Fluid Substances exceedingly thinn'd whilst others were as nimbly thicken'd As if the Hands of Nature had been busily imploy'd in kneading of their Clusters till thoroughly condens'd Yet grants them so insipidly temper'd that by no proper Term Naturally or Philosophically Intelligible he determines them either light or heavy as he distinguishes their Elements from whatsoever is Elementarily Compos'd And thus according to his Method he imagines That Nature made her first Entrance out of the Closet of Chaos and having not thoroughly wash'd her Face he supposes some of her Spots might afterwards visibly remain in the Figure and Substance of both Sun Moon and Earth If next he had been ask'd on what account he attributes Spots to the Luminary of Day or Night together with the Terrene Sphere of our Being that are within no compass of reasonable Apprehension he must have return'd a motly Answer Since undeniable That whatsoever is capable of Spots as its propriety must be naturally colour'd and therefore of a mixt Elementary Composition by reason that nothing can be observably spotted but is also colour'd by mixt Ingredients and consequently the Object of Sight But the Sun and Moon were never held by found Opinion Elementarily Constituted wherefore not of any of his suppos'd Elements no more than 't is possible to conceive how Air could be alterative or operate on Air or Water on Water without partaking of Elementary Mixtures A Truth confirm'd by Experience in every Thing that is Thinn'd Thicken'd Ascends or Descends as sure as Earth is more ponderous than any of the other Three Elements ordain'd by Providence to exert all such Operations of Nature as are with clearest Evidence understood by us From whence may be concluded that the seeming Spots in the Sun or Moon are no other than meteorous Exhalations or Vapours that interpose betwixt the Luminaries and the Eye of the Beholder as surely as we frequently discern more or less clear in Appearance the Sun and Moon and therefore no Spots Inherent in their Substance As for the Spots that he annexes to the outward Complexion of the Earth what Man ever heard of any of their Colours except of such Things as have Being and Growth on her Surface as Trees Plants Men Women Beasts Grain and such other Things as might from Causes be produc'd How to Reply had he been thus Interrogated I dare Answer for him he could not have told And thus I come to the farther Examination of his Third Element by which he undertakes to Exspand the Original of all Things within the Compass of the Earth To which purpose I will briefly Summ the Order and Materials by which he forms his Phaenomena's of the Earth's Production All which he supposes were produc'd of the Fragments of a certain Thinn and Fluid Composition which he Entitles The primary Element of Nature These Imaginary or Globuli Fragments proceeding as he derives them from Spots in the First Element and descensively operating on the next term'd by him a Second Element they confus'dly and exceedingly disorder'd in Motion and Figure tended downward from their first sublime Height till at last they became more congeriously Thick suitable to the grossness of the Earth's Composure and Settlement where it now remains So very intricately obscure or vainly perplex'd does this conceited Monsieur debase the original Wisdome and Conduct of Nature both as to her own Establishment and the Production of her Works which could never be so disproportionably and irregularly effected by the prudent Diligence and Intendment of her Operations Which as this Author commits them to her peculiar Conduct I do not see why they should not have been by her Management as highly refin'd and continu'd as he delivers the Materials of her first purest Celestial Element And consequently of them so sublimately ordain'd have produc'd the Substance of Man and Woman that being exalted to a Superior Room in the Etherial Heaven the Eyes of Beauty might have there shin'd instead of Stars now beheld of the first Magnitude And next to these why should she not have gradually Illuminated the Substance of Animals with all other Materials and Plants that being naturally cleans'd from such Terrestrial Ingredients Alterations and Mixtures that are now in them they might have remain'd splendent Parts above instead of being Revolv'd and whirl'd in globuli's or dispers'd Fragments of Nature downwards untill they clos'd in a Lump that compleated the Earth in Figure disposition of Parts and Situation suitable to the Opinion of this Author Such Queries may not be unfitly urg'd against his total Hypothesis with all its Appurtenances to which I add these palpable Objections First that it is egregiously preposterous if not an Impeachment or lessening of the Dignity of Nature supposing that by her voluntary Actings she debas'd the superiority of her Existence by crumbling of her Materials into innumerable Bits or Particles in all kinds of impurer Substance and next dispose them by a rambling or giddy Progression so grossly to meet as they might constitutively finish and sustain the small inferior Bulk of the Universe call'd Earth or rather denominated the spurious Daughter of Nature if so engender'd by her actual consent Whereas contrarily 't is the inseparable Attribute of Nature intentionally to Conserve whatsoever depends on her Regalia's in its proper and utmost Perfection And although that by such Elementary Compositions and Mixtures as are understood by us she is necessitated to vary her Conduct as Things are in course Generated or Corrupted in order to produce such Existencies that could not be continu'd in themselves and therefore Providentially convertible into other Beings Yet she constantly preserves her most genuine Progression which is that nothing shall so alter as not to have Matter and Form incident to their Corporeal Proprieties Not unlike a Sovereign Ruler within whose Dominions there is no period of his numerous Subjects by Death because enough are begotten that succeed them But no such Procreation could be consistent or produc'd as an Elementary Triplicity is devis'd by Des-Cartes and not at allaccomplish'd or season'd with such natural Ingredients as are the Elementary Adjunct to Bodily Existences But rather of such a simplicity and incommunicable Qualification that 't is as reasonable to imagine That Earth should proceed from meer Air or Water from Fier as that his imperfect and uncompounded Elements should by their Vortices and Globuli arrive to any Corporeal Production Because the Principles of all Things could be no other than Contarrieties and therefore Elementary Insomuch that had not Providence otherwise dispos'd natural Operations than are contriv'd by this Author neither the Heavens above however excellent and refin'd their Essence or the Earth we possess with all its Appurtenances could have been effected The next Objection is briefly thus Suppose it were conceded That his Hypothesis relating to the Constituting of the Earth's Existence were allowable could it be conceiv'd that the diversities of Being and Motion which he annexes to his Particles
