Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	according_a	sun_n	zone_n	75	3	12.8155	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53044	The description of a new world, called the blazing-world written by the thrice noble, illustrious, and excellent princesse, the Duchess of Newcastle.	Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of, 1624?-1674.; Newcastle, William Cavendish, Duke of, 1592-1676.	1668 (1668)	Wing N850; ESTC R13228	80,921	168

in the middle Region and by reason of its leightness could not go directly to the bottom but was carried by the Air up and down Some would have it a flowing Water of the Air and others again a flowing Air moved by the blaz of the Stars But the Empress seeing they could not agree concerning the cause of Wind asked Whether they could tell how Snow was made To which they answered That according to their observation Snow was made by a commixture of VVater and some certain extract of the Element of Fire that is under the Moon a small portion of which extract being mixed with Water and beaten by Air or Wind made a white Froth called Snow which being after some while dissolved by the heat of the same spirit turned to VVater again This observation amazed the Emperess very much for she had hitherto believed That Snow was made by cold motions and not by such an agitation or beating of a fiery extract upon water Nor could she be perswaded to believe it until the Fish or Mear-men had delivered their observation upon the making of Ice which they said was not produced as some had hitherto conceived by the motion of the Air raking the Superficies of the Earth but by some strong saline vapour arising out of the Seas which condensed Water into Ice and the more quantity there was of that vapour the greater were the Mountains or Precipices of Ice but the reason that it did not so much freeze in the Torrid Zone or under the Ecliptick as near or under the Poles was that this vapour in those places being drawn up by the Sun-beams into the middle Region of the Air was onely condensed into Water and fell down in showres of Rain when as under the Poles the heat of the Sun being not so vehement the same vapour had no force or power to rise so high and therefore caused so much Ice by ascending and acting onely upon the surface of water This Relation confirmed partly the observation of the Bird-men concerning the cause of Snow but since they had made mention that that same extract which by its commixture with Water made Snow proceeded from the Element of Fire that is under the Moon The Emperess asked them of what nature that Elementary Fire was whether it was like ordinary Fire here upon Earth or such a Fire as is within the bowels of the Earth and as the famous Mountains Vesuvius and AEtna do burn withal or whether it was such a sort of fire as is found in flints c. They answered That the Elementary Fire which is underneath the Sun was not so solid as any of those mentioned fires because it had no solid fuel to feed on but yet it was much like the flame of ordinary fire onely somewhat more thin and fluid for Flame said they is nothing else but the airy part of a fired Body Lastly the Empress asked the Bird-men of the nature of Thunder and Lightning and whether it was not caused by roves of Ice falling upon each other To which they answered That it was not made that way but by an encounter of cold and heat so that an exhalation being kindled in the Clouds did dash forth Lightning and that there were so many rentings of Clouds as there were Sounds and Cracking noises But this opinion was contradicted by others who affirmed that Thunder was a sudden and monstrous Blaz stirred up in the Air and did not always require a Cloud but the Empress not knowing what they meant by Blaz for even they themselves were not able to explain the seuse of this word liked the former better and to avoid hereafter tedious disputes and have the truth of the Phaenomena's of Coelestial Bodies more exactly known commanded the Bear-men which were her Experimental Philosophers to observe them through such Instruments as are called Telescopes which they did according to her Majesties Command but these Telescopes caused more differences and divisions amongst them then ever they had before for some said they perceived that the Sun stood still and the Earth did move about it others were of opinion that they both did move and others said again that the Earth stood still and the Sun did move some counted more Stars then others some discovered new Stars never seen before some fell into a great dispute with others concerning the bigness of the Stars some said The Moon was another World like their Terrestrial Globe and the spots therein were Hills and Vallies but others would have the spots to be the Terrestrial parts and the smooth and glossie parts the Sea At last the Empress commanded them to go with their Telescopes to the very end of the Pole that was joined to the World she came from and try whether they could perceive any Stars in it which they did and being returned to her Majesty reported that they had seen three Blazing-Stars appear there one after another in a short time whereof two were bright and one dim but they could not agree