on his First and Second Treatise where I presume I have effectually demonstrated That his Principles could not have an entire Birth-right from the Womb of Nature Which in substance he does acknowledge by the Advice he gives before he ends this Page That we ought not to believe That by Divine Determination the World was Created meerly for our sakes or that it is possible by any Thought of ours to apprehend the End for which it was Ordain'd Adding this Reason That many Things are now in Being and heretofore that were never seen or understood by Man or any Use they could yield to him In his 4th Particular of this Third Part of his Philosophy he confidently assures us That his Principles are so vast and fruitful that they not only Imply many more than are to be perceiv'd in the World we behold but also far more numerous than we can Imagine To which purpose he begins in his Method with the Phaenomena or the main natural appearances the Causes of which he commits to his subsequent Investigations or as he intends them Proofs of such Effects as he in this Place mentions And next he pertinently Rebukes the too common Ignorance of such that by their ocular simplicity erroneously judge that the Sun and Moon as they seem to appear are therefore much bigger than other Stars Which vulgar Mistake is easily prevented by duely apprehending the Distance of the Sun and Moon from the Earth and comparing of their Diameters as they are now observ'd to all which I fully agree Wherefore to recount how far remote the more than wonderful Celestial Luminaries are from our Earthly Habitation I will not dispute the Computation he delivers by opposing against his Account the Elder Observations of Learned Astronomers But rather so to compare Ancient and Modern Calculations as thence may be apprehended the Indefatigable Endeavour and Industry of Men to render a sublime Account of the wonderful Height Figure Beings and Motions that to the amazement of our Eyes continue their shining Bounties innumerably influenc'd for the Support of Humane Life with whatsoever subsists within the Compass of the World Which universal and admir'd Munificence being highly consider'd by Persons famously Erudite both in past and latter Times exalted the Ambition and Gratitude of their Science to be as far as was possible for them requisitely Intelligent of the conspicuous Embellishments of the Skies that they might be from thence the more Supremely sensible of the Blessings they receiv'd from Above But whilst in this Transcendent Inquisition of Thought they Imploy'd the best of their Skill and Diligence 't was soon found too distinctly Excellent to be exactly Computed howsoever they vary'd the Schemes of their Hypothesis As not being able by Art Conception of the Mind or any Instrumental Assistance tho' proper for Commensuration of Things familiarly near to our Eyes and Senses to reach suitable to common Certainty the most Approximate top of the Spheres of Heaven The distance of the fix'd Stars are allow'd by exquisite Astronomers as also by this Author to be too Immensely remote for any accountable Measure that can be given of them And therefore I shall only take notice of the Sun and Planets together with their Magnitudes and Distance from the Earth but as to their Distance from us because it is usually by Astronomers accounted by Diameters or Semidiameters of the Earth yet seldom declar'd by them the Sum of their Measures as they may be applyed to Leagues Miles or the like I think fit for the advantage of the Reader to Impart how much in English Miles as the most useful Computation a Diameter of the Earth does amount to Which I prov'd by this Method it having been Experimented by Judicious Observators That one Degree of a great Circle above correspondent to the Superficies of the Earth Answers to a direct Journey of 73 Miles which multiplied by 360 Degrees allow'd to the orbicular Form or Circle of the Earth the Summ will be 26280 Miles for the total Compass of the Earth And because the proportion of the Diameter of a Circle to its Circumference is by approv'd Mathematicians accounted as 7 is very near to 22 According to which Method I computed a Diameter of the Earth to contain about 8327 Miles and her Semidiameter somewhat more than 4163 Miles To apply which to Ancient Astronomical Observations or such of the accurate Arabians mention'd by Learned Gassendus as observ'd suitable to the Ptolemaick Principles they are thus Inserted according to the Mediocrity of each Planet's Distance from us Distant from the Earth In Semidiemeters of the Earth Distance in English Miles The Moon 49 203987 Mercury 115 478745 Venus 618 2572734 Sun 1165 4849895 Mars 4584 19083192 Jupiter 10423 43380949 Saturn 15800 65775400 After these the most signal Astronomer was Nicholas Copernicus a Canon of Torunense who liv'd about 190 Years past Some of whose Observations as I read were made at Frueburg in Prussia in the Year 1525 where the Elevation of the North Pole is 54 Deg. 19 m He was a Man of vast Ingenuity however questionable his Hypothesis of the Motion of the Earth but if apply'd to the Sun instead of the Earth there is no better Astronomical System and so approv'd by the Learned at this Day Nothing Remakable is found in him as to the Magnitude and Distance of the fix'd Stars more than that the Earth was as a Point if compar'd with the great Orb above judiciously conceiving them too Remote for his applying to them any certain Rule or Demonstration whereby to compute their mighty Distance Of the Planets he chiefly regarded the Sun and Moon defining the Sun to be 3240 times bigger than the Earth and the Moon no less than 860 greater in which Computations he doubtless Err'd as may be seen by the following Examples but most egregiously mistaken in the Account he gives of the Moon she being certainly discern'd much less than the Earth ever since the approv'd Invention and Use of the Telescope His next famous Astronomical Successor was Tycho-Brahe a Noble Man of Denmark who is said to have been learnedly Accomplish'd as also furnish'd by his large Expence with abundance of Instruments excellently proper for his great Undertaking Wherefore the Computations he mentions are highly esteem'd at this Day The Observations he made of the Distance and Magnitude of the Planets are these according to their Mean or Mediocrity of Distance Distant from the Earth In Semidiameters of the Earth Moon 56½ Mercury 1150 Venus 1150 Sun 1150 Mars 1745 Jupiter 3990 Saturn 10550 Whosoever is desirous to Convert the Planetary Semidiameters into English Miles may readily perform it by the preceding Example The Magnitude of the Planets compar'd to the bigness of the Earth are these that follow Moon Lesser 42 Twenty Times Mercury 19 Venus 6 Sun Greater 139 Mars Lesser 13 Jupiter Greater 14 Saturn 22 By these disagreeable Computations of so many eminent Persons may well be discern'd how far
them accordingly by confining my Observations to a cursory Consideration of some Particulars that I judge most useful and therefore fit to be separated from the rest The Primitive Ingredients annex'd by this Author to the Original Consistence and forming of the Visible World together with every Individual Substance within its vast Circumference are comprehended in three Elements no otherwise different than as they are more or less fluid The First of which he conceives so forcibly acting that in meeting with other Bodies it is divided into very diminutive and numberless Particulars Accommodating its various Figures to the replenishing of all Angles that were caus'd by them The Second Element he supposes divided into very small spherical Particles but of certain and determinate Quantity and divisible into many less The Third he defines more Gross or Thick consisting of Figures not very inclinable to Motion Of the first of these he conceives the Sun and fix'd Stars Compos'd the Heavens or Firmaments above of the Second the Earth together with the Planets and Comets made up of the Third Which Catalogue of Elements he thinks very significant because as he conceives that only the Sun and fix'd Stars properly emit Light the Heavens transmit it and by the Earth Planets and Comets remitted which difference he judges may be discern'd and therefore believes it well referr'd to Three Elements If Nature has accommodated us with Four Elements of which we are as certainly Intelligent as that Heat Cold Moisture and Dryness are incident to her genune Production of Things This Author has exempted one out of her Catalogue and what is more has complicated a Trinity of Elements into one Substance which he no otherwise