conuerse withall As for example he conceiueth light to be nothing else but a percussion made by the illuminant vpon the ayre or vpon the ethereall substance which he putteth to be mixed with and to runne through all bodies which being a continuate medium betweene the illuminant and our sense the percussion vpon that striketh also our sense which he calleth the nerue that reacheth from the place strucken to witt from the bottome of our eye vnto the braine Now by reason of the continuity of this string or nerue he conceiueth that the blow which is made vpon the outward end of it by the Ether is conueyed by the other end of it to the braine that end striking the braine in the same measure as the Ether strucke the other end of it like the iacke of a virginall which stricketh the sounding corde according as the musitians hand presseth vpon the stoppe The part of the braine which is thus struken he supposeth to be the fantasie where he deemeth the soule doth reside and thereby taketh notice of the motion and obiect that are without And what is said thus of sight is to be applyed proportionably to the rest of the senses This then is the summe of Monsieur des Cartes his opinion which he hath very finely expressed with all the aduantages that opposite examples significant wordes and cleare methode can giue vnto a witty discourse Which yet is but a part of the commendations he deserueth for what he hath done on this particular He is ouer and aboue all this the first that I haue euer mett with who hath published any conceptions of this nature whereby to make the operations of sense intelligible Certainely this prayse will euer belong vnto him that he hath giuen the first hinte of speaking groundedly and to the purpose vpon this subiect and whosoeuer shall carry it any further as what important mystery was euer borne and perfected at once must acknowledge to haue deriued his light from him For my part I shall so farre agree with him as to allow motion alone to be sufficient to worke sensation in vs and not only to allow it sufficient but also to professe that not only this but that no other effect whatsoeuer can be wrought in vs but motion and by meanes of motion Which is euident out of what we haue already deliuered speaking of bodies in generall that all action among them eyther is locall motion or else followeth it and no lesse euident out of what we haue declared in particular concerning the operations of the outward senses and the obiects that worke vpon them and therefore whosoeuer shall in this matter require any thing further then a difference of motion he must first seeke other instruments in obiects to cause it For examining from their very origine the natures of all the bodies we conuerse withall we can not find any ground to beleeue they haue power or meanes to worke any thing beyond motion But I shall craue leaue to differ from him in determining what is the subiect of this motion whereby the braine iudgeth of the nature of the thing that causeth it He will allow no locall change of any thing in a man further then certaine vibrations of stringes which he giueth the obiects to play vpon from the very sense vp to the braine and by their different manners of shaking the braine he will haue it know what kind of thing it is that striketh the outward sense without remouing any thing within our body from one place to an other But I shall goe the more common way and make the spirits to be the porters of all newes to the braine only adding therevnto that these newes which they carry thither are materiall participations of the bodies that worke vpon the outward organes of the senses and passing through them do mingle themselues with the spirits and so do goe whither they carry them that is to the braine vnto which from all partes of the body they haue immediate resorte and a perpetuall communication with it So that to exercise sense which the latines do call sentire but in English we haue no one word common to our seuerall particular notions of diuers perceptions by sense is Our braine to receiue an impression from the externe obiect by the operation or mediation of an organicall part made for that purpose and some one of those which we terme an externe sense from which impression vsually floweth some motion proper to the liuing creature And thus you see that the outward senses are not truly senses as if the power of sensation were in them but in an other meaning to witt so farre as they are instruments of qualifying or conueying the obiect to the braine Now that the spirits are the instruments of this cōueyance is euidēt by what we dayly see that if a mā be very attētiue to some one externe obiect as to the hearing or seeing of something that much delighteth or displeaseth him he neyther heareth or seeth any thing but what his mind is bent vpō though all that while his eyes and eares be open and seuerall of their obiects be present which at other times would affect him For what can be the reason of this but that the braine employing the greatest part of his store of spirits about that one obiect which so powerfully entertayneth him the others find very few free for them to imbue with their tincture And therefore they haue not strength enough to giue the braine a sufficient taste of themselues to make it be obserued nor to bring themselues into a place where they may be distinctly discerned but striuing to gett vnto it they loose themselues in the throng of the others who for that time do besiege the braine closely Whereas in Monsieur des Cartes his way in which no spirits are required the apprehension must of necessity be carried precisely according to the force of the motion of the externe obiect This argument I confesse is not so conuincing a one against his opinion but that the necessity of the consequence may be auoyded and an other reason be giuen for this effect in Monsieur des Cartes his doctrine for he may say that the affection being vehemently bent vpon some one obiect may cause the motion to be so violent by the addition of inward percussions that the other coming from the outward sense being weaker may be drowned by it as lesser soundes are by greater which do forcibly carry our eares their way and do fill them so entirely that the others can not gett in to be heard or as the drawing of one man that pulleth backewardes is not felt when a hundred draw forwardes Yet this is hard to conceiue considering the great eminency which the present obiect hath ouer an absent one to make it selfe be felt whence it followeth that the multiplication of motion must be extremely encreased within to ouertoppe and beare downe the motion caused by a present obiect
actually working without But that which indeed conuinceth me to beleeue I goe not wrong in this course which I haue sett downe for externe bodies working vpon our sense and knowledgde is first the conuenience and agreeablenesse to nature both in the obiects and in vs that it should be done in that manner and next a difficulty in Monsieur des Cartes his way which me thinketh maketh it impossible that his should be true And then his being absolutely the best of any I haue hitherto mett withall and mine supplying what his falleth short in and being sufficient to performe the effects we see I shall not thinke I do amisse in beleeuing my owne to be true till some body else shew a better Lett vs examine these considerations one after an other It is manifest by what wee haue already established that there is a perpetuall fluxe of litle partes or atomes out of all sensible bodies that are composed of the foure Elements and are here in the sphere of continuall motion by action and passion and such it is that in all probability these litle partes can not choose but gett in at the dores of our bodies and mingle themselues with the spirits that are in our nerues Which if they doe it is vnauoydable but that of necessity thâ—y must make some motion in the braine as by the explication we haue made of our outward senses is manifest and the braine being the source and origine of all such motion in the animal as is termed voluntary this stroke of the obiect will haue the power to cause some variation in its motions that are of that nature and by consequence must be a sensation for that change which being made in the braine by the obiect is cause of voluntary motion in the animal is that which we call sensation But we shall haue best satisfaction by considering how it fareth with euery sense in particular It is plaine that our touch or feeling is affected by the litle bodies of heate or cold or the like which are squeesed or euaporated from the obiect and do gett into our flesh and coÌ„sequently do mingle themselues with our spirits and accordingly our hand is heated with the floud of subtile fire which from a great one without streameth into it and is benummed with multitudes of litle bodies of cold that settle in it All which litle bodies of heate or of cold or of what kind soeuer they be when they are once gott in must needes mingle themselues with the spirits they meet with in the nerue and consequently must goe along with them vp to the braine for the channell of the nerue being so litle that the most acurate inspectours of nature can not distinguish any litle cauity or hole running along the substance of it and the spirits which ebbe and flowe in those channels being so infinitely subtile and in so small a quantity as such chaÌ„nels can containe it is euident that an atoâ—e of insensible biggenesse is sufficient to imbue the whole length and quantity of spirit that is in one nerue and that atome by reason of the subtility of the liquor it is immersed in is presently and as it were instantly diffused through the whole substance of it the source therefore of that liquor being in the braine it can not be doubted but that the force of the externe obiect must needes affect the braine according to the quality of the said atome that is giue a motion or knocke conformable to its owne nature As for our taste it is as plaine that the litle partes expressed out of the body which affecteth it do mingle themselues with the liquour that being in the tongue is continuate to the spirits and then by our former argument it is euideÌ„t they must reach vnto the braine And for our smelling there is nothing can hinder odours from hauing immediate passage vp to our braine when by our nose they are once gotten into our head In our hearing there is a litle more difficulty for sound being nothing but a motion of the ayre which striketh our eare it may seeme more then needeth to send any corporeall substance into the braine and that it is sufficient that the vibrations of the outward ayre shaking the drumme of the eare do giue a like motion to the ayre within the eare that on the inside toucheth the tympane and so this ayre thus moued shaketh and beateth vpon the braine But this I conceiue will not serue the turne for if there were no more but an actuall motion in the making of hearing I do not see how soundes could be conserued in the memory since of necessity motion must alwayes reside in some body which argument we shall presse anone against Monsieur des Cartes his opinion for the rest of the senses Out of this difficulty the very inspection of the partes within the eare seemeth to leade vs for had there been nothing necessary besides motion the very striking of the outward ayre against the tympanum would haue been sufficient without any other particular and extraordinary organization to haue produced soundes and to haue carried their motions vp to the braine as we see the head of a drumme bringeth the motions of the earth vnto our eare when we lay it therevnto as we haue formerly deliuered But Anatomistes find other tooles and instruments that seeme fitt to worke and forge bodies withall which we can not imagine nature made in vaine There is a hammer and an anuile whereof the hammer stricking vpon the anuile must of necessity beate off such litle partes of the brainy steames as flying about do light and sticke vpon the toppe of the anuile these by the trembling of the ayre following its course can not misse of being carried vp to that part of the braine wherevnto the ayre within the eare is driuen by the impulse of the sound and as soone as they haue giuen their knocke they rebound backe againe into the celles of the braine fitted for harbours to such winged messenger where they remaine lodged in quietnesse till they be called for againe to renew the effect which the sound did make at the first and the various blowes which the hammer striketh according to the various vibrations of the tympanum vnto which the hammer is fastened and therefore is gouerned by its motioÌ„s must needes make great differeÌ„ce of biggenesses and cause great variety of smartnesses of motion in the litle bodies which they forge The last sense is of seeing whose action we can not doubt is performed by the reflexion of light vnto our eye from the bodies which we see and this light cometh impregnated with a tincture drawne from the superficies of the obiect it is reflected from that is it bringeth along with it seuerall of the litle atomes which of themselues do streame and it cutteth from the body it strucke vpon and reboundeth from and they mingling themselues with the light do in company of it
gett into the eye whose fabrike is fitt to gather and vnite those species as you may see by the anatomy of it and from the eye their iourney is but a short one to the braine in which we can not suspect that they should loose their force considering how others that come from organes further off do conserue theirs and likewise considering the nature of the optike spirits which are conceiued to be the most refined of all that are in mans body Now that light is mingled with such litle atomes issuing out of the bodies from which it is reflected appeareth euidently enough out of what wee haue Sayed of the nature and operations of fire and light and it seemeth to be confirmed by what I haue often obserued in some chambers where people seldome come which hauing their windowes to the south so as the sunne lyeth vpon them a great part of the day in his greatest strength and their curtaines being continually drawne ouer them the glasse becometh dyed very deepe of the same colour the curtaine is of which can proceed from no other cause but that the beames which shoote through the glasse being reflected backe from the courtaine do take something along with them from the superficies of it which being of a more solide corpulence then they is left behind as it were in the strainer when they come to presse themselues through passages and pores too litle for it to accompany them in and so those atomes of colour do sticke vpon the glasse which they can not penetrate An other confirmation of it is that in certaine positions the sunne reflecting from strong colours will cast that very colour vpon some other place as I haue often experienced in liuely scarlet and cloth of other smart colours and this not in that gloating wise as it maketh colours of pure light but like a true reall dye and so as the colour will appeare the same to a man wheresoeuer he standeth Hauing thus shewed in all our senses the conueniency and agreeablenesse of our opinion with nature which hath been deduced out of the nature of the obiects the nature of our spirits the nature and situation of our nerues and lastly from the property of our braine our next consideration shall be of the difficulty that occurreth in Mr. des Cartes his opinion First we know not how to reconcile the repugnaÌ„cies appearing in his position of the motion of the Ether especially in light for that Ethereall substance being extreme rare must perforce by eyther extreme liquid or extreme brittle if the first it can not choose but bowe and be pressed into fouldes and bodies of vnequall motions swimming euery where in it and so it is impossible that it should bring vnto the eye any constant apparition of the first mouer But lett vs suppose there were no such generall interruptions euery where encountring and disturbing the conueyance of the first simple motion yet how can we conceiue that a push giuen so farre off in so liquid an element can continue its force so farre We see that the greatest thunders and concussions which at any time happen among vs can not driue and impart their impulse the ten thousandeth part of the vast distance which the sunne is remoued from our eye and can we imagine that a little touch of that luminous body shâ—uld make an impression vpon vs by mouing an other so extremely liquid and subtile as the Ether is supposed which like an immense Ocean tossed with all varieties of motion lyeth betweene it and vs. But admitt there were no difficulty nor repugnance in the medium to conuey vnto vs a stroke made vpon it by the sunnes motion lett vs at the least examine what kind of motions we must allow in the sunne to cause this effect Certainely it must needes be a motion towardes vs or else it can not stricke and driue the medium forward to make it striâ—ke vpon vs. And if it be so eyther the sunne must perpetually be coming neerer and neerer to vs or else it must euer and anone be receding backwardes as well as mouing forwardes Both which are too chymericall for so great a witt to conceite Now if the Ether be brittle it must needes reflect vpon euery rubbe in meeteth with in its way and must be broken and shiuered by euery body that moueth acrosse it and therefore must alwayes make an vncertaine and most disorderly percussion vpon the eye Then againe after it is arriued to the sense it is no wayes likely it should be conueyed from thence to the braine or that nature intended such a kind of instrument as a nerue to continue a precise determinate motion for if you consider how a lute string or any other such medium conueyeth a motion made in it you will find that to do it well and clearely it must be stretched throughout to its full extent wâ—â—h â— kind of stiffenesse whereas our nerues are not straight but lye crooked in our body and are very lither till vpon occasion spirits coming into them do swell them out Besides they are bound to flesh and to other partes of the body which being cessible must needes dull the stroake and not permitt it to be carried farre And lastly the nerues are subiect to be at euery turne contracted and dilated vpon their owne account without any relation to the stroakes beating vpon them from an externe agent which is by no meanes a conuenient disposition for a body thâ—t is to be the porter of any simple motion which should alwayes lye watching in great quietnesse to obserue scrupulously and exactly the arrant he is to carry so that for my part I can not conceiue nature intended any such effect by mediation of the sinnewes But Monsieur des Cartes endeauoureth to confirme his opinion by what vseth to fall out in palsies when a man looseth the strength of mouing his handes or other members and neuerthelesse retaineth his feeling which hâ— imputeth to the remaining intire of the stringes of the nerues whiles the spirits are someway defectiue To this we may answere by producing examples of the contrary in some men who haue had the motion of their limbes intire and no wayes preiudiced but haue had no feeling at all quite ouer their whole case of skinne and flesh as particularly a seruant in the colledge of Physitians in London whom the learned Haruey one of his Masters hath told me was exceeding strong to labour and very able to carry any necessary burthen and to remoue thinges dexterously according to the occasion and yet he was so voyde of feeling that he vsed to grind his handes against the walles and against course lumber when he was employed to rummage any in so much that they would runne with bloud through grating of the skinne without his feeling of what occasioned it In our way the reason of both these conditions of people the paralitike and the insensible is easy to be rendered for they proceed out
of making them capable of receiuing any instructions THE FIVE AND THERTIETH CHAPTER Of the materiall instruments of Knowledge and Passion of the seuerall effects of Passions of Paine and Pleasure and how the vitall spirits are sent from the braine into the intended partes of the body without mistaking their way TO conclude this great businesse which concerneth all the mutations and motions that are made by outward Agents in a liuing creature it will not be amisse to take a short and generall suruay of the materiall instruments which concurre to this effect Whereof the braine being the principall or at least the first and next of the principalles we may take notice that it containeth towardes the middle of its substance foure concauities as some do count them but in truth these foure are but one great concauity in which foure as it were diuers roomes may be distinguished The neather part of these concauities is very vnequall hauing ioyned vnto it a kind of nett wrought by the entangling of certaine litle arteries and of small emanations from a Sinus which are interwouen together Besides this it is full of kernels which do make it yet more vneuen Now two roomes of this great concauity are diuided by a litle body somewhat like a skinne though more fryable which of it selfe is cleere but there it is somewhat dimmed by reason that hanging a litle slacke it somewhat shriueleth together and this Anatomistes do call Septum Lucidum or speculum and is a different body from all the rest that are in the braine This transparēt body hangeth as it were straightwardes from the forehead towards the hinder part of the head and diuideth the hollow of the braine as farre as it reacheth into the right and the left ventricles This part seemeth to me after weighing all circumstances and considering all the conueniencies and fittenesses to be that and only that in which the fansie or common sense resideth though Monsieur des Cartes hath rather chosen a kernell to place it in The reasons of my assertions are first that it is in the middle of the braine which is the most conuenient situation to receiue the messages from all our body that do come by nerues some from before and some from behind Secondly that with its two sides it seemeth to be conueniently opposed to all such of our senses as are double the one of them sending its litle messengers or atomes to giue it aduertissements on one side the other on the other side so that it is capable of receiuing impression indifferently from both Againe by the nature of the body it seemeth more fitt to receiue all differences of motion then any other body neere it It is also most cōformable to the nature of the eye which being our principall outward sense must needes be in the next degree to that which is eleuated a straine aboue our outward senses Fiftly it is of a single and peculiar nature whereas the kernels are many and all of them of the same condition quality and appearance Sixtly it is seated in the very hollow of the braine which of necessity must be the place and receptacle where the specieses and similitudes of thinges do reside and where they are moued and tumbled vp and downe when we thinke of many thinges And lastly the situation we putt our head in when we thinke earnestly of any thing fauoureth this opinion for then we hang our head forwards as it were forcing the specieses to settle towardes our forehead that from thence they may rebound and worke vpon this diaphanous substance This then supposed lett vs consider that the atomes or likenesses of bodies hauing giuen their touch vpon this Septum or Speculum do thence retire backe into the concauities and do sticke as by chance it happeneth in some of the inequalities they encounter with there But if some wind or forcible steame should breake into these caues and as it were brush and sweepe them ouer it must follow that these litle bodies will loosen themselues and beginne to play in the vapour which filleth this hollow place and so floting vp and downe come a new to strike and worke vpon the Speculum or fantasy which being also a soluble body many times these atomes striking vpon it do carry some litle corporeall substance from it sticking vpon them whence ensueth that they returning againe with those tinctures or participations of the very substance of the fantasy do make vs remember not only the obiects themselues but also that we haue thought of them before Further we are to know that all the nerues of the braine haue their beginnings not farre of from this speculum of which we shall take a more particular consideration of two that are called the sixt paire or couple which paire hath this singularity that it beginneth in a great many litle branches that presently grow together and make two great ones contained within one skinne Now this being the property of a sense which requireth to haue many fibers in it to the end that it may be easily and vigorously strucken by many partes of the obiect lighting vpon many partes of those little fibers it giueth vs to vnderstand that this sixt couple hath a particular nature conformable to the nature of an externe sense and that the Architect who placed it there intended by the seuerall conduites of it to giue notice vnto some part they goe vnto of what passeth in the braine and accordingly one branch of this nerue reacheth to the hart not only to the Pericardium as Galen thought but euen to the very substance of the hart it selfe as later Anatomistes haue discouered by which we plainely see how the motion which the senses do make in the Speculum may be deriued downe to the hart Now therefore lett vs consider what effects the motions so conueyed from the braine will worke in the hart First remembring how all that moueth the hart is eyther paine or pleasure though we do not vse to call it paine but griefe when the euill of sense moueth vs only by memory and not by being actually in the sense and then calling to mind how paine as Naturalistes teach vs consisteth in some diuision of a nerue which they call Solutio continui and must be in a nerue for that no solution can be the cause of paine without sense nor sense be without nerues and therefore this solution must needes be in nerues to haue it proue painefull we may conclude that the effect which we call paine is nothing else but a compression for although this solution of continuity may seeme to be a dilatation yet in truth it is a compression in the part where the euill is which happeneth vnto it in the same manner as we shewed when we spoke of the motion of restitution it doth to stiffe bodies that by violence are compressed and drawne into a lesse capacious figure then their nature affecteth and returne into their owne state
ibid. § 2. What place is both notionally and really pag. 33. § 3. Locall motion is that diuision whereby a body chāeth its place pag. 34. § 4. The nature of quantity of it selfe is sufficient to vnite a body to its place ibidem § 5. All operations amongst bodies are eyther locall motion or such as follow out of locall motion pag. 35. § 6. Earth compared to water in actiuity pag. 36. § 7. The manner whereby fire getteth in fewel prooueth that it exceedeth earth in actiuity ibid. § 8. The same is prooued by the manner whereby fire cometh ut of fewell and worketh vpon other bodies pag. 37. CHAP. VI. Of Light what it is pag. 39. § 1. In what sense the Author reiecteth qualities ibid. § 2. In what sense the Author doth admitt of qualities pag. 40. § 3. Fiue arguments proposed to proue that light is not a body pag. 41. § 4. The two first reasons to proue light to be a body are the resemblance it hath with fire and because if it were a quality it would alwayes produce an equall to it selfe pag. 42. § 5. The third reason because if we imagine to our selues the substance of fire to be rarifyed it will haue the same appearences which light hath pag. 43. § 6. The fourth reason from the manner of the genertion and corruption of light which agreeth with fire ibid. § 7. The fifth reason because such properies belong to light as agree only vnto bodies pag. 45. CHAP. VII Two objections answered against light being fire a more ample proofe of its being such ibid. § 1. That all light is hoat and apt o heate ibid. § 2. The reason why our bodies for the most part do not feele the heate of pure light pag. 46. § 3. The experience of burningglasses and of soultry gloomy weather proue light to be fire pag. 48. § 4. Philosophers ought not to be iudge ot thinges by the rules of vulgar people ibidem § 5. the different names of light and fire proceede from different notions of the same substance pag. 49. § 6. The reason why many times fire and heate are depriued of light pag. 50. § 7. What becometh of the body of light when it dyeth ibid. § 8. An experiment of some who pretend that light may be precipitated into pouder pag. 51. § 9. The Authors opinion concerning lampes pretended to haue been found in tombes with inconsumptible lights ibid. CHAP. VIII An answere to three other objections formely proposed against light being a substance pag. 53. § 1. Light is not really in euery part of the roome it enlighteneth nor filleth entirely any sensible part of it though it seeme to vs to do so ibid. § 2. Tha least sensible poynt of a diaphanous body hath roome sufficient to containe both ayre and light together with a multitude of beames issuing from seuerall lights without penetrating one another pag. 54. § 3. That light doth not enlighten any roome in an instant and that the great celerity of its motion doth make it inperceptible to our senses pag. 56. § 4. The reason why the motion of light is not discerned comingtowardes vs and that there is some reall tardity in it pag. 58. § 5. The planets are not certainely euer in that place where they appeare to be pag. 59. § 6. The reason why light being a body doth not by its motion shatter other bodies into pieces ibid. § 7. The reason why the body of light is neuer perceiued to be fanned by the wind pag. 61. § 8. The reasons for and against lights being a body compared together pag. 62. § 9. A summary repetition of the reasons which prooue that light is fire ibidem CHAP. IX Of locall Motion in common pag 63. § 1. No locall motion can be performed without succession ibid. § 2. Time is the common measure of all succession pag. 64. § 3. What velocity is and that it can not be infinite ibid. § 4. No force so litle that is not able to moue the greatest weight imaginable pag. 65. § 5. The cheife principle of Mechanikes deduced out of the former discourse pag. 66. § 6. No moueable can passe from rest to any determinate degree of velocity or from a lesser degree to a greater without passing through all the intermediate degrees which are below the obtained degree pag. 67. § 7. The conditions which helpe to motion in the moueable are three in the medium one pag 69. § 8. No body hath any intrinsecall vertue to moue it selfe towardes any determinate part of the vniuerse pag. 70. § 9. The encrease of motion is alwayes made in the proportion of the odde numbers ibid. § 10. No motion can encrease for euer without coming to a periode pag. 72. § 11. Certaine problemes resolued concerning the proportion of some mouing Agents compared to their effects pag 73. § 12. When a moueable cometh to rest the motion doth decrease according to the rules of encrease pag. 75. CHAP. X. Of Grauity and Leuity and of Locall Motion commonly termed Naturall pag. 76. § 1. Those motions are called naturall which haue constant causes and those violent which are contrary to them ibid. § 2. The first and most generall operation of the sunne is the making and raising of atomes ibid. § 3. The light rebounding from the earth with atomes causeth two streames in the ayre the one ascending the other descending and both of them in a perpendicular line pag. 77. § 4. A dense body placed in the ayre betweene the ascending and descending streame must needes descend pag. 78. § 5. A more particular explication of all the former doctrine touching grauity pag. 79. § 6. Grauity and leuity do not signify an intrinsecall inclination to such a motion in the bodies themselues which are termed heauy and light pag. 81. § 7. The more dense a body is the more swiftly it descendeth ibid. § 8. The velocity of bodies descending doth not encrease in proportion to the difference that may be betweene their seuerall densities pag. 82. § 9. More or lesse grauity doth produce a swifter or a slower descending of a heauy body Aristotles argument to disproue motion in vacuo is made good pag. 84. § 10. The reason why att the inferiour quarter of a circle a body doth descend faster by the arch of that quarter then by the chord if it pag. 85. CHAP. XI An answere to objections against the causes of naturall motion auowed in the former chapter and a refutation of the contrary opinion pag. 86. § 1. The first obiection answered why a hollow body descendeth slower then a solide one pag. 86. § 2. The second obiection answered and the reasons shewne why atomes do continually ouertake the descending dense body pag. 88. § 3. A curious question left vndecided pag. 89. § 4. The fourth obiection answered why the descent of the same heauy bodies is equall in so great inequality of the atomes which cause it ibidem § 5. The reason why the
of intension and Remission and others do not ibid. § 7. That in euery part of our habitable world all the foure Elements are found pure in small atomes but not in any great bulke pag. 142. CHAP. XVII Of Rarefaction and Condensation the two first motions of particular bodies pag. 144. § 1. The Authors intent in this and the following chapters ibid. § 2. That bodies may be rarifyed both by outward heat aud how this is performed pag. 145. § 3. Of the great effects fo Rarefaction pag. 147. § 4. The first manner of condensation by heate pag. 148. § 5. The second manner of condensation by cold pag. 149. § 6. That yce is not water rarifyed but condensed pag. 151. § 7. How wind snow and haile are made and wind by raine allayed pag. 152. § 8. How partes of the same or diuers bodies are ioyned more strongly together by condensation pag. 153. § 9. Vacuites can not be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstanding receiue more of an other pag. 154. § 10. The true reason of the former effect pag. 155. § 11. The reason why bodies of the same nature do ioyne more easily together then others pag. 156. CHAP. XVIII Of an other motion belonging to particular bodies called Attraction and of certaine operations termed Magicall pag. 157. § 1. What Attraction is and from whence it proceedeth ibid. § 2. The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhorreth from vacuity pag. 158. § 3. The true reason of attraction pag. 159. § 4. Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soeuer pag. 160. § 5. The doctrine touching the attraction of water in syphons ibid § 6. That the syphon doth not proue water to weigh in its owne orbe pag. 161. § 7. Concerning attraction caused by fire pag. 162. § 8. Concerning attraction made by vertue of hoat bodies amulets etc. pag. 163. § 9. The naturall reason giuen for diuers operations esteemed by some to be magicall ibid. CHAP. XIX Of three other motions belonging to particular bodies Filtration Restitution and Electricall attraction pag. 166. § 1. What is Filtration and how it is effected ibid. § 2. What causeth the water in filtration to ascend pag. 167. § 3. Why the filter will not droppe vnlesse the labell hang lower then the water ibid. § 4. Of the motion of Restitution and why some bodies stand bent others not pag. 168. § 5. Why some bodies returne onely in part to their natural figure others entirely pag. 170. § 6. Concerning the nature of those bodies which do shrinke and stretch pag. 171. § 7. How great and wonderfull effects proceed from small plaine and simple principles ibid. § 8. Concerning Electricall attraction and the causes of it pag. 172. § 9. Cabeus his opinion refuted concerning the cause of Electricall motions pag. 174. CHAP. XX. Of the Loadestones generation and its particular motions pag. 175. § 1. The extreme heat of the sunne vnder the zodiake draweth a streame of ayre from each Pole into the torride zone ibid. § 2. The atomes of these two streames coming together are apt to incorporate with one an other pag. 176. § 3. By the meeting and mingling together of these streames att the Equator diuers riuolets of atomes of each Pole are continuated from one Pole to te other pag. 177. § 4. Of these atomes incorporated with some fitt matter in the bowels of the earth is made a stone pag. 179. § 5. This stone worketh by emanations ioyned with agreeing streames that meete them in the ayre and in fine it is a loadestone ibid. § 6. A methode for making experiences vpon any subiect pag. 181. § 7. The loadestones generation by atomes flowing from both Poles is confirmed by experiments obserued in the stone it selfe ibid. § 8. Experiments to proue that the loadestone worketh by emanations meeting with agreeing streames pag. 182. CHAP. XXI Positions drawne out of the former doctrine and confirmed by experimentall proofes pag. 185. .1 The operations of the loadestone are wrought by bodies and not by qualities ibid. § 2. Obiections against the former position answered pag. 186. § 3. The loadestone is imbued with his vertue from an other body ibid. § 4. The vertue of the loadestone is a double and not one simple vertue 188. § 5. The vertue of the laodestone worketh more strongly in the Poles of it then in any other part ibid. § 6. The laodestone sendeth forth its emanations spherically Which are of two kindes and each kind is strongest in that hemisphere through whose polary partes they issue out ibid. § 7. Putting two loadestones within the sphere of one an other euery part of one laodestone doth not agree with euery part of the other loadestone pag 189. § 8. Concerning the declination and other respects of a needle towardes the loadestone it toucheth ibid. § 9. The vertue of the laodestone goeth from end to end in lines almost paralelle to the axis pag. 191. § 10. The vertue of loadestone is not perfectly sphericall though the stone be such pag. 192. § 11. The intention of nature in all the operations of the loadestone is to make an vnion betwixt the attractiue and attracted bodies ibid. § 12. The maine globe of the earth is not a loadestone ibid. § 13. The laodestone is generated in all partes or climats of the earth pag. 193. § 14. The conformity betwixt the two motions of magnetike thinges and of heauy thinges ibid. CHAP. XXII A solution of certaine Problemes concerning the loadestone and a short summe of the whole doctrine touching it pag. 194. § 1. Which is the North and which the South Pole of a loadestone ibid. § 2. Whether any bodies besides magnetike ones be attractiue ibid. § 3. Whether an iron placed perpendicularly towardes the earth doth gett a magneticall vertue of pointing towardes the north or towardes the south in that end that lyeth downewardes pag. 195. § 4. Why loadestones affect iron better then one an other ibid. § 5. Gilberts reason refuted touching a capped loadestone that taketh vp more iron then one not capped and an iron impregnated that in some case draweth more strongly then the stone it selfe ibid. § 6. Galileus his opinion touching the former effects refuted pag. 196. § 7. The Authors solution to the former questions pag. 197. § 8. The reason why in the former case a lesser loadestone doth draw the interiacent iron from the greater pag. 198. § 9. Why the variation of a touched needle from the north is greater the neerer you go to the Pole pag. 199. § 10. Whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may att one time vary more from the north and att an other time lesse pag. 200. § 11. The whole doctrine of the loadestone summed vp in short pag. 201. CHAP. XXIII A description of the two sortes of liuing creatures Plantes and Animals and how they are framed in common
to performe vitall motion pag. 203. § 1. The connexion of the following Chapters with the precedent ones ibid. § 2. Concerning seuerall compositions of mixed bodies pag. 204. § 3. Two sortes of liuing creatures pag. 205. § 4. An engine to expresse the first sort of liuing creatures ibid. § 5. An other engine by which may be expressed the second sort of liuing creatures pag. 207. § 6. The two former engines and some other comparisons applyed to expresse the two seuerall sortes of liuing creatures ibid. § 7. How plantes are framed pag. 209. § 8. How sensitiue creatures are formed pag. 210. CHAP. XXIV A more particular suruay of the generation of Animals in which is discouered what part of the animal is first generated pag. 213 § 1. The opinion that the seede containeth formally euery part of the parent ibid. § 2. The former opinion reiected pag. 214. § 3. The Authors opinion of this question pag. 215. § 4. Their opinion refuted who hold that euery thing containeth formally all thinges pag. 216. § 5. The Authors opinion concerning the generation of Animals declared and confirmed pag. 217. § 6. That one substance is changed into an other pag. 219. § 7. Concerning the hatching of chickens and the generation of other Animals pag. 220. § 8. From whence it happeneth that the deficiences or excrescences of the parents body are often seene in their children pag. 221 § 9. The difference betweene the Authors opinion and the former one p. 222 § 10. That the hart is imbued with the generall specifike vertues of the whole body whereby is confirmed the doctrine of the two former paragraphes pag. 223. § 11. That the hart is the first part generated in a liuing creature pag. 225. CHAP. XXV How a Plant or Animal cometh to that figure it hath pag. 226. § 1. That the figure of an Animal is produced by ordinarie second causes as well as any other corporeall effect pag. 226. § 2. That the seuerall figures of bodies proceed from a defect in one of â—he three dimensions caused by the concurrance of accidentall causes pag. 227 § 3. The former doctrine is confirmed by seuerall instances pag 228 § 4. The same doctrine applyed to Plantes pag. 229 § 5. The same doctrine declared in leafes of trees ibid. § 6. The same applyed to the bodies of Animals pag. 230 § 7. In what sense the Author doth admitt of Vis formatrix pag. 231 CHAP. XXVI How motion beginneth in liuing creatures And of the motion of the hart circulation of the bloud Nutrition Augmentation and corruption or death pag. 232 § 1. Fromwhence doth proceed the primary motion and growth in Plantes ibid. § 2. Monsieur des Cartes his opinion touching the motion of the hart p. 233 § 3. The former opinion reiected ibid. § 4. The Authors opinion concerning the motion of the hart pag. 234 § 5. The motion of the hart dependeth originally of its fibers irrigated by bloud pag. 236 § 6. An obiection answered against the former doctrine pag. 237 § 7. The circulation of the bloud and other effects that follow the motion of the hart pag. 238 § 8. Of Nutrition pag. 239 § 9. Of Augmentation pag. 240 § 10. Of death and sicknesse pag. 241 CHAP. XXVII Of the motions of sense and of the sensible qualities in generall and in particular of those which belong to Touch Tast and Smelling pag. 242 § 1. The connexion of the subsequent chapters with the precedent ibid. § 2. Of the senses and sensible qualities in generall And of the end for which they serue ibid. § 3. Of the sense of touching and that both it and its qualities are bodies 244 § 4. Of the tast and its qualities that they are bodies pag. 245 § 5. That the smell and its qualities are reall bodies ibid. § 6. Of the conformity betwixt the two senses of smelling and tasting p. 246 § 7. The reason why the sense of smelling is not so perfect in man as in beastes with a wonderfull historie of a man who could wind a sent as well as any beast pag. 247 CHAP. XXVIII Of the sense of hearing and of the sensible quality sound p. 249 § 1. Of the sense of hearing and that sound is purely motion ibid. § 2. Of diuers artes belonging to the sense of hearing all which confirme that sound is nothing but motion pag. 250 § 3. The same is confirmed by the effects caused by great noises pag. 251 § 4. That solide bodies may conueye the motion of the ayre or sound to the organe of hearing pag. 252 § 5. Where the motion is interrupted there is no sound ibid. § 6. That not only the motion of the ayre but all other motions coming to our eares make sounds pag. 253 § 7. How one sense may supply the want of an other ibid. § 8. Of one who could discerne sounds of words with his eyes pag. 254 § 9. Diuers reasons to proue sound to be nothing els but a motion of some reall body pag. 256 CHAP. XXIX Of Sight and Colours pag. 257 § 1. That Colours are nothing but light mingled with darkenesse or the disposition off a bodies superficies apt to reflect light so mingled ibid. § 2. Concerning the disposition of those bodies which produce white or blacke coulours pag. 259 § 3. The former doctrine confirmed by Aristotles authority reason and experience ibid. § 4. How the diuersity of coulours doe follow out of various degrees of rarity and density pag. 260 § 5. Why some bodies are Diaphanous others opacous pag. 261 § 6. The former doctrine of coulours confirmed by the generation of white and Blacke in bodies pag. 262 CHAP. XXX Of luminous or apparente Colours pag. 262 § 1. Apparitions of coulours through a prisme or triangular glasse are of two sortes ibid. § 2. The seuerall parts of the obiect make seuerall angles at their entrance into the prisme pag. 263 § 3. The reason why some times the same obiect appeareth throwgh the prisme in two places and in one place more liuely in the other place more dimme ibid. § 4. The reason of the various colours that appeare in looking throwgh a prisme pag. 264 § 5. The reason why the prisme in one position may make the colours appeare quite contrary to what they did when it was in an other position pag. 265 § 6. The reason of the various colours in generall by pure light passing through a prisme pag 266 § 7. Vpon what side euery colour appeareth that is made by pure light passing through a prisme pag. 267 CHAP. XXXI The causes of certaine appearances in luminous Colours with a conclusion of the discourse touching the senses and the sensible qualities pag. 268 § 1. The reason of each seuerall colour in particular caused by light passing through a prisme pag. 268 § 2. A difficult probleme resolued touching the prisme pag. 270 § 3. Of the rainebow and how by the colour of any body wee may know the composition of
