Needle thereunto for at either of its Poles the Needle shall be erected perpendicularly and lye in the same line with its Axis but at any of the intermediate Spaces or Parallels it shall be neither plainly erected nor plainly lye along but observe an oblique situation and more or less oblique according to the variety of the Parallels and at the middle interstice or Aequator it shall dispose it self in conformity to the ductus of the Meridian and fix in a position parallel to the Axis of the Loadstone That a Loadstone doth accommodate it self exactly to the Earth as a Needle doth accommodate it self to the Loadstone is evinced from this easie Experiment If you suspend a Loadstone whose Poles you have formerly discovered and noted with the Characters N. S. in calme aer or set it floating at liberty in a vessel of Quicksilver or a small Skiff of Cork swimming upon Water that so it may freely perform the office of its nature you shall observe it continually to move it self from side to side and suffer alternate Vibrations or accesses and recesses till it hath so disposed it self according to the Meridian as that one of its Poles viz. that marked with N. shall point to the North and the other upon which S. is inscribed to the South Nor that only but forasmuch as England is situate near the North of the Earth and so hath the North pole somewhat demersed or depressed below the horizon nearer than the South Pole of the Earth therefore doth not the Loadstone keep up both its Poles in a level or perfectly horizontal position but depresseth that pole which affects the N somewhat below the plane of the horizon as much as it can directing the same to the N. pole of the Earth Farther being it is commonly observed that this Depression some call it the DECLINATION others the INCLINATION of the N. pole of the Loadstone or point of an excited Needle is so much the greater by how much nearer the stone or needle is brought to the Boreal part of the Earth so much less by how much nearer to the Aequator therefore may we conclude that a Loadstone being removed in the same position of freedome from the Aequator by degrees to each of the Earths poles would more and more depress or decline its Boreal pole by how much it should come nearer and nearer to the Boreal pole of the Earth and on the otherside of the Aequator more and more decline its Austral pole to the Austral pole of the Earth by how much nearer it did approach the same nor could it lye with both poles above the horizon at once in any part of the Earth but upon the Aequator and at either of the Poles of the Earth the Axis of the stone would make one with the Axis of the Earth The THIRD That Iron acquireth a Verticity not only from the touch or affriction of a Loadstone but also from its meer situation in upon or above the Earth in conformity to the poles thereof For all Iron barrs that have long remained in Windows Grates c. in a position polary or North and South if you suspend them in aequilibrio by lines in the aer so as they may move themselves freely according to the inclination of their Virtue received from the Earth will make several diadroms hither and thither and rest not untill they have converted to the North that extreme which in their former diuturne position regarded the North and that to the South which formerly respected the South and having recovered this their Cognation they shall fixe in a Meridional posture as exactly as the Loadstone it self or a Magnetified Needle To experiment this the most easie way is to offer at convenient distance a Magnetick Dial or Marriners Compass to the extrems of an Iron barr that hath long layn N and S for then may you soon observe the Needle or Versory freely equilibrated therein to be drawn in that point which respecteth the North by that extreme of the barr which is Australized and on the contrary the South point of the Needle to be drawn by that extreme of the barr which is Borealized This Vertical impraegnation of Iron meerly by the Earth is also evidenced from hence that Iron barrs made red hot and then set to cool in a Meridional position do acquire the like polary Cognation and being either at liberty of conversion suspended by small Chords in the aer or set â—loating in small boats of Cork or applyed to the Needle of a Pixis Nautica immediately discover the same This being most manifest why may not our Marriners in defect of a Loadstone make a Needle or Fly for their Chard of simple Iron alone since if it hath layn in a Meridional situation above the earth or been extinguished according to the same lawes of position it will bear and demonstrate as strong an affection to the poles of the Earth as a Needle invigorated by a Loadstone nor shall the Depression or Declination of the one in each degree of remove from the Aequator toward either pole be less or greater than that of the other The FOURTH that insomuch as both the Loadstone and Iron hâ—ve so neer a cognation to the Earth and conformity of situation to the parts of it nothing certainly can seeme more consentaneous than that they both hold one and the same nature in common with the Eâ—rth at leâ—st with the Internall parts or Kernell thereoâ— but yet with thâ—s difference that Iron being a part of the Earth very much altered from its orginall constitution by the activity of its seminall principle cannot therefore so easily manifest its extraction or prove it self to be the genuine production and part thereof without praecedent Repurgation and Excitation or freâ—h Anâ—mation from the Effluviums of the Earth but a Loadstone havâ—ng not unâ—ergon the like mutations from concoction and so reâ—aining nearer allied to the Earth doth retain a more lively tâ—â—cture of its polary faculty and by the evidence of spontaneous Dâ—â—â—ctâ—on demonstrate its Verticity to be purely native and it 〈◊〉 by consequence to be onely a divided part or legitimate 〈◊〉 of the Earth Further from hence that the Loadstone anâ— the Terrestriall Globe have both one and the same power thâ—ugh in different proportions of impraegnating Iron with a 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—ction impressing one and the same faculty thereupon it is iustâ—y inâ—errible that the Loadstone not onely in respect of â—ther Conditions wherein it resembleth the Earth but also and in chief of this noble Efficacy of invigorating and renovating the 〈◊〉 quâ—lity of Iron may well be accounted as the Fatâ—eâ— of Magnetique Philosophy Dr. Gilbert hath named it 〈◊〉 Terâ—â—lla the Globe of Earth in epitome and that the Eâ—â—th it self may be reputed Ingens Magnes a Great Loadstoâ—e Thâ—ugh in truth the Earth may challenge the title or a Gâ—eat 〈◊〉 by another right though somewhat less eviâ—ent and thâ—t iâ— its Attraction