Which were very disconsonant to his Idea of any Perfection in a Triangle as he would parallel it to the proving of the Existence of the Deity which cannot be likened to any Commensurable Figure or Being Because two Immensely Infinite to come within the Precinct or Computation of Lines And he that most exactly discerns the Properties of a Triangle in every of its Capacities can but apply it to Commensurable Parts and Proportions as before express'd and nothing more absurd than to assimilate their Proofs on any account to the undenyable Existence of the Omnipotent so fully evident to the Eye and Sense in the sublime Wonders beheld within the Compass of the Universe Insomuch That it is very Emphatically expressed by the Poet where he Affirms That God has taken care to Inform us by miraculous Mediums suitable to these Words Os homini sublime dedit Caelumque videre jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus As much more obvious to general Apprehension than any Geometrical Problem Could it be unknown to the Intelligent Des-Cartes how vast a multitude of Humane Kind are scarce able to Define a Triangle as a Figure consisting of three Angles and far less apprehensive of the Truth of its useful Attributes if not Regardlesly unconcerned whether there is such a Thing or no or not at all conducing to the Exerting of Omnipotence For which they conceive they are by the Goodness of Providence furnished with more palpable Motives And such as are approved by himself as shall be observed in convenient Place In the mean time he much Insists on his Triangular Idea as a Truth that gives a main Rise to the Proof of the necessary Existence of Omnipotence because as he Affirms That there is no other Idea to be found so absolutely certain and yet he Grants in effect That it is no more than that in a Triangle the three Angles are equal to two Right The disparity whereof as he renders the Application has been I presume sufficiently noted already Notwithstanding it may not improperly be farther demanded Why a Person of his exquisite Science should not alledge other Mathematical Certainties rather than fix as he seems to do on the peculiar Example he gives of a Triangle Yet not to be questioned that the manifest Perfection of a Circle in being a Round without any Point that can signifie its Beginning or End together with the admirable Equality not to be found in any other Figure that every Line as so many wonderful Attributes has to each other if drawn from its Center to its Circumference is a more Sublime resemblance and Proof of an Infinite Being than is consistent with a Triangle All which but most especially its Circular Perfection if considered by its proper Excellency is no other than an Indeterminate Individual or Geometrical Wonder not to be Attributed to any other Figure No Man having ever been able to give it an exact Measure or such as may be deemed its Square tho' the accurate Endeavour of the Famous in Mathematical Science Whereas the Triangle is every way comensurable by the Sides and Angles it contains If a Unite be considered in its Arithmetical Capacity it is a nearer Parallel to the proving of an Incomprehensible Existence of God than can be deduced from the Idea he undertakes to give of a Triangle Nothing being more admirable than the Entireness of the number One in being both its own Root and Square and also its Cube and Root and in the same manner continues in a Geometrical Progression to the highest of Powers Nor can it be wholly Divided or Substracted by any other Number Which Excellencies solely appertain to Unity Yet from none of these Examples howsoever certain in themselves can be asserted the Existence of God by such an Idea of any of them as may Universally prove the necessary Existence of the Deity both as they are the Truths of Science and therefore not every Man 's sensible Conviction as also that they are only applicable to Things of a material Being As I cannot term the Square Cube or any figurative Demensions the Comprehension or Measures of Nothing Which in effect is required by Des-Cartes as he would Abstract his Speculation from all concomitancy with the Bodily Senses And consequently imputes it as a Fault or Neglect in not distinguishing accordingly the perfect Idea of God as it Impresses on the Mind the necessary existency of the Almighty But the main Objection is and far from being Answered by him That the Imagination cannot be separated from Objects of Sense For let a Man Contemplate with the utmost exactness that his Mind can afford it will certainly terminate on one Thing or other that resembles Material Parts tho' by Supposition as vastly Extended as 't is possible to Imagine Wherefore had this learned Gentleman thoroughly considered the Speculative Part of his Idea when he Inscrib'd its Notion as sure as he was of Humane Composition he would have annexed a Corporeal Representation in some kind to what he calls his Idea or he must as Insignificantly or as near to nothing have imployed the Labour of his Brain as if he could have Contemplated of a Vacuity All which is equally absurd to whomsoever will allow to himself the liberty of Thinking On which consideration and fully to confute his Supposition of bare Ideas of the Mind It has pleased the Almighty by the wonderful and no less apparent Prospect of the Universe with every Thing contained within its Boundless Complex to convince us That nothing is comprehended by it but what may imply the Denomination of Corporeal Miracles Yet so admirably different that what is of Elementary Form and Substance within the Residence of Earth and Air seems perfectly distinguished by the manner of Being and Essence of the Sun and Stars tho' of Bodily Resemblance Yet none of them have other appearance in the most Refined Conception we have of their Natures than Objects of our Senses And tho' the Original of the Universe or the Individuals it Comprehends be not manifest by any external Assurance 't is perfectly evident That they had a Beginning from an Omnipotent Cause by reason that our not knowing how they had Primitive Existence is an undeniable Conviction That in being Miraculous to our Understanding or as so many Actual Works wonderfully visible they could not be produced or continued otherwise than by an Omnipotent Incomprehensible Will and Providence So far does the Observation of admirable Facts that by Divine Conduct are openly exposed to the Eyes of our Reason and Sense exceed the most Refined Dictates of Science as they direct the Sublime Ascents of our Conceptions by a more exact Progression than Geometrically can be given to the highest of its Powers How impertinent is it then to depart from the Road of Common Sense by supposing such an Idea in the Mind as from any Mathematical Problem might guide us to the Proof of a Deified Existence tho' contrary to the palpable