distinguishes than as in some Operations and Capacities it is more Fluid than in other as he applies it to the primary Production of the Visible World and whatsoever had Being in it So that the First Star that twinkled in the Universe was in his Judgment but such a refin'd Part of Fluid Matter which if sufficiently thicken'd might have grosly produc'd an Elephantick Constellation in the Firmament But of such Particulars more hereafter or when I Inscribe my intended Remarks on the Fourth Part of his Philosophy where he Treats of the Earth and its Appurtenances In the mean time I shall briefly Elevate my Observations to the height of his Suppositions as they tend to the Method deliver'd by Des-Cartes whereby he would conceive in what manner the fix'd Stars and Sun might be Originally form'd and compleated In the beginning he means of the World the Matter of the First Element increas'd by reason that the Particles of the Second Element by their assiduous Motion did impair one another From whence it ensu'd that the Quantity of the Second Element was greater in the Universe than was necessary to fill up such exiguous Spaces that were between the spherical Particulars of the Second Element as they were mutually Incumbent So that whatsoever did remain after those Spaces were so replenish'd had a Recourse to certain Centers And there Compos'd the most Fluid spherical Bodies the Sun on one Center and six'd Stars on others But afterwards when the Particulars of the Second Element were more attrited or worn and receding equally from their Centers they left such spherical Spaces as were from all Circumjacent Places by the flowing thither of the First Element exactly fill'd His Words I have deliver'd in as clean English as I could fit or contract them to his purpose but that being done I must confess that I cannot Conster their meaning It being very unconceivable how he could furnish his Brain with a speculative Idea of such Particles of Nature separately and fluidly Moving since whatsoever is Fluid must necessarily Imply a continu'd material Emanation of the same Substance as in purest Water it is impossible to imagine any separate Fluidity in any of its Particles no more than the most diminutive Bubbles when discern'd on a flowing Spring or River can be said to be separately Fluid And next to Affirm as he does That such Materials could movingly Atteriate or Rub one another less there being no such Capacity in any Fluid Substance Wherefore if he had us'd the Epithet of washing or dashing of greater into smaller Particulars tho' somewhat Improper the Expression had been more pardonable than his calling them Rubbers of one another into any Fluid Diminution And what is more he undertakes by their reciprocal Motions to fill up every Corner amongst them But how to find an Angle in any continual Fluid Matter cannot be understood by Geometrical Delineation wherefore I wonder to find in so knowing a Mathematician as was this Author so undemonstrable a System But howsoever Interpreted he undertakes abundantly to Replenish with such petit material Quantities no less than three of the Superior and vastest Heavens And next by his Invented Vortices which in a Grammatical Sense may be denominated Whirl-pools he Circumvolves Clusters of them until he has dispos'd them capacious enough to be Metamorphos'd by Motion into the Figures of the Stars and Sun Against the main of his Opinion that the Heavens are fluidly Compos'd on which the rest of his Phaenomena's depend there is farther to be objected That it is unnatural and clearly Inconsistent with undeniable Philosophical Principles and as contradictory to ocular Evidence By which we are assur'd as perfectly as by Sight we can discern that the Sun and Stars must be of the same Celestial Substance with the total Heavens and which is not denyed by Des-Cartes otherwise than as he supposes some Parts of it which he calls the first or most fluid Element and therefore ought not to be so defin'd by him Because whasoever is Fluid is also dissipable and consequently may be more Extended Dilated or Contracted but neither of these are to be observ'd in the Figure or Appearance of the Sun that always continues exactly Spherical tho' at some times the clearness of his Figure is not equally perceivable by reason of Exhalations and Vapors that interpose betwixt his Splendors and the Eye of the Beholder Moreover if any Part of the Celestial Substance were fluidly dissipable Nature would be necessitated to prevent Vacuity the detested Opposite to her Existence that some inferior Matter or Body should Ascend to supply that place in the Heavens where the Parts were separately remov'd Which were repugnant to Providence that has ordain'd that no other than the Substance of Heaven by any Natural Motion shall possess the Supreme Part of the Universal World If it could the Elementary and Corporeal Mixture of Bodies below might be corruptly intermingled with the refin'd Nature of the Heavens which are apparently unalterable undiminish'd and as totally uncorrupted In which Sense it may be concluded That the Heavens are Immutable and therefore Impatible as being of supremest Excellency or not at all partaking with the distemper'd Compositions or Ingredients that constitute other Bodies If the Heavens are determin'd to
Which were very disconsonant to his Idea of any Perfection in a Triangle as he would parallel it to the proving of the Existence of the Deity which cannot be likened to any Commensurable Figure or Being Because two Immensely Infinite to come within the Precinct or Computation of Lines And he that most exactly discerns the Properties of a Triangle in every of its Capacities can but apply it to Commensurable Parts and Proportions as before express'd and nothing more absurd than to assimilate their Proofs on any account to the undenyable Existence of the Omnipotent so fully evident to the Eye and Sense in the sublime Wonders beheld within the Compass of the Universe Insomuch That it is very Emphatically expressed by the Poet where he Affirms That God has taken care to Inform us by miraculous Mediums suitable to these Words Os homini sublime dedit Caelumque videre jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus As much more obvious to general Apprehension than any Geometrical Problem Could it be unknown to the Intelligent Des-Cartes how vast a multitude of Humane Kind are scarce able to Define a Triangle as a Figure consisting of three Angles and far less apprehensive of the Truth of its useful Attributes if not Regardlesly unconcerned whether there is such a Thing or no or not at all conducing to the Exerting of Omnipotence For which they conceive they are by the Goodness of Providence furnished with more palpable Motives And such as are approved by himself as shall be observed in convenient Place In the mean time he much Insists on his Triangular Idea as a Truth that gives a main Rise to the Proof of the necessary Existence of Omnipotence because as he Affirms That there is no other Idea to be found so absolutely certain and yet he Grants in effect That it is no more than that in a Triangle the three Angles are equal to two Right The disparity whereof as he renders the Application has been I presume sufficiently noted already Notwithstanding it may not improperly be farther demanded Why a Person of his exquisite Science should not alledge other Mathematical Certainties rather than fix as he seems to do on the peculiar Example he gives of a Triangle Yet not to be questioned that the manifest Perfection of a Circle in being a Round without any Point that can signifie its Beginning or End together with the admirable Equality not to be found in any other Figure that every Line as so many wonderful Attributes has to each other if drawn from its Center to its Circumference is a more Sublime resemblance and Proof of an Infinite Being than is consistent with a Triangle All which but most especially its Circular Perfection if considered by its proper Excellency is no other than an Indeterminate Individual or Geometrical Wonder not to be Attributed to any other Figure No Man having ever been able to give it an exact Measure or such as may be deemed its Square tho' the accurate Endeavour of the Famous in Mathematical Science Whereas the Triangle is every way comensurable by the Sides and Angles it contains If a Unite be considered in its Arithmetical Capacity it is a nearer Parallel to the proving of an Incomprehensible Existence of God than can be deduced from the Idea he undertakes to give of a Triangle Nothing being more admirable than the Entireness of the number One