the body it selfe pag. 272 § 4. That all the sensible qualities are reall bodies resulting out of seuerall mixtures of rarity and density pag. 273 § 5. Why the senses are only fiue in number with a conclusion of all the former doctrine concerning them pag. 274 CHAP. XXXII Of sensation or the motion whereby sense is properly exercised 275 § 1. Monsieur des Cartes his opinion touching sensation ibid. § 2. The Authors opinion touching sensation pag. 276 § 3. Reasons to persuade the Authors opinion pag. 277 § 4. That vitall spiritts are the immediate instruments of sensation by conueying sensible qualities to the braine pag. 278 § 5. How sound is conueyed to the braine by vitall spirits pag. 279 § 6. How colours are conueyed to the braine by vitall spirits pag. 280 § 7. Reasons against Monsieur des Cartes his opinion ibid. § 8. That the symptomes of the palsie do no way confirme Monsieur des Cartes his opinion pag. 282 § 9. That Monsieur des Cartes his opinion can not giue a good account how thinges are conserued in the memory ibid. CHAP. XXXIII Of Memory pag. 284 § 1. How thinges are conserued in the memory ibid. § 2. How thinges conserued in the memory are brought backe into the fantasie pag. 285 § 3. A Confirmation of the former doctrine pag. 286 § 4. How thinges renewed in the fantasie returne with the same circumstances that they had at first pag. 286 § 5. How the memory of thinges past is lost or confounded and how it is repaired againe pag. 287 CHAP. XXXIV Of voluntary motion Naturall faculties and passions pag. 288 § 1. Of what matter the braine is composed ibid. § 2. What is voluntary motion pag. 289 § 3. What those powers are which are called naturall faculties ibid. § 4. How the attractiue and secretiue faculties worke pag. 290 § 5. Concerning the concoctiue faculty pag. 291 § 6. Concerning the retentiue and expulsiue faculties ibid. § 7. Concerning expulsion made by Physicke pag. 292 § 8. How the braine is moued to worke voluntary motion pag. 292 § 9. Why pleasing obiects doe dilate the spirits and displeasing ones contract them pag. 294 § 10. Concerning the fiue senses for what vse and end they are ibid. CHAP. XXXV Of the materiall instrument of Knowledge and Passion of the seuerall effects of Passions of Paine and Pleasure and how the vitall spirits are sent from the braine into the intented partes of the body without mistaking their way pag. 296 § 1. That Septum Lucidum is the seat of the fansie ibid. § 2. What causeth vs to remember not only the obiect it selfe but also that we haue thought of it before pag. 297 § 3. How the motions of the fantasie are deriued to the hart ibid. § 4. Of paine and pleasure pag. 298 § 5. Of Passion ibid. § 6. Of seuerall pulses caused by passions pag. 299 § 7. Of seuerall other effects caused naturally in the body by passions p. 300 § 8. Of the diaphragma pag. 302 § 9. Concerning paine and pleasure caused by the memory of thinges past pag. 303 § 10. How so small bodies as atomes are can cause so great motions in the hart pag. 304 § 11. How the vital spirits sent from the braine do runne to the intended part of the body without mistake ibid. § 12. How men are blinded by Passion pag. 305 CHAP. XXXVI Of some actions of beastes that seeme to be formall actes of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting pag. 306 § 1. The order and connexion of the subsequent Chapters ibid. § 2. From whence proceedeth the doubting of beastes pag. 307 § 3. Concerning the inuention of Foxes and other beastes ibid. § 4. Of foxes that catch hennes by lying vnder their roost and by gazing vpon them pag. 309 § 5. From whence proceedeth the foxes inuention to ridde himselfe of fleas pag. 311 § 6. An explication of two other inuentions of foxes pag. 312 § 7. Concerning Mountagues argument to prooue that dogges make syllogismes ibid. § 8. A declaration how some tricks are performed by foxes which seeme to argue discourse pag. 313 § 9. Of the Iaccatrays inuention in calling beastes to himselfe pag. 314 § 10. Of the Iaccalls designe in seruing the lyon ibid. § 11. Of seuerall inuentions of fisshes ibid. § 12. A discouery of diuers thinges done by hares which seeme to argue discourse pag. 315 § 13. Of a foxe reported to haue weighed a goose before he would venture with it ouer a riuer and of fabulous stories in common pag. 316 § 14. Of the seuerall cryings and tones of beastes with a refutation of those authours who maintaine them to haue compleat languages pag. 317 CHAP. XXXVII Of the docility of some irrationall animals and of certaine continuate actions of a long tract of time so orderly performed by them that they seeme to argue knowledge in them pag. 319 § 1. How hawkes and other creatures are taught to doe what they are browght vp to ibid. § 2. Of the Baboone that played on a guitarre 320 § 3. Of the teaching of Elephantes and other beastes to doe diuers tricks 321 § 4. Of the orderly traine of actions performed by beastes in breeding their young ones pag. 322 CHAP. XXXVIII Of prescience of future euentes prouidencies the knowing of thinges neuer seene before and such other actions obserued in some liuing creatures which seeme to be euen aboue the reason that is in man himselfe pag. 327 § 1. Why beastes are affraide of men ibid. § 2. How some qualities caused at first by chance in beastes may passe by generation to the whole offspring pag. 328 § 3. How the parents fantasie doth oftentimes worke strange effects in their issue pag. 329 § 4. Of Antipathies pag. 330 § 5. Of Sympathies pag. 333 § 6. That the Antipathy of beastes towards one an other may be taken away by assuefaction pag. 334 § 7. Of longing markes seene in children pag. 335 § 8. Why diuers men hate some certaine meates and particularly cheese 336 § 9. Corcerning the prouidence of Aunts in laying vp in store for winter 337 § 10. Concerning the foreknowing of beastes pag. 338 The Conclusion of the first Treatise pag. 340 A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS AND MATTERS HANDLED IN THE SECOND TREATISE CONCERNING MAN'S SOVLE THE Preface pag. 349 CHAP. 1. Of simple Apprehensions pag. 355 § 1. What is a right apprehension of a thing ibid. § 2. The very thing it selfe is truly in his vnderstanding who rightly apprehendeth it pag. 356 § 3. The Apprehension of thinges comming vnto vs by our senses are resoluable into other more simple apprehensions pag. 358 § 4. The apprehension of a Being is the most simple and Basis of all the rest ibid. § 5. The apprehension of a thing is in next degree to that of Being and it is the Basis of all the subsequent ones ibid. § 6. The apprehension of thinges knowne to vs by our senses doth consist in certaine respects betwixt two
and be contained many times in the bignesse of the sight of a mans eye Out of which we may gather what an infinity of obiects may seeme vnto us to crosse themselues in the same indiuisible place and yet may haue roome sufficient for euery one to passe his way without hindering his fellow Wherefore seeing that one single light could not send rayes enough to fill euery litle space of ayre that is capable of light and the lesse the further it is from the flame it is obuious enough to conceiue how in the space where the ayre is there is capacity for the rayes of many candles Which being well summed vp will take away the great admiration how the beames of light though they be corporeall can in such great multitudes without hindering one an other enter into bodies and come to our eye and will shew that it is the narrownesse of our capacities and not the defect of nature which maketh these difficulties seeme so great for she hath sufficiently prouided for all these subtile operations of fire as also for the entrance of it into glasse and into all other solide bodies that are diaphanous vpon which was grounded the last instance the second obiection pressed for all such bodies being constituted by the operation of fire which is alwayes in motion there must needes be wayes left for it both to enter in and to euaporate out And this is most euident in glasse which being wrought by an extreme violent fire and swelling with it as water and other thinges do by the mixture of fire must necessarily haue great store of fire in it selfe whiles it is boyling as we see by its being red hoat And hence it is that the workemen are forced to lett it coole by degrees in such relentinges of fire as they call their nealing heates least it should shiuer in pieces by a violent succeeding of ayre in the roome of the fire for that being of greater partes then the fire would straine the pores of the glasse too soddainly and breake it all in pieces to gett ingression whereas in those nealing heates the ayre being rarer lesser partes of it succeede to the fire and leisurely stretch the pores without hurt And therefore we neede not wonder that light passeth so easily through glasse and much lesse that it getteth through other bodies seeing the experience of Alchymistes doth assure vs that it is hard to find any other body so impenetrable as glasse But now to come to the answere of the first and in appearance most powerfull obiection against the corporeity of light which vrgeth that his motion is performed in an instant and therefore can not belong to what is materiall and clothed with quantity Wee will endeauour to shew how vnable the sense is to iudge of sundry sortes of motions of Bodies and how grossely it is mistaken in them And then when it shall appeare that the motion of light must necessarily be harder to be obserued then those others I conceiue all that is raised against our opinion by so incompetent a iudge will fall flatt to the ground First then lett mee putt the reader in minde how if euer he marked children when they play with firestickes they mooue and whirle them round so fast that the motion will cosen their eyes and represent an entire circle of fire vnto them and were it somewhat distant in a darke night that one played so with a lighted torch it would appeare a constant wheele of fire without any discerning of motion in it And then lett him consider how slow a motion that is in respect of what it is possible a body may participate of and he may safely conclude that it is no wonder though the motion of light be not descryed and that indeede no argument can be made from thence to prooue that light is not a body But lett vs examine this consideration a litle further and compare it to the motion of the earth or heauens lett the appearing circle of the fire be some three foote diameter and the time of one entire circulation of it be the sixtieth part of a minute of which minutes there are 60. in an houre so that in a whole day there will be but 86400. of these partes of time Now the diameter of the wheele of fire being but of three foote the whole quantity of space that it mooueth in that atome of time will be att the most 10. foote which is three paces and a foote of which partes there are neere eleuen millions in the compasse of the earth so that if the earth be mooued round in 24. houres it must go neere 130. times as fast as the boyes sticke doth which by its swift motion deceiueth our eye But if we allow the sunne the moone and the fixed starrs to moue how extreme swift must their flight be and how imperceptible would their motion be in such a compasse as our sight would reach vnto And this being certaine that whether the earth or they do moue the appearances to vs are the same it is euident that as now they can not be perceiued to moue as peraduenture they do not so it would be the very same in shew to vs although they did moue If the sunne were neere vs and galloped att that rate surely we could not distinguish betweene the beginning and ending of his race but there would appeare one permanent line of light from East to West without any motion att all as the torch seemeth to make with so much a slower motion one permanent immooueable wheele of fire But contrary to this effect we see that the sunne and starrs by onely being remooued further from our eyes do cosen our sight so grossely that we can not discerne them to be mooued att all One would imagine that so rapide and swift a motion should be perceiued in some sort or other which whether it be in the earth or in them is all one to this purpose Eyther we should see them change their places whiles we looke vpon them as arrowes and birdes do when they fly in the ayre or else they should make a streame of light bigger then themselues as the torch doth But none of all this happeneth lett vs gaze vpon them so long and so attentiuely that our eyes be dazeled with looking and all that while they seeme to stand immooueable and our eyes can giue vs no account of their iourney till it be ended They discerne it not whiles it is in doing so that if we consult with no better cownsailour then them we may wonder to see that body at night setting in the West which in the morning we beheld rising in the East But that which seemeth to be yett more strange is that these bodies mooue crosse vs and neuerthelesse are not perceiued to haue any motion att all Consider then how much easier it is for a thing that mooueth towardes vs to be with vs before we are aware A nimble fencer will put in
a thrust so quicke that the foile will be in your bosome when you thought it a yard off because in the same moment you saw his point so farre distant and could not discerne it to mooue towards you till you felt the rude salutation it gaue you If then you will compare the body of light with these others that thus deceiue vs in regard of motion you must needes agree it is much rashnesse to conclude it hath no motion because we can not discerne the succession of it Consider that it is the subtilest of all the bodies that God hath made Examine the paths of it which for the smallnesse of their thriddes and the extreme diuisibility of them and their pliant application of themselues to whatsoeuer hath pores are almost without resistance Calculate the strange multiplication of it by a perpetuall momentary renouation of its streames And cast with your selfe with what extreme force it springeth out and flyeth abroad And on the other side reflect how all these thinges are directly opposite and contrary in those other great bodies whose motion neuerthelesse appeareth not vnto us till it be done and past And when you haue well weighed all this you must needes grant that they who in this case guide themselues meerely by what appeareth vnto their eyes are ill iudgers of what they haue not well examined But peraduenture some who can not all of a soddaine be weaned from what their sense hath so long fed them with may aske yet further how it chanceth that we haue no effects of this motion It sheweth not it selfe in the ayre coming to us a farre of It stayeth not a thought or slackneth his speed in flying so vast a space as is from the sunne to vs. In fine there is no discouery of it But if Galileus his conception be well grounded that lightning giueth vs an incling of its motion beginning from a litle and encreasing to a greater or if Monsieur des Cartes his opinion that it goeth slower in refraction be true we shall not neede to study long for an answere But in Galileus his experience it may be the breaking of the cloude which receiueth that succession of motion which we see and no slownesse that light can acquire by the resistance of the refracting body can be so greate as to make that difference of lines which Monsieur Des Cartes most ingeniously though I much doubt not truly hath applyed to yield the reason of refraction as will appeare in our further discourse Therefore these being vncertaine we will to shew the vnreasonablenesse of this question suppose there may be some obseruable tardity in the motion of light and then aske of them how we should arriue to perceiue it What sense should we employ in this discouery It is true we are satisfyed that sound taketh vp time in coming to our eares but it is because our eyes are nimbler then they and can perceiue a good way distant the carpenters axe falling vpon the timber that he heweth or the fire flashing out of the canon before they heare any newes of them but shutt your eyes or enquire of a blind man and then neither you nor he can tell whether those soundes fill your eares att the very instant they were begotten or haue spent some time in their iourney to you Thus then our eyes instruct our eares But is there any sense quicker then the sight or meanes to know speedier then by our eyes Or can they see light or any thing else vntill it be with them We may then assuredly conclude that its motion is not to be discerned as it cometh vpon vs nor it selfe to be perceiued till its beames are in our eyes But if there were any meanes to discouer its motion surely it must be in some medium through which it must struggle to gett as fire doth through iron which encreasing there by degrees att last when it is red hoat sendeth beames of light quite through the plate that att the first refused them passage And it maketh to this purpose that the lightconseruing stones which are gathered in Italy must bee sett in the sunne for some while before they retaine light and the light will appeare in them when they are brought backe into the darke greater or lesser vntill they come to their vtmost periode according as they haue beene longer or a lesser while in the sunne And our eyes the longer they remaine in the light the more dazeled they are if they be suddainely passed into the darke And a curious experiencer did affirme that the likenesse of any obiect but particularly he had often obserued it of an iron grate if it be strongly enlightened will appeare to an other in the eye of him that looketh strongly and steadily vpon it till he be dazeled by it euen after he shall haue turned his eyes from it And the wheele of fire could neuer be made appeare vnto our eye by the whirling of the firesticke we euen now spoke of vnlesse the impression made by the fire from one place did remaine in the eye a while after the fire was gone from the place whence it sent that ray Whence it is euident that light and the pictures of obiects do require time to settle and to vnsettle in a subiect If then light maketh a greater impression with time why should we doubt but the first cometh also in time were our sense so nimble as to perceiue it But then it may be obiected that the sunne would neuer be truly in that place in which vnto our eyes it appeareth to be because that it being seene by meanes of the light which issueth from it if that light required time to moue in the sunne whose motion is so swift would be remooued from the place where the light left it before it could be with vs to giue tidinges of him To this I answere allowing that peraduenture it may be so Who knoweth the contrary Or what inconuenience would follow if it be admitted Indeed how can it be otherwise In refraction we are sure it is so and therefore att no time but when the sunne is perpendicularly ouer our heades we can be certaine of the contrary allthough it should send its light to vs in an instant Vnlesse happily the truth of the case should be that the sunne doth not mooue about vs but we turne to his light and then the obiection also looseth its ayme But the more we presse the quicknesse of light the more we engage our selues in the difficulty why light doth not shatter the ayre in pieces as likewise all solide bodies whatsoeuer for the masters of naturall Philosophy do tell vs that a softer thing with a great velocity is as powerfull in effect when it giueth a blow as a harder thing going slowly And accordingly experience teacheth vs that a tallow candle shott in a gunne will goe through a brod or kill a man Wherefore light hauing such an infinite celerity should also haue an
appeare shaken And lastly it is easier for the ayre or wind to destroy the light then it is to remooue it out of its place wherefore it can neuer so remoue it out of its place as that we should see it in an other place But if it should remooue it it would wrappe it vp within it selfe and hide it In conclusion after this long dispute concerning the nature of light if we consider well what hath beene said on both sides to which much more might be added but that we haue already trespassed in length and I conceiue enough is said to decide the matter an equall iudge will find the ballance of the question to hang vpon these termes that to proue the nature of light to be materiall and corporeall are brought a company of accidents well knowne to be the proprieties of quantity or bodies and as well knowne to be in light Euen so farre as that it is manifest that light in its begining before it be dispersed is fire and if againe it be gathered together it sheweth it selfe againe to be fire And the receptacles of it are the receptacles of a body being a multitude of pores as the hardnesse and coldnesse of transparent thinges do giue vs to vnderstand of which we shall hereafter haue occasion to discourse On the contrary side whatsoeuer arguments are brought against lights being a body are onely negatiues As that we see not any motion of light that we do not discerne where the confines are betweene light and ayre that we see not roome for both of them or for more lights to be together and the like which is to oppose negatiue proofes against affirmatiue ones and to build a doctrine vpon the defect of our senses or vpon the likenesse of bodies which are extremely vnlike expecting the same effects from the most subtile as from the most grosse ones All which together with the autority of Aristotle and his followers haue turned light into darknesse and haue made vs almost deny the light of our owne eyes Now then to take our leaue of this important question lett vs returne to the principles from whence we began and consider that seeing fire is the most rare of all the Elements and very dry and that out of the former it hath that it may be cutt into very small pieces and out of the latter that it conserueth its owne figure and so is apt to diuide whatsoeuer fluide body and ioyning to these two principles that it multiplyeth extremely in its source It must of necessity follow that it shooteth out in great multitudes litle small partes into the ayre and into other bodies circūfused with great dilatation in a sphericall manner And likewise that these litle partes are easily broken and new ones still following the former are still multiplyed in straight lines from the place where they breake Out of which it is euident that of necessity it must in a manner fill all places and that no sensible place is so litle but that fire will be found in it if the medium be capacious As also that its extreme least partes will be very easily swallowed vp in the partes of the ayre which are humide and by their enfolding be as it were quite lost so as to loose the appearance of fire Againe that in its reflections it will follow the nature of grosser bodies and haue glidinges like them which is that we call refractions That litle streaminges from it will crosse one an other in excessiue great numbers in an vnsensible part of space without hindering one an other That its motion will be quicker then sense can iudge of and therefore will seeme to mooue in an instant or to stand still as in a stagnation That if there be any bodies so porous with litle and thicke pores as that the pores arriue neere vnto equalling the substance of the body then such a body will be so filled with these litle particles of fire that it will appeare as if there were no stoppe in its passage but were all filled with fire and yet many of these litle partes will be reflected And whatsoeuer qnalities else we find in light we shall be able to deriue them out of these principles and shew that fire must of necessity doe what experience teacheth vs that light doeth That is to say in one word it will shew vs that fire is light But if fire be light then light must needes be fire And so we leaue this matter THE NINETH CHAPTER Of Locall Motion in common THOVGH in the fifth chapter we made onely earth the pretender in the controuersy against fire for superiority in actiuity and in very truth the greatest force of grauity doth appeare in those bodies which are eminently earthy neuerthelesse both water and ayre as appeareth out of the fourth chapter of the Elements do agree with earth in hauing grauity And grauity is the chiefe vertue to make them efficients So that vpon the matter this plea is common to all the three Elements Wherefore to explicate this vertue whereby these three weighty Elemēts do worke lett vs call to minde what we said in the beginning of the last chapter concerning locall motion to witt that according as the body mooued or the diuider did more and more enter into the diuided body so it did ioyne it selfe to some new partes of the medium or diuided body and did in like manner forsake others Whence it happeneth that in euery part of motion it possesseth a greater part of the medium then it selfe can fill att once And because by the limitation and confinednesse of euery magnitude vnto iust what it is and no more it is impossible that a lesser body should att once equallise a greater It followeth that this diuision or motion whereby a body attaineth to fill a place bigger then it selfe must be done successiuely that is it must first fill one part of the place it mooueth in then an other and so proceede on till it haue measured it selfe with euery part of the place from the first beginning of the line of motion to the last periode of it where the body resteth By which discourse it is euident that there can not in nature be a strength so great as to make the least or quickest mooueable that is to passe in an instāt or all together ouer the least place that can be imagined for that would make the mooued body remaining what it is in regard of its biggenesse to equallise ad fitt a thing bigger then it is Therefore it is manifest that motion must consist of such partes as haue this nature that whiles one of them is in being the others are not yet and as by degrees euery new one cometh to be all the others that were before do vanish and cease to be Which circumstance accompanying motion we call succession And whatsoeuer is so done is said to be done in time which is the common measure of all succession for the
meanes she vseth to auoyde it For to putt it as an enemy that nature fighteth against or to discourse of effects that would follow from it in case it were admitted is a great mistake and a lost labour seeing it is nothing and therefore can do nothing but is meerely a forme of expression to declare in short nothing else but that it is a contradiction or implication in termes and an impossibility in nature for vacuity to haue or to be supposed to haue a Being Thus then since in our case after we haue cast all about we can pitch vpon nothing to be considered but that the two stones do touch one an other and that they are weighty we must apply our selues onely to reflect vpon the effects proceeding from these two causes their contiguity and their heauynesse and we shall find that as the one of them namely the weight hindereth the vndermost from following the vppermost so contiguity obligeth it vnto that course and according as the one ouercometh the other so will this action be continued or interrupted Now that contiguity of substances do make one follow an other is euident by what our Masters in Metaphysickes teach vs when they shew that without this effect no motion att all could be made in the world nor no reason could be giuen for those motions we dayly see For since the nature of quantity is such that whensoeuer there is nothing between two partes of it they must needes touch and adhere and ioyne to one an other for how should they be kept asunder when there is nothing betweene them to part them if you pull one part away eyther some new substance must come to de close vnto that which remoueth or else the other which was formerly close to it must still be close to it and so follow it for if nothing do come between it is still close to it Thus then it being necessary that something must be ioyned close to euery thing vacuity which is nothing is excluded from hauing any being in nature And when we say that one body must follow an other to auoyde vacuity the meaning is that vnder the necessity of a contradiction they must follow one an other and that they can not do otherwise For it would be a contradiction to say that nothing were between two thinges and yet that they are not ioyned close to one an other And therefore if you should say it you would in other wordes say they are close together and they are not close together In like manner to say that vacuity is any where is a pure contradiction for vacuity being nothing hath no Being att all and yet by those wordes it is said to be in such a place so that they affirme it to be and not to be att the same time But now lett vs examine if there be no meanes to auoyde this contradiction and vacuity other then by the adhesion and following of one body vpon the motion of an other that is closely ioyned to it and euery where contiguous For sense is not easily quieted with such Metaphysicall contemplations that seeme to repugne against her dictamens and therefore for her satisfaction we can do no lesse then giue her leaue to range about and cast all wayes in hope of finding some one that may better content her which when she findeth that she can not she will the lesse repine to yield her assent to the rigourous sequeles and proofes of reason In this difficulty then after turning on euery side I for my part can discerne no pretence of probability in any other meanes then in pulling downe the lower stone by one corner that so there may be a gaping between the two stones to lett in ayre by little and little And in this case you may say that by the interuention of ayre vacuity is hindered aud yett the lower stone is left att liberty to follow its owne naturall inclination and be gouerned by its weight But indeed if you consider the matter well you will find that the doing this requireth a much greater force then to haue the lower stone follow the vpper for it can not gape in a straight line to lett in ayre since in that position it must open at the bottome where the angle is made at the same time that it openeth at the mouth and then ayre requiring time to passe from the edges to the bottome it must in the meane while fall into the contradiction of vacuity So that if it should open to lett in ayre the stone to compasse that effect must bend in such sort as wood doth when a wedge is putt into it to cleaue it Iudge then what force it must be that should make hard marble of a great thicknesse bend like a wand and whether it would not rather breake and slide off then do so you will allow that a much lesse will raise vp the lower stone together with the vppermost It must then of necessity fall out that it will follow it if it be moued perpendicularly vpwardes And the like effect will be though it should be raysed at oblique angles so that the lowermost edge do rest all the way vpon some thing that may hinder the inferior stone from sliding aside from the vppermost And this is the very case of all those other experiments of art and nature which we haue mentioned aboue for the reason holdeth as well in water and in liquide thinges as in solide bodies vntill the weight of the liquide body ouercometh the continuity of it for then the thridde breaketh and it will ascend no higher Which height Galileo telleth vs from the workmen in the Arsenall of Venice is neere 40. foote if the water be drawne vp in a close pipe in which the aduantage of the sides helpeth the ascent But others say that the inuention is enlarged and that water may be drawne to what height one pleaseth Howsoeuer the force which nature applyeth to maintaine the continuity of quantity can haue no limitt seeing it is grounded vpon contradiction And therefore Galileo was much mistaken when he throught to make an instrument whereby to discouer the limits of this force We may then conclude that the breaking of the water must depend from the strength of other causes As for example when the grauity is so great by encreasing the bulke of the water that it will eyther ouercome the strength of the pipe or else make the sucker of the pumpe rather yield way to ayre then draw vp so great a weight for which defects if remedies be found the art may surely be enlarged without end This is particular in a syphon that when that arme of it which hangeth out of the water is lower then the superficies of the water then it will runne of it selfe after it is once sett on running by sucking The reason whereof is because the weight which is in water pendant is greater then the weight of the ascending water and thereby supplyeth
the causes of euery one of them exactly which would require both large discourses and aboundance of experiences to acquitt our selues as we ought of such a taske Nor is there a like neede of doing it as formerly for as much as concerneth our designe since the causes of them are palpably materiall and the admirable artifice of them consisteth only in the Daedalean and wunderfull ingenious ordering and ranging them one with an other We shall therefore entreat our Reader from this time forwardes to expect only the common sequele of those particular effects out of the principles already layed And when some shall occurre that may peraduenture seeme att the first sight to be enacted immediately by a vertue spirituall and that proceedeth indiuisibly in a different straine from the ordinary processes which we see in bodies and in bodily thinges that is by the vertues of rarity and density working by locall motion we hope he will be satisfyed att our handes if we lay downe a methode and trace out a course whereby such euents and operations may follow out of the principles we haue layed Though peraduenture we shall not absolutely conuince that euery effect is done iust as we sett it downe in euery particular and that it may not as well be done by some other disposing of partes vnder the same generall scope for it is enough for our turne if we shew that such effects may be performed by corporeall agents working as other bodies do without confining ourselues to an exactnesse in euery linke of the long chaine that must be wound vp in the performance of them To come then to the matter the next thing we are to employ ourselues about now that we haue explicated the natures of those motions by meanes whereof bodies are made and destroyed and in which they are to be considered chiefely as passiue whiles some exteriour agent working vpon them causeth such alterations in them and bringeth them to such passe as wee see in the changes that are dayly wrought among substances is to take a suruay of those motions which some bodies haue wherein they seeme to be not so much patients as agents and do containe with in themselues the principle of their owne motion and haue no relation to any outward obiect more then to stirre vp that principle of motion and sett it on worke which when it is once in act hath as it were within the limits of its owne kingdome and seuered from commerce with all other bodies whatsoeuer many other subalterne motions ouer which it presideth To which purpose we may consider that among the compounded bodies whose natures we haue explicated there are some in whom the partes of different complexions are so small and so well mingled together that they make a compound which to our sense seemeth to be all of it quite through of one homogeneous nature and howsoeuer it be diuided each part retaineth the entire and coÌ„plete nature of the whole Others againe there are in which it is easy to discerne that the whole is made vp of seuerall great partes of very differing natures and teÌ„pers And of these there are two kindes the one of such as their differing partes seeme to haue no relation to one an other or correspondence together to performe any particular worke in which all of them are necessary but rather they seeme to be made what they are by chance and by accident and if one part be seuered from an other each is an entire thing by it selfe of the same nature as it was in the whole and no harmony is destroyed by such diuision As may be obserued in some bodies digged out of mines in which one may see luÌ„pes of mettall oore stone and glasse and such different substances in their seuerall distinct situations perfectly compacted into one continuate body which if you diuide the glasse remaineth what it was before the Emerald is still an Emerald the syluer is good syluer and the like of the other subsâ—aÌ„ces the causes of which may be easily deduced out of what we haue formerly said But there are other bodies in which this manifest and notable difference of partes carrieth with it such a subordinatioÌ„ of one of them vnto an other as we can not doubt but that nature made such engines if so I may call them by designe and intended that this variety should be in one thing whose vnity and being what it is should depend of the harmony of the seuerall differing partes and should be destroyed by their seperation As we see in liuing creatures whose particular partes and members being once seuered there is no longer a liuing creature to be found among them Now of this kind of bodies there are two sortes The first is of those that seeme to be one continuate substance wherein we may obserue one and the same constant progresse throughout from the lowest vnto the highest part of it so that the operation of one part is not att all different from that of an other but the whole body seemeth to be the course and through fare of one constant action varying it selfe in diuers occasions and occurrences according to the disposition of the subiect The bodies of the secoÌ„d sort haue their partes so notably seperated one froÌ„ the other and each of them haue such a peculiar motion proper vnto them that one might conceiue they were eueâ—y one of them a complete distinct totall thing by it selfe and that all of them were artificially tyed together were it not that the subordination of these partes to one an other is so great and the correspondence betweene them so strict the one not being able to subsist without the other from whom he deriueth what is needefull for him and againe being so vsefull vnto that other and hauing its action and motion so fitting and necessary for it as without it that other can not be as plainely conuinceth that the compound of all these senerall partes must needes be one indiuiduall thing I remember that when I trauailed in spaine I saw there two engines that in some sort do expresse the natures of these two kindes of bodies The one att Toledo the other att Segouia both of them sett on worke by the current of the riuer in which the foundation of their machine was layed That att Toledo was to force vp water a great hieght from the riuer Tagus to the Alcazar the King his pallace that standeth vpon a high steepe hill or rocke almost perpendicular ouer the riuer In the bottome there was an indented wheele which turning round with the streame gaue motion att the same time to the whole engine which consisted of a multitude of little troughes or square ladles sett one ouer an other in two parallele rowes ouer against one an other from the bottome to the toppe and vpon two seuerall diuided frames of tymber These troughes were closed att one end with a trauerse bord to retaine the water from running out there which
not be preuented by any art or industry And herein God hath expressed his great mercy and goodnesse towardes vs for seeing that by the corruption of our owne nature we are so immersed in flesh and bloud as we should for euer delight to wallow in their myre without raysing our thoughts att any time aboue that low and brutall condition he hath engaged vs by a happy necessity to thinke of and to prouide for a nobler and farre more excellent state of liuing that will neuer change or end In pursuance of which ineuitable ordinance man as if he were growne weary and out of loue with this life and scorned any terme in his farme here since he can not purchase the fee simple of it hasteneth on his death by his vnwary and rash vse of meates which poyson his bloud and then his infected bloud passing through his whole body must needes in like manner taynt it all att once For the redresse of which mischiefe the assistance of Physike is made vse of and that passing likewise the same way purifyeth the bloud and recouereth the corruption occasioned by the peccant humour or other whiles gathering it together it thrusteth and carryeth out that euill guest by the passages contriued by nature to bisburden the body of vnprofitable or hurtfull superfluities THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH CHAPTER Of the motions of sense and of the sensible qualities in generall and in particular of those which belong to Touch Tast and Smelling HAuing thus brought on the course of nature as high as liuing creatures whole chiefe specieses or diuision is those that haue sense and hauing declared the operations which are common to the whole tribe of them which includeth both plants and animals it is now time we take a particular view of those whose action and passion is the reason why that chiefe portion of life is termed sensitiue I meane the senses and the qualities by which the outward world cometh into the liuing creature through his senses Which when we shall haue gone through we shall scarcely haue left any qualities among bodies to pleade for a spirituall manner of being or working that is for a selfe entity and instantaneous operation which kind of thinges and properties vulgar Philosophy is very earnest to attribute vnto ouâ— senses with what reason and vpon what ground lett vs now consider These qualities are reduced to fiue seuerall heades answerable to so many different wayes whereby we receiue notice of the bodies that are without vs. And accordingly they constitute a like number of different senses of euery one of which we will discourse particularly when we haue examined the natures of the qualities that effect them But now all the consideration we shall need to haue of them is only this that it is manifest the organes in vs by which sensible qualities do worke vpon us are corporeall and are made of the like ingredients as the rest of our body is and therefore must of necessity be lyable to suffer euill and to receiue good in such sort as all other bodies do from those actiue qualities which make and marre all thinges within the limits of nature By which termes of Euill and Good I meane those effects that are â—uerse or conformable to the particular nature of any thing and thereby do tend to the preseruation or destruction of that Indiuiduall Now we receiuing from our senses the knowledge that we haue of thinges without vs do giue names vnto them according to the passions and affections which those thinges cause in our senses which being the same in all mankind as long as they are considered in coÌ„mon and that their effects are looked vpon in grosse all the world agreeth in one notion and in one name of the same thing for euery man liuing is affected by it iust as his neighbour is and as all men else in the world are As for example heate or cold worketh the same feeling in euery man composed of flesh and bloud and therefore whosoeuer should be asked of them would returne the same answere that they cause such and such effects in his sense pleasing or displeasing to him according to their degrees and as they tend to the good or euill of his whole body But if we descend to particulars we shall find that seuerall men of differing constitutions do frame different notions of the same thinges according as they are conformable or disagreeing to their natures and accordingly they giue them different names As when the same liquor is sweete to some mens taste which to an others appeareth bitter one man taketh that for a purfume which to an other is an offensiue smell in the Turkesh bathes where there are many degrees of heate in diuers roomes through all which the same person vseth to passe and to stay a while in euery one of them both att his entrance and going out to season his body by degrees for the contrary excesse he his going vnto that seemeth chilly cold att his returne which appeared melting hoat att his going in as I my selfe haue often made experience in those countries beauty and louelinesse will shine to one man in the same face that will giue auersion to an other All which proclaymeth that the sensible qualities of bodies are not any positiue reall thing consisting in an indiuisible and distinct from the body it selfe but are meerely the very body as it affecteth our senses which to discouer how they do it must be our labour here Lett vs therefore beginne with considering the difference that is betweene sensible and insensible creatures These latter do lye exposed the mercy of all outward agents that froÌ„ time to time by the coÌ„tinuall motion which all thinges are in do come within distance of working vpon them and they haue no power to remoue themselues from what is auerse to their nature nor to approach neerer vnto what comforteth it But the others hauing within themselues a principle of motion as we haue already declared whensoeuer such effects are wrought vpon them as vpon the others they are able vpon their owne account and by their owne action to remoue themselues from what beginneth to annoy them and to come neerer vnto what they find a beginning of good by These impressions are made vpon those partes of vs which we call the organes of our senses and by them do giue vs seasonable aduertissements and knowledges whereby we may gouerne and order to the best aduantage our litle charge of a body according to the tune or warninges of change in the great circumstant body of the world as farre as it may concerne ours Which how it is done and by what steppes it proceedeth shall be in the following discourse layed open Of this great machine that enuironneth vs we who are but a small parcell are not immediately concerned in euery part of it It importeth not vs for the conseruation of our body to haue knowledg of other partes then such as are within
