Planets from the Sun as they relate to the before-mention'd System he thus accounts Mercury above 200 Diameters of the Earth Venus above 400 Mars 900 or 1000 Jupiter above 3000 Saturn 5 or 6000 Diameters of the Earth distant from her The Copernican Hypothesis is so much the same with his and so frequently Inscrib'd in Almanacks that I shall desire my Reader rather to Inspect any one of them there than to trouble my self with delineating of a Diagram to so thread bare a Purpose here The difference that he allows the Stars not only as some of them are greater than others but as the Planets receive their Illuminations communicated to them by the Light of the Sun Concenters with the general Opinion of all Astronomers Nor will I directly oppose the Imagination he Annexes by which he Attributes to every of the fix'd Stars a particular Fountain of Light and as distant from the Sun as the Sun is from us Concluding That were we Situated as near the six'd Stars as we are to the Sun we might observe any one of their Magnitudes as much Illuminated as the Sun appears to our Sight On which ground 't is possible he may be tho' but in Conceit as much in the right as any certain Argument or Proof that can be urg'd to the contrary by reason of the wonderful appearance and immense remoteness of the fix'd Stars from us Notwithstanding that the famous Tycho as far as his accurase Observation could elevate his Computation determines in general that the fix'd Stars are not nearer the Earth than 13000 of her Semidiameters But in the 11th and 12th Particulars of this Treatise this Author delivers a more unparallel'd Paradox than ever was Imputed to a Learned Pen The First is That the Earth tho' a very opacous Body is as perfectly enlightned by the Beams of the Sun as the Moon wherefore he conceives the Earth to be also a Planet And why might he not have Affirm'd the same of Glass Iron or any other solid Substance since we are assur'd by common Experience That every one of these are not only capable of being Illuminated by the Sun but will also have their Shadows So that according to his Opinion any gross opacous Matter may be estimated on a shining Day no less a Madam in Composition and Feature than the Moon or Planet Venus It seems he forgot that these Stars continue their Light whilst the Earth has not Sun-Light longer than the Sun shines on her But why he so cheaply compares the Dominion of the bright Queen of Night with the dull Earthly Lamp on which we Inhabit I connot guess unless by some one of those which he calls distinct and unerrable Ideas he imagin'd That his Person was elevated to a Market in the Moon and there observ'd some Utensils in a Ihon of all Trades-Shop marvellously reflecting the Illuminations and Beams of the Sun And surely he might as well allow the possibility of these Examples with whatsoever besides has Being on Earth as perfectly Existing in the Moon Since by his Tenent a very capacious World may be thought encompass'd by Her His other egregious Mistake depends on the Former which is That he fancies that the Earth performs the Part of the Sun by Illuminating the Face of the Moon beheld by us when she is in her New Estate or Conjunction with him Which Notion is very false both in a Philosophical and Astronomical Consideration Nothing being more unnatural than to Attribute Planetary Light either Communicable or Inherent to the unrefin'd Body of the Earth which can be no otherwise understood by reason that there is no such Thing as a pure Element of Earth but rather its Substance grosly Commixt and Corrupted by the Intercourse of the other Elements And thus Air Earth Fire and Water as Use and Observation assure us are impurely mixt And should the Earth as she does and must necessarily so Subsist receive Light or Flame from the Sun in common with the Planets Her corrupt Frame and combustible Materials would have been long ago totally burning to the utter dissolution of the Figure and Composition that she now possesses However Antecedent to the Opinion of some Learned Divines that defers her Conflagration to the Day of Judgment And this might have been effected with as much Facility as a Burning-glass kindles a Pipe of Tobacco Especially if granted the Earth a Planet according to this Author and always Moving because Motion where it is sufficiently continu'd Inflames every Thing that is materially capable to be set on fire as is visible in the Axletree of a Waggon caus'd by the Movement of the Wheel that round it turns The like might be determin'd in reference to the Moon and other Motional Stars if their Compositions were Elementarily mingled But their Substance is more Sublime and Excellent if not superlative to any Definition that can be given of their Nature and Manner of Existence As I doubt not is Emphatically prov'd by my Remarks on the 21th Particular of the Second Part of this Author 's Philosophical Treatise To which I refer the Reader And whereas he would confirm his Assertion by pretending That the Earth Illuminates some part of the Moon when she is in Conjunction with the Sun 'T is no less diametrically opposite to what we behold in that State of the Moon than it is to Astronomical Certainty and why might not the Moon as well receive Light from the Earth according to his Doctrine when at her Full she is sometimes so Eclipsically opposite to the Sun as twice a-Year he passes by the Nodes or is near unto them call'd the Dragon's Head and Tail that she appears totally Darken'd Which can be no otherwise caus'd than as the Earth is betwixt her and the Sun But could she then receive any glimpse or sign of Light from the Earth it would be as discernible as at any other Time Which enough Confirms That the Earth is no Luminary Planet and therefore none at All as will be prov'd by what is to come In the mean time 't is not improper on this Occasion to Explain the Phases or Figure of the Moon especially when in Conjunction with the Sun which without the trouble of a Diagram may be thus readily Express'd 'T is not to be doubted That the Moon as she moves round the Earth has always one half of her Illuminated by the Sun but not so as that half is always visible to us Tho' sometimes more or less or nothing of her Enlightned Half appearing towards us by reason that as so many Semicircles or as it were Semiglobes of the Moon 's Compass are turn'd to the Eye or Earth they cannot considering their Curvitures be discern'd in Plain by the Eye And this differently happens as the Light of the Sun to Sight may be obstructed by the Convex or Mountainous Part of the Earth or by the Intervening of Aerial Vapours which cause the Face of the Moon that is turn'd towards