neither in this observation for some said It was but one Star which appeared at three several times in several places and others would have them to be three several Stars for they thought it impossible that those three several appearances should have been but one Star because every Star did rise at a certain time and appear'd in a certain place and did disappear in the same place Next It is altogether improbable said they That one Star should fly from place to place especially at such a vast distance without a visible motion in so short a time and appear in such different places whereof two were quite opposite and the third side-ways Lastly If it had been hut one Star said they it would always have kept the same splendor which it did not for as above mentioned two were bright and one was dim After they had thus argued the Empress began to grow angry at their Telescopes that they could give no better Intelligence for said she now I do plainly perceive that your Glasses are false Informers and instead of discovering the Truth delude your Senses Wherefore I Command you to break them and let the Bird-men trust onely to their natural eyes and examine Coelestial Objects by the motions of their own Sense and Reason The Bear-men replied That it was not the fault of their Glasses which caused such differences in their Opinions but the sensitive motions in their Optick organs did not move alike nor were their rational judgments always regular To which the Empress answered That if their Glasses were true Informers they would rectifie their irregular Sense and Reason But said she Nature has made your Sense and Reason more regular then Art has your Glasses for they are meer deluders and will never lead you to the knowledg of Truth Wherefore I command you again to break them for you may observe the progressive motions of Coelestial Bodies with your natural eyes better then through Artificial Glasses The

various sorts and productions of Animal Creatures I desire you to tell me what you have observed of their sensitive perceptions Truly answered they Your Majesty puts a very hard question to us and we shall hardly be able to give a satisfactory answer to it for there are many different sorts of Creatures which as they have all different perceptions so they have also different organs which our senses are not able to discover onely in an Oyster-shell we have with admiration observed that the common sensorium of the Oyster lies just at the closing of the shells where the pressure and reaction may be perceived by the opening and shutting of the shells every tide After all this the Empress desired the Worm men to give her a true Relation how frost was made upon the Earth To which they answered That it was made much after the manner and description of the Fish and Bird-men concerning the Congelation of Water into Ice and Snow by a commixture of saline and acid particles which relation added a great light to the Ape-men who were the Chymists concerning their Chymical principles Salt Sulphur and Mercury But said the Empress if it be so it will require an infinite multitude of saline particles to produce such a great quantity of Ice Frost and Snow besides said she when Snow Ice and Frost turn again into their former principle I would fain know what becomes of those saline particles But neither the Worm-men nor the Fish and Bird-men could give her an answer to it Then the Empress enquired of them the reason Why Springs were not as salt as the Sea is also why some did ebb and flow To which it was answered That the ebbing and flowing of some Springs was caused by hollow Caverns within the Earth where the Sea-water crowding thorow did thrust forward and drew backward the Spring-water according to its own way of ebbing and flowing but others said That it proceeded from a small proportion of saline and acid particles which the Spring-water imbibed from the Earth and although it was not so much as to be perceived by the sense of Taste yet was it enough to cause an ebbing and flowing-motion And as for the Spring-water being fresh they gave according to their Observation this following reason There is said they a certain heat within the Bowels of the Earth proceeding from its swift circular motion upon its own axe which heat distills the rarest parts of the Earth into a fresh and insipid water which water being through the pores of the Earth conveighed into a place where it may break forth without resistance or obstruction causes Springs and Fountains and these distilled Waters within the Earth do nourish and refresh the grosser and drier parts thereof This Relation confirmed the Empress in the opinion concerning the motion of the Earth and the fixedness of the Sun as the Bird-men had informed her and then she asked the Worm-men whether Minerals and Vegetables were generated by the same heat that is within the Bowels of the Earth To which they could give her no positive answer onely this they affirmed That heat and cold were not the primary producing causes of either Vegetables or Minerals or other sorts of Creatures but onely effects and to prove this our assertion said they we have observed that by change of some sorts of Corporeal motions that which is now hot