part conclude that there are only Three that is to say the Heaven of the Planets which they say is wholly Fluid in which they swim like Fishes in the Water the next that follows according to this Opinion is the Firmament altogether Solid where all the Fix'd Stars are placed like so many Golden Nails or Diamonds set in Blue but the third is the Imperial Heaven the Seat of the Happy partly Solid and partly Fluid because the blessed Bodies ought to dwell in a place where they may move and freely breath the Air of Paradise This Opinion seems the rather to be embraced by me because it is most consonant to the Holy Scripture wherein we read that the Apostle Paul was rapt up into the third Heaven whereupon from thence he testifies that he was lifted up into Paradise Lastly the motion of the Heavens is uncertain For it is a received Opinion that the Heaven of the Planets or at least the Planets themselves are moved about the Earth as also the Firmament with the Fix'd Stars But others teach us that the Firmament as well as the Sun is immoveable and the Planets together with the Earth as being a Seventh Planet are wheeled about the Sun. This we examine in the following Chapter CHAP. III. Of the Stars and their Substance AS Mettals and Stones are the Ornaments of the Terrestrial World so are Stars of the Coelestial some of which are called Fixed Stars keeping always the same place other wandring Stars or Planets always changing place and in their Reciprocal Conjunctions and Oppositions coming nearer or going further of the first are fixed to the Firmament or Starry Heaven the others to the Heaven of the Planets The Substance of the Fixed Stars and Planets is of the same Matter with the Heavens and the Earth for there are not two first Matters but there are many differences to be found amongst the Compounds of the first Between these Compounds there are Degrees of Nobility even as we see upon Earth that Gold is more Noble more perfect and more precious than Silver Silver than other Mettaline Bodies Rubies and Diamonds than other Precious Stones In the same manner it is in the Heavens where the Sun which is the most perfect of the Planets and each Star hath its particular splendour which doth not happen from the diversity of matter but from its depuration which consequentially arises from its distance from terrestrial and opake Bodies How many different Pictures can one and the same Painter make out of the same Colours only by a different disposition of them how many different sorts of Books can there be made out of the same Syllables and Words by Transposing of them what then hinders but that we may grant the Author of Nature power to make out of so many Atoms diversly disposed so many Bodies differing in Elegancy and Clarity as are the Stars or Planets The matter therefore is the same of the Heaven and the Earth of the Dirt under our Feet and the Stars above us Whereupon a certain Ancient and Eminent Philosopher said that the things above are like the things below and so on the contrary And we know very well that Gold as Precious and Beautiful as it is is of the same Matter with Lead and there is nothing requisite to the making of Gold besides the depuration of the Atoms which are its first Matter I do here endeavour to deliver an Idea of the Substance of the Stars upon an Experiment grounded upon melted Mettals and yet flowing in the Crusible for Gold falling into Aqua-fortis is like a black Powder Silver dissolved with the same Aqua-fortis and precipitated by Sea Water or separated by the means of Copper-Plates is reduced into a Calx or White or Greyish Earth Tin calcined becomes yellow like Oker likewise Lead Calcined becomes yellow white black and red as we will Copper is turned into Verdigrease or into a yellow and red Powder and in like manner Iron into a red powder called Crocus Martis where by the way it appears how Compound Bodies become different and vary without the change of their first matter by an only separation and division of their Parts Corpuscles or Atoms Yet if you take these Mettals so Calcined each by it self and put them into a Crusible in a Melting Furnace with a strong Fire this Powder will return into Mettal again and shine and sparkle in the Fire you see then that the same matter is in a threefold different state for being a solid Body it is afterwards reduced to a Powder and then again it is turned into a fluid matter melting and sparkling in the Fire And this is the thing from whence I frame the Idea which I promised concerning the Fixed Stars and the Planets for nothing better represents the Nature of the Sun and its Substance than Melted Gold flowing in a great Crusible nor nothing better represents the Fixed Stars than the same Gold melted in lesser Crusibles there is nothing more like the Moon than Silver melting in a Crusible The same thing may be said of Lead in respect of Saturn and of Tin in respect of Jupiter and of Copper in respect of the bright and sparkling Venus So also Iron melted with the Matter which Fluxes it leaves an Idea of the Planet Mars yet without this Mineral which Fluxes it better shews its refulgent redness So it may be truly said that the Sun is like melted Gold and the Moon like melted Silver and so of Saturn and the rest CHAP. IV. Of the Magnitude of the Stars and their Figures SInce the Substance of the Stars is like melted Mettal it may be likewise concluded that the same is likewise round because a melted Mettal is always round unless it be hindred by the Mould in which it is cast or by the Crusible in which it is melting and since there is nothing that compels Stars to assume another Figure than that which is Natural to them and which is the most perfect of all Figures which is most agreeable to the first matter out of which they are made by the Author of Nature we ought to grant that they are round As to their Magnitude Astronomers represent them to be immeasurable and they take their Hypothesis from the Rules of the Opticks and from the experience of those great Optick Tubes the Invention of which is attributed to Campanella but the Restoration and improvement of them to Anthony de Reïta as appears by his Book Entituled Oculus Enoch Eliae The Sun is commonly taken to be an hundreed and sixty and six times greater than the Earth and the Earth to be three times as big as the Moon and the other Stars are some bigger and some lesser I would not dwell long upon a matter so far above us especially when I consider the weakness of all those things which Astronomers tell us concerning them and the dissention which is amongst the most Learned about them Epicurus is quite of another
