will turne away and the end of it will conuert it selfe to the pole of the loadestone The seuenth position is that if a touched needle and a loadestone do come together and touch one an other in their agreeing partes whatsoeuer partes of them those be the line of the needles length will bend towardes the pole of the stone excepting if they touch by the aequator of the stone and the middle of the needle yet not so that if you draw out the line of the needles length it will go through the pole of the stone vnlesse they touch by the end of the one and the pole of the other But if they touch by the aequator of the one and the middle of the other then the needle will lye parallele to the axis of the stone And the reason of this is manifest for in that case the two poles being equidistant to the needle they draw it equally and by consequence the needle must remaine parallele to the axis of the stone Nor doth it import that the inequality of the two poles of the stone is materially or quantitatiuely greater then the inequality of the two poles of the needle out of which it may att the first sight seeme to follow that the stronger pole of the stone should draw the weaker pole of the needle neerer vnto it selfe then the weaker pole of the stone can be able to draw the stronger pole of the needle and by consequence that the needle should not lye parallele to the axis of the stone but should incline somewhat to the stronger pole of it For after you haue well considered the matter you will find that the strength of the pole of the stone can not worke according to its materiall greatnesse but is confined to worke only according to the susceptibility of the needle the which being a slender and thinne body can not receiue so much as a thicker body may Wherefore seeing that the strongest pole of the stone giueth most strength to that pole of the needle which lyeth furthest from it it may well happen that this superiority of strength in the pole of the needle that is applyed to the weaker pole of the stone may counterpoise the excesse of the stronger pole of the stone ouer its opposite weaker pole though not in greatnesse and quantity yet in respect of the vertue which is communicable to the poles of the needle whereby its comportment to the poles of the stone is determined And indeed the needles lying parallele to the axis of the stone when the middle of it sticketh to the aequator of the stone conuinceth that vpon the whole matter there is no excesse in the efficacious working of eyther of the stones poles but that their excesse ouer one an other in regard of themselues is balanced by the needles receiuing it But if the needle happeneth to touch the loadestone in some part neerer one pole then the other in this case it is manifest that the force of the stone is greater on the one side of the needles touch then on the other side because there is a greater quantity of the stone on the one side of the needle then on the other and by consequence the needle will incline that way which the greater force draweth it so farre forth as the other part doth not hinder it Now we know that if the greater part were diuided from the rest and so were an entire loadestone by it selfe that is if the loadestone were cutt of where the needle toucheth it then the needle would ioyne it selfe to the pole that is to the end of that part and by consequence would be tending to it in such sort as a thing that is sucked tendeth towardes the sucker against the motion or force which cometh from the lesser part and on the other side the lesser part of the stone which is on the other side of the point which the needle toucheth must hinder this inclination of the needle according to the proportion of its strength and so it followeth that the needle will hang by its end not directly sett to the end of the greater part but as much inclining towardes it as the lesser part doth not hinder by striuing to pull it the other way Out of which we gather the true cause of the needles declination to witt the proportion of working of the two vnequall partes of the stone betweene which it toucheth and is ioyned to the stone And we likewise discouer their errour who iudge that the part which draweth iron is the next pole vnto the iron For it is rather the contrary pole which attracteth or to speake more properly it is the whole body of the stone as streaming in lines almost parallele to the axis from the furthermost end to the other end which is next to the iron and in our case it is that part of the stone which beginneth from the contrary pole and reacheth to the needle For besides the light which this discourse gaue vs experience assureth vs that a loadestone whose poles lye broad wayes not long wayes the stone is more imperfect and draweth more weakely then if the poles lay longwayes which would not be if the fluours did streame from all partes of the stone directly to the pole for then howsoeuer the stone were cast the whole vertue of it would be in the poles Moreouer if a needle were drawne freely vpon the same meridian frō one pole to the other as soone as it were passed the aequator it would leape soddainely att the very first remooue off of the aequator where it is parallele with the axis of the loadestone from being so parallele to make an angle with the axis greater then a halfe right one to the end that it might looke vpon the pole which is supposed to be the only attractiue that draweth the needle which great change wrought all att once nature neuer causeth nor admitteth but in all actions or motions vseth to passe through all the mediums whensoeuer it goeth from one extreme to an other Besides there would be no variation of the needles aspect towardes the north end of the stone for if euery part did send its vertue immediately to the poles it were impossible that any other part whatsoeuer should be stronger then the polar part seeing that the polar part had the vertue euen of that particular part and of all the other partes of the stone besides ioyned in it selfe This therefore is euident that the vertue of the loadestone goeth from end to end in parallele lines vnlesse it be in such stones as haue their polar partes narrower then the rest of the body of the stone for in them the streame will tend with some little declination towardes the pole as it were by way of refraction because without the stone the fluours from the pole of the earth do coarct themselues and so do thicken their streame to croude into the stone as soone as they are sensible
discouered vnto vs and that out of the variety of these tempers the influence of the earthy partes may be diuers in respect of one certaine place it is not impossible but that such variation may be especially in England which Iland lying open to the north by a great and vast ocean may receiue more particularly then other places the speciall influences and variation of the weather that happen in those northeasterne countries from whence this influence cometh vnto vs. If therefore there should be any course of weather whose periode were a hundred yeares for example or more or lesse and so might easily passe vnmarked this variation might grow out of such a course But in so obscure a thing we haue already hazarded to guesse too much And vpon the whole matter of the loadestone it serueth our turne if we haue proued as we conceiue we haue done fully that its motions which appeare so admirable do not proceed from an occult quality but that the causes of them may be reduced vnto locall motion and that all they may be performed by such corporeall instruments and meanes though peraduenture more intricately disposed as all other effects are among bodies Whose ordering and disposing and particular progresse there is no reason to despaire of finding out would but men carefully apply themselues to that worke vpon solide principles and with diligent experiences But because this matter hath beene very long and scatteringly diffused in many seuerall branches peraduenture it will not be displeasing to the Reader to see the whole nature of the loadestone summed vp in short Lett him then cast his eyes vpon one effect of it that is very easy to be tryed and is acknowledged by all writers though we haue not as yet mentioned it And it is that a knife drawne from the pole of a loadestone towardes the aequator if you hold the point towardes the pole it gaineth a respect to one of the poles but contrawise if the point of the knife be held towardes the aequator and be thrust the same way it was drawne before that is towardes the aequator it gaineth a respect towardes the contrary pole It is euident out of this experience that the vertue of the loadestone is communicated by way of streames and that in it there are two contrary streames for otherwise the motion of the knife this wâ—y or that way could not change the efficacity of the same partes of the loadestone It is likewise euident that these contrary streames do come from the conrrary endes of the loadestone As also that the vertues of them both are in euery part of the stone Likewise that one loadestone must of necessity turne certaine partes of it selfe to certaine partes of an other loadestone nay that it must goe and ioyne to it according to the lawes of attraction which we haue aboue deliuered and consequently that they must turne their disagreeing partes away from one an other and so one loadestone seeme to fly from an other if they be so applyed that their disagreeing partes be kept still next to one an other for in this case the disagreeing and the agreeing partes of the same loadestone being in the same straight line one loadestone seeking to draw his agreeing part neere to that part of the other loadestone which agreeth with him must of necessity turne away his disagreeing partes to giue way vnto his agreeing part to approach neerer And thus you see that the flying from one an other of two endes of two loadestones which are both of the same denomination as for example the two south endes or the two north endes doth not proceed from a pretended antipathy between those two endes but from the attraction of the agreeing endes Furthermore the earth hauing to a loadestone the nature of a loadestone it followeth that a loadestone must necessarily turne it selfe to the poles of the earth by the same lawes And consequently must tend to the north must vary from the north must incline towardes the center and must be affected with all such accidents as we haue deduced of the loadestone And lastly seeing that iron is to a loadestone a fitt matter for it to impresse its nature in and easily retaineth that magnetike vertue the same effects that follow betweeÌ„ two loadestones must necessarily follow between a loadestone and a peece of iron fittly proportionated in their degrees excepting some litle particularities which proceed out of the naturalnesse of the magnetike vertue to a loadestone more then to iron And thus you see the nature of the loadestone summed vp in grosse the particular ioyntes and causes whereof you may find treated att large in the maine discourse Wherein we haue gouerned our selues chiefely by the experiences that are recorded by Gilbert and Cabeus to whom we remitt our reader for a more ample declaration of particulars THE THREE AND TWENTIETH CHAPTER A description of the two sortes of liuing creatures Plants and Animals and how they are framed in common to performe vitall motion HItherto we haue endeauoured to follow by a continuall thridde all such effects as we haue mett with among bodies and to trace theÌ„ in all their windinges and to driue them vp to their very roote and originall source for the nature of our subiect hauing beene yet very common hath not exceeded the compasse and power of our search and enquiry to descend vnto the chiefe circumstances and particulars belonging vnto it And indeede many of the conueyances whereby the operations we haue discoursed of are performed be so secret and abstruse as they that looke into them with lesse heedefullnesse and iudgment then such a matter requireth are too apt to impute them to mysterious causes aboue the reach of humane nature to compreheÌ„d and to calumniate them of being wrought by occult and specifike qualities whereof no more reason could be giuen then if the effects were infused by Angelicall handes without assistance of inferiour bodies which vseth to be the last refuge of ignorant men who not knowing what to say and yet presuming to say something do fall often vpon such expressioÌ„s as neyther themselues nor their hearers vnderstand and that if they be well scanned do imply contradictions Therefore we deemed it a kind of necessity to straine ourselues to prosecute most of such effects euen to their notionall connexions with rarity and density And the rather because it hath not been our lucke yet to meet with any that hath had the like designe or hath done any considerable matter to ease our paines Which can not but make the readers iourney somewhat tedious vnto him to follow all our stepps by reason of the ruggednesse and vntrodenesse of the pathes we haue walked in But now the effects we shall hence forward meedle withall do grow so particular and do swarme into such a vast multitude of seuerall little ioyntes and wreathy labyrinthes of nature as were impossible in so summary a treatise as we intend to deliuer
