those parts that are together might so joyn and move in the same manner as to be the same Creature it was before its dissolution I answer It may not be impossible but yet It is very improbable that such numerous sorts of Motions after so general an Alteration should so generally agree in an unnatural action CHAP. XII Of FOREKNOWLEDG I Have had some Disputes amongst the Parts of my Mind Whether Nature hath Foreknowledg The Opinion of the Minor Parts was That Nature had Foreknowledg by reason all that was Material was part of her self and those Self-parts having Self-motion she might foreknow what she would act and so what they should know The Opinion of the Major Parts was That by reason every Part had Self-motion and natural Free-will Nature could not foreknow how they would move although she might know how they have moved or how they do move After this Dispute was ended then there was a Dispute Whether the particular Parts had a Foreknowledg of Self-knowledg The Opinion of the Minor Parts was That since every Part in Nature had Self-motion and natural Free-will every Part could know how they should move and so what they should know The Opinion of the Major Parts was That first the Self-knowledg did alter according to Self-action amongst the Self-moving Parts but the Self-knowledg of the Inanimate Parts did alter according to the actions of the Sensitive Self-moving Parts and the Perceptive actions of the Self-moving Parts were according to the form and actions of the Objects so that Foreknowledg of Forein Parts or Creatures could not be And for Foreknowledg of Self-knowledg of the Self-moving Parts there were so many occasional actions that it was impossible the Self-moving Parts could know how they should move by reason that no Part had an Absolute Power although they were Self-moving and had a natural Free-will which proves That Prophesies are somewhat of the nature of Dreams whereof some may prove true by chance but for the most part they are false The Eighth Part. CHAP. I. Of the Irregularity of Nature's Parts SOME may make this Question that If Nature were Self-moving and had Free-will it is probable that she would never move her Parts so irregularly as to put her self to pain I answer first That Nature's Parts move themselves and are not moved by any Agent Secondly Though Nature's Parts are Self-moving and Self-knowing yet they have not an infinite or uncontrolable Power for several Parts and Parties oppose and oft-times obstruct each other so that many times they are forced to move and they may not when they would Thirdly Some Parts may occasion other Parts to be irregular and keep themselves in a regular posture Lastly Nature's Fundamental actions are so poysed that Irregular actions are as natural as Regular CHAP. II. Of the Human Parts of a Human Creature THE Form of Man's Exterior and Interior Parts are so different and so numerous that I cannot describe them by reason I am not so learned to know them But some Parts of a Human Creature Man names Vital because the least disturbance of any of those Parts endangers the Human Life and if any of those Vital Parts are diminished I doubt whether they can be restored but if some of those Parts can be restored I doubt all cannot The Vital Parts are the Heart Liver Lungs Stomack Kidneys Bladder Gaul Guts Brains Radical Humours or Vital Spirits and others which I know not of But this is to be noted That Man is composed of Rare and Solid Parts of which there are more and less Solid more and less Rare as also different sorts of Solid and different sorts of Rare also different sorts of Soft and Hard Parts likewise of Fixt and Loose Parts also of Swift and Slow Parts I mean by Fixt those that are more firmly united CHAP. III. Of Human Humours HVmours are such Parts that some of them may be divided from the whole Body without danger to the whole Body so that they are somewhat like Excremental parts which Excremental parts are the superfluous parts for though the Humours be so necessary that the Body could not well subsist without them yet a Superfluity of them is as dangerous if not more as a Scarcity But there are many sorts of Humours belonging to a Human Creature although Man names but Four according to the Four Elements viz. Flegm Choler Melancholy and Blood but in my opinion there are not only several sorts of Choler Flegm Melancholy and Blood but other sorts that are none of these Four CHAP. IV. Of BLOOD I Have heard that the Opinions of the most Learned Men are That all Animal Creatures have Blood or at least such Juyces that are in lieu of Blood which Blood or Juyces move circularly for my part I am too ignorant to dispute with Learned Men but yet I am confident a Moth which is a sort of Worm or Fly that eats Cloth hath no Blood no nor any Juyce for so soon as it is touched it dissolves straight to a dry dust or like ashes And there are many other Animals or Insects that have no appearance of Blood therefore the life of an Animal doth not consist of Blood And as for the Circulation of Blood there are many Animal Creatures that have not proper Vessels as Veins and Arteries or any such Gutters for their Blood or Juyce to circulate through But say the Blood of Man or of such like Animal doth circulate then it is to be studied Whether the several parts of the Blood do intermix with each other as it flows or whether it