of all â—errene bodies in direct lines to it self â—as we â—ave formerly made most verisimilous in our Chapt. of Grâ—vity and Levity by the same way and instrumâ—nts as the Lâ—â—â—stone attâ—â—cteth Iron And though it cannot 〈◊〉 â—enied that 〈◊〉 Coâ—tex of the Terrestriall Globe which may â—e â—â—ny 〈◊〉 tâ—â—ck is variously interspersed with waters 〈…〉 stones metalls metalline juices and divâ—rs other dissimilar and unmagneticall bodies yet notwithstandinâ— may we justly conceive that the Nucleus Kernell or interior part 〈◊〉 the Eâ—â—th is a substance wholly Magneticall and that many Veâ—ns or branches thereof being derived unto the exterior â—â—rts are those very subterraneous Veins from which by effossion Loâ—â—stones are extracted Especially since nature doth invite us to this conception by certain clear evidences not onely in Iron which may be digged out of most places in the Earth but also in â—â—st Argillous and Arenaceous Concretions all which are found to be endowed with a certain though obscureâ— Polary inclination as appears in Bricks and Tiles that have a long time enjoyed a meridionâ—ll situation regarding the N. with one extreme and the S. with the other or been made red hot and afterward cooled north and south oâ— perpendicularly erected as hath been said of Iron barrs The FIFTH It being then most certain that Iron obtaines a magneticall Verticity or faculty of self-direction to the poles of the earth meerly either from its long situation or refrigeration after ignition in a position respective thereunto we may be almost as certain that this Affection ariseth to the Iron from no other but a Locall immutation or change of position of its insensible particles solely and immediately caused by the magneticall Aporrhaea's of the Earth invading and pervading it When we observe the Fire by sensible degrees embowing or incurvating a peice of wood held neer it how can we better satisfy our selves concerning the cause and manner of that sensible alteration of the figure of the wood then by conceiving that its insensible particles are all of them so commoved by the Atoms of Fire immitted into it substance as that some of them are consocâ—ated which were formerly at distance and others dissociated which were formerly contingent all being inverted and so changing their pristine situation and obtaining a new position or locall direction much different from their former And when we observe a rod of Iron freshly infected with the Polary virtue of the Earth to put on a certain spontaneous inclination in its extremes and convert it self exactly according to the meridian and with a kind of humble homage salute that pole of its late inspirer from whence it received the strongest influence how can we more reasonably explain the reason of that effect than by conceaving that upon the immiâ—sion of the Earths magneticall Rayes into the substance of the Iron the insensible particles thereof are so commoved distructed inverted and turned about as that they all are disposed into a new posture and acquire a new locall respect or Direction according to which they become as it were reinnimated with a tendency not the same way but another much different and when the cognation of their extremes are varied by an inverted ignition and refrigeration quite contrary to that whither they tended before this mutation of their position and respect This Conjecture may seem somewhat the more happy from hence that a barr of Iron when made red hot doth acquire this Polary Direction in a very few minutes of time but being kept cold it requires many years situation North and South to its impraegnation with the like virtue a sufficient manifest that the particles of the Iron being by the subingression of the Atoms of Fire among them reduced to a greater laxity of contexture are more easily commoved and inverted by and more expeditely conforme themselves unto the disposition of the magnetique influence of the Earth When a red hot barr of Iron is cooled not in a meridian position to the poles of the Earth but transversly or equinoctionally why doth it not contract to it self the like verticall disposition doubtless the best reason that can be given for it is this that the insensible particles of it are not converted nor their situation varied so much in the one position of the whole mass as in the other the magneticall Rayes of the Earth invading the substance of the Iron in indirect and so less potent lines Likewise if the same barr of Iron after it hath imbibed a Verticity be again heated and coold in a contrary position what reason can be assigned to the change of the Southern Verticity into a Northern and its Northern into a Southern by the contrary obversion of its ends unless this that the particles of the Iron doe thereby suffer a fresh conversion and quite contrary disposition no otherwise than those of a piece of wood when it is incurvated by the fire according as this or that side is obverted thereunto The SIXTH forasmuch as Iron doth derive the same Verticity or Direction from its Affriction against a Loadstone as it doth from the magneticall influence of the Earth when posited respectively to its poâ—es it appears necessary that it doth suffer the same Locall Immutation of its insensible particles from the efficacy of the magneticall rayes of the Loadstone as from those of the Earth especially since we cannot comprehend how a Body should acquire a strong propension or tendency to a new place without some generall Immutation and that a Locall one too of all its component particles The strength of this our conception consisteth chiefly in this that after a rod or needle of Iron hath contracted a sprightly Verticity from a Loadstone by being rubbed thereupon from the middle toward the ends it doth instantly lose it again if it be rubbed upon the same or any other Loadstone the opposite way or from either end toward the middle For how can it be imagined that a right-hand stroak of a knife upon a Loadstone should destroy that polary Faculty which it had obtained from a left-hand stroak upon the same unless from hence that the insensible particles of the blade of the knife were turned one way by the former affriction and reduced again tâ— their former naturall situation by the latter It seems to be the same in proportion as when the ears of Corn in a field are blown toward the South by the North wind and suddainly blown from the South toward the North by the South wind Nor doth Iron after its excitement retain any of the magneticall Atoms immitted into it either from the Earth or a Magnet but suffers only an immutation of its insensible particles which sufficeth to its polary respect a long time after for a Needle is no whit heavier after its invigoration by a Loadstone than before as Mersennus and Gassendus together experimented in such a Zygostata or Ballance wherewith Jewellers are to weigh Pearles and Diamonds which is so exact that the