necessary before it can be expected one should worke in it a fashionable piece The first attemptes are alwayes very imperfect ayminges and are scarce discernable what they are meaned for vnlesse the master guide his schollers hand Much more will the same happen in so difficult and spiny an affaire as the writing vpon such a nice and copious subiect as this is to one that is so wholy ignorant of the lawes of methode as I am This free and ingenuous acknowledgement on my side will I hope preuayle with all ingenuous persons who shall reade what I haue written to aduertise me fairely if they iudge it worth their while of what they dislike in it to the end that in an other more accurate edition I may giue them better satisfaction For besides what faylinges may be in the matter I can not doubt but that euen in the expressions of it there must often be great obscurity and shortenesse which I who haue my thoughts filled with the thinges themselues am not aware of So that what per aduenture may seeme very full to me because euery imperfect touch bringeth into my minde the entire notion and whole chaine of circumstances belonging to that thing I haue so often beaten vpon may appeare very crude and maymed to a stranger that can not guesse what I would be att otherwise then as my direct wordes do leade him One thing more I shall wish you to desire of them who happily may peruse these two Treatises aswell for their owne sakes as for mine And that is that they will not passe their censure vpon any particular piece or broken parcell of eyther of them taken by it selfe Lett them draw the entire thridde through their fingers and lett them examine the consequentnesse of the whole body of the doctrine I deliuer and lett them compare it by a like suruey with what is ordinarily taught in the schooles and if they find in theirs many brackes and short endes which can not be spunne into an euen piece and in mine a faire coherence throughout I shall promise my selfe a fauourable doome from them and that they will haue an acquiescence in themselues to what I haue here presented them with whereas if they but rauell it ouer loosely and pitch vpon disputing against particular conclusions that att the first encounter of them single may seeme harsh vnto them which is the ordinary course of flashy wits who can not fadome the whole extent of a large discourse it is impossible but that they should be very much vnsatisfyed of me and goe away with a persuasion that some such truthes as vpon the whole matter are most euident one stone in the arch supporting an other and the whole are meere chymeras and wilde paradoxes But Sonne it is time my booke should speake it selfe rather then I speake any longer of it here Reade it carefully ouer and lett me see by the effects of your gouerning your selfe that you make such right vse of it as I may be comforted in hauing chosen you to bequeath it vnto God in heauen blesse you Paris the last of August 1644. Your Louing Father KENELME DIGBY A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS AND MATTERS HANDLED IN THE FIRST TREATISE CONCERING BODIES CHAP. I. THe Preface A Preamble to the whole discourse concerning notions in generall pag. 1. § 1. Quantity is the first and most obuious affection of a body ibid. § 2. Wordes do not expresse thinges as they are in themselues but onely as they are painted in the mindes of men pag. 2. § 3. The first error that may arise from hence which is a multiplying of thinges where no such multiplication is really found ibid. § 4. A second error the conceiuing of many distinct thinges as really one thing pag. 3. § 5. Great care to be taken to auoyde the errors which may arise from our manner of vnderstanding thinges pag. 4. § 6. Two sorts of wordes to expresse our notions the one common to all men the other proper to schollers pag 5. § 7. Great errors arise by wresting wordes from their common meaning to expresse a more particular or studied notion pag. 6. CHAP. II. Of Quantity pag. 8. § 1. Wee must know the vulgar and common notion of Quantity that wee may vnderstand the nature of it ibid. § 2. Extension or diuisibility is the common notion of Quantity pag. 9. § 3. Partes of Quantity are not actually in their whole pag. 10. § 4. If partes were actually in their whole Quantity would be composed of indiuisibles ibid. § 5. Quantity can not be composed of indiuisibles pag. 11. § 6. An obiection to prooue that partes are actually in Quantity with a declaration of the mistake from whence it proceedeth pag. 12. § 7. The solution of the former obiection andthat sense can not discerne whether one part be distinguished from another or no pag. 13. § 8. An enumeration of the seuerall specieses of Quantity which confirmeth that the essence of it is diuisibility pag. 14. CHAP. III. Of Rarity and Density pag. 15. § 1. What is meant by Rarity and Density ibid. § 2. It is euident that some bodies are rare and others dense though obscure how they are such pag. 16. § 3. A breife enumeration of the seuerall properties belonging to rare and dense bodies ibid. § 4. The opinion of those Philosophers declared who putt rarity to consist in an actuall diuision of a body into litle pates pag. 17. § 5. The former opinion reiected and the ground of their error discouered pag. 18. § 6. The opinion of those Philosophers related who putt rarity to consist in the mixtion of vacuity among bodies pag. 19. § 7. The opinion of vacuities refuted pag. 20. § 8. Rarity and Density cosist in the seuerall proportions which Quantity hath to its substance pag. 22. § 9. All must admitt in Physicall bodies a Metaphysicall composition pag. 24. CHAP. IV. Of the foure first qualities and of the foure Elements pag. 26. § 1. The notions of density and rarity haue a latitude capable of infinite variety ibid. § 2. How moystnesse and drynesse are begotten in dense bodies pag. 27. § 3. How moystnesse and drynesse are begotten in rare bodies pag. 28. § 4. Heate is a property of rare bodies and cold of dense ones pag. 28. § 5. Of the two dense bodies the lesse dense is more cold but of the two rare ones the lesse rare is lesse hoat pag. 29. § 6. The extreme dense body is more dry then the extreme rare one pag. 30. § 7. There are but foure simple bodies and these are rightly named Elements ibid. § 8. The Author doth nott determine whether euery element doth comprehend vnder its name one only lowest species or many nor whether any of them be found pure pag. 31. CHAP. V. Of the operations of the Elements in generall And of their Actiuities compared with one another pag. 32. § 1. The first operation of the Elements is diuision out of which resulteth locall motion
prooued from her manner of operation which is grounded in being ibid. § 10. Lastly it is prooued from the science of Morality the principles whereof would be destroied if the soule were mortall pag. 421 CHAP. X. Declaring what the soule of a man separated from his body is and of her knowledge and manner of working pag. 422 § 1. That the soule is one simple knowing act which is a pure substance and nothing but substance ibid. § 2. That a separated soule is in no place and yet is not absent from any place pag. 424 § 3. That a separated soule is not in time nor subiect to it ibid. § 4. That the soule is an actiue substance and all in it is actiuitie pag. 425 § 5. A description of the soule pag. 426 § 6. That a separated soule knoweth all that which she knew whilst she wâ—s in her bodie ibid. § 7. That the least knowledge which the soule acquireth in her bodie of anie one thing doth cause in her when she is separated from her bodie a compleat knowledge of all thinges whatsoeuer pag. 427 § 8. An answere to the obiections of some Peripatetikes who maintaine the soule to perish with the body pag. 429 § 9 The former Peripatetikes refuted out of Aristotle pag. 431 § 10. The operations of a separated soule compared to her operations in her bodie ibid. § 11. That a separated soule is in a state of pure being and consequently immortall pag. 432 CHAP. XI Shewing what effects the diuers manners of liuing in this world do cause in a soule after she is separated from her body p. 433 § 1. That a soule in this life is subiect to mutation and may be perfected in knowledge ibid. § 2. That the knowledges which a soule getteth in this life will make her knowledge in the next life more perfect and firme pag. 434 § 3. That the soules of men addicted to science whilst they liued here are more perfect in the next world then the soules of vnlearned men pag. 435 § 4. That those soules which embrace vertue in this world will be most perfect in the next and those which embrace vice most miserable ibid. § 5. The state of a vitious soule in the next life pag. 437 § 6. The fundamentall reason why as well happinesse as misery is so excessiue in the next life pag. 439 § 7. The reason why mans soule requireth to be in a body and to liue for some space of time ioyned with it pag. 441 § 8. That the misery of the soule in the next world proceedeth out of inequality and not out of falsity of her iudgements pag. 442 CHAP. XII Of the perseuerance of a soule in the state she findeth herselfe in at her first separation from her body pag. 443 § 1. The explication and proofe of that maxime that if the cause be in act the effect must also be ibid. § 2. The effects of all such agents as worke instantaneously are complete in the first instant that the agents are putt ibid. § 3. All pure spirits do worke instantaneously pag. 444 § 4. That a soule separated from her body can not suffer any change after the first instant of her separation ibid. § 5. That temporall sinnes are iustly punished with eternall paines pag. 445 The Conclusion pag. 446 THE PREFACE THIS writing was designed to haue seene the light vnder the name of one treatise But after it was drawne in paper as I cast a view ouer it I found the prooemiall part which is that which treateth of Bodies so ample in respect of the other which was the end of it and for whose sake I meddled with it that I readily apprehended my reader would thinke I had gone much astray from my text when proposing to speake of the immortality of Mans Soule three parts of foure of the whole discourse should not so much as in one word mention that soule whose nature and proprieties I aymed at the discouery of To auoyde this incongruity occasioned mee to change the name and vnity of the worke and to make the suruay of bodies a body by it selfe though subordinate to the treatise of the soule Which notwithstanding it be lesse in bulke then the other yet I dare promise my Reader that if he bestow the paines requisite to perfect him selfe in it he will find as much time well spent in the due reading of it as in the reading of the former treatise though farre more large But I discerne an obiection obuious to be made or rather a question why I should spend so much time in the consideration of bodies whereas none that hath formerly written of this subiect hath in any measure done the like I might answere that they had vpon other occasions first written of the nature of bodies as I may instance in Aristotle and sundry others who either haue themselues professedly treated the science of bodies or haue supposed that part sufficiently performed by other pennes But truly I was by an vnauoydable necessity hereunto obliged which is a current of doctrine that at this day much raigneth in the Christian Schooles where bodies and their operations are explicated after the manner of spirituall thinges For wee hauing very slender knowledge of spirituall substances can reach no further into their nature then to know that they haue certaine powers or qualities but can seldome penetrate so deepe as to descend to the particulars of such Qualities or Powers Now our moderne Philosophers haue introduced such a course of learning into the schooles that vnto all questions concerning the proper natures of bodies and their operations it is held sufficient to answere they haue a quality or a power to doe such a thing And afterwards they dispute whether this Quality or Power be an Entity distinct from its subiect or no and how it is seperable or vnseperable from it and the like Conformable to this who will looke into the bookes which are in vogue in these schooles shall find such answers and such controuersies euery where and few others As of the sensible qualities aske what it is to be white or red what to be sweete or sower what to be odoriferous or stincking what to be cold or hott And you are presently paid with that it is a sensible quality which hath the power to make a wall white or red to make a meate agreeable or disagreeable to the tast to make a gratefull or vngratefull smell to the nose etc Likewise they make the same questions and resolutions of Grauity and Leuity as whether they be qualities that is entities distinct from their subiect and whether they be actiue or passiue which when they haue disputed slightly and in common with logicall arguments they rest there without any further searching into the physicall causes or effects of them The like you shall find of all strange effects of them The loadestone and Electricall bodies are produced for miraculous and not vnderstandable thinges and in which it must be