Opinion for he says that the true Magnitude of the Sun and Stars is not much greater than they appear to us because says this Philosopher since we see them to have Natural Colours it follows then that we see them in their just Magnitude and he adds that we never see Objects in their true Magnitude but when we discern their Colour Figure and Circumference He endeavours to prove this his Opinion by the Example of fire which we behold truly as it is greater or lesser accordingly as it Flames and after this rate fixed Stars would not be much greater than they appear The same thing may be said of the Planets also because they are less remote from us than the Fixed stars I should not much dislike this Opinion if it were not rejected by the whole World and that the Shades Paralaxes and Eclipses evince the contrary Therefore we embrace the most received Opinion and positively affirm That the most experienced with the help of all their Optick Tubes are not able to delineate the true and just Magnitude of the Planets much less of the Fixed Stars whose shadow is small and they a great way distant from the Earth CHAP. V. Of the Motion of the Stars ARISTOTLE endeavouring to avoid or shun all the difficul 〈…〉 which occur in great plenty concerning the Motion of the Heavens thought he was easily able to explain it together with its swiftness and regularity by the help of an Intelligent Mover sent by God as an Adjutant Form to move push on direct and order the Heaven and each Planet in all their Motion This Doctrine seems to be at once both very easie and very clear for if Heaven and the Planets have really a kind of motion of which there is no doubt there is nothing more easie than to have recourse to an Angel who by Gods Command is the mover and directer of it But we should sooner agree upon the Point by having recourse to God the Author of Nature and saying that He as the first Author hath impressed this motion upon the Heaven and the Stars from the beginning of the World and that he doth continually conserve it as the First Cause by his general concurrence without using the Ministery of Angels to perform it which would be no more necessary than to assign a helping Angel to the motion of Animals and the Vegitation of Plants which no â—an will go about to do unless he deligns to make himself ridiculous ¶ This Opinion supposes the Earth to be in the Center of the World immoveable and that the Heavens are wheeled about this Center upon the two Poles of the World The Asserters of this Opinion do affirm That the Imperial Heaven is fixt and immoveable of a round or square Figure and that the Firmament observes the motion of the Primum Mobile and by the impression of it is rapidly moved from East to West together with the Fixed Stars which it violently carries along with it As to the Planetary Heaven they who affirm it to be Fluid do also teach us that the Planets do likewise in this vast space move with the like liberty that Fish do in the Water or Birds in the Air excepting only that the motion of the Stars is regular and that of Fish and Birds is not They who make to be as many Heavens as there are Planets or that every Planet hath its Orb are forced to confess that either their Heaven is fluid or if it be solid that there are passages and ways through which they are carried and to explain these appearances they are under a necessity of feigning certain Circles which they call Epicicles or Excentrix from whence arises unexplicable confusions whilst others say that these Circles are only imaginary But they who affirm the Sun to be immoveable in the center of the World who conclude that the Earth is in its place a Seventh Planet and hath a Motion round it as well as the rest and that the Firmament and the Fixed Stars which are annexed to it and implanted in it and seen with their Orbs to wheel round over our heads to be like the Sun equally immoveable are forced to explain the motion of the Planets and find no little difficulty in explicating their appearances we will enquire into those which are chiefly built upon truth by examining first those two most Famous Systems of the World I mean that of Ptolomy and Copernicus CHAP. VI. Ptolomy's System of the World Examined PTOLOMY and Aristotle with their Followers affirm the Earth to be in the Centre of the World immoveable encompassed round with Air which they think is next environed with Fire and so in order there are Orbs of the Moon Mercury Venus the Sun Mars Jupiter Saturn and of the Fixed Stars encompassing one the other called the Firmament then the Ninth Heaven which they call the Chrystaline and lastly the Primum Mobile which by its incredible rapidity carries all the other Heavens with it from East to West This Opinion seems to me to be absurd because it supposes the Heavens and especially the Primum Mobile to be of an immense Magnitude so that the Earth would be but a point in respect of Heaven Yet Ptolomy will have these immense Bodies and vast Machines to be moved round this point of Earth which seems little consonant to reason which dictates to us that little Bodies are much more readily moved round greater than great Bodies round less and we commonly say when we are roasting Meat that the Meat must turn round to the Fire and not the Fire turn round it It is therefore more commodious and more consonant to Reason that the Earth which is only like a point or a Gnat should be moved round the Heavens than the Heavens should turn round about it Most wisely therefore hath the Creator of the Universe disposed things in such a manner that the Reasons of them are conspicuous every where that we may say that God does not only produce Works which are good in their substance but also that he hath done good unto all that he hath made that is exactly in Number Weight and Measure Besides this General Reason which destroys and over-turns the Opinion of Ptolomy and Aristotle we may take another from the incredible rapidity of the Heavens motion about the Earth for if their Opinion be true in this Hypothesis and according to the reckoning of Astrologers we must confess that the distance of the Primum Mobile from the Earth is above an hundred thousand Miles from whence may be computed the greatness of this Heaven and the manner of its motion that it should perform and compleat its Circle in the space of twenty four hours whereas all People agree in this viz. That the Earth compleats forty Miles in every hour when in the mean time its Circle is but a point in respect of the Primum Mobile We must conclude therefore that its swiftness is incomprehensible and that every one point
of its Circumference compleats each hour more than forty times an hundred thousand Miles which is incredible To all these I add another difficulty which I have concerning this Opinion in explaining the manner and the little Hooks by which the Primum Mobile carries the inferiour Orbs along with it from East to West and that the Heavens and the Planets go to this Pole but come back from the other and then at last return to their first point by the sole Collibration or Ballancing of the Ninth Heaven or Chrystalline To which if we add the solidity of the Coelestial Globes in that manner as Ptolomy has affirmed then neither Aristotle nor Tyco Brache with his Epicycles and Excentricities will be able to take away these difficulties or avoid horrible confusions lastly these Philosophers could not explicate the regular or irregular motion of Commets unless by appointing Angels to guide them which is ridiculous CHAP. VII Copernicus's System of the World Examined THis Philosopher and many other Modern ones have built Systems of the World after another manner for they place the Sun in the Centre and will have the Earth and the other Planets to wheel round it as we have said heretofore This System would be sufficiently enough confirmed by refuting of that which Ptolomy Aristotle and their Followers have framed but onely this likewise labours under its peculiar difficulties The first of which is the experience of our Senses which seems altogether repugnant to this System for according to this Opinion we must conclude the Heavens which seem to move as also the Sun it self to be immoveable and on the other hand the Earth to be in continual motion which seems