence we see more delusions and impostures in this Art then truths Nevertheless Histories bear witness that Hermes Trismegistus Glauber Raimond Lully Arnauld Flamel Trevisanus and some others had knowledge of it But because for those few that are said to have it almost infinite others have been ruin'd by it therefore the search of it seemes more curious then profitable The Fourth said That as Mathematicians have by their search after the Quadrature of a circle arriv'd to the knowledge of many things which were before unknown to them so though the Chymists have not discover'd the Philosophers stone yet they have found out admirable secrets in the three families of Vegetables Animals and Minerals But it not the less possible although none should ever attain it not onely for this general reason that Nature gives us no desire in vain but particularly because all Metals are of the same species being made of one and the same Matter Sulphur and Mercury and concocted by one and the same celestial heat not differing but in concoction alone as the grains of the same raisin do which ripen at several times This is evident by the extraction of Gold and Silver out of all Metals even out of Lead and Iron the most imperfect of them So that the Art ought not to be judg'd inferior in this matter to all others which it perfectionates Moreover the Greek Etymology of Metals shews that they are transmutable one into another The Fifth said That as in the production of Corn by Nature the seed and the fat of the Earth are its matter and its efficient is partly internal included in the grain and partly external viz. the heat of the Sun and the place in the bosome of the Earth so in the production of Gold by Art its matter is Gold it self and its Quick-silver and the efficient cause is partly in the Gold partly in the external heat the place is the furnace containing the Egg of Glass wherein the matter is inclos'd dissolve'd and grows black call'd the Crowes head waxes white and then is hardned into a red mass the hardness whereof gives it the name of a stone which being reduc'd into powder and kept three dayes in a vessel hermetically seal'd upon a strong fire acquires a purple colour and one dram of it converts two hundred of Quicksilver into pure Gold yea the whole Sea were it of like substance The Sixth said That Art indeed may imitate but cannot surpass Nature But it should if we could change other metals into Gold which is impossible to Nature it self even in the Mines in how long time soever those of Iron Lead Tin or Copper never becoming Mines of Gold or Silver Therefore much less can the Alchymist do it in his furnaces no more then he can produce some thing more excellent then Gold as this Philosophical stone would be Gold being the most perfect compound of all mixt bodies and for that reason incorruptible And indeed how should these Artists accomplish such a work when they are not agreed upon the next matter of it nor upon the efcien tcause time place and manner of working there being as many opinions as there are different Authors Moreover 't is untrue that all Metals are of one species and differ onely in degree of concoction for Iron is more concocted then Silver as also more hard and less fusible and their difference was necessary in reference to humane uses Now perfect species which are under the same next genius as Metals are can never be transmuted one into another no more then a Horse into a Lyon Yea could this Philosophical stone act upon Metals yet it would not produce Gold or Silver but other stones like it self or onely imprint upon them its own qualities according to the ordinary effects of all natural Agents And if it were true that the powder of Gold produc'd other Gold being cast upon Metals as a grain of wheat brings forth many others being cast into the Earth it would be requisite to observe the same order and progress in the multiplication of Gold which Men do in that of grains of Wheat Yet the Chymists do not so but will have their multiplication to be made in an instant The Seventh said That since Art draws so many natural effects out of fitting matter as Worms Serpents Frogs Mice Toads and Bees although the subject of these Metamorphoses be much more difficult to be dispos'd and made susceptible of a sensitive soul then insensible metal is to receive a Form divisible like its matter he saw no absurdity in it but that at least by the extraordinary instruction of good or bad spirits some knowledge of this operation may be deriv'd to men considering that we see other species naturally trans-form'd one into another as Egyptain Nitre into stone a Jasper into an Emerald the herb Basil into wild Thyme Wheat into Darnel a Caterpiller into a Butter-fly yea if we will believe the Scotch they have a Tree whose fruit falling into the water is turn'd into a Bird. II. Of a Mont de Pieté or Bank for lending to the Poor Upon the second Point it was said That Charity toward our Neighbour being the most certain sign of Piety towards God and Hills having been chosen almost by all Nations to sacrifice upon as neerest to Heaven upon these accounts the name of Mont de Pieté hath been given to all institutions made for relief of the poor whereof lending