is not every way of Apposition that will be convenient but only that when it is disposed in a direct line respondent to the same Ductus or situation of its Fibres according to which it was continued to the Earth beâ—ore its separation Nor is this meer Conjecture but a truth as firme as the Earth it self and as plain as sense can make it it being constâ—ntly observed that what situation a Loadstone had in its Matrix or minerall bed the very same it shall strongly affect and strictly observe evâ—r after at least while it is a Loadstone i. e. untill time or Fire have destroyed its Verticity And as for the Use thereof it is so â—ruitfull as to yield us the most probable Reason in Generall for sundry the most obscure among all Magneticall Apparences 1 Forasmuch as the Loadstone ever affects its native situation and that its Northern part did while it remained in its matrix adhaere to the Southern parts of the same magnetique vein that lay more North and its Southern part did adhaere to the Northern part of the magnetick vein that lay more South therefore is it that the North pole of a Loadstone doth never affect an union with the North pole of the earth nor its South pole direct to the South pole of the Earth but quite contrary its North pole converts to the South and its South to the North. So that whenever you observe a Loadstone freely swimming in a boate of Cork to convert or decline one of its poles to the North of the Earth you may assure your self that that is the South pole of the Loadstone and è contra 2 From the same and no other Cause is it also that when a Magnet is dissected or broken into two pieces and so two new poles created in each piece the Boreall pole of the one half shall never admit Coition with the Boreall pole of the other nor the Australl extreme of the one fragment affect conjunction wâ—th the Australl extreme of the the other but contrariwise the Australl end shall septentrionate and the septentrionaâ—â— Australize The same also happens whenever â—ny two Loâ—â—stones 〈◊〉 applied each to other the Cause being Generall viz. the Native 〈◊〉 or Grain of the Magnetique Fibres which is inverted wheneâ—â—â— the Boreall part of a Loadstone is applied to the Boreall paâ—t of the Earth or of another Loadstone or the Meridionall part of a Loaâ—stâ—ne be converted to the meridionall part of the Earth of another Loadstone as the Ductus of the Fibres in a shoot of a Plâ—nt is inverteâ— when the upper extreme thereof is inserted into the upper part of a sâ—oâ—k This considered when we observe the Animated Needle 〈…〉 Mariners Compass freely converting it self round upon the pin â—hereon it is aequilibrated that end which directeth to the Norâ—â— pole of the Earth must be the South point of the Needle and viceversally that must be the North cuspis of the Needle which conâ—rontetâ— the South of the Earth And when praesent a Loadstone to a magnetified Versory that part of the Loadstone must be the North pole to which the South cuspis of the Needle comes and that to which the North point of the Needle approaches must be the South of the Loadstone The same also may be concluded of the extremes of Irons when a Loadstone is applied unto them for that part of an Iron barr which laied meridionally hath respected the North must have been spirited by the Southern influence of the Earth and è contra and among our Fire Irons the upper end must have imbibed the Northern influence of the Earth and the Lower the Southern contrary to the assertion of some of our Magneticall Philosophers The NINTH the Analogy of the Earth to the Loadstone and other magnetically inspired bodies being so great and the Cause thereof so little obscure it may seem a justifiable inference That the Terriestriall Globe doth inwardly consist of certain continued Fibres running along from North to South or from South to North in one uninterrupted ductus and consequently that since the middle Fibre is as it were the Axis whose opposite extremes make the two Poles in case the whole Earth could be divided into two or more great parts there would instantly result in every part or division a special Axis two speciall Poles a speciall Aequator and all other conditions as formerly in the whole Globe so that the septentrionall part of one piece would conjoin it self to the Austrine part of another and the septentrionall parts reciprocally avert themselves each from other as the parts of a Loadstone And this we may understand to be that mighty and so long enquired Cause why all the parts of the Terrestriall Globe do so fiâ—mly cohaeâ—e and conserve the primitive Figure the Cohaesion Attractive Virtue constant Direction and spontaneous Verticity of all its genuine parts all whose Southern Fibres doe magnetically or individually conforme and conjoyn themselves to the Northern and their Northern to the Southern being the necessary Causes of that Firmness and constancy of Figure Impossible we confess it is to obtain any ocular Experiment of this constitution of the Earths internall Fibres the very Cortex of the Earth extending some miles in profundity but yet we desume a reasonable Conjecture thereof as well from the great similitude of effects wrought by the Earth and other Magneticks as the Experience of Miners who frequently observe and constantly affirme that the Veins of subterraneous Rocks from whose chinks they dig Iron oare doe allwayes tend from South to North and that the Veins of eminent Rocks which make the Giant Mountains upon the face of the Earth have generally the same Direction And though there are some Rowes or Tracts of Mountains that run from East to West or are of oblique situation yet are there alwayes some considerable intercisures among them from South to North so that that can be no sufficient argument that the interior Fibres of the Earth which are truely and entirely magneticall and subjacent under those Mountainous rocks doe not lye in a meridionall position or conforme to the Axis of the Earth The TENTH that since the observations of Miners ascertain us that the Ranges or Tracts of Rocks in the Cortex or accessible part of the Terrestriall Globe do for the most observe a praecisely Meridionall situation and tend from South to North and sometimes i. e. in some places deâ—lect toward the East and West with less and greater obliquity and that our Reason may from thence and the similitude of the Eâ—rth and Loadstone naturally extract a Conjecture that the Fibres of the Earths Kernell or inaccessible parts though for the most they tend praecisely from the South to the North may yet in many places more and lâ—ss Deflect toward the East and West we need no longer perplex ouâ— minds with enquiring Why all Magnetiques and especially the Versory or Needle of the Sea-mans Compass being horizontally