to be immoveable But this prejudice is very uncertain nor do our senses always so exactly and infallibly distinguish the motion of Bodies or Bodies that are in motion as experience teaches That when any one goes on Ship-board and the Ship sets Sail the Shoar and the Houses go away from him For to this Man the Shoar seems to go away from him though indeed he goes away from the Shoar Which happens from hence that the Eye does not discern the motion of the thing which is moved when it moves along with it which happens to a Man at Sea who does not at all take notice of the motion of the Ship which is under Sail because he himself is carried on by the same motion To this Opinion also is opposed the experience of a Stone thrown up into the Air and there falling down upon the Head or before the Feet of him that threw it For if the Earth is really wheeled round and moved while the Stone is moved it ought to fall far enough from him who threw it For we must conclude that the Earth is not turned round and by consequence that this System of Copernicus is false To this difficulty Descartes answers That a Stone must so descend as if the Earth was not in the least moved because both from the same Vortex and by the same impression the Stone as well as the Earth is carried round To this very same difficulty Gassendus answers after another manner saying that the Stone falls before the Feet of him that throws it up because it receives two motions from the hand of the thrower to wit one Horizontal and the other Perpendicular which since it hath received it ought to keep also and to describe a Curve regular and parabolical Line and after this manner fall down at the feet of him that threw it if he viz. threw it up streight and the Wind not contrary to it Just as we see in a great Bullet tumbled down from the top of the Mast falls streight down to the bottom of it though the Ship Sails with a very violent Wind. Lastly it is objected against the Doctrine of Copernicus That if the Earth be moved about the Sun it would sometimes be nearer the Firmament and the Pole and sometimes farther off and then that for that reason the fixed Stars especially the Pole Star must sometimes appear bigger sometimes lesser which is contrary to experience But they who defend this Opinion make answer that the mighty distance which is betwixt the Earth and the fix'd Stars is the Cause why this difference is not observed But indeed in that manner that I shall explain the motion of the Earth this Objection will appear to be of no moment CHAP. VIII Of the Motion of the Earth COPERNICUS attributes to the Earth three motions the first of which is called Diurnal by which the Earth is moved about its Axis as a wheel from West to East when as the Sun seems to be moved from East to West Another motion is from one Pole to the other according to the latitude of the Zodiack that is from one Tropick to another which motion is called Annual or rather half-yearly because the Earth in Six Months time runs through the whole Latitude of the Ecliptick and after other Six Months it returns to the same point from whence it had departed at the beginning of the Year So it passes through the same Line twice a Year to wit at the time of the Aequinoxes Lastly the third motion is made round the Sun whereby according to this Philosopher's Opinion we are sometimes nearer the fixed Stars and sometimes farther off There are not wanting some who attribute a fourth motion to these three which we call a Libration from East to West and so on the contrary But to explain all the Appearances the two first would be sufficient were we not compelled to take in the other two likewise The Diurnal Motion of the Earth by which it is turned and wheeled round its Axis and which is performed from West to East in Twenty four hours time is hard enough to be explained but here 's the Comfort that there is no less difficulty found in the Opinion of Aristotle and Ptolomy about the explaining the Motion of the Heavens which ought to be performed in the space of four and twenty hours Therefore to clear up this difficulty I suppose if we should be compelled to have recourse to an Intelligence as a Mover sent by God for this purpose We have as much reason to assign one for the motion of the Earth as well as Aristotle to assign many for the motion of the Heavens and the Planets By the same right we might have run back to the first Cause and its general Concourse after the example of Cartesius who is not ashamed to call in This to help him in explaining the motion of his Materia Subtilis and the Vortex surrounding the Earth as also of all other Natural Motions which God saith this Philosopher hath produced from the beginning and always preserves without diminution but only that this motion does transmigrate from one Body into another and as much of it as is lessened in one Body is increased in another This is the Cartesian Opinion But we are endeavouring to explain
goes streight forwards whenas he continually treads the same steps in the same Circle But to do this there must be a propulsion on every side for Gold would not be turned round in the Cupel if Fire were only applyed to it from beneath and not from above and quite round it which ought to be well taken notice of We will say then that the Sun cannot be moved about its own Centre that is the Centre of the World unless at the same time it moves the ambient Bodies by the assistance of the Corpuscles coming out of its Globe like so many streams of Light just as we see Rivers of Water flowing out of the Sea and yet the Sea is never the less for this Effusion no more than the Sun is lessened by a continual effusion of his Light because it receives in as much as it pours out and these Waters return back to the Sea as these Corpuscles of Light do to the Sun by a continual Circulation CHAP. X. Of the Moon and its Changes THe Moon is like an Optick Looking-Glass in which Light and the Corpuscles flowing from the Sun are concentred and gathered together from whence for divers respects and changes they are sent towards the Earth One of the Antients affirmed the Moon to be a Planet very near and familiar to the Earth it is moved about the Sun because it is in the solar Vortex by which it is carried round and in it three kinds of Motions are observed viz its Annual Monthly and Diurnal from these divers motions divers Aspects in respect of the Sun and it do arise from whence are its various yet constant appearances It s Figure is round but its Mass is partly solid partly fluid like Earth and Water its roundness appears at Full and New-Moons without this roundness we could never see its increase or decrease It s solidity is the Cause why the Light of the Sun is from thence reflected to us even as by reason of its fluidity we observe in it obscure parts like Spots because they do not reflect the Sun so much as the solid parts do but if in the Body of the Moon there are some parts higher than others in the shape of Mountains or Hills the Sun Beams do there produce small shadows which are observed by the help of Perspective Glasses That it cannot be half so big as the Earth is proved by Optick Principles Shades and Paralaxes in respect of it self it is always in the full because one half of it is continually illustrated by the Sun But it does not always appear full to us but only at the time of its Opposition and Recession from the Sun and then also in respect of us it may be Eclipsed because