fluide and getting into the eare maketh vibrations vpon the drumme of it like vnto those of ayre But all this is nothing in respect of what I might in some sort say and yet speake truth Which is that I haue seene one who could discerne soundes with his eyes It is admirable how one sense will oftentimes supply the want of an other whereof I haue seene an other strange example in a different straine from this of a man that by his grosser senses had his want of sight wonderfully made vp He was so throughly blind that his eyes could not informe him when the sunne shined for all the crystalline humour was out in both his eyes yet his other senses instructed him so efficaciously in what was their office to haue done as what he wanted in them seemed to be ouerpayed in other abilities To say that he would play att cardes and tables as well as most men is rather a commendation of his memory and fansye then of any of his outward senses But that he should play well att boules and shouelbord and other games of ayme which in other men do require cleare sight and an exact leuell of the hand according to the qualities of the earth or table and to the situation and distance of the place he was to throw att seemeth to exceede possibility and yet he did all this He would walke in a chamber or long alley in a garden after he had beene a while vsed to them as straight and turne as iust att the endes as any seeing man could do He would go vp and downe euery where so confidently and demeane himselfe att table so regularly as strangers haue sitten by him seuerall meales and haue seene him walke about the house without euer obseruing any want of seeing in him which he endeauoured what he could to hide hy wearing his hatt low vpon his browes He would att the first abord of a stranger as soone as he spoke to him frame a right apprehension of his stature bulke and manner of making And which is more when he taught his schollers to declame for he was schoolemaster to my sonnes and liued in my house or to represent some of Senecas Tragedies or the like he would by their voice know their gesture and the situation they putt their bodies in so that he would be able as soone as they spoke to iudge whether they stood or sate or in what posture they were which made them demeane themselues as decently before him whiles they spoke as if he had seene them perfectly Though all this be very strange yet me thinkes his discerning of light is beyond it all He would feele in his body and chiefely in his braine as he hath often told me a certaine effect by which he did know when the sunne was vp and would discerne exactly a cleare from a cloudy day This I haue knowne him frequently do without missing when for triall sake he hath beene lodged in a close chamber wherevnto the cleare light or sunne could not arriue to giue him any notice by its actuall warmeth nor any body could come to him to giue him priuate warninges of the changes of the weather But this is not the relation I intended when I mentioned one that could heare by his eyes if that expression may be permitted me I then reflected vpon a noble man of great quality that I knew in Spaine the yonger brother of the Constable of Castile But the reflection of his seeing of words called into my remembrance the other that felt light in whom I haue often remarked so many strange passages with amazement and delight that I haue aduentured vpon the Readers patience to recorde some of them conceiuing they may be of some vse in our course of doctrine But the spanish lord was borne deafe so deafe that if a gunne were shott off close by his eare he could not heare it and consequently he was dumbe for not being able to heare the sound of words he could neither imitate nor vnderstand them The louelinesse of his face and especially the exceeding life and spiritefulnesse of his eyes and the comelinesse of his person and whole composure of his body throughout were pregnant signes of a well tempered mind within And therefore all that knew him lamented much the want of meanes to cultiuate it and to imbue it with the notions which it seemed to be capable of in regard of its selfe had it not been so crossed by this vnhappy accident Which to remedy Physitians and Chirurgions had long imployed their skill but all in vaine Att the last there was a priest who vndertooke the teaching him to vnderstand others when they spoke and to speake himselfe that others might vnderstand him What att the first he was laught att for made him after some yeares be looked vpon as if he had wrought a miracle In a word after strange patience constancy and paines he brought the yong Lord to speake as distinctly as any man whosoeuer and to vnderstand so perfectly what others said that he would not loose a word in a whole dayes conuersation They who haue a curiosity to see by what steppes the master proceeded in teaching him may satisfy it by a booke which he himselfe hath writt in Spanish vpon that subiect to instruct others how to teach deafe and dumbe persons to speake Which when he shall haue looked heedefully ouer and shall haue considered what a great distance there is betweene the simplicity and nakednesse of his first principles and the strange readinesse and vast extent of speech resulting in processe of time out of them he will forbeare pronuncing an impossibility in their pedigree whiles he wondereth att the numerous effects resulting in bodies out of rarity and density ingeniously mingled together by an all knowing Architect for the production of various qualities among mixtes of strange motions in particular bodies and of admirable operations of life and sense among vegetables and animals All which are so many seuerall wordes of the mysticall language which the great master hath taught his otherwise dumbe schollers the creatures to proclayme his infinite art wisedome perfections and excellency in The priest who by his booke and art occasioned this discourse I am told is still aliue and in the seruice of the Prince of Carignan where he continueth with some that haue neede of his paines the same employment as he did with the Constables Brother with whom I haue often discoursed whiles I wayted vpon the Prince of Wales now our gratious Soueraigne in Spaine And I doubt not but his maiesty remembreth all I haue said of him and much more for his maiesty was very curious to obserue and enquire into the vtmost of it It is true one great misbecomingnesse he was apt to fall into whiles he spoke which was an vncertainty in the tone of his voyce for not hearing the sound he made when he spoke he could not steedily gouerne the pitch of his voyce but
density for to omitt those which our touch taketh notice of as too plaine to be questioned Physitians iudge and determine the naturall qualities of meates and of medecines and of simples by their tastes and smels by those qualities they find out powers in them to doe materiall operatioÌ„s and such as our instrumeÌ„ts for cutting filing brushing and the like doe vnto ruder and grosser bodies All which vertues being in these instruments by the different tempers of rarity and density is a conuincing argument that it must be the same causes which must produce effects of the same kind in their smels and tastes and as for light it is knowne how corporeally it worketh vpon our eyes Againe if we looke particularly into the composition of the organes of our senses we shall meet with nothing but such qualities as we find in the composition of all other naturall bodies If we search into our eye we shall discouer in it nothing but diaphaneity softenesse diuers colours and consistencies which all Anatomistes to explicate doe parallele in other bodies the like is of our tongue our nosethrilles and our eares As for our touch that is so materiall a sense and so diffused ouer the whole body we can haue no difficulty about it Seeing then that all the qualities we can discouer in the organes of our senses are made by the various minglings of rarity with density how can we doubt but that the actiue powers ouer these patients must be of the same nature and kind Againe seing that the examples aboue brought doe conuince that the obiects of one sense may be knowne by an other who can doubt of a community among them if not of degree at â—â—e least of the whole kind As we see that the touch is the groundworke of all the rest and consequently that being euidently corporeâ—â—â— and consisting in a temper of rarity and density why should we mâ—â—e difficulty in allowing the like of the rest Besides lett vs compose of rarity and density such tempers as we find in our seÌ„ses and lett vs againe compose of rarity and density such actors as we haue determined the qualities which we call sensible to be and will it not manifestly follow that these two applyed to one an other must produce such effects as we affirme our senses haue that is to passe the outward obiects by different degrees vnto an inward receiuer Againe lett vs cast our eyes vpon the naturall resolution of bodies and how they moue vs and we shall thâ—reby discouer both what the senses are and why they are iust so many and that they can not be more For an outward body may moue vs eyther in its owne bulke or quantity or as it worketh vpon an other The first is done by the touch the second by the eare when a body mouing the ayre maketh vs take notice of his motion Now in resolution there are three actiue partes proceeding from a body which haue power to moue vs. The fiery part which you see worketh vpon our eyes by the vertue of light The ayry part which we know moueth our nosethrilles by being sucked in with the ayre And lastly the salt which dissolueth in water and so moueth our watry sense which is our taste And these being all the actiue partes that shew themselues in the resolution of a body how can we imagine there should be any more senses to be wrought vpon for what the stable body sheweth of it selfe will be reduced to the touch what as it moueth to hearing what the resolutions of it according to the nature of the resolued atomes that fly abroade will concerne the other three senses as we haue declared And more wayes of working or of actiue partes we can not conceiue to spring out of the nature of a body Finally if we cast our eyes vpon the intention of nature to what purpose are our senses but to bring vs into knowledge of the natures of the substances we conuerse with all surely to effect this there can not be inuented a better or more reasonable expedient then to bring vnto our iudgement seate the likenesses or extractes of those substances in so delicate a modell that they may not be offensiue or cumbersome like so many patternes presented vnto vs to know by them what the whole piece is for all similitude is a communication betweene two thinges in that quality wherein there likenesse consisteth and therefore we can not doubt but that nature hath giuen vs by the meanes we haue explicated an essay of all the thinges in the world that fall vnder our commerce whereby to iudge whether they be profitable or nociue vnto vs and yet in so delicate and subtile a quantity as may in no wayes be offensiue to vs whiles we take our measures to attract what is good and auoyde what is noxious THE TWO AND THIRTIETH CHAPTER Of sensation or the motion whereby sense is properly exercised OVt of the considerations which we haue deliuered in these last Chapters the Reader may gather the vnreasonablenesse of vulgar Phylosophers who to explicate life and sense are not content to giue vs termes without explicating them but will force vs to beleeue contradictions telling vs that life consisteth in this that the same thing hath a power to worke vpon it selfe and that sensation is a working of the actiue part of the same sense vpon its passiue part and yet will admitt no partes in it but will haue the same indiuisible power worke vpon it selfe And this with such violence and downebearing of all opposition that they deeme him not considerable in the schooles who shall offer only to doubt of what they teach him hereabout but brand him with the censure of one who knoweth not and contradicteth the very first principles of Phylosophy And therefore it is requisite we should looke somewhat more particularly into the manner how sensation is made Monsieur des Cartes who by his great and heroyke attempts and by shewing mankinde how to steere and husband their reason to best aduantage hath left vs no excuse for being ignorant of any thing worth the knowing explicating the nature of sense is of opinion that the bodies without vs in certaine circumstances do giue a blow vpon our exterior organes from whence by the continuity of the partes that blow or motion is continued till it come to our braine and seate of knowledge vpon which it giueth a stroke answerable to that which the outward sense first receiued and there this knocke causing a particular effect according to the particular nature of the motion which dependeth off the nature of the obiect that produced it our soule and mind hath notice by this meanes of euery thing that knocketh at our gates and by the great variety of knockes or motions that our braine feeleth which ariseth from as great a variety of natures in the obiects that cause them we are enabled to iudge of the nature and conditions of euery thing we
which the contained substance should goe out as the moystening of the stringes and mouth of a purse almost shutteth it vntill in some for example the stomacke after a meale the humour being attenuated by little and little getteth out subtilely and so leauing lesse weight in the stomacke the bag which weighth downe lower then the neather orifice at which the digested meate issueth riseth a little and this rising of it is also furthered by the wrinkling vp and shortning of the vpper part of the stomacke which still returneth into its naturall corrugation as the masse of liquid meate leaueth soaking it which it doth by degrees still as more and more goeth out and so what remaineth filleth lesse place and reacheth not so high of the stomacke and thus at leÌ„gth the residue and thicker substance of the meate after the thinnest is gott out in steame and the middling part is boyled ouer in liquor cometh to presse and grauitate wholy vpoÌ„ the orifice of the stomacke which being then helped by the figure and lying of the rest of the stomacke and its stringes and mouth relaxing by hauing the iuice which swelled them squeezed out of them it openeth it selfe and giueth way vnto that which lay so heauy vpon it to tumble out In others for example in a woman with childe the enclosed substaÌ„ce retained first by such a course of nature as we haue sett downe breaketh it selfe a passage by force and openeth the orifice at which it is to goe out by violence when all circumstances are ripe according to natures institution But yet there is the expulsion which is made by physicke that requireth a little declaration It is of fiue kindes vomiting purging by stoole by vrine sweating and saliuation Euery one of which seemeth to consist of two partes namely the disposition of the thing to be purged and the motion of the nerues or fibers for the expulsion as for example when the Physitian giueth a purge it worketh two thinges the one is to make some certaine humour more liquid and purgeable theÌ„ the rest the other is to make the stomacke or belly sucke or vent this humour For the first the property of the purge must be to precipitate that humour out of the rest of the bloud or if it be thicke to dissolue it that it may runne easily For the second it ordinarily heateth the stomacke and by that meanes it causeth the stomacke to sucke out of the veines and so to draw from all partes of the body Besides this it ordinarily filleth the belly with winde which occasioneth those gripings men feele when they take physicke and is cause of the guttes discharging those humours which otherwise they would retaine The like of this happeneth in saliuation for the humours are by the same meanes brought to the stomacke and thence sublimed vp to be spitten out as we see in those who taking Mercury into their body eyther in substance or in smoake or by applicatioÌ„ do vent cold humours from any part the Mercury rising from all the body vp to the mouth of the patient as to the helme of a sublimatory and the like some say of Tobacco As for vomiting it is in a manner wholy the operation of the fibers prouoked by the feeling of some inconuenient body which maketh the stomacke wrincle it selfe and worke and striue to cast out what offendeth it Sweating seemeth to be caused by the heating of some introus body by the stomake which being of subtile partes is by heate dispersed from the middle to the circumference and carrieth with it light humours which turne into water as they come out into the ayre And thus you see in generall and as much as concerneth vs to declare what the naturall faculties are and this according to Galen his owne mind who affirmeth that these faculties do follow the complexion or the temper of the partes of a mans body Hauing explicated how voluntary motion proceedeth from the braine our next consideration ought to be to examine what it is that such an obiect as we brought by meanes of the senses into the braine from without doth contribute to make the braine apply it selfe to worke such voluntary motion To which purpose we will goe a steppe or two backe to meete the obiect at its entrance into the sense and from thence accompany it in all its iourney and motions onwardes The obiect which striketh at the senses dore and getting in mingleth it selfe with the spirits it findeth there is eyther coÌ„forme and agreeable to the nature and temper of those spirits or it is not that is to say in short it is eyther pleasing or displeasing to the liuing creature or it may be of a third kind which being neyther of these we may terme indifferent In which sort soeuer the obiect affect the sense the spirits carry it immediately to the braine vnlesse some distemper or strong thought or other accident hinder them Now if the obiect be of the third kind that is be indiffent as soone as it hath strucken the braine it reboundeth to the circle of the memory and there being speedily ioyned to others of its owne nature it findeth them annexed to some pleasing or displeasing thing or it doth not if not in beastes it serueth to little vse and in men it remayneth there vntill it be called for But if eyther in its owne nature it be pleasing or displeasing or afterwardes in the memory it became ioyned to some pleasing or annoying fellowshipp presently the hart is sensible of it for the hart being ioyned to the braine by straight and large nerues full of strong spirits which ascend from the hart it is impossible but that it must haue some communication with those motions which passe in the braine vpon which the hart or rather the spirits about it is eyther dilated or compressed And these motions may be eyther totally of one kind or moderated and allayed by the mixture of its contrary if of the former sort one of them we call ioy the other griefe which do continue about the hart and peraduenture do oppresse it if they be in the vtmost extremity without sending any due proportion of spirits to the braine vntill they settle a little and grow more moderate Now when these motions are moderate they immediately send vp some aboundance of spirits to the braine which if they be in a conuenient proportion they are by the braine thrust into such nerues as are fitt to receiue them and swelling them they giue motion to the muscles and tendons that are fastened to them and they do moue the whole body or what part of it is vnder command of those nerues that are thus filled and swelled with spirits by the braine If the obiect was conformable to the liuing creature then the braine sendeth spirits into such nerues as caâ—â—y the body to it but if otherwise it causeth a motioÌ„ of auersion or flight from it To the cause of this latter we giue
as soone as the mastering violence leaueth them at liberty Pleasure therefore must be contrary to this and consist in a moderate dilatation for an immoderate one would cause a compression in some adherent partes and there would become paine And conformable to this we experience that generally they are hard thinges which breed paine vnto vs and that these which breed pleasure are oyly and soft as meates and odours which are sweete to the taste and smell and soft substances which are gratefull to the touch the excesse of all which proueth offensiue and painefull so that from the extremity of pleasure one entereth presently vpon the confines of paine Now then lett vs consider how the little similitudes of bodies which from without do come into the fantasy must of necessity worke there according to their little power effects proportionable to what they wrought first in the outward senses from whence they were conueyed to the braine for the senses that is the nerues and the Septum Lucidum hauing both of them their origine from the very substance of the braine and differing only in degrees of purity and refinement the same obiect must needes workelike effects in both compressing or dilating them proportionably to one an other which compression or dilatation is not paine or pleasure as it is in the outward sense but as it is reported to the hart and that being the seate of all paines or pleasures wrought in other partes and that as it were dyeth them into those qualities is not capable of feeling eyther it selfe so that the stroakes of any little similitudes vpon the fantasy do make only compressions or dilatations there not paines or pleasures Now their bodies or similitudes if they be reuerberated from the fantasy or septum Lucidum vpon the little rootes of the nerues of the sixt couple which goe to the hart they must needes worke there a proportionable impression to what they wrought vpon the fansy eyther compressing or dilating it and the hart being extremely passiue by reason of its exceeding tendernesse and heate can not choose but change its motion at the least in part if not in whole and this with relation to two causes the one the disposition of the hart it selfe the other the vehemency of the stroake This change of motion and different beating of the hart is that which properly is called passion and is euer accompanyed with pleasure or with griefe according to the nature of the impression that eyther contracteth or dilateth the hart and the spirirs about it and is discouered by the beating of the arteries and of the pulse Conformable wherevnto Physitians do tell vs that euery passion hath a distinct pulse These pulses are diuided in common by aboundance or by want of spirits yet in both kinds they may haue common differencies for in aboundance the pulse may be quicke or slow regular or irregular equall or vnequall and the like may happen in defect of spirits according to the motions of the hart which are their causes Againe the obiect by being present or absent neerer or further off maketh the stroake greater or lesser and accordingly varyeth the motion of the hart Lett vs then call to mind how we haue formerly declared that life consisteth in heate and humidity and that these two ioyned together do make a thing great and we may conclude that of necessity the motion which is most liuely must haue a great full and large stroake like the euē rolling waues of a wyde and smooth sea and not too quicke or smart like the breaches of a narrow Fretum agitated by tempestuous windes From this other motions may vary eyther by excesse or by deficiency the first maketh the stroake become smart violent and thicke the other slackeneth it and maketh it grow little slow weake and thinne or seldome And if we looke into the motions of our hart we shall see these three differencies of them follow three seuerall chiefe passions The first followeth the passion of ioy the second the passion of anger and the third the passion of griefe Nor neede we looke any further into the causes of these seuerall motions for we see that ioy and griefe following the stroake of sense the one of them must consist in an oyly dilatation that is the spirits about the hart must be dilated by a gentle large great and sweete motion in a moderation between velocity and slownesse the other contrarywise following the stroake of sense in paine as the first did in pleasure must contract the spirits and consequently make their motion or stroake become little and deficient from all the properties we haue aboue sett downe As for anger the motion following that passion is when the aboundance of spirits in the hart is a little checked by the contrary stroake of sense but presently ouercometh that opposition and then as we see a hindered water or a man that suddainely or forcibly breake through what withstood their motion go on with a greater violence then they did and as it were precipitately so the hart hauing ouercome the contraction which the sense made in it dilateth it selfe with a fury and maketh its motion smart and vehement Whence also it followeth that the spirits grow hoater then they were and accordingly it is often seene that in the scoulding of a woman and in the irritation of a dogg if euer now and then one thwart them and interpose a little opposition their fury will be so sharpened and heightened that the woman will be transported beyond all limits of reason and the dogg will be made madde with nothing else done to him but angring him at conuenient times and some men likewise haue by sleight oppositions iterated speedily vpon them before their spirits could relent their vehement motion and therefore must still encrease it beene angred into feauers This passion of anger seemeth almost to be solitary on the side of excesse beyond ioy which is as it were the standard and perfection of all passions as light or whitenesse is of all colours but on the otherside of deficiency there are seuerall middle passions which participate more or lesse of ioy and griefe as particularly those two famous ones which gouerne mans life Hope and Feare Concerning which Physitians tell vs that the pulse or beating of feare is quicke hard and vnequall vnto which I conceiue we may safely adde that it must also be small and feeble the perfection of ioy decreasing in it on one side to witt from greatnesse and largenesse but not intirely so that a kind of quicknesse supplyeth in part the other defect Hope on the other side is in such sort defectiue from ioy that neuerthelesse it hath a kind of constancy and moderate quantity and regularity in its motion and therefore is accounted to be the least hurtfull of all the passions and that which most prolongeth mans life And thus you see how those motions which we call passions are engendred in the hart and what
they are Lett vs then in the next place consider what will follow in the rest of the body out of these varieties of passions once raysed in the hart and sent into the braine It is euidēt that according to the nature and quality of these motions the hart must needes in euery one of them voyde out of it selfe into the arteries a greater or lesser quantity of bloud and that in diuers fashions and the arteries which lye fittest to receiue these suddaine egestions of bloud are those which goe into the braine whose course being directly vpwardes we can not doubt but that it is the hoatest and subtilest part of the bloud and the fullest of spirits that flyeth that way These spirits then running a lōg and perplexed iourney vp and downe in the braine by various meanders and anfractuosities are there mingled with the humide steame of the braine it selfe and are therewith cooled and do come at the last to smoake at liberty in the hollow ventricles of the braine by reeking out of the little arteriall branches that do weaue the plexus choroides or nette we spoke of ere while and they being now growne heauy do fall by their naturall course into that part or processe of the braine which is called medulla spinalis or the marrow of the backe bone which being all besett by the nerues that runne through the body it can not happen otherwise but that these thickened and descending spirits must eyther fall themselues into those nerues or else presse into them other spirits which are before them that without such new force to driue them violently forwardes would haue slided downe more leisurely Now this motion being downewardes and meeting with no obstacle till it arriue vnto its vtmost periode that way the lowest nerues are those which naturally do feele the communication of these spirits first But it is true if the flowing tide of them be great and plentifull all the other nerues will also be so suddainely filled vpon the filling of the lowermost that the succession of their swellings will hardly be perceptible as a suddaine and violent inundation of water seemeth to rise on the sides of the channell as it doth at the milldamme though reason assureth vs it must beginne there because there it is first stopped On the contrary side if the spirits be few they may be in such a proportion as to fill only the lower nerues and to cōmunicate little of thēselues to any of the others And this is the case in the passion of feare which being stored with fewer spirits thē any other passiō that causeth a motiō in the body it moueth the legges most and so carryeth the animal that is affrayd with violence from the obiect that affrighteth him Although in truth it is a faint hope of escaping mingled with feare which begetteth this motion for when feare is single and at its height it stoppeth all motion by contracting the spirits and thence is called stupor as well as griefe for the same reason and accordingly we see extreme cowardes in the extremity of their feare haue not the courage to runne away no more then to defend or helpe themselues by any other motions But if there be more aboundance of spirits then the vpper partes are also moued as well as the legges whose motion contributeth to defense but the braine it selfe and the senses which are in the head being the first in the course of this flood of spirits that is sent from the hart to the head it is impossible but that some part of them should be pressed into the nerues of those senses and so will make the animal vigilant and attentiue to the cause of its feare or griefe But if the feare be so great that it contracteth all the spirits and quite hindereth their motion as in the case we touched aboue then it leaueth also the nerues of the senses destitute of spirits and so by too strong apprehension of a danger the animall neyther seeth nor apprehendeth it but as easily precipitateth it selfe into it as it happeneth to auoyde it being meerely gouerned by chance and may peraduenture seeme valiant through extremity of feare And thus you see in common how all the naturall operations of the body do follow by naturall consequence out of the passions of the mind without needing to attribute discourse or reason eyther to men or beastes to performe them Although at the first sight some of them may appeare vnto those that looke not into their principles and true causes to flow from a source of intelligence whereas it is euident by what wee haue layed open they all proceed from the due ranging and ordering of quantitatiue partes so or so proportioned by rarity and density And there is no doubt but who would follow this search deepely might certainly retriue the reasons of all those externall motions which wee see vse to accompany the seuerall passions in men and Beastes But for our intent wee haue said enough to shew by what kind or order and course of nature they may be effected without confining our selues ouer scrupulously to euery circumstance that we haue touched and to giue a hinte whereby others that will make this inquiry their taske may compile an intire and well grounded and intelligible doctrine of this matter Only we will adde one aduertissement more which is that these externall motions caused by passion are of two kindes for some of them are as it were the beginnings of the actions which nature intendeth to haue follow out of the passions that cause them but others are only bare signes of the passions that produce them and are made by the cōnexion of partes vnnecessary for the maine action that is to follow out of the passion with other partes that by the passion are necessarily moued as for example when an hungry mans mouth watereth at the sight of good meate it is a kind of beginning of eating or of preparation for eating for when we eate nature draweth a moysture into our mouth to humectate our meate and to conuey the tast of it into the nerues of the tongue which are to make report of it vnto the braine but when we laugh the motion of our face aymeth at no further end and followeth only by the connexion of those muscles which draw the face in such a sort vnto some inward partes that are moued by the passion out of which laughing proceedeth But we must not leaue this subiect without some mention of the diaphragma into which the other branch of those nerues that are called of the sixth coniugation doth come for the first branch we haue said goeth into the hart and carryeth thither the obiects that come into the braine and this we shall find carryeth backe to the braine the passion or motion which by the obiect is raysed in the hart Concerning this part of our body you are to note that it is a muscolous membrane which in the middle of it hath a
do cause a swelling or a contraction of it against this or that part doth stoppe and hinder the the entrance of the spirits into some sinewes and doth open others and driueth the spirits into them so as in the end by a result of a chaine of swellinges and contractions of seuerall partes successiuely one against an other the due motions of prosecution or auersion are brought about As for example an obiect that affecteth the hart with liking by dilating the spirits about the hart sendeth some into the optâ—ke nerues and maketh the liuing creature turne his eye towardes it and keepe it steady vpon what he desireth as contrariwise if he dislike and feare it he naturally turneth his eye and head from it Now of this motion of the eye and head may depend the running to the thing in one case and the running from it in the other for the turning of the necke one way may open a passage for the spirits into those sinewes which carry the rest of the body towardes the obiect and the turning of it to the other side may open other sinewes which shall worke a contrary effect and carry the animal from the obiect and the mouing of those sinewes which at the first do turne the necke doth proceed from the quality and number of the spirits that ascend from the hart and from the region of the hart from whence they are sent according to the variety whereof there are diuers sinewes fitted to receiue them To make vp which discourse we may call to mind what we haue said a litle aboue concerning the motions caused in the externall partes of the body by passion mouing within as when feare mingled with hope giueth a motion to the legges anger to the armes and handes and all the rest of the body as well as to the legges and all of them an attention in the outward senses which neuerthelesse peruerteth euery one of their functions if the passion be in extremity And then surely we may satisfy our selues that eyther this or some way like it which I leaue vnto the curious in Anatomy to settle with exactenesse for it is enough for my intent to shew in grosse how these operations may be done without calling in some incomprehensible qualities to our ayde is the course of nature in motions where no other cause interueneth besides the obiect working vpon the sense which all the while it doth it is the office of the eye of fantasy or of common sense to lye euer open still watching to obserue what warninges the outward senses do send vnto him that accordingly he may direct and change the motions of the hart and of the whole body But if the obiect do make violent impressions vpon the sense and the hart being then vehemently moued do there vpon send abouÌ„dance of spirits vp to the braine this multitude of spirits thronging vpon the common sense oppresseth it as we haue already said in such sort that the notice which the sense giueth of particular circumstances can not preuayle to any effect in the braine and thus by the misguidance of the hart the worke of nature is disordered which when it happeneth we expresse in short by saying that passion blindeth the creature in whom such violent and disorderly motions haue course for passion is nothing else but a motion of the bloud and spirits about the hart and is the preparation or beginning of the animals working as we haue aboue particularly displayed And thus you see in common how the circuite is made from the obiect to the sense and from it by the common sense and fantasy to the hart and from the hart backe againe to the braine which then setteth on worke those organes or partes the animal is to make vse of in that occasion and they eyther bring him to or carry him from the obiect that at the first caused all this motion and in the end becometh the periode of it THE SIX AND THERTIETH CHAPTER Of some actions of beastes that seeme to be formall actes of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting IN the last Chapter the foundations are layed and the way is opened for the discouering how all operations which proceed from nature and passion are performed among liuing creatures and therefore I conceiue I haue thereby sufficiently complyed with the obligation of my intention which is but to expresse and shew in common how all the actions of sensible bodies may be reduced to locall motion and to materiall application of one boy vnto an other in a like manner though in a different degree as those motions which we see in liueliest bodies Yet because among such animals as passe for irrationall there happen some operations of so admirable a straine as resemble very much the highest effects which proceed from a man I thinke it not amisse to giue some further light by extending my discourse to some more particulars then hitherto I haue done whereby the course and way how they are performed may be more clearely and easily looked into and the rather because I haue mette with some men who eyther wanting patience to bestow on thoughts of this kind so much time as is necessary for the due scanning of them or else through a promptitude of nature passing swiftly from the effect they looke vpon in grosse to the most obuious seeming cause do suddainely and strongly resolue that beastes vse discourse vpon occasions and are endewed with reason This I intend not to doe quite in particular for that were to write the history of euery particular animal but will content my selfe with touching the causes in common yet in such sort that the indifferent Reader may be satisfyed of a possibility that these effects may proceed from materiall causes and that I haue poynted out the way to those who are more curious and haue the patience and leisure to obserue diligently what passeth among beastes how they may trace these effects from steppe to steppe vntill at length they discouer their true causes To beginne then I conceiue we may reduce all those actions of beastes which seeme admirable and aboue the reach of an irrationall animal vnto three or foure seuerall heades The first may be of such as seeme to be the very practise of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting and the like The next shall be of such as by docility or practise beastes do oftentimes arriue vnto In the third place we will consider certaine continuate actions of a long tract of time so orderly performed by them as that discourse and rationall knowledge seeme clearely to shine through them And lastly we will cast our eye vpon some others which seeme to be euen aboue the reason that is in man himselfe as the knowing of thinges which the sense neuer had impression of before a prescience of future euents prouidences and the like As for the first the doubting of beasts and their long wauering sometimes betweene obiects that draw them seuerall wayes and at the
for his safety as we haue already said vpon occasion of the others hanging among the dead vermine in the warren Those in Thracia that will not goe ouer a frozen riuer when the yce is too thinne to beare them are by their memory not by their iudgment taught to retire for at other times they haue beene wetted when they haue hard the noise of the streame running vnder the yce or the very running of the water calleth the specieses of swimming out from their memory along with it into their fantasy neyther of which is pleasant to them in the winter and so disliking the noise for the other effects sake that vsed to accompany it they auoyde that which begetteth it and so retire from the riuer And the reason of their listening to the noise proceedeth from the spirits that their passion vpon apprehension of a danger presseth into the nerues of their senses as well as into the other nerues of their braine which accordingly maketh them so vigilant and attentiue then to outward obiects and motions That the Iaccatray or Hyaena when he is hungry should haue his fantasy call out from his memory the images of those beasts which vse to serue him in that occasion is the ordinary course of nature and that together with those images there should likewise come along the actions and soundes which vsed to accompany them and are lodged together with them in the memory is also naturall then as litle strange it is that by his owne voice he should imitate those soundes which at that time do so powerfully possesse his imagination and hauing a great docility in those organes which forme the voice like a parrat he representeth them so liuely that the deceiued beasts flocke to him and so are caught by him which at the first happeneth by chance but afterwardes by memory and groweth familiar to him Nor can we imagine that the Iaccall hath a designe of seruing the lyon but his nature being like a dogg to barke when he feeleth the sent hoat which he pursueth for his owne sake the lyon that dwelleth in the same woods with him meeteth with the noise and followeth it and peraduenture would kill the Iaccal himselfe as well as what he hunteth if he could ouertake him but he being too nimble for the lyon keepeth out of his reach till hauing wearied the beast he chaceth the lyon that followeth by the crye cometh in when he is at abbay and soone teareth in pieces what the other had not strength enough so suddainely to master and feedeth himselfe vpon the quarry till he be full All this while the Iaccall dareth not come neere the lyon but standeth at a distance with feare wayting till he haue done and then after he is gone away he taketh his turne to feede vpon what his surly master hath left The like reasons it is probable we might find out among those fishes that serue one an other if we had the conueniency of obseruing particularly how they behaue themselues as when the Whale hath seruice from his little guide if the report be true which is a necessary circumstance to be inserted in euery such tale and others of the like straine The suttlety of the Torpedo who hideth himselfe in the mudde to benumme fishes that may afterwards serue him to feede vpon will not require to haue its origine from reason and be done by designe when you shall consider it is naturall for such cold creatures to emmudde themselues and then the fishes that swimme within the reach of his benumming faculty will be stayd and frozen there which because they see him not they apprehend not till it be too late for them to auoyde it and then when the Torpedo cometh out he feedeth vpon what he findeth lying ready in his way And in like manner the scuttle fish when he is in straights of being taken by the fisherman casteth out a blackenesse that is within him and so making the water become like inke he oftentimes escapeth their handes in the darkened Element which ariseth from no discourse of his but feare maketh him voyde this liquor that is in him as it made the foxe voyde his vrine and in consequence therevnto the effect followâ—th Lastly when hares do vse those meanes we haue mentioned to confound the sent and to saue themselues from the doggs that hunt them we may obserue that they take therein the readiest wayes and the most obuious vnto sense to auoyde the euill they flye from For what can be more direct to that effect then to hide themselues in hedge bottomes or in woods Or to swimme ouer a riuer when that is the most immediate way to runne from the dogges And when they are in a plaine where there is no other shelter but flockes of sheepe or heardes of deere what can be more naturall then for them to hide themselues amoÌ„g them and runne a long with them till the crye of the approaching houndes fright them away whiles those tamer beasts abyde it neerer Their doublings backward and foreward may proceede from their feare that diuerteth them still from the way they are in at present till the doggs coming neere do putt the hare out of those wauerings and do make her runne straight away for they neuer double but when they are a great way before the doggs and do not heare them Or else it may be that not hearing or seeing the doggs their feare may be almost passed and then the agitation which their spirits are in gouuerneth the motions of their bodie and will not lett them rest vntill they be more appeased as you see weary people that at their first ceasing from running can not sitt still the like of which happeneth also frequently in the motions of ioy or of anger and so it maketh them walke backwards and forewardes in a pace proportionate to the agitation of the spirits within and sometimes those moued spirits do make them bound and leape too and fro like the loafe with quickesiluer we haue heretofore spoken of as they issue from the hart by pulses and stroakes which happeneth when they beginne to settle towardes rest Or else peradueÌ„ture their forme is so framed that if they should gett into it otherwise then by a iumpe they would disorder some part of it and so be vnfenced and acold or otherwise at vnease during their repose and therefore their iumping too and froe before they leape plump in is to take their ayme not much vnlike to doggs turning about seuerall times before they lye downe for harefinders who vse to watch them say they will do thus though they be not pursued And thus these actions which are imputed to craft thereby to confound the doggs or to wisedome to walke themselues vntill they be growne into a fitting temper to sitt still may all of them be reduced to those materiall and corporeall causes which make them do their other ordinary motions wherein we find no difficulty If