created it and â—alen de therica ad Pison termed the Attractive Virtue thereof whâ—â— Divine To which we shall add also this that the Hypothesis of thâ—â—ontinued Ductus of the Magnetick Fibres of the Earth especially 〈◊〉 the Kernell or Interior substance thereof from the South to the North Pole â—upon which we have erected the solutions of sundry great Magneâ—â—call Apparences is subject to much less of Improbability than that oâ— â—ilbert and Grandamicus that the Magnetique Virtue is a simple or Immaâ—â—â—iall Quality than that of De's Cartes that the Magnetique Aporrhaea's consist of streated or Screw'd Atoms passing through the Earth by contrâ—â—â— and diversly figurated insensible pores issuing forth at either poâ—e and â—â—eeling about interchangeably to the opposite pole than that of Sr. 〈◊〉 Digby that the Magnetique streams glide along from either Pole anâ— Hemisphere of the Earth by Attraction to the Aequator or in truth â—â—an any other hitherto excogitated and divulged But before we puâ— an end to this Chapter 't is requisite to advertise you oâ— a Confiderâ—â—â—â— omitted in the beginning of it which is thâ—â— though we 〈◊〉 the Virtue Magnetick to be in Generall Two-fold Attractive 〈◊〉 Directive yet is that Distinction to be admitted noâ— in an Absolute 〈◊〉 Respective intention or only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in order to our morâ—â—â—stinct Comprehension of the immediate and particuâ—ar Reasons of 〈◊〉 respective Magneticall Effects which otâ—erwise must have wanted 〈◊〉 advantage of order in their consideration For we are fully 〈◊〉 of the truth of that Assertion of Grandamicus Nova Demonstraâ—â—â—â—mobilit Terrae cap 5. Sect. 2. that the Attraction and Direâ—â—ion or 〈◊〉 and Polarity of Magneticks are caused by one and the sam◠〈◊〉 which being conferred upon them by the infinite Wisdome and 〈◊〉 of the Creator in order to the Conservation of the Earth and all its genuine parts in that position in the Universe and that disposition among themselves in which they are best supported and most conveniently performe Actions conforme and proper to their Nature may be yet termed Attractive insomuch as it Unites Magneticall Bodies violently separated and Directive insomuch as it Disposeth them in a due and commodious situation And so notwithstanding the Actions and Motions of Magnetiques seem exceeding Various and in some cases plainly Contrary yet are they to be deduced from one simple principle one and the same Generall Virtue and they all may be conveniently explicâ—ted by the same Common Reason The Fourth Book CHAP. 1. OF GENERATION AND CORUPTION SECT I. THat Nature or the Common Harmony of the World is continued by Changes or the Vicissitudes of Individualls i. e. the Production of some Destruction of other Things determined to this or that particular Species and that there must be one Catholique Matter of which all things are Elemented and into which they may be again by Dissolution reduced are Positions to which all men most readily prostrate their assent But What that First and Common matter is How Concretioâ—s are Educible out of it and How Reducible at length into it after the Privation of their Specificall Formes are Quaestions whose Beginnings are more easily known than their ends However forasmuch as we have endeavoured in our immediately foregoing Book to determine the First of them together with the possible Emergency of all Qualities whereof either our sense or Reason can afford us any measure of cognizance and the Reasons of the Perception of them by Animals from Atoms so and so Configurated and so and so Disposed in Commistion it now neerly concerns us to attempt the most hopefull Decision of the other Two that so we may not seem to have thus long discoursed of the Principles and Affections of Compound Bodies while we remained wholly ignorant of the most probable wayes both of their Origination from those Principles and of their Reversioâ— into them again when they have lost the right of their former Denominations and suffered to the utmost of their Divisibility By the terme GENERATION we ought praecisely to understand that Act of Nature whereby she produceth a Thing de novo or gives Being to a Thing in some certain Genus of Bodies Concrete and consequently by its Contrary CORRUPTION that whereby she Dissolves a Thing so that thenceforth it ceaseth to be what it was For when Fire a stone a Plant an Animal or whatever is referrible to any one determinate kind of Bodies Compound is first produced or made and begins to be so or so Denominated it is truely said to be Generated and contrariwise when a Thing perisheth and loseth the right of its former Denomination it is as truely said to be Corrupted And this is that which Aristotle 1. de Generat 2. frequently call's Generatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Generation Simple and Perfect so to praevent that Confusion of Generation with Alteration into which many of his Praedecessors had oftâ—â— fallen to their own and their Disciples no little disquiet For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alteration can be accounted a Generation only improperly of secundum quid forasmuch as by Alteration a Body is not produced de novo but onely acquires some new Quality or some Accidentary Denomination and Philosophers accordingly define it to be Progressionem Corporis ex una qualitate in aliam a Progression of a Body from one Quality to another as when water is changed from cold to hot by fire Again every Mutation requires a subject to be Altered and that subject must be something Compound complete and already constituted in some determinate Genus of Beings But of Generation strictly accepted the onely subject is the First and Universall matter which being in it self destitute of all Form Aristole doth therefore subtly call simpliciter Non-ens simply or determinately Nothing forasmuch as he frequently inculteth that Generation is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Nâ—n ente simpliciter Because had He ommitted that adverb simpliciter his Reader might justly have understood Non ens absolute Nothing Absolutely and so have accused him of openly contradicting his own Fundamentall Axiome Ex nihilo nihil fieri that nothing can be made or â—enerated of Nothing This being praemised to praevent the danger of Aequivocation we observe First with Aristotle 3. de caelo 1. that among the Ancient Philosophers some held that Nothing is Generated nothing Corrupted as Parmenides and Melissus Others again that All things are Generated and Corrupted as Hesiod and Heraclitus Secondly that of Those who admitted Generation and consequently Corruption some conceived that Generation is made by the Access of a Form to Matter and that that Form is a certain New substance absolutely distinct from that of the Matter and together with it constituting the Compositum or whole resulting from the Commistion of Matter and Form of which sect Aristotle Himself deserves to be in the Chair because in order to his Assertion of this Opinion He supposeth a Threefold substance the