our Earth at that time is directly placed between it and the Sun and by its shadow makes the Moon more or less obscure as it is nearer or farther off and as it is more or less opposite to it These two opposite points in which when the Moon suffers an Eclipse those great Lights are found Astrologers call the Dragons Head and Tail. But as the Earth by its interposition is the Cause of the Moon 's Eclipse so also by the interposition of the Moon betwixt the Sun and the Earth is produced an Eclipse of the Sun which is either greater or less according as the Moon is more or less posited between us and the Sun or is nearer or farther from us Lunar Eclipses can happen naturally only in the time of Full Moon but these of the Sun in the time of New Moon An Eclipse of the Moon may be Total and Universal But that of the Sun can never without a Miracle be so at the same time but this is not a real defect of light in the Body of the Sun as it is in the Moon which is a dark Body and possesses only a borrowed Light. We may hear what Astronomical Philosophers and Astronomers say of it I told you before that the Sun is like melted Gold I told you likewise by the way that the Moon might be compared to melted Silver but I think it may be truly said that its Matter as to its Circumference is more like to real Silver but be it as it is it continues in the manner we see it suspended in one massie lump a most subtile Aetherial matter full of many empty spaces being by the Creator shut up in its Circumference which hinders the Moon chiefly from changing its place and from being immerged more deeply in the Sun 's Vortex whose Atoms are indeed more thick and gross By reason of its vacuities there is no fear that it should descend nearer the Sun or be able to resist the impression of its Vortex any more than the Earth which has plenty of Pores Cavities and empty Spaces without which it would too much resist the solar Vortex and would be able to get nearer its Centre that is the Sun. But its empty Cavities hinder that like Air contained in a Bladder which hinders it from sinking to the bottom and as the hollowness of the Quils of Birds bear them up in the Air. The Moon in her daily motion finishes her Course round the Earth in the space of twenty four hours or rather the Earth performs its daily motion about the Sun and its own proper Centre in twenty four hours time the Moon being carried away by the same Solar Vortex with the Earth is daily retarded some degrees whereupon we say it rises every day later and later until by this resistance or retrocession in twenty nine or thirty days it hath compleated its Monthly motion And besides this Retrocession it is moved by the Libration of the Sun from one Tropick to another and twice in every Month runs through the Equinoctial Line after the same manner as the Earth does it twice every Year There can be no Annual motion of the Moon unless about its own proper Centre But I will wander no further about a matter meerly Astrological CHAP. XI Of the Planets Comets and Fixed Stars SATURN Jupiter Mars Venus and Mercury are Five wandring Stars called Planets of the same Nature with the Sun but less pure whose Corpuscles are sent and driven towards the Body of the Sun they are likened to divers melted Mettals and sparkling in Chrystalline or Adamantine Crâ—â—bles and the Fire melting them is that of the Sun and the Fixed Stars If it be asked why they are not joyned with the Sun I answer that they consist of a Matter full of many empty Spaces and besides that they daily disburthen themselves upon the Body of the Sun and supply it with matter for depuration and resining which the Sun sends back to them more subtilised and they distill down these seminal and Mettalline Spirits upon the Earth They are diversely whirled about by the solar Vortex after which manner they obtain divers motions as Astronomers teach us Who affirm the Planets Mars and Venus to be less than the Earth
or in Glass Vessels where if it be possible there is a transmutation of one thing into another For this combination does not in the least vary their Nature and they are easily separated which does not happen in things which Nature alone helpt by Art rightly and duly composeth CHAP. VII Of Mettals and their Formation IF those things which are above us are unknown to us no less are those things also which are beneath us and which happen in the shade and in the dark and it may be truly said that the production of Mettals in the bottom of Mines is the most obscure mystery in Nature and without any manner of trifling to speak like a Philosopher all that can be said concerning this subject I reduce to the Cause producing Mettals to the Matter from whence and the Manner whereby they are produced The Principal Cause Chief Agent and Parent of all Mettals is the Sun the Planets and fixt Stars concurring likewise to it the Fixt Stars by their heat keep the Celestial Gold in fusion and turn it round in the Cupel in the Centre of the World that is the Sun from whence issue bright fumes without ceasing out of which proceeds light and which carry Heat together with seminal Spirits which penetrating the Pores of the Earth generate Gold in the very Bowels of it So Coelestial Gold that is the Sun is the Parent of Terrestrial Gold as it is of all other Mettals by the reflection of its light upon each Planet each of which together with the Sun produceth its particular Mettal And the Earth performs the Office of a Womb which furnisheth the greatest part of the Matter out of which Mettals are produced and nourisheth them afterwards But the Sun bestows seminal Spirits all pure for Gold but mixed with the Spirits of other Planets for other Mettals But that this generation of Mettals may be rightly understood we must call to mind that out of Letters Syllables are formed before Words Words before Speeches out of which all Discourses are compounded Nature does the same in the production of Mettals for she begins with little Bodies out of which she makes the three immediate Principles of Mettals to wit Salt Sulphur and Mercury Of which Salt is the grosser Sulphur the more unctuous and Mercury the more fluid and moveable part and out of these three by divers preparations digestions sublimations and fixations she makes a Mettalline or Mineral Body But it might be said as it seems to me that the Spirits or Corpuscles flowing from the Stars purified in the Sun and received into the Earth's Lap are incrassated and brought into clear and limpid Water which Water is that viscous sweet and Mercurial Matter which after some few Ages is elaborated and digested till at last it becomes a yellow and fixt Earth in which the Spirit and seed from above resides which Spirit makes all the Corpuscles of water it meets withal like to the former which piercing into the Veins of the Earth and finding a Matter that is pure encreases the Golden Mine until it meets with dead Earth which hinders its propagation But if the Mixture be impure and strange Matter mingled in it instead of Gold it only produces Silver Iron or Copper which are imperfect Mettals From this Doctrine I conclude first of all That by Nature producing Mettals ought to be understood this seminal Spirit consisting of Corpuscles flowing from the Fire of the Stars and working these Miracles under the Earth Secondly That Mettals enjoy a Mettalline Life and after their way a Vegetative also that they are generated out of Mettallick Seed Gold out