meanes she vseth to auoyde it For to putt it as an enemy that nature fighteth against or to discourse of effects that would follow from it in case it were admitted is a great mistake and a lost labour seeing it is nothing and therefore can do nothing but is meerely a forme of expression to declare in short nothing else but that it is a contradiction or implication in termes and an impossibility in nature for vacuity to haue or to be supposed to haue a Being Thus then since in our case after we haue cast all about we can pitch vpon nothing to be considered but that the two stones do touch one an other and that they are weighty we must apply our selues onely to reflect vpon the effects proceeding from these two causes their contiguity and their heauynesse and we shall find that as the one of them namely the weight hindereth the vndermost from following the vppermost so contiguity obligeth it vnto that course and according as the one ouercometh the other so will this action be continued or interrupted Now that contiguity of substances do make one follow an other is euident by what our Masters in Metaphysickes teach vs when they shew that without this effect no motion att all could be made in the world nor no reason could be giuen for those motions we dayly see For since the nature of quantity is such that whensoeuer there is nothing between two partes of it they must needes touch and adhere and ioyne to one an other for how should they be kept asunder when there is nothing betweene them to part them if you pull one part away eyther some new substance must come to de close vnto that which remoueth or else the other which was formerly close to it must still be close to it and so follow it for if nothing do come between it is still close to it Thus then it being necessary that something must be ioyned close to euery thing vacuity which is nothing is excluded from hauing any being in nature And when we say that one body must follow an other to auoyde vacuity the meaning is that vnder the necessity of a contradiction they must follow one an other and that they can not do otherwise For it would be a contradiction to say that nothing were between two thinges and yet that they are not ioyned close to one an other And therefore if you should say it you would in other wordes say they are close together and they are not close together In like manner to say that vacuity is any where is a pure contradiction for vacuity being nothing hath no Being att all and yet by those wordes it is said to be in such a place so that they affirme it to be and not to be att the same time But now lett vs examine if there be no meanes to auoyde this contradiction and vacuity other then by the adhesion and following of one body vpon the motion of an other that is closely ioyned to it and euery where contiguous For sense is not easily quieted with such Metaphysicall contemplations that seeme to repugne against her dictamens and therefore for her satisfaction we can do no lesse then giue her leaue to range about and cast all wayes in hope of finding some one that may better content her which when she findeth that she can not she will the lesse repine to yield her assent to the rigourous sequeles and proofes of reason In this difficulty then after turning on euery side I for my part can discerne no pretence of probability in any other meanes then in pulling downe the lower stone by one corner that so there may be a gaping between the two stones to lett in ayre by little and little And in this case you may say that by the interuention of ayre vacuity is hindered aud yett the lower stone is left att liberty to follow its owne naturall inclination and be gouerned by its weight But indeed if you consider the matter well you will find that the doing this requireth a much greater force then to haue the lower stone follow the vpper for it can not gape in a straight line to lett in ayre since in that position it must open at the bottome where the angle is made at the same time that it openeth at the mouth and then ayre requiring time to passe from the edges to the bottome it must in the meane while fall into the contradiction of vacuity So that if it should open to lett in ayre the stone to compasse that effect must bend in such sort as wood doth when a wedge is putt into it to cleaue it Iudge then what force it must be that should make hard marble of a great thicknesse bend like a wand and whether it would not rather breake and slide off then do so you will allow that a much lesse will raise vp the lower stone together with the vppermost It must then of necessity fall out that it will follow it if it be moued perpendicularly vpwardes And the like effect will be though it should be raysed at oblique angles so that the lowermost edge do rest all the way vpon some thing that may hinder the inferior stone from sliding aside from the vppermost And this is the very case of all those other experiments of art and nature which we haue mentioned aboue for the reason holdeth as well in water and in liquide thinges as in solide bodies vntill the weight of the liquide body ouercometh the continuity of it for then the thridde breaketh and it will ascend no higher Which height Galileo telleth vs from the workmen in the Arsenall of Venice is neere 40. foote if the water be drawne vp in a close pipe in which the aduantage of the sides helpeth the ascent But others say that the inuention is enlarged and that water may be drawne to what height one pleaseth Howsoeuer the force which nature applyeth to maintaine the continuity of quantity can haue no limitt seeing it is grounded vpon contradiction And therefore Galileo was much mistaken when he throught to make an instrument whereby to discouer the limits of this force We may then conclude that the breaking of the water must depend from the strength of other causes As for example when the grauity is so great by encreasing the bulke of the water that it will eyther ouercome the strength of the pipe or else make the sucker of the pumpe rather yield way to ayre then draw vp so great a weight for which defects if remedies be found the art may surely be enlarged without end This is particular in a syphon that when that arme of it which hangeth out of the water is lower then the superficies of the water then it will runne of it selfe after it is once sett on running by sucking The reason whereof is because the weight which is in water pendant is greater then the weight of the ascending water and thereby supplyeth
the want of a continuall sucker But if the nose of that arme that hangeth out of the water be but euen with the water then the water will stand still in both pipes or armes of the syphon after they are filled with sucking But if by the running out of the water the outward pipe do grow shorter then to reach as low as the superficies of the water in the fountaine from whence it runneth in this case the water in each arme of the syphon will runne backe into the fountaine Withall it is to be noted that though the arme which is out of the water be neuer so long yet if it reach not lower then the superficies of the fountaine the ouer quantity and weight of the water there more then in the other arme helpeth it nothing to make it runne out Which is because the decliuity of the other arme ouerrecompenceth this ouerweight Not that the weight in the shorter pipe hath so much force as the weight in the longer pipe but because it hath more force then the greater weight doth exercise there in its running for the greatest part of its force tendeth an other way then to the end of the pipe to witt perpendicularly towardes the center And so is hindered from effect by the great sloaping or little decliuity of the pipe vpon which it leaneth But some considering how the water that is in the longer arme of the syphon is more in quantity then the water that is in the other arme of it whereat it runneth out do admire why the greater quantity of water doth not draw backe the lesse into the cisterne but suffereth it selfe to be lifted vp and drayned away as if it runne steeply downewardes And they imagine that hence may be deduced that the partes of water in the cisterne doe not weigh as long as they are within the orbe of their owne body Vnto when we answere that they should consider how that to haue the greater quantity of water which is in the longer arme of the syphon which arme is immersed in the water of the cisterne to draw backe into the cisterne the water which is in the other arme of the syphon that hangeth out in the ayre it must both raise as much of the water of the cisterne as its owne bulke is aboue the leuell which att present the whole bulke of water hath and withall it must att the same time pull vp the water which is in the other arme Now it is manifest that these two quantities of water together are heauyer then the water in the sunke arme of the syphon since one of them single is equall vnto it And by consequence the more water in the sunke arme can not weigh backe the lesse water in the hanging arme since that to do that it must att the same time weigh vp ouer and aboue as much more in the cisterne as it selfe weigheth But turning the argument I say that if once the arme of the syphon that is in the ayre be supposed to draw any water be it neuer so little out of the cisterne whether occasioned by sucking or by whatsoeuer other meanes it followeth that as much water as is drawne vp aboue the leuell of the whole bulke in the cisterne must needes presse into the suncken arme from the next adiacent partes that is from the bottome to supply its emptying and as much must of it selfe presse downe from aboue according to its naturall course when nothing violenteth it to rest in the place that the ascending water which is lower then it leaueth att liberty for it to take possession of And then it can not be doubted but that this descending water hauing all its weight in pressing downe applyed to driue vp the rising water in the sunke arme of the syphon and the water in the other arme of the syphon without hauing all its weight in running out applyed att the same time to draw vp the same water in the sunke arme this single resistant must yield to their double and mastering force And consequently the water in the arme of the syphon that is in the ayre must needes draw the water that is in the other immersed arme as long as the end of its pipe reacheth lower then the leuell of the water in the cisterne for so long it appeareth by what we haue said it must needes be more weighty since part of the rising water in the sunke arme of the syphon is counterpoysed by as much descending water in the cisterne And thus