this charge comes to may be taken for profit upon the Pawn and added to the principal but the remainder restor'd to the owner And nothing above this is to be suffer'd CONFERENCE XLIV I. How Minerals grow II. Whether it be best to know a little of every thing or one thing exactly I. How Minerals grow UNder Minerals are comprehended Metals Stones and all sorts of Fossilia or things dig'd out of the earth The causes of their growing or augmentation are here inquir'd All the world agrees that they grow excepting those who hold that God created them at the beginning together with the earth But they who have kept a stone in water for a long time and find the same increas'd in bigness will confute that opinion by this experiment as also the experience of Miners doth who having exhausted a Mine of its Metal find more in it after some years and when they discover Mines as yet imperfect they cover the same again with earth and after some space of time find them fit to be wrought upon and as it were arriv'd to their maturity This is also verifi'd by that Chymical operation call'd vegetable Gold and pieces of Cinnabar or Quick-silver mingled with Sulphur melted and put amongst the filings of Silver being set over a furnace in a well luted Vessel produceth pure Silver though of less profit then curiosity For this visible artifice seems to prove the invisible one of nature according to the opinion of Philosophers who hold that all Metals are made of Quick-silver and Sulphur So that we must not seek other causes of their generation and increasing then a new accession of that matter either gliding along the veins of the earth or reduc'd first into vapour by heat and then condens'd by cold The Second said That he was of Cardan's opinion who assigns a particular vegetative soul to all Minerals as well as to all Plants whereunto they have great resemblance not only in that they have some virtues and faculties alike yea far more excellent which cannot come but from a principle of life since action is the indication of life but also because they grow according to all their dimensions as Plants do have a conformation and configuration which is common to Plants with them attract retain and concoct the nourishment which they receive from the earth by their veins and passages and have also an expulsive faculty which is not in Plants casting forth their dross and exhaling their superfluous vapours They have also roots and barks as Trees have their substance is of parts organical and really dissimilar though in appearance some of them seem to be similar and homogeneous and Lead out of which are extracted Salt or Sugar Quick-silver and Sulphur is no more a similar body then Ebeny Box and Milk out of which such different substances are drawn The Third said That before we can know whether Minerals live we must first understand how life is caus'd in man who is to be as the rule of all living things It consists but in one sole action to wit that of Heat upon Humidity which it rarefies and subtilizes causing the same to ascend by little and little out of the intestines through the Mesentery to the Liver Heart and Brain in each of which it casting off its excrementitious parts it acquires a new perfection the utmost in the Brain where it becomes a very thin spirit capable of receiving any form even that of light as appears by the internal splendor of our sight and that brightness which is sometimes seen outwardly upon some Bodies In Plants are found the like cavities destinated to receive and prepare their nourishment which heat attracts into them and their knots are so many repositories wherein that heat is re-united and takes new strength till being arriv'd at the top of the Plant according to the rectitude of the fibres it circulates the matter so carried up that it spreads into branches leaves and fruit For as humidity is of it self immoveable and incapable of any action so being accompani'd with heat it moves every way and there is no need of admitting an attractive faculty in each part since it is carried thereunto sufficiently of it self Natural heat indeed drives it upwards but all unusual heat makes it break out collaterally as is seen in sweat for no eruption of humidity is caus'd but by the excess of some strange heat not proper or natural Now we may observe these tokens of life in the production of Minerals their vaporous matter being first sublim'd and purifi'd by heat and then incorporated with themselves But because all Natures works are occult and the instrument she uses to wit natural heat is imperceptible 't is no wonder if it be hard to know truly how Minerals hid in the earth grow since we are ignorant how the accretion of Plants expos'd to our view is made we perceive them to have grown but not to grow as the shadow on on the Dyal is observ'd to have gone its round yet appears not to move at all Nevertheless the Arborists would have us except the Plant of Aloes out of this number whose flower and trunk at a certain time shoot forth so high and so speedily that the motion thereof is perceptible to the eye The Fourth said That the generation of some Minerals is effected by heat and of others by cold the former by coction and the latter by concretion or co-agulation which two agents are discover'd by the dissolution of Metals For such as are made by cold are melted by its contrary Heat as Lead Silver and other Metals and those which are made by heat dissolve in water as all Salts provided neither