of the seed of Gold. And that this Mettallick Embryo is nourished by the Air of the Stars by the Spirit and Dew of the Heavens that it grows buds and puts forth branches like a Tree which Metallourgists call a Mettalline Tree furnished with boughs Trunks and Roots which could ne-never be without a vital Principle included in it Which things will more clearly appear by what shall be said hereafter and especially in the experiment about the Tree of Diana CHAP. VIII Of Gold the King of Mettals THere are Seven Mettals viz. Gold Silver Copper Iron Tin Lead and Quick-Silver which Chymists call Sol Luna Venus Jupiter Saturn and Mercury because they suppose each single Planet operates upon each Mettal which is done as I told you by a remission of Coelestial Spirits which are in the Solar Globe and out of its Vortex are carried into each Planet who according to the various opposition of the Sun recieve more or less of his light and send it towards the Earth as being the womb in which pure and impure Mettals are formed according to the purity or impurity of the subterranean Lodgings First Gold is the Chief and Noblest of all Mettals it is the chiefest and principal work of Nature and the heaviest of all Mettals because the Mettallick Corpuscles are so firmly shut and united together in it that very small numbers of Vacuities are left in its composition and in respect of bulk there is a much greater quantity of Matter in Gold than in other Mettals Notwithstanding this great solidity and firmness of Gold yet nevertheless there are some small Vacuities between its Atoms for there is nothing absolutely solid and without a Vacuum but an Atom in particular besides Atoms since they have Figures cannot be united without leaving some empty spaces for unless it were so Gold could not de divided no more than an indivisible Atom There are therefore Vacuities betwixt the Atoms of Gold though but very small and also betwixt its Corpuscles and lastly between its little pieces From this well-grounded Principle I discover the difference of the dissolutions or divisions of Gold. The least and grossest of them all is that which is made by melting it with other Mettals when therefore it is melted with some or with the least of the Seven it is mixed with them and divided into infinite Particles especially if it be mingl'd with a great quantity of an imperfect Mettal as for Example if an Ounce of Gold be melted into ten pounds or more of Lead or Copper but the division of it is apparent from this that not the least quantity of this mixture can be brought to the test but some portion of Gold will be found in it Another separation is made in respect of the small masses of Gold which is made by the help of Aqua Regis which divides Gold after that manner that it may as in the first Division be melted with any Mettal so in this second it becomes like the Water in which it is dissolved and divided But since it is only separated into very small masses it is easily again reduced into a Body and to be melted with Borax and fit to become the massy Gold it was before The third Division which is called radical although it be not so is made by a proper dissolvent of the Philosophers which is a
A NEW TREATISE OF Natural Philosophy Free'd from the INTRICACIES OF THE SCHOOLS Adorned with many Curious Experiments both Medicinal and Chymical AS ALSO With Several Observations useful for the Health of the Body LONDON Printed by R. E. for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over against the Royal. Exchange in Cornhill 1687. LICENSED October 28. 1686. ROBERT MIDGLEY INDEX THe First Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature CHAP. I. Of the Efficient Cause and of its Essence and Differences CHAP. II. Of the First Cause CHAP. III. The Perfections of the First Cause CHAP. IV. Of Second Causes and their Actions CHAP. V. Of Accidental Causes CHAP. VI. Of Sympathy Antipathy and the Effects depending thereupon CHAP. VII Experiments about Iron and the Loadstone CHAP. VIII An Explication of many other Effects which are commonly attributed to Sympathy CHAP. IX Of Portative Remedies commonly called Amulets of Quick-Silver Gold Silver and Copper CHAP. X. Of Natural Phoenomenas which are attributed to Antipathy CHAP. XI Of Emeticks Sudorificks and Specificks CHAP. XII Of Poysons and Toxicks CHAP. XIII Of Sublimate Arsenick and other kinds of Poysons and their deadly Effects CHAP. XIV Of Antidotes CHAP. XV. Of the true Causes of our Diseases CHAP. XVI Of the Causes of our Health CHAP. XVII Of Formal Exemplary and Material Causes CHAP. XVIII Of the First Matter CHAP. XIX Of Atoms and their Nature CHAP. XX. The Properties Magnitude Figure Weight and Motion of Atoms CHAP. XXI The Difficulties arising from the Doctrine of Atoms CHAP. XXII Of a Disseminate Congregate and Separate Vacuum according to Gassendus CHAP. XXIII Of a Congregate Vacuum against Aristotle and Cartesius The Second Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Coelestial World and of those things which are above Man. CHAP. I. Of the immense Spaces which are without the Heavens CHAP. II. Of the Heavens and their Nature CHAP. III. Of Stars and their Substance CHAP. IV. Of the Figures and Magnitude of Stars CHAP. V. Of the Motion of the Stars CHAP. VI. The System of the World according to Ptolomy Examined CHAP. VII The System of the World according to Copernicus Examined CHAP. VIII Of the Motion of the Earth CHAP. IX Of the Sun the true Centre and Heart of the World. CHAP. X. Of the Moon and its Changes CHAP. XI Of Planets Comets and the Fixed Stars CHAP. XII Of Meteors in the Air. CHAP. XIII Of Winds Tempests and Whirl-winds CHAP. XIV Of Thunder Lightning and the Thunderbolt CHAP. XV. Of Aurum-Fulminans which imitates Thunder CHAP. XVI Of Hail Snow Frost c. CHAP. XVII Of the Rainbow Halones and Parrhelis CHAP. XVIII Of the Air its Substance and Qualities The Third Part of Physick of those things which are beneath Man viz. of the Earth and Terrestrial Things which are called Inanimate CHAP. I. Of the Earth and Water in General CHAP. II. Of Terrestrial Inanimate Bodies in General CHAP. III. Of the various Qualities observed in Compound Bodies CHAP. IV. Of Special Qualities which arise from the Composition of Bodies CHAP. V. Of the Quantity Weight and Figure of Compound Bodies CHAP. VI. The Difference betwixt Natural Artificial and Compound Bodies CHAP. VII Of Mettals and their Formation CHAP. VIII Of Gold the King of Mettals CHAP. IX Of Silver Copper and other imperfect Mettals CHAP. X. Of Lead Tin and Iron CHAP. XI Of Quick-Silver Arbor Diana or the Silver Tree CHAP. XII Of Minerals CHAP. XIII Of Salts CHAP. XIV Of Subterranean Fires aend Earthquakes CHAP. XV. Of Waters and their Differences CHAP. XVI Of the Sea its Ebbing and Flowing and of the Saltness of the Sea-Water CHAP. XVII Of Springs and Rivers The Fourth Part of Physick Of those things which are in Man and of Man himself as he is a Compound Physical and Animate Body CHAP. I. Of Life in General CHAP. II. Of the difference of Lives CHAP. III. Of the Vegetative Life common to Man and Plants CHAP. IV. Of the Nature of Seeds and their Propagation CHAP. V. Of Nutrition which is common to Plants and Brutes as well as Man. CHAP. VI. How and with what Food an Embryo is nourished in the Womb 'till the time of its Nativity CHAP. VII How a Man is nourished after he is Born. CHAP. VIII The Sensitive Life of Man and other Animals CHAP. IX Of Seeing its