Fluid Substances exceedingly thinn'd whilst others were as nimbly thicken'd As if the Hands of Nature had been busily imploy'd in kneading of their Clusters till thoroughly condens'd Yet grants them so insipidly temper'd that by no proper Term Naturally or Philosophically Intelligible he determines them either light or heavy as he distinguishes their Elements from whatsoever is Elementarily Compos'd And thus according to his Method he imagines That Nature made her first Entrance out of the Closet of Chaos and having not thoroughly wash'd her Face he supposes some of her Spots might afterwards visibly remain in the Figure and Substance of both Sun Moon and Earth If next he had been ask'd on what account he attributes Spots to the Luminary of Day or Night together with the Terrene Sphere of our Being that are within no compass of reasonable Apprehension he must have return'd a motly Answer Since undeniable That whatsoever is capable of Spots as its propriety must be naturally colour'd and therefore of a mixt Elementary Composition by reason that nothing can be observably spotted but is also colour'd by mixt Ingredients and consequently the Object of Sight But the Sun and Moon were never held by found Opinion Elementarily Constituted wherefore not of any of his suppos'd Elements no more than 't is possible to conceive how Air could be alterative or operate on Air or Water on Water without partaking of Elementary Mixtures A Truth confirm'd by Experience in every Thing that is Thinn'd Thicken'd Ascends or Descends as sure as Earth is more ponderous than any of the other Three Elements ordain'd by Providence to exert all such Operations of Nature as are with clearest Evidence understood by us From whence may be concluded that the seeming Spots in the Sun or Moon are no other than meteorous Exhalations or Vapours that interpose betwixt the Luminaries and the Eye of the Beholder as surely as we frequently discern more or less clear in Appearance the Sun and Moon and therefore no Spots Inherent in their Substance As for the Spots that he annexes to the outward Complexion of the Earth what Man ever heard of any of their Colours except of such Things as have Being and Growth on her Surface as Trees Plants Men Women Beasts Grain and such other Things as might from Causes be produc'd How to Reply had he been thus Interrogated I dare Answer for him he could not have told And thus I come to the farther Examination of his Third Element by which he undertakes to Exspand the Original of all Things within the Compass of the Earth To which purpose I will briefly Summ the Order and Materials by which he forms his Phaenomena's of the Earth's Production All which he supposes were produc'd of the Fragments of a certain Thinn and Fluid Composition which he Entitles The primary Element of Nature These Imaginary or Globuli Fragments proceeding as he derives them from Spots in the First Element and descensively operating on the next term'd by him a Second Element they confus'dly and exceedingly disorder'd in Motion and Figure tended downward from their first sublime Height till at last they became more congeriously Thick suitable to the grossness of the Earth's Composure and Settlement where it now remains So very intricately obscure or vainly perplex'd does this conceited Monsieur debase the original Wisdome and Conduct of Nature both as to her own Establishment and the Production of her Works which could never be so disproportionably and irregularly effected by the prudent Diligence and Intendment of her Operations Which as this Author commits them to her peculiar Conduct I do not see why they should not have been by her Management as highly refin'd and continu'd as he delivers the Materials of her first purest Celestial Element And consequently of them so sublimately ordain'd have produc'd the Substance of Man and Woman that being exalted to a Superior Room in the Etherial Heaven the Eyes of Beauty might have there shin'd instead of Stars now beheld of the first Magnitude And next to these why should she not have gradually Illuminated the Substance of Animals with all other Materials and Plants that being naturally cleans'd from such Terrestrial Ingredients Alterations and Mixtures that are now in them they might have remain'd splendent Parts above instead of being Revolv'd and whirl'd in globuli's or dispers'd Fragments of Nature downwards untill they clos'd in a Lump that compleated the Earth in Figure disposition of Parts and Situation suitable to the Opinion of this Author Such Queries may not be unfitly urg'd against his total Hypothesis with all its Appurtenances to which I add these palpable Objections First that it is egregiously preposterous if not an Impeachment or lessening of the Dignity of Nature supposing that by her voluntary Actings she debas'd the superiority of her Existence by crumbling of her Materials into innumerable Bits or Particles in all kinds of impurer Substance and next dispose them by a rambling or giddy Progression so grossly to meet as they might constitutively finish and sustain the small inferior Bulk of the Universe call'd Earth or rather denominated the spurious Daughter of Nature if so engender'd by her actual consent Whereas contrarily 't is the inseparable Attribute of Nature intentionally to Conserve whatsoever depends on her Regalia's in its proper and utmost Perfection And although that by such Elementary Compositions and Mixtures as are understood by us she is necessitated to vary her Conduct as Things are in course Generated or Corrupted in