more violent because they are less subtile and less penetrating and whose Atoms are not so apt to rarifie the Humours and to draw them to the extream parts of the Body with so much facility and with so little danger as that doth which we spoke of before CHAP. XII Of Poisons and Toxicks THere are several sorts of Poisons and Toxicks some whereof do come at us with an infected air others are communicated to us from Animals or some Nutriment It is not my purpose in this place to shew all the differences of them It answers my purpose to reduce them to Five from the occasion of those things which I ought to speak of about the Antipathy that is betwixt Poisons and our Bodies Therefore I chuse three kinds of Poisons or Toxicks and I shall endeavour to explain the manner how they act upon our Bodies with the assistance of that fictitious Antipathy the Refuge of Ignorance The first is the Poison of the Heart because it immediately assails this Part such is the Poison of a Viper or the Plague the breathing of the infectious air draws and conveys the Plague to the Heart since we cannot say that the Air is carried into the Heart by a contrary quality whence therefore doth this arise from Antipathy or Repugnancy And after what manner doth the air which gives life to the Heart and matter to the vital Spirits bring death to it which sometimes invades it upon a sudden when the Poison of the Plague is Violent but ordinarily a Man doth not dye so suddenly and the Poison only by the motion of the Heart disperses it self thro' the Veins and corrupts the whole Mass of Blood and Bubo's and Pustules arising are the marks of it But when the Poison goes out by suppuration the person infected is sooner cured It is very hard to say what Poison is for if we say it is a contrary Quality or Air corrupted we talk foolishly we must know wherein that Corruption doth consist if it be corrupted it is no longer Air or if Air be a corruption it is a Quality so that still there remains the same difficulty Therefore to use no circumlocution we say that deadly Poison essentially is nothing but certain Atoms or Corpuscles which are very acute and crooked figured like little piercers or small Nails which penetrates cuts and divides the vital parts and by this motion interrupts the motion of those Spirits which give life And that I may explain my Opinion right upon this Subject I mention those things concerning Poisons and Atoms which as far as I know have not hitherto been mentioned by any Body which is That Poison is nothing else but certain loose and emancipated Atoms for many of such Atoms being loosed and separated from the Body we call Poison As to that we are to observe that being compounded in that manner which we are our conservation doth consist in the composition and as long as that lasts we live and so our destruction doth proceed from the division and dissolution of our Bodies so that Corruption is nothing but a solution of the Body This solution doth not happen but from emancipated Atoms who by their incomprehensible subtilty do find an intermediant space in the most solid Bodies and if these be not speedily driven out and dissipated or are repelled by certain aiding Corpuscles they will occasion Diseases Griefs and lastly Death Therefore Poison is not a pestiferous quality nor is it the Antipathy of the air or of any thing whereby they persecute our Temperament nor is it corrupted Air but they are hard Atoms which are set at liberty and emancipated whence it does appear how the Plague may be brought to us from places remote within a short space of time and how it may lye hid along while amongst Cloaths in Chests also the Reason is obvious why Bleeding and Purgation are not necessary in the Curing of the Plague and why only Cordials and Sudorificks are convenient in a Contagion The same thing may be said of the Poison of Vipers which is nothing else but some Atoms divided and separated from the whole which entring that part which is Bit by the Viper do creep presently through the whole Body and divide separate and cut it and at last dissolve and confound it It is therefare incredible that that Poison should proceed from a Great Cold because there are Bodies which are much colder which yet are not Poison besides that cold doth not so readily nor from so small a beginning destroy the whole Natural constitution of Man's Body Therefore I take that to be which wholy destroys us is to dissolve our Body and that nothing can dissolve it but free'd and emancipated Atoms whence Distempers do derive their Original and Death the consequence of it I say it follows that it is impossible but that there is Poison in all our Diseases and that we cannot enjoy a full and perfect Health as long as we have in us the least Atom of that kind which I say are emancipated these are so many Enemies which we cherish in our Bosome being the Principles of Division Dissolution and Death But some will ask whence come these emancipated Atoms who emancipates them and after what manner are they found in the Vesicle which is broke where the Viper Bites or in the Spittle which enters our Flesh by the Biting of this Creature I answer That they are Atoms not firmly complicated which get abroad or they proceed from some dead Body which is dissolved into its first principles as it happens with the Plague some of them get loose like Servants who wanting a Master do seek to be busied and employed in some business and as long as they stick to no body they may be called desolate and depraved Atoms which are continually moved drive others and dissolve them by their reiterated concussions so a little Poyson doth suddenly extend and disperse it self through the whole Body because these Atoms by their emancipation being made Venomous and Pestiferous to Emancipate others and confound the whole Body and in this sense it 's most true what the Physiicans say that the corrupt Humours of the Body do degenerate into Poison because these moist parts of our Body are more apt to break and divide than the solid parts of it they are also the first which begin to be corrupted and divided I know not by what instinct of Nature we commonly say when we apprehend any Distemper that we are ill Composed and of a Body that is Crazy and full of Humours that is wholly ill Disposed because in truth the emancipated Atoms do disturb it and hinder the Union and Composition of its Parts wherein the state of perfect Health doth consist Some will say that I have handled this Matter after a strange and odd kind of Method but if Truth and Reason confirm my Explication as I hope it does they have nothing to say against me but I speak those things which were
I have Discoursed Physically of the Causes of our Diseases in General it will not be amiss to trace òut the Particular Causes of them That this Doctrine which may be accounted new may the better be understood I suppose that we are never subject to any Disease but whose immediate Cause is either some Poison or Toxick 2ly This Poison consists only in emancipated Atoms and Toxicks in loosned Corpuscles 3ly These Atoms are not emancipated nor these sharp Corpuscles loosned but in the Corruption of Bodies 4ly Corruption is nothing but a Total or Partial Division and separation of Bodies 5ly There is no new Generation by which a new Body is made but by a precedent corruption or Division of another Body which ceases to be in Nature when one or more other Bodies possess the Room of it So when Meat in the Stomach is turned into Chyle when the Chyle in the Liver and the Branches of the Vena Porta is changed into Blood and lastly when the Blood is changed into our Substance as Flesh Muscles Nerves and other Parts of our Body by the last degree of Concoction there is necessarily a Corruption of the Meat which begins to be divided and separated by Chewing of it in the Mouth and it is digested and separated or Corrupted in the Ventricle Chyle to the end it may be turned into Blood is altered in the Branches of the Vena Porta and the Meseraick Veins and thence it is wholly and perfectly Digested that is Corrupted Concocted and Divided in the Liver unless that hath lost something of its own Substance The Blood designed for Flesh is filtred out of the Veins into the Arteries and Circulates until it be sufficiently purged and freed from Foreign Bodies and then it is changed into the Substance of our Body This Doctrine being supposed I say there are made in us Three Principle Corruptions which are the Concoctions or Digestions whereof we speak and I say moreover that there are Atoms in every one of them which are emancipated and loosed as likewise Corpuscles flying and deserting more or less as the Digestion is the better performed that is as the Pure is more rightly separated from the Impure Therefore it follows that we cannot be nourished unless we take together into our Bodies the Causes and Seeds of many Diseases It follows likewise that these Diseases are diverse according to the difference of the Corruptions of the emancipated Atoms or the loosed Corpuscles and that these Atoms are Poisons and the Corpuscles Toxicks which do produce Diseases by their violent Motion and they labour so with Reiterated Corruptions that they deprave