it is euident that out of this experiment it can not be inferred that partes of water do not weigh within the orbe of their owne whole but onely that two equall partes of water in their owne orbe namely that which riseth in the sunken arme and that which presseth downe from the whole bulke in the cisterne are of equall weight and do ballance one an othet So that neuer so little oddes between the two counterpoysing parcells of water which are in the ayre must needes make the water runne out att that end of the syphon where the ouerweight of water is The attraction whose cause next to this is most manifest is that which is made by the force of heate or of fire for we see that fire euer draweth ayre vnto it so notably that if in a close roome there be a good fire a man that standeth att the dore or att the window especially without shall heare such a noise that he will thinke there is a great wind within the chamber The reason of this attraction is that fire rarifying the ayre which is next vnto it and withall spending it selfe perpetually causeth the ayre and his owne body mingled together to fly vp through the chimney or by some other passage Whence it followeth of necessity that the next body must succeed into the place of the body that is flowne away This next body generally is ayre whose mobility and fluidity beyond all other bodies maketh it of all others the fittest to be drawne and the more of it that is drawne the more must needes follow Now if there be floating in this ayre any other atomes subiect to the current which the ayre taketh they must also come with it to the fire and by it must be rarifyed and be exported out of that little orbe Hence it is that men with very good reason do hold that fire ayreth a chamber as we terme it that is purifyeth it both because it purifyeth it as wind doth by drawing a current of ayre into it that sweepeth through it or by making it purify it selfe by motion as a streame of water doth by running as also because those vapours which approach the fire are burned and dissolued So that the ayre being noysome and vnwholesome by reason of its grossenesse proceeding from its standing vnmoued like a stagnation of dead water in a marish place the fire taketh away that cause of annoyance By this very rule we learne that other hoat
vnto whom I intend this worke But to make these operations of nature not incredible lett vs remember how we haue determined that euery body whatsoeuer doth yield some steame or vent a kind of vapour from it selfe and consider how they must needes do so most of all that are hoat and moyst as blood and milke are and as all woundes and sores generally are We see that the foote of a hare or deere leaueth such an impression where the beast hath passed as a dog can discerne it a long time after and a foxe breatheth out so strong a vapour that the hunters themselues can wind it a great way of and a good while after he is parted from the place Now ioyning this to the experiences we haue already allowed of concerning the attraction of heate wee may conclude that if any of these vapours do light vpon a solide warme body which hath the nature of a source vnto them they will naturally congregate and incorporate there and if those vapors be ioyned with any medicatiue quality or body they will apply that medicament better then any surgeon can apply it Then if the steame of blood and spirits do carry with it from the weapon or cloth the balsamike qualities of the salue or pouder and with them do settle vpon the wound what can follow but a bettering in it Likewise if the steame of the corruption that is vpon the clodde do carry the drying quality of the wind which sweepeth ouer it when it hangeth high in the ayre vnto the sore part of the cowes foote why is it not possible that it should dry the corruption there as well as it dryeth it vpon the hedge And if the steame of burned milke caÌ„ hurt by carrying fire to the dugge why should not salt cast vpon it be a preseruatiue against it Or rather why should not salt hinder the fire from being carryed thither Since the nature of salt alwayes hindereth and suppresseth the actiuity of fire as we see by experience when we throw salt into the fire below to hinder the flaming of soute in the toppe of a chimney which presently ceaseth when new fire from beneath doth not continue it And thus we might proceed in sundry other effects to declare the reason and the possibility of them were we certaine of the truth of them therefore we remitt this whole question to the autority of the testimonies THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER Of three other motions belonging to particular bodies Filtration Restitution and Electricall attraction AFter these lett vs cast our eye vpon an other motion very familiar among Alchymistes which they call Filtration It is effected by putting one end of a tongue or labell of flannen or of cotton or of flaxe into a vessell of water and letting the other end hang ouer the brimme of it And it will by little and little draw all the water out of that vessell so that the end which hangeth out be lower then the superficies of the water and will make it all come ouer into any lower vessell you will reserue it in The end of this operation is when any water is mingled with grosse and muddy partes not dissolued in the water to separate the pure and light ones from the impure By which we are taught that the lighter partes of the water are those which most easily do catch And if we will examine in particular how it is likely this businesse passeth wee may conceiue that the body or linguet by which â—hâ— water ascendeth being a dry one some lighter partes of the water whose chance it is to be neere the clymbing body of flaxe do beginne to sticke fast vnto it and then they require nothing neere so great force nor so much pressing to make them clymbe vp along the flaxe as they would do to make them mount in the pure ayre As you may see if you hold a sticke in running water sheluing against the streame the water will runne vp along the sticke much higher then it could be forced vp in the open ayre without any support though the Agent were much stronger then the current of the streame And a ball will vpon a rebound runne much higher vp a sheluing board then it would if nothing touched it And I haue beene told that if an eggeshell filled with dew bee sett att â—he foote of a hollow sticke the sunne will draw it to the toppe of the sheluing sticke whereas without a proppe it will not stirre it With much more reason then we may conceiue that water finding as it were little steppes in the cotton to facilitate its iourney vpwardes must ascend more easily then those other thinges do so as it once receiue any impulse to driue it vpwardes for the grauity both of that water which is vpon the cotton as also of so many of the confining partes of water as can reach the cotton is exceedingly allayed eyther by sticking vnto the cotton and so weighing in one bulke with â—hat dry body or else by not tending downe straight to the center but resting as it were vpon a steepe plaine according to what we said of the arme of a syphon that hangeth very sloaping out of the water and therefore draweth not after it a lesse proportion of water in the other arme that is more in a direct line to the center by which meanes the water as soone as it beginneth to clymbe cometh to stand in a kind of cone nether breaking from the water below its bulke being bigge enough to reach vnto it nor yet falling downe vnto it But our chiefe labour must be to find a cause that may make the water beginne to ascend To which purpose consider how water of its owne nature compresseth it selfe together to exclude any other body lighter then it is Now in respect of the whole masse of the water those partes which sticke to the cotton are to be accounted much lighter then water not because in their owne nature they are so but for the circumstances which accompany them and do giue them a greater disposition to receiue a motion vpwardes then much lighter bodies whiles they are destitute of such helpes Wherefore as the bulke of water weighing and striuing downewardes it followeth that if there were any ayre mingled with it it would to possesse a lesser place driue out the ayre so here in this case the water that is att the foote of the ladder of cotton ready to clymbe with a very small impulse may be after some sort compared in respect of the water to ayre by reason of the lightnesse of it and consequently is forced vp by the compressing of the rest of the water round about it Which no faster getteth vp but other partes att the foote of the ladder do follow the first and driue them still vpwardes along the towe and new ones driue the second and others the third and so forth So that with ease they clymbe vp to the toppe of the filter still driuing one
an other forwardes as you may do a fine towel through a muskett barrell which though it be too limber to be thrust straight through yet cramming still new partes into it att the length you will driue the first quite through And thus when these partes of water are gott vp to the toppe of the vessell on which the filter hangeth and ouer it on the other side by sticking still to the towe and by their naturall grauity against which nothing presseth on this side the labell they fall downe againe by little and little and by droppes breake againe into water in the vessell sett to receiue them But now if you aske why it will not droppe vnlesse the end of the labell that hangeth be lower then the water I conceiue it is because the water which is all along vpon the flannen is one continued body hanging together as it were a thridde of wyre and is subiect to like accidents as such a continued body is Now suppose you lay a wyre vpon the edge of the basin which the filter resteth vpon and so make that edge the center to ballance it vpon if the end that is outermost be heauyest it will weigh downe the other otherwise not So fareth it with this thridde of water if the end of it that hangeth out of the pott that is to be filtred be longer and consequently heauyer then that which riseth it must needes raise the other vpwardes and fall it selfe downewardes Now the raising of the other implyeth lifting more water from the cisterne and the sliding of it selfe further downewardes is the cause of its conuerting into droppes So that the water in the cisterne serueth like the flaxe vpon a distaffe and is spunne into a thridde of water still as it commeth to the flannen by the drawing it vp occasioned by the ouerweight of the thridde on the other side of the center Which to expresse better by a similitude in a solide body I remēber I haue oftētimes seene in a Mercers shoppe a great heap of massy goldlace lye vpon their stall and a little way aboue it a round smooth pinne of wood ouer which they vse to hale their lace when they wind it into bottomes Now ouer this pinne I haue putt one end of the lace and as long as it hung no lower thē the board vpō which the rest of the lace did lye it stirred not for as the weight of the loose end carried it one way so the weight of the other side where the whole was drew it the other way and in this manner kept it in equilibrity But as soone as I drew on the hāging end to be heauyer thē the clymbing side for no more weigheth thē is in the ayre that which lyeth vpon the board hauing an other cēter then it began to roule to the ground and still drew vp new partes of that which lay vpon the board vntill all was tumbled downe vpon the floore In the same manner it happeneth to the water in which the thridde of it vpon the filter is to be compared fittly vnto that part of the lace which hung vpon the pinne and the whole quantity in the cisterne is like the bulke of lace vpon the shoppeboard for as fast as the filter draweth it vp it is conuerted into a thridde like that which is already vpon the filter in like manner as the wheele conuerteth the flaxe into yarne as fast as it draweth it out from the distaffe Our next consideration will very aptly fall vpon the motion of those thinges which being bent do leape with violence to their former figure whereas others returne but a little and others do stand in that ply wherein the bending of them hath sett them For finding the reason of which effects our first reflection may be to note that a superficies which is more long then broad containeth a lesse