order to produce such Existencies that could not be continu'd in themselves and therefore Providentially convertible into other Beings Yet she constantly preserves her most genuine Progression which is that nothing shall so alter as not to have Matter and Form incident to their Corporeal Proprieties Not unlike a Sovereign Ruler within whose Dominions there is no period of his numerous Subjects by Death because enough are begotten that succeed them But no such Procreation could be consistent or produc'd as an Elementary Triplicity is devis'd by Des-Cartes and not at allaccomplish'd or season'd with such natural Ingredients as are the Elementary Adjunct to Bodily Existences But rather of such a simplicity and incommunicable Qualification that 't is as reasonable to imagine That Earth should proceed from meer Air or Water from Fier as that his imperfect and uncompounded Elements should by their Vortices and Globuli arrive to any Corporeal Production Because the Principles of all Things could be no other than Contarrieties and therefore Elementary Insomuch that had not Providence otherwise dispos'd natural Operations than are contriv'd by this Author neither the Heavens above however excellent and refin'd their Essence or the Earth we possess with all its Appurtenances could have been effected The next Objection is briefly thus Suppose it were conceded That his Hypothesis relating to the Constituting of the Earth's Existence were allowable could it be conceiv'd that the diversities of Being and Motion which he annexes to his Particles
Of these Disputes have been rais'd till ceas'd by Conceding of One or more Eternity of Causes All which Particulars have been exquisitely Treated of by great Philosophers if the labour of their Search could have been as satisfactorily repaid by discerning of what they so earnestly sought But they soon found that Infinite Science is inconsistent with Finite Understanding It being impossible that in the most exquisite Imagination of Mankind there should be an Idea or Phantasm of any Thing of Infinite Denomination or Being either as to Magnitude or Time Because neither Magnitude or Time can be Infinitely Computed Insomuch that nothing but what is Infinite can have an Infinite Conception So that should a Man of the most subtil and refin'd Reason undertake to argue from one Effect of an immediate Cause and next to a Remoter and by that manner of Reasoning continually Ascend he would find That his Imagination could have no eternal Progression but would fail as if tir'd by its stupendious Journey or how to proceed farther not at all impower'd to direct it self Nor is it consequently absurd in the Judgment of Learned Philosophers if the Structure of the Universe be thought either Finite or Infinite by reason that both or either of those ways of its Constituting are alike possible to the Conduct and Operation of the Almighty as the World now is or might so have been formerly beheld with whatsoever it contains If nothing can properly be said to Move but as it is Mov'd by some Cause of Motion which must be granted Supreme and Eternal A main Querie depends on that Concession which is Whether Matter the subject of Motion must not be also allow'd Eternal in which Sense the World might be held perpetually and motionally Existing Contrary to the Opinion of Some who determine That the Omnipotent Cause or Deity was eternally Immoveable or not at all Operative untill the World's total Creation was miraculously compleated But the Objection against that Opinion will be more difficultly Answer'd if urg'd That whatsoever may be thought eternally Immoveable cannot be probably conceded the primary Cause of Motion which Imply's a temporary or Finite Beginning as applicable to any Date of the World's Creation A Consequence in the Judgment of some that Confirms the perpetuity of the World 's material Consistence as also That by Omnipotent Power it was always in Motion till gradually perfected as it now Exists It being not at all Inconsistent with Divine Power if so ordain'd That Matter should be unaccountably motional in order to the stated Disposure and exact Consummation of whatsoever has Being within the vast Circumference of Heaven and Earth Yet no such Thing as Infinite Matter in any consideration rationally to be suppos'd the Original out of which proceeded the World's Existence with all its Particulars By reason that it were a Geometrical Contradiction should Matter be defin'd Infinitely subsisting Since absolutely certain that whatsoever may be Term'd Matter Substance or Body must also be quantitively Commensurable Wherefore in this Case the World might be before Time was materially Consistent if duely distinguish'd betwixt Infinite and eternal Duration which by Omnipotent Will and Power might be effected by determining a perpetual continuance of Matter tho' not Infinitely Existing The great Philosopher Aristotle not a little concenter'd with the same Opinion as he thought it more probable to appropriate Eternity to the material Being of the World in opposition to the Sentiments of some Philosophers who thought it was generated according to the Opinion of Plato by a certain Mutation from what it had been to what it afterwards was or now is But although in the Judgment of Aristotle the substantial Existence of the World was deem'd Everlasting he could not believe that its Matter was actually Infinite because whatsoever is material must be quantitive and therefore Mathematically computable as before Instanc'd So that if Aristotle be reconcil'd to Aristotle he may be understood to deny the Being of the World from any precedent Alteration or Change that could proceed from its natural Composure or any generative Faculty that could be suppos'd in it at all produc'd But in this Belief he does not absolutely oppose its total Creation If he firmly conceiv'd That it was never effected by any generative Method he does not by that Tenent peremptorily dissent from the possibility of its Existence by a miraculous Creation To which purpose in his Second Book of the World he Affirms That the World is the Ordainment of