with the Magna Charta of right Reason may be discovered from these considerations 1. When Water is frozen the Ice always begins in it superfice or upper parts where the Aer immediately toucheth it but if it were Cold of its own Nature as is generally praesumed upon the auctority of Aristotle the Ice ought to begin in parts farthest situate from the Aer that is in the middle or bottom rather than at the top at least it would not be more slowly conglaciated in the middle and bottom than at the top 2. In all Frosts the Cold of Water is encreased which could not be if it were the principal seat of Cold. For how could the Aer which according to the vulgar supposition that Water is the subject of inhaesion to extreme Cold if less cold infuse into water a greater cold than what it had before of its owne or how could Nitre dissolved in water so much augment the Cold thereof as to convert it into Ice even in the heat of summer or by the fires side as is experimented in Artificial conglaciations if Nitre were not endowed with greater cold than Water 3. If Water be formally ingravidated with the seeds of Cold why is not the sea why are not all Rivers nay all Lakes and standing Pools in which the excuse of continual motion is praevented constantly congealed and bound up in ribbs of Ice Whence comes it that Water doth constantly remain Fluid unless in great frosts only when the Atoms of Cold wafted on the wings of the North-wind and plentifully strawed on the waters doe insinuate themselves among its particles and introduce a Rigidity upon them Certainly it is not conform to the Laws of Nature that any Body much less so eminent and useful a one as Water should for the most part remain alienated from its owne native constitution and be reduced to it again only at some times after long intervals and then only for a day or two 4. Were Cold essentially competent to Water it could not so easily as is observed admit the Contrary Quality Heat nor in so high a degree without the destruction of its primitive form For no subject can be changed from the Extreme of one Quality inhaerent to the extreme of a contrary without the total alteration of that Contexture of its particles upon which the inhaerent quality depended which done it remains no longer the same but Water still remains the same i. e. a Humid Fluid substance both at the time of and after its Calefaction by fire as before And therefore that common saying that Water heated doth reduce it self to its native Cold though it be tollerable in the mouth of the people yet He that would speak as a Philosopher ought to change it into this that Water after calefaction returns to its primitive state of Indifferency to either Heat or Cold for though after its remove from the fire it gradually loseth the Heat acquired from thence the Igneous Atoms spontaneously ascending and abandoning it one after another yet would it never reduce it self to the least degree of cold but is reduced to cold by Atoms of Cold from the circumstant Aer immitted into its pores What then shall we hence conclude that Water is Essentially Hot Neither because then it could not so easily admit nor so long retain the Contrary Quality Cold for Hot springs are never congelated Wherein therefore can we acquiesce Truly only in this determination that Water is Essentially Moist and Fluid but neither Hot nor Cold unless by Accident or Acquisition i. e. it is made Hot upon the introduction of Calorifick and Cold upon the introduction of Frigorifick Atoms contrary to the tenent of Empedocles and Aristotle Lastly as for the Aer insomuch as it is sometimes Hot sometimes Cold according to the temperature of the Climate season of the year praesence or absence of the Sun and diversity of Winds we can have no warrant from reâ—son to conceive it to be the natural Mother of Cold more than of Heat but rather that it is indifferently comparated to admit either Quality according to divers Impraegnation Whoever therefore shall argue that because in the Dogg daâ—es when the perpendicular rayes of the Sun parch up the languishing inhabitants of the Earth in some positions of its sphere if the North-wind arise it immediately mitigates the feâ—vor of the Aer and brings a cool relief upon its wings therefore the Aer is Naturally Cold maâ— as justly infer that the Aer is Naturally Hot because in the dead 〈◊〉 Winter when the face of the Earth becomes hoary and rigid with â—râ—st if the South-wind blowe it soon mitigates the frigidity of the Aer â—nd dissolves those fetters of Ice wherewith all things were bound up Wherefore it is best for us to Conclude that the Essential Quality of the Aer is Fluidity but as for Heat and Cold they are Qualities meerly Accidental or Adventitious thereto or that it is made Hot or Cold upon the commixture of Calorifick or Frigorifick Atoms So that where the Aer is constantly impraegnate with Atoms of Heat as under the Torrid Zone there is it coâ—stantly Hot or Warme at least where it is Alternately perfused with â—â—lorifick and Frigorifick Atoms as under the Temperâ—te Zones 〈…〉 it Alternately Hot and Cold and where it is constantly pervaded by â—â—igorifick Atoms as under the North Pole there is it constantly Cold. To put a pâ—â—iod therefore to this Dispute seeing the Quality of Cold is not Essenâ—â—â—â—ly inhaerent in Earth Water or Aer the Three Principal Bodies of Nature where shall we investigate its Genuine Matrix or proper subject of inhaesion Certainly in the nature of some Special Bodies or a particular species of Atoms of which sort are those whereof Salnitre is for the most part composed which being introduced into Earth Water Aer or any other mixt Bodie impraegnate them with cold But haply you may say that though this be true yet doth it not totally solve the doubt since it is yet demandable Whether any one and which of those Three Elements is highly Opposite to the Fourth viz. Fire We Answer that forasmuch as that Bodie is to be accounted the most Opposite to Fire which most destroyes it therefore is Water the chief Antagonist to Fire because it soonest Extinguisheth it Nevertheless there is no necessity that therefore Water must be Cold in as high a degree as Fire is Hot for Water doth not extinguish Fire as it is Cold since boyling water doth as soon put out fire as Cold but as it is Humid i. e. as it enters the pores of the enflamed body and hinders the Motion and Diffusion of the Atoms of Fire Which may be confirmed from hence 1. That Oyle which no man conceives to be Cold it poured on in great quantity doth also extinguish fire by suffocation which is nothing but a hindering the Motion of the igneous Atoms 2. That in case the Atoms of Fire issue from