Page and entrance he makes into his Fourth Part of his Philosophical Treatise he transfers the Principles which he had apply'd to the Constituting of Superior Beings in his Third Part to the original Forming and Existence of the Earth we Inhabit Which in his First Paragraph according to his design'd Imagination in Substance is thus Let us feign saies he That the Earth was primarily Constituted solely of the Matter of the first Element which has been mention'd by me in the Third Part of his Philosophy as was the Sun tho' much less as likewise to have a vast Vortex or whirling Substance about her the Center of which Vortex was the Center of the Earth But as some Particulars or Globuli as he calls them were channell'd or hollow'd and some but not all very diminutive of that First Element they adher'd and so were converted into the Matter of the Third Element which I likewise noted in the foreg-oing Tractate and from thence first of all were the opacous Spots engender'd on the Superficies of the Earth resembling those we behold continually to generate and dissolve about the Sun And next tells how such Particulars were Thinn'd or Condens'd Ascending and Descending some to Etherial Parts some to the Higher others to the Lower Region of the Air As also how the thicker of their opacous Spots cover'd and darken'd the whole Surface of the Earth Thus I have briefly summ'd his Sense the doing of which has caus'd such a wonderful Confusion in the utmost extent of my Intellect that I cannot there find room for the whirling of his Vortices and Globuli Or were the Brain of Man as big as the Earth it might prove too small for the comprehensive Understanding of his Hypothesis By which he displays his Scene of Chaos together with the diffusion from its Womb of such Particles or Seeds of Nature That by their Motions and continu'd Involutions and Revolutions Thin or Thicken without the operative concurrence of Heat Cold or any other Elementary Quality untill a sufficient quantity of them meet in a Lump that might produce the Figure and Magnitude of the Earth But from what shadow of Reason or Philosophical Authority could Des-Cartes fancy That either the Universe or Earth part of the whole might be Constituted or any ways generated by Motion unless of Bodies Compos'd of such Elements that are common to our Apprehensions Because nothing if not so temper'd is capable of Motion or computable by Time the natural Propriety of Motion and therefore not of such Chimerical Maaterials or unqualified Particles of Nature as he numbers in the actings of his devis'd Triplicity of Elements Which if granted 't were in effect to Assert That Motion Time and the Elements we usually understand and by which we subsist were operative and original Causes of the World's Existence So that the Earth together with Mankind and whatsoever it contains might have had in the Opinion of this Author a capacity of subsisting or wonderfully forming it self without a miraculous Creation Nor can his Supposition be excus'd by alledging That the Almighty might Ordain the Fabrick and Structure of the Earth by any Motion of Substances that were not Elementary Because impossible to conceive any other temperature of Things that could be motionally capacitated to produce other Beings But of what Composition or how establish'd the Heavens above are Thoughts too remote and spiritual as I have prov'd by Learned Authority in the precedent Treatise to be definitively reach'd by the Humane Intellect Notwithstanding which sublime Consideration the Earth is plac'd by Des-Cartes above and instead of the Sun as a Planet according to the Copernican System in as lofty a Room as is the Orbite betwixt Mars and Venus In answer to which enough I believe has been objected in the former Third Part But now having suppos'd the Matter of the Earth before intermingled with that of the Heavens he tells us how the Materials of the Earth delaps'd or slipt from above towards the Inferior Place according to his Phaenomena of the Sun and next distinguishes the Earth into three Regions The First of these which he calls the most Inward he supposes to contain so much of the Matter of the First Elements not otherwise there Moving or of other Nature than as it was in the Sun except that its Substance was less pure But thinks that the Earth in passing from the Sun and surely in his Sense upwards because by his Hypothesis he has preferr'd the ministerial Situation of the Terrene composition much Superior to Phoebus the King of Illuminating Beings as also that it continually became spotted and could not be purg'd or clear'd of them From whence saies he I am easily persuaded That the Earth was then full of the Third Element did not it follow that she could not if at that time so solid be so near the Sun he means downwards as now she is To which purpose he has devis'd a Right-worshipful Scheme but left by me to the Inspection of such as have no other Imployment for their Eyes The Second Element of the Earth he determines opacous and thickly Substantiated as consisting of divers Minute Particles that appertain'd to the first Element And this in his judgment Experience assures by the Spots in the Face of the Sun which excepting their refin'dness and subtility are the same with those of the Earth Yet notwithstanding hinder the Light that would else more appear in the Sun But concludes after some offer'd Reasons which I do not mention because I think 'em Irrational That these two Elements have little to do with us because no living Man ever ascended to their Stations But by what Authority does he present us with a Theory of Things that he confesses no Body could ever be assur'd of And for that Reason I might pass from them with no less neglect than the Man who reading an Inscription at Athens that was Dedicated to the unknown God thought it had little to do with his Contemplation And no more my concern what this Author delivers here these Elements having been sufficiently I doubt not Remark'd by me in the Third fore-going Part of his Philosophy Notwithstanding I will briefly add something avoiding if possible Reiteration of Words on the same Subject already written Or only by way of Interrogation were Des-Cartes present desire to be inform'd in what Mint of Nature he Coin'd these Elements and as her Bank-stock Pay's them off in Parcels to his Reader In doing of which he introduces and a while continues the original Empire of Nature in Power and Credit numerously attended by very inconsiderable Subjects which he calls petty Globuli surrounding her Throne and immediately committed to the Government and disposal of revolving Vortices that whirl'd them without any orderly Method or Proportion either East West South or North or sometimes only upward to the height of Heaven and as soon precipitately downward by which medly of Motion he conceives abundance of their