will become cold and what is now cold will grow hot but the hottest place of all we find to be the Center of the Earth Neither do we observe that the Torrid Zone does contain so much Gold and Silver as the Temperate nor is there great store of Iron and Lead wheresoever there is Gold for these Metals are most found in colder Climates towards either of the Poles This Observation the Empress commanded them to confer with her Chymists the Ape-men to let them know that Gold was not produced by a violent but a temperate degree of heat She asked further Whether Gold could not be made by Art They answered That they could not certainly tell her Majesty but if it was possible to be done they thought Tin Lead Brass Iron and Silver to be the fittest Metals for such an Artificial Transmutation Then she asked them Whether Art could produce Iron Tin Lead or Silver They answered Not in their opinion Then I perceive replyed the Empress that your judgments are very irregular since you believe that Gold which is so fixt a Metal that nothing has been found as yet which could occasion a dissolution of its interior figure may be made by Art and not Tin Lead Iron Copper or Silver which yet are so far weaker and meaner Metals then Gold is But the Worm-men excused themselves that they were ignorant in that Art and that such questions belonged more properly to the Ape-men which were Her Majesties Chymists Then the Empress asked them Whether by their Sensitive perceptions they could observe the interior corporeal figurative Motions both of Vegetables and Minerals They answer'd That their Senses could perceive them after they were produced but not before Nevertheless said they although the interior figurative motions of Natural Creatures are not subject to the exterior animal sensitive perceptions yet by their Rational perception they may judg of them and of their productions if they be regular Whereupon the Empress commanded the Bear-men to lend them some of their best Microscopes At which the Bear-men smilingly answered her Majesty that their Glasses would do them but little service in the bowels of the Earth because there was no light for said they our Glasses do onely represent exterior objects according to the various reflections and positions of light and wheresoever light is wanting the glasses wil do no good To which the Worm-men replied that although they could not say much of refractions reflections inflections and the like yet were they not blind even in the bowels of the Earth for they could see the several sorts of Minerals as also minute Animals that lived there which minute Animal Creatures were not blind neither but had some kind of sensitive perception that was as serviceable to them as sight taste smell touch hearing c. was to other Animal Creatures By which it is evident That Nature has been as bountiful to those Creatures that live under ground or in the bowels of the Earth as to those that live upon the surface of the Earth or in the Air or in Water But howsoever proceeded the Worm-men although there is light in the bowels of the Earth yet your Microscopes will do but little good there by reason those Creatures that live under ground have not such an optick sense as those that live on the surface of the Earth wherefore unless you had such Glasses as are proper for their perception your Microscopes will not be any ways advantagious to them The Empress seem'd well pleased with this answer of the Worm-men and asked them further Whether Minerals and all

other Creatures within the Earth were colourless At which question they could not forbear laughing and when the Empress asked the reason why they laught We most humbly beg your Majesties pardon replied they for we could not chuse but laugh when we heard of a colourless Body Why said the Empress Colour is onely an accident which is an immaterial thing and has no being of it self but in another body Those replied they that informed your Majesty thus surely their rational motions were very irregular For how is it possible that a Natural nothing can have a being in Nature If it be no substance it cannot have a being and if no being it is nothing Wherefore the distinction between subsisting of it self and subsisting in another body is a meer nicety and non-sense for there is nothing in Nature that can subsist of or by it self I mean singly by reason all parts of Nature are composed in one body and though they may be infinitely divided commixed and changed in their particulars yet in general parts cannot be separated from parts as long as Nature lasts nay we might as probably affirm that Infinite Nature would be as soon destroyed as that one Atom could perish and therefore your Majesty may firmly believe that there is no Body without colour nor no Colour without body for colour figure place magnitude and body are all but one thing without any separation or abstraction from each other The Empress was so wonderfully taken with this Discourse of the Worm-men that she not only pardoned the rudeness they committed in laughing at first at her question but yielded a full assent to their opinion which she thought the most rational that ever she had heard yet and then proceeding in her questions enquired further