power and break off the magnetique lines it could never be avelled and amoved from the Earth And hence is it that by how much the greater force is imprest upon a stone at its projection upward by so many more degrees of excess doth that imprest force transcend the force of the Retentive Magnetique lines and consequently to so much a greater Altitude is the stone mounted up in the Aer and è contra Which is also the Reason why the Imprest Force being most vigorous in the first degree of the stones ascent doth carry it the most vehemently in the beginning because it is not then Refracted but afterward the stone moves slower and slower because in every degree of ascention it looseth a degree of the Imprest Force until at length the same be so diminished as to come to an Aequipondium with the Contrary force of the magnetique Rays of the Earth detracting it Downward Lastly from hence is it that the perpendicular Delapse of most Bodies though of far different weights is observed to be Aequivelox contrary to that Axiome of Aristotle 2. de Caelo text 46 quo majus fuerit corpus eo velocius fertur and text 77. parvum terrae particulum si elevatu dimittatur ferri deorsum quo major fuerit velocius moveri upon which the Aristoteleans have grounded this erroneous Rule Velocitates gravium descendentium habere inter se eandem proportionem quà m gravitates ipsorum that the Velocities of Heavy bodies falling downward have the same proportion one to another as their Gravities have And the Reason of this Aequivelocity of Unequal weights seems to be this that of two Bullets the one of only an ounce the other of an hundred pounds weight dropt from the battlements of an high tower at the same instant though the Greater Bullet be attracted by more magnetique lines deradiate from the Earth yet hath it more particles to be attracted than the Lesser so that there being a certain Commensuration betwixt the Force Attractive and the quantity of Matter Attracted on either part the Force must be such as sufficeth to the performance of the motion of either in the same space of time and consequently both the Bullets must descend with equal Velocity and arrive at the surface of the Earth in one and the same moment All which that Lynceus Galilaeo well understood when in the Person of Salviatus desiring to calculate the time in which a Bullet might be falling from the concave of the Moon to our Earth and Sagredus had said thus to Him Sumamus igitur globum determinati with the great body or Globe thereof yet is it not Congregative of the whole Globe to any thing else as if the Globe of the Earth were to be united to the Moon or any other Orbe in the World Nor can it be affirmed that Gravity or this Virtue to motion Direct is conceded to the Terraqueous Orbe to the end it should at the Creation carry it self to that place which is Lowest in the Universe or being there posited constantly retain it self therein since in the Universe is neither Highest nor Lowest place but only Respectively to the site of an Animal and chiefly of Man whose Head is accounted the Highest and Feet the Lowest part in the same manner as there is no Right nor Left side in Nature but comparatively to the site of the parts in mans body and in reference to the Heavens For those Lateralities are not determined by any general and certain standard in Nature but variously assigned according to our Imagination The Hebrews Chaldeans and Persians confronting the Sun at his arising in the East place the Right side of the world in the South as likewise did all the Roman Southsayers when they took their Auguries The Philosopher takes that to be the East from whence the Heavens begin their Circumgyration and so assigns also the right hand to the South The Astronomer regarding chiefly the South and Meridian Sun accounts that the Dextrous part of Heaven which respecteth his right hand and that 's the West And Poets differing from all the rest turn their faces to the West and so assign the term of Right to the North for otherwise Ovid must be guilty of a gross mistake in that verse Utque duae dextrá zonae totidemque sinistrâ Hence is it that as the East cannot be the Right side of the World unless to Him who faceth the North so is the Vertical point of the world not to be accounted the Highest part of the Universe but onely as it respecteth the Head of a man standing on any part of the Earth because if the same man travail to the Antipodes that which was before the Highest will then be the Lowest part of the World This considered we must praefer that solid opinion of Plato that in the World there is an Extreme and a Middle Place but no Highest and Lowest to that meerly petitionary one of Aristotle that all Bodies tend toward the Centre of the Earth as to the Lowest place in the Universe How saith the offended Peripatetick the meerly Petitionary opinion of Aristotle Why do not all men admit that to be the Lowest part of the World which is the Middle or Centre thereof And is not that the Centre of the Earth And our Reply is that indeed we can admit Neither 1 Because should we allow the World to have a Middle or Centre yet is there no necessity that therefore we should concede the Centre to be the Lowest place in the World no more than that the Navil or Central part of a man should therefore be the Lowest part For to speak like men who have not enslaved their reason to praejudice what is opposed to the Miâ—dle is not suprem but Extreme and Highest and Lowest are opposite points in the same Extreme So likewise in the Terrestrial Globe whose middle part we account not the Lowest but the contrary point in the sphear since otherwiâ—e we must grant the Earth to have a double Infinity one in regard of its Centre the other in respect of the extreme points of it◠〈◊〉 according to which the Antipodes are Lowest to us and we 〈◊〉 to them 2 Wh◠〈◊〉 praetend to demonstrate that there is an â—xtreme in the Universe 〈…〉 â—here be â—o determine wherâ—â—nd whâ—t it is â—nd upon consequence 〈◊〉 the Universe hath anâ— Centre and wherâ— that Centre is T is moâ—â—â—han Galilaeo durst as appears bâ—â—hat his modest confession Nâ—scimus 〈…〉 ubi sit Universi centrum nâ—qâ—â— an siâ—â— quodque si maxime dâ—tur aliud 〈…〉 nisi punâ—tum imaginariâ—m adeoque nihilum omni faculâ—ate 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Cosmici dialog 1 pâ—g 22 Besides we see iâ— to be anâ—â—â—on very good groundâ— dâ—â—putâ—â—â—mongst the most Curious anâ— Learnâ—◠〈◊〉 oâ—â—he world whether the â—â—xt starâ— are mâ—ved about the Earth or thâ—â—arth by a Diurnal motion upon itâ— own aâ—is Whether the â—ixâ— stars 〈…〉 one and the same conâ—ave superfiâ—â— or rathâ—â— as