in being both its own Root and Square and also its Cube and Root and in the same manner continues in a Geometrical Progression to the highest of Powers Nor can it be wholly Divided or Substracted by any other Number Which Excellencies solely appertain to Unity Yet from none of these Examples howsoever certain in themselves can be asserted the Existence of God by such an Idea of any of them as may Universally prove the necessary Existence of the Deity both as they are the Truths of Science and therefore not every Man 's sensible Conviction as also that they are only applicable to Things of a material Being As I cannot term the Square Cube or any figurative Demensions the Comprehension or Measures of Nothing Which in effect is required by Des-Cartes as he would Abstract his Speculation from all concomitancy with the Bodily Senses And consequently imputes it as a Fault or Neglect in not distinguishing accordingly the perfect Idea of God as it Impresses on the Mind the necessary existency of the Almighty But the main Objection is and far from being Answered by him That the Imagination cannot be separated from Objects of Sense For let a Man Contemplate with the utmost exactness that his Mind can afford it will certainly terminate on one Thing or other that resembles Material Parts tho' by Supposition as vastly Extended as 't is possible to Imagine Wherefore had this learned Gentleman thoroughly considered the Speculative Part of his Idea when he Inscrib'd its Notion as sure as he was of Humane Composition he would have annexed a Corporeal Representation in some kind to what he calls his Idea or he must as Insignificantly or as near to nothing have imployed the Labour of his Brain as if he could have Contemplated of a Vacuity All which is equally absurd to whomsoever will allow to himself the liberty of Thinking On which consideration and fully to confute his Supposition of bare Ideas of the Mind It has pleased the Almighty by the wonderful and no less apparent Prospect of the Universe with every Thing contained within its Boundless Complex to convince us That nothing is comprehended by it but what may imply the Denomination of Corporeal Miracles Yet so admirably different that what is of Elementary Form and Substance within the Residence of Earth and Air seems perfectly distinguished by the manner of Being and Essence of the Sun and Stars tho' of Bodily Resemblance Yet none of them have other appearance in the most Refined Conception we have of their Natures than Objects of our Senses And tho' the Original of the Universe or the Individuals it Comprehends be not manifest by any external Assurance 't is perfectly evident That they had a Beginning from an Omnipotent Cause by reason that our not knowing how they had Primitive Existence is an undeniable Conviction That in being Miraculous to our Understanding or as so many Actual Works wonderfully visible they could not be produced or continued otherwise than by an Omnipotent Incomprehensible Will and Providence So far does the Observation of admirable Facts that by Divine Conduct are openly exposed to the Eyes of our Reason and Sense exceed the most Refined Dictates of Science as they direct the Sublime Ascents of our Conceptions by a more exact Progression than Geometrically can be given to the highest of its Powers How impertinent is it then to depart from the Road of Common Sense by supposing such an Idea in the Mind as from any Mathematical Problem might guide us to the Proof of a Deified Existence tho' contrary to the palpable
of Christianity is so far for our more sensible Conviction of familiar Resemblance to the Works of the Omnipotent as they are composed of Bodily Life and Figure relating to Man and Creatures that by this Dispensation the Redeemer of Mankind is represented in the Form and Substance of Flesh as the most captivating Object of our Devotion and Sense It being impossible to conceive how any Idea of Worship can so Mystically fasten the Mind that it may be totally barr'd from Conspiring with the Senses in the admittance of Corporeal Objects Which may be no inconsiderable Reason why Christian Profession has allowed the Representations of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ to impress their Memorial on the Heart of the Believer How little does the manner of this Author's Idea so magnified by his Pen conduce to the proving That God does Exist or that the Worship of Christ otherwise than a Miraculous Work proceeding from Omnipotent Power should be the Object of Humane Devotion With this Distinction That although every Fact of the Almighty comprehended by the Universe be equally wonderful we are obliged by Precepts to pay the Duty of our Souls to no other than Christ. Which this Author seems to acknowledge where he excepts his bare Idea of the Being of a Deity from the stupendious Co-existence of God in the Substance of Flesh As if but beholding to his Speculation for the Belief of the One and to Religion for the Other From whence it may be concluded That it was the Design of Des-Cartes to decline the common Road of Providence in hopes to be celebrated for a singular Conceit of his Brain whereby he would Instruct others to believe That the Method of God's Works tho' as broadly visible as the Features of the World's Face were too narrow to exert from them his Idea of the Almighty Because as he Affirms 'T is possible to Imagine That there is no Heaven no Earth no Bodies of Men and yet by a naked Idea in the Mind be assured That God does Exist tho' none of his Works had Being at all But Passages of this Nature having been precedently taxed the Reader is referred to them The next Point that he comes close up to is That we ought not to weary the Brain with disputing of what is meant by Infinite Because he judges it absurd in Man who is of a Finite Being to determine any Thing of an Infinite To which purpose he gives several Instances As the vain Discussion or Quere Whether if a Line be supposed Infinite the middle Part of that Line be not also Infinite Because with such Things saies he we ought not to be concerned unless we Judge our Mind also Infinite Which I fully grant Judiciously Advised But find it very dissentaneous to a main Notion of his formerly mentioned whereby he Affirms That 't is very facile by a meer Idea of the Mind tho' acting within the Limitation of the Body to imagine the Infinite Existence of the Deity by no other Speculation than may be made on the Wings of Thought when on its Contemplative Journey But how to be clear from all Corporeal Impediments both within and without the Body notwithstanding he here allows it confined to a Finite Imagination appears too like a Contradiction in the Terms he delivers or which is much the same that in one Place of his Writings he spoke of an Infinite Idea and of a Finite in another How therefore to reconcile him to himself on that account is not to be apprehended And this may be aptly Inferred from what he adds in the Paragraph I treat of where he Affirms That no Extension can be Imagined so Vast that a Greater cannot be given which is as numerically certain as that Archimedes by sixty three Cyphers and a Unite before them produc'd a greater Number than could be Equalled if the Total World from the Center of the Earth to the Sphere of the fixed Stars were Replenished with the numerous Particles of Sands of the Sea If Thoughts could be Multiplyed so as they might exceed the Summ before mentioned as many more might be added to their Number Yet every particular Thought would be severally terminated by some Object of Sense On the contrary the Notion of Infinite may rather pass for a manner of Speaking than actually explicable by the Humane Intellect And thus Immense Infinite and the like are attributed to God not as their meaning is otherwise to be understood than as they have Reference to the Works of the Almighty of which because no account is to be given how they either began or are continued our highest Admirations not to be expressed by Accents of Speech ought to exalt our Wonder Incomprehensibly annexed to a Word of Infinite Denomination And this in Substance he soon after concedes where he holds it very advisable that we should not Inquisitively Reason of Natural Things or the End to which they are Ordained farther than God and Nature have Constituted and Propos'd them to our Observation least we should seem to arrogate to our selves any participation with his Counsels To which he judiciously adds That God is to be acknowledged the Efficient Cause of all Things yet so as that he has not extinguished the Natural Light of our Understandings in being