separate and divide all the Parts of our Body Here we may behold the just Cause of the Pains of the Stomach and of the Wind Chollick and also of the Wind proceeding from the first Concoction of our Meat in the Stomach these winds are the Corpuscles or the more subtile Parts of that Corrupted Nourishment and when the more subtile and sharp Corpuscles are received into the Body they do proportionably to the Nourishment which is taken produce most troublesome and dangerous Pains and vellications such as we observe in the Chollick And if it should happen that amongst Corpuscles there should be abundance of emancipated Atoms they do ordinarily betake themselves to the Brain whence do arise Apoplexies and Lethargies or if they penetrate into the Muscles and Nerves they occasion the Palsie which ordinarily follows these bilious Chollicks This Indisposition degenerates the Disease into a Vomiting and Loosness when the Wind or the subtile Particles the loosed Corpuscles and the emancipated Atoms are so plentiful that all the Symmetry of the Humours the intercourse of the Natural Spirits and the whole Anatomy of the Body are overthrown by them whence it is conspicuous what great Confusions Winds Vapours and little Bodies and depraved Atoms are capable of producing in our Bodies And that I have concluded upon good Reasons That there is Poison to be found in all our Diseases whether we consider them in their Beginning when we perceive our selves grieved indisposed and to have lost our Appetite or that we take a view of them in their progress when those Winds those little Bodies or little Atoms are advanced in the Body and do work a Division or lastly if we consider the end when these Poisons and Toxicks and these Corpuscles being freed from their Chains and these emancipated Atoms bear the sway by the confusion of the Principal Operations they are the Cause of Death In the second Digestion which is in the Liver we find Winds and Vapours which are called Flatus's and sometimes those loose Corpuscles and also the emancipated Atoms these Winds do produce a murmur and Flatus about the Liver Spleen Hypocondria and the Reins and the Corpuscles which are lodged there do prick and exulcerate the inward â—â—rts and are the Causes of Imposthumes which are so hard to be Cured Besides the emancipated Atoms Flying do sometimes ascend up to the Head where they beget Vertigo's and Buzzing in the Ears and also Convulsions by their vellications in the principal of the Nerves Thence proceed Epilepsie and other Diseases which have the same malignity which in the Opinion of all Men being not a Quality is a Poison that is the Atoms of the Blood are emancipated which are a Poison to the Brain and especially to the Membranes and Nerves From the same Fountain proceed Shakings and the duplications of continuant Fevers as the Periodick Fits of intermittent Fevers do happen from loosed Corpuscles and Atoms which are emancipated in the first Digestion in the Stomach by reason of a Fermentation which they make These loosed Bodies are also the Causes of Swellings in the Feet Hands and other Parts as Inflammations Erysipela's as also Itch and sore Puscles do arise from Atoms which are emancipated in the last Digestion as for the Dropsie we may say that it derives its Original from Atoms which are emancipated in the first and second Concoction for they penetrate the substance of the Liver and render it unfit to produce a well constituted Blood. Sudden death is often occasioned by the sudden motion of the flying Atoms which escape in the circulation of the Blood and the emancipated Atoms opening the heart and by this passage giving an opportunity to the vital Spirits to make their escape is the cause of that present death which follows it CHAP. XVI Of the Causes of our Health IF that be true which I suppose That all our Diseases do not arise from Natural Qualities nor from Antipathy which is in the nourishment we take and that they are nothing else but a confusion and an inordinate constitution of the Spirits humours and parts and that this confusion doth proceed from the impetuous and disorderly motion of the Winds Corpuscles and emancipated Atoms as I said before Then it is certain that our health which consists only in the just intercourse of the Spirits and a proportionate
Muscles of the Breast The Pulse is nothing else but a percussion of the Arteries upon the variety of which the difference of Pulses depends The Cause of the Pulse according to Aristotle is the Natural heat of the Heart according to Galen it is the moving faculty according to Harvey this motion of the Heart and Pulse of the Arteries depends upon the circulation of the Blood which we will examine in the next Chapter Breathing comprehends two actions Inspiration and Respiration by the action of the first the Lungs receive the external Air and by the help of the last they drive it out The first is made by a dilatation of the Lungs and Breast as also by the motion of the Diaphragme by which the Lungs are opened like a pair of Bellows and are by that means filled with Air the second is made by a pressing downwards of the Diaphragme by which the Lungs are unlocked and the Air driven forth Breathing conduces to the tempering the heat of the Heart and to the exciting and preserving Natural heat besides it conduceth to the forming the Voice to perceiving Smells to expelling Excrements and dissipating the fumes of the Blood and lastly to produce vital Spirits in promoting their motion by which it happens that we dye when breathing ceaseth or when we take our last Breath CHAP. XVII Of the Motion of the Heart THat I may rightly explain the motion of the Heart I suppose it is moved by two different motions the first of which is Natural the second against Nature That resembles the motion of Machines and Clocks which are moved by help of Strings and Wheels So the Heart is the principal and chief Wheel of this animated Machine and moves and drives on all the others and takes its motion from the weight and impression of certain Fiery and Coelestial Atoms which like the Silk-Worm are shut up in the Seed and its covering and which give motion to it until they flye away from it which slight of the Atoms Death follows and an end of motion The Authors of the circulation of the Blood deduce the motion of the Heart from the Bloods entring into it saying that the Heart is opened by the motion commonly called Diastole the Blood entring into the Heart and that by the motion commonly called Systole the Blood returns back and this returning is the Cause of those two motions but it is more reasonable to say that the motion of the Heart hath its Principle in its self for it is Vital and the passing through of the Blood is rather an effect than a Cause of this motion for the Heart opens it self before the Blood enters in nor does the Blood go out but as it is driven by the opened Heart The second motion of the Heart is accidental and against Nature and proceeds from the intemperies of the Blood that passeth through the Heart and which impresseth this febrile motion whether as being more hot and subtile than it should be or having certain foreign Corpuscles mixed with it or being too thick and viscous or else offending in quantity it overwhelms the Heart and hereupon depends the difference of motions contrary to Nature as also the difference of Pulses and Feavers from hence proceeds the palpitation of the Heart intermitting Pulses Convulsions Suffocations and sudden Death And it is commonly said that the Life is in the Blood nor does any thing hinder why we should not say that Death is in it too when it is corrupted or very sharp and corroding or unfit for motion and containing such like Bodies as lie hid in Venoms and Narcoticks The motion which is observed in the Hearts of Animals taken out of their Bodies as for Example that of a Viper which continues a long while does not disanul Circulation but only lets us see that Circulation is not the Cause of the Natural motion of the Heart and if you stretch it never so far it is only its condition which makes it continue and keeps the same in its Natural state Whatsoever we say concerning the Heart and its motions does not make up that Idea which we conceive in our mind nor does it satisfie the mind of the Reader who expects we should explain from whence this motion of the Heart while it is in its natural state proceeds and what is the Cause of its immoderate motions That I may therefore satisfie the Reader I Affirm the Natural Motion of the Heart to be in the motion of the Vital Spirits shut up in the central Vacuum of the Heart where they are detained by little Membranes made firm by the interweaving of Fibres and of thin threads so that they cannot escape out since the Pores of these membranes have a Figure opposite to the Pores of those Spirits or Vital Atoms And seeing that Atoms enjoy an actual motion and which can no more be separated from their Essence than Intelligence from an Angel or separated Soul or the Inclination from the Will it follows that they are always in motion and by their motions by turns dilate the Heart This Doctrine supposes what has been said of Vital Spirits being as it were the internal