the one nor the other be so compact and close that they admit not the qualities of their contraries for which reason Glass which is concocted by fire is not dissolv'd in water and the Diamond Marble and some other stones congealed by cold are not melted by fire But their accretion is not made by any vital principle but only by a new apposition of matter Moreover they have no sign of inward life as nutrition equal and uniform augmentation in all their parts which should be distinct and organiz'd certain constant terms and limits of magnitude and resemblance of figure and conformation both internal and external between all individuals of the same species For Minerals having no cavities cannot receive aliment inwardly They grow as long as matter is supply'd to them and that inequally Their figure is indeterminate and various according to the casual application of their matter in the veins of the earth and their parts are all alike The barks roots and veins attributed to them have nothing but the shape of those things not the use no more then the paps of men Nor do they bear flowers fruits or seeds nor produce or multiply themselves any other way as Plants do The Fifth said We give appellations or names to things from their external form because
and use specially by the hearing whnce people deaf by nature are also dumb yea 't is very peculiare to man Wherefore Speech is improperly figuratively artificially or else miraculously ascrib'd to other things as when The Heavens are said to declare the glory of God one deep to call on another c. When Balaams Ass spoke 't was by Miracle But when Magus's dog spoke to Saint Peter 't was by operation of the Devil as also what is reported of the two Pigeons the Oke at Achilles's Horse the keel of Argo and that Elm of the Gymnosophists mention'd by Philostratus to have saluted Apollonius at his arrival as the River Causus bid Pythagoras good-morrow But Speech properly belongs onely to man other creatures are incapable of it both because they want Reason which is the principle of it and organs which are a tongue a palate teeth and lipps all rightly proportionated for the articulation of voice for man's tongue alone is soft large moveable and loose to which qualities those of Pies and Parrots come nearest The Third said A natural thing is either born with us as sense and motion or comes afterwards of it self as laughter or whereof we are naturally capable and inclin'd to as Arts and Sciences In the first and second signification speech is not natural to man who could not speak without learning whence the two children caus'd by Psammetichus King of Egypt to be nurs'd in a Desart by two dumb Nurses pronounc'd no other word but Bec which they had heard of the Goats But in the last signification 't is peculiar to man who is so inclin'd to it that were children let alone from their Cradle they would in time make some language by signs or words 'T is to be understood too that 't is articulate speech such as may be written that is peculiar to man not inarticulate which though a natural sign of the affections within yet cannot properly be called speech because found also in beasts whose jargon Apollonius and some others are said to have understood for hearing the chattering of a Swallow to her companions he told those that were present that this bird advertis'd the others of a sack of Wheat fallen off an Asse's back neer the City which upon trial was found to be true CONFERENCE LXXIX I. What the Soul is II. Of the apparition of Spirits I. What the Soul is THe difference of inanimate living and dead bodies manifestly evince the existence of a soul. But its essence is so unknown that Philosophers doubt in what degree of Category to put it For 't is of that kind of things which are not known by themselves but only by their effects as local motion and substance which is not perceptible but by its accidents So the outward shape of animated bodies acquaints us with their inward form For the soul shapes all the external parts after the same manner as Plants and Animals of the same species have commonly their leaves and members of the same external figure whereas you scarce find two stones or other inanimate bodies of the same shape The Second said That the soul according to Aristotle is the first act of a natural body organiz'd having life in power or potentially Meaning by act perfection which he expresses by the word Entellechie which signifies to be in its end and form which two are the same in natural things 'T is call'd Form upon account of its beauty and divine from heaven its original and 't is the first of all other second acts which are produc'd by it such as all vital actions are For as in the most imperfect of beings Matter there is a First or remote power as in water to become fire another second or next as in the same water to become air by rarefaction so in the nature of Forms the noblest created Beings there is a First act the source of all vital actions and a Second comprehending the faculties and functions Now this Soul is not a pure act as God and Angels are but an act of the Body on whom it depends either in its being and preservation or else only in operation Hence Sensitive and Vegetable Souls cease to be upon the change of the dispositions which produc'd and supported them The reasonable Soul too in some manner depends upon