found conformable vnto its nature The baboone we haue mentioned might be taught some lessons made on purpose with very few stoppes and vpon an instrument whereon all the stringes may be strucken with one blow and but one frette to be vsed at a time and that frette to be stopped with one finger of which much labour and time might beget a habit in him and then imitation of the sound might make him play in due measure And if we will marke it in our selues we shall see that although in the first learning of a lesson vpon the lute we employ our reason and discourse about it yet when we haue it very perfect our fingers guided by a slight fantasy do fall by custome without any reflexion at all to play it as well as if we thought neuer so carefully vpoÌ„ it And there is no comparison betweene the difficulty of a guitarre and of a lute I haue beene told that at the Duke of Florence his marriage there was a dance of horses in which they kept exact time of musike The meanes vsed for bringing them to it is said to haue beene by tying and hampering their legges in such a sort that they could lift them vp but in a determinate way and then setting them vpon a pauement that was heated vnderneath so hott as they could not endure to stand still whiles such musicall ayres were played to them as fitted their motions All which being often repeated the horses tooke a habitt that in hearing those ayres they would lift vp their legges in that fashion and so danced to the tune they had beene taught Of the Elephantes it is said that they may be taught to write and that purely vpon wordes and commanding them they will do what they are bidden and that they are able to keepe account and will leaue working at a precise number of reuolutions of the same action which measureth out their taske vnto them All which as I said before if it were plainely and litterally true would require very great consideration but because the teachers of beastes haue certaine secrets in their art which standers by do not reach vnto we are not able vpon such scanty relations as we haue of them to make sufficient iudgement how such â—hinges are done vnlesse we had the managing of those creatures whereby to try them in seuerall occasions and to obserue what cause produceth euery operation they doe and by what steppes they attayne vnto their instructions and seruiceablenesse It is true the vncontrolled reports of them oblige vs to beleeue some extraordinary matter of their docility and of strange thinges done by them but withall the example of other taught beastes among vs and of the strange iudgements that are made of them by persons who do not penetrate into their causes may instruct vs how easy it is to mistake the matter and assure vs that the relations which are made vs do not alwayes punctually agree with the truth of what passed He that should tell an Indian what feates Bankes his horse would do how he would restore a gloue to the due owner after his master had whispered that mans name in his eare how he would tell the iust number of pence in any piece of siluer coyne barely shewed him by his master and euen obey presently his command in discharging himselfe of his excrements whensoeuer he bad him So great a power art may haue ouer nature would make him I beleeue admire more at this learned beast then we do at their docile Elephantes vpon the relations we haue of them Whereas euery one of vs knoweth by what meanes his painefull tutor brought him to do all his trickes and they are no whitte more extraordinary then a fâ—wkeners manning of a hawke and trayning her to kill partridges and to fly at the retriue but do all of them both these and all other iuggling artificies of beastes depend vpon the same or like principles and are knowne to be but directions of nature ordered by one that composeth and leuelleth her operations to an end further off in those actions then she of her selfe would ayme at The particulars of which we neede not trouble ourselues to meddle with But it is time that we come to the third sort of actions performed by beastes which we promised to discourse of These seeme to be more admirable then any we haue yet touched and are chiefely concerning the breeding of their yong ones Aboue all others the orderly course of birds in this affaire is most remarkable After they haue coupled they make their nest they line it with mosse straw and feathers they lay their egges they sett vpon them they hatch them they feede their yong ones and they teach them to flye all which they do with so continuate and regular a methode as no man can direct or imagine a better But as for the regularity orderlinesse and continuance of these actions the matter is easy enough to be conceiued for seeing that the operation of the male maketh a change in the female and that this change beginning from the very first groweth by time into diuers proportions it is no wonder that it breedeth diuers dispositions in the female which cause her to do different actions correspondent to those diuers dispositions Now those actions must of necessity be constant and orderly because the causes whence they proceed are such But to determine in particular how it cometh to passe that euery change in the female disposeth her to such and such actions there is the difficulty and it is no small one as well for that there are no carefull and due obseruations made of the effects and circumstances which should guide vs to iudge of their causes as because these actions are the most refined ones of sensitiue creatures and do flow from the toppe and perfection of their nature and are the last straine of their vtmost vigour vnto which all others are subordinate As in our enquiry into the motions and operations of the bodies of a lower orbe then these we mett with some namely the loadestone and such like of which it is very hard to giue an exact and plaine account the Author of them reseruing something from our cleare and distinct knowledge and suffering vs to looke vpon it but through a miste in like manner we can not but expect that in the depth of this other perfecter nature there must be somewhat whereof we can haue but a glimmering and imperfect notion But as in the other it serued our turne to trace out a way how those operations might be effected by bodies and by locall motion though peraduenture we did not in euery circumstance hitt exactly vpon the right thereby to defend ourselues from admitting those chymericall qualities which we had already condemned vpon all other occasions So I conceiue it will be sufficient for vs in this to shew how these actions may be done by the senses and by the motion of corporeall spirits
and consequently if we can find the soules Being to be without partes and that her operations are no locall translation we euidently conclude her to be an immateriall or spirituall substance Peraduenture it may be obiected that all this might haue beene done a much shorter way then we haue taken and that we needed not haue branched our discourse into so many particulars nor haue driuen them so home as we haue done but that we might haue taken our first rise from this ground which is as euident as light of Reason can make it that seeing we know biggenesse and a Body to be one and the same as well in the notion as in the thing it must of necessity follow that what hath not partes nor worketh nor is wrought vpon by diuision is not a body I confesse this obiection appeareth very reasonable and the consideration of it weighed so much with me as were all men of a free iudgement and not imbued with artificiall errours I would for its sake haue saued my selfe a great deale of paines but I find as in the former Treatise I haue frequently complained of that there is crept into the world a fansy so contrary to this pregnant truth and that it is so deepely settled in many mens minds and not of the meanest note as all we haue said is peraduenture too litle to roote it out If any that being satisfyed with the rationall maxime we euen now mentioned and therefore hath not deemed it needefull to employ his time in reading the former Treatise should wish to know how this is come to passe I shall here represent vnto him the summe of what I haue more at large scattered in seuerall places of the former Treatise and shall entreate him to consider how nature teacheth vs to call the proprieties of thinges whereby one is distinguished from an other the Qualities of those thinges and that according to the varieties of them they haue diuers names suted out to diuers of them some being called Habites others Powers and others by other names Now what Aristotle and the learned Grecians did meane by these thinges is cleere by the examples they giue of them they terme Beauty and Health Habites the dispositions of our bodies to our bodily motions Powers as strength which is the good temper of the sinewes a Power likewise Agility a Power so they vse the names of the concoctiue the nutritiue the retentiue the excretiue Power the health of the eyes the eares the nosethrills c they call the Powers of seeing of hearing of smelling c and the like of many others But later Philosophers being very disputatiue and desiring to seeme ignorant of nothing or rather to seeme to know more then any that are gone before them and to refine their conceptions haue taken the notions which by our first Masters were sett for common and confused explications of the natures to serue for conueniency and succinctenesse of discourse to be truly and really particular Entities or thinges of themselues and so haue filled their bookes and the schooles with vnexplicable opinions out of which no account of nature can be giuen and which is worse the way of searching on is barred to others and a mischieuous error is growne into mens beliefes that nothing can be knowne By this meanes they haue choaked the most plaine and euident definition of a body bringing so many instances against it that vnwary men are forced to desert and deny the very first notions of nature and reason for in truth they turne all bodies into spirits making for example heare or cold to be of it selfe indiuisible a thing by it selfe whose nature is not conceiuable not the disposition or proportion of the partes of that body which is said to be hoat or cold but a reall thing that hath a proper Being and nature peculiar to it selfe whereof they can render you no account and so may as well be against the notion of a body as not for if light the vertue of the loadestone the power of seing feeling c be thinges that worke without time iâ— an instant if they be not the dispositions of partes as partes whose nature is to be more or lesse to be next or farre off c how can it be truly said that the notion of a body is to be of partes For if this be a true definition of a body it followeth that all corporeall qualities and actions must likewise be some disposition and order of partes as partes and that what is not so is no body nor bodily quality or propriety This then was it that obliged me to go so farre about and to shew in common how all those effects which are so much admired in bodies are or may be made and continued by the sole order of quantitatiue partes and locall motion this hath forced vs to anatomise nature and to beginne our dissection with what first occurreth vnto our sense from a body In doing which out of the first and most simple notion of Biggenesse or Quantity we found out the prime diuision of Bodies into Rare and Dense then finding them to be the Qualities of diuiding and of being diuided that is of locall motion we gained knowledge of the common properties of Grauity and Leuity from the combination of these we retriued the foure first Qualities and by them the Elements When we had agreed how the Elements were made wee examined how their action and composition raiseth those second qualities which are seene in all mixt bodies and doe make their diuisions Thence proceeding into the operations of life we resolued they are composed and ordered meerely by the varieties of the former nay that sense and fantasy the highest thinges we can discerne out of man haue no other source but are subiect to the lawes of partes and of Rarity and Density so that in the end we became assured of this important Maxime That nothing whatsoeuer we know to be a Body can be exempted from the declared lawes and orderly motions of Bodies vnto which lett vs adde two other positions which fell also within our discouery the first that it is constantly found in nature that none of the bodies we know do moue themselues but their motion must be founded in some thing without them the second that no body moueth an other vnlesse it selfe be also moued and it will follow euidently out of them if they be of necessity and not preuaricable that some other Principle beyond bodies is required to be the roote and first ground of motion in them as Mr. White hath most acutely aud solidely demonstrated in that excellent worke I haue so often cited in my former Treatise But it is time we should fall to our intended discourse leauing this point settled by what we haue already said that if we shew our soule and her operations to be not composed of partes we also therein conclude that she is a spirituall substance and not a body Which is our designe and
endeauours be freed from the subiection of time and Place Thus then we plainely see that it is a very different thing to be and to be in a Place and therefore out of a Thinges being in no Place it can not be inferred That it is not or that it is no substance nor contrariwise out of its being can it be inferred that it is in a Place there is no man but of himselfe perceiueth the false consequence of this argument a thing is therefore it is hoat or it is cold and the reason is because hoat and cold are particular accidents of a body and therefore a body can be without eyther of them The like proportion is betweene Being in generall and Being a Body or Being in a Body for both these are particulars in respect of Being but to be in a Place is nothing else but to be in a circumstant Body and so what is not in a Body is not in a Place therefore as it were an absurd illation to say it is therefore it is in a Body no lesse is it to say it is therefore it is somewhere which is equiualent to in some Body and so a great Master Peraduenture one of the greatest and iudiciousest that euer haue beene telleth vs plainely that of it selfe it is euident to those who are truly learned that incorporeall substances are not in Place and Aristotle teacheth vs that the Vniuerse is not in Place But now to make vse of this discourse we must intimate what it is we leuell at in it we direct it to two endes first to lead on our thoughts and to helpe our apprehension in framing some conception of a spirituall substance without residence in Place and to preueÌ„t our fansies checking at such abstraction since we see that we vse it in our ordinary speech when we thinke not on it nor labour for it in all vniuersall and indefinite termes next to trace out an eminent propriety of a seperated soule namely that she is no where and yet vpon the matter that she is euery where that she is bound to no Place and yet remote from none that she is able to worke vpon all without shifting from one to an other or coming neere any and that she is free from all without remoouing or parting from any one A second propriety not much vnlike this first we shall discouer in a seperated soule if we compare her with time We haue heretofore explicated how Time is the motion of the heauens which giueth vs our motion which measureth all particular motions and which comprehendeth all bodies and maketh them awayte his leisure From the large empire of this proud commander a separated soule is free for although she do consist with time that is to say she is whiles time is yet is â—he not in time nor doth she in any of her actions expect time but she is able to frame time to spinne or weaue it out of her selfe and to master it All which will appeare manifestly if we consider what it is to be in time Aristotle sheweth vs that to be comprehended vnder time or to be in time is to be one of those mooueables whose being consisting in motion taketh vp but a part of Time and hath its termes before and behind in time and is measured by Time and must expect the flowing of Time both for Being and for Action Now all this manifestly belongeth vnto Bodies whose both action and being is subiect to a perpetuall locall motion and alteration and consequently a separated soule who is totally a Being and hath her whole operation all together as being nothing but her selfe when we speake of her perfectiue operation can not be said to be in time but is absolutely free from it though time do glide by her as it doth by other thinges and so all that she knoweth or can do she doeth and knoweth at once with one act of the vnderstanding or rather she is indeede and really all that and therefore she doth not require time to manage or order her thoughts nor do they succeed one an other by such vicissitudes as men are forced to thinke of thinges by because their fansie and the images in it which beate vpon the soule to makâ—â—er thinke whiles she is in the body are corporeall and therefore do require time to mooue in and to giue way to one and other but she thinketh of all the thinges in the world and of all that she can thinke of together and at once as hereafter we intend to shew A third propriety we may conceiue to be in a separated soule by apprehending her to be an Actiuity which that we may rightly vnderstand lett vs compare her in regard of working with a body reflecting then vpon the nature of bodies we shall find that not any of them will do the functions they are framed for vnlesse some other thing do stirre them vp and cause them so to do As for example a knife if it be thrust or pressed will cutt otherwise it will lye still and haue no effect and as it fareth with a knife so it doth in the same manner with those bodies which seeme most to mooue themselues as vpon a litle consideration will appeare plainely A beast seemeth to mooue it selfe but if we call to minde what we haue deliuered vpon this subiect in the first Treatise we shall find that whensoeuer he beginneth to mooue he eyther perceiueth something by his sense which causeth his motion or else he remembreth something that is in his braine which worketh the like effect Now if sense presenteth him an obiect that causeth his motion we see manifestly that it is an externall cause which maketh him mooue but if memory do it we shall find that stirred by some other part as by the stomacke or by the heart which is empty or heated or hath receiued some other impression from an other body so that sooner or later we shall discouer an outward moouer The like is in naturall motions as in heauy thinges their easy following if they be sucked an other way then downewardes testifyeth that their motion downewardes hath an extrinsecall motor as is before declared and not only in these but throughout in all other corporeall thinges So that in a word all bodies are of this nature that vnlesse some other thing presse them and alter them when they are quiett they remaine so and haue no actiuity otherwise then from an extrinsecall moouer but of the soule we haue declared the contrary and that by its nature motion may proceed from it without any mutation in it or without its receiuing any order direction or impulse from an extrinsecall cause So that now summing vp together all we haue said vpon this occasion we find a soule exempted from the body to be An indiuisible substance exempted from place and time yet present to both an actuall and present knowledge of all thinges that may be knowne and a skill or rule euen
vp the extent of nature What sight is sharpe enough to penetrate into the mysterious essence sprouting into different persons Who can looke vpon the selfe multiplyed vnity vpon the incomprehensible circumincession vpon those wondrous processions and idiomes reserued for Angels eyes Of these my soule whose shootinges reach infinitely higher beyond all that we haue said then what we haue sayd is beyond the dull and muddy motions of this life thou art not capable now of receiuing any instructions lett first the mystagogicall illuminations of the great Areopagite and the Ascetike discipline of the Anachoreticall inhabitants of the wildernesse purify thy eye before thou attemptest to speake or to ayme att the discouery of these abisming depths By them thou must be first irrigated with the sweete shoures of morninges and eueninges with the gentle deawes and mannadroppes which fall aboundantly from those bounteous fauours that reside in a higher sphere then nature and that poure out vnknowne and vnconceiuable blessinges vpon prepared hartes which fructify into that true blisse in comparison where of all that we haue hitherto declared is but shaddow vanity and nothing FINIS PRIVILEGE DV ROY LOVYS PAR LA GRACE DE DIEV ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE A nos amez feaux les gens tenans nos Cours de Parlemens Baillifs Seneschaux Preuosts leurs Lieutenans tous autres nos Iusticiers Officiers qu'il appartiendra Salut Le Sieur Kenelme Digby Cheualier Anglois nous a fait remonstrer qu'il a composé vn Liure en langue Angloise contenant deux Traitez l'vn de la nature du corps l'autre de la nature des ames auec vne recherche de l'immortalité de celles qui sont raisonnables Lequel il desireroit mettre en lumiere faire imprimer s'il auoit nos lettres à ce necessaires lesquelles nous faisant supplier luy vouloir octroyer A ces causes luy auons permis accordé permettons accordons par ces presentes faire imprimer debiter ledit Liure pendant six ans Durant lesquels nous faisons deffenses à tous Libraires Imprimeurs de nostredit Royaume de l'imprimer vendre ny debiter soit sous quelque marque de déguisement ou traduction que ce soit sans le consentement dudit sieur Digby à peine de trois mille liures d'amende confiscation des exemplaires qui s'en trouueront de tous despens dommages interests enuers luy Si vous mandons à chacun de vous enioignons tenir la main à l'execution des presentes lesquelles voulons estre tenuës pour deuëment signifiées en mettant copie d'icelles au commencement ou à la fin de chacun desdits Liures A la charge de mettre par ledit sieur Digby vne exemplaire dudit Liure en nostre Biblioteque vne autre en celle de nostre tres-cher feal Chancelier à peine de nullité desdites presentes Car tel est nostre plaisir nonobstant oppositions ou appellations quelconques clameur de Haro chartre Normande lettres à ce contraires Donné à Fontainebleau le vingt-sixiesme iour de Septembre l'an de grace mil six cens quarantequatre de nostre Regne le deuxiesme Par le Roy en son Conseil GVITONNEAV Ar. 3. de anima 1 Quantity is the first and most obuious affection of a body 2 Wordes do not expresse thinges as they are in themselues but onely as they are painted in the mindes of men 3 The first error that may arise from hence which is a multiplying of things where â—o such multiplication is really found 4 A second error the conceiuing of many distinct thinges as really one thing 5 Great care to be taken to auoyde the errors which may arise from our manner of vnderstanding thinges 6 Two sorts of wordes to expresse our notions the one common to all men the other proper to schollers 7 Great errors arise by wresting wordes from theire common meaning to expresse a more particular or studied notion 1 Wee must know the vulgar and common notion of Quantity that wee may vnderstand the nature of it 2 Extension or diuisibility is the common notion of Quantity 3 Partes of Quantity are not actually in theire whole 4 If partes were actually in theire whole QuaÌ„tity would bee composed of indiuisibles 5 Quantity cannot be composed of indiuisibles 6 An obiection to prooue that partes are actually in Quantity with a declaration of the mistake from whence it procedeth 7 The solution of the former obiection and that sense cannot discerne whether one part be distinguished from another or no. Chap. 1. §. 2.3 8 An enumeration of the seuerall specieses of Quantity which confirmeth that the essence of it is diuisibility 1 What is meant by Rarity and Density 2 It is euident that some bodies are rare and others dense though obsuâ—e how they are such 3 A breife enumeration of the seuerall properties belonging to rare and dense bodies 4 The opinion of those Philosophers declared who putt rarity to consist in an actuall diuision of a body into litle partes 5 The former opinion reiected and the ground of theire error discoâ—ered 6 The opinion of those Philosophers related who putt rarity to consist in the mixtion of vacuity among bodies 7 The opinion of vacuities refuted Dialog 1. del Mouim pag. 81. Archimed Promot 8 Rarity and Désity consist in the seuerall proportions which Quantity hath to its substance 9 All must admitt in Physicall bodies a Metaphysicall composition 1 The notions of density and rarity haue a latitude capable of infinite variety 2 How moystnesse and drynesse are begotten in dense bodies 3 How moystnesse and drynesse are begotten in rare bodies 4 Heate is a property of rare bodies and cold of dense ones 5 Of the two dense bodies the lesse dense is more cold but of the two rare ones the lesse rare is lesse hoat 6 The extreme dense body is more dry then the extreme rare one 7 There are but foure simple bodies and these are rightly named Elements 8 The Author doth nott determine whether euery element doth comprehend vnder its name one only lowest species or many nor whether any of them be found pure 1 The first operation of the Elements is diuision out of which resulteth locall motion 2 What place is both notionally and really 3 Locall motion is that diuision whereby a body changeth its place 4 The nature of quantity of it selfe is sufficient to vnite a body to its place 5 All operations amongst bodies are eyther locall motion or such as follow out of locall motion 6 Earth compared to water in actiuity § 6. 7 The manner whereby fire getteth into fewel prooueth that it excâ—edeth earth in actiuity 8 The same is prooued by the manner whereby fire cometh out of fewell and worketh vpon other bodies 1 In what sense the Author reiecteth qualities 2 In what
sense the Author doth admitt of qualities 3 Fiue arguments proposed to proue that light is not a body 4 The two first reasoÌ„s to proue light to be a body are the resemblance it hath with fire and because if it were a quality it would alwayes produce an equall to it selfe 5 The third reason because if we imagine to our selues the substance of fire to be rarifyed it will haue the same appearances which light hath 6 The fourth reason from the manner of the generation and corruption of light which agreeth with fire 7 The fifth reason because such properties belong to light as agree only vnto bodies 1 That all light is hoat and apt to heate 2 The reason why our bodies for the most part do not feele the heate of pure light 3 The experience of burning-glasses and of soultry gloomy weather proue light to be fire 4 Philosophers ought not to iudge of thinges by the rules of vulgar people 5 The different names of light and fire proceede from different notions of the same substance 6 The reason why many times fire and heate are depriued of light 7 What becometh of the body of light when it dyeth 8 An experiment of some who pretend that light may be precipitated into pouder 9 The Authors opinion concerning lampes pretended to haue been found in tombes with inconsumptible lights 1 Light is not really in euery part of the roome it enlighteneth not filleth entirely any sensible part of it though it seeme to vs to do so 2 The least sensible poynt of a diaphanous body hath roome sufficient to containe both ayre and light together with a multitude of beames issuing from seuerall lights without penetrating one an other Willebrord Snell 3 That light doth not enlight en any roome in an instant and that the great celerity of its motion doth make it imperceptible to our senses 4 The reason why the motion of light is not discerned coming towardes vs and that there is some reall tardity in it 5 The planets are not certainely euer in that place where they appeare to be 6 The reason why light being a body doth not by its motion shatter other bodies into pieces 7 The reason why the body of lighlt is neuer perceiued to be fanned by the wind 8 The reasons for and against lights being a body compared together 9 A summary repetition of the reasons which proue that light is fire 1 No locall motion can be performed without succession 2 Time is the common measure of all succession 3 What velocity is and that it can not be infinite 4 No force so litle that is not able to moue the greatest weight imaginable 5 The chiefe principle of Mechanikes deduced out of the former discourse 6 No moueable can passe from rest to any determinate degree of velocity or from a lesser degree to a greater without passing through all the intermediate degrees which are below the obtained degree 7 The conditions which helpe to motioÌ„ in the moueable are three in the medium one Dialog 1. of Motion 8 No body hath any intrinsecall vertue to moue it selfe towardes any determinate part of the vniuerse 9 The encrease of motion is alwayse made in the proportion of the odde numbers 10 No motion can encrease for euer without coming to a periode 11 Certaine problemes resolued concerning the proportion of some mouing Agents compared to their effects 12 When a moueable cometh to rest the motion doth decrease according to the rules of encrease 1 Those motions are called naturall which haue constant causes and those violent which are contrary to them 2 The first and most generall operation of the sunne is the making and raising of atomes 3 The light rebounding from the earth with atomes causeth two streames in the ayre the one ascending the other desceÌ„ding and both of them in a perpendicular line 4 A dense body placed in the ayre betweene the ascending and descending streame must needes descend 5 A more particular explicatioÌ„ of all the former doctrine touching grauity 6 Grauity and leuity do not signify an intrinsecall inclination to such a motion in the bodies themselues which are termed heauy and light 7 The more deÌ„se a body is the more swiftly it descendeth 8 The velocity of bodies descending doth not encrease in proportion to the difference that may be betweene their seuerall densities 9 More or lesse grauity doth produce a swifter or a slower descending of a heauy body Aristotles argument to disproue motion in vacuo is made good 10 The reason why att the inferiour quarter of a circle a body doth descend faster by the arch of that quarter then by the chord â—f it 1 The first obiection answered why a hollow body descendeth slower then a solide one 2 The second obiection answered and the reasons shewne why atomes do continually ouertake the descending dense body 3 A curious question left vndecided 4 The fourth obiection answered why the descent of the same heauy bodies is equall in so great inequality of the atomes which cause it 5 The reason why the shelter of a thicke body doth not hinder the descent of that which is vnder ti 6 The reason why some bodies sinke others swimme 7 The fifth obiection answered concerning the descending of heauy bodies in streames 8 The sixt obiection answered and that all heauy elements do weigh in their owne spheres 9 The 7th obiection answered and the reason why we do not feele the course of the ayre and atomes that beat coÌ„tinually vpon vs. 10 How in the same body grauity may be greater then density and density then grauity though they be the same thing 11 The opinion of grauities being an intrinsecall inclination of a body to the center refuted by reason 12 The same opinion refuted by seuerall experiences 1 The state of the question touching the cause of violent motion 2 That the medium is the onely cause which continueth â—â—â—lent motioÌ„ 3 A further explication of the former doctrine 4 That the ayre hath strength enough to continue violent motion in a moueable Dial. 1. of motion pag. 98. 5 An answere to the first obiection that ayre is not apt to conserue motion And how violent moâ—â— cometh to cease 6 An answere to the second obiection that the ayre hath no power ouer heauy bodies 7 An answere to the third obiection that an arrow should fly faster broadwayes then loÌ„gwayes 1 That reflexion is a kind of violeÌ„t motion 2 Reflexion is made at equall angles 3 The causes and properties of vndulation 5 A refutation of Monsieur Des Cartes his explication of refraction 6 An answere to the arguments brought in fauour of Monsieur Des Cartes his opinion 7 The true cause of refraction of light both at its entrance and att its going out from the reflecting body 8 A generall rule to know the nature of reflexions and refractions in all sortes of
with his vertue from an other body 4 The vertue of the loadestone is a double and not one simple vertue 5 The vettue of the loadestone worketh more strongly in the poles of it then in any other part 6 The loadestone sendeth forth its emanations spherically Which are of two kindes and each kind is strongest in that hemisphere through whose polary partes they issue out 7 Putting two loadestones within the sphere of one an other euery part of one loadestone doth not agree with euery part of the other loadestone 8 CoÌ„cerning the declination and other respects of a needle towardes the loadestone is toucheth 9 The vertue of the loadestone goeth from end to end in lines almost parallele to the axis 10 The vertue of the loadestone is not perfectly sphericall though the stone be such 11 The intention of nature in all the operations of the loadestone is to make an vnion betwixt the attractiue and attracted bodies 12 The maine globe of the earth is not a loadestone 13 The loadestone is generated in all partes or climats of the earth 14 The conformity betwixt the two motioÌ„s of magnetike thinges and of heauy thinges 1 Which is the North and which the South Pole of a loadestone 2 Whether any bodies besides magnetike ones be attractiue 3 Whether an iron placed â—erpeÌ„dicularly towardes the earth doth gett a magneticall vertue of pointing towardes the north or towardes the south in that end that lyeth downewardes 4 Why loadestones affect iron better then one an other 5 Gilberts reason refuted touching a capped loadestone that taketh vp more iron then one not capped and an iron impregnated that in some case draweth more strongly then the stone it selfe 6 Galileus his opinion touching the former effects refuted 7 The Authors solution to the former questions 8 The reasoÌ„ why in the former case a lesser loadestone doth draw the interiacent iroÌ„ froÌ„ the greater 9 Why the variation of a touched needle froÌ„ the north is greater the neerer you go to the Pole 10 Whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may att one time vary more froÌ„ the north and att an other time lesse 11 The whole doctrine of the loadestone summed vp in short 1 The connexion of the following Chapters with the precedent ones 2 Concerning seuerall coÌ„positions of mixed bodies 3 Two sortes of liuing creatures 4 An engine to expresse the first sort of liuing creatures 5 An other engine by which may be expressed the second sort of liuing creatures 6 The two former engines and some other comparisons applyed to expresse the two seuerall sortes of liuing creatures 7 How plantes are framed 8 How sensitiue creatures are formed 1 The opinion that the seede containeth formally euery part of the parent 2 The former opinion reiected 3 The Authors opinion of this question 4 Their opinion refuted who hold that euery thing containeth formally all thinges 5 The Authors opinion concerning the generation of Animals declared and confirmed 6 That one substance is changed into an other 7 Concerning the hatching of chickens and the generation of other Animals 8 From whence it happeneth that the deficiences or excrescences of the parents body are often seene in their children 9 The difference between the Authors opinion and the former one 10 That the hart is imbued with the generall specifike vertues of the whole body whereby is confirmed the doctrine of the two former paragraphes 11 That the hart is the first part generated in a liuing creature 1 That the figure of an Animal is produced by ordinarie secoÌ„â— causes as well as any other corporeall effect 2 That the seuerall figures of bodies proceed from a defect in one of the three dimensions caused by the concurraÌ„ce of accidentall causes 3 The former doctrine is confirmed by seuerall instances 4 The same doctrine applyed to Plants 5 The same doctrine declared in leafes of trees 6 The same applyed to the bodies of Animals 7 In what sense the Author doth admitt of Vis formatrix 1 Fromwhence doth proceed the primary motion and growth in Plantes 2 Monsieur des Cartes his opinion touching the motion of the hart 3 The former opinion reiected 4 The Authors opinion concerning the motion of the hart 5 The motion of the hart dependeth originally of its fibers irrigated by bloud 6 An obiection answered against the former doctrine 7 The circulatioÌ„ of the bloud and other effects that follow the motion of the hart 8 Of Nutrition 9 Of Augmentation 10 Of death and sicknesse 1 The coÌ„nexion of the subsequent chapters with the precedent 2 Of the senses and sensible qualities in generall And of the end for which they serue 3 Of the sense of touching and that both it and its qualities are bodies 4 Of the tast and its qualities that they are bodies 5 That the smell and its qualities are reall bodies 6 Of the conformity betwixt the two senses of smelling and tasting 7 The reasoÌ„ why the sense of smelling is not so perfect in man as in beastes with a wonderfull historie of a man who could wind a sent as well aâ— any beast 1 Of the sense of hearing and that sound is purely motioÌ„ 2 Of diuers artes belonging to the sense of hearing all which confirme that sound is nothing but motion 3 The same is confirmed by the effects caused by great noises 4 That solide bodies may conueye the motion of the ayre or sound to the organe of hearing 5 Where the motion is interrupted there is no sound 6 That not only the motion of the ayre but all other motions coming to our eares make sounds 7 How one sense may supply the want of an other 8 Of one who could discerne souÌ„ds of words with his eyes 9 Diuers reasons to proue sound to be nothing els but a motioÌ„ of some reall body 1 That Colours are nothing but light mingled with darknesse or the disposition off a bodies superficies apt to reflect light so mingled 2 CoÌ„cerning the disposition of those bodies which produce white or blacke coulours 3 The former doctrine coÌ„firmed by Aristotâ—les authority reason and experience 4 How the diuersity of coulours doe follow out of various degrees of rarity and density 5 Why some bodies are Diaphanous others opacous 6 The former doctrine of coulours coÌ„firmed by the generation of white and Blacke in bodies 1 Apparitions of coulours through a prisme or triaÌ„gular glasse are of two sortes 2 The seuerall parts of the obiect make seuerall angles at their entrance into the prisme 3 The reason why some times the same obiect appeareth throwgh the prisme in two places and in one place more liuely in the other place more dimmes 4 The reason of the various colours that appeare in looking throwgh a prisme 5 The reasonÌ„ why the prisme in one position may make the colours appeare quite contrary to what
acknowledged that they worke by hidden qualities that mans witt cannot reach vnto And ascending to liuing bodies they giue it for a Maxime that life is the action of the same Entity vpon it selfe that sense is likewise a worke of an intrinsecall power in the part we call sense vpon it selfe Which our predecessors held the greatest absurdities that could be spoken in Philosophy Euen some Physitians that take vpon them to teach the curing of our bodies do often pay vs with such termes among them you haue long discourses of a retentiue of an expulsiue of a purging of a consolidating faculty and so of euery thing that eyther passeth in our body or is applied for remedy And the meaner sort of Physitians know no more but that such faculties are though indeed they that are truly Physitians know also in what they consist without which knowledge it is much to be feared Physitians will do more harme then good But to returne to our subiect this course of doctrine in the schooles hath forced me to a greate deale of paines in seeking to discouer the nature of all such actions or of the maine part of them as were famed for incomprehensible for what hope could I haue out of the actions of the soule to conuince the nature of it to be incorporeall if I could giue no other account of bodies operations then that they were performed by qualities occult specificall or incomprehensible Would not my aduersary presently answere that any operation out of which I should presse the soules being spirituall was performed by a corporeall occult quality and that as he must acknowledge it to be incomprehensible so must I likewise acknowledge other qualities of bodies to be as incomprehensible and therefore could not with reason presse him to shew how a body was able to doe such an operation as I should inferre must of necessity proceede from a spiritt since that neyther could I giue account how the loadestone drew iron or looked to the north how a stone and other heauy thinges were carried downewardes how sight or fantasie was made how digestion or purging were effected and many other such questions which are so slightly resolued in the schooles Besides this reason the very desire of knowledge in my selfe and a willingnesse to be auaylable vnto others att the least so farre as to sett them on seeking for it without hauing a preiudice of impossibity in attaining it was vnto me a sufficient motiue to enlarge my discourse to the bulke it is risen vnto For what a misery is it that the flower and best wittes of Christendome which flocke to the Vniuersities vnder pretence and vpon hope of gaining knowledge should be there deluded and after many yeares of toyle and expence be sent home againe with nothing acquired more then a faculty and readynesse to talke like parrats of many thinges but not to vnderstand so much as anyone and withall with a persuasion that in truth nothing can be knowne For setting knowledge aside what can it auayle a man to be able to talke of any thing What are those wranglinges where the discouery of truth is neyther sought nor hoped for but meerely vanity and ostentation Doth not all tend to make him seeme and appeare that which indeed he is not Nor lett any body take it ill at my handes that I speake thus of the moderne schooles for indeed it is rather themselues then I that say it Excepting Mathematikes lett all the other schooles pronounce their owne mindes and say ingenuously whether they themselues beleeue they haue so much as any one demonstration from the beginning to the ending of the whole course of their learning And if all or the most part will agree that any one position is demonstrated perfectly and as it ought to be and as thousands of conclusions are demonstrated in Mathematikes I am ready to vndergoe the blame of hauing calumniated them and will as readily make them amendes But if they neither will nor can then their owne verdict cleareth me and it is not so much I as they that make this profession of the shallownesse of their doctrine And to this purpose I haue often hard the lamentations of diuers as greate wittes as any that conuerse in the schooles complaining of this defect But in so greate an euidence of the effect proofes are superfluous Wherefore I will leaue this subiect to declare what I haue here designed and gone about towardes the remedy of this inconuenience Which is that whereas in the schooles there is a loose methode or rather none but that it is lawfull by the liberty of a commentator to handle any question in any place which is the cause of the slightnesse of their doctrine and can neuer be the way to any science or certitude I haue taken my beginninges from the commonest thinges that are in nature namely from the notions of Quantity and its first differences which are the most simple and radicall notions that are and in which all the rest are to be grounded From them I endeauour by immediate composition of them and deriuation from them to bring downe my discourse to the Elements which are the primary and most simple bodies in nature From these I proceed to compounded bodies first to those that are called mixed and then to liuing bodies declaring in common the proprieties and operations that belong vnto them And by occasion as I passe along I light here and there on those operations which seeme most admirable in nature to shew how they are performed or att the least how they may be performed that though I misse in particular of the industry of nature yet I may neuerthelesse hitt my intent which is to trace out a way how these and such like operations may be effected by an exact disposition and ordering though intricate of quantitatiue and corporeall partes and to shew that they oblige vs not to recurre vnto hidden and vnexplicable qualities And if I haue declared so many of these as may begett a probable persuasion in my reader that the rest which I haue not touched may likewise be displayed and shewed to spring out of the same groundes if curious and constant searchers into nature will make their taske to penetrate into them I haue therein obtained my desire and intent which is onely to shew from what principles all kindes of corporeall operations do proceed and what kind of operations all these must be which may issue out of these principles to the end that I may from thence make a steppe to raise my discourse to the contemplation of the soule and shew that her operations are such as cannot proceed from those principles which being adequate and common to all bodies we may rest assured that what cannot issue from them cannot haue a body for its source I will therefore end this preface with entreating my reader to consider that in a discourse proceeding in such order as I haue declared he must not expect to vnderstand