Principles of Life and Motion as also of the essential and proper motion of Atoms and of Bodies compounded of Atoms but it is convenient that we remember that we have said that motion is Natural to Atoms and that God who hath created them essentially moveable preserves their motion and moveable Nature in the same action that he Created them Besides it may be convenient to remember that there are such a sort of Atoms which may be detained and constitute the parts of a Compound Body and others which are not Naturally such yet may be shut up such as those are which we have said are shut up in the central Vacuum of the Heart of Living Creatures And these indeed are shut up by the decree of the Creator and the determination of the seminal covering The Comparison of an Angel and the Rational Soul seems to contribute much to the illustrating this Doctrine An Angel is a certain indivisible spiritual thing and an Intelligence free from Matter and the Rational Soul is no less a certain indivisible Spiritual thing endowed with Understanding and Will as an Angel yet they differ in this that theSoul is consined or as being a part of the Compound can be consined by a material Body whereas an Angel neither is nor can be confined which notwithstanding does not hinder but that it may be shut up into a Body as it were an assisting Form yet it hath not any respect to an internal and substantial Form. Besides I look upon an Angel and consider it under the notion of Atoms naturally free and the Rational Soul under the notion of those which are subject to confinement It is true that a Rational Soul going out of this Dungeon or Physical Prison by reason of the Corruption of the Body which permits it a free exit is
clammyness humidity and viscousness do stupifie the Animal Spirits and Sleep is sweet or restless according as those Vapours are sweet or abound with Corpuscles or are stirred up from Choler or other things of an irregular Figure or where some emancipated Atoms make the disturbance The mixture of these Atoms is often the Cause of Light-headedness Madness and Hypochondriac Melancholly and they likewise produce watchfulness by an inversion and confusion of the Ideas in the imagination from whence it happens that we see that which we never see directly and sometimes Monsters and horrible things This motion of the Images or Ideas is sometimes so very violent and there is so great a Troop of these emancipated Atoms in the Brain that those that are asleep do sometimes rise out of Bed Talk climbe up Walls Bathe themselves and then go to Bed again without ever waking all the while Death is commonly called a perpetual Sleep and in Animals excepting Man it is nothing else than a total dissipation of the Vital Atoms or a cessation of motion in which their Life consists In Man these things are not after the same manner although however all these things cease in a dying Man either immediately as in a violent Death or by degrees as in a Natural Death we must confess nevertheless that in that respect something else is to be accomplished to wit the separation of the Soul which God gave him and which returns unto him that gave it Before we go any further and that we may make an end of this Chapter and be as good as our Word I am forced a little more specially to discourse concerning the Death of those things which have Life For whatsoever is Created and Compounded of many Parts and Liveth is subject to Death Man who is Compounded of a material and Organical Body like other Beings dyes at last but because he hath an immortal Soul Created after the Image of God he only dyes that he may live Eternally with God if he be Faithful and his Death is no more than Sleep and a passing into Eternity What a Christian Philosopher ought to think of this Soul I shall declare in the last Chapter of this Book Here I will say something of his Body as also of its Corruption and Dissolution The Rational Soul never goes out of this Mortal Body before the motion of the Heart is stopped this motion which is not voluntary ceasing Life can no longer continue since it consists in this motion If the Rational Soul was only in the Brain as Duncan and some others will have it it would be hard to tell why it should depart upon the cessation of the Hearts motion whilst the rest of the Parts are in good order As for my part I consider it in its Spiritual Nature believing that he must have too mean an Idea of this Spiritual Substance who confines it to the Brain and to the smallest part of it That Opinion which affirms it to be present every where in the whole Body although it operates more particularly in the Brain and Heart seems to me to be more Reasonable and for this Reason the Soul acting in the Heart the Organ ceasing it departs in the same Moment It may seem a wonder to not a few that the Rational Soul should so depend upon the material Body but since it so seemed good to the Author of Nature we ought to rest satisfied The Body is endued with Organs for the sake of the Soul and the Soul is created for the sake of the Body and one is made for the other and the Conjunction of these two make a compleat Man. One part onely does not make a Man nor does a separate Body make up the Essence of a Man and indeed a dead Man is not what he was 'till he Rises again The Soul therefore is annexed to the Body by such a sort of Tye that it cannot act but by Organs So that he sees nothing when his Eyes are out he hears nothing when his Ears are stopt and the chief Organ being deficient the Soul departs because it can do nothing This Chief Organ to wit the Heart is deficient many ways it may be stopped and suffocated for want of Air and respiration for the Atoms of Light implanted in the Heart at the time of a Man's Conception the commerce of the Solar Spirits being intercepted for want of Air do sometimes suddenly stand still they flye away finding a passage through a solution of the continuum or through Pores made fit by a burning Feaver in the Heart all the Water of the Pericardium being dryed up Thick and viscous Blood does sometimes stop the motion of these Vital Atoms Poyson also does by its acute Particles pierce through the Heart and give an exit to these Spirits of Light which are tyed to those which the Sun bestows upon us and are attracted by them returning thither from whence they came Let us see now what the Body does in the Grave it putrifies there that is it is dissolved some Corpuscles or Atoms withdraw themselves some part of the Body is changed into Worms some of the Vital Spirits resisting It is a folly here to imagine any substantial form of the Dead Carcasse or to acknowledge partial forms of the Bones Flesh Veins Arteries and such like things Subjects to the form of the dead Carcasse or alone without this Form. These are Illusions and Chimera's Matter is the same and all the change that happens consists in this That when the Rational Soul is absent there remains nothing besides matter the Organs by little and little lose their Figure and having lost their Composition they lose their action that which was compounded is dissolved and the greater part goes into Dust and Ashes the Luminous Spirits recede and follow the motion of the Spirits of their kind some Parts or Corpuscles joyned to the putrifying Body purtifie in the place where they are Experience favours this Doctrine A certain Servant to a Noble-Man whose Nose had been by great misfortune newly cut off freely parts with his own Nose to serve his Master This Nose being put in the place of that which was newly cut off took Root and grew together after such a manner with a Cartaliginous Flesh that it seemed to be Natural About twenty years afterwards the Servant dyes in a far Countrey and was Buried and as by degrees he putrified so after the same manner this end of a Nose began to putrifie to be corrupted and to fall off parting from that part to which it had so long stuck without withering whilst the Servant lived the part following the condition of the whole I say moreover that the least parts or Corpuscles which proceed from a Body the Body being Dead and Corrupted they also are Corrupted and joyned in commerce with Atoms of the same Nature which they do by inviting them to joyn and come together And here 's an Experiment which every one can understand It is