the Bodies disposition as to its operation not as to its being and preservation being immaterial and immortal 'T is call'd an act of a natural Body to distinguish it from Machines or Engines which move artificial and inanimate Bodies organical because Organs are requisite to its action It must also have life in power that is be able to exercise the vital functions For want of which a carcase though organiz'd yet cannot be said to be animated no more then Egges and Seed for want of Organs although they have life in power The Third said He was of Pythagoras's opinion who call'd it a number there being nothing in the world wherewith it hath more correspondence and proportion 'T is one in its essence it makes the binary which is the first number by its conjunction with the body and division of its Faculties into the Intellect and Will the ternary by its three species of soul Vegetative Sensitive Rational the quaternary by the four qualities constituting the temper requisite to its introduction into the body of which four numbers put together is form'd the number ten whence all others proceed as from simple Apprehension Enuntiation Argumentation and Method which are the four operations of the reasonable soul whence all its notions proceed The Fourth said 'T is not enough to say with the Philosopher that the soul is an act or perfection or that by whose means we live it must be shewn what this act is whether Substance or Accident Pythagoras by calling the soul a number moving it self reduces it under Quantity According to Galen who acknowledges no other Soul but the Temper 't is a Quality as also according to Clearchus who defines it harmony Of those who believ'd the soul a substance some have call'd it the purest part of some Element as Heraclitus of fire Anaximenes of air and Thales of water none of earth in regard of its gross matter Critelaus said 't was a Quintessence Democritus a substance compos'd of round Atoms and therefore easily movable Now the soul is a substance not an accident because it composes a substance making with the body a total by it self Nor is it Quantity because Quantity is not active much less a self-moving number because number is an Entity of Reason and nothing is mov'd of it self but of some other Nor is it any of the four qualities which being indifferent of themselves must be determin'd by some form much less a temper which is found in all mixts of which some are inanimate nor a harmony for this is compos'd of contrarieties but the soul is simple and consequently not susceptible of contraries 'T is therefore an incorporeal substance otherwise were
which makes water ascend in the Pneumaticks whereof Hero writ a Treatise rendring the same melodious and resembling the singing of birds in the Hydraulicks It makes use of the four Elements which are the causes of the motions of engines as of Fire in Granadoes Air in Artificial Fountains both Fire and Air by their compression which water not admitting since we see a vessel full of water can contain nothing more its violence consists in its gravity when it descends from high places The Earth is also the cause of motion by its gravity when 't is out of Aequilibrium as also of rest when 't is equally poiz'd as is seen in weights The Second said The wit of Man could never preserve the dominion given him by God over other creatures without help of the Mechanicks but by this art he hath brought the most savage and rebellious Animals to his service Moreover by help of mechanical inventions the four Elements are his slaves and as it were at his pay to do his works Thus we see by means of the Hydraulicks or engines moving by water wheels and pumps are set continually at work the Wind is made to turn a Mill manag'd by the admirable Art of Navigation or employ'd to other uses by Aealipila's Fire the noblest of all Elements becomes the vassal of the meanest Artisans or serves to delight the sight by the pleasant inventions of some Ingineer or employes its violence to arm our thunders more powerfully then the ancient machines of Demetrius The Earth is the Theatre of all these inventions and Archimedes boasted he could move that too had he place where to fix his engine By its means the Sun descends to the Earth and by the artificial union of his rayes is enabled to effect more then he can do in his own sphere The curiosity of man hath carry'd him even to Heaven by his Astrological Instrumens so that nothing is now done in that republick of the stars but what he knows and keeps in record The Third said That since Arts need Instruments to perform their works they owe all they can do to the Mechanicks which supply them with utensils and inventions 'T was the Mechanicks which furnish'd the Smith with a hammer and an anvil the Carpenter with a saw and a wedge the Architect with a rule the Mason with a square the Geometrician with a compass the Astronomer with an astrolabe the Souldier with sword and musket in brief they have in a manner given man other hands Hence came paper writing printing the mariner's box the gun in these latter ages and in the preceding the Helepoles or takecities flying bridges ambulatory towers rams and other engines of war which gives law to the world Hence Archimedes easily drew a ship to him which all the strength of Sicily could not stir fram'd a heaven of glass in which all the