height or utmost Distance from the Center of her Orb and at another a Perigaeon-nearness unto it Which were much the same as to think it feasible for clusters of Flies no bigger than Gnats when they numerously seem to Circulate in Sun-shine to remove the weighty firmness of the terrene World or perform instead of the Sun the Ecliptical Revolution of the Day or Year Yet on this preposterous and feeble Conduct is erected the main Hypothesis of this French Writer both as to the Composition Being and Motion of the Earth with all her Circumjacent Particulars Which shews that he takes to himself an unpresidented Dictatorship in Science whereby he would celebrate the Fictions of his Brain without any requisite or probable assurance that they ought to be Conceded To which purpose he Inserts the various Actings of his several Elements tho' by no Body but himself so nam'd and by these so Invented by him together with Vortices and Globuli form'd from them he judges That the Earth with whatsoever it Comprehends might be totally Constituted as he their prime Artificer has contriv'dly set them at work The first Action tending to the compleating of the most refin'd Substance or Parts of the Earth he considers as produc'd by the Motion of the most tenuous Matter of what he Terms a Third Element which he supposes so very pure that even to Transparency it may cause Bodies tho' appertaining to Earthly Composition very clearly to Shine And thus we have the Earth according to the Doctrine of Des-Cartes both a motional and illuminating Planet But should I account the numerous diversities of the fictitious Motions and shifted Inventions by which this Author confers a shining Capacity on some Particulars of the Earth's Substance I might more than fire if not abuse the Patience of an indefatigable Reader Neither could I do other than impertinently load my Pen with repeated Objections and manifest Confutations of his Theories of Motion as they have been diversly apply'd by him on this or other Subjects The Movements of Things in his Method as he annexes their Qualities and Motions being neither exactly agreeable to streight Lines or their proper Tendencies or to such Curv's as might be of Mathematical Construction and therefore inconsistent with the Geometry of Nature Which as to her Works must proceed from a regular Process to which purpose enough has been already written by me I will therefore in this place briefly Inspect the Fond of the shining Attributes that he confers on some Particulars of the Earth as they are stated by him The principal Reason that he offers is That 't is experimentally found that pure Liquor in the Earth of tenuous Consistence is also pellucidous or shining Which cannot be true if by clearness he means an Illuminating Quality No more than the purest Water that can be Imagin'd may be said to Shine because it is clear And who ever beheld any shining Part of the Earth otherwise than by diffus'd Beams of the Sun ' Moon or Stars it might be enlightned tho' without any Illumination as to its own Capacity Where are the Eyes that in a gloomy Day or Night ever observ'd the shining of a Mole-Hill on the Surface of the Earth Or such little Morsels of the Ground as Worms deject which might be compos'd of such Materials as he describes his diminutive Globuli to consist of for any reason given by him to the contrary To confirm these Objections this one that includes many may pertinently be added If as he imagines the diaphanous Parts of any of his Celestial Elements as they are defin'd by him should by any intelligible Movement so operate as they might be so qualitatively Constituted as to embue any particular Substance or Places of the Earth with a shining Capacity since he has undertook to Metamorphose our terrene Habitation into a Planetary Composition How can it be probably apprehended that his Fluid Globuli by their feeble Commotions should be conjoyn'd to the Surface of the Earth notwithstanding that the condense or crusty Parts of her Surface are thickly harden'd and nourish'd by the Roots of Grass Trees Minerals Stones of all kinds diversly temper'd and not possibly penetrable by any compulsive Motion of his diminutive and impotent Globuli unless so much of the gaping Superficies of the Earth could be suppos'd to receive their Fluid Descents to no other purpose than she does Rain when distill'd by the Dissolution of Clouds Which being done there could but a dewy gloss appear on the Ground that might not more imbrighten any Part of the Earth's Figure than when in some moist Seasons the Glow-worm with her Light is engender'd So that whosoever would persuade himself that the terrene World or any Part of it was ever primarily compleated or motionally dispos'd by the Globuli and Vortices comprehended in the Diagrams and Theories of Des-Cartes may as readily believe that the Globe of the Moon was originally produc'd by the efficacious Seeds of a Carret-Bed Nor does he deny in some respects the incongruity of his Principles as in his 18th Particulars he confesses The Materials by which he moulds the Frame of the Earth's Composure and first Existence to be confusedly operative by granting that the liquid Parts which he Attributes to the prime Formation of the Earth were disorderly complicated with his Celestial Globuli Yet might by their Operations in his judgment upwards downwards or transversly be separately distinguish'd by the Similitude he Porduces of a Glass of Wine in the Must having Dregs not only on the top and bottom correspondent to Gravity and Levity but also on the sides of the Glass When afterwards the Wine being clear notwithstanding that it before consisted of various Particulars it becomes pellucidous or shining and not more gross or thicker in any one Part than in another Here he presents his Reader with a Philosophical Weather Glass by which he would determine the temper of the Season when the Earth was forming by his diversified Globuli and whirling assistance of his Vortices Which petty Operators as he states the Metaphor of their Condition and Conduct might be as drunk as Flies may be suppos'd when some of them are as it were giddy on the top of a Glass of strong Liquor or lean to its Sides for supportance whilst others more ebrietously replenish'd heavily sink to the bottom All which may be assimulated without any wrong to the Brain of this Author unto the giddiness of his Phaenomena's It being impossible to conceive from what rational Course of Nature he could produce the Substances together with the Movements of his debauch'd Globuli by which he constitutes the Being of the Earth Considering that he deduces their original Descent from what he Terms his first pure Element In his 19th Head he positively assures us That the Third and main effect of his Celestial Globuli are so perfectly operative that they convert liquorous Drops residing in Air into rotund Figures the reason as he