they make their Consistence more Compact and somewhat Rigid as in Ice Snow Haile Hoar-frost c. The Consignation of a Tetrahedical Figure to Frigorifick Atoms appearing thus eminently verisimilous to the full Explanation of the Nature of Cold it remains only that we decide that notable Controversy which so much perplexed many of the Ancients viz. Whether Cold be an Elementary Quality or more plainly Whether or no the Principality of Cold belongs to any one of the four vulgar Elements and so whether Aer or Water or Earth may not be conceived to be Primum Frigidum as rightfully as Fire is sayd to be Primum Calidum Especially since it is well known that the Stoicks imputed the principality of Cold to the Aer Empedocles to Water to whom Aristotle plainly assented though He sometimes forgot himself and affirmed that no Humor is without Heat as in 5. de Generat Animal cap. â— and Plutarch to Earth as we have learned from Himself lib. de frigore primigenio To determine this Antique Dispute therefore we first observe that it arose cheifly from a Petitionary Principle For it appears that all Philosophers who engaged therein took it for granted that the Quality of Heat was eminently inhaerent in Fire the chief of the 4 Principal or Elementary substances and thereupon inferred that the Contrary Quality Cold ought in like manner to have its principal residence in one of the other 3 when introth they ought first to have proved that there was such a thing as an Element of Fire in the Universe which is more than any Logick can hope since the Sphere of Fire which they supposed to possess all that vast space between the convex of the Sphere of Aer and the concave of that of the Moon is a meer Chimaera as we have formerly intimated and Helmont hath clearly commonstrated in cap. de Aere And Secondly we affirm that as the Highest degree of Heat is not justly attributary to any one Body more than other or by way of singular eminency for the Sphere of Fire failing what other can be substituted in the room thereof but to sundry special Bodies which are capable of Exciting or Conceiving Heat in the superlative degree so likewise though we should concede that there are 3 Principal Bodies in Nature namely Aer Water Earth in each whereof the Quality of Cold is sensibly harboured yet is there no one of them of its own nature more principally Cold than other or which of it self containeth Cold in the highest degree but some special Bodies there are composed of them which are capable of Exciting and Conceiving Cold in an eminent manner But in Generals is no Demonstration and therefore we must advance to Particulars and verify our Assertion in each of the Three supposed Elements apart For the Earth forasmuch as our sense certifieth that it is even Torrified with Heat in some places and Congealed with Cold in others according to the temperature of the ambient Aer in divers climats or as the Aer being calefied by the Sun or frigified by frost doth variously affect it in it superficial or Exterior parts and so it cannot be discerned that its External parts are endowed with one of these opposite Qualities more than the other and since we cannot but observe that there are many great and durable subterraneous Fires burning in and many fervid and sulphlureous Exlations frequently emitted and more Hot Springs of Mineral Waters perpetually issuing from its Interior parts or bowels and so it is of necessity that vast seminaries of Igneous Atoms be included in the Entrals thereof We say considering these things we cannot deny but that the Earth doth contain as many Particles of Heat or Calorifick Atoms both without and within as it doth of seeds of Cold or Frigorifick Atoms if not more and upon consequence that it cannot be Primum Frigidum as Plutarch and all his Sectators have dreamt What then shall we conclude Antithetically and conceive that the Globe of the Earth is therefore Essentially rather Hot than Cold Truely No because experience demonstrateth that the Earth doth belch forth Cold Exhalations and congealing blasts as well as Hot Fumes and more frequently witness the North-wind which is so cold that it refrigerates the Aer even in the middst of Summer when the rivers are exhausted by the fervor of the Sun to which Elihu one of Iobs sorry Comforters seems to have alluded when He said That Cold cometh out of the North and the Whirlwind out of the South All therefore we dare determine in this difficult argument the decision whereof doth chiefly depend upon Experiments of vast labour and costs is only thus much that the Earth which is now Hot now Cold in its extreme or superficial parts may as to its Internal or profound parts be as reasonably accounted to contain various seminaries of Heat as of Cold and that the principal seeds of Cold or such as chiefly consist of Frigorifick Atoms do convene into Halinitre and other Concretions of natures retaining thereto And our Reason is that Halinitre is no sooner dissolved in Water than it congealeth the same into perfect Ice and strongly refrigerates all bodies that it toucheth insomuch that we may not only conclude that of all Concretions in Nature at least that we have discovered none is so plentifully fraught with the Atoms or seeds of Cold as Halinitre but also adventure to answer that Problem proposed to Iob Out of whose womb came the Ice and the Hoary Frost of heaven who hath gendred it by saying that all our Freezing and extreme Cold winds seem to be only copious Exhalations of Halinitre dissolved in the bowels of the Earth or consisting of such Frigorifick Atoms as compose Halinitre and this because of the identity of their Effects for the Tramontane Wind the coldest of all winds as Fabricius Paduanus in his exquisite Book de Ventis copiously proveth which the Italians call Chirocco can pretend to no natural Effect in which Halinitre may not justly rival it Long might we dwell upon this not more rare than delightful subject but besides that it deserves a profest Disquisition apart by it self our speculations are limited and may not without indecency either digress from their proper Theme or transgress the strict Laws of Method May it suffice therefore in praesent that we have made it justifiable to conceive that the Earth containeth many such Particles or Atoms whether such as pertain to the Composition of Halinitre or of any other kind whatever upon the Exsilition of which the body containing them may be said to become Cold or pass from Potential to Actual Cold and upon the insinuation of which into Aer Water Earth Stones Wood Flesh or any other terrene Concretion whatever Cold is introduced into them and they may be said to be Frigefied or made Cold. Secondly as for Water that the praetext thereof to the praerogative of Essential Frigidity is also fraudulent and inconsistent