cannot be explained unless we know before what is said of Poisons else-where I thought that the deadly Effects proceeding which we attribute to Antipathy did deserve a particular tract by it self because Poison kills only by a Contrariety betwixt us and it so there is nothing more to be said of these matters only that we are to discover and declare the Principle of this Contrariety Of the Basilisk of whom we speak I shall only say that the Spirits issuing out of his enraged Eyes do kill those Animals which they meet with because the Spirits do penetrate them by their subtilty and sharp figure like Needles which pierces the Heart as the Poison of Vipers and such like not so accute nor so deadly nor so ready in their effects as that of the Basilisk In reference to this matter there are many things which occur that are worth consideration In the first place it is certain that the Basilisk is not ingendred but in moist deep and dark places as in the bottom of Wells where there is nothing but muddy thick stinking Water as Histories do relate to us that some have died only by looking into those Wells or in going down into them in order to cleanse them In the second place we do observe that if you take a Glass and hold it against the Basilisk's Eyes those Spirits which issue from his Eyes reflecting upon the Glass are sent back from whence they came and do kill the Basilisk It cannot be said that the Basilisk doth hate himself but it must be said that the Venomous Spirits reflecting from the Glass do conceive a more violent motion and do forcibly enter the Eyes of the Basilisk and do drive back the other Spirits which are issuing out of or are extant in his Eyes so that they penetrate his Brain and Heart and thence occasion his death In the same manner as Vapours do often arise with so great violence from the Hypocondria the Mesentery and the Stomach into the Head that they cause an Apoplexy Epilepsie Diziness or Lethargy and sometimes they are carried with such subtilty and violence into the Heart and presently penetrate it whereby Men dye suddenly It is also observed that several Men and other Animals were killed by a Basilisk from the corner of a deep and dark Dungeon where he was ingendered and nourished up to the bigness of a Toad it was contrived that one should enter into the Dungeon to kill him care being taken that he who was to enter for that purpose should be covered with a Glass before his Eyes by whose interposition the Basilisk might be seen though he could not see the Person approaching towards him By this means he who entered saw the Basilisk and killed him without receiving any hurt to himself which without doubt did proceed from this that the poisonous Spirits issuing from the Eyes of the Basilisk could not pass freely thorough the Glass but were fixed in the substance of it so that they could not hurt the Person who was so covered Another Effect which is ascribed to Antipathy and must be spoken of in this place is that which we meet with amongst some Vegetables as betwixt the Colewort and the Vine betwixt whom as we observed before there is not the least agreeableness and that if they be planted near one another they do insensibly give back and lean sidewards as if they really hated one another This effect cannot be ascribed to any thing but to the emission of the Corpuscles and material Spirits of both of them which do rush upon one another and mutually repell by the irregularity of their figures This truth is apparent in the juice of Coleworts which if taken by a Man when he is Drunk he presently comes to himself and is sober because the Corpuscles of the juice of Coleworts do blunt the Corpuscles of the juice of Wine in the same manner we find by experience that Spirit of Opium or Laudanum Cures the Chollick Head-achs and all other kind of pains nay it eases the Tooth-ache and blunts the sharpness of Choller it Cures the Phrenzy and procures Sleep so there 's need of the greatest care in using the Narcotick Medicines because it often falls out that the Vital Spirits are so stupified by them that they are deprived of their Motion which causes a deadly Sleep But that we may return to our so much believed Antipathy which is betwixt the Colewort and the Vine I observe that it hath not the above mentioned Effect and that neither the Vine nor the Colewort do lean sidewards if there be Cloth or Paper set betwixt them and though the same Antipathy remains it doth so manifest it self because the Corpuscles flowing from both sides are stopped in their way neither do they pass through the Cloath or Paper So the truth of that assigned by us and the weakness of that Reason which is grounded upon Antipathy clearly appears without any further Scrutiny There is a Third Effect which is ascribed to Antipathy and it is observed in the use of Medicines as well Internal as External some whereof are Catharticks some Sudorificks and others Specificks The External of which we speak are those which we carry about us which by their Antipathy drive away the Malign air and preserves from the Plague and other Contagions as prepared Quick-Silver and a Toad dryed and shut up in a Box this Phenomenon is not in the least to be ascribed to Antipathy but to the pestiferous Spirits or corpuscles which approaching towards us do find Subjects apt for their reception and are fixed in them but they do not approach us at least in such a quantity as is able to hurt us which most evidently appears in that Prepared Quick-Silver or the Toad being once replenished with these Contagious Atoms become useless and they ought to be changed and renewed and I know by Experience that Quick-Silver prepared white and shining like an Adamant or Polished Silver and being carried about a Person who is frequent with Sick People in time becomes black so that afterwards it is useless to him that carries it about him because there are no small Vacuities left to retain the airy Poisons unless he renews it by another Preparation whereby it may be made as White Transparent and as Useful as it was before Moreover Quick-Silver turns black more or less sooner or slower according to the proportion of the lesser or greater malignity which is in the air where he lives because these Antidotes can never hurt nay if rightly prepared they do not only withstand the contagious Air when they hinder its nearer approach towards us but as it is evidenced by experience they do suppress inward Vapours ascending up into the head which occasion many of our common Distempers It were to be wished that Sacred Persons and Princes whose Lives are so dear unto us to the end they might preserve their Health and not be any way subject to any danger of this kind would
this motion of the Earth by more Natural Reasons I say therefore and suppose that the Sun is immoveable in the Centre of the World and yet notwithstanding that like a Wheel it turns round about its proper Centre and this is that motion which is called Circum-Rotation and by this motion it disperses on all sides on every part these Corpuscles which produce Light and Heat These Corpuscles compose that great Vortex which is about the Sun and which with it is carried round and moves the Earth which is plac'd in the same Vortex with it like as a Stone is moved by the motion of a rapid Stream and this same Vortex carries other Planets along with it accordingly as they are more or less immerged in it According to this explication one may fancy the Sun to be like the wheel of a Clock which moves that which is next to it another way for when one Wheel is moved towards the right the other which it carries with it must of necessity be moved towards the left So whilst the Sun by its Circum-Rotation is moved from East to West the Earth must likewise be moved from West to East The other motion of the Earth is that which is called Annual or half-yearly and which arises from the Libration of the Solar Body and of the Vortex which drives the Earth from the part of the Pole and makes it daily go a degree farther and so the Annual as the Diurnal motion each day declines one degree onely from a Parallel from whence arise the vicissitudes of days and Seasons But if the Earth returns by the same steps as I may so say it happens because the Sun by its daily Libration drives it on from one part and then after six Months assuming an opposite Libration it draws it back for Three Months and for the other three Months which makes up Six it drives it forwards so that the Rotation and the Libration of the Sun makes a double or a triple motion of the Earth without the former's changing either its place or its Centre All that we have hitherto said according to the mind of these Authors doth not as yet satisfie a Spirit curious to know the truth So here are other difficulties remaining which must be taken away by more sensible and more Natural Reasons First Though we affirm the Sun to be immoveable and the Earth to be wheeled round about it or though we affirm the contrary there remains nevertheless that we give an account not only of each of these motions but also of the motions of the other Planets It is demanded what is the internal or external Cause of the Earths motion If it be answered that the Sun by its Libration is the Cause of it as we have said and as our Opinion is it remains that we demonstrate the Cause whether internal or external that gives the Sun this motion By means of which being librated from one side for Six Months it is also librated for as many from the other side and by this so regular motion it sometimes draws the Earth towards it and sometimes drives it from it as we shall see in the following Chapter what can be said about this Matter CHAP. IX Of the Sun the true Centre and Heart of the World. THe Sun being placed in the Centre of the World is like the Heart inspiring Life into all things and presiding over all the Works of Nature whatsoever even as the Heart in an humane Body is the Principle of its Life and all its motions this is that admirable Machine which without being moved out of its place moves the Spirits Humours and all the parts of our Bodies in like manner the immoveable