suauissimae cuius tâ—men pomoeria longè latéque protulit Author hic splendidissimus Gratulor Philologis Philosophis Anglis quibus viam praeiuit quâ se quoque possint vulgo eximere atque in libertatem aslerere horridiuscula quaeque inculta nitidissimè edisserere Gratulor denique generosissimo beatae prolis parenti tam altam animi pacem tranquillitatem magnitudinem vt inter nouercantis fortunae procellas bellorum tumultûs aulae strepitûs ista tamen procudere valuerit H. MAILLARD THE FIRST TREATISE DECLARING THE NATVRE AND OPERATIONS OF BODIES THE FIRST CHAPTER A Preamble to the whole discourse concerning notions in generall IN deliuering any science the cleerest and smoothest methode and most agreeable to nature is to begin with the consideration of those thinges that are most common and obuious and by the dissection of them to descend by orderly degrees and steppes as they lye in the way vnto the examination of the most particular and remote ones Now in our present intended suruay of a body the first thing which occurreth to our sense in the perusall of it is its Quantity bulke or magnitude and this seemeth by all mankind to be conceiued so inseparable from a body as when a man would distinguish a corporeall substance from a spirituall one wich is accounted indiuisible he naturally pitcheth vpon an apprehension of its hauing bulke and beind solide tangible and apt to make impression vpon our outward senses according to that expression of Lucretius vvho studying nature in a familiar and rationall manner telleth vs Tangere enim tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res And therefore in our inquiry of bodies we will obserue that plaine methode which nature teacheth vs and will begin with examining what Quantity is as being their first and primary affection and that which maketh the thinges we treate of be what we intend to signify by the name of body But because there is a greate variety of apprehensions framed by learned men of the nature of Quantity though indeede nothing can be more plaine and simple then it is in it selfe I conceiue it will not be amisse before we enter into the explication of it to consider how the mystery of discoursing and expressing our thoughts to one an other by words a prerogatiue belonging only to man is ordered and gouerned among vs that so we may auoyde those rockes which many and for the most part such as thinke they spinne the finest thriddes do suffer shippewracke against in theire subtilest discourses The most dangerous of all which assuredly is when they confound the true and reall natures of thinges with the conceptions they frame of them in theire owne mindes By which fundamentall miscarriage of theire reasoning they fall into great errors and absurdities and whatsoeuer they build vpon so ruinous a foundation prooueth but vselesse cobwebbes or prodigious Chymeras It is true wordes serue to expresse thinges but if you obserue the matter well you will perceiue they doe so onely according to the pictures we make of them in our owne thoughts and not according as the thinges are in theire proper natures Which is very reasonable it should be so since the soule that giueth the names hath nothing of the thinges in her but these notions and knoweth not the thinges otherwise then by these notions and therefore can not giue other names but such as must signify the thinges by mediation of these notions In the thinges all that belongeth vnto them is comprised vnder one entire Entity but in vs there are framed as many seuerall distinct formall conceptions as that one thing sheweth it selfe vnto vs with differeÌ„t faces Euery one of which conceptions seemeth to haue for its obiect a distinct thing because the conception it selfe is as much seuered and distinguished from another conception or image arising out of the very same thing that begott this as it can be from any image painted in the vnderstanding by an absolutely other thing It will not be amisse to illustrate this matter by some familiar example Imagine I haue an apple in my hand the same fruite worketh different effects vpon my seuerall senses my eye telleth me it is greene or red my nose that it hath a mellow sent my taste that it is sweet and my hand that it is cold and weighty My senses thus affected send messengers to my fantasie with newes of the discoueries they haue made and there all of them make seuerall and distinct pictures of what entereth by theire dores So that my Reason which discourseth vpon what it findeth in my fantasie can consider greenenesse by it selfe or mellownesse or sweetenesse or coldnesse or any other quality whatsoeuer singly and alone by it selfe without relation to any other that is painted in me by the same apple in which none of these haue any distinction at all but are one and the same substance of the apple that maketh various and different impressions vpon me according to the various dispositions of my seuerall senses as hereafter we shall explicate at large But in my mind euery one of these notions is a distinct picture by it selfe and is as much seuered from any of the rest arising from the same apple as it would be from any impression or image made in me by a stone or any other substance whatsoeuer that being entire in it selfe and circumscribed within its owne circle is absolutely sequestred from any communication with the other so that what is but one entire thing in it selfe seemeth to be many distinct thinges in my vnderstanding Whereby if I be not very cautious and in a manner wrestle with the bent and inclination of my vnderstanding which is apt to referre the distinct and complete stampe it findeth within it selfe vnto a distinct and complete originall character in the thing I shall be in danger before I am aware to giue actuall Beings to the quantity figure colour smell tast and other accidents of the apple each of them distinct one from an other as also from the substance which they clothe because I find the notions of them really distinguished as if they were different Entities in my minde And from thence I may inferre there is noe contradiction in nature to haue the accidents really seuered from one an other and to haue them actually subsist without theire substance and such other mistaken subtilities which arise out of our vnwary conceiting that thinges are in theire owne natures after the same fashion as we consider them in our vnderstanding And this course of the mindes disguising and changing the impressions it receiueth from outward obiects into appearances quite differing from what the thinges are in theire owne reall natures may be obserued not only in multiplying Entities where in truth there is but one But also in a contrary manner by comprising seuerall distinct thinges vnder one single notion which if afterwards it be reflected backe vpon the thinges themselues is the occasion
are actually distinguished The consequence cannot be calumniated since that indiuisibles whether they be seperated or ioyned are still but indiuisibles though that which is composed of them be diuisible It must then be granted that all the partes which are in Quantity are indiuisibles which partes being actually in it and the whole being composed af these partes onely it followeth that Quantity is composed and made of indiuisibles If any should cauill at the supposition and say we stretch it further then they intend it by taking all the partes to be distinguished whereas they meane onely that there are partes actually in Quantity abstracting from all by reason that all in this matter would inferre an infinity which to be actually in any created thing they will allow to be impossible Our answere will be to represent vnto them how this is barely said without any ground or colour of reason meerely to euade the inconuenience that the argument driueth them vnto For if any partes be actually distinguished why should not all be so What prerogatiue haue some that the others haue not And how came they by it If they haue theire actuall distinction out of theire nature of being partes then all must enioy it a like and all be equally distinguished as the supposition goeth and they must all be indiuisibles as we haue prooued Besides to preuent the cauill vpon the word all we may change the expression of the Proposition into a negatiue for if they admitt as they doe that there is no part in Quantity but is distinguished as farre as it may be distinguished then the same conclusion followeth with no lesse euidence and all will prooue indiuisibles as before But it is impossible that indiuisibles should make Quantity for if they should it must be done eyther by a finite and determinate number or by an infinite multitude of them If you say by a finite lett vs take for example three indiuisibles and by adding them together lett vs suppose a line to be composed whose extent being onely longitude it is the first and simpliest species of Quantity and therefore whatsoeuer is diuisible into partes must be at the least a line This line thus made cannot be conceiued to be diuided into more partes then into three since doing so you reduce it into the indiuisibles that composed it But Euclide hath demonstratiuely prooued beyond all cauill in the tenth proposition of his sixt booke of Elements that any line whatsoeuer may be diuided into whatsoeuer number of partes so that if this be a line it must be diuisible into a hundred or a thousand or a million of partes which being impossible in a line that being diuided into three partes onely euery one of those three is incapable of further diuision it is euident that neyther a line nor any Quantity whatsoeuer is composed or made of a determinate number of indiuisibles And since that this capacity of being diuisible into infinite partes is a property belonging to all extension for Euclides demonstration is vniuersall wee must needes confesse that it is the nature of indiuisibles when they are ioyned together to be drowned in one another for otherwyse there would result a kind of extension out of them which would not haue that property contrary to what Euclide hath demonstrated And from hence it followeth that Quantity cannot be composed of an infinite multitude of such indiuisibles for if this be the nature of indiuisibles though you putt neuer so greate a number of them together they will still drowne themselues all in one indiuisible point For what difference can theire being infinite bring to them of such force as to destroy theire essence and property If you but consider how the essentiall composition of any multitude whatsoeuer is made by the continuall addition of vnities till that number arise it is euident in our case that the infinity of indiuisibles must also arise out of the continued addition of still one indiuisible to the indiuisibles presupposed then lett vs apprehend a finite number of indiuisibles which according as we haue prooued do make no extension but are all of them drowned in the first and obseruing how the progresse vnto an infinite multitude goeth on by the steppes of one and one added still to this presupposed number we shall see that euery indiuisible added and consequently the whole infinity will be drowned in the first number as that was in the first indiuisible Which will be yet plainer if we consider that the nature of extension requireth that one parte be not in the same place where the other is then if this extension be composed of indiuisibles lett vs take two pointes of place in which this extension is and inquire whether the indiuisibles that are in each one of these pointes be finite or infinite If it be answered that they are finite then the finite indiuisibles in those two pointes make an extension which we haue prooued impossible But if they be said to be infinite then infinite indiuisibles are drowned in one point and consequently haue not the force to make extension Thus then it remaineth firmely established That Quantity is not composed of indiuisibles neyther finite nor infinite ones and consequently that partes are not actually in it Yet before we leaue this point although we haue already beene somewhat long about it I conceiue it will not be tedious if we be yet a litle longer and bend our discourse to remooue a difficulty that euen sense it selfe seemeth to obiect vnto vs. For doth not our eye euidently informe vs there are fingers handes armes legges feete toes and variety of other partes in a mans body These are actually in him and seeme to be distinct thinges in him so euidently that we cannot be persuaded but that we see and feele the distinction betweene them for euery one of them hath a particular power of actuall working and doing what belongeth vnto its nature to do each finger is really there the hand is different from the foote the legge from the arme and so of the rest Are not these partes then actually and really in a mans body And is not each of them as really distinguished from any other This appeareth at the first sight to be an insuperable obiection because of the confirmation and euidence that sense seemeth to giue it But looking neerely into the matter we shall find that the difficulty ariseth not from what sense informeth vs of but from our wrong applying the conditions of our notions vnto the thinges that make impressions vpon our sense Sense iudgeth not which is a finger which is a hand or which is a foote The notions agreeing to these wordes as well as the wordes themselues are productions of the vnderstanding which considering seuerall impressions made vpon the sense by the same thing as it hath a vertue and power to seuerall operations frameth seuerall notions of it as in our former example it doth of colour figure tast
and the like in an apple For as these are not different bodies or substances distinguished one from an other but are the same one entire thing working seuerally vpon the senses and that accordingly maketh these different pictures in the mind which are there as much distinguished as if they were pictures of different substances So the partes which are considered in Quantity are not diuerse thinges but are onely a vertue or power to be diuers thinges which vertue making seuerall impressions vpon the senses occasioneth seuerall notions in the vnderstanding and the vnderstanding is so much the more prone to conceiue those partes as distinct thinges by how much Quantity is neerer to be distinct thinges then the qualities of the apple are For Quantity is a possibility to be made distinct thinges by diuision whereas the others are but a vertue to do distinct thinges And yet as we haue touched aboue nothing can be more manifest then that if Quantity be diuisibility which is a possibility that many thinges may be made of it these partes are not yet diuers thinges So that if for example a rodde be layed before vs and halfe of it be hid from our sight and the other halfe appeare it is not one part or thing that sheweth it selfe and an other part or thing that doth not shew itselfe but it is the same rodde or thing which sheweth it selfe according to the possibility of being one new thing but doth not shew it selfe according to the possibility of being the other of the two thinges it may be made by diuision Which example if it be well considered will make it much more easily sinke into vs that a hand or eye or foote is not a distinct thing by it selfe but that it is the man according as he hath a certaine vertue or power in him to distinct operations For if you seuer any of these partes from the whole body the hand can no more hold nor the eye see nor the foote walke which are the powers that essentially constitute them to be what they are and therefore they are no longer a hand an eye or a foote Now then to come to the obiection lett vs examine how farre sense may be allowed to be iudge in this difficulty and we shall find that sense cannot determine any one part in a body for if it could it would precisely tell where that part beginneth or endeth but it being agreed vpon that it beginneth and endeth in indiuisibles it is certaine that sense cannot determine of them If then sense cannot determine any one part how shall it see that it is distinguished from all other partes Againe considering that all that whereof sense is capable is diuisible it still telleth vs that in all it seeth there are more partes then one and therefore it can not discerne nor informe vs of any that is one alone nor knoweth what it is to be one for it neuer could discerne it but what is many is many ones and can not be knowne by that which knoweth not what it is to be one and consequently sense can not telle vs that there are many Wherefore it is euident that we may not rely vpon sense for this question And as for reason she hath already giuen her verdict So that nothing remaineth but to shew why we talke as we do in ordinary discourse of many partes and that what we say in that kind is true notwithstanding the vnity of the thing Which will appeare plainely if we consider that our vnderstanding hath a custome for the better discerning of thinges to impose vpon a thing as it is vnder one notion the exclusion of it self as it is vnder other notions And this is euident vnto all schollers when the marke of exclusion is expressely putt as when they speake of a white thing adding the reduplication as it is white which excludeth all other considerations of that thing besides the whitenesse of it but when it cometh vnder some particular name of the thing it may deceiue those that are not cunning though indeede most men discouer it in such names as we call abstracted as humanity animality and the like But it easily deceiueth when it cometh in concrete names as it doth in the name of Part in generall or in the names of particular partes as a hand an eye an inch an elle and others of the like nature for as you see that a part excludeth both the notion of the whole and of the remaining partes so doth a hand an eye an elle exclude all the rest of that thing whereof the hand is a hand and the elle is an elle and so forth Now then as euery man seeth euidently that it can not be said the wall as it is white is plaster or stone no more can it be said that the hand of a man is a foote because the word hand signifieth as much in it selfe as if the man were taken by reduplication to be the man as he is hand or as he hath the power of holding So likewise in the rodde we spoke of before it can not be said that the part seene is the part vnseene because the part seene signifieth the rodde as it is a possibility to be made by diuision such a thing as it appeareth to the sight And thus it is cleare how the difficulty of this point ariseth out of the wrongfull applying the conditions of our notions and of names to the obiects and thinges which we know where of we gaue warning in the begining After which there remaineth no more to be said of this subiect but to enumerate the seuerall specieses of Quantity according to that diuision which Logitians for more facility of discourse haue made of it Namely these sixe magnitudine place motion time number and weight Of which the two first are permanent and lye still exposed to the pleasure of whosoeuer hath a mind to take a suruay of them Which he may do by measuring what partes they are diuisible into how many elles feete inches a thing is long broad or deepe how great a place is whether it be not bigger or lesser then such an other and by such considerations as these which do all agree in this that they expresse the essence of those two specieses of Quantity to consist in a capacity of being diuided into partes The two next motion and time though they be of a fleeting propriety yet it is euident that in regard of theire originall and essentiall nature they are nothing else but a like diuisibility into partes which is measured by passing ouer so great or so litle distance and by yeares dayes houres minutes and the like Number we also see is of the same nature for it is diuisible into so many determinate partes and is measured by vnities or by lesser numbers so or so often contained in a proposed greater And the like is euident of weight which is diuisible into poundes ounces drammes or graines and by them is
obiections answered against light being fire with a more ample proofe of its being such HAVING then said thus much to persuade vs of the corporeity of this subtile thing that so queintly playeth with our eyes wee will in the next place examine those obiections that at the beginning we did sett downe against its being a body and if after a through discussion of them we find they do in truth conclude nothing of what att the first sight they beare so great a shew of but that we shall be able perfectly to solue and enerue their force no body will thinke it rashnesse in vs to craue leaue of Aristotle that we may dissent from him in a matter that he hath not looked to the bottome of and whose opinion therein can not be defended from plaine contradictions and impossibilities It is true neuer any one man looked so farre as he into the bowels of nature he may rightly be termed the Gemus of it and whosoeuer followeth his principles in the maine can not be led into error but we must not beleeue that he or any man else that relyeth vpon the strength and negotiation of his owne reason euer had a priuiledge of infallibility entayled to all he said Lett vs then admire him for what he hath deliuered vs and where he falleth short or is weary in his search and suffereth himselfe to be borne downe by popular opinions against his owne principles which happeneth very seldome to him lett vs seeke to supply and relieue him But to pursue our intent wee will begin with answering the third obiection which is that if light were fire it must heat as well as enlighten where it shineth There is no doubt but it doth so as is euident by the weather glasses and other artificiall musicall instruments as organs and virginals that played by themselues which Cornelius Drebbel that admirable master of mechanikes made to shew the king All which depended vpon the rarefaction and condensation of some subtile body conserued in a cauity within the bulke of the whole instrument for as soone as the sunne shined they would haue motion and play their partes And there is no doubt but that grew out of the rarefaction of the subtile liquor he made vse of which was dilated as soone as the ayre was warmed by the sunne beames Of whose operation it was so sensible that they no sooner left the horizon but its motion ceased And if but a cloude came betweene the instrument and them the musike would presently goe slower time And the antient miracle of Memnons statue seemeth to be a iuggling of the Aehiopian Priests made by the like inuention But though he and they found some spirituall and refined matter that would receiue such notable impressions from so small alterations of temper Yet it is no wonder that our grosse bodies are not sensible of them for we can not feele heate vnlesse it be greater then that which is in our sense And the heate there must be in proportion to the heate of our blood which is in a high degree of warmeth And therefore it is very possible that an exceeding rarifyed fire may cause a farre lesse impression of heate then we are able to feele Consider how if you sett pure spiritt of wine on fire and so conuert it into actuall flame yet it will not burne nor scarce warme your hand and then can you expect that the light of a candle which filleth a great roome should burne or warme you as farre as it shineth If you would exactly know what degree of heate and power of burning that light hath which for example shineth vpon the wall in a great chamber in the middest whereof there standeth a candle doe but calculate what ouerproportion of quantity all the light in the whole roome beareth to the quantity of the litle flame att the toppe of the candle and that is the ouerproportion of the force of burning which is in the candle to the force of burning which is in so much light att the wall as in extension is equall to the flame of the candle Which when you haue considered you will not quarrell att it s not warming you att that distance although you grant it to be fire streaming out from the flame as from the spring that feedeth it and extremely dilated according to the nature of fire when it is att liberty by going so farre without any other grosse body to imprison or clogge it It is manifest that this rule of examining the proportion of burning in so much of the light as the flame is by calculating the proportion of the quantity or extension of all the light in the roome to the extension of the flame of the candle and then comparing the flame of the candle to a part of light equall in extension vnto it is a good and infallible one if we abstract from accidentall inequalities since both the light and the flame are in a perpetuall fluxe and all the light was first in the flame which is the spring from whence it continually floweth As in a riuer wherein euery part runneth with a settled streame though one place be straighter and an other broader yet of necessity since all the water that is in the broad place came out of the narrow it must follow that in equall portions of time there is no more water where it hath the liberty of a large channell then where the bankes presse it into a narrower bed so that there be no inequalities in the bottome In like manner if in a large stoue a basen of water be conuerted into steame that rarifyed water which then filleth the whole stoue is no more then what the basen contained before and consequently the power of moistening which is in a footes extension for example of the stoue wherein that steame is must be in proportion to the vertue of wetting in the footes extension of water as the quantity of that great roome which the steame filleth is to the quantity of the water contained in the basin for although the rarifyed water be not in euery least part of that great place it seemeth to take vp by reason that there is ayre in which it must swimme Yet the power of wetting that was in the basin of water is dilated through the whole roome by the coniunction of the miste or dew to all the sensible partes of the ayre that is in the roome and consequently the power of wetting which is in any foote of that roome is in a manner as much lesse then the power of wetting which was in the foote of water as if the water were rarifyed to the quantity of the whole roome and no ayre were left with it And in the same manner it fareth with dilated fire as it doth with dilated water with onely this difference peraduenture that fire groweth purer and more towardes its owne nature by dilatation whereas water becometh more mixed and is carried from its nature by suffering the like
effect Yet dilated water will in proportion moisten more then dilated fire will burne for the rarefaction of water bringeth it neerer to the nature of ayre whose chief propriety is moisture and the fire that accompanieth it when it raiseth it into steame giueth it more powerfull ingression into what body it meeteth withall whereas fire when it is very pure and att entire liberty to stretch and spread it selfe as wyde as the nature of it will carry it getteth no aduantage of burning by its mixture with ayre and allthough it gaineth force by its purity yet by reason of its extreme rarefaction it must needes be extremely fainte But if by the helpe of glasses you will gather into lesse roome that which is diffused into a great one and so condense it as much as it is for example in the flame of a candle then that fire or compacted light will burne much more forcibly then so much flame for there is as much of it in quantity excepting what is lost in the carriage of it and it is held in together in as litle roome and it hath this aduantage besides that it is clogged with no grosse body to hinder the actiuity of it It seemeth to me now that the very answering this obiection doth besides repelling the force of it euidently prooue that light is nothing but fire in his owne nature and exceedingly dilated for if you suppose fire for example the flame of a candle to be stretched out to the vtmost expansion that you may well imagine such a grosse body is capable of it is impossible it should appeare and worke otherwise then it doth in light as I haue shewed aboue And againe we see plainely that light gathered together burneth more forcibly then any other fire whatsoeuer and therefore must needes be fire Why then shall we not confidently conclude that what is fire before it getteth abroade and is fire againe when it cometh together doth likewise remaine fire during all its iourney Nay euen in the iourney it selfe we haue particular testimony that it is fire for light returning backe from the earth charged with litle atomes as it doth in soultry gloomy weather heateth much more then before iust as fire doth when it is imprisoned in a dense body Philosophers ought not to iudge by the same rules that the common people doth Their grosse sense is all their guide and therefore they can not apprehend any thing to be fire that doth not make it selfe be knowne for such by burning them But he that iudiciously examineth the matter and traceth the pedigree and periode of it and seeth the reason why in some circumstances it burneth and in others it doth not is too blame if he suffer himselfe to be led by others ignorance contrary to his owne reason When they that are curious in perfumes will haue their chamber filled with a good sent in a hoat season that agreeth not with burning perfumes and therefore make some odoriferous water be blowne about it by their seruants mouthes that are dexterous in that Ministery as is vsed in Spaine in the summer time euery one that seeth it done though on a suddaine the water be lost to his eyes and touch and is onely discernable by his nose yet he is well satisfyed that the sent which recreateth him is the very water he saw in the glasse extremely dilated by the forcible sprouting of it out from the seruants mouth and will by litle and litle fall downe and become againe palpable water as it was before and therefore doubteth not but it is still water whiles it hangeth in the ayre diuided into litle atomes Whereas one that saw not the beginning of this operation by water nor obserued how in the end it sheweth it selfe againe in water might the better be excused if he should not thinke that what he smelled were water blowne about the ayre nor any substance of it selfe because he neither seeth nor handleth it but some aduentitious quality he knoweth not how adhering to the ayre The like difference is betweene Philosophers that proceede orderly in their discourses and others that pay themselues with termes which they vnderstand not The one see euidence in what they conclude whiles the others guesse wildely att randome I hope the Reader will not deeme it time lost from our maine drift which we take vp thus in examples and digressions for if I be not much deceiued they serue exceedingly to illustrate the matter which I hope I haue now rendred so plaine as no man that shall haue well weighed it will expect that fire dilated into that rarifyed substance which mankind who according to the different appearance of thinges to their sense giueth different names vnto them calleth light should burne like that grosser substance which from doing so they call fire nor doubt but that they may be the same thing more or lesse attenuated as leafe gold that flyeth in the ayre as light as downe is as truly gold as that in an ingott which being heauier then any other substance falleth most forcibly vnto the ground What we haue said of the vnburning fire which we call light streaming from the flame of a candle may easily be applyed to all other lights depriued of sensible heat whereof some appeare with flame others without it of the first sort of which are the innoxious flames that are often seene on the haire of mens heads and horses manes on the mastes of shippes ouer graues and fatt marish groundes and the like and of the latter sort are glow wormes and the light conseruing stones rotten wood some kindes of fish and of flesh when they begin to putrify and some other thinges of the like nature Now to answere the second part of this obiection that we dayly see great heates without any light as well as much light without any heat and therefore light and fire can not be the same thing you may call to mind how dense bodies are capable of great quantities of rare ones and thereby it cometh to passe that bodies which repugne to the dilatation of flame may neuerthelesse haue much fire enclosed in them As in a stoue let the fire be neuer so great yet it appeareth not outwardes to the sight although that stoue warme all the roomes neere it So when many litle partes of heate are imprisoned in as many litle celles of grosse earthy substance which are like so many litle stoues to them that imprisonement will not hinder them from being very hoat to the sense of feeling which is most perceptible of dense thinges But because they are choaked with the closenesse of the grosse matter wherein they are enclosed they can not breake out into a body of flame or light so to discouer their nature which as we haue said before is the most vnfitt way for burning for we see that light must be condensed to produce flame and fire as flame must be to burne violently Hauing thus
vnresistable force to pierce and shatter not onely the ayre but euen the hardest bodies that are Peraduenture some may thinke it reasonable to grant the consequence in due circumstances since experience teacheth vs that the congregation of a litle light by a glasse will sett very solide bodies on fire and will melt mettals in a very short space which sheweth a great actiuity and the great actiuity sheweth a great percussion burning being effected by a kind of attrition of the thing burned And the great force which fire sheweth in gunnes and in mines being but a multiplication of the same doth euidently conuince that of its owne nature it maketh a strong percussion when all due circumstances concurre Whereas it hath but litle effect if the due circumstances be wanting as we may obserue in the insensible burning of so rarifyed a body as pure spiritt of wine conuerted into flame But we must examine the matter more particularly and must seeke the cause why a violent effect doth not alwayes appeare wheresoeuer light striketh for the which wee are to note that three thinges do concurre to make a percussion great The bignesse the density and the celerity of the body mooued Of which three there is only one in light to witt celerity for it hath the greatest rarity and the rayes of it are the smallest parcels of all naturall bodies And therefore since only celerity is considerable in the account of lights percussions we must examine what celerity is necessary to make the stroke of a ray sensible first then we see that all the motes of the ayre nay euen feathers and strawes do make no sensible percussion when they fall vpon vs therefore we must in light haue att the least a celerity that may be to the celerity of the straw falling vpon our hand for example as the density of the straw is to the density of light that the percussion of light may be in the least degree sensible But let vs take a corne of gunnepowder insteede of a straw betweene which there can not be much difference and then putting that the density of fire is to the density of gunnepowder as 1. to 125000 and that the density of the light we haue here in the earth is to the density of that part of fire which is in the sunnes body as the body of the sunne is to that body which is called Orbis magnus whose semidiameter is the distance betweene the sunne and the earth which must be in subtriple proportion of the diameter of the sunne to the diameter of the great orbe it followeth that 125000. being multiplyed by the proportion of the great orbe vnto the sunne which Galileo telleth vs is as 106000000. vnto one will giue a scantling of what degree of celerity light must haue more then a corne of gunnepouder to recompence the excesse of weight which is in a corne of gunnepouder aboue that which is in a ray of light as bigge as a corne of gunnepouder Which will amount to be much greater then the proportion of the semidiater of Orbis magnus to the semidiater of the corne of gunnepouder for if you reckon 5. graines of gunnepouder to a barley cornes breadth and 12. of them in an inch and 12. inches in a foote and 3. feete in a pace and 1000. paces in a mile and 3500. miles in the semidiameter of the earth and 1208. semidiameters of the earth in the semidiameter of the Orbis magnus there will be in it but 9132480000000. graines of gunnepouder whereas the other calculation maketh light to be 13250000000000. times raver then gunnepouder which is almost tenne times a greater proportion then the other And yet this celerity supplyeth but one of the two conditions wanting in light to make its percussions sensible namely density Now because the same velocity in a body of a lesser bulke doth not make so great a percussion as it doth in a bigger body and that the littlenesse of the least partes of bodies followeth the proportion of their rarity this vast proportion of celerity must againe be drawne into it selfe to supply for the excesse in bignesse that a corne of gunnepouder hath ouer an atome of light and the product of this multiplication will be the celerity required to supply for both defects Which euidently sheweth it is impossible that a ray of light should make any sensible percussion though it be a body Especially considering that sense neuer taketh notice of what is perpetually done in a moderate degree And therefore after this minute looking into all circumstances we neede not haue difficulty in allowing vnto light the greatest celerity imaginable and a percussion proportionate to such a celerity in so rare a body and yett not feare any violent effect from its blowes vnlesse it be condensed and many partes of it be brought together to worke as if they were but one As concerning the last obiection that if light were a body it would be fanned by the wind wee must first consider what is the cause of a thinges appearing to be mooued and then examine what force that cause hath in light As for the first part we see that when a body is discerned now in one place now in an other then it appeareth te be mooued And this we see happeneth also in light as when the sunne or a candle is carried or mooueth the light thereof in the body of the candle or sunne seemeth to be mooued along with it And the likes is in a shining cloud or comete But to apply this to our purpose wee must note that the intention of the obiection is that the light which goeth from the fire to an opacous body farre distant without interruption of its continuity should seeme to be iogged or putt out of its way by the wind that crosseth it Wherein the first fayling is that the obiectour conceiueth light to send species vnto our eye from the middest of its line whereas with a litle consideration he may perceiue that not light is seene by vs but that which is reflected from an opacous body to our eye so that the light he meaneth in his obiection is neuer seene att all Secondly it is manifest that the light which stricketh our eye doth strike it in a straight line and seemeth to be att the end of that straight line wheresoeur that is and so can neuer appeare to be in an other place but the light which wee see in an other place wee conceiue to be an other light Which maketh it againe euident that the light can neuer appeare to shake though wee should suppose that light may be seene from the middle of its line for no part of wind or ayre can come into any sensible place in that middle of the line with such speede that new light from the source doth not illuminate it sooner then it can be seene by vs wherefore it will appeare to vs illuminated as being in that place and therefore the light can neuer
is manifest that in a violent motion the force which mooueth a body in the end of its course is weaker then that which mooueth it in the beginning and the like is of the two stringes But here it is not amisse to solue a Probleme he putteth which belongeth to our present subiect He findeth by experience that if two bodies descend att the same time from the same point and do goe to the same point the one by the inferiour quarter of the cercle the other by the chord to that arch or by any other lines which are chordes to partes of that arch he findeth I say that the mooueable goeth faster by the arch then by any of the chordes And the reason is euident if we consider that the neerer any motion doth come vnto a perpendicular one downewardes the greater velocity it must haue and that in the arch of such a quadrant euery particular part of it inclineth to the perpendicular of the place where it is more then the part of the chord answerable vnto it doth THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER An answere to obiections against the causes of naturall motion auowed in the former chapter and a refutation of the contrary opinion BVt to returne to the thridde of our doctrine there may peraduenture be obiected against it that if the violence of a bodies descent towardes the center did proceede onely from the density of it which giueth it an aptitude the better to cutt the medium and from the multitude of litle atomes descending that strike vpon it and presse it the way they goe which is downewardes then it would not import whether the inner part of that body were as solide as the outward partes for it cutteth with onely the outward and is smitten onely vpon the outward And yet experience sheweth vs the contrary for a great bullet of lead that is solide and lead throughout descendeth faster then if three quarters of the diameter were hollow within and such a one falling vpon any resisting substance worketh a greater effect then a hollow one And a ball of brasse that hath but a thinne outside of mettall will swimme vpon the water when a massie one sinketh presently Whereby it appeareth that it is rather some other quality belonging to the very bulke of the metall in it selfe and not these outward causes that occasion grauity But this difficulty is easily ouercome if you consider how subtile those atomes are which descending downewardes and striking vpon a body in their way do cause its motion likewise downewardes for you may remember how we haue shewed them to be the subtilest and the minutest diuisions that light the subtilest and sharpest diuider in nature can make It is then easye to conceiue that these extreme subtile bodies do penetrate all others as light doth glasse and do runne through them as sand doth through a small sieue or as water through a spunge so that they strike not onely vpon the superficies but aswell in euery most interiour part of the whole body running quite through it all by the pores of it And then it must needes follow that the solider it is and the more partes it hath within as well as without to be strucken vpon the faster it must goe and the greater effect it must worke in what it falleth vpon whereas if three quarters of the diameter of it within should be filled with nothing but with ayre the atomes would fly without any considerable effect through all that space by reason of the rarity and cessibility of it And that these atomes are thus subtile is manifest by seuerall effects which we see in nature Diuers Authors that write of Egypt do assure vs that though their houses be built of strong stone neuerthelesse a clodde of earth layed in the inmost roomes and shutt vp from all appearing communication with ayre will encrease its weight so notably as thereby they can iudge the change of weather which will shortly ensue Which can proceede from no other cause but from a multitude of litle atomes of saltpeter which floating in the ayre do penetrate through the strongest walls and all the massie defences in their way and do settle in the clodde of earth as soone as they meete with it because it is of a temper fitt to entertaine and to conserue and to embody them Delights haue shewed vs the way how to make the spirits or atomes of snow and saltpeter passe through a glasse vessell which Alchimists hold to be the most impenetrable of all they can find to worke with In our owne bodies the aches which feeble partes do feele before change of weather and the heauynesse of our heades and shoulders if we remaine in the open ayre presently after sunnesett do aboundantly testify that euen the grosser of these atomes which are the first that fall do vehemently penetrate our bodies so as sense will make vs beleeue what reason peraduenture could not But besides all this there is yet a more conuincing reason why the descending atomes should mooue the whole density of a body euen though it were so dense that they could not penetrate it and gett into the bowels of it but must be content to strike barely vpon the outside of it For nature hath so ordered the matter that when dense partes sticke close together and make the length composed of them to be very stiffe one can not be mooued but that all the rest which are in that line must likewise be thereby mooued so that if all the world wery composed of atomes close sticking together the least motion imaginable must driue on all that were in a straight line to the very end of the world This you see is euident in reason And experience confirmeth it when by a litle knocke giuen att the end of a long beame the shaking which maketh sound reacheth sensibly to the other end The blind man that gouerneth his steppes by feeling in defect of eyes receiueth aduertisements of remote thinges through a staffe which he holdeth in his handes peraduenture more particularly then his eyes could haue directed him And the like is of a deafe man that heareth the sound of an instrument by holding one end of a sticke in his mouth whiles the other end resteth vpō the instrumēt And some are of opiniō and they not of the ranke of vulgar Philosophers that if a staffe were as long as to reach from the sunne to vs it would haue the same effect in a moment of time Although for my part I am hard to beleeue that we could receiue an aduertisement so farre vnlesse the staffe were of such a thicknesse as being proportionable to the length might keepe it from facile bending for if it should be very plyant it would do vs no seruice as we experience in a thridde which reaching from our hand to the ground if it knocke against any thing maketh no sensible impression in our hand So that in fine reason sense and authority do all of them