celestial motions were to be seen according to which model the representation of the sphere remains to us at this day Hence he burnt the Roman ships even in their harbour defended the City of Syracuse for a long time against the Roman Army conducted by the brave Marcellus And indeed I wonder not that this great Archimedes was in so high in Reputaion For if men be valued according to their strength is it not a miracle that one single man by help of mechanicks could lift as much as ten a hundred yea a thousand others And his pretension to move the whole Earth were a poynt given him out of it where to stand will not seem presumptuous though the supposition be impossible to such as know his screw without-end or of wheels plac'd one above another for by addition of new wheels the strength of the same might be so multiply'd that no humane power could resist it yea a child might by this means displace the whole City of Paris and France it self were it upon a moveable plane But the greatest wonder is the simplicity of the means employ'd by this Queen of Arts to produce such excellent effects For Aristotle who writ a book of mechanicks assignes no other principles thereof but the Lever its Hypomoclion or Support and a balance it being certain that of these three multiply'd proceed all Machines both Automata and such as are mov'd by force of wind fire water or animals as wind-mills water-mills horse-mills a turn-broch by smoak and as many other inventions as things in the world CONFERENCE LXXXVII I. Whether the Soul's Immortality is demonstrable by Natural Reasons II. Whether Travel be necessary to an Ingenuous Man I. Whether the Soul's Immortality is demonstrable by Natural Reasons NAtural Philosophy considers natural bodies as they are subject to alteration and treats not of the Soul but so far as it informes the Body and either partakes or is the cause of such alteration And therefore they are injust who require this Science to prove supernatural things as the Soul's Immortality is Although its admirable effects the vast extent of its thoughts even beyond the imaginary spaces its manner of acting and vigor in old age the terrors of future judgement the satisfaction or remorse of Conscience and Gods Justice which not punishing all sins in this life presupposes another are sufficiently valid testimonies thereof should not the universal consent of heathens themselves some of which have hastned their deaths to enjoy this immortality and man 's particular external shape infer the particular excellence of his internal form So that by the Philosophical Maxime which requires that there be contraries in every species of things if the souls of beasts joyn'd to bodies die there must be others joyn'd to other bodies free from death when separated from the same And the Harmony of the world which permits not things to pass from on extreme to another without some mean requires as that there are pure spirits and intelligences which are immortal and substances corporeal and mortal so there be a middle nature between these two Man call'd by the Platonists upon this account the horizon of the Universe because he serves for a link and medium uniting the hemisphere of the Angelical Nature with the inferior hemisphere of corporeal nature But there is difference between that which is and that which may be demonstrated by Humane Reason which falls short in proving the most sensible things as the specifical proprieties of things and much less can it prove what it sees not or demonstrate the attribute of a subject which it sees not For to prove the Immortality of the Soul 't is requisite at least to know the two termes of this proportion The Soul is immortal But neither of them is known to natural reason not immortality for it denotes a thing which shall never have end but infinitie surpasses the reach of humane wit which is finite And the term Soul is so obscure that no Philosophy hath yet been able to determine truly whether it be a Spirit or something corporeal a substance or an accident single
hunt for profit and by the contentment of possessing what they sought besides the consideration of the subtilty of the Fox and Wolf the trouble which the Hare gives her displeas'd pursuers The Second said 'T is the only pleasure which does wrong to no person but delivers Countries from the injuries and depredations of beasts And though 't is the most laborious of all pleasures yet 't is least follow'd by repentance and instead of wearying those that are once addicted to it makes them love it in excess for which reason 't is prohibited to the meaner sort of people All the Heroes are represented under the form of Hunters as Perseus who first hunted the wild Goat Castor who taught the management of the horse before wild to chase the Stag Pollux who first trac'd beasts with Lime-hounds Meleager who invented the Spears to assault the Boar Hyppolytus Toyles Hayes and Nets Orion Kennels and Leashes which were so admir'd in his age that the Poets translated him into Heaven where he makes a glorious sign as they put Castor and Pollux among the Gods and feign'd a Diana the Goddess of Hunters Moreover the holy Scripture gives Nimrod the first King in the world no greater title then that of Mighty Hunter And the good man Isaac would not give his blessing to his son Esau till after he had brought him of his Venison