Sun by his double motion shakes and moves the Earth as well as the rest of the Planets One only difficulty remains in explaining the motion of the Heart in the Microcosme and of the Sun in the Macrocosme But being about to treat else-where of the Earths motion we will here only speak of the Suns motion which I call a wheeling of it round about the Earth and afterwards we will speak of its Libration Elsewhere we have said the Sun to be not only of the same Nature with Gold but to be Gold indeed melted in the Centre of the World and Cupellated by the Fire of the fix'd Stars which are every where about it No wonder therefore that it is wheeled round like melted Gold in a Crusible and there sparkling and purified That this Hypothesis which will bring no little light to many things may be better comprehended I will bring an Experiment to confirm this Doctrine which seems new indeed but nevertheless it cannot be denied to be built upon the foundation of indubitable Experience I say therefore that if you take Gold and put it into a great Crusible with Lead Copper or other Mettals and make a Fire every where round it these Mettals will be melted together and compose a sparkling smoaking Bath this Bath or melted Matter is in perpetual motion and so soon as the matter is made hot it wheels round its Centre without intermission It would be much more conspicuous if this melted Matter in the Centre of the World were equally distant from all the points of its circumference for this being supposed no man will deny this melted Matter fixed in the Centre of the World and Fire being put to it every where and on all sides to remain in fashion as in a Crusible and to have the same motion of Circum-rotation and Libration which we attribute to the Sun. All the Obstacle we meet with at first sight consists in this to wit how this solar melted Matter can remain suspended not falling down on any part Secondly By means of what Fire it remains always melted Thirdly How it comes to pass that since Gold so soon as it is cupellated or refined remains in the Crusible in a fix'd Mass yet the Sun which is like to this Gold is neither fixed nor stands it still immediately but being wheeled perpetually round its Centre it continues in motion and is Librated in the Cupel without any intermission To the first of these difficulties I answer that we ought not to stand upon it because they who place the Earth in the Centre of the World do teach us that if a great hole were made through the Earth even as far as our Antipodes and if a Mill-Stone were thrown into it it would stop in the middle which is affirmed to be the Centre of the World and there remain suspended for to move forwards either way would be to ascend The same thing may be said likewife of Water or other Liquids which would remain suspended If therefore the Sun be in the Centre of the World why should it seem a wonder that it should remain there so suspended since that may serve him instead of a Cupel As to the other difficulty which belongs to the Fire I answer that there is no want of that because
A NEW TREATISE OF Natural Philosophy Free'd from the INTRICACIES OF THE SCHOOLS Adorned with many Curious Experiments both Medicinal and Chymical AS ALSO With Several Observations useful for the Health of the Body LONDON Printed by R. E. for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball over against the Royal. Exchange in Cornhill 1687. LICENSED October 28. 1686. ROBERT MIDGLEY INDEX THe First Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature CHAP. I. Of the Efficient Cause and of its Essence and Differences CHAP. II. Of the First Cause CHAP. III. The Perfections of the First Cause CHAP. IV. Of Second Causes and their Actions CHAP. V. Of Accidental Causes CHAP. VI. Of Sympathy Antipathy and the Effects depending thereupon CHAP. VII Experiments about Iron and the Loadstone CHAP. VIII An Explication of many other Effects which are commonly attributed to Sympathy CHAP. IX Of Portative Remedies commonly called Amulets of Quick-Silver Gold Silver and Copper CHAP. X. Of Natural Phoenomenas which are attributed to Antipathy CHAP. XI Of Emeticks Sudorificks and Specificks CHAP. XII Of Poysons and Toxicks CHAP. XIII Of Sublimate Arsenick and other kinds of Poysons and their deadly Effects CHAP. XIV Of Antidotes CHAP. XV. Of the true Causes of our Diseases CHAP. XVI Of the Causes of our Health CHAP. XVII Of Formal Exemplary and Material Causes CHAP. XVIII Of the First Matter CHAP. XIX Of Atoms and their Nature CHAP. XX. The Properties Magnitude Figure Weight and Motion of Atoms CHAP. XXI The Difficulties arising from the Doctrine of Atoms CHAP. XXII Of a Disseminate Congregate and Separate Vacuum according to Gassendus CHAP. XXIII Of a Congregate Vacuum against Aristotle and Cartesius The Second Part of Physick wherein is treated of the Coelestial World and of those things which are above Man. CHAP. I. Of the immense Spaces which are without the Heavens CHAP. II. Of the Heavens and their Nature CHAP. III. Of Stars and their Substance CHAP. IV. Of the Figures and Magnitude of Stars CHAP. V. Of the Motion of the Stars CHAP. VI. The System of the World according to Ptolomy Examined CHAP. VII The System of the World according to Copernicus Examined CHAP. VIII Of the Motion of the Earth CHAP. IX Of the Sun the true Centre and Heart of the World. CHAP. X. Of the Moon and its Changes CHAP. XI Of Planets Comets and the Fixed Stars CHAP. XII Of Meteors in the Air. CHAP. XIII Of Winds Tempests and Whirl-winds CHAP. XIV Of Thunder Lightning and the Thunderbolt CHAP. XV. Of Aurum-Fulminans which imitates Thunder CHAP. XVI Of Hail Snow Frost c. CHAP. XVII Of the Rainbow Halones and Parrhelis CHAP. XVIII Of the Air its Substance and Qualities The Third Part of Physick of those things which are beneath Man viz. of the Earth and Terrestrial Things which are called Inanimate CHAP. I. Of the Earth and Water in General CHAP. II. Of Terrestrial Inanimate Bodies in General CHAP. III. Of the various Qualities observed in Compound Bodies CHAP. IV. Of Special Qualities which arise from the Composition of Bodies CHAP. V. Of the Quantity Weight and Figure of Compound Bodies CHAP. VI. The Difference betwixt Natural Artificial and Compound Bodies CHAP. VII Of Mettals and their Formation CHAP. VIII Of Gold the King of Mettals CHAP. IX Of Silver Copper and other imperfect Mettals CHAP. X. Of Lead Tin and Iron CHAP. XI Of Quick-Silver Arbor Diana or the Silver Tree CHAP. XII Of Minerals CHAP. XIII Of Salts CHAP. XIV Of Subterranean Fires aend Earthquakes CHAP. XV. Of Waters and their Differences CHAP. XVI Of the Sea its Ebbing and Flowing and of the Saltness of the Sea-Water CHAP. XVII Of Springs and Rivers The Fourth Part of Physick Of those things which are in Man and of Man himself as he is a Compound Physical and Animate Body CHAP. I. Of Life in General CHAP. II. Of the difference of Lives CHAP. III. Of the Vegetative Life common to Man and Plants CHAP. IV. Of the Nature of Seeds and their Propagation CHAP. V. Of Nutrition which is common to Plants and Brutes as well as Man. CHAP. VI. How and with what Food an Embryo is nourished in the Womb 'till the time of its Nativity CHAP. VII How a Man is nourished after he is Born. CHAP. VIII The Sensitive Life of Man and other Animals CHAP. IX Of Seeing its Organ and Object viz. Light. CHAP. X. How illustrated Objects are visible CHAP. XI Of Hearing its Organ and Object CHAP. XII Particular Questions about Hearing CHAP. XIII Smelling its Organ and Object CHAP. XIV Of Tast and its Object CHAP. XV. Of Feeling CHAP. XVI Of Speech the Pulse and Breathing of Man. CHAP. XVII Of the Motion of the Heart CHAP. XVIII Of the irregular motion of the Heart in Animals and in Feavers CHAP. XIX Of the Circulation of the Blood. CHAP. XX. Of the inward Senses and the inferiour Appetite CHAP. XXI Of Sleep want of Rest and Death CHAP. XXII Of the Death of Brutes Plants and Mettals CHAP. XXIII Of the Rational Soul and its Powers NATURAL PHILOSOPHY OR Natural Science FREED FROM The Intricacies of the Schools THE desire of Knowledge is natural to Man Curiosity is inseparable from his Spirit neither is he ever at rest until he hath attained to the perfect knowledge of things that is until he becomes a Wise Man. Science is the Knowledge of things by their Causes therefore there is no Man Wise who is ignorant of the Original Principles and Causes of all things occurring to him and since it is impossible for any Man in this Life to attain to a clear distinct and an undubitable knowledge of all things therefore there is no Man that is absolutely Wise Those who have the Reputation of being Wise and Excellent Philosophers have obtained that preheminence in regard they are less ignorant than others Sciences differ according to the diversity of Mens Conditions and Professions The Noble Man is conversant and wise in the Art of War the Physitian in the Precepts of Medicine and the Advocate in matters of Law and Right but all these Sciences nay Theology it self cannot subsist without Philosophy especially without that part of it which we call Physick or natural Science The First Part of Physick wherein is Treated of the Causes and Principles of Nature BY Nature is understood the Universe composed of Heaven and Earth and all that is found between both this is the Object of Physick this every natural Philosopher ought to know and because this Knowledge cannot be obtained without knowing the principles and causes of things hence it is evident that a Natural Philosopher ought to use his utmost endeavour to enquire into the principles and causes of Nature and of all things which happen in this World. I shall not examine here whether there be any difference betwixt a Cause and a Principle for every principle after its manner I conceive to be a cause of that thing whereof it is the principle and no Man