it be in the streame of a riuer and notwithstanding it will still mooue downewardes we may answere that considering the litle decliuity of the bed of such a streame the strongest motion of the partes of the streame must necessarily be downewardes and consequently they will beate the stone downewardes And if they do not the like to a feather or other light body it is because other partes of the streame do gett vnder the light body and beate it vpwardes which they haue not power enough to do to the stone Sixthly it may be obiected that if Elements do not weigh in their owne spheres then their grauity and descending must proceede from some other cause and not from this percussion of the atomes we attribute it to which percussion we haue determined goeth through all bodies whatsoeuer and beateth vpon euery sensible part of them But that Elements weigh not in their owne spheres appeareth out of the experience of a syphon for though one legge of the syphon be suncke neuer so much deeper into the body of the water then the other legge reacheth below the superficies of the water neuerthelesse if once the outward legge become full of water it will draw it out of the other longer legge which it should not do if the partes of water that are comprised within their whole bulke did weigh seeing that the bulke of water is much greater in the sunke legge then in the other and therefore these should rather draw backe the other water into the cisterne then be themselues drawne out of it into the ayre To this we answere that it is euident the Elements do weigh in their owne spheres att least as farre as we can reach to their spheres for we see that a ballone stuffed hard with ayre is heauyer then an empty one Againe more water would not be heauyer then lesse if the inward partes of it did not weigh and if a hole were digged in the bottome of the sea the water would not runne into it and fill it if it did not grauitate ouer it Lastly there are those who vndertake to distinguish in a deepe water the diuers weights which seuerall partes of it haue as they grow still heauyer and heauyer towardes the bottome and they are so cunning in this art that they professe to make instruments which by their equality of their weight to a determinate part of the water shall stand iust in that part and neyther rise nor fall higher or lower but if it be putt lower it shall ascend to its exact equally weighing orbe of the water and if it be putt higher it shall descend vntill it cometh to rest precisely in that place Whence it is euident that partes of water do weigh within the bulke of their maine body and of the like we haue no reason to doubt in the other two weighty Elements As for the opposition of the syphon we referre that point to where we shall haue occasion to declare the nature of that engine of sett purpose And there we shall shew that it could not succeede in its operation vnlesse the partes of water did grauitate in their maine bulke into which one legge of the syphon is sunke Lastly it may be obiected that if there were such a course of atomes as we say and that their stroakes were the cause of so notable an effect as the grauity of heauy bodies we should feele it palpably in our owne bodies which experience sheweth vs we do not To this we answere first that their is no necessity we should feele this course of atomes since by their subtility they penetrate all bodies and consequently do not giue such stroakes as are sensible Secondly if we consider that dustes and strawes and feathers do light vpon vs without causing any sense in vs much more we may cōceiue that atomes which are infinitely more subtile and light can not cause in vs any feeling of them Thirdly we see that what is continuall with vs and mingled in all thinges doth not make vs take any especiall notice of it and this is the case of the smiting of atomes Neuerthelesse peraduenture we feele them in truth as often as we feele hoat and cold weather and in all catarres or other such changes which do as it were sinke into our body without our perceiuing any sensible cause of them for no question but these atomes are the immediate causes of all good and bad qualities in the ayre Lastly when we consider that we can not long together hold out our arme att length or our foote from the ground and reflect vpon such like impotencies of our resisting the grauity of our owne body we can not doubt but that in these cases we feele the effect of these atomes working vpon those partes although we can not by our sense discerne immediately that these are the causes of it But now it is time to draw our Reader out of a difficulty which may peraduenture haue perplexed him in the greatest part of what he hath hitherto gone ouer In our inuestigation of the Elements we tooke for a principle therevnto that grauity is sometimes more sometimes lesse then the density of the body in which it is But in our explication of rarity and density and againe in our explication of grauity we seeme to putt that grauity and density is all one This thorne I apprehend may in all this distance haue putt some to paine but it was impossible for mee to remedy it because I had not yet deliuered the manner of grauitation Here then I will do my best to asswage their greefe by reconciling these appearing repugnancies We are therefore to consider that density in it selfe doth signify a difficultie to haue the partes of its subiect in which it is seperated one from an other and that grauity likewise in it selfe doth signify a quality by which a heauy body doth descend towardes the center or which is consequent therevnto a force to make an other body descend Now this power we haue shewed doth belong vnto density so farre forth as a dense body being strucken by an other doth not yield by suffering its partes to be diuided but with its whole bulke striketh the next before it and diuideth it if it be more diuisible then it selfe is So that you see density hath the name of density in consideration of a passiue quality or rather of an impassibility which it hath and the same density is called grauity in respect of an actiue quality it hath which followeth this impassibility And both of them are estimated by the different respects which the same body or subiect in which they are haue vnto different bodies that are the termes whereunto it is compared for the actiue quality or grauity of a dense body is esteemed by its respect to the body it striketh vpon whereas its density includeth a respect singly to the body that striketh it Now it is no wonder that this change of comparison worketh a disparity
such a body as we haue described it to be where we treated of the nature of it it is euident that the effect which we haue expressed must necessarily follow by way of reflexion and that refraction is nothing else but a certaine kind of reflexion Which last assertion is likewise conuinced out of this that the same effects proceede from reflexion as from refraction for by reflexion a thing may be seene greater then it is in a different place from the true one where it is colours may be made by reflexion as also gloating light and fire likewise and peraduenture all other effects which are caused by refraction may as well as these be performed by reflexion And therefore it is euident they must be of the same nature seing that children are the resemblances of their parents THE FOVRETEENTH CHAPTER Of the composition qualities and generation of Mixed bodies HAuing now declared the vertues by which fire and earth worke vpon one an other and vpon the rest of the elements which is by light and by the motions we haue discoursed of Our taske shall be in this chapter first to obserue what will result out of such action of theirs and next to search into the wayes and manner of compassing and performing it Which latter we shall the more easily attaine vnto when we first know the end that their operation leuelleth att In this pursute we shall find that the effect of the Elements combinations by meanes of the motions that happen among them is a long pedigree of compounded qualities and bodies wherein the first combinations like marriages are the breeders of the next more composed substances and they againe are the parents of others in greater variety and so are multiplyed without end for the further this worke proceedeth the more subiects it maketh for new businesse of the like kind To descend in particular vnto all these is impossible And to looke further then the generall heades of them were superfluous and troublesome in this discourse wherein I ayme onely att shewing what sorts of thinges in common may de done by bodies that if hereafter we meete with thinges of an other nature and straine we may be sure they are not the ofspring of bodies and of quantity which is the maine scope of what I haue designed here And to do this with confidence and certainety requireth of necessity this leisurely and orderly proceeding that hitherto we haue vsed and shall continue to the end for walking thus softly we haue alwayes one foote vpon the ground so as the other may be sure of firme footing before it settle Whereas they that for more hast will leape ouer rugged passages and broken ground when both their feete are in the ayre can not helpe themselues but must light as chance throweth them To this purpose then we may consider that the qualities of bodies in common are of three sortes for they are belonging either to the constitution of a compounded body or else to the operation of it and the operation of a body is of two kindes the one vpon other bodies the other vpon sense The last of these three sortes of qualities shall be handled in a peculiar chapter by themselues Those of the second sort whereby they worke vpon other bodies haue beene partly declared in the former chapters and will be further discoursed of in the rest of this first treatise so as that which remaineth for the present is to fall vpon the discourse of such qualities as concurre to the constitution of bodies with an ayme to discouer whether or no they may be effected by the seuerall mixtures of rarity and density in such sort as is already declared To which end we are to consider in what manner these two primary differences of bodies may be ioyned together and what effects such coniunction will produce As for their coniunction to deliuer the nature of it entirely we must begin from the very roote of it and consider how the Vniuerse being finite which Mr. White hath demonstrated in the second knott of his first Dialogue there can not be an infinite number of bodies in it for Geometricians shew vs how the least quantity that is may be repeated so often as would exceede any the greatest determinate quantity whatsoeuer Out of which it followeth that although all the other bodies of the world were no bigger then the least quantity that can be designed yet they being infinite in number would be greater then the whole Vniuerse that containeth them And therefore of necessity there must be some least body or rather some least cise of bodies which in compounded bodies is not to be expected for their least partes being compounded must needes include compounding partes lesse then themselues We must then looke for this least cise of bodies in the Elements which of all bodies are the simplest And among them we must pitch vpon that wherein is greatest diuisibility and which consequently is diuided into least partes that is fire so as we may conclude that among all the bodies in the world that which of its owne nature hath an aptitude to be least must be fire Now the least body of fire be it neuer so litle is yet diuisible into lesse What is it then that maketh it be one To determine this we must resort vnto the nature of Quantity whose formall notion and essence is To be diuisible which signifyeth that many may be made of it but thar of which many may be made is not yet many out of this very reason that many may be made of it But what is not many is one Therefore what hath quantity is by meere hauing quantity actually and formally as well one as it hath the possibility of being made many And consequently the least body of fire by hauing quantity hath those partes which might be many actually one And this is the first coniunction of partes that is to be considered in the composition of bodies which though it be not an actuall ioyning of actuall partes yet it is a formall coniunction of what may be many In the next place we may consider how seeing the least bodies that are be of fire it must needes follow that the least partes of the other Elements must be bigger then they And consequently the possible partes of those least partes of the other Elements must haue something to conserue them together more then is found in fire And this because Elements are purely distinguished by rarity and density is straight concluded to be density And thus we haue found that as quantity is the cause of the possible partes being one so density is the cause of the like partes sticking together which appeareth in the very definition of it for to be lesse diuisible which is the notion of density speaketh a resistance to diuision or a sticking together Now lett vs examine how two partes of different Elements are ioyned together to make a compound In this coniunction we
other can be imagined vnlesse it were variety of figure But that can not be admitted to belong in any constant manner to those least particles where of bodies are framed as though determinate figures were in euery degree of quantity due to the natures of Elements and therefore the Elements would conserue themselues in those figures as well in their least atomes as in massye bulke for seeing how these litle partes are shuffled together without any order and that all liquids easily ioyne and take the figures which the dense ones giue them and that they againe iustling one an other do crush themselues into new shapes which their mixture with the liquide ones maketh them yield the more easily vnto it is impossible that the Elements should haue any other naturall figure in these their least partes then such as chance giueth them But that one part must be bigger then an other is euident for the nature of rarity and density giueth it the first of them causing diuisibility into litle partes and the latter hindering it Hauing then settled in what manner the Elements may be varied in the composition of bodies lett vs now beginne our mixture In which our ground to worke vpon must be earth and water for onely these two are the basis of permanent bodies that suffer our senses to take hold of them and that submitt themselues to tryall whereas if we should make the predominant Element to be ayre or fire and bring in the other two solide ones vnder their iurisdiction to make vp the mixture the compound resulting out of them would be eyther in continuall consumption as ordinary fire is or else imperceptible to our eyes or touch and therefore not a fitt subiect for vs to discourse of since the other two afford vs enough to speculate vpon Peraduenture our smell migh take some cognisance of a body so composed or the effect of it taken in by respiration might in time shew it selfe vpon our health but it concerneth not vs now to look so farre our designe requireth more maniable substances Of which lett water be the first and with it we will mingle the other three Elements in excesse ouer one an other by turnes but still all of them ouerswayed by a predominant quantity of water and then lett vs see what kind of bodies will result out of such proportions First if earth preuayle aboue fire and ayre and arriue next in proportion to the water a body of such a composition must needes prooue hardly liquide and not easy to lett its partes runne a sunder by reason of the great proportion of so dense a body as earth that holdeth it together Yet some inclination it will haue to fluidnesse by reason the water is predominant ouer all which also will make it be easily diuisible and giue very litle resistance to any hard thing that shall be applyed to make way through it In a word this mixture maketh the constitution of mudde durt honey butter and such like thinges where the maine partes are great ones And such are the partes of earth and water in themselues Lett the next proportion of excesse in a watry compound be of ayre which when it preuayleth it incorporateth it selfe chiefely with Earth for the other Elements would not so well retaine it Now because its partes are subtile by reason of the rarity it hath and sticking because of its humidity it driueth the Earth and water likewise into lesser partes The result of such a mixture is that the partes of a boby compounded by it are close catching flowing slowly glibbe and generally it will burne and be easily conuerted into flame Of this kind are those which we call oyly or vnctuous bodies whose great partes are easily separated that is they are easily diuisible in bulke but the small ones very hardly Next the smallnesse and well working of the partes by meanes of the ayres penetrating euery dense one and sticking close to euery one of them and consequently ioyning them without any vneuennesse causeth that there can be no ruggednesse in it and therefore it is glibbe in like manner as we see plaster or starch become smooth when they are well wrought Then the humidity of it causeth it to be catcking and the shortenesse of euery part maketh that where it sticketh it is not easily parted thence Now the rarity of ayre next vnto fire admitteth it to be of all the other Elements most easily brought to the height of fire by the operation of fire vpon it And therefore oyles are the proper foode of that Element And accordingly we see that if a droppe of oyle be spilled vpon a sheete of paper and the paper be sett on fire att a corner as the fire cometh neere the oyle the oyle will disperse and spread it selfe vpon the paper to a broader compasse then it had which is because the heat rarifyeth it and so in oyle it selfe the fire rarifying the ayre maketh it penetrate the earthy partes adioyned vnto it more then it did and so subtiliseth them till they be reduced to such a height as they are within the power of fire to communicate his owne nature vnto them and thus he turneth them into fire and carrieth them vp in his flame But if fire be predominant ouer earth and ayre in a watry compound it maketh the body so proportioned to be subtile rare penetratiue hoat in operation light in weight and subiect to burne Of this kind are all sortes of wines and distilled spirits commonly called strong waters or Aquauites in latine Aquae ardentes These will loose their vertues meerely by remaining vncouered in the ayre for fire doth not incorporate strongly with water but if it find meanes rayseth it selfe into the ayre as we see in the smoake of boyling water which is nothing else but litle bodies of fire that entring into the water do rarify some partes of it but haue no inclination to stay there and therefore as fast as they can gett out they fly away but the humide partes of the water which they haue rarifyed being of a sticking nature do ioyne themselues vnto them and ascend in the ayre as high as the fiery atomes haue strength to carry them which when it faileth them that smoake falleth downe in a dew and so becometh water againe as it was All which one may easily discerne in a glasse vessell of water sett ouer the fire in which one may obserue the fire come in att the bottome and presently swimme vp to the toppe like a litle bubble and immediately rise from thence in smoake and that will att last conuert it selfe into droppes and settle vpon some solide substance thereabouts Of these fyry spirits some are so subtile as of themselues they will vanish and leaue no residue of a body behind them and Alchymistes profâ—sse to make them so etheriall and volatile that being poured out of a glasse from some reasonable height they shall neuer reach the ground but
gleweth their earthy partes together greater and greater doth make a wider and wider separation betweene those little earthy partes And so imbueth the whole body of the water with thē into which they are dispersed in little atomes Those that are of biggest bulke remaine lowest in the water And in the same measure as their quantities dissolue into lesse and lesse they ascend higher and higher in the water till att the length the water is fully replenished with them and they are diffused through the whole body of it whiles the more grosse and heauy earthy partes hauing nothing in them to make a present combination betweene them and the water do fall downe to the bottome and settle vnder the water in dust In which because earth alone doth predominate in a very great excesse we can expect no other vertue to be in it but that which is proper to meere earth to witt drynesse and weight Which ordinary Alchymistes looke not after and therefore call it Terra damnata but others find a fixing quality in it by which they performe very admirable operations Now if you powre the impregnated water from the Terra damnata and then euaporate it you will find a pure white substance remaining Which by its bulke sheweth it selfe to be very earthy and by its pricking and corrosiue tast will informe you much fire is in it and by its easy dissolution in a moist place that water had a great share in the production of it And thus the saltes of bodies are made and extracted Now as water doth dissolue salt so by the incorporation and vertue of that corrosiue substance it doth more then salt it selfe can doe for hauing gotten acrimony and more weight by the mixture and dissolution of salt in it it maketh it selfe a way into solide bodies euen into mettals as we see in brasse and iron which are easily rusted by salt dissoluing vpon them And according as the saltes are stronger so this corrosiue vertue encreaseth in them euen so much as neyther syluer nor gold are free from their eating quality But they as well as the rest are diuided into most small partes and are made to swimme in water in such sort as we haue explicated aboue and whereof euery ordinary Alchymist teacheth the practise But this is not all salts do helpe as well to melt hard bodies and mettalls as to corrode them for some fusible salts flowing vpon them by the heate of the fire and others dissolued by the streame of the mettall that incorporateth with them as soone as they are in fluxe they mingle with the naturall iuice of the mettall and penetrate them deeper then without them the fire could doe and swell them and make them fitt to runne These are the principall wayes of the two last instruments in dissoluing of bodies taking each of them by it selfe But there remaineth one more of very great importance as well in the workes of nature as of art in which both the former are ioyned and do concure and that is putrefraction Whose way of working is by gentle heate and moisture to wett and pierce the body it worketh vpon whereby it is made to swell and the hoat partes of it being loosened they are att length druncke vp and drowned in the moist ones from whence by fire they are easily separated as we haue already declared and those moist partes afterwardes leauing it the substance remaineth dry and falleth in pieces for want of the glew that held it together THE SIXTEENTH CHAPTER An explication of certaine Maximes touching the operations and qualities af bodies and whether the Elements be found pure in any part of the world OVt of what we haue determined concerning the naturall actions of bodies in their making and destroying one an other it is easy to vnderstand the right meaning of some termes and the true reason of some maximes much vsed in the schooles As first when Philosophers attribute vnto all sortes of corporeall Agents a Sphere of Actiuity The sense of that manner of expression in fire appeareth plainely by what we haue already declared of the nature and manner of operation of that Element And in like manner if we consider how the force of cold consisteth in a compression of the body that is made cold we may preceiue that if in the cooled body there be any subtile partes which can breake forth from the rest such compression will make them do so Especially if the compression be of little partes of the compressed body within themselues as well as of the outward bulke of the whole body round about for at first the compression of such causeth in the body where they are little holes or pores in the places they are compressed and driuen from which pores they filled vp when they were dilated att their owne naturall liberty But being thus forcibly shrunke vp into lesse roome afterwardes they squeese againe out of their croude all such very loose and subtile partes residing till then with them as can find their way out from among them And these subtile partes that thus are deliuered from the colds compression gett first into the pores that we haue shewed were made by this compression But they can not long stay there for the atomes of aduenient cold that obsesse the compressed body do likewise with all their force throng into those pores and soone driue out the subtile guestes they find there because they are more in number bigger in bulke and more violent in their course then they Who therefore must yield vnto them the little channels and capacities they formerly tooke vp Out of which they are thrust with such an impetuosity that they spinne from them with a vehemence as quickesiluer doth through leather when to purify it or to bring an Amalgame to a due consistence it is strained through the sides of it Now these shoures or streames of atomes issuing from the compressed body are on all sides round about it att exceeding little distances because the pores out of which they are driuen are so likewise And consequently there they remaine round about besieging it as though they would returne to their originall homes as soone as the vsurping strāgers that were too powerfull for thē will giue thē leaue And according to the multitude of thē and to the force with which they are driuen out the compasse they take vp round about the cōpressed body is greater or lesser Which besieging atomes are not so soone carried away by any exterior and accidentall causes but they are supplyed by new emanations succeeding them out of the said compressed body Now this which we haue declared by the example of cold cōpressing a particular body happeneth in all bodies wheresoeuer they be in the world for this being the vnauoydable effect of heate and of cold wheresoeuer they reside which are the actiue qualities by whose meanes not onely fire and water and the other two Elements but all other mixed bodies composed of the
we may remember how in the close of the fourth we remitted a question concerning the existence of the Elements that is whether in any places of the world there were any pure Elements eyther in bulke or in little partes as being not ready to resolue it till we had declared the manner of working of bodies one vpon an other Here then will be a fitt place to determine that out of what we haue discoursed concerning the actions whereby bodies are made and corrupted for considering the vniuersall action of fire that runneth through all the bodies we haue commerce withall by reason of the sunnes influence into them and operation vpon them with his light and beames which reacheth farre and neere and looking vpon the effects which we haue shewed do follow thence it is manifest there can not be any great quantity of any body whatsoeuer in which fire is not intrinsecally mixed And on the other side we see that where fire is once mixed it is very hard to seperate it totally from thence Againe we see it is impossible that pure fire should be conserued without being adioyned to some other body both because of its violent natiuity still streaming forth with a great impetuosity as also because it is so easily ouercome by any obsident body when it is dilated And therefore we may safely conclude that no simple Element can consist in any great quantity in this course of nature which we liue in and take a suruay of Neyther doth it appeare to what purpose nature should haue placed any such storehouses of simples seeing she can make all needefull complexions by the dissolutions of mixed bodies into other mixed bodies sauouring of the nature of the Elements without needing their purity to beginne vpon But on the other side it is as euident that the Elements must remaine pure in euery compounded body in such extreme small partes as we vse to call atomes for if they did not the variety of bodies would be nothing else but so many degrees of rarity and density or so many pure homogeneall Elements and not bodies composed of heterogeneall partes and consequently would not be able to shew that variety of partes which we see in bodies nor could produce the complicated effects which proceede from them And accordingly we are sure that the least partes which our senses can arriue to discouer haue many varieties in them euen so much that a whole liuing creature whose organicall partes must needes be of exceeding different natures may be so litle as vnto our eyes to seeme indiuisible we not distinguishing any difference of partes in it without the helpe of a multiplying glasse as in the least kind of mites and in wormes picked out of Childrens handes we dayly experience So as it is euident that no sensible part can be vnmingled But then againe when we call to mind how we haue shewed that the qualities which we find in bodies do result out of the composition and mixtion of the Elements we must needes conclude that they must of necessity remaine in their owne essences in the mixed body And so out of the whole discourse determine that they are not there in any visible quantity but in those least atomes that are too subtile for our senses to discerne Which position we do not vnderstand so Metaphysically as to say that their substantiall formes remaine actually in the mixed body but onely that their accidentall qualities are found in the compound remitting that other question vnto Metaphysicians those spirituall Anatomistes to decide THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER Of Rarefaction and Condensation the two first motions of particular bodies OVr intention in this discourse concerning the natures and motions of bodies ayming no further then att the discouery of what is or may be done by corporeall Agents thereby to determine what is the worke of immateriall and spirituall substances it can not be expected att our handes that we should deliuer here an entire and complete body of naturall Philosophy But onely that we should take so much of it in our way as is needfull to carry vs with truth and euidence to our iourneys end It belongeth not then to vs to meddle with those sublime contemplations which search into the nature of the vast Vniuerse and that determine the vnity and limitation of it and that shew by what stringes and vpon what pinnes and wheeles and hinges the whole world moueth and that from thence do ascend vnto an awfull acknowledgment and humble admiration of the primary cause from whence and of which both the being of it and the beginning of the first motion and the continuance of all others doth proceed and depend Nor in deede would it be to the purpose for anyman to sayle in this Ocean and to beginne a new voyage of nauigation vpon it vnlesse he were assured he had ballast enough in his shippe to make her sinke deepe into the water and to carry her steadily through those vnruly waues and that he were furnished with skill and prouision sufficient to go through without eyther loosing his course by steering after a wrong compasse or being forced backe againe with shorte and obscure relations of discoueries since others that went out before him are returned with a large account to such as are able to vnderstand and summe it vp Which surely our learned countryman and my best and most honoured frend and to whom of all men liuing I am most obliged for to him I owe that litle which I know and what I haue and shall sett downe in all this discourse is but a few sparkes kindled by me att his greate fire hath both profoundly and acutely and in euery regard iudiciously performed in his Dialogues of the world Our taske then in a lower straine and more proportionate to so weake shoulders is to looke no further then among those bodies we conuerse withall Of which hauing declared by what course and engines nature gouerneth their common motions that are found euen in the Elements and from thence are deriued to all bodies composed of them we intend now to consider such motions as accompany diuers particular bodies and are much admired by whosoeuer vnderstandeth not the causes of them To beginne from the easiest and most connexed with the actions of the Elements the handsell of our labour will light vpon the motions of Rarefaction and Condensation as they are the passions of mixed bodies And first for Rarefaction we may remember how it proceedeth originally from fire and dependeth of heate as is declared in the former chapter and wheresoeuer we find Rarefaction we may be confident the body which suffereth it is not without fire working vpon it From hence we may gather that when the ayre imprisoned in a baloone or bladder swelleth against what cōtaineth it and stretcheth its case and seeketh to breake out this effect must proceed from fire or heate though we see not the fire working eyther within the very bowels of the ayre
the distance of working vpon vs those only within whose sphere of actiuity we are planted can offend or aduantage vs and of them some are neere vs others further from vs. Those that are next vnto vs we discerne according as they are qualifyed eyther by our touch or by our tast or by our smelling which three senses do manifestly appeare to consist in a meere gradation of more or lesse grosse and their operations are leuelled to the three Elements that presse vpon vs earth water and ayre By our other two senses our hearing and our seeing we haue notice of thinges further off and the agents which worke vpon them are of a more refined nature But we must treat of them all in particular and that which we will beginne with shall be the touch as being the grossest of them and that which conuerseth with none but the most materiall and massye obiects We see it dealeth with heauy consistent bodies and iudgeth of them by coniunction vnto them and by immediate reception of something from them And according to the diuers impressions they make in it it distinguisheth them by diuers names which as we said of the qualities of mixed bodies are generally reduced to certaine payres as hoat and cold wett and drye soft and hard smooth and rough thicke and thinne and some others of the like nature which were needelesse to enumerate since we pretend not to deliuer the science of them but only to shew that they and their actions are all corporeall And this is sufficiently euident by meere repeating but their very names for it is plaine by what we haue already said that they are nothing else but certaine affections of quantity arising out of different degrees of rarity and density compounded together And it is manifest by experience that our sense receiueth the very same impressions from them which an other body doth for our body or our sense will be heated by fire and will also be burned by it if the heate be too great as well as wood it will be constipated by cold water moystened by humide thinges and dryed by dry bodies in the same manner as any other body whatsoeuer likewise it may in such sort as they be wounded and haue its continuity broken by hard thinges be pleased and polished by those that are soft and smooth be pressed by those that are thicke and heauy and be rubbed by those that are rugged c. So that those masters who will teach vs that the impressions vpon sense are made by spirituall or spiritelike thinges or qualities which they call intentionall specieses must labour att two workes the one to make it appeare that there are in nature such thinges as they would persuade vs the other to proue that these materiall actions we speake of are not able to performe those effects for which the senses are giuen vnto liuing creatures And vntill they haue done that I conceiue we should be much too blame to admitt such thinges as we neyther haue ground for in reason nor can vnderstand what they are And therefore we must resolue to rest in this beliefe which experience breedeth in vs that these bodies worke vpon our senses no other wayes then by a corporeall operation and that such a one is sufficient for all the effects we see proceede from them as in the processe of this discourse we shall more amply declare The element immediately next to earth in grossenesse is water And in it is the exercise of our tast our mouth being perpetually wett within by meanes of which moysture our tongue receiueth into it some litle partes of the substance which we chewe in our teeth and which passeth ouer it You may obserue how if we take any herbe or fruite and hauing chopped or beatē it small we thē putt it into a wooden dish of water and do squeese it a litle the iuice communicating and mingling it selfe with the water infecteth it with the tast of it selfe and remaining a while in the bowle sinketh by litle and litle into the very pores of the wood as is manifest by its retaining a long time after the tast and smell of that herbe In like manner nature hath taught vs by chewing our meate and by turning it into our mouthes and pressing it a litle that we may the more easily swallow it to imbue our spittle with such litle partes as easily diffuse themselues in water And then our spittle being continuate to the moysture which is within our tongue in such sort as we declared of the moysture of the earth that soaketh into the roote of a plant and particularly in the sinewes of it must of necessity affect those litle sensible stringes with the qualities which these petty bodies mixed euery where with the moysture are themselues imbued withall And if you aske what motions or qualities these be Physitians vnto whom it belongeth most particularly to looke into them will tell you that some dilate the tongue more and some lesse as if some of these litle bodies had an aereall and others a watry disposition and these two they expresse by the names of sweete and fatty That some do contract and draw the tongue together as choaky and rough thinges do most and next to them crabby and immature sharpenesse That some do corrode and pierce the tongue as salt and soure thinges That bitter thinges do search the outside of it as if they swept it and that other thinges do as it were pricke it as spices and hoat drinkes Now all these are sensible materiall thinges which admitt to be explicated clearely by the varieties of rarity and density concurring to their compositions and are so proportionable to such materiall instruments as we can not doubt but that they may be throughly declared by our former principles The next element aboue water is ayre which our nosethrilles being our instrument to sucke in we can not doubt but what affecteth a man by his nose must come vnto him in breath or ayre And as humidity receiueth grosser and weightier partes so those which are more subtile and light do rise vp into the ayre and these we know attaine vnto this lightnesse by the commixtion of fire which is hoat and dry And therefore we can not doubt but that the nature of smell is more or lesse tending to heate and drought which is the cause that their commixtion with the braine proueth comfortable vnto it because of its owne disposition it is vsually subiect to be too moyst and too cold Whether there be any immediate instrument of this sense to receiue the passion or effect which by it other bodies make vpon vs or whether the sense it selfe be nothing but a passage of these exhalations and litle bodies vnto the braine fittly accommodated to discerne what is good or hurtfull for it and accordingly to moue the body to admitt or reiect them importeth not vs att present to determine lett Physitians and Anatomistes resolue that question
whiles it sufficeth vs to vnderstand that the operations of bodies by odours vpon our sense are performed by reall and solide partes of the whole substance which are truly materiall though very litle bodies and not by imaginary qualities And those bodies when they proceed out of the same thinges that yield also tastiue particles although without such materiall violence and in a more subtile manner must of necessity haue in them the same nature which those haue that affect the taste and they must both of them affect a man much alike by his taste and by his smell and so are very proportionate to one an other excepting in those properties which require more cold or liquidity then can well stand with the nature of a smell And accordingly the very names which men haue imposed to expresse the affections of both do many times agree as sauour which is common both to the smell and to the taste and sweete likewise the strongest of which we see oftentimes do make themselues knowne as well by the one as by the other sense and eyther of them in excesse will turne a mans stomake And the Physitians that write of these senses find them very conformable and therefore it happeneth that the loosing of one of them is the losse also of the other And experience teacheth vs in all beastes that the smell is giuen vnto liuing creatures to know what meates are good for them and what are not And accordingly we see them still smell for the most part att any vnknowne meate before they touch it which seldome fayleth of informing them rightly nature hauing prouided this remedy against the gluttony which could not choose but follow the conuenient disposition and temper of their partes and humors through which they often swallow their meate greedily and soddainely without expecting to trye it first by their taste Besides that many meates are so strong that their very tasting them after their vsuall manner would poyson or att the least greately annoy them and therefore nature hath prouided this sense to preuent their taste which being farre more subtile then their taste the small atomes by which it is performed are not so very noxious to the health of the animal as the other grosser atomes are And doubtlessely the like vse men would make of this sense had they not on the one side better meanes then it to know the qualities of meates and therefore this is not much reflected vpon And on the other side were they not continually stuffed and clogged with grosse vapours of steamy meates which are dayly reeking from the table and their stomakes and permitt not purer atomes of bodies to be discerned which require cleare and vninfected organes to take notice of them As we see it fare with dogges who haue not so true and sensible noses when they are high fed and lye in the kitchin amiddest the steames of meate as when they are kept in their kennell with a more spare diett fitt for hunting One full example this age affordeth vs in this kind of a man whose extremity of feare wrought vpon him to giue vs this experiment He was borne in some village of the country of Liege and therefore among strangers he is knowne by the name of Iohn of Liege I haue beene informed of this story by seuerall whom I dare confidently beleeue that haue had it from his owne mouth and haue questioned him with great curiosity particularly about it When he was a litle boy there being warres in the country as that State is seldome without molestations from abroad when they haue no distempers att home which is an vnseparable effect of a countries situation vpon the frontiers of powerfull neigbouring Princes that are att variance the village of whence he was had notice of some vnruly scattered troopes that were coming to pillage them which made all the people of the village fly hastily with what they could carry with them to hide themselues in the woods which were spacious enough to afford them shelter for they ioyned vpon the forest of Ardenne There they lay till some of their scoutes brought them word that the souldiers of whom they were in such apprehension had fired their towne and quitted it Then all of them returned home excepting this boy who it seemeth being of a very timorous nature had images of feare so strong in his fansie that first he ranne further into the wood then any of the rest and afterwardes apprehended that euery body he saw through the thickets and euery voyce he heard was the souldiers and so hidd himselfe from his parents that were in much distresse seeking him all about and calling his name as loud as they could When they had spent a day or twâ— in vaine they returned home without him and he liued many yeares in the woods feeding vpon rootes and wild fruites and maste He said that after he had beene some time in this wild habitation he could by the smell iudge of the tast of any thing that was to be eaten and that he could att a great distance wind by his nose where wholesome fruites or rootes did grow In this state he continued still shunning men with as great feare as when he first ranne away so strong the impression was and so litle could his litle reason master it vntill in a very sharpe winter that many beastes of the forest perished for want of foode necessity brought him to so much confidence that leauing the wild places of the forest remote from all peoples dwellinges he would in the eueninges steale among cattle that were fothered especially the swine and among them gleane that which serued to sustaine wretchedly his miserable life He could not do this so cunningly but that returning often to it he was vpon a time espyed and they who saw a beast of so strange a shape for such they tooke him to be he being naked and all ouer growne with haire beleeuing him to be a satyre or some such prodigious creature as the recounters of rare accidents tell vs of layed wayte to apprehend him But he that winded them as farre off as any beast could do still auoyded them till att the length they layed snares for him and tooke the wind so aduantagiously of him that they caught him and then soone perceiued he was a man though he had quite forgotten the vse of all language but by his gestures and cryes he expressed the greatest affrightednesse that might be Which afterwardes he said when he had learned anew to speake was because he thought those were the souldiers he had hidden himselfe to auoyde when he first betooke himselfe to the wood and were alwayes liuely in his fansie through his feares continually reducing them thither This man within a litle while after he came to good keeping and full feeding quite lost that acutenesse of smelling which formerly gouerned him in his taste and grew to be in that particular as other ordinary men were But att his