flows as Water seems to do where the following parts may be as great strangers to the Leading parts as in a Crowd of People where some of those behind do not know those that are before but if the Blood doth not intermix as it flows then it will be very difficult for a Chyrurgion or Physician to find where the ill Blood runs besides if the Blood be continually flowing when a sick Man is to be let blood before the Vein is opened the bad Blood may be past that Part or Vein and so only the good Blood will be let out and then the Man may become worse than if he had not been let blood CHAP. V. Of the Radical Humours or Parts THere are many Parts in a Human Body that are as the Foundation of a House and being the Foundation if any of those Parts be removed or decayed the House immediately falls to ruine These Fundamental Parts are those we name the Vital Parts amongst which are those Parts we name the Vital and Radical Spirits which are the Oyl and Flame of a Human Creature causing the Body to have that we name a Natural Heat and a Radical Moisture But it is to be noted That these Parts or Corporeal Motions are not like gross Oyl or Flame for I believe there are more differences between those Flames and ordinary Flames than between the Light of the Sun and the
Builders for no Creature can subsist or consist by it self but must assist and be assisted Yet there are some differences in all Productions although of the same Producers otherwise all the Off-springs of one and the same Producer would be alike And though sometimes their several Off-springs may be so alike as hardly to be distinguished yet that is so seldom as it appears as a wonder but there is a property in all Productions as for the Produced to belong as a Right and Property to the Producer CHAP. IX Of Resemblances of several Off-springs or Producers THere are numerous kinds and sorts of Productions and infinite manners and ways in the actions of Productions which is the cause that the Off-springs of the same Producers are not so just alike but that they are distinguishable but yet there may not only be resemblances between particular Off-springs of the same Producers as also of the same sort but of different sorts of Creatures but the Actions of all Productions that are according to their own Species are Imitating Actions but not Bare Imitations as by an Incorporeal Motion for if so then a covetous Woman that loves Gold might produce a Wedg of Gold instead of a Child also Virgins might be as Fruitful as Married Wives CHAP. X. Of the Several Appearances of the Exterior Parts of One Creature EVery altered Action of the Exterior Parts causes an altered Appearance As for example A Man or the like Creature doth not appear when he is old as when he was young nor when he is sick as when he is well in health no nor when he is cold as when he is hot Nor do they appear in several Passions alike for though Man can best perceive the Alteration of his own Kind or Sort yet other Creatures have several Appearances as well as Man some of which Man may perceive though not all being of a different sort And not only Animals but Vegetables and Elements have altered Appearances and many that are subject to Man's perception The Fourth Part. CHAP. I. Of Animal Productions and of the Differences between Productions and Transformations I Understand Productions to be between Particulars as some particular Creatures to produce other particular Creatures but not to transform from one sort of Creature into another sort of Creature as Cheese into Maggots and Fruit into Worms c. which in some manner is like Metamorphosing So by Transformation the Intellectual Nature as well as the Exterior Form is transform'd Whereas Production transforms only the Exterior Form but not the Intellectual Nature which is the cause that such Transformations cannot return into their former state as a Worm to be a Fruit or a Maggot a Cheese again as formerly Hence I perceive that all sorts of Fowls are partly Produced and partly Transformed for though an Egg be produced yet a Chicken is but a Transformed Egg. CHAP. II. Of different Figurative Motions in MAN's Production ALL Creatures are produced by Degrees which proves That not any Creature is produced in perfection by one Act or Figurative Motion for though the Producers are the first Founders yet not the Builders But as for Animal Creatures there be some sorts that are composed of many different Figurative Motions amongst which sorts is Mankind who has very different Figurative Parts as Bones Sinews Nerves Muscles Veins Flesh Skin and Marrow Blood Choler Flegm Melancholy and the like also Head Breast Neck Arms Hands Body Belly Thighs Leggs Feet c. also Brains Lungs Stomack Heart Liver Midriff Kidnies Bladder Guts and the like and all these have several actions yet all agree as one according to the property of that sort of Creature named MAN CHAP. III. Of the Quickning of a Child or any other sort of Animal Creatures THE Reason that a Woman or such like Animal doth not feel her Child so soon as it is produced is That the Child cannot have an Animal Motion until it hath an Animal Nature that is until it be perfectly an Animal Creature and as soon as it is a perfect Child she feels it to move according to its nature but it is only the Sensitive Parts of the Child that are felt by the Mother not the Rational because those