States it is because those Celestial Globuli find more Passages into a watry Drop than into the Circumjacent Air And by that means as near as may be Move in right Lines or in such as most approximate unto direct lineaments whence it is manifest in his Opinion That such Globuli that are in the Air are less motionally hinder'd as they meet with a watry Drop according to the continuance of their Motions in a streight Line or nearest unto it if that Drop of Liquor be exactly spherical than if it had taken any other Figure But if any Part of the Superficies of that Drop be extended beyond a spherical Figure the Celestial Globuli by their more forcible discursions made in the Air more strenuously assault the watry Drop than were it other Substance and immediately thrust it downwards towards the Center The Reader I presume will excuse me if in this Place and some others of his Writings I deliver the Notions of this Author in more uncouth Accents than I would willingly commit to his Perusal It having been my care no less than necessary Diligence to render as genuinely as might be his Latin Expressions into English If my Remarks on his precedent Praticular had any sharp Allusion dress'd in a plain and familiar Application I cannot rebate on this occasion the point of their tendencies Wherefore if prov'd by me in the foregoing Head tho' by a comical Similitude that his Hypothesis had inebriated his Globuli I may as judiciously Assert That his Sense in the Particular I now Treat of may be by no extravagant Similitude term'd unnatural or Philosophically and Mathematically Intoxicated unless I could Affirm in his behalf that his Globuli which as he supposes might by the force of their whirling Vortices so dispose their Materials to the Constituting of the Earth that the very Grapes that caus'd drunkenness in the Head of the Patriarch Noah were engender'd by some of their giddy Compositions And as sure as the Earth is now in Being Nature might be deem'd out of her Wits if according to his disorderly Process she could be thought to Design the Production of the earthly World Or what can be more improbable than the Tale he tells of his Celestial Globuli converting of liquorous Drops hanging in the Air into round Figures And what Reason does he give why no better than as he supposes That his Globuli may find more passage in watery Drops than in the circumjacent Air But does not common Experience confute this Imagination Let a strenuous Hand fling a smooth Peeble-Stone into the Air and afterwards into Water will it as soon pass any Part of the Superficies of Water as of the Air Or will it not the Water being of a more condense Substance than Air have proportionably a longer Motion and Passage by the ressistance of its thicker Body than might be given by the Tenuity of the Air A Truth so practically evident that it could not be unknown to many of the young Contemporaries at School with Des-Cartes wherefore I wonder to find him of a contrary Opinion here As little concentring in any kind with sound Principles are the Proprieties that he annexes to his Globuli which if in their Motion engaging with any Part of a watry Drop that is extended beyond a spherical Figure they immediately with greater force assail it and by compulsion enforce it towards its Center But if any Part of it be nearer its Center than another his Celestial Globuli contain'd in that watry Drop forthwith imploy their utmost Force to expell it from its Center and next altogether concur to make one spherical Drop Here by a perverse Contradiction he notoriously thwarts the surest Maxims of Philosophy as they pertinently Relate to the Nature and Motion of Corporeal Beings Nor is there any Thing more irrational if not Philosophically absurd than to define as he does globulous Materials and debar them of Motion natural to their Figures It being not possible to imagine that whatsoever is rotund should be more propense to Move in a streight Line or the nearest unto it than in a circular Revolution If a Ball be let fall from the Hand will it it not rotundly Move suitable to its Figure And could this Author imagine That a Demonstration so experimentally obvious would be wav'd by any Principle of his Geometrically Inconsistent or that the exactness of Things circularly Mov'd of all others most perfect should incline to deviate from their Centers Or if that were granted is it at all probable that they could have freer migrations according to this Author through any one of his suppos'd watry Drops than in the tenuous Substance of the Ambient Air Which being done they are in his Sense sometimes compulsively enforc'd towards their Centers if their Figures be not absolutely spherical but if exactly round as forcibly remov'd from their Centers And thus he Implicates if not so crosly Involves Contradictions that he determines the operations of Nature more consonant to the exerting of a Step-dame's Arbitrary Conduct than suitable to the comely Effects by which she regularly produces the Motion and Being of Things All which must be conceded as Principles of Nature incident to her Rule and regular Intention as surely as some of her Materials are more substantially heavy or lighter than others and will therefore have a natural Recourse upwards or downwards to their Centers accordingly Wherefore it may be admir'd in what Fit or Heat of Fancy the Brain of this Monsieur was Inveigled when by so many perplex'd Words as also opposite Terms and Methods he did in a manner angrily Impose the Limitations of his Measures on the stupendious Productions of the Works of Nature Insomuch that his Maxims if soberly consider'd signifie little other than a design'd Rape committed on the Grandeur of her Figure and Beauty together with the providential Facility by which she compleats and preserves her Legitimate Conduct and Operations So that his Invented Elements with all his Diagrams of Vortices and Globuli seem fictitiously devis'd or appertaining to the Imaginary System of some other World since not at all probable that they could belong to the Composure of this But enough has been in this Place and occasionally before I believe satisfactorily Inserted on this Subject that it were impertinently tedious if more be added There remains one Particular that ere I conclude on this Head requisitely deserves a considerable Remark because it Includes a very curious and subtil Mathematical Problem Which he thus expresses the Angle of Contact by which the Tangent Line touches a Circle and by which only it is distant from a right Line is less than any Rectilineal Angle whatsoever and in no Curve Line besides the Circle is every where equal Wherefore he Affirms That a streight Line cannot more equally and less every where inflect or bend from its Points than when it degenerates into a Circular I have read in the History of Algebra written by Dr.