floore then that whose sides are equall or neerer being equall and that of those surfaces whose lines and angles are all equall that which hath most sides and angles containeth still the greater floore Whence it is that Mathematicians conclude a circle to be the most capacious of all figures and what they say of lines in respect of a superficies the same with proportion they say of surfaces in respect of the body contained And accordingly we see by consequence that in the making a bagge of a long napkin if the napkin be sowed together longwise it holdeth a great deale lesse then if it be sowed together broadwise By this we see plainely that if any body which is in a thicke and short figure be forced into a thinner which by becoming thinner must likewise become eyther longer or broader for what it looseth one way it must gett an other then that superfieies must needes be stretched which in our case is a Physicall outside or materiall part of a solide body not a Mathematicall consideration of an indiuisible Entity We see also that this change of figures happeneth in the bending of all those bodies whereof we are now enquiring the reason why some of them restore themselues to their originall figures and others stand as they are bent Then to begin with the latter sort we find that they are of a moist nature as among mettalls lead and tinne and among other bodies those which we account soft And we may determine that this effect proceedeth partly from the humidity of the body that standeth bent and partly from a drynesse peculiar to it that comprehendeth and fixeth the humidity of it For by the first they are rendred capable of being driuen into any figure which nature or art desireth and by the second they are preserued from hauing their grauity putt them out of what figure they haue once receiued But because these two conditions are common to all solide bodies we may conclude that if no other circumstance concurred the effect arising out of them would likewise be common to all such and therefore where we find it otherwise we must seeke further for a cause of that transgression As for example if you bend the bodies of young trees or the branches of others they will returne to their due figure It is true they will sometime leane towardes that way they haue beene bent as may be seene euen in great trees after violent tempestes and generally the heades of trees and the eares of corne and the growne hedgerowes will all bend one way in some countries where some one wind hath a maine predominance and raigneth most continually as neere the sea-shore vpon the westerne coast of England where the southwest wind bloweth constantly the greatest part of the yeare may be obserued but this effect proceeding from a particular and extraordinary cause concerneth not our matter in hand We are to examine the reason of the motion of Restitution which we generally see in yong trees and branches of others as we said before In such we see that the earthy part which maketh them stiffe or
not dayly the effects If then we can but arriue to decypher the first characters of the hidden Alphabet we are now taking in hand and can but spellingly reade the first syllabes of it we neede not doubt but that the wise Author of nature in the masterpiece of the creature which was to expresse the excellency of the workeman would with excellent cunning and art dispose all circumstances so aptly as to speake readily a complete language rising from those Elements and that should haue as large an extent in practise and expression beyond those first principles which we like children onely lispe out as the vast discourses of wisest and most learned men are beyond the spellinges of infantes and yet those discourses spring from the same roote as the others spellinges doe and are but a raysing of them to a greater height as the admired musike of the best player of a lute or harpe that euer was is deriued from the harsh twanges of course bowestringes which are composed together and refined till att length they arriue to that wonderfull perfection And so without scruple we may in the businesse we are next falling vpon conclude that the admirable and almost miraculous effects we see are but the eleuating to a wonderfull height those very actions and motions which we shall produce as causes and principles of them Letr vs then suppose that there is a solide hard body of an vnctuous nature whose partes are so subtile and fiery that with a little agitation they are much rarifyed and do breath out in steames though they be too subtile for our eyes to discerne like vnto the steame that issueth from sweating men or horses or like the steame that flyeth from a candle when it is putt out but that these steames as soone as they come into the cold ayre are by that cold soddainely condensed againe and by being condensed do shorten themselues and by little and little do retire till they settle themselues vpon the body from whence they sprung in such manner as you may obserue the little tender hornes of snailes vse to shrinke backe if any thing touch them till they settle in little lumpes vpon their heades If I say these stringes of bituminous vapour should in their way outwardes meete with any light and spungie body they would pierce into it and settle in it and if it were of a competent biggenesse for them to wield they would carry it with them which way soeuer they goe so that if they shrinke backe againe to the fountaine from whence they came they must needes carry backe with them the light spungy body they haue fixed their dartes in Consider then that how much heate rarifyeth so much cold cōdenseth and therefore such partes as by agitatiō were spūne out into a subtile thridde of an inch long for exāple as they coole do grow bigger and bigger and consequently shorter and shorter till att length they gather thēselues backe into their maine body and there they settle againe in cold bitumen as they were att the first and the light body that they sticke vnto is drawne backe with them and consequently sticketh to the superficies of the bitumen As if something were tyed att one end of a lutestring extended to its vtmost capacity and the other end were fastened to some pinne as the string shrinketh vp so that which is tyed att it must needes moue neerer and neerer the pinne which artifice of nature iugglers do imitate when by meanes of an vnseene haire they draw light bodies to them Now if all this operation be done without your seeing the little thriddes which cause it the matter appeareth wonderfull and strange But when you consider this progresse that we haue sett downe you will iudge it possible And this seemeth to be the case of those bodies which we call Electricall as yellow amber iett and the like All which are of a bituminous vnctuous nature as appeareth by their easy combustibility and smell when they are burned And if some do not so apparently shew this vnctuous nature it is because eyther they are too hard or else they haue a high degree of aqueous humidiry ioyned with their vnctuosity and in them the operation will be duller in that proportion for as we see that vnctuous substances are more odoriferous then others and do send their steames further off and more efficaciously so we can not doubt but that such bodies as consist in a moist nature do accordingly send forth their emanations in a feebler proportion Yet that proportion will not be so feeble but that they may haue an Electricall effect as well as the more efficacious Electricall bodies which may be perceptible if exact experience be made by an instrument like the mariners needle as our learned countryman Doctor Gilbert teacheth But that in those eminent agents the spirits whereby they attract are vnctuous is plaine because the fire consumeth them and so if the agents be ouerheated they can not worke but moderate heate euen of fire encreaseth their operation Againe they are clogged by mysty ayre or by wetting and likewise are pierced through and cutt asunder by spiritt of wine or aquae ardentes but oyle doth not hurt them Likewise they yield more spirits in the sunne then in the shade and they continue longer when the ayre is cleared by North or by Easterne windes They require to be polished eyther because the rubbing which polisheth them doth take off from their surfaces the former emanations which returning backe do sticke vpon them and so do hinder the passage of those that are within or else because their outsides may be foule or lastly because the pores may be dilated by that smoothing Now that hardnesse and solidity is required doth argue that these spirits must be quicke ones that they may returne smartly and not be lost through their languishing in the ayre Likewise that all bodies which are not eyther exceeding rare or else sett on fire may be drawne by these vnctuous thriddes concludeth that the quality by which they do it is a common one that hath no particular contrarieties such a one as we see is in grease or in pitch to sticke to any thing from which in like manner nothing is exempted but fire and ayre And lastly that they worke most efficaciously when they are heated by rubbing rather then by fire sheweth that their spirits are excitated by motion and are thereby made to flye abroad in such manner as we see in pomanders and in other perfumes which must be heated if you will haue them communicate their sent and alike effect as in them agitation doth in iett yellow amber and such other Electricall bodies for if vpon rubbing them you putt them presently to your nose you will discerne a strong bituminous smell in them all which circumstances do shew that this Electricall vertue consisteth in a certaine degree of rarity or density of the bodies vnctuous emanations Now if these refined and viscous
they can not soddainely be so much rarifyed as the subtiler partes of ayre that are there and therefore the more those subtiler partes are rarifyed and thereby happen to be carried vp the stronger and the thicker the heauyer atomes must descend And thus this concurse of ayre from the polar partes mainetayneth grauity vnder the zodiake where otherwise all would be turned into fire and so haue no grauity Now who coÌ„sidereth the two hemispheres which by the aequator are diuided will find that they are not altogether of equall complexions but that our hemisphere in which the Northpole is comprised is much dryer then the other by reason of the greater coÌ„tinent of land in this and the vaster tract of sea in the other and therefore the supply which cometh froÌ„ the diuers hemispheres must needes be of differeÌ„t natures that which cometh from towardes the Southpole being compared to that which cometh froÌ„ towardes the North as the more wett to the more dry Yet of how different coÌ„plexions soeuer they be you see they are the emanations of one and the same body Not vnlike vnto what nature hath instituted in the ranke of animals among whom the male and the female are so distinguished by heate and cold moysture and drought that neuerthelesse all belongeth but to one nature and that in degrees though manifestly different yet so neere together that the body of one is in a manner the same thing as the body of the other Euen so the complexions of the two hemispheres are in such sort different in the same qualities that neuerthelesse they are of the same nature and are vnequall partes of the same body which we call the earth Now Alchymistes assure vs that if two extractions of one body do meete together they will incorporate one with the other especially if there be some little difference in the complexion of the extractions Whence it followeth that these two streames of ayre making vp one continuate floud of various currents from one end of the world to the other each streame that cometh to the equator from its owne Pole by the extraction of the sunne and that is still supplyed with new matter flowing from its owne pole to the aequator before the sunne can sufficiently rarify and lift vp the atomes that came first perpendicularly vnder its beames as it vseth to happen in the effects of Physicall causes which can not be rigorously aiusted but must haue some latitude in which nature inclineth euer rather to aboundance then to defect will passe euen to the other pole by the conduct of his fellow in case he be by some occasion driuen backe homewardes For as we see in a boule or paile full of water or rather in a