God And in his Twelfth Book of Metaphysicks he positively Asserts That the World and whatsoever it contains depends on God as its Original Cause Which duely apprehended is more contiguous to Divine Allowance than the Universal Principels of Catholick Des-Cartes who having fill'd the World with one pure Element and by that determination left no Space or Room whereby there may be imagin'd any natural Operation by which the different Qualifications and Proprieties that he confers on his Vortices and Globuli could be possibly deduc'd Insomuch that it may be Affirm'd That his petty Phaenomena's together with his Hypothesis of the World's Production are more Irrationally fabulous than the little imperfect Notions of Atoms expos'd in the Writings of Epicurus who teaches That the World before it had Beginning did consist of most diminutive Places that were not replenish'd with Bodies his Reason is That had such Places been fill'd with any Corporeal Beings there could not have been Room for the Motion of his Atoms because one Body might oppose in the Space it possess'd the Movement of another and so frustrate in every kind the progression of his Atoms in order to the Constituting of Heaven and Earth The Modalities of which Particles of Nature by Epicurus denominated Atoms together with their motional Attributes may methodically be read in the Writings of the Philosophical Poet Lucretius to which I refer the Reader And next to proceed with Monsieur Des-Cartes I find that he has not only elaborately Intrigu'd if not unsuccessfully perplex'd his Brain as I have precedently prov'd by forming of such Materialities and their Movements whereby he would Embody the Fond Situation and Existence of the Terrene World but also as he Imploys his farther Speculations on the Elements of Air and Water as being of nearest vicinity to the Earth we Inhabit The Air by his Definition is of a tenuous and fluid Substance congeriously compos'd of his Third Element already mention'd and therefore declares it thin and pellucidous That the Air consists of a Fluid tenuity is undeniable but not to be allow'd glist'ring or shining of it self which is very evident as we ocularly discern the capacious Complex of the ambient Air more or less Enlightned and consequently Warmer or Colder its Temperature and Effects as it proportionably receives and is qualified by Illuminations from Above And therefore not true as inferr'd by this Author that because the Air is of a liquid and tenuous Consistence that it is therefore
Times are remotely distant Concluding from thence that the greatest Tides and Floatings of the Sea are in the Spring and Autumn of the Year This Theorem howsoever it may appear to have some fineness suitable to the Copernican Dialect much endear'd by this Author does undeniably Subvert that whole Hypothesis For were it granted true That the Earth by its Diurnal Motion did vicinely Revolve as he Asserts at the Time of the Equinoctial to the Plane of the Equator the Point or Zenith over our Heads must in that Instant be remov'd or under the Equinoctial and consequently some other Point in that great Circle of the Sphere be made our Zenith The like may be Affirm'd if the Earth were Imagin'd to be by her Annual and Diurnal Motion in any Parallel to the Equator In all of which diversities both the Zenith as also the Elevation of the Pole must more or less vary or alter in every Minute and Day of the Year throughout the World contrary to Astronomical Proof and Observation By which it is very manifest that both the Zenith and Elevation of the Pole are constantly the same suitable to the Situation of Climes to which they appertain All which in the former Treatise is lineally prov'd by me as certainly as that there is such a Figure as a spherical Triangle If wav'd the improbable conjecture of the Motion of the Earth by allowing the long receiv'd Hypothesis of the Sun 's Diurnal and Annual Revolution in the Ecliptick 'T is not to be doubted that when the Sun is in either of the Equinoctial Points that the Moon is more approximately and directly impower'd by the vicine Illuminations that she then receives from the Sun by reason that the Ecliptick only in those Seasons meets the Equator in one and the same Point And tho' when in opposition to the Sun that is to say at her Full or greatest plenitude of Light she has a greater horizantal Distance visible to the Eye at that instant of Time than at an other Yet receiving in that remote Aspect a more direct Illumination than she does in other positions of her Orb she operates more powerfully on the Ocean because the Sun has at that time no declination from the Equator The like effect may be attributed to the newness of her Light the Sun being in the Equator when in Conjunction with him there she is Illuminated nearest to a direct or perpendicular Line wherefore her Beams must necessarily operate more vigourously on the Sea and thus by the observable Propriety that she has to dilate and encrease Moisture the Waves and Tides of the Ocean may well be granted more Impetuously high and swell'd at Equinoctial Times than at other Seasons As also that the Earth allow'd the Center of the Equator as it is contiguously surrounded by the Ocean cannot but more efficaciously receive in that Estate and Position of the Luminaries and especially of the Moon a transcendent flowing of the Waters of the Main that are nearest to the Verge of the Earth's Circumference In a word when all is said that can be thought on this Subject there is no such Cause to be prov'd that in all Parts in every National Being and Situation of the Earth can be certainly applicable to the Flux and Reflux of the Sea which is Experimentally found so variously different both as to Time and Continuance in all Parts of the Habitable World Which cannot proceed from any uncertain Operation descending from above but rather caus'd by intervening Obstructions arising from the diversities of the Temper of the Air and Wind that alter and compell more or less the Motions of the Watery Element Other Reasons and Discussions of Authors tending to the Resolution of