assur'd of what we understand Unless the Intellect be Refin'd by Idea after his manner as the most natural Way of being clearly Apprehensive and with such disparagement to the Senses That they may be in his Opinion neglected Tho' common Experience might have convinc'd him that they are by Nature Constituted Assistants and real Proofs of whatsoever is openly and demonstratively understood But it seems he omitted these Considerations And therefore in his next Particular which is his 4th he positively directs as he would intend the Use of his Idea by which he Argues That the Nature of Matter or Body does not Consist in that it is Hard Ponderous or any other Manner affecting the Senses but only as it is a Thing extended in Length Breadth and Depth And for durition or hardness the Sense discovers it no farther than as the Parts of a Hard Body Resist the Motion of our Hands meeting with it Here he would exalt his Idea to the height of Dominion in the Mind and level the Senses below the Capacities that Nature has allow'd them Nothing being more Philosophically Irrational than the Supposition he Inserts That the Nature of Body is only to be understood as it has Longitude Latitude and Depth and why not also as it is Weighty Hard and Colour'd Is not Air as much a Body as Iron and yet perfectly distinguish'd by the compact Durition of the Latter as its Essential Propriety And as absolutely different in Colour could the diaphanous Substance of Air be as visible to the Eye and although it be not we may conceive the Distinction much surer than we could by intruding on the Mind a conceited Idea because we are sensibly Assur'd That no Corporeal Thing can have Being in Nature without its colourable Property And this as familiarly Certain as that a Bay-Horse cannot be Denominated a Horse if his natural Colour could be separated from his Substance There are many Things that may be said to have Colour that are not genuinely their own And so a painted Cheek whether in Man or Woman is no Dye or Complexion of Nature but Artificically Colour'd And we Judge of Pictures as they Resemble the Life by the Colours apply'd to them by the Skill of the Painter And 't is no less evident that Des-Cartes has presented his Reader with a very Fictitious Varnish of his Pen if he meant no other distinction of Colours Relating or Apply'd to Material Substances than in this Place he mentions And in Summ concludes That Weight Colour and such like Corporeal Qualities may be separated from their Inherence in Matter so that the Nature of the Substance to which they belong does not depend on any of them And is not this a concise Manner of Idea in this Author by which he would have us believe That Bodily Substance may have Existence and be sensibly perceiv'd without being discern'd by its genuine Shape and Figure If Colour Hardness and Weight with other Qualities appertaining to Matter are defin'd Accidents in a Philosophical Sense yet allowable such as when natural are inseparable Proprieties from Bodies to which they appertain And 't is some wonder that this Learned Monsieur should forget on this occasion That noted Logical Maxim Quod omni sola et semper accidit subjecto So that the Idea of this Author as it is here Apply'd by him is so far from a Weighty or indeed a Colourable Notion That 't is as surely Confuted as a White Plum may be distinguish'd by the Act of Nature from a Black one The next Step he takes is to present his Reader with the Doubts of some Persons who Determine That Bodies may be so Rarified or Condens'd that they may have by Rarifaction more Extension than when Condens'd To which Number of Dubitants I desire to be added Because I conceive nothing more clear than the doubt he Delivers Is it not very evident That Snow when dissolv'd by Rarifaction into Water is substantially Extended farther than before as it may be observ'd falling from a Hill into a River And is it not as manifest That some Parts of Wood when Thinn'd and Rarified by Fire convert to Smoak So that 't is impossible to deny that Corporeal Alteration is not Incident to Rarifaction which gives it a variable and different Extension if compar'd to the space it Precedently fill'd and this amounts to Demonstration instead of Opinion But he that will be Proselyted by the Doctrine of Des-Cartes must in this Case be such a compliable Sceptick as to Renounce his sensible Conviction and accord with him where he contends to Argue That whosoever will attentively Think and admit nothing but what he clearly understands will Judge That no more is Effected by Rarifaction and Condensation than Change of the Corporeal Figure And this in few words is the summ of what is contain'd in his Fifth and Sixth Particular that is worth a Remark The Reason he offers is That Rarified Bodies having many Pores are there Replenish'd with other Substances and by that means become Condens'd This Conceit of his is as distant from Proof as Fiction is from Truth And nothing more obviously Answer'd since 't is Philosophically Certain That Condensation is added to Bodies which are made more or less Solid as their thinner Parts are proportionately expell'd by Rarifaction And thus a tenuous Substance is gradually render'd more compact and harden'd by the Fire as is in divers Kinds Experimentally Observable Which however producing Alteration of Figure in their Corporeal Extent 't is as they receive Solidity or Durition from the Capacity that their tenuous Parts have in order to Rarifaction So that 't is not as this Writer Infers from any Intervals or Cranies in Bodies fill'd with other Bodies that causes Condensation but so much of the Tenuity of their Compositions as being vanish'd by Rarifaction leaves them more compactly Harden'd Suppose he had been ask'd Whether the thin Substance of Air or Fluid Body of Water did Exist with any such Pores or Inlets in them that might be Receptacles for other Bodies He could not probably have solv'd the Question notwithstanding 't is very apparent That Air is Thicken'd by Moisture that exhal'd by the Sun is mingled with it But Water being a grosser Substance is Condens'd as its Thinner Parts are by Heat extracted from it and this may be discern'd in every standing Pool or Puddle All which is Equivalently acknowledg'd by him in his Entrance to his Seventh Head Where he grants That there are no Pores in Air or Water that may add to their Amplitude by giving Reception to other Bodies whereby they may be more Replenish'd Yet would have it pass in being suppos'd for a Rational Fiction but I expected his Proof and therefore must be excus'd if I reject his Fable As for Corporeal Extent caus'd by Rarifaction he seems to allow none otherwise than as he would a new Body so Extended Which is not Universally true and may be so understood from the Example