Parts are as the Designers not the Builders and therefore being not the Labouring Parts are not the Sensible Parts But it is to be noted That according to the Regularity or Irregularity of the Figurative Motions the Child is well shaped or mishaped CHAP. IV. Of the Birth of a Child THE reason why a Child or such like Animal Creature stays no longer in the Mother's Body than to such a certain Time is That a Child is not Perfect before that time and would be too big after that time and so big that it would not have room enough and therefore it strives and labours for liberty CHAP. V. Of Mischances or Miscarriages of Breeding Creatures WHen a Mare Doe Hind or the like Animal cast their Young or a Woman miscarries of her Child the Mischance proceeds either through the Irregularities of the Corporeal Motions or Parts of the Child or through some Irregularity of the Parts of the Mother or else of both Mother and Child If the Irregularities be of the Parts of the Child those Parts divide from the Mother through their Irregularity but if the Irregularity be in the Parts of the Mother then the Mother divides in some manner from the Child and if there be a distemper in both of them the Child and Mother divide from each other but such Mischances are at different times some sooner and some later As for false Conceptions they are occasioned through the Irregularities of Conception CHAP. VI. Of the Encrease of Growth and Strength of Mankind or such like Creatures THE reason most Animals especially Human Creatures are weak whilst they are Infants and that their Strength and Growth encreases by degrees is That a Child hath not so many Parts as when he is a Youth nor so many Parts when he is a Youth as when he is a Man for after the Child is parted from the Mother it is nourished by other Creatures as the Mother was and the Child by the Mother and according as the nourishing Parts be Regular or Irregular so is the Child Youth or Man weaker or stronger healthful or diseased and when the Figurative Motions move as I may say for expression sake curiously the Body is neatly shaped and is as we say beautiful But this is to be noted That 't is not Greatness or Bulk of Body makes a Body perfect for there are several sizes of every sort or kind of Creatures as also in every particular kind or sort and every several size may be as perfect one as the other But I mean the Number of Parts according to the proper size CHAP. VII Of the several Properties of the several Exterior Shapes of several sorts of Animals THE several Exterior Shapes of Creatures cause several Properties as Running Jumping
Man knows what another Man perceives but by guess or information of the Party but as I said if they have have no Imperfections all Human Creatures have like Properties Faculties and Perceptions As for example All Human Eyes may see one and the same Object alike or hear the same Tune or Sound and so of the rest of the Senses They have also the like Respirations Digestions Appetites and the like may be said of all the Properties belonging to a Human Creature But as one Human Creature doth not know what another Human Creature knows but by Confederacy so no Part of the Body or Mind of a Man knows each Part 's perceptive knowledg but by Confederacy so that there is as much Ignorance amongst the Parts of Nature as Knowledg But this is to be noted That there are several manners and ways of Intelligences not only between several sorts of Creatures or amongst particulars of one sort of Creatures but amongst the several Parts of one and the same Creature CHAP. X. Of the Irregularity of the Sensitive and of the Rational Corporeal Motions AS I have often mentioned and do here again repeat That the Rational and Sensitive Parts of one Society or Creature do understand as perceiving each other's Self-moving Parts and the proof is That sometimes the Human Sense is regular and the Human Reason irregular and sometimes the Reason regular and the Sense irregular but in these differences the Regular Parts endeavour to reform the Irregular which causes many times repetitions of one and the same Actions and Examinations as sometimes the Reason examines the Sense and sometimes the Sense the Reason and sometimes the Sense and Reason do examine the Object for sometimes an Object will delude both the Sense and Reason and sometimes the Sense and Reason are but partly mistaken As for example A fired end of a Stick by a swift exterior Circular Motion appears a Circle of fire in which they are not deceived for by the Exterior Motion the fired end is a Circle but they are mistaken to conceive the Exterior Figurative Action to be the proper natural Figure but when one man mistakes another that is some small Error both of the Sense and Reason Also when one man cannot readily remember another man with whom he had formerly been acquainted it is an Error and such small Errors the Sense and Reason do soon rectifie but in causes of high Irregularities as in Madness Sickness and the like there is a great Bustle amongst the Parts of a Human Creature so as those Disturbances cause unnecessary Fears Grief Anger and strange Imaginations CHAP. XI Of the Knowledg between the Sensitive Organs of a Human Creature THE Sensitive Organs are only ignorant of each other as they are of Forrein Objects for as all the Parts of Forrein Objects are not subject to one