the fathomless difficulty appertaining to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea might be here added But finding them to be rather disputative than clearly demonstrative I shall not burden the Ingenuity of a Reader by Inscribing their perplexities with my Pen Having I conceive deliver'd what is of greatest probability on this wonderful Subject Of what Extent or Compass the Sea is I find not in this or other Writers But that it is larger than the Earth is evident because it surrounds the Terrene World And 't is not to be doubted that whatsoever contains is greater than any Thing contained by it But as to the Depth of the Ocean 't is Computed by some accurate Navigators not to be more than two and a half of English Miles Which is very strange if the Depth of the Sea be taken for its Diameter Considering that the Sea for the reason here mention'd is bigger than the Earth but much less if by its Depth be accounted its Diameter As may be seen by the Computation of the Diameter of the Earth that I have formerly Inserted Thus far of the Earth and its Exterior Parts As to the Inferior I observe divers Particulars mention'd by Des-Cartes and which he supposes might be caus'd and produc'd by Materials according as he imagines their Operations and Effects But these being Things of small Consideration or Improvement to Knowledge as also that their Nature and Uses are for the most part as familiarly understood as that there are Plants and Minerals of several Tempers and natural Proprieties I shall therefore pass from them to Things of more Moment and next as very commodious Interials of the Earth relating to the necessary supportance of Humane Life examine the Philosophy of this Author where he Inserts his Reasons why Fountains and Springs that Emerge from within the Earth should taste liquidly fresh notwithstanding that in some Depths or Wells the Water is Salt To be sure he continues the Phaenomena's of his imaginary Elements Vortices and Globuli in order to the producing of Things as well under as above the Surface of the Earth And thus we have from him Fountains and Rivers replenish'd with Water To which purpose he has expos'd to the Eye some impress'd Diagrams by which he undertakes to explain such liquid Emanations underground in the Cranie's of the Earth in Similitude to the Circulation of Bloud in the Veins and Arteries of Men and Animals But this fanciful Monsieur having not been able as I have frequently observ'd to Demonstrate either the necessary Being Motion or Capacity of such Materials as he very confidently Introduces I am apt to conclude That if the Earth had not been naturally Impower'd by other means than such as are tender'd by Des-Cartes whereby to sustain and engender her liquid Existencies in all the necessary Parts and Compositions of her Body She had been endu'd with no more Moisture than is to be found in the Sun-burnt Sands of Africa Real Causes there are that may be defin'd perfectly Elementary and therefore not ally'd to any Impotent Existencies or such as may be term'd procreative Fathers and Mothers on whose Mixtures depend all Terrestrial Matter or Substances deliver'd with a simple Elementary Name by this Author And thus
is not Intelligible from any Definition given by him but as he Affirms it Active and Motional And therefore consisting suitably to his Teuent of quantitative Parts it must be Elementarily Compos'd and consequently Mortal by Nature By reason that there is no sublunary Substance that has not a mutable and perishable Being So that within the Compass of the World and Course of Providence there is no Immortal Thing that can be by Man apprehended Which may be naturally Argu'd from the Doctrine of Des-Cartes as it relates to the Humane Soul Notwithstanding to Improve his Philosophical System I will conclude That as a Learned Catholick 't was granted by him that the eternalizing of the Humane Soul however Compos'd or operative in the Body of Man was wholly to be referr'd to the Decree of the Omnipotent In his Second Part he grosly defines and mistakes the Nature of Body by Affirming That it does not consist as as one Thing may be said to be more Ponderous Hard or distinctly Colour'd than another but as it is differently extended in Length Breadth and Depth which is a very incompatible Tenent or all one as to Assert That Air Water Man and Beast are no otherwise distinguishable than as any one of them are heavier or less than another tho' absolutely bereav'd of their other Proprieties Which shews That there is neither Head or Tail in the Shape of his Treatise on this Subject In his Third Part amongst divers of his questionable Positions and Phaenomena's which I conceive are considerably tax'd by me he does in a high degree essentially debase the conspicuous Sphere of Glory and Light visibly beheld in the wonderful appearance of the Sun which according to his Definition is no other than a flaming Substance that flashingly Moves continually from one place to another within its Circumference but with such resemblance to our common Fire that it dissolves whatsoever Matter is contiguous to its Movement Notwithstanding he would distinguish it from the Notion we have of Fire as it is sed and maintain'd by consuming of such Materials as are not too hard to be dissolv'd And is not this a pretty kind of distinction by which he gives a different denomination to the flaming Substance as be terms it of the Sun from the combustible Nature of Tarrestial Fire tho' in effect he grants that the Operation is the same in both There being little difference betwixt Dossolution caus'd by a flaming Substance and burning as Matter may be understood either way alter'd or consum'd The Fuel on which be conceives the flaming Substance of the Sun to operate is no other than what be calls his first Element or imaginary material Fund as be determines and orders it of the Worlds original Being Above and Below So that by a thorough-pac'd fiction he Constitutes the Heavens and Earth materially the same And if so he must grant that their Substance may be equally subject to the variable Alterations