Organ and Object viz. Light. CHAP. X. How illustrated Objects are visible CHAP. XI Of Hearing its Organ and Object CHAP. XII Particular Questions about Hearing CHAP. XIII Smelling its Organ and Object CHAP. XIV Of Tast and its Object CHAP. XV. Of Feeling CHAP. XVI Of Speech the Pulse and Breathing of Man. CHAP. XVII Of the Motion of the Heart CHAP. XVIII Of the irregular motion of the Heart in Animals and in Feavers CHAP. XIX Of the Circulation of the Blood. CHAP. XX. Of the inward Senses and the inferiour Appetite CHAP. XXI Of Sleep want of Rest and Death CHAP. XXII Of the Death of Brutes Plants and Mettals CHAP. XXIII Of the Rational Soul and its Powers NATURAL PHILOSOPHY OR Natural Science FREED FROM The Intricacies of the Schools THE desire of Knowledge is natural to Man Curiosity is inseparable from his Spirit neither is he ever at rest until he hath attained to the perfect knowledge of things that is until he becomes a Wise Man. Science is the Knowledge of things by their Causes therefore there is no Man Wise who is ignorant of the Original Principles and Causes of all things occurring to him and since it is impossible for any Man in this Life to attain to a clear distinct and an undubitable knowledge of all things therefore there is no Man that is absolutely Wise Those who have the Reputation of being Wise and Excellent Philosophers have obtained that preheminence in regard they are less ignorant than others Sciences differ according to the diversity of Mens Conditions and Professions The Noble Man is conversant and wise in the Art of War the Physitian in the Precepts of Medicine and the Advocate in matters of Law and Right but all these Sciences nay Theology it self cannot subsist without Philosophy especially without that part of it which we call Physick or natural Science The First Part of Physick wherein is Treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature BY Nature is understood the Universe composed of Heaven and Earth and all that is found between both this is the Object of Physick this every natural Philosopher ought to know and because this Knowledge cannot be obtained without knowing the principles and causes of things hence it is evident that a Natural Philosopher ought to use his utmost endeavour to enquire into the principles and causes of Nature and of all things which happen in this World. I shall not examine here whether there be any difference betwixt a Cause and a Principle for every principle after its manner I conceive to be a cause of that thing whereof it is the principle and no Man
moreover a separate Vacuum that is a space beyond the World which some do call an Imaginary space in which God hath not indeed produced but nevertheless can produce something Of this we will speak in the Second Part which we now Begin The Second Part of Physick In which is Treated of Coelestial Things which happen above Man. THE World in General is a Theatre of the Wonderful things of God and a Collection of all things which he hath produced whereof the World is the Lowest and least Noble but the Heaven the most High and the most Noble We do now here propose to speak of this Coelestial World and of all those things which are above us CHAP. I. Of the Immense Spaces which are without the Heavens DESCARTES hath absolutely concluded that there is no space without the Heavens because all are full of Matter and that the World is not encompassed about with Bounds and Limits by way of a Circumference Aristotle and his Followers affirm That the World is bounded by the Exterior and Convex part of the Heavens and beyond that there are void and imaginary Spaces in which there is nothing Real Gassendus and his Disciples are of the same Opinion concerning the Limits and Circumference of the World but he denieth that there are imaginary Spaces without the Heavens and he says indeed that they are Vacuums and yet nevertheless that they are real and this is it which he calls a Separate Vacuum The Opinion of Renatus Descartes is intollerable because the World is limited in its being as well as in its duration that is to say by a fluid space or by time it is therefore limited in respect of place which is a permanent space which it possesses even to the Circumference that is to the Convex Part of the Heaven otherwise the World would be Infinite and absolutely immensurable in its extension and indeed if the World had not Limits in respect of time or that the instant wherein it begun could not be found out it would be Eternal In like manner if we acknowledge no end of the World's extension we may say it is immensurable But if the whole World be immense and indefinite as Descartes would have it if it hath neither Figure nor Extream Parts it must evidently follow that it is Infinite for that which in all its parts is real or hath any part which we cannot count its last is absolutely and actually Infinite in its extension But if Descartes will play with the word Indefinite and say indeed that the World is Indefinite because it hath no end in its extension but yet from thence it does not follow that it is Infinite I would ask him to tell me the difference betwixt an Infinite Line and an Indefinite one and also between the immensity of God and the Indefiniteness of the World for if the World is Indefinite the same thing may be said of it that Trismegistus said of God to wit that it hath neither Centre nor Circumference whence it follows that this World Occupies all Spaces and that it is immoveable nor can it be moved out of its place and that God cannot Create another World without Destroying this because there is no Room in which God Almighty might place it All which Consequences are inevitable and the Principle of it more than rash The Opinion contrary to the former which is Gassendus's and which we embrace is more firm and agreeable to Reason for it teaches That this World is limited in respect of Place and that it hath both a Circumference as well as a Centre beyond which there are void Spaces in which God Almighty could produce another or more Worlds greater or equal to this of ours wherein we dwell if he pleased From this most true Opinion it is concluded That God fills by his Immensity all infinite Spaces and that he is really in them and that He is no ways limited by the Circumference of the Heavens and that He can there produce another World remote from this of ours and according to this Hypothesis this distance or that interval will have its dimensions although void and immaterial yet mensurable From thence it is concluded That since space is as indeed it is immutable and immoveable it is the proper place of Bodies actually or potentially as they do or do not exist for if a Body be in it the space is filled otherwise there is a Vacuum as we suppose beyond the Heavens where there are no Bodies so that I say that the place and extension of Bodies is a permanent space in like manner as time the measure of the duration of things is a fluid space CHAP. II. Of the Heavens and their Nature ALL that can be said of the Heavens and their Nature relates to their Substance Figure Number and Motion The Substance of them is the same with that of the Inferiour World for there are not two sorts of matter essentially distinct and all Material Bodies are equally solid and impenetrable in that the essence of matter consists And although there be some kind of difference between Terrestrial and Coelestial Matter it cannot yet notwithstanding be thence