familiarly acquainted with such Attributes and Effects of his Omnipotent Power as he has manifestly exposed to our Apprehensions All which are undoubtedly requisite to our Duty But how does this concenter with his single Idea of God as here he requires the concurrence of our Reason and Senses to the useful Exposition of such Objects as are manifest to us And what can be implyed from thence other than that the abundant Operations and wonderful Effects of a Supreme Cause are evident in the apparent Being and Works within the Compass of the Universe that must necessarily depend on it without which it were impossible for us to have the plenitude of a sensible Conviction Insomuch that I think it not improper to insert the Opinion of certain a Astrologer who Affirms That if the fixed Stars had not a constant Distance or that the Diurnal Motion of the Coelestial Sphers did not perpetually move in Time no Individual Thing would last a Moment which Notion of this Astrologer if but conjecturally Allowed has a far more significant Relation to the Proof of the Existence of God as a Supreme Cause than can be appropriated to any Idea of the Mind that abstracts the Immense means and Facts of Providence from the obvious Concurrence they have with our Contemplation of the Being of the Almighty and the superlative Disposer of whatsoever we can behold or Imagine And I should be glad if the contrary had not been the mistake of the Learned Des-Cartes His next Considerations is That God is supremely True and the Illuminator of our Understandings and therefore cannot deceive us or at All the Cause of those Errors that we are of our selves obnoxious to Which is undeniable
Planets from the Sun as they relate to the before-mention'd System he thus accounts Mercury above 200 Diameters of the Earth Venus above 400 Mars 900 or 1000 Jupiter above 3000 Saturn 5 or 6000 Diameters of the Earth distant from her The Copernican Hypothesis is so much the same with his and so frequently Inscrib'd in Almanacks that I shall desire my Reader rather to Inspect any one of them there than to trouble my self with delineating of a Diagram to so thread bare a Purpose here The difference that he allows the Stars not only as some of them are greater than others but as the Planets receive their Illuminations communicated to them by the Light of the Sun Concenters with the general Opinion of all Astronomers Nor will I directly oppose the Imagination he Annexes by which he Attributes to every of the fix'd Stars a particular Fountain of Light and as distant from the Sun as the Sun is from us Concluding That were we Situated as near the six'd Stars as we are to the Sun we might observe any one of their Magnitudes as much Illuminated as the Sun appears to our Sight On which ground 't is possible he may be tho' but in Conceit as much in the right as any certain Argument or Proof that can be urg'd to the contrary by reason of the wonderful appearance and immense remoteness of the fix'd Stars from us Notwithstanding that the famous Tycho as far as his accurase Observation could elevate his Computation determines in general that the fix'd Stars are not nearer the Earth than 13000 of her Semidiameters But in the 11th and 12th Particulars of this Treatise this Author delivers a more unparallel'd Paradox than ever was Imputed to a Learned Pen The First is That the Earth tho' a very opacous Body is as perfectly enlightned by the Beams of the Sun as the Moon wherefore he conceives the Earth to be also a Planet And why might he not have Affirm'd the same of Glass Iron or any other solid Substance since we are assur'd by common Experience That every one of these are not only capable of being Illuminated by the Sun but will also have their Shadows So that according to his Opinion any gross opacous Matter may be estimated on a shining Day no less a Madam in Composition and Feature than the Moon or Planet Venus It seems he forgot that these Stars continue their Light whilst the Earth has not Sun-Light longer than the Sun shines on her But why he so cheaply compares the Dominion of the bright Queen of Night with the dull Earthly Lamp on which we Inhabit I connot guess unless by some one of those which he calls distinct and unerrable Ideas he imagin'd That his Person was elevated to a Market in the Moon and there observ'd some Utensils in a Ihon of all Trades-Shop marvellously reflecting the Illuminations and Beams of the Sun And surely he might as well allow the possibility of these Examples with whatsoever besides has Being on Earth as perfectly Existing in the Moon Since by his Tenent a very capacious World may be thought encompass'd by Her His other egregious Mistake depends on the Former which is That he fancies that the Earth performs the Part of the Sun by Illuminating the Face of the Moon beheld by us when she is in her New Estate or Conjunction with him Which Notion is very false both in a Philosophical and Astronomical Consideration Nothing being more unnatural than to Attribute Planetary Light either Communicable or Inherent to the unrefin'd Body of the Earth which can be no otherwise understood by reason that there is no such Thing as a pure Element of Earth but rather its Substance grosly Commixt and Corrupted by the Intercourse of the other Elements And thus Air Earth Fire and Water as Use and Observation assure us are impurely mixt And should the Earth as she does and must necessarily so Subsist receive Light or Flame from the Sun in common with the Planets Her corrupt Frame and combustible Materials would have been long ago totally burning to the utter dissolution of the Figure and Composition that she now possesses However Antecedent to the Opinion of some Learned Divines that defers her Conflagration to the Day of Judgment And this might have been effected with as much Facility as a Burning-glass kindles a Pipe of Tobacco Especially if granted the Earth a Planet according to this Author and always Moving because Motion where it is sufficiently continu'd Inflames every Thing that is materially capable to be set on fire as is visible in the Axletree of a Waggon caus'd by the Movement of the Wheel that round it turns The like might be determin'd in reference to the Moon and other Motional Stars if their Compositions were Elementarily mingled But their Substance is more Sublime and Excellent if not superlative to any Definition that can be given of their Nature and Manner of Existence As I doubt not is Emphatically prov'd by my Remarks on the 21th Particular of the Second Part of this Author 's Philosophical Treatise To which I refer the Reader And whereas he would confirm his Assertion by pretending That the Earth Illuminates some part of the Moon when she is in Conjunction with the Sun 'T is no less diametrically opposite to what we behold in that State of the Moon than it is to Astronomical Certainty and why might not the Moon as well receive Light from the Earth according to his Doctrine when at her Full she is sometimes so Eclipsically opposite to the Sun as twice a-Year he passes by the Nodes or is near unto them call'd the Dragon's Head and Tail that she appears totally Darken'd Which can be no otherwise caus'd than as the Earth is betwixt her and the Sun But could she then receive any glimpse or sign of Light from the Earth it would be as discernible as at any other Time Which enough Confirms That the Earth is no Luminary Planet and therefore none at All as will be prov'd by what is to come In the mean time 't is not improper on this Occasion to Explain the Phases or Figure of the Moon especially when in Conjunction with the Sun which without the trouble of a Diagram may be thus readily Express'd 'T is not to be doubted That the Moon as she moves round the Earth has always one half of her Illuminated by the Sun but not so as that half is always visible to us Tho' sometimes more or less or nothing of her Enlightned Half appearing towards us by reason that as so many Semicircles or as it were Semiglobes of the Moon 's Compass are turn'd to the Eye or Earth they cannot considering their Curvitures be discern'd in Plain by the Eye And this differently happens as the Light of the Sun to Sight may be obstructed by the Convex or Mountainous Part of the Earth or by the Intervening of Aerial Vapours which cause the Face of the Moon that is turn'd towards