generatively or corruptly understood no less than Terrestial Beings which is contradictory to common Experience There being no such etherial Changes as are frequently visible in Things Below Which is an undeniable Argument that the Substance of the Earth could never be derivatively the same with that of the Heavens or originally so Compos'd Of which the Reader may be satisfied at large when he Inspects my particular Remarks that confirm my general Exception amongst other Things against the Fourth Part of his Philosophy where he makes the Earth as it were a diminitive Brat engendred by Seeds descending from Skies To be plain these Parts of his Philosophy which Include the whole depend on so many fabulous Phaenomena's and improbable Conjectures diversly introduc'd by him that it is impossible to apprehend any direct Foundation on which he erects the Babel of his Hypothesis in reference to the Heavens and Earth So that it were prolixly improper should I load my Preface by discussing of such Particulars that require a more ample Debate in their proper Places It being more suitable to the Nature of a Preface to intimate briefly such Observations as may give the Reader a taste of what he is more largely to consider Wherefore I shall refer him to my Remarks as in course they are to be Read where I believe he may find them as pertinently Compendious as my endeavours could accomplish or perhaps his Ingenuity may expect And for my own Vindication I can sincerely avow that I discharg'd from my perusal of his Tractates such opinionative Reflections as usually flow from the Pens of opposite Authors Being so fully prepar'd both as to the Repute of the Person and the value that I propensly allow'd to his great Abilities That I did in a manner not doubt that I should be proselited by his Principles But finding upon a Mature and thorough Consideration that his Maxims in divers Particulars not only check'd with my Understanding but also against the Proofs that might be adjusted against them I could not but infer that in a Judicious Conception he was not the same Des Cartes or Grandee of Knowledge that had been by many attributed to his Caracter So that I might well pronounce Quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore Not that I presume on my Success farther than he contributes to his own Defeat by intruding such Notions Ideas Systems and Existency of Things that could by no Method of Providence or Nature have Being in the World Notwithstanding all which he confidently assures his Reader that he takes himself to be no Author of Novelties or Principles disagreeable to the most famous of Ancient Philosophers Tho' palpably manifest that he neither mentions Plato Aristotle or any others of Old or Modernly Renown'd that he does not sharpen his Pen to Confute Tho' the Proofs that he offers are as far short of the Validity of many of theirs as Fiction is from best Probability or experimental Assurance As may be seen by some Examples given by me To Conclude had not these Motives prevail'd on my Judgment and what is more the demonstrative Evidence that I have Instanc'd from Proof I had been far more inclinable as I consider'd on many Accounts the Learned Deserts of this Author to have annex'd to his Esteem my Praise instead of my Opposition Farwel REMARKS On the First Part of the New PHILOSOPHY OF DES-CARTES Concerning the Principles of HUMANE KNOWLEDGE PART I. NOTHING is more commendable then the Exercising of the Humane Mind in such requisite Contemplations as most Effectually conduce to the Improvement of the Understanding in things of special Importance And tho' Man do's Exist in a World whose Structure is no less admirable to his Speculation then how he came to have Being in it or Originally Ensoul'd above other Creatur's Yet Nature is no such Step-Dame as not to Communicate by her Works such plentiful discoveries to the Rational Faculty as have an ample perspicuity and genuine tendency to Improve our Apprehensions A Treasure of Science that ought
assur'd of what we understand Unless the Intellect be Refin'd by Idea after his manner as the most natural Way of being clearly Apprehensive and with such disparagement to the Senses That they may be in his Opinion neglected Tho' common Experience might have convinc'd him that they are by Nature Constituted Assistants and real Proofs of whatsoever is openly and demonstratively understood But it seems he omitted these Considerations And therefore in his next Particular which is his 4th he positively directs as he would intend the Use of his Idea by which he Argues That the Nature of Matter or Body does not Consist in that it is Hard Ponderous or any other Manner affecting the Senses but only as it is a Thing extended in Length Breadth and Depth And for durition or hardness the Sense discovers it no farther than as the Parts of a Hard Body Resist the Motion of our Hands meeting with it Here he would exalt his Idea to the height of Dominion in the Mind and level the Senses below the Capacities that Nature has allow'd them Nothing being more Philosophically Irrational than the Supposition he Inserts That the Nature of Body is only to be understood as it has Longitude Latitude and Depth and why not also as it is Weighty Hard and Colour'd Is not Air as much a Body as Iron and yet perfectly distinguish'd by the compact Durition of the Latter as its Essential Propriety And as absolutely different in Colour could the diaphanous Substance of Air be as visible to the Eye and although it be not we may conceive the Distinction much surer than we could by intruding on the Mind a conceited Idea because we are sensibly Assur'd That no Corporeal Thing can have Being in Nature without its colourable Property And this as familiarly Certain as that a Bay-Horse cannot be Denominated a Horse if his natural Colour could be separated from his Substance There are many Things that may be said to have Colour that are not genuinely their own And so a painted Cheek whether in Man or Woman is no Dye or Complexion of Nature but Artificically Colour'd And we Judge of Pictures as they Resemble the Life by the