Optikes will by refractions and by reflexions make all sortes of colours out of pure light as we see in Rainebowes in those triangular glasses or prismes which some do call fooles Paradises and in other inuentions for this purpose Wherefore in briefe to shew what colour is lett vs lay for a ground that light is of all other thinges in the worlâ— the greatest and the most powerfull agent vpon our eye eyther by it selfe or by what cometh in with it and that where light is not darkenesse is then consider that light being diuersly to be cast but especially through or from a transparent body into which it sinketh in part and in part it doth not and you will conclude that it can not choose but come out from such a body in diuers sortes mingled with darkenesse which if it be in a sensible quantity doth accordingly make diuers appearances and those appearances must of necessity haue diuers hues representing the colours which are middle colours betweene white and blacke since white is the colour of light and darkenesse seemeth blacke Thus those colours are ingendred which are called apparent ones And they appeare sometimes but in some one position as in the raynebow which changeth place as the looker on doth but att other times they may be seene from any part as those which light maketh by a double refraction through a triangular glasse And that this is rightly deliuered may be gathered out of the conditions requisite to their production for that crystall or water or any refracting body doth not admitt light in all its partes is euident by reason of the reflexion that it maketh which is exceeding great and not only from the superficies but euen from the middle of the body within as you may see plainely if you putt it in a darke place and enlighten but one part of it for then you may perceiue as it were a current of light passe quite through the body although your eye be not opposite to the passage so that manifestly it reflecteth to your eye from all the inward partes which it lighteth vpon Now a more oblique reflexion or refraction doth more disperse the light and admitteth more priuations of light in its partes then a lesse oblique one as Galileo hath demonstrated in the first Dialogue of his systeme Wherefore a lesse oblique reflexion or refraction may receiue that in quality of light which a more oblique one maketh appeare mingled with darkenesse and consequently the same thing will appeare colour in one which sheweth it selfe plaine light in the other for the greater the inclination of an angle is the greater also is the dispersion of the light And as colours are made in this sort by the medium through which light passeth so if we conceiue the superficies from which the light reflecteth to be diuersly ordered in respect of reflexion it must of necessity follow that it will haue a diuers luster and sight as we see by experience in the neckes of pigeons and in certaine positions of our eye in which the light passing through our eye browes maketh an appearance as though we saw diuers colours streaming from a candle we looke vpon And accordingly we may obserue how some thinges or rather most do appeare of a colour more inclining to white when they are irradiated with a great light then when they stand in a lesser And we see painters heighten their colours and make them appeare lighter by placing deepe shadowes by them euen so much that they will make obiects appeare neerer and further of meerly by their mixtion of their colours Because obiects the neerer they are the more strongly and liuely they reflect light and therefore appeare the clearer as the others do more dusky Therefore if we putt the superficies of one body to haue a better disposition for the reflexion of light then an other hath we can not but conceiue that such difference in the superficies must needes begett variety of permanent colours in the bodies And according as the superficies of the same body is better or worse disposed to reflexion of light by polishing or by compressure together or the like so the same body remaining the same in substance will shew it selfe of a different colour And it being euident that white which is the chiefest colour doth reflect most light and as euident that blacke reflecteth least light so that it reflecteth shadowes in lieu of colours as the Oâ—sidian stone among the Romanes doth witnesse And it being likewise euident that to be dense and hard and of small partes is the disposition of the obiect which is most apt to reflect light we can not doubt but that white is that disposition of the superficies That is to say it is the superficies of a body consisting of dense of hard and of small partes and on the contrary side that blacke is the disposition of the superficies which is most soft and full of greatest pores for when light meeteth with such a superficies it getteth easily into it and is there as it were absorpt and hidden in caues and cometh not out againe to reflect towardes our eye This doctrine of ours of the geneâ—ation of colours agreeth exactly with Aristotles principles and followeth euidently out of his definitions of light and of colours And for summing vp the generall sentiments of mankind in making his Logicall definitions I thinke no body will deny his being the greatest Master that euer was He defineth light to be actus Diaphani which we may thus explicate It is that thing which maketh a body that hath an aptitude or capacity of being seene quite through it in euery interior part of it to be actually seene quite through according to that capacity of it And he defineth colour to be The terme or ending of a diaphanous body the meaning whereof is that colour is a thing which makâ—th a diaphanous body to reach no further or that colour is the cause why a body is no further diaphanous then vntill where it beginneth or that colour is the reason why we can see no further then to such a degree through or into such a body Which definition fitteth most exactly with the thing it giueth vs the nature of For it is euident that when we see a body the body we see hindereth vs from seeing any other that is in a straight line beyond it And therefore it can not be denyed but that colour terminateth and endeth the diaphaneity of a body by making it selfe be seene And all men do agree in conceiuing this to be the nature of colour and that it is a certaine disposition of a body whereby that body cometh to be seene On the other side nothing is more euident then that to haue vs see a body light must reach from that body to our eye Then adding vnto this what Aristotle teacheth concerning the production of seeing which he sayth is made by the action of the seene body vpon our sense it
sloapingnesse of the line by which the illuminant striketh one side of the glasse and cometh out at the other whem colours proceed from such a percussion To this then we must wholy apply our selues and knowing that generally when light falleth vpon a body with so great a sloaping or inclination so much of it as getteth through must needes be weake and much diffused it followeth that the reason of such colours must necessaryly consist in this diffusion and weakenesse of light which the more it is diffused the weaker it groweth and the more lines of darkenesse are betweene the lines of light and do mingle themselues with them To confirme this you may obserue how iust at the egresse from the prisme of that light which going on a litle further becometh colours no colour at all appeareth vpon a paper opposed close to the side of the glasse vntill remouing it further off the colours beginne to shew themselues vpon the edges thereby conuincing manifestly that it was the excesse of light which hindered them from appearing at the first And in like manner if you putt a burning glasse betweene the light and thâ— prisme so as to multiply the light which goeth through the prisme to the paper you destroy much of the colour by conuerting it into light But on the other side if you thicken the ayre and make it duâ—ky wiâ—h smoake or with dust you will plainely see that where the light cometh through a conuexe glasse perpendicularly opposed to the illuminant there will appeare colours on the edges of the cones that the light maketh and peraduenture the whole cones would appeare coloured if the darkening were conueniently made for if an opacous body be sett within eyther of the cones its sides will appeare coloured though the ayre be but moderately thickned which sheweth that the addition of a litle darkenesse would make that which otherwise appeareth pure light be throughly dyed into colours And thus you haue the true and adequate cause of the appearance of such colours Now to vnderstand what colours and vpon which sides will appeare we may consider that when light passeth through a glasse or other diaphanous body so much of it as shineth in the ayre or vpon some reflecting body bigger then itself after its passage through the glasse must of necessity haue darkenesse on both sides of it and so be coÌ„prised and limited by two darkenesses but if some opacous body that is lesse then the light be putt in the way of the light then it may happen contrarywise that there be darkenesse or the shadow of that opacous body betweene two lights Againe we must consider that when light falleth so vpon a prisme as to make colours the two outward rayes which proceed from the light to the two sides of the superficies at which the light entereth are so refracted that at their coming out againe through the other superficies that ray which made the lesse angle with the outward superficies of the glasse going in maketh the greater angle with the outside of the other superficies coming out and contrarywise that ray which made the greater angle going in maketh the lesser at its coming out and the two internall angles made by those two rayes and the outside of the superficies they issue at are greater then two right angles and so we see that the light dilateth it selfe at its coming out Now because rayes that issue through a superficies the neerer they are to be perpendiculars vnto that superficies so much the thicker they are it followeth that this dilatation of light at its coming out of the glasse must be made and must encrease froÌ„ that side where the angle was least at the going in and greatest at the coming out so that the neerer to the contrary side you take a part of light the thinner the light must be there and contrariwise the thicker it must be the neerer it is vnto the side where the angle at the rayes coming out is the greater Wherefore the strongest light that is the place where the light is least mixed with darkenesse must be neerer that side then the other Consequently herevnto if by an opacous body you make a shadow comprehended within this light that shadow must also haue its strongest part neerer vnto one of the lights betwixt which it is comprised then vnto the other for shadow being nothing else but the want of light hindered by some opacous body it must of necessity lye auersed from the illuminant iust as the light would haue layen if it had not beene hindered Wherefore seeing that the stronger side of light doth more impeach the darkenesse then the feebler side doth the deepest darke must incline to that side where the light is weakest that is towardes that side on which the shadow appeareth in respect of the opacous body or of the illuminant and so be a cause of deepenesse of colour on that side if it happen to be fringed with colour THE ONE AND THIRTIETH CHAPTER The causes of certaine appearances in luminous Colours with a conclusion of the discourse touching the senses and the sensible qualities OVt of these groundes we are to seeke the resolution of all such symptomes as appeare vnto vs in this kind of colours First therefore calling to mind how we haue already declared that the red colour is made by a greater proportion of light mingled with darkenesse and the blew with a lesse proportion it must follow that when light passeth through a glasse in such sort as to make colours the mixture of the light and darkenesse on that side where the light is strongest will incline to a red and their mixture on the other side where the light is weakest will make a violet or blew and this we see to fall out accordingly in the light which is tincted by going through a prisme for a red colour appeareth on that side from which the light doth dilate or decrease and a blew is on that side towardes which it decreaseth Now if a darke body be placed within this light so as to haue the light come on both sides of it we shall see the contrary happen about the borders of the picture or shadow of the darke body that is to say the red colour will be on that side of the picture which is towardes or ouer against the blew colour that is made by the glasse and the blew of the picture will be on that side which is towardes the red that is made by the glasse as you may experience if you place a slender opacous body a long the prisme in the way of the light eyther before or behind the prisme The reason whereof is that the opacous body standing in the middle enuironned by light diuideth the light and maketh two lights of that which was but one each of which lights is comprised betweene two darkenesses to witt betweene each border of shadow that ioyneth to each extreme of the light that cometh from
the name of Feare and the other that carrieth one to the pursuite of the obiect we call Hope Anger or Audaciâ—y is mixed of both these for it seeketh to auoyde an euill by embracing and ouercoming it and proceedeth out of aboundance of spirits Now if the proportion of spirits sent from the hart be too great for the braine it hindereth or peruerteth the due operation both in man and beast All which it will not be amisse to open a litle more particularly and first why painefull or displeasing obiects do contract the spirits and gratefull ones do contrary wise dilate them It is because the good of the hart consisteth in life that is in heate and moysture and it is the nature of heate to dilate it selfe in moysture whereas cold and drie thinges do contract the bodies they worke vpon and such are enemyes to the nature of men and beasts and accordingly experience as well as reason teacheth vs that all obiects which be naturally good are such as be hoat and moyst in the due proportion to the creature that is affected and pleased with them Now the liuing creature being composed of the same principles as the world round about him is and the hart being an abridgement of the whole sensible creature and being moreouer full of bloud and that very hoat it cometh to passe that if any of these little extracts of the outward world do arriue to the hoat bloud about the hart it worketh in this bloud such like an effect as we see a droppe of water falling into a glasse of wine which is presently dispersed into a competent compasse of the wine so that any little obiect must needes make a notable motion in the bloud about the hart This motion according to the nature of the obiect will be eyther conformable or contrary vnlesse it be so little a one as no effect will follow of it and then it is of that kind which aboue we called indifferent If the ensuing effect be connaturall to the hart there riseth a motion of a certaine fume about the hart which motion we call pleasure and it neuer fayleth of accompanying all those motions which are good as Ioy Loue Hope and the like but if the motion be displeasing there is likewise a common sense of a heauynesse about the hart which we call griefe and it is common to sorrow feare hate and the like Now it is manifest by experience that thâ—se motions are all of them different ones and do strike against diuers of those partes of our body which encompasse the hart out of which striking followeth that the spirits sent from the hart do affect the braine diuersly and are by it conueyed into diuers nerues and so do sett diuers members in action Whence followeth that certaine members are generally moued vpon the motion of such a passion in the hart especially in beaste â—ho haue a more determinate course of working then man hath and if â—ometimes we see variety euen in beasts vpon knowledge of the circumstances we may easily guesse at the causes of that variety the particularities of all which motions we remitt to Physitians and to Anatomistes aduertising only that the fume of pleasure and the heauinesse of griefe do plainely shew that the first motions do participate of dilatation and the latter of compression Thus you see how by the senses a liuing creature becometh iudge of what is good and of what is bad for him which operation is performed more perfectly in beasts and especially in those who liue in the free ayre remote from humane conuersation for their senses are fresh and vntaynted as nature made them then in men Yet without doubt nature hath beene as fauourable in this particular to men as vnto them were it not that with disorder and excesse we corrupt and oppresse our senses as appeareth euidently by the story we haue recorded of Iohn of Liege as also by the ordinary practise of some Hermites in the diserts who by their tast or smell would presently be informed whether the herbes and rootes and fruits thâ—y mett withall were good or hurtfull for them though they neuer before had had triall of them Of which excellency of the senses there remaineth in vs only some dimme sparkes in those qualities which we call sympathies and antipathies whereof the reasons are plaine out of our late discourse and are nothing elâ—e but a conformity or opposition of a liuing creature by some indiuiduall property of it vnto some body without it in such sort as its conformity or opposition vnto thinges by its specificall qualities is termed naturall or against nature But of this we shall discourse more at large hereafter Thus it appeareth how the senses are seated in vs principally for the end of mouing vs to or from obiects that are good for vs or hurtfull to vs. But though our Reader be content to allow this intent of nature in our three inferiour senses yet he may peraduenture not be satisfyed how the two more noble ones the hearing and the seeing do cause such motions to or from obiects as are requisite to be in liuing creatures for the preseruation of them for may he say how can a man by only seeing an obiect or by hearing the sound of it tell what qualities it is embued withall Or what motion of liking or disliking can be caused in his hart by his meere receiuing the visible species of an obiect at his eyes or by his eares hearing some noyse it maketh And if there be no such motion there what should occasion him to prosecute or auoyd that obiect When he tasteth or smelleth or toucheth a thing he findeth it sweet or bitter or stincking or hoat or cold and is therewith eyther pleased or displeased but when he only seeth or heareth it what liking or disliking can he haue of it in order to the preseruation of his nature The solution of this difficulty may in part appeare out of what we haue already said But for the most part the obiects of thâ—se two nobler senses dâ—â—moue vs by being ioyned in the memory with some other thing that did eyther please or displease some of the other three senses And from thence it is that the motion of going to embrace the obiect or â—uersion from it doth immediately proceed as when a dogg seeth a man that vseth to giue him meate the species of the man coming into his fansie calleth out of his memory the others which are of the same nature and are former participations of that man as well as this fâ—esh one is but these are ioyned with specieses of meate because at other times they did vse to come in together and therefore the meate being a good vnto him and causing him in the manner we haue said to moue towardes it it will follow that the dogg will presently moue towardes that man and expresse a contentednesse in being with him And this is the ground of all assuefaction in beasts and
sinnewy circle wherevnto is fastened the case of the hart called the Pericardium This Diaphragma is very sensible receiuing its vertue of feeling from the aboue mentioned branch of the sixt couple of nerues and being of a trembling nature is by our respiration kept in continuall motion and flappeth vpon all occasions as a drumme head would do if it were slacke and moyst or as a sayle would do that were brought into the wind Out of this description of it it is obuious to conceiue that all the changes of motion in the hart must needes be expressed in the Diaphragma For the hart beating vpon the Pericardium and the Pericardium being ioyned to the Diaphragma such iogges and vibrations must needes be imprinted and ecchoed there as are formed in the hart which from thence can not choose but be carryed to the braine by the sixt couple of nerues And thus it cometh about that we feele and haue sensation of all the passions that are moued in our hart Which peraduenture is the reason why the Greekes do call this part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from it deriue the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in latine signifyeth Sapere with vs to sauour or to like for by this part of our body we haue a liking of any obiect or a motion of inclination towardes it from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued by composition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a prudent man is he that liketh and is moued to compasse wholesome and good thinges Which Etymology of the word seemeth vnto me more naturall then from the phrenesy from whence some deriue it because a great distemper or inflammation in the Diaphragma often causeth that disease Now because the obiect is cōueyed frō the braine to the hart some part of its way by the same passage as the motion of the hart is reconueyed backe to the braine it must of necessity follow that who is more attētiue to outward sense doth lesse consider or reflect vpō his passion and who is more attentiue to obserue and be gouuerned by what passeth in his hart is lesse wrought vpon by externall thinges For if his fantasy draweth strongly vnto it the emanations from outward agents vpon the senses the streame of those emanations will descend so strongly from the ouerfilled fantasy into the hart that it will hinder the ascent of any fewer and weaker spirits by the same pipe But if the current do sett strongest vpwardes from the hart by the Diaphragma to the braine then it will so fill the pipe by which it ascendeth that little of a weaker tyde can make a contrary eddy water in the same channell And by this meanes nature effecteth a second pleasure or paine in a liuing creature which moueth it oftentimes very powerfully in absence of the primary obiect as we may obserue when thinking of any pleasing or displeasing action we find about our hart a motion which enticeth vs to it or auerteth vs from it for as the first pleasure was occasioned by the stroake which the obiect applyed to the outward sense made vpon the fantasy which can iudge of nothing without being strucken by it so the second pleasure springeth from the spirits moued in the hart by messengers from the braine which by the Diaphragma do rebound a stroake backe againe vpon the fantasy And from hence it proceedeth that memory delighteth or afflicteth vs and that we think of past thinges with sweetenesse or with remorse and thereby assuefaction is wrought in beastes as farre as the appetitiue part doth contribute therevnto to perfect what was begunne in their cognoscitiue part by the ingression of corporeall speciefes into their fantasy in order to the same effect as we haue touched before But now lett vs examine how so small a quantity of a body as cometh from an obiect into our sense can be the cause of so great a motion about our hart To which purpose we are to remember that this motion is performed in the most subtile and thinne substance that can be imagined they are the vitall spirits that do all this worke which are so subtile so agile and so hoat that they may in some sort be termed fire Now if we reflect how violent fire is we neede not wonder at the suddaine and great motion of these passions But we must further take notice that they are not in the greatest excesse but where the liuing creature hath beene long inured and exercised vnto them eyther directly or indirectly so that they arriue not to that pitch so much out of the power of the agent as out of the preparation and disposition of the patient as when cold water hath beene often heated by extinguishing red hoat irons in it after some repetitions a few quenchinges will reduce it from cold to boyling that at the first would scarce haue made it lukewarme and accordingly we see a hart that for a long time hath loued and vehemently hath desired enioying is transported in a high degree at the least sight and renuance of stroakes from its beloued obiect and is as much deiected vpon any the least depriuation of it for to such an obiect the liuing creature is hurried away by a force much resembling the grauity or celerity of a dense body that is sett on running downe a steepe hill vnto which the only taking away of a weake lett or the least stoppe giueth a precipitate course not out of the force of what is done to it but out of the force which was formerly in the thing though for the present it lay there vndiscouered and so likewise in these cases the obiect rather giueth the occasion of the violent motion then the force or power to it These thinges being thus determined some peraduenture may aske how it cometh to passe that the spirits which cause motion being sent on their arrant by the braine do alwayes hitt the right way and light duely into those very sinnewes which moue the liuing creature according as is requisite for its nature Since all the passages are open what is it that gouerneth them so as they neuer mistake and the animal is neuer driuen towardes harme insteed of flying from it Who is their guide in these obscure pathes But it were to impute ignorance to the maker to think that he framed all the passages alike and so euery one of them promiscuously apt to receiue into them all sorts of spirits howsoeuer they be moued and therefore we may assure our selues that since in these diuersities of occasions there are likewise diuers kinds of motions from the hart◠eyther there is proportionable vnto them diuers kindes of passages fitt to receiue and entertaine the spirits according to the condition they are in so as the passages which are aiusted to one kind of spirits will not admitt any of an other nature or else the first motions of liking or disliking in the hart which as we haue said
noysome smell that would almost poysone an other man And thus if in the breath of the wolfe or in the steame coming from his body be any quality offensiue to the lambe as it may very well be where there is so great a contrariety of natures it is not strange that at the first sight and approach of him he should be distempered and fly from him as one fighting cocke will do from an other that hath eaten garlike and the same happeneth between the weasell and the toade the lyon and the cocke the toade and the spider and seuerall other creatures of whom like enmities are reported All which are caused in them not by secret instincts and antipathies and sympathies whereof we can giue no account with the bare sound of which wordes most men do pay themselues without examining what they meane but by downe right materiall qualities that are of contrary natures as fire and water are and are eyther begotten in them in their originall constitution or are implanted in them afterwardes by their continuall foode which nourishing them changeth thier constitution to its coÌ„plexion And I am persuaded this would goe so farre that if one man were nourished continually with such meate and greedily affected it which an other had auersion from there would naturally follow much dislike betweene them vnlesse some superiour regard should master this auersion of the sense And I remember to haue seene two notable examples of it the one in Spaine of a Gentleman that had a horrour to garlike who though he was very subiect to the impressions of beauty could neuer weane himselfe from an auersion he had settled him to a very handsome woman that vsed to eate much garlike though to winne him she forebore the vse of that meate which to her was the most sauory of all others And the like I knew in EnglaÌ„d betweene two whereof the one did extremely loue cheese and the other as much hated it and would fall into a strange agony and be reduced one would thinke to the point of death if by inaduertence or others tryall of him he had swallowed neuer so litle of what the other would haue quitted all meates else to liue vpon And not only such auersions as spring from differences of complexions in the constitutions of seuerall animals do cause these effects of feare and of trembling and of flying from those that do make such impressions but euen the seeing them angry and in fury doth the like for such passions do alter the spirits and they issuing from the body of the animal in passion can not choose but be receiued by an other in a different manner then if they were of an other temper Then if the one kind be agreeable to their nature the other must needes be displeasing And this may be the reason why bees neuer sting such as are of a milde and gentle disposition and will neuer agree with others that are of a froward and angry nature And the same one may obserue among dogges and peraduenture a mans fantasy may be raised to such a height of fury that the fiercest beastes may be affraide to looke vpon him and can not endure that those mastering spirits which streame out of the mans eyes should come into his so much they distemper his fantasy and therefore he will turne away from the man and auoyde him Which discourse may be coÌ„firmed by sundry examples of lyons and beares that haue runne from angry and confident men and the like Since then a man that in his naturall hew giueth no distast doth so much affright fiercest beastes when he putteth on his threatning lookes it is no wonder that beastes of a milder and softer nature should haue feare of him settled in them when they neuer saw him otherwise then angry and working mischiefe to them And since their brood do receiue from their parents a nature easily moued vnto feare or anger by the sight of what moued them it is not strange that at the first sight they should tremble or swell according as the inward motion of the spirits affordeth Now if this hath rendered the birdes in the wilde Islandes affraide of men who otherwise would be indifferent to them it is no maruayle to see more violent effects in the lambes auersion from the wolfe or in the larkes from the hobbey since they peraduenture haue ouer and aboue the hurt they vse to do them a diâ—formity in their constitutions and therefore though a larke will flye as well from a man as from a hobbey yet because there is one cause more for his dislike against the hobbey then against the man namely the diâ—formity of their constitutions he will flye into the mans hand to auoyde the hawkes talons Vnto some of these causes all antipathies may be reduced and the like reason may be giuen for the sympathies we see betweene some creatures The litle corporeities which issue from the one haue such a conformity with the temper of the other that it is thereby moued to ioyne it selfe vnto the body from whence they flow and affecteth vnion with it in that way as it receiueth the impression If the smell do please it the beast will alwayes be smelling at it if the tast nothing shall hinder it from feeding vpon it when it can reach it The fishermen vpon the banke ouer against newfound land do report that there flocketh about them a kind of bird so greedy of the fishes liuers which they take there as that to come at them and feede vpon them they will suffer the men to take them in their handes and will not fly away as long as any of their desired meate is in their eye whence the French men that fish there do call them Happe foyes The like power a certaine worme hath with nigthingales And thus you see how they are strong impressions vpon sense and not any discourse of reason that do gouerne beastes in their actions for if their auoyding men did proceed from any sagacity in their nature surely they would exercise it when they see that for a bitte of meate they incurre their destruction and yet neyther the examples of their fellowes killed before their eyes in the same pursuite nor the blowes which themselues do seele can serue them for warning where the sense is so strongly affected but as soone as the blow that remoued them is passed if it misle killing or laming them and they be gotten on wing againe they will returne to their prey as eagerly and as confidently as if nothing were there to hinder them This then being the true reason of all sympathy and antipathy we can not admitt that any beastes should loue or hate one on other for any other cause then some of those we haue touched All which are reduced to locall motion and to materiall application of bodies of one nature to bodies of an other and are as well transmitted to their yong ones as begotten in themselues and as the
vniuersality or particularity for that vnity which the two termes whose identification is enquired after must haue by being ioyned with the third becometh much varied by such diuers application and from hence shooteth vp that multitude of kindes of syllogismes which our Logitians call moodes All which I haue thus particularly expressed to the end we may obserue how this great variety hangeth vpon the sole string of identity Now these Syllogismes being as it were interlaced and wouen one within an other so that many of them do make a long chaine whereof each of them is a linke do breede or rather are all the variety of mans life they are the stepps by which we walke in all our conuersations and in all our businesses man as he is man doth nothing else but weaue such chaines whatsoeuer he doth swaruing from this worke he doth as deficient from the nature of man and if he do ought beyond this by breaking out into diuers sortes of exteriour actions he findeth neuerthelesse in this linked sequele of simple discourses the art the cause the rule the boundes and the modell of it Lett vs take a summary view of the vast extent of it and in what an immeÌ„se Ocean one may securely sayle by that neuer varying compasse when the needle is rightly touched and fitted to a well moulded boxe making still new discoueries of regions farre out of the sight and beliefe of them who stand vpon the hither shore Humane operations are comprised vnder the two generall heades of knowledge and of action if we looke but in grosse vpon what an infinity of diuisions these branch themselues into we shall become giddy our braines will turne our eyes will grow weary and dimme with ayming only att a suddaine and rouing measure of the most conspicuous among them in the way of knowledge We see what mighty workes men haue extended their labours vnto not only by wild discourses of which huge volumes are coÌ„posed but euen in the rigorous methode of Geometry Arithmetike and Algebra in which an Euclide an Apollonius an Archimedes a Diophantus and their followers haue reached such admirable heights and haue wound vp such vast bottomes sometimes shewing by effects that the thing proposed must needes be as they haue sett downe and can not possibly be any otherwise otherwhiles appaying the vnderstanding which is neuer truly at rest till it hath found the causes of the effects it seeth by exposing how it cometh to be so that the reader calling to mind how such a thing was taught him before and now finding an other vnexpectedly conuinced vpon him easily seeth that these two put together do make and force that third to be whereof he was before in admiration how it could be effected which two wayes of discourse are ordinarily knowne by the names of Demonstrations the one called a Priori the other a Posteriori Now if we looke into the extent of the deductions out of these we shall find no end In the heaueÌ„s we may perceiue Astronomy measuring whatsoeuer we can imagine and ordering those glorious lights which our Creator hath hanged out for vs and shewing them their wayes and pricking out their pathes and prescribing them for as many ages as he pleaseth before hand the various motions they may not swarue from in the least circumstance Nor want there sublime soules that tell vs what mettall they are made of what figures they haue vpon what pillars they are fixed and vpon what gimals they moue and performâ— their various periodes wittnesse that excellent and admirable worke I haue so often mentioned in my former Treatise If we looke vpon the earth we shall meete with those that will tell vs how thicke it is and how much roome it taketh vp they will shew vs how men and beastes are hanged vnto it by the heeles how the water and ayre do couer it what force and power fire hath vpon them all what working is in the depths of it and of what composition the maine body of it is framed where neyther our eyes can reach nor any of our senses can send its messengers to gather and bring back any relations of it Yet are not our Masters contented with all this the whole world of bodies is not enough to satisfy them the knowledge of all corporeall thinges and of this vast machine of heauen and earth with all that they enclose can not quench the vnlimited thirst of a noble minde once sett on fire with the beauty and loue of truth Aestuat infoelix angusto limite mundi Vt Gyarae clausus scopulis paruâque seripho But such heroike spirits cast their subtile nettes into an other world after the winged inhabitans of the heauens and find meanes to bring them also into account and to serue them how imperceptible soeuer they be to the senses as daynties at the soules table They enquire after a maker of the world we see and are ourselues a maine part of and hauing found him they conclude him oâ—t of the force of contradiction to be aeternall infinite omnipotent omniscient immutable and a thousand other admirable qualities they determine of him They search after his tooles and instruments wherewith he built this vast and admirable pallace and seeke to grow acquainted with the officiers and stewardes that vnder him gouerne this orderly and numerous family They find them to be inuisible creatures exalted aboue vs more then we can estimate yet infinitely further short of their and our maker then we are of them If this do occasion them to cast their thoughts vpon man himselfe they find a nature in him it is true much inferiour to these admirable Intelligences yet such an one as they hope may one day arriue vnto the likenesse of them and that euen at the present is of so noble a moulde as nothing is too bigge for it to faddome nor any thing too small for it to discerne Thus we see knowledge hath no limits nothing escapeth the toyles of science all that euer was that is or can euer be is by them circled in their extent is so vast that our very thoughts and ambitioÌ„s are too weake and too poore to hope for or to ayme at what by them may be coÌ„passed And if any man that is not invred to raise his thoughts aboue the pitch of the outward obiects he coÌ„uerseth dayly with should suspect that what I haue now said is rather like the longing dreames of passionate louers whose desires feede them with impossibilities then that it is any reall truth or should imagine that it is but a poetike Idea of science that neuer was or will be in act or if any other that hath his discoursing faculty vitiated and peruerted by hauing beene imbued in the schooles with vnsound and vmbratile principles should persuade himselfe that howsoeuer the pretenders vnto learning and science may talke loude of all thinges and make a noise with scholastike termes and persuade their ignorant hearers that they speake
a man goeth How long this staffe is What colour that mans clothes are of c to all which and to as many thinges more as you will so they be within the compasse of his knowledge he straight answereth differently and to the purpose Whence it is manifest that his answeres do not proceed vpon sett gimals or stringes whereof one being strucke it moueth the rest in a sett order which we haue shewed is the course in all actions done by beastes but out of a principle within him which of it selfe is indifferent to all thinges and therefore can readily apply it selfe to the answere according as by the question it is moued and the like may be obserued in his actions which he varyeth according to the occasions presented I remember how Sir Philip Sidney the Phoenix of the age he liued in and the glory of our nation and the patterne to posterity of a complete a gallant and a perfect gentleman aptly calleth our handes the instruments of instruments from Aristotle who termeth them Organa organorum or vniuersall instruments fittly moulded to be employed in any seruice whereas nature hath to all other creatures appropriated their instruments to determinate actions but to man she hath in these giuen such as might be applyed to any kind of worke whatsoeuer and accordingly we see that the same kind of bird still buildeth her neast and breedeth her young ones in the same way without any the least variance at all but men do build their houses as they please sometimes vpon hils sometimes in vales sometimes vnder the earth and sometimes vpon the toppes of trees and the manners of breeding or instructing their children are as diuers as the customes of nations and townes and in all other actions our Masters note it for a property peculiar to man that he vseth to arriue vnto the same end by diuers meanes as to transport ourselues to some place we would goe vnto eyther by water or by horse or by coach or by litter as we please whereas we see no such variety in like actions of other liuing creatures All which being so we may conclude that the soules proceeding eyther to answeres or to action argueth cleerely that she hath within her selfe such an indifferency as is ioyned with a meanes to determine this indifferency the contrary whereof we see in all corporeall engines for they haue euery steppe in the whole course of their wayes chalked out vnto them by their very framing as hath beene amply declared in the first Treatise and haue the determination of their worke from end to end sett downe and giuen them by their artificier and maker and therefore it is most euident that the soule can not be a thing composed or framed of materiall and quantitatiue partes seeing she hath not her wayes sett downe vnto her but frameth them of her selfe according to the accidents that occurre The same nature of the soule discouereth it selfe in the quiet proceeding of Reason when it worketh with greatest strength and vigour as well knowing that its efficaciousnesse consisteth not in the multitude of partes which Passion breedeth but in the well ordering of those it already hath vnder its command Whereas the strength of Quantity and the encrease of its strength consisteth in the multitude of its partes as will euidently appeare to whom shall consider this point deepely Thus we have in a summary manner gone through all the operations of those soule which in the beginning of this latter Treatise we heaped together as materials wherewith to rayse an immateriall and spirituall building Neyther I hope will our Reader be offended with vs for being more succinct and concise in all our discourse concerning our soule then where we deliuered the doctrine of Bodies for the difficultnesse of this subiect and the nicety required to the expressing our conceptions concerning it wherein as the Prouerbe is a haire is to be clouen would not allow vs that liberty of ranging about as when we treated of Bodies What occurreth among them may be illustrated by examples within their owne orbe and of their owne pitch but to desplay the operations of a soule we can find no instances that are able to reach them they would rather embroile and darken them for the exact propriety of wordes must be strictly and rigorously obserued in them and the Reader shall penetrate more into the nature and depth of them by serious meditation and reflection vpon the hintes we haue here giuen efficacious enough I hope to excite those thoughts he should haue for this purpose and to steere them the right way then by much and voluminous reading or by hearing long and polished discourses of this subiect For my part if what I haue here said should to any man appeare not sufficient to conuince that our soule is of a spirituall and farre different nature from all such thinges as in our first Treatise we haue discoursed vpō and taken for the heades and most generall kindes of Bodies vnto which all other particular ones and their motions may be reduced I shall become a suitor to him in entreating him to take this subiect into his handling where it beginneth to be vnwieldy for mine and to declare vnto vs vpon the principles we haue settled in the first Treatise and vpon considering the nature of a body which is the first of all our notions how these particulars we haue reflected vpon in mans actions can be drawne out of them for I can find no possible meanes to linke them together a vast and impenetrable Ocean lyeth betweene the discoueries we haue made on each side of its shores which forbiddeth all commerce between them at the least on the darke bodies side which hath not winges to soare into the region of Intellectuall light By those principles we haue traced out the course and progresse of all operations belonging to sense and how beastes do or may performe all their actions euen to their most refined and subtilest operations but beyond thē we haue not beene able to carry these groundes nor they vs. Lett him then take the paines to shew vs by what figures by what first qualities by what mixtion of rare and dense partes an vniuersall apprehension an euident iudgement a legitimate consequence is made and so of the like as of a mans determination of himselfe to answere pertinently any question of his choosing this way before that c. Which if he can doe as I am sure he can not I shall allow it to be reasō and not obstinacy that worketh in his mind and carryeth him against our doctrine but if he can not and that there is no apparence nor possibility as indeede there is not that these actions can be effected by the ordering of materiall partes and yet he will be still vnsatisfyed without being able to tell why for he will be vnwilling to acknowledge that these abstracted speculations do not sinke into him and that nothing can conuince him but