Fluid Substances exceedingly thinn'd whilst others were as nimbly thicken'd As if the Hands of Nature had been busily imploy'd in kneading of their Clusters till thoroughly condens'd Yet grants them so insipidly temper'd that by no proper Term Naturally or Philosophically Intelligible he determines them either light or heavy as he distinguishes their Elements from whatsoever is Elementarily Compos'd And thus according to his Method he imagines That Nature made her first Entrance out of the Closet of Chaos and having not thoroughly wash'd her Face he supposes some of her Spots might afterwards visibly remain in the Figure and Substance of both Sun Moon and Earth If next he had been ask'd on what account he attributes Spots to the Luminary of Day or Night together with the Terrene Sphere of our Being that are within no compass of reasonable Apprehension he must have return'd a motly Answer Since undeniable That whatsoever is capable of Spots as its propriety must be naturally colour'd and therefore of a mixt Elementary Composition by reason that nothing can be observably spotted but is also colour'd by mixt Ingredients and consequently the Object of Sight But the Sun and Moon were never held by found Opinion Elementarily Constituted wherefore not of any of his suppos'd Elements no more than 't is possible to conceive how Air could be alterative or operate on Air or Water on Water without partaking of Elementary Mixtures A Truth confirm'd by Experience in every Thing that is Thinn'd Thicken'd Ascends or Descends as sure as Earth is more ponderous than any of the other Three Elements ordain'd by Providence to exert all such Operations of Nature as are with clearest Evidence understood by us From whence may be concluded that the seeming Spots in the Sun or Moon are no other than meteorous Exhalations or Vapours that interpose betwixt the Luminaries and the Eye of the Beholder as surely as we frequently discern more or less clear in Appearance the Sun and Moon and therefore no Spots Inherent in their Substance As for the Spots that he annexes to the outward Complexion of the Earth what Man ever heard of any of their Colours except of such Things as have Being and Growth on her Surface as Trees Plants Men Women Beasts Grain and such other Things as might from Causes be produc'd How to Reply had he been thus Interrogated I dare Answer for him he could not have told And thus I come to the farther Examination of his Third Element by which he undertakes to Exspand the Original of all Things within the Compass of the Earth To which purpose I will briefly Summ the Order and Materials by which he forms his Phaenomena's of the Earth's Production All which he supposes were produc'd of the Fragments of a certain Thinn and Fluid Composition which he Entitles The primary Element of Nature These Imaginary or Globuli Fragments proceeding as he derives them from Spots in the First Element and descensively operating on the next term'd by him a Second Element they confus'dly and exceedingly disorder'd in Motion and Figure tended downward from their first sublime Height till at last they became more congeriously Thick suitable to the grossness of the Earth's Composure and Settlement where it now remains So very intricately obscure or vainly perplex'd does this conceited Monsieur debase the original Wisdome and Conduct of Nature both as to her own Establishment and the Production of her Works which could never be so disproportionably and irregularly effected by the prudent Diligence and Intendment of her Operations Which as this Author commits them to her peculiar Conduct I do not see why they should not have been by her Management as highly refin'd and continu'd as he delivers the Materials of her first purest Celestial Element And consequently of them so sublimately ordain'd have produc'd the Substance of Man and Woman that being exalted to a Superior Room in the Etherial Heaven the Eyes of Beauty might have there shin'd instead of Stars now beheld of the first Magnitude And next to these why should she not have gradually Illuminated the Substance of Animals with all other Materials and Plants that being naturally cleans'd from such Terrestrial Ingredients Alterations and Mixtures that are now in them they might have remain'd splendent Parts above instead of being Revolv'd and whirl'd in globuli's or dispers'd Fragments of Nature downwards untill they clos'd in a Lump that compleated the Earth in Figure disposition of Parts and Situation suitable to the Opinion of this Author Such Queries may not be unfitly urg'd against his total Hypothesis with all its Appurtenances to which I add these palpable Objections First that it is egregiously preposterous if not an Impeachment or lessening of the Dignity of Nature supposing that by her voluntary Actings she debas'd the superiority of her Existence by crumbling of her Materials into innumerable Bits or Particles in all kinds of impurer Substance and next dispose them by a rambling or giddy Progression so grossly to meet as they might constitutively finish and sustain the small inferior Bulk of the Universe call'd Earth or rather denominated the spurious Daughter of Nature if so engender'd by her actual consent Whereas contrarily 't is the inseparable Attribute of Nature intentionally to Conserve whatsoever depends on her Regalia's in its proper and utmost Perfection And although that by such Elementary Compositions and Mixtures as are understood by us she is necessitated to vary her Conduct as Things are in course Generated or Corrupted in order to produce such Existencies that could not be continu'd in themselves and therefore Providentially convertible into other Beings Yet she constantly preserves her most genuine Progression which is that nothing shall so alter as not to have Matter and Form incident to their Corporeal Proprieties Not unlike a Sovereign Ruler within whose Dominions there is no period of his numerous Subjects by Death because enough are begotten that succeed them But no such Procreation could be consistent or produc'd as an Elementary Triplicity is devis'd by Des-Cartes and not at allaccomplish'd or season'd with such natural Ingredients as are the Elementary Adjunct to Bodily Existences But rather of such a simplicity and incommunicable Qualification that 't is as reasonable to imagine That Earth should proceed from meer Air or Water from Fier as that his imperfect and uncompounded Elements should by their Vortices and Globuli arrive to any Corporeal Production Because the Principles of all Things could be no other than Contarrieties and therefore Elementary Insomuch that had not Providence otherwise dispos'd natural Operations than are contriv'd by this Author neither the Heavens above however excellent and refin'd their Essence or the Earth we possess with all its Appurtenances could have been effected The next Objection is briefly thus Suppose it were conceded That his Hypothesis relating to the Constituting of the Earth's Existence were allowable could it be conceiv'd that the diversities of Being and Motion which he annexes to his Particles
of Nature should be either operative or motional before the Sun Stars World or any Elementary Composition a main Cause of Motion Version and Alteration of Bodies as naturally they ought to be understood did really Exist Because nothing can Move upwards or downwards but what is Corporeally mixt and therefore consisting of Commensurable Parts whose Movements must be gradually computed by Time Nature's unerrable Accountant But by the Incomprehensible Phaenomena's of this Author the World was fill'd with temporary Motions before it or Time was or could be summ'd by computable Progression of any Thing that could be its porportionable Measure according to his Suppositions Which Impossibility is so disregarded by this Writer that Time were his Notions true might have continu'd some thousands of Ages before it could be understood to have Being or his small Globuli Circumvolv'd by their Vortices could have constituted and fill'd the local Situation of one Mile of Earth with all its Materials from top to bottom with their diminutive Particulars Which Absurdities if well consider'd might have deterr'd as Learned a Person as Des-Cartes from posing his Intellect with so many unexplicable Imaginations whereby he would assimulate however far above Thought the stupendious Consistence of the World to miraculous Systems invented by his Brain As for the Elements that he undertakes to deliver as the first Principles whereby the Earth was Constituted which as I have already prov'd are neither Philosophical or Natural he tells us in his 13th Particular That the more Solid or thicker of them are not always Inferior in Place or Motion to those that are thinner the Reason he gives is That notwihstanding they are uniformly Revolv'd they so adhere to one another by the Irregularities of their Figures