Sensitive Organ so all the Sensitive Organs are not subject to each Sensitive Organ of a Human Creature yet in the perceptive Actions of Forrein Objects they do so agree that they make an united Knowledg Thus we may be particularly ignorant one way and yet have a general Knowledg another way CHAP. XII Of Human Perception or Defects of a Human Creature IT is not the great quantity of Brain that makes a Man wise nor a little quantity that makes a Man foolish but the irregular or regular Rational Corporeal Motions of the Head Heart and the rest of the Parts that causes dull Understandings short Memories weak Judgments violent Passions extravagant Imaginations wild Fancies and the like The same must be said of the Sensitive Irregular Corporeal Motions which make Weakness Pain Sickness disordered Appetites and perturbed Perceptions and the like for Nature poysing her Actions by Opposites there must needs be Irregularities as well as Regularities which is the cause that seldom any Creature is so exact but there is some Exception But when the Sensitive and Rational Corporeal Motions are regular and move sympathetically then the Body is healthful and strong the Mind in peace and quiet understands well and is judicious and in short there are perfect Perceptions proper Digestions easie Respirations regular Passions temperate Appetites But when the Rational Corporeal Motions are curious in their change of Actions there are subtile Conceptions and elevated Fancies and when the Sensitive Corporeal Motions move with curiosity as I may say then there are perfect Senses exact Proportions equal Temperaments and that Man calls Beauty CHAP. XIII Of Natural FOOLS THere is great difference between a Natural Fool and a Mad Man for Madness is a Disease but a Natural Fool is a Defect which Defect was some Error in his Production that is in the form and frame either of the Mind or Sense or both for the Sense may be a Natural Fool as well as the Reason as we may observe in those sorts of Fools whom we name Changelings whose Body is not only deformed but all the Postures of the Body are defective and appear as so many fools but sometimes only some Parts are fools as for example If a Man be born Blind then only his Eyes are Fools if Deaf then only his Ears are Fools which occasions his dumbness Ears being the informing Parts to speak and wanting those informations he cannot speak a Language Also if a Man is born lame his Leggs are Fools that is those Parts have no knowledg of such Properties that belong to such Parts but the Sensitive Parts may be wise as being knowing and the Rational Parts may be defective which Defects Man names Irrational But this is to be noted That there may be Natural and Accidental Fools by some extraordinary Frights or by extraordinary Sickness or through the defects of Old Age. As for the Errors of Production they are incurable as also those of Old Age the First being an Error in the very Foundation and the other a Decay of the whole Frame of the Building for after a Human Creature is brought to that perfection as to be as we may say at full growth and strength at the prime of his age the Human Motions and the very Nature of Man after that time begins to decay for then the Human Motions begin to move rather to the dissolution than to the continuance although some Men last to very old Age by reason the unity of their Society is regular and orderly and moves so Sympathetically as to commit few or no Disorders or Irregularities and such old Men are for the most part Healthful and very wise through long Experience and their Society having got a habit of Regularity is not apt to be disturbed by Forrein Parts But this is to be noted That sometimes the Sensitive Body decays before the Rational Mind and sometimes the Rational Mind before the Sensitive Body Also this is to be noted That when the Body is defective but not the Mind then the Mind is very industrious to find out Inventions of Art to help the Defects that are natural But pray
Flame of a Tallow Candle and as much difference between this Oyl and the greasie Oyl as between the purest Essence and Lamp-Oyl But these Vital Parts are as necessary to the Human Life as the solid Vital Parts viz. the Heart Liver Lungs Brains and the like CHAP. VI. Of Expelling Malignant Disorders in a Human Creature EXpelling of Poyson or any Malignity in the Body is when that Malignity hath not got or is not setled into the Vital Parts so that the Regular Motions of the Vital Parts and other Parts of the Body endeavour to defend themselves from the Forrein Malignancies which if they do then the Malignant Motions do dilate to the Exterior Parts and issue out of those Exterior Passages at least through some as either by the way of Purging Vomiting Sweating or Transpiration which is a breathing through the Pores or other passages After the same manner is the expelling of Surfeits or Superfluities of Natural Humours but if the Malignity or Surfeit Superfluity or superfluous Humours have the better as I may say then those Irregular Motions by their Disturbances cause the Regular Motions to be Irregular and to follow the Mode which is to imitate Strangers or the most Powerful the most Fantastical or the most debauch'd for it is many times amongst the Interior Motions of the Body as with the Exterior Actions of Men. CHAP. VII Of Human Digestions and