pipe through which the water runneth along if there be a little hole att the bottome or side of it the water will wriggle and change its course to creepe out att that pipe especially if there be a little spigott or quill att the outside of the hole that by the narrow length of it helpeth in some sort as it were to sucke it So if any of the files of the army or flould of atomes sucked from one of the Poles to the aequator do there find any gappes or chinkes or lanes of retiring files in the front of the other poles batalia of atomes they will presse in there in such manner as we haue aboue declared that water doth by the helpe of a labell of cotton and as is exemplyfied in all the attractions of venime by venimous bodies whereof we haue giuen many examples aboue and they will go along with them the course they goe For as when a thicke short guilded ingott of siluer is drawne out into a long subtile wyre the wyre continuing still perfectly guilded all ouer doth manifestly shew that the outside and the inside of the ingott do strangely meete together and intermixe in the drawing out so this little streame which like an eddy current runneth backe from the aequator towardes its owne Pole will continue to the end still tincted with the mixture of the other Poles atomes it was incorporated with att its coming to the aequator Now that some little riuolets of ayre and atomes should runne backe to their owne Pole contrary to the course of their maine streame will be easily enough to conceiue if we but consider that att certaine times of the yeare windes do blow more violently and strongly from some determinate part or Rombe of the world then they do att other times and from other partes As for example our East India Mariners tell vs of the famous Monâ—ones they find in those partes which are strong windes that raigne constantly six monthes of the yeare from one polewardes and the other six monthes from the other pole and beginne precisely about the sunnes entering into such a signe or degree of the zodiake and continue till about its entrance into the opposite degree And in our partes of the world certaine smart Easterly or Northeasterly windes do raigne about the end of March and beginning of Aprill when it seemeth that some snowes are melted by the spring heates of the sunne And other windes haue their courses in other seasons vpon other causes All which do euidently conuince that the course of the ayre and of vapors from the poles to the equator can not be so regular and vniforme but that many impediments and crosses do light in the way to make breaches in it and thereby to force it in some places to an opposite course In such sort as we see happeneth in eddy waters and in the course of a tide wherein the streame running swiftly in the middle beateth the edges of the water to the shore and thereby maketh it runne backe att the shore And hence we may conclude that although the maine course of ayre and atomes for example from north to south in our hemisphere can neuer faile of going on towardes the aequator constantly att the same rate in grosse neuerthlesse in seuerall particular little partes of it and especially att the edges of those streames that are driuen on faster then the rest by an extraordinary and accidentall violent cause it is variously interrupted and sometimes entirely stopped and other times euen driuen backe to the northwardes And if peraduenture any man should thinke that this will not fall out because each streame seemeth to be alwayes coming from his owne Pole to the aequator and therefore will oppose and driue backe any bodies that with lesse force should striue to swimme against it or if they sticke vnto them will carry them backe to the aequator We answere that we must not conceiue that the whole ayre in body doth euery where equally encroach from the polewardes vpon the torride zone but as it were in certaine brookes or riuolets according as the contingency of all causes putt together doth make it fall out Now then out of what we haue said it will follow that since
are or may be made in this matter And first of that which Doctour Gilbert disputeth against all former writers of the loadestone to witt which is the North and which the South pole of a stone Which seemeth vnto me to be only a question of the name for if by the name of north and south we vndersâ—aÌ„d that end of the stone which hath that vertue that the north or south pole of the earth haue then it is certaine that the end of the stone which looketh to the south pole of the earth is to be called the north pole of the loadestone and conrrariwise that which looketh to the north is to be called the south pole of it But if by the names of north and south pole of the stone you meane those endes of it that lye and point to the north and to the south poles of the earth then you must reckon their poles contrariwise to the former account So that the termes being once defined there will remaine no further controuersye about this point Doctor Gilbert seemeth also to haue an other controuersy with all writers to witt whether any bodies besides magneticall ones be attractiue Which he seemeth to deny all others to affirme But this also being fairely putt will peraduenture proue no controuersy for the question is eyther in common of attraction or else in particular of such an attraction as is made by the loadestone Of the first part there can be no doubt as we haue declared aboue and as is manifest betwixt gold and quickesiluer when a man holding gold in his mouth it draweth vnto it the quickesiluer that is in his body But for the attractiue to draw a body vnto it selfe not wholy but one determinate part of the body drawne vnto one determine part of the drawer is an attraction which for my part I can not exemplify in any other bodies but magneticall ones A third question is whether an iron that standeth long time vnmoued in a window or any other part of a building perpendicularly to the earth doth contract a magneticall vertue of drawing or pointing towardes the north in that end which looketh downewardes For Cabeus who wrote since Gilbert affirmeth it out of experience but eyther his experiment or his expression was defectiue For assuredly if the iron standeth so in the northerne hemisphere it will turne to the north and if in the southerne hemisphere it will turne to the south for seeing the vertue of the loadestone proceedeth from the earth and that the earth hath different tempers towardes the north and towardes the south pole as hath beene already declared the vertue which cometh out of the earth in the northerne hemisphere will giue vnto the end of the iron next it an inclination to the north pole and the earth of the southerne hemisphere will yield the contrary disposition vnto the end which is neerest it The next question is why a loadestone seemeth to loue iron better then it doth an other loadestone The answere is because iron is indifferent in all its partes to receiue the impression of a loadestone whereas an other loadestone receiueth it only in a determinate part and therefore a loadestone draweth iron more easily then it can an other loadestone because it findeth repugnance in the partes of an other loadestone vnlesse it be exactly situated in a right position Besides iron seemeth to be compared to a loadestone like as a more humide body to a dryer of the same nature and the difference of male and female sexes in animals do manifestly shew the great appetence of coniunction between moysture and drynesse when they belong to bodies of the same species An other question is that great one why a loadestone capped with steele taketh vp more iron then it would do if it were without that capping An other conclusion like vnto this is that if by a loadestone you take vp an iron and by that iron a second iron and then you pull away the second iron the first iron in some position will leaue the loadestone to sticke vnto the second iron as long as the second iron is within the sphere of the loadestones actiuity but if you remoue the second out of that sphere then the first iron remaining within it though the other be out of it will leaue the second and leape backe to the loadestone To the same purpose is this other conclusion that the greater the iron is which is entirely within the compasse of the loadestones vertue the more strongly the loadestone will be moued vnto it and the more forcibly it will sticke to it The reasons of all these three wee must giue att once for they hang all vpon one string And in my conceite neyther Gilbert nor Galileo haue hitt vpon the right As for Gilbert he thinketh that in iron there is originally the vertue of the loadestone but that it is as it were a sleepe vntill by the touch of the loadestone it be awaked and sett on worke and therefore the vertue of both ioyned together is greater then the vertue of the loadestone alone But if this were the reason the vertue of the iron would be greater in euery regard and not only in sticking or in taking vp whereas himselfe confesseth that a capped stone draweth no further then a naked stone nor hardly so farre Besides it would continue its vertue out of the sphere of actiuity of the loadestone which it doth not Againe seeing that if you compare them seuerally the vertue of the loadestone is greater then the vertue of the iron why should not the middle iron sticke closer to the stone then to the further iron which must of necessity haue lesse vertue Galileo yieldeth the cause of this effect that when an iron toucheth an iron there are more partes which touch one an other then when a loadestone toucheth the iron both because the loadestone hath generally much impurity in it and therefore diuers partes of it haue no vertue whereas iron by being melted hath all its partes pure and secondly because iron can be smoothed and polisked more then a loadestone can be and therefore its superficies toucheth in a manner with all its partes whereas diuers partes of the stones superficies can not touch by reason of its ruggednesse And he confirmeth his opinion by experience for if you putt the head of a needle to a barestone and the point of it to an iron and then plucke away the iron the needle will leaue the iron and sticke to the stone but if you turne the needle the other way it will leaue the stone and sticke to the iron Out of which he inferreth that it is the multitude of partes which causeth the close and strong sticking And it seemeth he found the same in the capping of his loadestones for he vsed flatt irons for that purpose which by their whole plane did take vp other irons whereas Gilbert capped his with coÌ„uexe irons which not applying