that the Globuli of one Element cannot extricate themselves from the Compulsions upwards or downwards of another This Gentleman who had no otherwise differenc'd his principal Materials by which he would Constitute the Structure of the Earth than as the Parcels of his small Globuli were more or less extended begins now in effect to grant them Elementarily mix'd as every Thing must be that is Thinner or Thicker than another or different in Weight and Measure But so as by his turbulent Vortices the lighter were mingled with the heavier in such a complicated manner that they could neither Ascend or Descend as they ought to have done by their Qualifications But gives no certain reason why they might not always have continu'd so Intermingled and Confus'd and therefore never have separated from one another Since he determines no Cessation of the impetuous Movement of them caus'd by his whirling Vortices How then could the Earth be Compos'd or Constituted by such Irregular Particles of Nature that neither by their Motion or different Temperatures could be disincumber'd from one another and consequently so exactly Embodied as might compleat the total Substance of the Earth In his 14th and 15th Particulars he undertakes to Describe what he means by diversities of Bodies which he supposes form'd in that which he denominates his Third Region of the Earth and these he believes might be produc'd as the Globe of the Earth distinguish'd into three Regions having been devolv'd towards the Sun and the Vortex in which it was before taken from it variety of Bodies were distinguish'd in it Whose Productions he designs to explain afterwards but first he delivers three or four Axioms on which they depend The First is the general Motion of his Celestial Globuli The Second is their Gravity The Third Light The Fourth Colour His First Position I am oblig'd to reflect on and more severely could it be avoided than I am willing to do out of the respect that I have to this Learned Author But having Geometrically prov'd by what I have Written on the Third Part of his Philosophy That there can be no Motion either Diurnal or Annual to be Attributed to the Earth the Copernican way instead of the Sun I cannot but add That it is far more egregiously Supposititious that the imperfect Agitation of his Globuli which he Inserts in the Page I write of should perform their Annual or Diurnal Motion about the Sun correspondent to his Imaginary System It being highly improbable that such different Particles which he defines Globuli both in Substance Bigness Quantity and Measure as also irregularly Moving by his Concession should compleatly finish the Diurnal or yearly Motion of the Sun because not to be thought that they could Revolve suitable to any Figure Geometrically computable And therefore impossible even to Absurdity the fictitious Circumvolution that he appropriates to his Region of Globuli than if without them he directly had Asserted the Motion of the Earth Because the Earth allow'd by the Learned to be Circularly Form'd is more capable of Revolution than that such diminutive Substances as are disagreeably Compos'd both in Quantity and Figure should so perfectly unite their Movements as exactly to Represent or Conspire with the Earth's Motion in the room of the Sun either Hourly Dayly or Yearly appertaining to Ecliptical Circulation In order to which performance of his devis'd Globuli he makes yet more gross their Incomprehensible Phaenomena's by Affirming That they incline to Move in a streight Line tho' he grants them not figuratively such as if Things could be propense to Move directly if naturally oblique in Proportion and Figure Notwithstanding that 't is impossible that whatsoever Moves should describe any other Superficies or Figure than is suitable to its Corporeal Parts Nor can any Thing be said in a proper Sense to incline to Move in a streight Line but as it must be either upwards or downwards according to the Nature of its Gravity or Levity To be plain the most favourable Salvo that can be apply'd to this Broken Head of his Hypothesis is that he judges it safer for his manner of Copernicanism to substitute his whirl'd Globuli as Assistants by their Movements to the Motion he allows the Earth Because as I conceive he might apprehend that Objections to be made against the Earth's Revolution as also that by such an Hypothesis the Situation of Countries and the Elevation of the Pole must infallibly alter as has been already demonstrated might be rebated or not so unanswerably Alledg'd Tho' to Men of competent Apprehension the Absurdities are the same whether the Earth alone or his Globuli and the Earth in any Kind Intrigue or conjoyn their Circulations Can a Man that has season'd his Intellect with the least Relish of Mathematical Principles conceive it possible for the confus'd Phaenomena's of Vortices and Globuli mention'd by Des-Cartes to absolve the mean or equal Motion which Astronomy assures is annually consummated in the Ecliptick Or that the ponderous Structure of the Earth should be so regularly elevated from her Center as that any Point of its Superficies or its Vortices and Globuli in the Sense of this Author might at one time have an Apogaeon
height or utmost Distance from the Center of her Orb and at another a Perigaeon-nearness unto it Which were much the same as to think it feasible for clusters of Flies no bigger than Gnats when they numerously seem to Circulate in Sun-shine to remove the weighty firmness of the terrene World or perform instead of the Sun the Ecliptical Revolution of the Day or Year Yet on this preposterous and feeble Conduct is erected the main Hypothesis of this French Writer both as to the Composition Being and Motion of the Earth with all her Circumjacent Particulars Which shews that he takes to himself an unpresidented Dictatorship in Science whereby he would celebrate the Fictions of his Brain without any requisite or probable assurance that they ought to be Conceded To which purpose he Inserts the various Actings of his several Elements tho' by no Body but himself so nam'd and by these so Invented by him together with Vortices and Globuli form'd from them he judges That the Earth with whatsoever it Comprehends might be totally Constituted as he their prime Artificer has contriv'dly set them at work The first Action tending to the compleating of the most refin'd Substance or Parts of the Earth he considers as produc'd by the Motion of the most tenuous Matter of what he Terms a Third Element which he supposes so very pure that even to Transparency it may cause Bodies tho' appertaining to Earthly Composition very clearly to Shine And thus we have the Earth according to the Doctrine of Des-Cartes both a motional and illuminating Planet But should I account the numerous diversities of the fictitious Motions and shifted Inventions by which this Author confers a shining Capacity on some Particulars of the Earth's Substance I might more than fire if not abuse the Patience of an indefatigable Reader Neither could I do other than impertinently load my Pen with repeated Objections and manifest Confutations of his Theories of Motion as they have been diversly apply'd by him on this or other Subjects The Movements of Things in his Method as he annexes their Qualities and Motions being neither exactly agreeable to streight Lines or their proper Tendencies or to such Curv's as might be of Mathematical Construction and therefore inconsistent with the Geometry of Nature Which as to her Works must proceed from a regular Process to which purpose enough has been already written by me I will therefore in this place briefly Inspect the Fond of the shining Attributes that he confers on some Particulars of the Earth as they are stated by him The principal Reason that he offers is That 't is experimentally found that pure Liquor in the Earth of tenuous Consistence is also pellucidous or shining Which cannot be true if by clearness he means an Illuminating Quality No more than the purest Water that can be Imagin'd may be said to Shine because it is clear And who ever beheld any shining Part of the Earth otherwise than by diffus'd Beams of the Sun ' Moon or Stars it might be enlightned tho' without any Illumination as to its own Capacity Where are the Eyes that in a gloomy Day or Night ever observ'd the shining of a Mole-Hill on the Surface of the Earth Or such little Morsels of the Ground as Worms deject which might be compos'd of such Materials as he describes his diminutive Globuli to consist of for any reason given by him to the contrary To confirm these Objections this one that includes