Evacuations TO treat of the several particular Digestive Actions of a Human Creature is impossible for not only every part of Food hath a several manner of Digestive Action but every action in Transpiration is a sort of Digestion and Evacuation so that though every sort of Digestion and Evacuation may be ghest at yet every Particular is not so known that it can be described But this is to be noted That there is no Creature that hath Digestive Motions but hath Evacuating Motions which Actions although they are but Dividing and Uniting yet they are such different manners and ways of uniting and dividing that the most observing Man cannot particularly know them and so not express them but the Uniting actions if regular are the Nourishing actions the Dividing actions if regular are the Cleansing actions but if irregular the Uniting actions are the Obstructive actions and the Dividing actions the Destructive actions CHAP. VIII Of DISEASES in general THere are many sorts of Human Diseases yet all sorts of Diseases are Irregular Corporeal Motions but every sort of Motion is of a different Figure so that several Diseases are different Irregular Figurative Motions and according as the Figurative Motions vary so do the Diseases but as there are Human Diseases so there are Human Defects which Defects if they be those which Man names Natural cannot be rectified by any Human Means Also there are Human Decays and Old Age which although they cannot be prevented or avoided yet they may by good Order and wise Observations be retarded but there are not only numerous sorts of Diseases but every particular it self and every particular sort are more or less different insomuch that seldom a Disease of one and the same sort is just alike but there are some differences as in Men who though they be all of one sort of Animal-kind yet seldom any two Men are just alike and the same may be said of Diseases both of Body and Mind as for example concerning Irregular Minds as in Mad-Men Although all Mad-Men are mad yet not mad alike though they all have the Disease either of Sensitive or Rational Madness or are both Sensitively and Rationally mad Also this is to be noted That as several Diseases may be produced from several Causes so several Diseases from one Cause and one Disease from several Causes which is the cause that a Physician ought to be a long and subtile Observer and Practiser before he can arrive to that Experience which belongs to a good Physician CHAP. IX Of the Fundamental Diseases THere are numerous sorts of Diseases to which Human Creatures are subject and yet there are but few Fundamental Maladies which are these as follow Pain Sickness Weakness Dizziness Numbness Deadness Madness Fainting and Swounding of which one is particular the rest are general The particular is Sickness to which no parts of the Body are subject but the Stomack for though any parts of the Body may have Pain Numbness Dizziness Weakness or Madness yet in no part can be that which we name Sickness but the Stomack As for Dizziness the Effects are general as may be observed in some drunken Men for many times the Head will be in good temper when the Leggs I cannot say are dizzie yet will be so drunk as neither to go or stand and many times the Tongue will be so drunk as not to speak plain when all the rest of the body is well temper'd at least so well as not to be any ways perceived but by the tripping of their Speech but as I said no Part is subject to be sick but the Stomack And though there are numerous sorts of Pains to which every Part is subject and every several Part hath a several Pain yet they are still Pain But some may say That there are also several sorts of Sicknesses I grant it but yet those several sorts of Sicknesses belong only to the Stomack and to no other Part of the Body The Ninth Part. CHAP. I. Of SICKNESS TO go on as orderly as I can I will treat of the Fundamental Diseases and first of Sickness by reason it is the most particular Disease for though as I have said no part of a Human Creature is subject to that Disease namely Sickness but the Stomack yet there are different sorts of Sicknesses of the Stomack as for example Some sorts of Sickness is like the flowing and ebbing of the Sea for the Humours of the Stomack agitate in that manner as if the flowing motions flow upwards it occasions Vomiting if downwards Purging if the Humours divide as partly to flow upwards and partly downwards it occasions both Vomiting and Purging But the Question is Whether it is the motion of the Humours that occasions the Stomack to be sick or the sickness of the Stomack that occasions the Humours to flow I answer That 't is probable that sometimes the flowing of the Humours causes the Stomack to be sick and sometimes the sickness of the Stomack occasions the Humours to flow and sometimes the Stomack will be sick without the flowing of Humours as when the Stomack is empty and sometimes the Humours will flow without any disturbance to the Stomack and sometimes both the Humours and the Stomack do jointly agree in Irregularities but as I said there are several sorts of sicknesses of the Stomack or at least that sickness doth produce several sorts of Effects as for example some sorts of sickness will occasion faint and cold Sweats which sick Motion is not flowing up or down of the Humours but it is a cold dilatation or