The Third said That Man being since the loss of his dominion over the beasts by his sin oblig'd to defend himself against their invasion this gave rise to hunting which is consequently as ancient as the world There are three sorts of it according to the three sorts of animals which it pursues in the air on the earth and in the waters namely Hawking Hunting properly so call'd and Fishing Hawking is the pursuit of Birds by Birds and it s of divers kinds according to the diversity of Hawks and quarries Hunting is the chase of four-footed beasts which are either great as Lyons Bears Stags Boars or small as Wolves Foxes Badgers and Hares Both the one and the other is perform'd by Dogs of which there are good of all sizes and colours and some peculiar to one sort of Game Fishing is the venation of Fishes whereof Plato makes two kinds one by the Line and the other by Nets the more recommendable in that 't was practis'd by the Apostles and our Lord himself who was figur'd by the first Christians under the Hieroglyphicks of a Fish with the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they explicated thus by the first Letters of that Language Jesus Christ God our Saviour The Fourth said That Hunting being as various as men's conditions its variety makes it as agreeable as necessary gunning which is the least instructs the Souldier to shoot exactly to be patient and fits him for war especially the hunting of the Badger who makes head in his entries then fights from trench to trench and at length retreats to his last fort where he practises all the sleights of war usual in besieg'd Cities till he be taken by the undermining of the Pioneers For Pythagoras his prohibition to kill animals is no less light then his Metempsychosis or his reason to forbear fishing or eating of fish out of respect to their silence The objection that God permitted our first Parents to eat the fruits of the earth not the flesh of animals and that during two thousand years none was eaten concludes nothing from a Negative Authority and Abel spar'd not the life of the Lamb of his flock which he offer'd to God then God had done that of the beasts of whose skins he made Coats for Adam and Eve And God's prohibition to the Jews to eat any thing taken by a beast as Dogs or Birds being abolish'd together with other ceremonies Moreover all animals being made for man they have no reason to complain if they be apply'd to that end but especially the hunting of mischievous beasts is profitable II. Which is to be prefer'd the weeping of Heraclitus or the laughing of Democritus Upon the second Point 't was said That in this Question to justifie weeping we have the example of our Lord whom we read not ever to have been seen laughing not even at the marriage feast whereat he was present but he lamented the death of Lazarus though he knew that himself was going to raise him up again And he compares the entrance into Paradise to the gate of a Judge which a good woman cannot get open nor move the Judge to do her justice but by many complaints and tears and he pronounceth the house of mourning blessed saying that GOD abides there on the contrary laughter and rejoycing not onely were the forerunners of the Deluge but at present occasion a thousand offences against God our Neighbour and our Selves Moreover all the Exhortations and Sermons of Preachers tend only to move tears of contrition and some observe in the trial of Witches and Conjurers that they never weep which is a certain argument of an ill nature especially in women and children And Dido speaking of the ingrateful Aeneas more resents his not weeping when he bid her adieu then all the rest For we are naturally inclin'd to weeping as being the most humid of all animals and nature seems to have made the brain only for the eyes which being always moist have also a glandule in the greater corner call'd from its office Lachrymalis which is a spungy flesh full of little holes serving to attract the moisture of the brain which furnishes the matter of tears and disperses it drop by drop lest falling too much together the brain should be left dry which is a temper contrary to its natural one Now as for objects without us 't is evident there is more cause of weeping then of laughter For if we look under our feet there the ground presents it self which sooner then every one hopes is to bury every on 's ambition and afford him but six foot of earth if on each side of us there appear so many miseries that the Spaniards who are accustom'd thereunto say proverbially that they who are afflicted with the miseries of others bear the whole world upon their shoulders If upwards what a cause of sadness is it to see that so great and vast a Kingdom is at this day in less esteem then the meanest part of this valley of tears the earth and to see God dishonour'd so many ways Come we down to our selves the infirmities of the body the afflictions of the mind all the passions of the soul and the crosses of fortune have made those that have most tasted the pleasures of this life acknowledge that it is nothing but thorns and miseries and with the wise man nothing but vanity of which not to speak a word were to be insensible to laugh impiety and to imitate Aesop's Snails who laugh'd at their cost It remains therefore that 't is wisdom to bewail them The Second said There is a time