Detersive and Adstrictive Faculty of the Salt in the Urine wherewith the wound is daily to be washed according to the praescript of our Sympathetical Chirons Nor is this more than what Dogs commonly do when by licking their wounds clean and moistning them with the saltish Humidity of their tongues they easily and speedily prove their own Chirurgeons 3 The Basis or Foundation of Hoplochrism is meerly Imaginary and Ridiculous for the Assertors thereof generally dream of a certain Anima Mundi or Common Soul in the World which being diffused through all parts of the Universe doth constantly transferr the Vulnerary Virtue of the Unguent Vitriol from the Extravenated blood adhaering to the weapon or cloth to the wound at any distance whatever and imbuing it therewith strongly assist Nature in the Consolidation of the Disunion But insomuch as this Anima Mundi according to their own wild supposition ought to be praesent to all other wounds in the world no less than to that from which the blood whereunto the Unguent or Vitriol is applied was derived therefore would it cure all other wounds as well as that particular one since it interveneth betwixt that wound and the Unguent or Vitriol by no more special reason than betwixt them and all other wounds unless it can be proved that some other special thing is transmitted to that particular wound from the Unguent and that by local motion through all points of the intermediate spaces successively which they will by no arguments be induced to concede This Verdict I praesume was little expected from Me who have not many years past publickly declared my self to be of a Contrary judgment written profestly in Defence of the cure of wounds at distance by the Magnetick or Sympathetick Magick of the Weapon-Salve and Powder of Calcined Vitriol and excogitated such Reasons of my own to support and explicate the so generally conceded and admired Efficacy of Both as seemed to afford greater satisfaction to the Curious in that point than the Romantique Anima Mundi of the Fraternity of the Rosy-Cross the Analogical Magnetism of Helmont or indeed than any other whatever formerly invented and alledged And therefore to take off my Reader from all admiration thereat it is necessary for me here to profess that the frequent Experiments I have since that time made of the downright Inefficacy and Unsuccessfulness as well of the Armary Unguent as Sympathetick Powder even in small shallow and in dangerous Wounds my discovery of the lightness and invalidity of my own and other mens Reasons adferred to justifie their imputed Virtues and abstruse wayes of operation and the greater Probability of their opinion who charge the Sanation of wounds in such cases upon the sole benignity and Consolidative Energy of Nature it self these Arguments I say have now fully convinced me of and wholly Converted me from that my former Error And glad I am of this fair opportunity to let the world know of my Recantation having ever thought my self strictly obliged to praefer the interest of Truth infinitely above that of Opinion how plausible and splendid soever and by whomsoever conceived and asserted to believe that Constancy to any unjustifiable Conception after clear Conviction is the most shameful Pertinacity a sin against the very Light of Nature and never to be pardoned in a profest Votary of Candor and Ingenuity and to endeavour the Eradication of any Unsound and Spurious Tenent with so much more of readiness and sedulity by how much more the unhappy influence of my Pen or Tongue hath at any time contributed to the Growth and Authority thereof CHAP. XVI THE PHAENOMENA OF THE LOADSTONE EXPLICATED SECT I. WHose Wit had the best edge and came nearest the slitting of the hair His who said that the LOADSTONE is the real Ianus because of its Two opposite Faces or Poles one whereof confronteth the North the other the South or His who called it the Egg and Epitome of the Terrestrial Globe because as the Egg contains the Idaea of the whole and every part of its Protoplast or Generant so doth the Loadstone comprehend the Idaea of the whole and every part of the Earth and inherit all its Proprieties being Generated thereby at least therein or His Who named it The Nest of Wonders because as a Nest of Boxes it includes many admirable Secrets one within another insomuch that no man can well understand the mystical platform of its Nature till he hath opened and speculated them all one after another or His who affirmed it to be the Antitype of the Poets Hydra because no sooner hath the Sword of Reason cut off one Head or Capital Difficulty but Two new ones spring up in the place of it nor ought any man to hope the total and absolute Conquest thereof but by Cauterizing the veins of every Difficulty i. e. leaving not so much as the seeds of a Scruple but solving all its various Phaenomenaes to the full or His who thought it sufficient with Aristotle to call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The stone that singularity importing its transcendent Dignity we freely leave to the judgment of our Reader And as for sundry other Enquiries that do not in any direct or oblique interest concern the Investigation of the Causes of All or Any of those admirable Proprieties observed in the Loadstone such as that of the various Appellations given it by several Philosophers of old by several Nations at this day together with the proper Original Etymology and Reason of each Whether it was first Discovered by the Shepherd Magnes on Mount Ida as Pliny lib. 6. cap. 26. reports out of the records of Nicander Whether its Attractive Virtue was known not only to Hippocrates and other Senior Philosophers of Greece but also to the Primitive Hebrews and Aegyptians as Gilbert conjectureth de Magnet lib. 1. cap. 2. Whether the Knowledge of its Veâ—â—icity or Polary Virtue cannot be derived higher than the top of the four last Centuries and ought to be ascribed to a French man together with the honour of the Invention of the Pixis Nautica or Navigators Compass about the year of Christ M. CC. as â—assendus would persuade out of one Guyotus Proviâ—eus an old French Poet who not long after writ a Panegyrick in Verse upon the Excellency and sundry uses of the same or to Iohn Goia alias Gira of Salerna who lived not till almost an hundred years after the said Guyotus had divulged his Poem as Blancanus in Chronolog Mathemat Sec l. 2. contends Whether the Nations inhabiting the Sinnae had the use of the Mariners Compass before the Europeans or whether they learned it of the European ships that first advanced beyond the Cape of Good-hope and coasted the Mare Rubrum and begun Commerce with them All these things as being not only not easie to determine but also scarce pertinent to our praesent scope we refer to our Readers own enquiry in Gilbert Cabeus Kircher and other