to require bodies and instruments in the next life that the soule may there be that which they acnowledge she is in her body without any such helpes And as for that axiome or experience that the soule doth not vnderstand vnlesse she speculate phantasmes as on the one side I yield to it and confesse the experience after the best and seriousest tryall I could make of it so on the other side when I examine the matter to the bottome I find that it cometh not home to our aduersaries intention For as when we looke vpon a thing we conceiue we worke vpon that thing whereas in truth we do but sett our selues in such a position that the thing seene may worke vpon vs in like manner our looking vpon the phantasmes in our braine is not our soules action vpon them but it is our letting them beate at our common sense that is our letting them worke vpon our soule The effect whereof is that eyther oursoule is bettered in her selfe as when we study and contemplate or else that she bettereth something without vs as when by this thinking we order any action But if they will haue this Axiome auayle them they should shew that the soule is not of her selfe a knowledge which if they be able to do euen then when to our thinking she seemeth not so much as to thinke we will yield they haue reason but that will be impossible to them to do for she is alwayes of her selfe a knowledge though in the body shâ—â—euâ—â— expresseth so much but when she is putt to it Or else they should shâ—w that this knowledge which the soule is of her selfe will not by changing the manner of her Existence become an actuall knowledge insteed of the habituall knowledge which now appeareth in her But as these Aristotelians embrace and sticke to one Axiome of their Patrone so they forgoe and preuaricate against an other for as it is Aristotles doctrine that a substance is for its operation and were in vaine and superfluous if it could not practise it so likewise is it his confessed doctrine that Matter is for its forme and not the forme for the 〈◊〉 And yet these men pretend that the soule serueth for nothing 〈…〉 gouerning of the body whereas contrawise both all 〈…〉 doctrine and common sense conuinceth that the body must 〈…〉 soule Which if it be nothing can be more consentaneous to 〈◊〉 then to conceiue that the durance which the soule hath in the 〈…〉 assigned her to worke and moulde in her the future state which 〈…〉 haue after this life and that no more operations are to be expected from her after this life but insteed of them a settled state of Being seeing that euen in this life according to Aristotles doctrine the proper operations of the soule are but certaine Beings so that we may conclude 〈◊〉 a soule were growne to the perfection which her nature is capable of the would be nothing else but a constant Being neuer changing from the happenesse of the best Being And although the texts of Aristotle which remaine vnto vs be vncertaine peraduenture not so much because they were originally such in themselues as through the mingling of some comments into the body of the text yet if we had his booke which he wrote of the soule vpon the death of his frend Eudemus it is very likely we should there see his euident assertion of her Immortality since it had beene very impertinent to take occasion vpon a frends death to write of the soule if he intended to conclude that of a dead man there were no soule Out of this discourse it appeareth how those actions which we exercise in this life are to be vnderstood when we heare them attributed to the next for to think that they are to be taken in their direct plaine meaning and in that way in which they are performed in this world were a great simplicity and were to imagine a likenesse betweene bodies and spirits We must therefore eleuate our mindes when we would penetrate into the true meaning of such expressions and consider how all the actions of our soule are eminently comprehended in the vniuersality of knowledge we haue already explicated And so the Apprehensions iudgements discourses reflections talkings together and all other such actions of ours when they are attributed to separated soules are but inadaequate names and representations of their instantaneall sight of all thinges for in that they can not choose but see others mindes which is that we call talking and likewise their owne which we call reflexion the rest are plaine partes and are plainely contained in knowledge discourse being but the falling into it iudgement the principles of it and single apprehensions the coÌ„ponents of iudgements then for such actions as are the beginning of operatioÌ„ there can be no doubt but that they are likewise to be found and are resumed in the same Vniuersality as loue of good consultation resolution prudentiall election and the first motion for who knoweth all thinges can not choose but know what is good and that good is to be prosecuted and who seeth completely all the meanes of effecting and attaining to his intended good hath already consulted and resolued of the best and who vnderstandeth perfectly the matter he is to worke vpon hath already made his prudentiall election so that there remaineth nothing more to be done but to giue the first impulse And thus you see that this vniuersality of knowledge in the soule comprehendeth all is all performeth all and no imaginable good or happinesse is out of her reach A noble creature and not to be cast away vpon such trash as most men employ their thoughts in Vpon whom it is now time to reflect and to consider what effects the diuers manners of liuing in this world do worke vpon her in the next if first we acquitt ourselues of a promise we made at the end of the last Chapter For it being now amply declared that the state of a soule exempted from her body is a state of pure being it followeth manifestly that there is neyther Action nor Passion in that state which being so it is beyond all opposition that the soule can not dye for it is euident that all corruption must come from the action of an other thing vpon that which is corrupted and therefore that thing must be capable of being made better and of being made worse Now then if a separated soule be in a finall state where she can neyther be bettered or worsened as she must be if she be such a thing as we haue declared it followeth that she can not possibly loose the Being which she hath and sithence her passage out of the body doth not change her nature but only her state it is cleare that she is of the same nature euen in the body though in this her durance she be subiect to be forged as it were by the hammers of corporeall obiects beating
she would in the first instant of her being be perfect in knowledge or she would not if she were then would she be a perfect and complete immateriall substance not a soule whose nature is to be a compartner to the body and to acquire her perfection by the mediation and seruice of corporeall senses but if she were not perfect in science but were only a capacity therevnto and like vnto white paper in which nothing were yet wâ—â—tten then vnlesse she were putt in a body she could neuer arriue to know any thing because motion and alteration are effects peculiar to bodies therefore it must be agreed that she is naturally designed to be in a body but her being in a body is her being one thing with the body she is said to be in and so she is one part of a whole which from its weaker part is determined to be a body Againe seeing that the matter of any thing is to be prepared before the end is prepared for which that matter is to serue according to that Axiome Quod est primum in intentione est vltimum in executione we may not deny but that the body is in being some time before the soule or at the least that it existeth as soone as she doth and therefore it appeareth wholy vnreasonable to say that the soule was first made out of the body and was afterwardes thrust into it seeing that the body was prepared for the soule before or at the least as soone as she had any beginning and so we may conclude that of necessity the soule must be begunne layed hatched and perfected in the body And although it be true that such soules as are separated from their bodies in the first instant of their being there are notwithstanding imbued with the knowledge of all thinges yet is not their longer abode therein vaine not only because thereby the species is multiplyed for nature is not content with barely doing that without addition of some good to the soule it selfe but as well for the wonderfull and I may say infinite aduantage that may thereby accrew to the soule if she make right vse of it for as any act of the abstracted soule is infinite in comparison of the acts which men exercise in this life according to what we haue already shewed so by consequence must any encrease of it be likewise infinite and therefore we may conclude that a long life well spent is the greatest and most excellent guift which nature can bestow vpon a man The vnwary reader may perhapps haue difficulty at our often repeating of the infelicity of a miserable soule since we say that it proceedeth out of the iudgements she had formerly made in this life which without all doubt were false ones and neuerthelesse it is euident that no false iudgements can remaine in a soule after she is separated from her body as we haue aboue determined How then can a soules iudgements be the cause of her misery But the more heedefull reader will haue noted that the misery which we putt in a soule proceedeth out of the inequality not out of the falsity of her iudgements for if a man be inclined to a lesser good more then to a greater he will in action betake himselfe to the lesser good and desert the greater wherein neyther iudgemeÌ„t is false nor eyther inclination is naught meerely out of the improportion of the two inclinations or iudgements to their obiects for that a soule may be duely ordered and in a state of being well she must haue a lesser inclination to a lesse good and a greater inclination to a greater good and in pure spirits these inclinations are nothing else but the strength of their iudgements which iudgements in soules whiles they are in their bodies are made by the repetition of more acts from stronger causes or in more fauourable circumstances And so it appeareth how without any falsity in any iudgement a soule may become miserable by her conuersation in this world where all her inclinations generally are good vnlesse the disproportion of them do make them bad THE TWELFTH CHAPTER Of the perseuerance of a soule in the state she findeth her selfe in at her first separation from her body THus we haue brought mans soule out of the body she liued in here and by which she conuersed and had commerce with the other partes of this world and we haue assigned her her first array and stole with which she may be seene in the next world so that now there remaineth only for vs to consider what shall betide her afterwardes and whether any change may happen to her and be made in her after the first instant of her being a pure spiritt separated from all consortshippe with materiall substances To determine this point the more clearely lett vs call to minde an axiome that Aristotle giueth vs in his logike which teacheth vs That as it is true if the effect be there is a cause so likewise it is most true that if the cause be in act or causing the effect must also be Which Axiome may be vnderstood two wayes the one that if the cause hath its effect then the effect also is and this is no great mystery or for it are any thankes due to the teacher it being but a repetition and saying ouer againe of the same thing The other way is that if the cause be perfect in the nature of being a cause then the effect is which is as much as to say that if nothing be waÌ„ting to the cause abstracting precisely from the effect then neyther is the effect wanting And this is the meaning of Aristotles Axiome of the truth and euidence whereof in this sense if any man should make the least doubt it were easy to euince it as thus if nothing be wanting but the effect and yet the effect doth not immediately follow it must needes be that it can not follow at all for if it can and doth not then something more must be done to make it follow which is against the supposition that nothing was wanting but the effect for that which is to be done was wanting To say it will follow without any change is senselesse for if it follow without change it followeth out of this which is already putt but if it do follow out of this which is precisely putt then it followeth against the supposition which was that it did not follow although this were putt This then being euident lett vs apply it to our purpose and lett vs putt three or more thinges namely A. B. C. and D whereof none can worke otherwise then in an instant or indiuisibly and I say that whatsoeuer these foure thinges are able to do without respect to any other thing besides them is completely done in the first instant of their being putt and if they remayne for all eternity without communication or respect to any other thing there shall neuer be any innouation in any of them or
these daring men What gaines could they promise themselues to counteruaile their desperate attempts They aymed not so much as at the purchase of any treasure for themselues but â—eerely to second the desires of those that sett them on worke or to fill the mouthes of others from whence some few crummes might fall to them What is required at thy hands my soule like this And yet the hazard thou art to auoyde and the wealth thou art to attaine vnto incomparably ouersetteth all that they could hope for Liue then and be glad of long and numerous yeares that like ripe fruite thou mayst droppe securely into that passage which duely entered into shall deliuer thee into an eternity of blisse and of vnperishable happinesse And yet my soule be thou not too soare agast with the apprehension of the dreadfull hazard thou art in Lett not a tormenting feare of the dangers that surround thee make thy whole life here bitter and vncomfortable to thee Lett the serious and due consideration of them arme thee with caution and with wisedome to preuent miscarriage by them But to looke vpon them with horrour and affrightednesse would freese thy spirits and benumme thy actions and peraduenture engulfe thee through pusillanimity in as great mischeifes as thou seekest to auoyde T is true the harme which would acrue from misgouerning thy passage out of this life is vnspeakable is vnimaginable But why shouldest thou take so deepe thought of the hazard thou runnest therein as though the difficulty of auoyding it were so extreme as might amounte to an impossibility I allow the thoughts that arme thee with wise caution to secure thy selfe cannot be too deepe nor too serious but when thou hast prouidently stored thy selfe with such call thy spirits manfully about thee and to incourage thee to fight confidently or rather to secure thee of victory so thou wilt not forsake thy selfe turne thine eyes round about thee and consider how wise nature that hath prescribed an end and periode vnto all her plantes hath furnished them all with due and orderly meanes to attaine thereunto and though particulars sometimes miscarry in their iourney since contingence is entayled to all created things yet in the generality and for the most part they all arriue vnto the scope she leuelleth them at Why then should we imagine that so iudicious and farre looking an Architect whom we see so accurate in his meaner workes should haue framed this Masterpiece of the world to perish by the way and neuer to attaine vnto that great end for which he made it euen after he is prepared and armed with all aduantagiouse circumstances agreeable to his nature That artificer we know deserueth the style of seely who frameth such tooles as fayle in there performance when they are applyed to the action for which they were intended We see all sortes of trees for the most part beare their fruite in the due season which is the end they are designed vnto and the last and highest emolument they are made to afford vs. Few beasts we see there are but contribute to our seruice what we looke for at their hands The swine affordeth good flesh the sheepe good wooll the cow good milke the sable warme and soft furre the oxe bendeth his sturdy necke to the yoke the spiritfull horse dutyfully beareth the soldier and the sinewy mule and stronger camel conuey weighty marchandise Why then shall euen the better sort of mankind the chiefe the toppe the head of all the workes of nature be apprehended to miscarry from his end in so vast a proportion as that it should be deemed in a manner impossible euen for those few for so they are in respect of the other numerous multitude of the worser sort to attaine vnto that felicity which is naturall vnto them Thou my soule art the forme and that supreme part of me which giueth being both to me and to my body who then can doubt but that all the rest of me is framed fitting and seruiceable for thee For what reason were there that thou shouldest be implanted in a soyle which can not beare thy fruite The forme of a hogge I see is engrafted in a body fitt and appropriated for a swines operations the forme of a horse of a lyon of a wolfe all of them haue their organes proportioned to the mastering piece within them their soule And is it credible that only man should haue his inferiour partes raised so highly in rebellion against his soule the greatest Mistresse beyond proportion among all formes as that it shall be impossible for her to suppresse their mutinies though she guide her selfe neuer so exactly by the prescripts of that rule which is borne with her Can it be suspected that his forme which is infinitely mounted aboue the power of matter should through the very necessity and principles of its owne nature be more lyable to contingency then those that are engulfed and drowned in it since we know that contingency defectibility and change are the lame children of grosse and misshapen matter Alas it is too true that nature is in vs vnhappily wrested from her originall and due course We find by sad experience that although her deprauation be not so totall as to blind entirely the eye of Reason she seeth by yet it is so great as to carry vehemently our affections quite crosse to what she proposeth vs as best Howsoeuer lett the incentiues of flesh and bloud be neuer so violent to tumble humane nature downe the hill yet if a contrary force more efficacious then they with all their turbulent and misty steames do impell it an otherway it must needes obey that stronger power Lett vs then examine whose motiues the soules or the senses in their owne nature worke most efficaciously in man We are sure that what pleasure he receiueth he receiueth by meanes of his soule euen all corporeall pleasure for be the working obiect neuer so agreeable and pleasing vnto him he reapeth thence small delight if in the meane time his soules attention be carried an other way from it Certainely then those thinges must affect the soule most powerfully which are connaturall vnto her and which she seiseth vpon and relisheth immediately rather then those impure ones which come sofisticated to her through the muddy channels of the senses And accordingly all experience teacheth vs that her pleasures when they are fully sauored are much stronger then the pleasures of our sense Obserue but the different comportements of an ambitious and of a sensuall man and you will euidently perceiue farre stronger motions and more vehement straines in the former who hath his desires bent to the satisfaction of his mind then in the other who aimeth but att the pleasures of his body Lett vs looke vpon the common face of mankind and we shall see the most illustrious and noble part taken with learning with power with honour and the other part which maketh sense their idole moueth in a lower and baser orbe
surfaces 9 A body of greater partes and greater pores maketh a greater refraction then one of lesser partes and lesser pores 10 A coÌ„firmation of the former doctrine out of the nature of bodies that refract light 1 The coÌ„nexion of this chapter with the rest and the Authors intent in it 2 That there is a least cise of bodies and that this least cise is found in fire 3 The first coniunction of partes is in bodies of least cise and it is made by the force of Quantity 4 The second sort of coniunction is coÌ„pactednesse in simple Elements and it proceedeth from density 5 The third coniunction is of partes of different Elements and it proceedeth from quantity and density together 6 The reason why liquide bodies do easily ioyne together and dry ones difficultly 7 That no two hard bodies can touch one an other immediately 8 How mixed bodies arâ— framed in generall 9 The cause of the seuerall degrees of solidity in mixed bodies 10 The rule wherevnto are reduced all the seuerall combinations of Elements in compounding of mixed bodies 11 Earth and water are the basis of all permanent mixed bodies 12 What kind of bodies those are where water is the basis and earth the predominant Element ouer the other two 13 Of those bodies where water being the basis ayre is the predominant Element 14 What kind of bodies result where water is the basis and fire the predominant Element 15 Of those bodies where water is in excesse it alone being both the basis and the predominant Element 16 Of those bodies where Earth alone is the basis and also the predominant in excesse ouer the other threâ— Elements 17 Of those bodies where Earth is the basis and water the predominâ—t Element ouer the other two 18 Of those bodies where earth being the basis ayre is the predominant 19 Of those bodies where Earth being the basis fire is the predominant 20 All the second qualities of mixed bodies arise from seuerall combinations of the first qualities and are att last resolued into seuerall degrees of rarity and density 21 That in the planets and starres there is a like varietâ— of mixed bodies caused by light as here vpon Earth 22 In what maÌ„ner the Elements do worke vpon one an other in the compositioÌ„ of mixed bodies and in particular fire which is the most actiue 23 A particular declaration touching the generation of mettalls 1 Why some bodies are brittle and others tough or apt to withstand outward violence the first instrument to dissolue mixed bodies 2 How outward violence doth worke vpon the most compacted bodies 3 The seuerall effects of fire the second and chiefest instrumeÌ„t to dissolue all coÌ„pounded bodies 4 The reason why some bodies are not dissolued by fire 5 The reason why fire molteth gold but can not consume it 6 Why leade is easily consumed and calcined by fire 7 Why and how some bodies are diuided by fire into spirits waters oyles saltes and earth And what those partes are 8 How water the third iâ—strumeÌ„t to dissolue bodies dissolueth calx into salt and so into Terra damnata 9 How water mingled with salt becometh a most powerfull Agent to dissolue other bodies 10 How putrefactioÌ„ is caused 1 What is the sphere of actiuity in corporeall Agents 2 The reason why no body can worke in distance 3 An obiection answered against the manner of explicating the former axiomâ— 4 Of reaction and first in pure locall motion that each AgeÌ„t must suffer in acting and actâ— in suffering 5 The former doctrine applyed to other locall motions designed by particular names And that Suisseths argument is of no force against this way of doctrine 6 Why some notions do admitt of intension and Remission and others do not 7 That in euery part of our habitable world all the foure ElemeÌ„ts are found pure in small atomes but not in any great bulke 1 The Authors intent in this and the following chapters Mr. Thomas White 2 That bodies may be rarifyed both by outward and inward heat and how this is performed 3 Of the great effects of Rarefaction 4 The first manner of condensation by heate 5 The second manner of condensation by cold 6 That yce is not water rarifyed but condensed 7 How wind snow and haile are made and wind by raine allayed 8 How partes of the same or diuers bodies are ioyned more strongly together by condensation 9 Vacuites can not be the reason why water impregnated to the full with one kind of salt will notwithstaÌ„ding receiue more of an other 10 The true reason of the former effect 11 The reason why bodies of the same nature do ioyne more easily together then others 1 What AttractioÌ„ is and from whence it proceedeth 2 The true sense of the Maxime that Nature abhorreth from vacuity 3 The true reasâ— of attraction 4 Water may be brought by the force of attraction to what height soeuer 5 The doctrine touching the attraction of water in syphons 6 That the syphon doth not proue water to weigh in its owne orbe 7 Concerning attraction caused by fire 8 Concerning attractioÌ„ made by vertue of hoat bodies amulets etc. 9 The naturall reason giuen for diuers operations esteemed by some to be magicall 1 What is Filtration and how it is effected 2 What causeth the water in filtration to ascend 3 Why the filter will not droppe vnlesse the labell hang lower then the water 4 Of the motion of Restitution and why some bodies stand bent others not 5 Why some bodies returne onely in part to their natural figure others entirely 6 Concerning the nature of those bodies which do shrinke and stretch 7 How great and wonderfull effects proceed from small plaine and simple principles 8 Concerning Electricall attraction and the causes of it 9 Cabeus his opinion refuted concerning the cause of Electricall motâ—ons 1 The extreme heat of the sunne vnder the zodiacke draweth a streame of ayre from each Pole into the torride zone Chap. 18. §. 7. 2 The atomes of these two streames coming together are apt to incorporate with one an other 3 By the meeting and mingling together of these streames att the Equator diuers riuolets of atomes of each Pole are continuatâ—d from one Pole to the other 4 Of these atomes incorporated with some fitt matter in the bowels of the earth is made a stone 5 This stone worketh by emanations ioyned with agreeing streames that meete them in the ayre and in fine it is a loadestone 6 A methode for making experiences vpon any subiect 7 The Loadestones generatioÌ„ by atomes flowing from both Poles is confirmed by experiments obserued in the stone it selfe 8 Experiments to proue that the loadestone worketh by emanations meeting with agreeing streames 1 The operations of the loadestone are wrought by bodies and not by qualities 2 Obiections against the former positioÌ„ answered 3 The loadestone is imbued
they did when it was in an other position 6 The reason of the various colours in generall by pure light passing through a prisme 7 Vpon what side euery colour appeareth that is made by pure light passing through a prisme 1 The reason of each seuerall colour in particular caused by light passing through a prisme 2 A difficult probleme resolued touching the prisme 3 Of the rainebow and how by the colour of any body wee may know the compositioÌ„ of the body it selfe 4 That all the seÌ„sible qualities are reall bodies resulting out of seuerall mixtures of rarity and density 5 Why the senses are only fiue in number with a conclusion of all the former doctrine concerning them 1 Monsieur des Cartes his opinion touching sensation 2 The Authors opinion touching sensation 3 Reasons to persuade the authors opinioÌ„ 4 That vitall spiritts are the immediate instruments of sensation by conueying sensible qualities to the braine 5 How sound is conueyed to the braine by vitall spirits 6 How colours are conueyed to the braine by vitall spirits 7 ReasoÌ„s against Monsieur des Cartes his opinion 8 That the symptomes of the palsie do no way confiâ—me Monsieur des Cartes his opinion 9 That Monsieur des Cartes his opinioÌ„ can not giue a good account how thinges are coÌ„serued in the memory 1 How thinges are coÌ„serued in the memory 2 How thinges coÌ„serued in the memory are brought backe in to the fantasie 3 A ConfirmatioÌ„ of the former doctrine 4 How thinges renewed in the fantasie returne with the same circumstaÌ„ces that they had at first 5 How the memory of thinges past is lost or confounded and how it is repaired againe 1 Of what matter the braine is composed 2 What is voluntary motion 3 What those powers are which are called naturall faculties 4 How the attractiue and secretiue faculties worke 5 Concerning the concoctiâ—â— faculty 6 Concerning the retentiue and expulsiue faculties 7 Concerning expulsion made by Physicke 8 How the braine is moued to worke voluntary motion 9 Why pleasing obiects doe dilate the spirits and displeasing ones contract them 10 Concerning the fiue senses for what vse and end they are 1 That Septum Lucidum is the seat of the fansie 2 What causeth vs to remeÌ„ber not only the obiect it selfe but also that we haue thought of it before 3 How the motions of the fantasie are deriued to the hart 4 Of paine and pleasure 5 Of Passion 6 Of seuerall pulses caused by passions 7 Of seuerall other effects caused naturally in the body by passioÌ„s 8 Of the diaphragma 9 Concerning paine and pleasure caused by the memory of thinges past 10 How so small bodies as atomes are can cause so great motions in the hart 11 How the vital spirits sent froÌ„ the braine do runne to the intended part of the body without mistake 12 How men are blinded by Passion 1 The order and connexion of the subsequent Chapters 2 From whence proceedeth the doubting of beasts 3 Concerning the inuention of Foxes and other beasts 4 Of foxes that catch hennes by lying vnder their roost and by gazing vpon them 5 From whence proceedeth the foxes inuentioÌ„ to ridde himselfe of fleas 6 An explication of two other inuentions of foxes 7 Concerning Mountagues argument to prooue that dogges make syllogismes 8 A declaration how some tricks are performed by foxes which seeme to argue discourse 9 Of the Iaccatrays inuention in calling beasts to himselfe 10 Of the Iaccalls designe in seruing the lyon 11 Of seuerall inuentions of fisshes 12 A discouery of diuers thinges done by hares which seeme to argue discourse 13 Of a foxe reported to haue weighed a goose before he would venture with it ouer a riuer and of fabulous stories in common 14 Of the seuerall cryings and tones of beasts with a refutation of those authours who maintaine theÌ„ to haue compleat laÌ„guages 1 How hawkes and other creatures are taught to doe what they are browght vp to 2 Of the Baboone that played on a guitarre 3 Of the teaching of ElephaÌ„tes and other beasts to doe diuers tricks 4 Of the Orderly traine of actions performed by beasts in breeding their yong ones 1 why beasts are affraide of men 2 How some qualiâ—â—es caused at first by chance in beasts may passe by generation to the whole offspring 3 How the pareÌ„ts fantasie doth oftentimes worke strange effects in their issue 4 Of Antipaties 5 Oâ— Sympaties 6 That the Antipathy of beasts towards one an other may be taken away by assuefaction 7 Of longing markes seene in children 8 Why diuers men hate some certaine meates and particularly cheese 9 Concerning the prouidence of Aunts in laying vp in store for winter 10 Concerning the foreknowing of beasts Dialog 3o. Nodo 2 do 1 What is a right apprehension of a thing 2 The very thing it selfe is truly in his vnderstanding who rightly apprehendeth it 3 The Apprehension of things coÌ„ming vnto vs by our senses are resoluable into other more simple apprehensions 4 The apprehension of a Being is the most simple and Basis of all the rest 5 Thâ— apprehension of a thing is in next degree to that of Being and it is the Basis of all the subsequeÌ„t ones 6 The apprehension of things knowne to vs by our senses doth consist in certaine respects betwixt too things 7 Respect or relation hath not really any formall being but only in the apprehension of man 8 That Existence or being is the proper affectioÌ„ of man and that mans soule is a comparing power 9 A thing by coming into the vnderstanding of man looseth nothing of its owne peculiar nature 10 A multitude of things may be vnited in mans vnderstaÌ„ding without being mingled or comfounded together 11 Of abstracted and concrete termes 12 Of vniuersal notions 13 Of apprehending a multitude vnder oâ—e notion 14 The power of the vnderstanding reacheth as farre as the extent of being 1 How a iudgement is made by the vnderstanding 2 That two or more apprehensions are identifyed in the soule by vniting them in the stock of being 3 How the notioÌ„s of a substantiue and an adiectiue are vnited in the soule by the common stocke of being 4 That a settled iudgement becometh a part of our soule 5 How the Soule commeth to deeme or settle a iudgement 6 How opinion is begotten in the vnderstanding 7 How faith is begotten in the vnderstanding 8 Why truth is the perfection of a reasonable soule and why it is not found in simple apprehensions as well as in Enuntiations 9 What is a solid iudgement and what a slight one 10 What is an acute iudgement and what a dull one 11 In what consisteth quicknesse and Clearenesse of iudgement and there oposite vices 1 How discourse smade 2 Of the figures and moodes of Syllogismes 3 That the life of man as man doth consist
prooued from her manner of operation which is grounded in being ibid. § 10. Lastly it is prooued from the science of Morality the principles whereof would be destroied if the soule were mortall pag. 421 CHAP. X. Declaring what the soule of a man separated from his body is and of her knowledge and manner of working pag. 422 § 1. That the soule is one simple knowing act which is a pure substance and nothing but substance ibid. § 2. That a separated soule is in no place and yet is not absent from any place pag. 424 § 3. That a separated soule is not in time nor subiect to it ibid. § 4. That the soule is an actiue substance and all in it is actiuitie pag. 425 § 5. A description of the soule pag. 426 § 6. That a separated soule knoweth all that which she knew whilst she wâ—s in her bodie ibid. § 7. That the least knowledge which the soule acquireth in her bodie of anie one thing doth cause in her when she is separated from her bodie a compleat knowledge of all thinges whatsoeuer pag. 427 § 8. An answere to the obiections of some Peripatetikes who maintaine the soule to perish with the body pag. 429 § 9 The former Peripatetikes refuted out of Aristotle pag. 431 § 10. The operations of a separated soule compared to her operations in her bodie ibid. § 11. That a separated soule is in a state of pure being and consequently immortall pag. 432 CHAP. XI Shewing what effects the diuers manners of liuing in this world do cause in a soule after she is separated from her body p. 433 § 1. That a soule in this life is subiect to mutation and may be perfected in knowledge ibid. § 2. That the knowledges which a soule getteth in this life will make her knowledge in the next life more perfect and firme pag. 434 § 3. That the soules of men addicted to science whilst they liued here are more perfect in the next world then the soules of vnlearned men pag. 435 § 4. That those soules which embrace vertue in this world will be most perfect in the next and those which embrace vice most miserable ibid. § 5. The state of a vitious soule in the next life pag. 437 § 6. The fundamentall reason why as well happinesse as misery is so excessiue in the next life pag. 439 § 7. The reason why mans soule requireth to be in a body and to liue for some space of time ioyned with it pag. 441 § 8. That the misery of the soule in the next world proceedeth out of inequality and not out of falsity of her iudgements pag. 442 CHAP. XII Of the perseuerance of a soule in the state she findeth herselfe in at her first separation from her body pag. 443 § 1. The explication and proofe of that maxime that if the cause be in act the effect must also be ibid. § 2. The effects of all such agents as worke instantaneously are complete in the first instant that the agents are putt ibid. § 3. All pure spirits do worke instantaneously pag. 444 § 4. That a soule separated from her body can not suffer any change after the first instant of her separation ibid. § 5. That temporall sinnes are iustly punished with eternall paines pag. 445 The Conclusion pag. 446 THE PREFACE THIS writing was designed to haue seene the light vnder the name of one treatise But after it was drawne in paper as I cast a view ouer it I found the prooemiall part which is that which treateth of Bodies so ample in respect of the other which was the end of it and for whose sake I meddled with it that I readily apprehended my reader would thinke I had gone much astray from my text when proposing to speake of the immortality of Mans Soule three parts of foure of the whole discourse should not so much as in one word mention that soule whose nature and proprieties I aymed at the discouery of To auoyde this incongruity occasioned mee to change the name and vnity of the worke and to make the suruay of bodies a body by it selfe though subordinate to the treatise of the soule Which notwithstanding it be lesse in bulke then the other yet I dare promise my Reader that if he bestow the paines requisite to perfect him selfe in it he will find as much time well spent in the due reading of it as in the reading of the former treatise though farre more large But I discerne an obiection obuious to be made or rather a question why I should spend so much time in the consideration of bodies whereas none that hath formerly written of this subiect hath in any measure done the like I might answere that they had vpon other occasions first written of the nature of bodies as I may instance in Aristotle and sundry others who either haue themselues professedly treated the science of bodies or haue supposed that part sufficiently performed by other pennes But truly I was by an vnauoydable necessity hereunto obliged which is a current of doctrine that at this day much raigneth in the Christian Schooles where bodies and their operations are explicated after the manner of spirituall thinges For wee hauing very slender knowledge of spirituall substances can reach no further into their nature then to know that they haue certaine powers or qualities but can seldome penetrate so deepe as to descend to the particulars of such Qualities or Powers Now our moderne Philosophers haue introduced such a course of learning into the schooles that vnto all questions concerning the proper natures of bodies and their operations it is held sufficient to answere they haue a quality or a power to doe such a thing And afterwards they dispute whether this Quality or Power be an Entity distinct from its subiect or no and how it is seperable or vnseperable from it and the like Conformable to this who will looke into the bookes which are in vogue in these schooles shall find such answers and such controuersies euery where and few others As of the sensible qualities aske what it is to be white or red what to be sweete or sower what to be odoriferous or stincking what to be cold or hott And you are presently paid with that it is a sensible quality which hath the power to make a wall white or red to make a meate agreeable or disagreeable to the tast to make a gratefull or vngratefull smell to the nose etc Likewise they make the same questions and resolutions of Grauity and Leuity as whether they be qualities that is entities distinct from their subiect and whether they be actiue or passiue which when they haue disputed slightly and in common with logicall arguments they rest there without any further searching into the physicall causes or effects of them The like you shall find of all strange effects of them The loadestone and Electricall bodies are produced for miraculous and not vnderstandable thinges and in which it must be
satisfying of their sense is more preualent in the Happe foyes then the feare which from other groundes is begotten in their fantasy and so maketh them approach to what the other would driue them from In like manner any auersion of the fantasy may be mastered not only by a more powerfull agent vpon the present sense but also by assuefaction and by bringing into the fantasy with pleasing circumstances that obiect which before was displeasing and affrightfull to it as we see that all sortes of beastes or birdes if they be taken yong may be tamed and will liue quietly together Dogges that are vsed to hunt and kill deere will liue frendly with one that is bred with them and that fawne which otherwise would haue beene affraide of them by such education groweth conâ—ident and playeth boldely with them Of which we can no longer remaine in doubt if we will beleeue the story of a tygar accounted the cruellest beaste of all others who being shutt vp with a deere that had beene bred with him from a kidde and from his being a whelpe and no meate giuen him vsed meanes to breake prison when was halfe starued rather then he would hurt his familiar frend You will not suspect that it was a morall coÌ„sideration which made him so kinde but the deere had neuer come into his fantasy accompained with other circumstances then of play or of warmth and therefore hunger which calleth only the species of meate out of the memory into the fantasy would neuer bring the deere thither for remedy of that passion And that which often happeneth to those men in whom the fantasy only worketh is not much vnlike to this among whom I haue seene some frenetike persons that if they be persuaded they are tyed and can not stirre from the place where they are they will lye still and make great complaintes for their imprisonnement and not goe a steepe to reach any meate or drinke that should lye in sight neere them although they were neuer so much pressed with hunger or with thirste The reason is euident for the apprehension of being tyed is so strong in their fantasy that their fantasy can send no spirits into other partes of their body whereby to cause motion And thus the deere was beholding to the tygars fantasy not to his discourse of morall honesty for his life The like of this tygar and deere is to be seene euery day in the tower of London where a litle dogge that was bred with a lyon from his birth is so familiar and bold with them that they not only sleepe together but sometimes the dogge will be angry with him and will bite him which the lyon neuer ressenteth from him though any other dogge that is putt to him he presently teareth in pieces And thus we plainely see how it cometh about that beastes may haue strange auersions from thinges which are of an annoying or destructiue nature to them euen at the first sight of them and againe may haue great likings of other thinges in a manner contrary to their nature without needing to allow them reason whereby to discourse and iudge what is hurtfull to them or to instruct the tygar we haue spoken of or Androdus his lyon the duties of frendshippe and of gratitude The longing markes which are often times seene in children and do remaine with them all their life seeme to be an offspring of the same roote or cause but in truth they proceed from an other although of kinne to this for the operation of the seede is passed when these longing markes are imprinted the child being then already formed and quickened and they seeme to be made suddainely as by the print of a seale Therefore to render the cause of them lett vs consider an other sympathy which is more plaine and common We see that the laughing of one man will sett an other on laughing that seeth him laugh though he know not the cause why the first man laugheth and the like we see in yawning and stretching which breedeth alike effect in the looker on I haue heard of a man that seing a rosted pigge after our English fashion with the mouth gaping could not shutt his owne mouth as long as he looked vpon the pigges and of an other that when he saw any man make a certaine motion with his hand could not choose but he must make the same so that being a tyler by his trade and hauing one hand imployed with holding his tooles whiles he held himselfe with the other vpon the eaues of a house he was mending a man standing below on the ground made that signe or motion to him wherevpon he quitted his holdfast to imitate that motion and fell downe in danger of breaking his necke All these effects do proceed out of the action of the seene obiect vpon the fantasy of the looker on which making the picture or likenesse of its owne action in the others fantasy maketh his spirits runne to the same partes and consequently moue the same members that is do the same actions And hence it is that when we heare one speake with loue and tendernesse of an absent person we are also inclined to loue that person though we neuer saw him nor heard of him before and that whatsoeuer a good oratour deliuereth well that is with a semblance of passion agreeable to his wordes rayseth of its owne nature like affection in the hearers and that generally men learne and imitate without designe the customes and manners of the company they much haunt To apply this to our intent it is easy to conceiue that although the childe in the mothers woÌ„be can neyther see nor heare what the mother doth neuerthelesse there can not passe any great or violent motion in the mothers body whereof some effect doth not reach vnto the childe which is then one continuate piece with her and the proper effect of motion or of trembling in one body being to produce a like motion or a trembling in an other as we see in that ordinary example of tuned stringes whereof the one is moued at the striking of the other by reason of the stroake giuen to the ayre which finding a moueable easily moued with a motion of the same tenour communicateth motion vnto it it followeth that the fantasy of the childe being as it were well tuned to the fantasy of the mother and the mothers fantasy making a speciall and a very quicke motion in her owne whole body as we see that suddaine passions doe this motion or trembling of the mother must needes cause the like motion and trembling in the childe euen to the very swiftnesse of the mothers motion Now as we see when one blusheth the bloud cometh into his face so the bloud runneth in the mother to a certaine place where she is strucken by the thing longed for and the like happening to the childe the violence of that suddaine motion dyeth the marke or print of the thing in the