will as compleatly replenish the same Compass or Space as if it had been fill'd by the others before The last Example given by me ought to be understood of a preternatural or violent Motion enforc'd by the Hand of Man or other Accident by which a Substance that might be precedently in its proper Sphere or Place of Rest is forcibly dispossess'd of its Room by some other when Nature to prevent Vacuity her main Abhorrence supplys the Place of the Body Irresistibly Remov'd with another Substance Which in her natural Method is never effected by her ordinary Alterations caus'd by Generation Corruption Rarifaction Condensation and the like or by which the more Weighty Body is Expell'd by the Lighter No more possible then that the Earth or any Part of it should mount from its Center unto the Ambient Air above it Wherefore the general Maxim of Des-Cartes by which he would Infer the Transition of Bodies into the Vicinities and-Spaces of others is no less absurd than contradictory to the Establish'd Course and Laws of Nature in order to her Preservation of Things either as they Move or Rest Which should 〈◊〉 otherwise admit or according to this Author there must be a Confus'd Interruption if not a Penetration of Bodies Philosophically impossible not only of those that surround the Earth we Inhabit but also of the Celestial Luminaries that Immensely Move above our Heads if they Revolv'd into higher or lower Vicinities and Orbs than are naturally their own So perplexedly Inconsistent is the Opinion of this Writer with the Beings of whatsoever the World contains As Incompatible to common Understanding is the Notion that he delivers in his 26th Particular where he undertakes to prove That there is not more Action requir'd to Motion than to Rest Which seems at first sight a Paradox of a Novel Edition But had he seriously consider'd after the Inscribing of this Sentiment and next had been ask'd whether his Pen had not been more commodiously Inclos'd in his Desk and his Hand in his Pocket than acttually Imploy'd when he Writ this uneasie Sense he would have clearly distinguish'd betwixt Motion and Rest as Words that Imply their difference both in Name and Nature And 't is some wonder that Des-Cartes who largely abounds with Fanciful Niceties should have so narrow a Perception as not to discern the broad Contrariety that Interprets Motion and Rest sensibly opposite To which purpose Aristotle defines Rest as the privation of Motion in whatsoever is naturally apt to Move Wherefore the proper tendency that Things in Motion have to acquiesce in their genuine Place is render'd by some Philosophers as their final Perfection Because nothing can be said to Move but it does also to its utmost Power expedite its Innate Propensity to be sedate in its due Station If a Stone falls from any considerable Height Experience assures that it swiftest Moves when nearest to the Earth the Center of its Being But of its self incapable of Active Movement when it comes to its resting Place all which is Heterogeneous to the Doctrine of this Author who allows to the Acquiesence of any Thing no less Motion than it had when it Mov'd The Instance he gives is Because we perswade our selves that our Bodies at our Will Move and Rest for no other Reason than that they adhere to the ground in being heavy And continues to say That our Corporeal Weight and other Causes not Animadverted by us resisting the Motion that we would incite in our Members effect our Fatigues or Weariness whilst we Impute more Action or greater Force to Instigate our Motion than to cause it to Cease Here he creates an Idea not unlike to the Poetical Fable of Ixion's embracing of a Cloud instead of Juno for what can be more obscure to sensible Conception than to Infer as he does That the Body by suspending of its Motion does as indefatigably Move as when tir'd by Action Which is much the same as if he had undertook to prove that 't is possible for a Man to feel as uneasie a Movement sitting still as when he was weary of Walking Nor is the Weight of the Animated Body as to it self or as it may be Diseas'd by Motion the only Cause of the Appetite it has to be reliev'd or eas'd by Rest but as Nature compells it in being ponderous to promote its lowest Acquiescence in its Immoveable Place Essentially Center'd in the Bosome of the Earth as the Body has Room or Capacity to Descend Nor would its Motion till thither arriv'd be Impedited or Fatigu'd by the Labour of its Corporeal Parts any more than a Stone as it falls downward can be weary of the Motion of its Substance So totally Irresistible is the Power of Nature that no longer appropriates either Rest or Life to any Individual Thing than is necessarily consistent with its Place and Being If by her Indulgence she has Impower'd Mankind and other Animated Creatures with Corporeal Faculties and Parts whereby they may diversly Execute their Local Movements as her gracious Distinction and necessary Endearments peculiarly conferr'd for the convenient Support and continual Subsistence of Living Individuals 't is contrary to the gross Allay of their Bodily Compositions Thus the Body of Man or Animal may Move on the Surface of the Earth or by the extraordinary Energency of Life be exalted towards a Mountain's top when their Corporeal Substances could they depart from the Conduct of Life would with far more Acceleration tumble downwards Let a Man of the most expert and vigorous Agility take a Leap upwards his Person shall come to the ground by swifter and easier Degrees than his Activity by its utmost Force could Ascend Wherefore 't is no painful Action as this Author Insinuates by which a living Substance acquires its Rest but rather a natural and Irresistible Motion that inclines it to attain its proper Residence Which proceeds from no other Cause than the Quantitative Magnitude and Weight that Imposes the Descent of every Corporeal Thing as near as it can be promoted to the Inferior Place of its Repose If a Feather falls from any Height allowing for the hinderance that its Levity may receive from the Commotion of the Air it will Descend no less proportionably to its Weight than a Lump of Lead must do if dropt from the same Altitude And this is Mathematically certain because no Substance whatever can be said to Move but as it has Commensurable Parts These Examples are sufficient to Totter his Arguments on the Fund he erects for them Of which there remaineth One that he concludes this Head with and in his Sense very apposite to his purpose I wish that I had so found it because I love not to Dispute where it can reasonably be avoided His Words are these There is as much Action requir'd to the Removing of a Ship that stands Still on Water any Length Forward as it is to Move it as far Backward From whence he would conclude That a