or that they are altogether stopped in their motion by a condensation of those alluminous matters whence the Gout becomes knotty and incurable CHAP. XIII Of Sublimate Arsenick and other sorts of Poisons and the deadly Effects which proceed from them THere are two sorts of Sublimate the one corrosive the other sweet The first is a most violent Poison The other is a most excellent Remedy for Worms in Children however it is not without some malignity and therefore it is given but in very small Doses and as to the first fortified by the Corrosive Spirits of Salt and Vitriol the least quantity of it cannot be administred without inconveniency nay Death it self In this place we are to enquire wherein doth that Poison which is so powerful consist for as soon as Sublimate is swallowed down it produces Ulcers Blisters and excoriation in the Tunicles or Coats of the Ventricle they â—re seized with an inflammation over-run with a Gangreen and unless a good Antidote be taken as I shall shew hereafter death it self is the consequence of it but let us see by what malignity that Sublimate produces these deadly Effects and wherein the force of this Poison doth consist That we may be able to comprehend this Truth and discover wherein the malignity of this Poison doth consist it is to be supposed That Sublimate is an artificial Poison being a Compound of the most subtile Particles of Quick-silver Salt and Vitriol sublimated together in the form of Crystal or white Powder like Sugar So that the Venomous and Corrosive Sublimate is made neither of Quick-silver Salt or Vitriol alone and apart but there ought to be the Spirit of Salt and Vitriol to separate the Quick-silver and that though before it was fluid like water is to be reduced into dry Earth which is done by reason that these two Spirits do separate the Mercury in the sublimation and in some manner kill it and do penetrate it as if they were Poison to the Quick-silver it self they corrupt it and force it to change its disposition because they divide it and reduce its Corpuscles into small stings whence it is that they are so sharp penetrating and Corrosive Which doth not happen if the Quick-silver be sublimated by it self for then it ascends in its own fluid and gliding Nature and in this manner it may be taken inward without any danger and also when the Sublimate is sublimated with Crude Quick-silver This being supposed I conclude That Sublimate is a Poison which suddenly operates in our Body to the destruction of it because its Corpuscles are reduced into Stings like the Corpuscles of Fire Salt and Vitriol which does sharpen the Corpuscles of the Quick-silver wherefore they produce the same effects in the Body as Fire or the Caustick Stone swallowed do for it presently burns every thing that it touches and Ulcerates the whole Stomach Gullet and all the Parts through which it passes because its Corpuscles being so sharpened do penetrate and dart thro' like flames of Fire therefore Antipathy hath nothing to do in this place no more hath that feigned Maligne and Occult Quality as the less learned would fain alledge All that is observed concerning this Subject ought to be ascribed to the Disposition subtilty and figure of the Corpuscles which renders them Corrosive and burning The same thing may be said of Arsenick except only that Arsenick is the work of Nature and Sublimate that of Art for in truth Arsenick is a perfect Mineral which is found in the Earth and Sublimate is prepared by Artists in sublimatory Vessels The Effects of Arsenick as well the White as the Red is near the same with those of the Sublimate and both of them by right may be ranked amongst the most prompt and violent Poisons in respect of the sharp and penetrating Particles whereof they do consist There is nothing which disappoint these Effects except proper Antidotes made use of in time which change this disposition and blunt the sharpness of those Corrosive Corpuscles Nevertheless by special preparations those Venomous Corpuscles may be taken away both from the Sublimate and the Arsenick And by our fortifying and changeing of the Compound a most excellent Remedy for the health of Man may be made of the most pernicious Poison as the Triacle is made of Vipers Flesh which is the best Antidote as we shall see in the following Chapter CHAP. XIV Of Antidotes ART together with Nature supplies us with as many sorts of Antidotes as there are Poisons The Viper no less than the Scorpion carries its Antidote if the Serpent begins to creep out of the Earth Nature affords us the Leaves of Ash which buds at the same time to heal its bite the same ground which bears a Thora hath also near an Anthora which is its Antidote There are also external Antidotes which do avert the Plague and preserve the Body from the Conragion as we said before speaking of Amulets where we did declare how this may be done and how the Body may be preserved from every Malignant Air without any fictitious Sympathy or Antipathy Antidotes are general and special or specifick they are general which resist every Poison they are particular which are appropriated only to certain Poisons That it may be rightly explained how Antidotes do work upon Poison and how they hinder its operation we must suppose that all Poisons and Toxicks are reducible to two kinds the first doth consist of emancipated Atoms which are properly Poisons under the second are comprehended Toxicks as Sublimate and the like and that consists in sharp penetrating cutting Particles such as the Particles of Fire which Burn Ulcerate and Tear the inward parts of the Person who takes them These things being supposed it will be no hard matter to explain the Nature of Antidotes Having made this difference between Poisons and Toxicks it is certain that there are Antidotes against Poisons and that they are diverse according to the diversity of the Toxicks Hence we see that Triacles of all the Antidotes which we have is most proper and most specifick against the Poison of Vipers because Triacle is made of Vipers flesh and the emancipated Atoms proceeding from it finding the Particles of that Flesh sit to receive them do adhere to them and are imbodied with them and in this manner losing their motion they lay aside their malignity and remain fixed and quiet in the same Condition as they were before their emancipation they can no longer offend the Heart or effect any Division of it so it is in the case of Pestilent Poisons which we draw as we suck in the Air wherein after a great Contagion these emancipated Atoms are found and with whom they enter into our Bodies Triacle and Cordial Confections are commonly used whose Corpuscles are disposed and figured in such a fashion as that the Pestiferous Atoms running through all the Parts of our Body are connexed with and do wholy adhere to them whence there is a
like to an emancipated Atom which being free from the bonds of the Composition never returns thither again unless that be restored to its pristine or to a better condition CHAP. XVIII Of the Irregular Motion of the Heart in Animals and of Feavers I Cannot but say something of the inordinate motions of the Heart stirred up by divers Feavers and from that Occasion discourse of the difference of Feavers their Causes and Remedies Feavers are either Diary viz. an inordinate motion of the Spirits which are agitated and disturbed by emancipated Atoms or they are Hectick which attack the Fleshy and Solid Parts And these Feavers are excited by emancipated Atoms which insinuate themselves into the substance of our Bodies and are the Cause that the Corpuscles of the Radical Moisture are driven away and exhaled by reason of which the Body is sensibly dryed The other Feavers consist in the Humours and in their fermentation and ebullition and when this fermentation never remits the Feaver is continual where it keeps its periods by turns it is an intermitting Feaver and it is called either a Quotidian where it comes every day or a double Tertian or Quartan as Phlegme Choler or Melancholly predominate When it comes one day and not the next it is a Tertian when it remits for two days it is a Quartan when it rages for two days together and remits the third it is a double Quartan And all these Fits or redoublings are owing to emancipated Atoms or relaxed Corpuscles which provoke move and stir up this or that humour which cannot be done without an agitation of the Heart and a manifest Pulsation of the Arteries That which in this Subject is difficult to be explained consists in the regular Fits and intermission of Feavers