Colours apply'd to them by the Skill of the Painter And 't is no less evident that Des-Cartes has presented his Reader with a very Fictitious Varnish of his Pen if he meant no other distinction of Colours Relating or Apply'd to Material Substances than in this Place he mentions And in Summ concludes That Weight Colour and such like Corporeal Qualities may be separated from their Inherence in Matter so that the Nature of the Substance to which they belong does not depend on any of them And is not this a concise Manner of Idea in this Author by which he would have us believe That Bodily Substance may have Existence and be sensibly perceiv'd without being discern'd by its genuine Shape and Figure If Colour Hardness and Weight with other Qualities appertaining to Matter are defin'd Accidents in a Philosophical Sense yet allowable such as when natural are inseparable Proprieties from Bodies to which they appertain And 't is some wonder that this Learned Monsieur should forget on this occasion That noted Logical Maxim Quod omni sola et semper accidit subjecto So that the Idea of this Author as it is here Apply'd by him is so far from a Weighty or indeed a Colourable Notion That 't is as surely Confuted as a White Plum may be distinguish'd by the Act of Nature from a Black one The next Step he takes is to present his Reader with the Doubts of some Persons who Determine That Bodies may be so Rarified or Condens'd that they may have by Rarifaction more Extension than when Condens'd To which Number of Dubitants I desire to be added Because I conceive nothing more clear than the doubt he Delivers Is it not very evident That Snow when dissolv'd by Rarifaction into Water is substantially Extended farther than before as it may be observ'd falling from a Hill into a River And is it not as manifest That some Parts of Wood when Thinn'd and Rarified by Fire convert to Smoak So that 't is impossible to deny that Corporeal Alteration is not Incident to Rarifaction which gives it a variable and different Extension if compar'd to the space it Precedently fill'd and this amounts to Demonstration instead of Opinion But he that will be Proselyted by the Doctrine of Des-Cartes must in this Case be such a compliable Sceptick as to Renounce his sensible Conviction and accord with him where he contends to Argue That whosoever will attentively Think and admit nothing but what he clearly understands will Judge That no more is Effected by Rarifaction and Condensation than Change of the Corporeal Figure And this in few words is the summ of what is contain'd in his Fifth and Sixth Particular that is worth a Remark The Reason he offers is That Rarified Bodies having many Pores are there Replenish'd with other Substances and by that means become Condens'd This Conceit of his is as distant from Proof as Fiction is from Truth And nothing more obviously Answer'd since 't is Philosophically Certain That Condensation is added to Bodies which are made more or less Solid as their thinner Parts are proportionately expell'd by Rarifaction And thus a tenuous Substance is gradually render'd more compact and harden'd by the Fire as is in divers Kinds Experimentally Observable Which however producing Alteration of Figure in their Corporeal Extent 't is as they receive Solidity or Durition from the Capacity that their tenuous Parts have in order to Rarifaction So that 't is not as this Writer Infers from any Intervals or Cranies in Bodies fill'd with other Bodies that causes Condensation but so much of the Tenuity of their Compositions as being vanish'd by Rarifaction leaves them more compactly Harden'd Suppose he had been ask'd Whether the thin Substance of Air or Fluid Body of Water did Exist with any such Pores or Inlets in them that might be Receptacles for other Bodies He could not probably have solv'd the Question notwithstanding 't is very apparent That Air is Thicken'd by Moisture that exhal'd by the Sun is mingled with it But Water being a grosser Substance is Condens'd as its Thinner Parts are by Heat extracted from it and this may be discern'd in every standing Pool or Puddle All which is Equivalently acknowledg'd by him in his Entrance to his Seventh Head Where he grants That there are no Pores in Air or Water that may add to their Amplitude by giving Reception to other Bodies whereby they may be more Replenish'd Yet would have it pass in being suppos'd for a Rational Fiction but I expected his Proof and therefore must be excus'd if I reject his Fable As for Corporeal Extent caus'd by Rarifaction he seems to allow none otherwise than as he would a new Body so Extended Which is not Universally true and may be so understood from the Example
naturally and not accidentally Lucid If otherwise why might not this opiniative Monsieur as well Attribute Inherent transparency or shining unto Water that is so nearly ally'd to Air in being of a fluid and thin Substance But who ever observ'd any shining in either of these Elements in a cloudy Day or Night So that Experience assures That neither Air or Water have in themselves any Illuminating Propriety unless he could convincs us That a congeries of his Globuli of which he Asserts the vast quantity of Air and Water is Compos'd were glisteringly parcell'd like studded Diamonds But allowing neither them nor their Vortices and Elements from whence he derives them any such Capacity or so much as a Being in rerum natura I cannot but totally reject them wheresoever I find them as formerly I have done My next remarkable Consideration shall refer to his 48th Particular where he delivers the two main specifical Qualities that he annexes to the Nature of Water some of which he determines flexible others inflexible and if separated one from another some of them compose or produce Salt Water whilst others sweet or fresh This Principle of his can never be so perfectly Season'd as that it shall not taste of a Paradox in the very Sense of the Word as it is apply'd by common Understanding For what is more distastful to obvious Intelligence than to Attribute to the Fluidity of Water a flexible or inflexible Qualification Whereas