whether they had observed any seminal principles within the Earth free from all dimensions and qualities which produced Vegetables Minerals and the like To which they answered That concerning the seeds of Minerals their sensitive perceptions had never observed any but Vegetables had certain seeds out of which they were produced Then she asked whether those seeds of Vegetables lost their Species that is were annihilated in the production of their off-spring To which they answered That by an Annihilation nothing could be produced and that the seeds of Vegetables were so far from being annihilated in their productions that they did rather numerously increase and multiply for the division of one seed said they does produce numbers of seeds out of it self But repli'd the Empress A particular part cannot increase of it self 'T is true answer'd they but they increase not barely of themselves but by joining and commixing with other parts which do assist them in their productions and by way of imitation form or figure their own parts into such or such particulars Then I pray inform me said the Empress what disguise those seeds put on and how they do conceal themselves in their Transmutations They answered That seeds did no ways disguise or conceal but rather divulge themselves in the multiplication of their off-spring onely they did hide and conceal themselves from their sensitive perceptions so that their figurative and productive motions were not perceptible by Animal Creatures Again the Empress asked them whether there were any Non beings within the Earth To which they answered That they never heard of any such thing and that if her Majesty would know the truth thereof she must ask those Creatures that are called Immaterial Spirits which had a great affinity with Non-beings and perhaps could give her a satisfactory answer to this question Then she desired to be informed What opinion they had of the beginning of Forms They told her Majesty That they did not understand what she meant by this expression For said they there is no beginning in Nature no not of Particulars by reason Nature is Eternal and Infinite and her particulars are subject to infinite changes and transmutations by vertue of their own Corporeal figurative self-motions so that there 's nothing new in Nature nor properly a beginning of any thing The Empress seem'd well satisfied with all those answers and enquired further Whether there was no Art used by those Crearures that live within the Earth Yes answered they for the several parts of the Earth do join and assist each other in composition or framing of such or such particulars and many times there are factions and divisions which cause productions of mixt Species as for example weeds instead of sweet flowres and useful fruits but Gardeners and Husbandmen use often to decide their quarrels and cause them to agree which though it shews a kindness to the differing parties yet 't is a great prejudice to the Worms and other Animal-Creatures that live under ground for it most commonly causes their dissolution and ruine at best they are driven out of their habitations What said the Empress are not Worms produced out of the Earth Their production in general answered they is like the production of all other Natural Creatures proceeding from the corporeal figurative motions of Nature but as for their particular productions they are according to the nature of their Species some are produced out of flowers some out of roots some out of fruits some out of ordinary Earth Then they are very ungrateful Children replied the Empress that they feed on their own Parents which gave them life Their life answered they is their own and not their Parents for no part or creature of Nature can either give or take away life but parts do onely assist and join with parts either in the dissolution or production of other Parts and Creatures After this and several other Conferences which the Empress held with the Worm-men she dismissed them and having taken much satisfaction in several of their Answers encouraged them in their Studies and Observations Then she made a Convocation of her Chymists the Ape-men and commanded them to give her an account of the several Transmutations which their Art was able to produce They begun first with a long and tedious Discourse concerning the Primitive Ingredients of Natural bodies and how by their Art they had found out the principles out of which they consist But they did not all agree in their opinions for some said That the Principles of all Natural Bodies were the four Elements Fire Air Water Earth out of which they were composed Others rejected this Elementary commixture and said There were many Bodies out of which none of the four Elements could be extracted by any degree of Fire whatsoever and that on the other side there were divers Bodies whose resolution by Fire reduced them into more then four different Ingredients and these affirmed That the only principles of Natural Bodies were Salt Sulphur and Mercury Others again declared That none of the forementioned could be called the True Principles of Natural Bodies but that by their industry and pains which they had taken in the Art of Chymistry they had discovered