many may pertinently be added If as he imagines the diaphanous Parts of any of his Celestial Elements as they are defin'd by him should by any intelligible Movement so operate as they might be so qualitatively Constituted as to embue any particular Substance or Places of the Earth with a shining Capacity since he has undertook to Metamorphose our terrene Habitation into a Planetary Composition How can it be probably apprehended that his Fluid Globuli by their feeble Commotions should be conjoyn'd to the Surface of the Earth notwithstanding that the condense or crusty Parts of her Surface are thickly harden'd and nourish'd by the Roots of Grass Trees Minerals Stones of all kinds diversly temper'd and not possibly penetrable by any compulsive Motion of his diminutive and impotent Globuli unless so much of the gaping Superficies of the Earth could be suppos'd to receive their Fluid Descents to no other purpose than she does Rain when distill'd by the Dissolution of Clouds Which being done there could but a dewy gloss appear on the Ground that might not more imbrighten any Part of the Earth's Figure than when in some moist Seasons the Glow-worm with her Light is engender'd So that whosoever would persuade himself that the terrene World or any Part of it was ever primarily compleated or motionally dispos'd by the Globuli and Vortices comprehended in the Diagrams and Theories of Des-Cartes may as readily believe that the Globe of the Moon was originally produc'd by the efficacious Seeds of a Carret-Bed Nor does he deny in some respects the incongruity of his Principles as in his 18th Particulars he confesses The Materials by which he moulds the Frame of the Earth's Composure and first Existence to be confusedly operative by granting that the liquid Parts which he Attributes to the prime Formation of the Earth were disorderly complicated with his Celestial Globuli Yet might by their Operations in his judgment upwards downwards or transversly be separately distinguish'd by the Similitude he Porduces of a Glass of Wine in the Must having Dregs not only on the top and bottom correspondent to Gravity and Levity but also on the sides of the Glass When afterwards the Wine being clear notwithstanding that it before consisted of various Particulars it becomes pellucidous or shining and not more gross or thicker in any one Part than in another Here he presents his Reader with a Philosophical Weather Glass by which he would determine the temper of the Season when the Earth was forming by his diversified Globuli and whirling assistance of his Vortices Which petty Operators as he states the Metaphor of their Condition and Conduct might be as drunk as Flies may be suppos'd when some of them are as it were giddy on the top of a Glass of strong Liquor or lean to its Sides for supportance whilst others more ebrietously replenish'd heavily sink to the bottom All which may be assimulated without any wrong to the Brain of this Author unto the giddiness of his Phaenomena's It being impossible to conceive from what rational Course of Nature he could produce the Substances together with the Movements of his debauch'd Globuli by which he constitutes the Being of the Earth Considering that he deduces their original Descent from what he Terms his first pure Element In his 19th Head he positively assures us That the Third and main effect of his Celestial Globuli are so perfectly operative that they convert liquorous Drops residing in Air into rotund Figures the reason as he
naturally and not accidentally Lucid If otherwise why might not this opiniative Monsieur as well Attribute Inherent transparency or shining unto Water that is so nearly ally'd to Air in being of a fluid and thin Substance But who ever observ'd any shining in either of these Elements in a cloudy Day or Night So that Experience assures That neither Air or Water have in themselves any Illuminating Propriety unless he could convincs us That a congeries of his Globuli of which he Asserts the vast quantity of Air and Water is Compos'd were glisteringly parcell'd like studded Diamonds But allowing neither them nor their Vortices and Elements from whence he derives them any such Capacity or so much as a Being in rerum natura I cannot but totally reject them wheresoever I find them as formerly I have done My next remarkable Consideration shall refer to his 48th Particular where he delivers the two main specifical Qualities that he annexes to the Nature of Water some of which he determines flexible others inflexible and if separated one from another some of them compose or produce Salt Water whilst others sweet or fresh This Principle of his can never be so perfectly Season'd as that it shall not taste of a Paradox in the very Sense of the Word as it is apply'd by common Understanding For what is more distastful to obvious Intelligence than to Attribute to the Fluidity of Water a flexible or inflexible Qualification Whereas Water by its appropriated Inclination may be properly said to flow but not to bend or consider'd as absolutely Inflexible A Stick or Cane may be bow'd by the Hand but can a Man so grasp a quantity of Water as he may be thought to Inflect or bend the liquid Material or feel in any of its fluid Substance such an Inflexible Part that he could not squeez or if he did immediately observe it stiffen'd into a Salt Composition Could this be readily perform'd by Manual Operation it would doubtless advantageously facilitate the Salt-Manufacture and gratifie the Inventer with a Pension and thanks from the Publick for his beneficial Project But I cannot perceive any such assurance in the Writings of this French Gentleman if not rather an Imaginary Perfection conferr'd by him on the Actings of his Globuli as he supposes them sometimes to thin Water into Air or thicken Air into Water Much like the pretended Experiments of Empiricks who boastingly teach That their Operations consist of such a quintessence of Things as were never understood before Whereas indeed 't is a devis'd Tale of so many Non-Entities as to any Use or Effect that could be actually perform'd by any real process of such Authors The next Exterior and Contiguous Element to Air is Water as it is by Philosophers Elementarily understood of which In his 49th Particular he offers a very confiderable Account as he applys it to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea The external Superficies of the Earth being in some sort surrounded by the Ocean whereby the Globulous Form of the Earth is more exactly compleated There is no Speculation within the Precincts of Nature that has more perplex'd Learned Authors than the Discovery they would attain of the Causes that effect the Flux and Reflux of the Sea every six Hours of Day and Night as it is variously observ'd in different Climes and Situations of the Earth But as to the Ocean in general the same Compass of Time relating to its Floating and Refloating is usually expended Whereas in the Baltick as also in some other Seas there are no such Egressions and Regressions of the Waves of the Sea which failure is by some thought to proceed from the narrowness or streightness of the Shores and the adjoyning Caverns of the Earth not large enough to receive or be fill'd with the huge Billows of the rolling Water Or because the coldness of those Parts of the World obstruct the Rarifying of Exhalations requisitely conducing to the sufficient Tumefying or Swelling of the Waves that flow to their Shores Whether these Reasons or more that might be added have an effectual tendency in order to the various Fluxions and Refluxions of the Ocean observable in many Places of the Earth I will not dispute being more inclinable to believe that it is a Secret more deeply absconded by Nature than can be penetrated by the most accurate Inquisition of Humane Science Notwithstanding it may be Affirm'd That the remote Cause may probably be deriv'd from the Etherial vigour of divers Stars but most especially from the Moon when gradually arising above the Horizon she disperses her Beams obliquely on the Ocean and by that means warmes as also exhales from the bottom of the Sea such Exhalations that being Dilated Tumefy'd and consequently so weightily Increas'd as in a manner they Revolve to Shores The next Diversity may be apprehended from the Degrees of Motion made by the Moon as she departs from the Meridian towards the West Part of the Horizon by which Movement she disperses her Raies and Light less obliquely and therefore not so efficaciously transmitted to the Sea or generative of Vapors whence follows such a remission of the Tumidity of the Ocean that it