concluded that they are of a several Nature because all the diversity proceeds from this that the Atoms of the Coelestial Matter are more subtile than the Atoms of the Terrestrial Matter and more exact more moveable and more perfect in respect of their Figures and the more perfect Bodies compounded of them and their Mass better united and lastly the whole Body more compleat This Doctrine may be illustrated by the Example of Letters for those which Compose a Word and which are accurately delineated and written do not differ from those which Compose the same Word and are ill delineated and written the first nevertheless are better more exact and more elegantly formed which happens in respect of the same Hand which makes them according to the difference of the Pen or Ink or the Design of the Writer who makes longer or rounder or after any fashion he pleases I say therefore that the Heavens which declare the Glory of God differ as much from the Earth as a Printed Book from a Manuscript Atoms like Letters are the same in both which although they are of the same Author do not agree in their Figure and shape because Almighty God would have it so in order to the Fairness and Beauty of the World. The Figure of the Heavens appears round to us This Figure is most perfect and therefore accounted most fit for Motion and nothing perswades us to affirm the contrary but on the other hand all things perswades us that the Figure of the Heavens is round since it encompasses the Earth which is round And since we observe the Stars to have their Nocturnal Risings and Settings which could never happen if the Heavens were not Round The Number of the Heavens cannot easily be found out there are some who say there are Eleven others reckon Nine but the greatest
this motion of the Earth by more Natural Reasons I say therefore and suppose that the Sun is immoveable in the Centre of the World and yet notwithstanding that like a Wheel it turns round about its proper Centre and this is that motion which is called Circum-Rotation and by this motion it disperses on all sides on every part these Corpuscles which produce Light and Heat These Corpuscles compose that great Vortex which is about the Sun and which with it is carried round and moves the Earth which is plac'd in the same Vortex with it like as a Stone is moved by the motion of a rapid Stream and this same Vortex carries other Planets along with it accordingly as they are more or less immerged in it According to this explication one may fancy the Sun to be like the wheel of a Clock which moves that which is next to it another way for when one Wheel is moved towards the right the other which it carries with it must of necessity be moved towards the left So whilst the Sun by its Circum-Rotation is moved from East to West the Earth must likewise be moved from West to East The other motion of the Earth is that which is called Annual or half-yearly and which arises from the Libration of the Solar Body and of the Vortex which drives the Earth from the part of the Pole and makes it daily go a degree farther and so the Annual as the Diurnal motion each day declines one degree onely from a Parallel from whence arise the vicissitudes of days and Seasons But if the Earth returns by the same steps as I may so say it happens because the Sun by its daily Libration drives it on from one part and then after six Months assuming an opposite Libration it draws it back for Three Months and for the other three Months which makes up Six it drives it forwards so that the Rotation and the Libration of the Sun makes a double or a triple motion of the Earth without the former's changing either its place or its Centre All that we have hitherto said according to the mind of these Authors doth not as yet satisfie a Spirit curious to know the truth So here are other difficulties remaining which must be taken away by more sensible and more Natural Reasons First Though we affirm the Sun to be immoveable and the Earth to be wheeled round about it or though we affirm the contrary there remains nevertheless that we give an account not only of each of these motions but also of the motions of the other Planets It is demanded what is the internal or external Cause of the Earths motion If it be answered that the Sun by its Libration is the Cause of it as we have said and as our Opinion is it remains that we demonstrate the Cause whether internal or external that gives the Sun this motion By means of which being librated from one side for Six Months it is also librated for as many from the other side and by this so regular motion it sometimes draws the Earth towards it and sometimes drives it from it as we shall see in the following Chapter what can be said about this Matter CHAP. IX Of the Sun the true Centre and Heart of the World. THe Sun being placed in the Centre of the World is like the Heart inspiring Life into all things and presiding over all the Works of Nature whatsoever even as the Heart in an humane Body is the Principle of its Life and all its motions this is that admirable Machine which without being moved out of its place moves the Spirits Humours and all the parts of our Bodies in like manner the immoveable Sun by his double motion shakes and moves the Earth as well as the rest of the Planets One only difficulty remains in explaining the motion of the Heart in the Microcosme and of the Sun in the Macrocosme But being about to treat else-where of the Earths motion we will here only speak of the Suns motion which I call a wheeling of it round about the Earth and afterwards we will speak of its Libration Elsewhere we have said the Sun to be not only of the same Nature with Gold but to be Gold indeed melted in the Centre of the World and Cupellated by the Fire of the fix'd Stars which are every where about it No wonder therefore that it is wheeled round like melted Gold in a Crusible and there sparkling and purified That this Hypothesis which will bring no little light to many things may be better comprehended I will bring an Experiment to confirm this Doctrine which seems new indeed but nevertheless it cannot be denied to be built upon the foundation of indubitable Experience I say therefore that if you take Gold and put it into a great Crusible with Lead Copper or other Mettals and make a Fire every where round it these Mettals will be melted together and compose a sparkling smoaking Bath this Bath or melted Matter is in perpetual motion and so soon as the matter is made hot it wheels round its Centre without intermission It would be much more conspicuous if this melted Matter in the Centre of the World were equally distant from all the points of its circumference for this being supposed no man will deny this melted Matter fixed in the Centre of the World and Fire being put to it every where and on all sides to remain in fashion as in a Crusible and to have the same motion of Circum-rotation and Libration which we attribute to the Sun. All the Obstacle we meet with at first sight consists in this to wit how this solar melted Matter can remain suspended not falling down on any part Secondly By means of what Fire it remains always melted Thirdly How it comes to pass that since Gold so soon as it is cupellated or refined remains in the Crusible in a fix'd Mass yet the Sun which is like to this Gold is neither fixed nor stands it still immediately but being wheeled perpetually round its Centre it continues in motion and is Librated in the Cupel without any intermission To the first of these difficulties I answer that we ought not to stand upon it because they who place the Earth in the Centre of the World do teach us that if a great hole were made through the Earth even as far as our Antipodes and if a Mill-Stone were thrown into it it would stop in the middle which is affirmed to be the Centre of the World and there remain suspended for to move forwards either way would be to ascend The same thing may be said likewife of Water or other Liquids which would remain suspended If therefore the Sun be in the Centre of the World why should it seem a wonder that it should remain there so suspended since that may serve him instead of a Cupel As to the other difficulty which belongs to the Fire I answer that there is no want of that because