that is to say what is the beginning and what the Cause of this Flux and Reflux and of this periodical Motion and State of Rest and how it comes to pass that Phlegme ferments daily Choler but every other day and Melancholly after two days of rest Physitians say this motion proceeds from the diversity of humours and that Phlegme has its motion and fermentation every day Choler every other day and Melancholly every fourth day But the Physical Philosopher examines this difficulty more nearly and the Sick Person has reason to rest satisfied when the Physitian knowing the Quality of the Feaver administers Remedies which evacuate the offending humours and prohibit the generation of the new and by this means the Cause being taken away they raise him up and restore him to health The Physical Philosopher who enquires into the true Causes of the motions in Nature and does not like the Physician precisely respect the Health of this or that Person but endeavours to discover the truth of all things supposeth first that there is no humour in our Bodies which goes on from Rest to Motion unless it be stirred up by some Agent and Mover So it is questioned what may be that Principle by which Choler after twenty or twenty-four hours rest is stirred up and what should excite the fermentation of Melancholly after it has sat down quietly and unmoved two days or there abouts Physicians who are truly Philosophers and ought to be so teach us that in a Cachochymick Body there is always a new generation made of these sort of humours and when they are already arrived to a due state of plenitude some sooner than other some and sometimes where there is a complication many of them go on together to a fermentation and that all this proceeds from the different Nature of humours and their more easie or more difficult motion as also from a greater or lesser quantity of one or more humours But it may also be asked what is the Principle of this agitation or fermentation in that State of Plenitude and for what Cause these Febrile motions are so very regular and periodick Here and every where we will speak Bona Fide and without a Fallacy and say according to our Principles that the Atoms asserting their Liberty with every dissolution of the Aliment Chyle and Blood as we have said elsewhere do by their sharp-pointed Figures tear the Internal Membranes and Tunicles of the Stomach and Intestines as also excite those horrours and tremblings at the beginning of the Fit and which are longer or shorter and more or fewer according as their Figures are more or less aculeated and rugged or smooth and orbiculate According to this Principle we may say that the Atoms from the first digestion of the Stomach challenging to themselves a Liberty and being weary of the covering of Phlegme and Salt-water do daily stir up this agitation but those which in the dissolution of Chyle withdraw themselves from servitude and which abound with a Sulphurous Water which we commonly call Choler do stir up a motion more slow by a day than the former and as many as are emancipated after the third Concoction and dissolution of the Aliments and are wrapped up in adust Blood or that black Excrement which they call Melancholly do produce this Febrile motion two days slower than the first according to these different dissolutions Where we must first of all take notice that the shakeings in the motion of these differing humours are not equal nay not in the very Fits of one and the same Feaver proceeding from one and the same Cause but which hath different degrees of activity To which thing besides what we have said the Quality of the Food given to the Sick Person in the time of the intermission doth much contribute Secondly the Fits of one and the same Feaver are not so very regular but that they frequently are perceived sooner or later as the Atoms the disturbers of Health are sooner or later set at liberty To which thing the regimen of the Sick persons manner of Living does not a little contribute Hence it follows in the Third place That the true Remedy of intermitting Feavers doth consist First in an order of Living Secondly in an evacuation of peccant or strange humours which hinder retard or interrupt or precipitate the digestion of Aliments which must be well observed by an experienced Physitian and Lastly the Parts which serve to the first Concoction are to be strengthned because their faults and defects can never be corrected afterwards Moreover if it shall happen that there are some emancipated Atoms as without doubt there are more or less of them in all Bodies they are to be expelled by transpiration or their Figures to be inverted by Remedies called Febrifuges For Experience teacheth us that there are some of those sort of Remedies very profitable which are administred with extraordinary good success and which are not fruitlesly administer'd by me And I have now some of these sorts of Remedies found out by me and administered which in one day have Cur'd the Quartan and double Quartan I speak the truth but I should injure the truth if I should go so far as to say
that my Remedy is infallible For truly I believe and not a few of the most eminent and ablest Physitians of the Faculty in Paris are of the same Opinion with me that there is not a Remedy which can be called infallible and made publick Of which thing in the occasion of the fermentation of humours I will a little more specially treat in my Philosophical Reflections which in a little time will see the Light. I only add this here that the Heat which follows the shakeing does proceed from an agitation of the Spirits stimulated by the violent motion and repeated stroke of the emancipated Atoms which are at last expelled through the Pores of the Body as the Rebellious Angels were thrown out of Heaven by the more powerful good Spirits CHAP. XIX Of the Circulation of the Blood. AS many as have delivered themselves from the prejudices of Antient Physick and Vulgar Philosophy have taught after Harvey That the blood in our Bodies is moved in a circular motion from the extream parts to the Centre and not from the Centre onely to the extream parts as was heretofore believed Gassendus does not disapprove this Opinion although he does not embrace it for Reasons alledged in a particular Treatise set forth by him I use his Reasons to establish it as being better founded in Reason and more agreeable to the disposition of the Veins and Arteries Let us see therefore how the Circulation of the Blood is made according to Harvey and the most Learned Physitians The Blood say they passeth into the Heart from the Vena Cava and Arteria Venosa by two Valves where they are ended and as often as the Heart dilates it self a drop of Blood falls into each of its Cavities and as often as the Heart contracts it self the Blood passeth into the Lungs from the right Cavity through the Vena Arteriosa and from the left Cavity into the Aorta so that the Blood is moved from the extream parts of the Body to its Centre into which it is carried by the Vena Cava where it exonerates it self in the Right Cavity from whence it passeth into the Vena Arteriosa and drives on the Blood which is contained in that through Anastomoses already discovered and through Pores less sensible into the Arteria Venosa And as much Blood as the Arteria Venosa hath received so much of it deposits into the left Cavity from whence passing into the Aorta it is carried into the extream parts of the Body through Branches which go to the Branches of the Vena Cava from hence the Blood being brought into the Trunk continuing its journey by the same way it returns to the Heart and by the same reason as I said it wonderfully and without intermission performs the Circulation This Circulation of the Blood relies upon some Experiments the first of which is taken from Blood-letting For Chyrurgeons when they Bleed a Vein tye the Arm above the Orifice and if they put their Finger upon the Vein on the other side of the Ligament the Blood is stopped immediately From whence it is apparent that it comes from the extremity of the Fingers to the Trunk and not from the Trunk to the extremity of the Fingers but by Circulation of which we are discoursing The Second Experiment is made if a Vein be tyed in a part of the Body separated from the Artery for it will be emptied on that side towards the Trunk and it will be swelled on the other side on that side that is to say from whence the Blood according to this Opinion ought to proceed There is nothing therefore so certain as this Circular motion of the Blood and its passage into the Heart but here are three things to be observed First that the motion of the Heart does not depend upon this Circulation of the Blood although it conduce to its conservation and inordinate motion as this Circulation is made more or less hastily and as the Blood is more or less temperate in the disposition of its particles and in its saline serosities which serve for a vehicle to it and render it more fluid Secondly that the Circulation of the Blood as the Moderns indeed will have it may be performed three times in an hour yet so that all the Blood does not enter into the Cavities or Ventricles of the Heart as not once every hour but