seems to Reside and by so doing causes an Ebb or with-drawing from the Land Other Varieties of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Ocean as they depend on the Motion of the Moon by Day or Night might be mention'd here But I conceive the Instances I have given are enough and which I thought conveniently interpos'd because the most Remarkable Opinion amongst Philosophers before I came to the Judgment of Des-Cartes on this profound Subject To which purpose he rely's on the Phaenomena of his Vortices and Globuli together with the Motion of the Earth and Sea contiguous unto it and a Scheme delineated to that end On all which I am oblig'd to Insert no other Remark than by insisting on my absolute denial of the total Hypothesis of his Vortices and Globuli as also of the Earth's Motion either Diurnal or Annual which by the Diagram that I have given in the Third Part I doubt not is Geometrically demonstrated So that it were a needless Repetition should I reiterate the same Confutation In his 51st Particular I confess he has a Conceit which as to the Flux and Reflux of the Ocean could I Correspond with the dependence it has on his other Systems appears to be Mathematically acceptable by the Instance he gives and seeming probation why in Equinoctial Times or when the Moon is either at Full or at New the Flowing of the Sea is greater than at other Seasons Which he thinks he Confirms by alledging That the Moon at such Times and condition of her Light has always a Vicinity to the Plane of the Ecliptick and that the Earth which he supposes motional makes its Diurnal Progression according to the Plane of the Equator From whence saies he it comes to pass that those two Planes Intersect one another but in Solstitial
the beneficial Act of Providence than concentring with Humane Invention Notwithstanding all which Des-Cartes is so fondly confident of his supposs'd Phaenomena's in every consideration that he doubts not to promulge as he would be taken for a paramount Minister to the Counsels of Nature such Secrets that being enclos'd in her Cabinet could only be Reveal'd by him To which purpose he presents his Reader with no less than Thirty Four Particulars whereby he would explain the mysterious Sympathy of the Load-stone and Iron On which I am oblig'd to bestow no other Remark than by taxing of their dependancies on the Construction and Management he gives to his fabulous Elements Vortices and Globuli by which he attempts to Constitute the World and all its Individuals together with their occultest Qualifications and manner of Existence As surely as he Imagines that in this Place he has Decipher'd every Syllable relating to the obscurest Contexture Being and Nature of the Magnet the most useful Jewel of Stones with all its Excellencies Had it not been as easie for this Author having furnish'd his Brain with so many Notions Theories and Systems by which he undertakes to penetrate and display the total Recesses of Nature to have given a Philosophical Reason Why the Remora tho' one of the least of Fishes adhering to the Stern or Rudder of a great Ship should stop her Course when under Sail in a Tempestuous Sea Or Why the Eyes of a Crab-Fish should burst the Stone engender'd in the Bladder of Man Yet these Experiments are related by undoubted Authors but so as they are referr'd to ocult Causes or such as are impossible to be extricated by Humane Comprehension On which account Pliny the great Naturalist acknowledges that there are many Things wholly absconded by the Majesty of Nature From whence I conclude That had this Learned Monsieur been as modest in his Opinion he had never propo'sd any Maxims of his in order to Frame the miraculous Consistence of the Universal World by Materials and Operations of his devising For doing of which however the labour of his Pen and pregnancy of his Fancy might in those respects acquire Applause Yet in a Judicious construction they cannot be allow'd any other Encomium than may be given to Ovid for the first Line or Introduction to his fictitious Poem where he tells his Reader that In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas Corpora To be plain I would as soon rely on the Metamorphosis of that Poet by which he fabulously produces the Universe with all its Appurtenances as confide on that account on the Principles engender'd by the Brain of Des-Cartes Not but I grant that the most accurate Thinker even where Causes of Things are obscurely Envelop'd will signally attain the nearest room to Philosophical Reputation Notwithstanding the endeavours of Men are so far unfortunately obstructed that where Knowledge is most desir'd and would requisitely be embrac'd the greatest difficulties not seldom Interpose Insomuch that the Faith we assign to the Zenith of our Salvation above Encounters too often the Soul with dubious Sentiments that in a natural Conception are more remote from our Apprehension than the absconded Cause that guides the Magnetical Needle to Epitomize a Line that would direct its Points towards the vastly distant Poles of the World The main Supposition of this Author and on which chiefly his before-mention'd Thirty Four Particulars relating to the especial Inclination of the Magnet or the Needle touch'd by it to regard the Nothern and Southern Points of Heaven is That he supposes two Poles in the Magnet that respect those Parts or Poles on which he imagines the Earth to Move But how the Load-Stone should be accomplish'd with two such Poles that Sympathetically affect those Points of the World he offers no natural Reason for their Consistence or Operation Some of the Learned have thought that by a secret Sympathy Influenc'd by Nothern and Southern Stars the Magnetical Needle points towards them Others have more naturally appropriated the Cause to vast quantities of Iron situated as some think under the North or South Pole of the World From which Opinion perhaps as probable as any other may be inferr'd That if one end of the Needle does steadily Point Northward the other will as certainly Point Southward because the Needle will be then demonstratively in the same Plane with the Meridian Line if not accidentally hinder'd But notwithstanding the strong Inclination or sympathetical Affection that the Magnetick Needle has directly to represent the two Polar Points of the World 'T is frequently observ'd that in some Places of the Earth ' tho not far distant from one another it considerably differ'd if compar'd with what it does in other Situations And what is more admirable if plac'd as near as could be judg'd on the same foot of Ground it has at one time more or less vary'd than at another And thus it is frequently observ'd that very near the same Place higher or lower or on the contrary Sides of a Wall or Window that the Magnetical Needle hath pointed on contrary sides of the Meridian Which might be from different Azimuths as the Compass was plac'd much like to the Substile of a declining Dyal on several Plaines Whether caus'd by some Aspects and Motions of Stars Alterations of the Air Water Earth and Seasons of the Year or Metals conceal'd within the Surface of the Earth If not as some have Imagin'd diverted or variously drawn aside by quantities of Iron that in Towns and Cities were more or less when Observation has been made near their Precincts As was the Opinion of Learned Gilbert who is said to have spent 50000 Crowns on his endeavour to find out the Secret But whatever were the Cause I think it not improper to mention the signal Observation made by practical Mr. Gunter in the 279 Page of his Book where he Writes that being inform'd in what place Mr. Bourough in the Year 1580 had observ'd the Variation of the Compass at Limehouse near London compar'd with the Azimuth of the Sun to be 11 dig 15 m. That he on the 13th of June 1622 made Observations on several Parts of the Ground in that Place and could find the greatest Variation of the Needle to be but 6 deg 10 m. Which differs from the Observation made by Mr. Bourough 5 deg 5 m. And tho' betwixt these Observations there was 42 Years difference it may be demonstratively concluded from them that if the Earth be suppos'd to Move as Des-Cartes Imagines it could not vary its Poles nor the Magnetical Needle if granted with him to have Poles also by the Virtue it receives from the Touch of the Magnet because both these Learned Authors made their Experiment in the same Place Having consider'd these Observations and not knowing whether or not the Variation of the Compass had been observ'd at Windsor where I now Reside I made from a high and convenient Place these following Observations by