and the three others much greater although according to their Opinion the Diameter of the Earth is three thousand five hundred Miles but its circumference seven thousand Miles including the water which together with the Earth make up one Globe Comets according to Aristotle are Planets or Stars produced De Novo from Exhalations By which saying this Philosopher is compelled to place all Comets under the Moon which is found to be an Error by the experience of a great many Comets which have appeared above the Moon and the Sun too whither Exhalations from the Earth can never reach All the time of their continuance they have a regular motion for the explication of which Aristotle could never assign them an Intelligence to guide them Seneca the Antients and Copernicus teach that Comets have been produced from the beginning of the World and the reason why we do not see them so often as we do the Planets is because they are elevated too high above us and since they have an excentrick motion according to this Opinion they sometimes and for some continnuance of time appear that is to say then when they descend into the Heaven of the Planets But all these Opinions are very uncertain This is my Opinion that if the Sun is Gold melted in the Cupel as I really believe and that from thence Fumes and Vapours arise it is no hard matter to conceive that in the Solar Vortex and in the Corpuscles exhaling from the Sun a great part of them are very gross thick and inflammable which taking Fire make these Comets we speak of whose motion is regularly directed by the Vortex of the Sun yet nevertheless this does not hinder but that some Comets may be generated nearer us from Terrestrial Exhalation The fixed Stars are fastned to the Firmament as so many little Suns they are as immoveable as the Heaven in which they are included nevertheless like the Sun they move about their Centres although this motion be neither useful profitable nor necessary And so nothing compels us to say that they are actually moved They are all said to be bigger than the Earth and to be in number 1022 the Heaven in which they are is said to be solid clear and transparent like Ice and this is that Heaven which was made in the midst of the Waters and which any one may represent to himself like a great Circle of Water congealed in the form of Chrystal But according to my foregoing Hypotehsis I had rather say that the fix'd Stars are like so many round holes or Rings furnished with so many large Diamonds or Carbuncles which serve as a Medium or Vehicle to the light and heat of the Empyrial Heaven as we have said already CHAP. XII Of Meteors in the Air. ARISTOTLE hath constituted two sorts of Bodies to wit Simple and Mixt he placeth Meteors under these latter but he calls them imperfect mixt Bodies because he did believe them not to have a substantial form as perfect Bodies have nor to be produced by the ordinary way of Generation This Doctrine is contrary to our Principles for we say that those Meteors which we see in the Air are in their kind and condition perfect Bodies not differing from others neither in respect of Matter which is one and the same to them all nor in respect of substantial form produced in the formation of them for we acknowledge no such forms but as unprofitable and Chimerical All the difference which we take notice of betwixt them ought to be taken upon the account of their formation and different conditions under which one and the same Matter that is to say Atoms do meet together by a disposition of their parts by an addition of strange Bodies by an introduction of Vacuities and by a conversion of their Figures After this manner are formed Clouds which are the Meteors of the middle Region of the Air and which have Water Air and Earth for their Matter for from the Vapours of Water and the subtile particles of Earth together with the Air with which they are carried up Clouds are formed which are sometimes so thick that they rob us of the Suns Light which happens when more of Earth than of Air or Water goes into their composition On the other hand sometimes they are so subtile that they can hardly or not at all be seen by us which happens when air obtains the chief place in their composition for in a word Clouds are nothing else but a congregation and mixture of Corpuscles or little Bodies of Earth Water and Air which are the proximate Matter of them the Vortex of the Sun the Motion of the Earth and the Winds are the three concurring Causes of their mixtion and elevation into the upper Region of the Air. Other sorts of Meteors are Rains descending from the middle Region of the Air and generated from the solution of Clouds that is to say when Water which hath the greatest share in their formation freeing it self from the particles of Earth and parts of Air thence forward distill as it were by an Alembick which happens because its particles being incrassated by the coldness of the Air the water is separated from the Air and falls down again to the place from whence it came in the form of little drops From this Rain proceeds the Earths Fruitfulness for it never descends but it brings some portion of the little seminal Bodies flowing along with it In Rains therefore is contained Salt and the Balsom of the Stars which Basilius Valentinus speaks of and from hence all Vegetables bud and increase The Curious enquirers into Nature may try whether I speak truth or no and whether they may not find a Salt as white as Sugar if they take away by Distillation the unprofitable parts with which it is involved Dew is almost of the same nature with Rain only it is more pure more subtile and more fruitful by reason of the Seasons of the Year which chiefly enjoy it viz. at the time of the Aequinoxes when the Sun and the Earth are nearest to each other which happens when the Earth passes the Aequator wherefore at that time it receives and carries along with it a greater number of solar Corpuscles depurated by his motion than Rain or Dew it self that falls at other times Dew falls down in round drops because its Corpuscles are round and its Atoms are of the same Figure with the Sun whether whole or in parts Dew penetrates the Earth and moistens those places where there are seldom Rains But the Sun's shining Beams presently carry it away along with them into the Vortex in the mean time part of this Salt or Balsom of the Stars contained in the Dew remains upon the Herbs and Flowers where we observe a kind of Viscousness like Sugar or Honey thus Bees gathering this Dew lade themselves with it and make Honey of it This Dew in the Hot Countries of Palestine Aegypt Arabia and Calabria is condensed into