they are Lett vs then in the next place consider what will follow in the rest of the body out of these varieties of passions once raysed in the hart and sent into the braine It is euidēt that according to the nature and quality of these motions the hart must needes in euery one of them voyde out of it selfe into the arteries a greater or lesser quantity of bloud and that in diuers fashions and the arteries which lye fittest to receiue these suddaine egestions of bloud are those which goe into the braine whose course being directly vpwardes we can not doubt but that it is the hoatest and subtilest part of the bloud and the fullest of spirits that flyeth that way These spirits then running a lōg and perplexed iourney vp and downe in the braine by various meanders and anfractuosities are there mingled with the humide steame of the braine it selfe and are therewith cooled and do come at the last to smoake at liberty in the hollow ventricles of the braine by reeking out of the little arteriall branches that do weaue the plexus choroides or nette we spoke of ere while and they being now growne heauy do fall by their naturall course into that part or processe of the braine which is called medulla spinalis or the marrow of the backe bone which being all besett by the nerues that runne through the body it can not happen otherwise but that these thickened and descending spirits must eyther fall themselues into those nerues or else presse into them other spirits which are before them that without such new force to driue them violently forwardes would haue slided downe more leisurely Now this motion being downewardes and meeting with no obstacle till it arriue vnto its vtmost periode that way the lowest nerues are those which naturally do feele the communication of these spirits first But it is true if the flowing tide of them be great and plentifull all the other nerues will also be so suddainely filled vpon the filling of the lowermost that the succession of their swellings will hardly be perceptible as a suddaine and violent inundation of water seemeth to rise on the sides of the channell as it doth at the milldamme though reason assureth vs it must beginne there because there it is first stopped On the contrary side if the spirits be few they may be in such a proportion as to fill only the lower nerues and to cōmunicate little of thēselues to any of the others And this is the case in the passion of feare which being stored with fewer spirits thē any other passiō that causeth a motiō in the body it moueth the legges most and so carryeth the animal that is affrayd with violence from the obiect that affrighteth him Although in truth it is a faint hope of escaping mingled with feare which begetteth this motion for when feare is single and at its height it stoppeth all motion by contracting the spirits and thence is called stupor as well as griefe for the same reason and accordingly we see extreme cowardes in the extremity of their feare haue not the courage to runne away no more then to defend or helpe themselues by any other motions But if there be more aboundance of spirits then the vpper partes are also moued as well as the legges whose motion contributeth to defense but the braine it selfe and the senses which are in the head being the first in the course of this flood of spirits that is sent from the hart to the head it is impossible but that some part of them should be pressed into the nerues of those senses and so will make the animal vigilant and attentiue to the cause of its feare or griefe But if the feare be so great that it contracteth all the spirits and quite hindereth their motion as in the case we touched aboue then it leaueth also the nerues of the senses destitute of spirits and so by too strong apprehension of a danger the animall neyther seeth nor apprehendeth it but as easily precipitateth it selfe into it as it happeneth to auoyde it being meerely gouerned by chance and may peraduenture seeme valiant through extremity of feare And thus you see in common how all the naturall operations of the body do follow by naturall consequence out of the passions of the mind without needing to attribute discourse or reason eyther to men or beastes to performe them Although at the first sight some of them may appeare vnto those that looke not into their principles and true causes to flow from a source of intelligence whereas it is euident by what wee haue layed open they all proceed from the due ranging and ordering of quantitatiue partes so or so proportioned by rarity and density And there is no doubt but who would follow this search deepely might certainly retriue the reasons of all those externall motions which wee see vse to accompany the seuerall passions in men and Beastes But for our intent wee haue said enough to shew by what kind or order and course of nature they may be effected without confining our selues ouer scrupulously to euery circumstance that we haue touched and to giue a hinte whereby others that will make this inquiry their taske may compile an intire and well grounded and intelligible doctrine of this matter Only we will adde one aduertissement more which is that these externall motions caused by passion are of two kindes for some of them are as it were the beginnings of the actions which nature intendeth to haue follow out of the passions that cause them but others are only bare signes of the passions that produce them and are made by the cōnexion of partes vnnecessary for the maine action that is to follow out of the passion with other partes that by the passion are necessarily moued as for example when an hungry mans mouth watereth at the sight of good meate it is a kind of beginning of eating or of preparation for eating for when we eate nature draweth a moysture into our mouth to humectate our meate and to conuey the tast of it into the nerues of the tongue which are to make report of it vnto the braine but when we laugh the motion of our face aymeth at no further end and followeth only by the connexion of those muscles which draw the face in such a sort vnto some inward partes that are moued by the passion out of which laughing proceedeth But we must not leaue this subiect without some mention of the diaphragma into which the other branch of those nerues that are called of the sixth coniugation doth come for the first branch we haue said goeth into the hart and carryeth thither the obiects that come into the braine and this we shall find carryeth backe to the braine the passion or motion which by the obiect is raysed in the hart Concerning this part of our body you are to note that it is a muscolous membrane which in the middle of it hath a
intention in this Treatise And for this intent we must looke vpon those actions of man which are peculiarly his and vpon those thinges which result out of them and are called Opera or labores hominum as houses Townes Tillage Handicrafts Armes shippes Commonwealthes Armies Bookes and the like in which great mens lifes and thoughts haue beeue spent In all these we find one generall thridde to runne quite through them and that all of them are composed of the same stuffe and are built vpon the same foundation which is a long chaine of discourses whereof euery little part or linke is that which schollers do call a Syllogisme and Syllogismes we know are framed of enuntiations and they of single or vncomposed apprehensions All which are actions wrought by the vnderstanding of a man But beyond these we can not proceede to any further subdiuision of partes and containe our selues within the orbe of humane Actions for simple apprehensions can not be further resolued into other partes beyond the degree of apprehensions and yet still remaine actions peculiar to a man so that we may be sure we shall haue left nothing out of enquiry concerning Mans actions as he is Man if we beginne with anatomizing his first bare apprehensions and so goe on by degrees compounding them till we come to faddome those great and admirable machines of bookes and workes which he as I may say weaueth out of his owne bowels and the like of which is done by no other creature whatsoeuer vpon the face of our contemptible Earth These then which are all comprised vnder the names of Apprehensions of Enuntiations or Iudgements and of Discourses shall be the subiect of this second Treatise and in it we will first consider these operations in themselues which being done we will endeauour to proue out of the nature and manner of performing them that the soules vnto whom they belong are Immateriall and Immortall THE SECOND TREATISE DECLARING THE NATVRE AND OPERATIONS OF MANS SOVLE THE FIRST CHAPTER Of simple Apprehensions THAT we may duely vnderstand what a right Apprehension is lett vs consider the preeminence that a man who apprehendeth a thing rightly hath ouer him who misseth of doing so This latter can but roue wildely at the nature of the thing he apprendeth and will neuer be able to draw any operation into act out of the apprehension he hath framed of it As for example if a man be to worke vpon gold and by reason of its resemblance vnto brasse hath formed an apprehension of brasse insteed of an apprehension of gold and then knowing that the action of fire will resolue brasse into its least partes and seuer its moist from its drye ones will go about to calcine gold in the same manner as he would do brasse he will soone find that he looseth his labour and that ordinary fire is not an adequate Agent to destroy the homogeneall nature and to seuer the minute partes of that fixed mettall all which happeneth out of the wrong apprehension he hath made of gold Whereas on the other side he that apprehendeth a thing rightly if he pleaseth to discourse of what he apprehendeth findeth in his apprehension all the partes and qualities which are in the thing he discourseth of for example if he apprehendeth rightly a knife or a beetle or a siuue or any other thing whatsoeuer in the knife he will find hafte and blade the blade of iron thicke on the backe and thinne on the edge tempered to be hard and tough thus beaten so ground in such manner softened thus quenched and whatsoeuer else concerneth the Being or the making of a knife and all this he draweth out of his notion or apprehension of a knife which is that it is an instrument fitted to cutt such and such thinges in such a manner for hence he findeth that it hath an haft fitt to hold it by in ones hand to the end it may not hurt the hand whiles it presseth vpon the knife and that the blade is apt to flide in betwixt the partes of the thing which is to be cutt by the motion of being pressed or drawne by the hand and so he proceedeth on descending to the qualities of both partes and how they are to be ioyned and held fast together In the like manner he discourseth of a beetle of a siuue or of whatsoeuer else cometh in his way And he doth this not only in such manufacturers as are of mans inuention but if he be capable he doth the like in beastes in birdes in trees in herbes in fishes in fossiles and in what creature soeuer he meeteth withall within the whole extent of nature He findeth what they are made for and hauing discouered natures ayme in their production he can instruct others what partes and manner of generation they haue or ought to haue and if he that in this manner apprehendeth any thing rightly hath a minde to worke vpon it eyther to make it or to vse and order it to some end of his owne he is able by his right apprehension to compare it vnto other thinges to prepare what is any way fitting for the making of it to apply it vnto what it will worke its effect vpon and to conserue it from what may wrong or destroy it so if he haue framed a right apprehension of a siuue he will not employ it in drawing water if of a beetle he will not go about to cutt with it neyther will he offer if he haue a due apprehension of a knife to cutt stone or steele with it but wood or what is softer He knoweth what will whette and maintaine the edge of it and vnderstandeth what will blunt or breake it In fine he vseth it in such sort as the knife it selfe had it knowledge and will would wish to be vsed and moueth it in such a manner as if it had power of motion it would moue it selfe he goeth about the making it euen as nature would do were it one of her plantes and in a word the knife in this apprehension made in the man hath those causes proprieties and effects which are naturall vnto it and which nature would giue it if it were made by her and which are propotionable to those partes causes proprieties and effects that nature bestoweth on her children and creatures according to their seuerall essences What then can we imagine but that the very nature of a thing apprehended is truly in the man who doth apprehend it And that to apprehend ought is to haue the nature of that thing within ones selfe And that man by apprehending doth become the thing apprehended not by change of his nature vnto it but by assumption of it vnto his Here peraduenture some will reply that we presse our inference to farre and will peremptorily deny the thinges reall being in our minde when we make a true and full apprehension of it accounting it sufficient for our purpose that some likenesse or image of the