either sooner or later according to the greater or lesser quantity or greater or lesser subtilty or mobility of the Blood. Thirdly I say that the Blood in some cases cannot pass out of the Arteries into the Veins through the extremities that is when the extremities are cut off in which Case it goes on another way through insensible Pores which they call Transpiration or Transudation CHAP. XX. Of the Inward Senses and the Inferiour Appetite BEsides the exteriour Senses of which we have spoken there are also found to be in Man interiour Senses to wit the Imagination common Sense and Sensitive Memory The first forms a lasting Image of Objects The Second judgeth of the agreeableness or disagreeableness of them The third retains and preserves these Images or Ideas which is manifest in Dogs who represent to themselves persons absent and distinguish both between the good and the evil that hath befallen them witnessing that they remember the thing by running away if they have an opportunity or by Fawnings Appetite follows the interiour Senses and is common to all Animals and which is performed by the weight of Atoms whereby it comes to pass that an Animal hath a propensity and is driven to seek for that with which it is delighted and to abstain from that which might bring trouble So that Delight and Pain are the two great importances of the Life of an Animal Pleasure according to the Opinion of Epicurus depends upon Corpuscles which have a soft round and agreeable Figure especially to the Brain as to which the Object is represented by the imagination and from which it is carried by the Senses Pain on the contrary and both of them are performed by those Corpuscles whether they come to or go from or continue In Morals we will speak concerning these Passions as the two Scales of sensitive actions in the mean time I may here say that the interiour Senses receive these Corpuscles which bring pleasure or pain by the ministery of the exteriour Senses from whence it comes that those that Sleep or are Lethargick or Apoplectick feel nothing though they are pricked For the Brain is filled with strange Humours which hinder the motion of the aforesaid Corpuscles or else that motion is stopped by Vapours brought from the lower parts to the Brain which happens to those that are asleep CHAP. XXI Of Sleep Wakefulness and Death SLEEP is the Image of Death for all the Senses are at rest nor is there any motion left but that of the Heart Lungs and Arteries this Rest proceeds from Vapours arising out of the Stomach which by their
in Ward-Robes and they who frequently Visit those that are Sick of the Plague do not use Woollen Garments but Linnen ones to which the contagious Particles do less adhere From this Doctrine it appears that Smells are little Bodies which issue out of all Compound Natural Bodies especially Living ones by reason of their frequent agitation and which have Pores more open than Bodies not animated Besides it appears that these Corpuscles do never go out of Bodies in greater number than when they are a dissolving after which manner a smell exhales out of Gold and Silver dissolved excelling that of Musk and Amber From Antimony dissolved an Oyle is drawn of a very grateful smell and by another way a Sulphur is drawn out not to be endured for its stink And by the help of these Odoriferous Corpuscles Dogs Hunt Hares and find out their forms and by this means they discover their Masters foot-steps It is an argument that this is done by the help of these Corpuscles because they are dissipated by Wind and hindred by Dew and Experience teaches that those that handle Musk carry the smell of it a long while about them From whence it is known that these very small Bodies are adhering and that they have hooked Figures and that they do please and tickle according to that proportion which they have with the Organs CHAP. XIV Of Tast and its Object TAST is a Sense Natural and proper to Animals and by the help of that they distinguish Savours making a difference between the grateful and the ingrateful The Organ of this sense is the Tongue and Palat and it is done by the help of Spongy Flesh and of Nerves which terminate in the Tongue and â—arry the Animal Spirit to the Organ and the Savour to the imagination Savour the Object of Tast consists in certain saline Corpuscles of Aliments or other Bodies out of which they come and pleasantly or unpleasantly vellicate the Tongue and Palat according as their Figure is more or less rough and pungent or smooth and round and more or less adequetated to the Organ Since Savours are Corpuscles of Salt it follows that they differ according to the diversity of Salts to wit that they are sharp sweet bitter sowre and the like according to the Nature of the Salt that bears rule in their Composition and according to the quality of Corpuscles coming from elsewhere which change the Natural Savour of things as Wine by the addition of Water loseth both its strength and Savour although in this condition it is more grateful to some than when pure Wine From whence we know that the diversity of Tasts does not proceed from the sole diversity of Savours but also from the diversity of the Organs and hence it is that all people do not relish alike one and the same thing nor have all People a Tast equally delicate from whence it comes that some are delighted with those Meats that others abhor The Organ also is sometimes so ill disposed and the Tongue burdned with so great a quantity of ill Humours that things of the most grateful Savour seem insipid as also things not very sweet seem bitter which thing happens in a double and a continual Tertian Ague by reason of the dominion of Choler CHAP. XV. Of Feeling FEELING is a general Sense extended throughout the whole Body and is made by the help of Membranes such as the Skin the Scarf Skin and the Skin that covers the Bones called Periostium and others that are internal and this sole sense distinguishes every thing that by its contiguity brings pleasure or Pain The Object of it is Hot and Cold Soft and Hard Moistness and Dryness Concerning these different qualities of a Body we have treated elsewhere excepting Heat and Cold as which are not Physical accidents but two particular Bodies Heat is a heap amassing or flowing together of sharp pointed Corpuscles which penetrate into solid Bodies and do there cause a Division and do dissolve the more perfect Bodies and this is what we call to be set on Fire and to be burnt For Fire does not burn Wood but by dissolving nor dissolves it but by burning Cold is an heap amassing and flowing together of Atoms and Corpuscles of a blunt and plain Figure and hence it is that Cold does not penetrate into the Body but with pain and torment as also it excites a frequent motion of the Parts or shivering Besides there are not wanting some Particles so gross as to stop up the Pores of the Body and to drive the Heat into the inward parts which we call Antiperistasis by reason of which the included Heat becomes stronger which is the Cause why the Heat of the Stomach in Winter time is greater than it is in Summer and why Wells are warm and reak like Smoak For the same Reason Heat being shut up in our Bodies by the external Cold sometimes such like fumes are raised up in the Brain which are not without a great deal of danger Feeling is several ways performed and first of all by application where Body is moved to Body and Hand to Hand by penetration in making a solution of that which was whole as a Needle pricking the Hand Secondly Feeling is made by separation one Body coming out of another which if occasioned by Nature is always accompanied with pain as in non-Natural ejections Thirdly this Sense appears in the motion of those Bodies which are contained by others for sometimes they move themselves with so great force and do so press rend and tear that they excite pains not to be endured as in violent Head-aches the Pleurisie and pains of the Gout and Cholick CHAP. XVI Of the Speech Pulse and Breathing of Man. VOICE is common to all perfect Animals as well as Men but so is not Speech or an articulate Voice Brutes express their sense of things by Natural Voices and Men their interiour Speech to wit Thoughts by outward Speech as its Interpreter And this is done by the motion of the Tongue as also of the Air after a certain manner driven to and fro between the Teeth and the fluctuating windings and turnings of the Throat This motion is natural and voluntary For Discourse or Speech is an expression of an action of the Soul to wit of Thought But this Thought cannot be outwardly made manifest without the command of the Will or the strength or weakness of the Imagination The dilatation and contraction of the Lungs as also the action of the Muscles of the Breast serve to the formation of Speech and a Voice becomes sweet and harmonious when the Lungs and the aforesaid Muscles act methodically as also when the Air is duly reflected repelled and interrupted by the passages and turnings and windings of the rough Artery and where the Corpuscles of this Natural little Tongue are less rough and more free from strange Bodies The Diaphragm Stomach and Belly move when we speak and follow the motion of the Lungs and the