them accordingly by confining my Observations to a cursory Consideration of some Particulars that I judge most useful and therefore fit to be separated from the rest The Primitive Ingredients annex'd by this Author to the Original Consistence and forming of the Visible World together with every Individual Substance within its vast Circumference are comprehended in three Elements no otherwise different than as they are more or less fluid The First of which he conceives so forcibly acting that in meeting with other Bodies it is divided into very diminutive and numberless Particulars Accommodating its various Figures to the replenishing of all Angles that were caus'd by them The Second Element he supposes divided into very small spherical Particles but of certain and determinate Quantity and divisible into many less The Third he defines more Gross or Thick consisting of Figures not very inclinable to Motion Of the first of these he conceives the Sun and fix'd Stars Compos'd the Heavens or Firmaments above of the Second the Earth together with the Planets and Comets made up of the Third Which Catalogue of Elements he thinks very significant because as he conceives that only the Sun and fix'd Stars properly emit Light the Heavens transmit it and by the Earth Planets and Comets remitted which difference he judges may be discern'd and therefore believes it well referr'd to Three Elements If Nature has accommodated us with Four Elements of which we are as certainly Intelligent as that Heat Cold Moisture and Dryness are incident to her genune Production of Things This Author has exempted one out of her Catalogue and what is more has complicated a Trinity of Elements into one Substance which he no otherwise distinguishes than as in some Operations and Capacities it is more Fluid than in other as he applies it to the primary Production of the Visible World and whatsoever had Being in it So that the First Star that twinkled in the Universe was in his Judgment but such a refin'd Part of Fluid Matter which if sufficiently thicken'd might have grosly produc'd an Elephantick Constellation in the Firmament But of such Particulars more hereafter or when I Inscribe my intended Remarks on the Fourth Part of his Philosophy where he Treats of the Earth and its Appurtenances In the mean time I shall briefly Elevate my Observations to the height of his Suppositions as they tend to the Method deliver'd by Des-Cartes whereby he would conceive in what manner the fix'd Stars and Sun might be Originally form'd and compleated In the beginning he means of the World the Matter of the First Element increas'd by reason that the Particles of the Second Element by their assiduous Motion did impair one another From whence it ensu'd that the Quantity of the Second Element was greater in the Universe than was necessary to fill up such exiguous Spaces that were between the spherical Particulars of the Second Element as they were mutually Incumbent So that whatsoever did remain after those Spaces were so replenish'd had a Recourse to certain Centers And there Compos'd the most Fluid spherical Bodies the Sun on one Center and six'd Stars on others But afterwards when the Particulars of the Second Element were more attrited or worn and receding equally from their Centers they left such spherical Spaces as were from all Circumjacent Places by the flowing thither of the First Element exactly fill'd His Words I have deliver'd in as clean English as I could fit or contract them to his purpose but that being done I must confess that I cannot Conster their meaning It being very unconceivable how he could furnish his Brain with a speculative Idea of such Particles of Nature separately and fluidly Moving since whatsoever is Fluid must necessarily Imply a continu'd material Emanation of the same Substance as in purest Water it is impossible to imagine any separate Fluidity in any of its Particles no more than the most diminutive Bubbles when discern'd on a flowing Spring or River can be said to be separately Fluid And next to Affirm as he does That such Materials could movingly Atteriate or Rub one another less there being no such Capacity in any Fluid Substance Wherefore if he had us'd the Epithet of washing or dashing of greater into smaller Particulars tho' somewhat Improper the Expression had been more pardonable than his calling them Rubbers of one another into any Fluid Diminution And what is more he undertakes by their reciprocal Motions to fill up every Corner amongst them But how to find an Angle in any continual Fluid Matter cannot be understood by Geometrical Delineation wherefore I wonder to find in so knowing a Mathematician as was this Author so undemonstrable a System But howsoever Interpreted he undertakes abundantly to Replenish with such petit material Quantities no less than three of the Superior and vastest Heavens And next by his Invented Vortices which in a Grammatical Sense may be denominated Whirl-pools he Circumvolves Clusters of them until he has dispos'd them capacious enough to be Metamorphos'd by Motion into the Figures of the Stars and Sun Against the main of his Opinion that the Heavens are fluidly Compos'd on which the rest of his Phaenomena's depend there is farther to be objected That it is unnatural and clearly Inconsistent with undeniable Philosophical Principles and as contradictory to ocular Evidence By which we are assur'd as perfectly as by Sight we can discern that the Sun and Stars must be of the same Celestial Substance with the total Heavens and which is not denyed by Des-Cartes otherwise than as he supposes some Parts of it which he calls the first or most fluid Element and therefore ought not to be so defin'd by him Because whasoever is Fluid is also dissipable and consequently may be more Extended Dilated or Contracted but neither of these are to be observ'd in the Figure or Appearance of the Sun that always continues exactly Spherical tho' at some times the clearness of his Figure is not equally perceivable by reason of Exhalations and Vapors that interpose betwixt his Splendors and the Eye of the Beholder Moreover if any Part of the Celestial Substance were fluidly dissipable Nature would be necessitated to prevent Vacuity the detested Opposite to her Existence that some inferior Matter or Body should Ascend to supply that place in the Heavens where the Parts were separately remov'd Which were repugnant to Providence that has ordain'd that no other than the Substance of Heaven by any Natural Motion shall possess the Supreme Part of the Universal World If it could the Elementary and Corporeal Mixture of Bodies below might be corruptly intermingled with the refin'd Nature of the Heavens which are apparently unalterable undiminish'd and as totally uncorrupted In which Sense it may be concluded That the Heavens are Immutable and therefore Impatible as being of supremest Excellency or not at all partaking with the distemper'd Compositions or Ingredients that constitute other Bodies If the Heavens are determin'd to