then this or precedent to it and that it agreeth so completely with our soule as she seemeth to be nothing else but a capacity fitted to Being it can not be denyed but that our soule must needes haue a very neere affinity and reseÌ„blance of nature with it but it is euident that Being hath not of it selfe any partes in it nor of it selfe is capable of diuision and therefore it is as euident that the soule which is framed as it were by that patterne and Idea and is fitted for Beinâ— as for its end must also of it selfe be voyde of partes and be in capable of diuisioÌ„ For how can partes be fitted to an indiuisible thing And how can two such different natures euer meete porportionably If it be obiected that the very notion of Being from whence we estimate the nature of the soule is accommodable to partes as for example we see that substance is endewed with quantity We answere that euen this doth corroborate our proofe for seing that the substances which our senses are acquainted withall haue partes and can not be without partes and yet neuerthelesse in our soule the notion of such substance is found without partes it is cleare that such substance hath this meerely from our soule and because it hath this indisibility from our soule it followeth that our soule hath a power and nature to bestow indiuisibility vpon what cometh into her And since it can not be denyed but that if any substance were once existent without partes it could neuer after haue partes it is euident that the nature of the soule is incapable of partes because it is existent without partes And that it is in such sort existent is cleare for this effect of the soules giuing indiuisibility vnto what she receiueth into her proceedeth from her as she is existent Now since this notion of Being is of all others the first and originall notion that is in the soule it must needes aboue all others sauour most of the proper and genuine nature of the soule in which and by which it is what it is and hath its indiuisibility If then it be pressed how can substance in reality or in thinges be accommodated vnto Quantity seing that of it selfe it is indiuisible We answere that such substance as is the subiect of Quantity and that hath Quantity is not indiuisible for such substance can not be subsistent without Quantity and when we frame a notion of it as being indiuisible it is an effect of the force of our soule that is able to draw a notion out of a thing that hath partes without drawing the notion of the partes which sheweth maâ—ifestly that in her there is a power aboue hauing of partes which being in her argueth her existence to be such Our last consideration vpon the nature of apprehension was how all that is added to the notion of Being is nothing else but respects of one thing to an other and how by these respects all the thinges of the world come to be in our soule The euideÌ„ce we may draw from hence of our soules immateriality will be not a whitt lesse then eyther of the two former for lett vs cast our lookes ouer all that cometh into our senses and see if from one end to an other we can meete with such a thing as we call a respect it hath neyther figure nor colour nor smell nor motion nor tast nor touch it hath no similitude to be drawne out of by meanes of our senses to be like to be halfe to be cause or effect what is it The thinges indeed that are so haue their resemblances and pictures but which way should a painter go about to draw a likenesse Or to paint a halfe or a cause or an effect If we haue any vnderstanding we can not choose but vnderstand that these notions are extremely different from whatsoeuer cometh in vnto vs by the mediation of our senses and then if we reflect how the whole negotiation of our vnderstanding is in and by respects must it not follow necessarily that our soule is of an extreme different nature from our senses and from our Imagination Nay if we looke well into this argument we shall see that whereas Aristotle pretendeth that Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuit in sensu this Maxime is so farre from being true in rigour of the wordes that the quite contrary followeth vndenyably out of it to witt that Nihil est in intellectu quod fuit prius in sensu Which I do not say to contradict Aristotle for his wordes are true in the meaning he spoke them but to shew how thinges are so much changed by coming into the vnderstanding and into the soule that although on the one side they be the very same thinges yet on the other side there remaineth no likenesse at all between them in themselues as they are in the vnderstading which is a most euident proofe when the weight of it is duely considered that the nature of our soule is mainely different from the nature of all corporeall thinges that come into our sense By this which we now come from declaring the admiration how corporeall thinges can be in the soule and how they are spiritualized by their being so will in part be taken away for reflecting that all the notioÌ„s of the soule are nothing but the generall notion of a substance or of a thing ioyned with some particular respect â—f then we consider that the respects may be so ordered that one respect may be included in an other we shall see that there may be some one respect which may include all those respects that explicate the nature of some one thing and in this case the generall notion of a thing coupled with this respect will containe all whatsoeuer is in the thing as for example the notion of a knife that it is a thing to cutt withall includeth as we haue formerly declared all that belongeth vnto a knife And thus you see how that mysticall phrase of corporeall thinges being spiritualized in the soule signifyeth no more but that the similitudes which are of them in the soule are Respects Thus hauing collected out of the nature of Apprehension in common as much as we conceiue needefull in this place to proue our assertion our next worke must be to try if we can do the like by reflecting vpon particular apprehensions We considered them of two sortes calling one kind vniuersall ones and the other collectiue ones in the vniuersall ones we tooke notice of two conditions the abstraction and the vniuersality of them now truly if we had no other euidence but what will rise from the first of these that alone would conuince and carry the conclusion for though among corporeall thinges the same may be now in one place now in an other or sometimes haue one figure sometimes an other and still be the same thinges as for example waxe or water yet it is impossible
acute Philosophers who teare mens wittes in pieces by their different wayes and subtile Logicke striuing to shew men beatitudes in this world and seeking for that which if they had found were but a nothing of a nothing in respect of true beatitude He only is truly wise who neglecting all that flesh and bloud desireth endeauoreth to purchase att any rate this felicity which thy suruiuance promiseth the least degree of which so farre surmounteth all the heapes which the gyants of the earth are able to raise by throwing hils vpon hils and striwing in vaine to scale and reach those eternities which reside aboue the skyes Alas how fondly doth mankinde suffer it selfe to be deluded How true it is that the only thing necessary proueth the only thing that is neglected Looke vp my soule and fixe thine eye vpon that truth which eternall light maketh so cleere vnto thee shining vpon thy face with so great euidence as defyeth the noonetyde sunne in its greatest brightnesse And this it is that euery action of thine be it neuer so slight is mainely mischieuous or be it neuer so bedeckt with those specious considerations which the wise men of the world iudge important is foolish absurd and vnworthy of a man and vnworthy of one that vnderstandeth and acknowledgeth thy dignity if in it there be any specke or if through it there appeare any sparke of those meane and flatte motiues which with a false byas draw any way aside from attaining that happinesse we expect in thee That happinesse ought to be the end and marke we leuell att that the rule and model of all our actions that the measure of euery circumstance of euery atome of whatsoeuer we bestow so pretious a thing vpon as the employment of thee is But we must not so slightly passe ouer the intensenesse and vehemence of that felicity which thou my soule shalt enioy when thou art seuered from thy benumming compartner I see euidently that thou dost not suruiue a simple and dull essence but art replenished with a vast and incomprehensible extent of riches and delight within thy selfe I see that golden chayne which here by long discourses filleth huge volumes of bookes and diueth into the hidden natures of seuerall bodies in thee resumed into one circle or linke which containeth in it selfe the large scope of whatsoeuer screwing discourse can reach vnto I see it comprehend and master the whole world of bodies I see euery particular nature as it were embossed out to the life in thy celestiall garment I see euery solitary substance ranked in its due place and order not crushed or thronged by the multitude of its fellowes but each of them in its full extent in the full propriety of euery part and effect of it and distinguished into more diuisions then euer nature seuered it into In thee I see an infinite multitude enioy place enough I see that neither hight nor profundity nor longitude nor latitude are able to exempt themselues from thy diffused powers they faddome all they comprehend all they master all they enriche thee with the stock of all and thou thy selfe art all and somewhat more then all and yet now but one of all I see that eueryone of this all in thee encreaseth the strength by which thou knowest any other of the same all and all encreaseth the knowledge of all by a multiplication beyond the skill of Arithmetike being in its kind absolutely infinite by hauing a nature that is incapable of being eyther infinite or finite I see againe that those thinges which haue not knowledge are situated in the lowest and meanest ranke of creatures and are in no wise comparable to those which know I see there is no pleasure att all no happinesse no felicity but by knowledge and in knowledge Experience teacheth me how the purer and nobler race of mankind adoreth in their hartes this idole of knowledge and scorneth what euer else they seeme to court and to be fond of And I see that this excesse of sea of knowledge which is in thee groweth not by the succession of one thought after an other but is like a full swolne ocean neuer ebbing on any coast but equally pushing att all its boundes and tumbling out its flowing waues on euery syde and into euery ereche so that euery where it maketh high tide Or like a pure sunne which from all partes of it shooteth its radiant beames with a like extremity of violence And I see likewise that this admirable knowledge is not begotten and conserued in thee by the accidentary helpe of defectiue causes but is rooted in thy selfe is steeped in thy owne essence like an vnextinguishable sourse of a perpetually streaming fire or like the liuing head of an euerrunning spring beholden to none out of thy selfe sauing only to thy Almighty Creatour and begging of none but being in thy selfe all that of which thou shouldest begge This then my soule being thy lotte and such a hieght of pleasure being reserued for thee and such an extremity of felicity with in a short space attending thee can any degenerate thought euer gaine strength enough to shake the euidence which these considerations implant and riuett in thee Can any dull obliuion deface this so liuely and so beautifull image Or can any length of time draw in thy memory a veyle betweene it and thy present attention Can any peruersity so distort thy straight eyes that thou shouldest not looke allwayes fixed vpon this marke and leuell thy ayme directly at this white How is it possible that thou canst brooke to liue and not expire presently thereby to ingulfe thy selfe and be throughly imbibed with such an ouerflowing blisse Why dost thou not breake the walles and chaynes of thy flesh and bloud and leape into this glorious liberty Here Stoickes you are to vse your swords Vpon these considerations you may iustifie the letting out the bloud which by your discourses you seeme so prodigall of To dye vpon these termes is not to part with that which you fondly call a happy life feeding your selues and flattering your hearers with empty words but rather it is to plunge yourselues into a felicity you were neuer able to imagine or to frame in your misguided thoughts any scantling of But nature pulleth me by the eare and warneth me from being so wrongfull to her as to conceiue that so wise a gouernesse should to no aduantage condemne mankinde to so long a bannishment as the ordinary extent of his dull life and wearisome pilgrimage here vnder the sunne reacheth vnto Can we imagine she would allow him so much laysie time to effect nothing in Or can wee suspect that she intended him no further aduantage then what an abortiue child arriueth vnto in his mothers wombe For whatsoeuer the nettes and toyles of discourse can circle in all that he who but once knoweth that himselfe is can attaine vnto as fully as he that is enriched with the science of all things in the world For the