Water by its appropriated Inclination may be properly said to flow but not to bend or consider'd as absolutely Inflexible A Stick or Cane may be bow'd by the Hand but can a Man so grasp a quantity of Water as he may be thought to Inflect or bend the liquid Material or feel in any of its fluid Substance such an Inflexible Part that he could not squeez or if he did immediately observe it stiffen'd into a Salt Composition Could this be readily perform'd by Manual Operation it would doubtless advantageously facilitate the Salt-Manufacture and gratifie the Inventer with a Pension and thanks from the Publick for his beneficial Project But I cannot perceive any such assurance in the Writings of this French Gentleman if not rather an Imaginary Perfection conferr'd by him on the Actings of his Globuli as he supposes them sometimes to thin Water into Air or thicken Air into Water Much like the pretended Experiments of Empiricks who boastingly teach That their Operations consist of such a quintessence of Things as were never understood before Whereas indeed 't is a devis'd Tale of so many Non-Entities as to any Use or Effect that could be actually perform'd by any real process of such Authors The next Exterior and Contiguous Element to Air is Water as it is by Philosophers Elementarily understood of which In his 49th Particular he offers a very confiderable Account as he applys it to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea The external Superficies of the Earth being in some sort surrounded by the Ocean whereby the Globulous Form of the Earth is more exactly compleated There is no Speculation within the Precincts of Nature that has more perplex'd Learned Authors than the Discovery they would attain of the Causes that effect the Flux and Reflux of the Sea every six Hours of Day and Night as it is variously observ'd in different Climes and Situations of the Earth But as to the Ocean in general the same Compass of Time relating to its Floating and Refloating is usually expended Whereas in the Baltick as also in some other Seas there are no such Egressions and Regressions of the Waves of the Sea which failure is by some thought to proceed from the narrowness or streightness of the Shores and the adjoyning Caverns of the Earth not large enough to receive or be fill'd with the huge Billows of the rolling Water Or because the coldness of those Parts of the World obstruct the Rarifying of Exhalations requisitely conducing to the sufficient Tumefying or Swelling of the Waves that flow to their Shores Whether these Reasons or more that might be added have an effectual tendency in order to the various Fluxions and Refluxions of the Ocean observable in many Places of the Earth I will not dispute being more inclinable to believe that it is a Secret more deeply absconded by Nature than can be penetrated by the most accurate Inquisition of Humane Science Notwithstanding it may be Affirm'd That the remote Cause may probably be deriv'd from the Etherial vigour of divers Stars but most especially from the Moon when gradually arising above the Horizon she disperses her Beams obliquely on the Ocean and by that means warmes as also exhales from the bottom of the Sea such Exhalations that being Dilated Tumefy'd and consequently so weightily Increas'd as in a manner they Revolve to Shores The next Diversity may be apprehended from the Degrees of Motion made by the Moon as she departs from the Meridian towards the West Part of the Horizon by which Movement she disperses her Raies and Light less obliquely and therefore not so efficaciously transmitted to the Sea or generative of Vapors whence follows such a remission of the Tumidity of the Ocean that it seems to Reside and by so doing causes an Ebb or with-drawing from the Land Other Varieties of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Ocean as they depend on the Motion of the Moon by Day or Night might be mention'd here But I conceive the Instances I have given are enough and which I thought conveniently interpos'd because the most Remarkable Opinion amongst Philosophers before I came to the Judgment of Des-Cartes on this profound Subject To which purpose he rely's on the Phaenomena of his Vortices and Globuli together with the Motion of the Earth and Sea contiguous unto it and a Scheme delineated to that end On all which I am oblig'd to Insert no other Remark than by insisting on my absolute denial of the total Hypothesis of his Vortices and Globuli as also of the Earth's Motion either Diurnal or Annual which by the Diagram that I have given in the Third Part I doubt not is Geometrically demonstrated So that it were a needless Repetition should I reiterate the same Confutation In his 51st Particular I confess he has a Conceit which as to the Flux and Reflux of the Ocean could I Correspond with the dependence it has on his other Systems appears to be Mathematically acceptable by the Instance he gives and seeming probation why in Equinoctial Times or when the Moon is either at Full or at New the Flowing of the Sea is greater than at other Seasons Which he thinks he Confirms by alledging That the Moon at such Times and condition of her Light has always a Vicinity to the Plane of the Ecliptick and that the Earth which he supposes motional makes its Diurnal Progression according to the Plane of the Equator From whence saies he it comes to pass that those two Planes Intersect one another but in Solstitial
given already of Snow Dissolv'd by Rarifaction to Water which when Snow was but Water Congeal'd So that it cannot be properly said to have a new Body but alter'd to the Fluid Substance which it had before The like may be Affirm'd of Lead or other Materials that when melted and enlarg'd by Extension do not lose the Denomination of the same Corporeal Substance in which Sense Lead when Dissolv'd is as truely Lead as it was in its precedent Existence Examples might be added on this Subject did the Reply that I have made require farther Illustration wherefore I proceed to his next Point which he thus States Quantity and Number differ only in Reason from the quantitative or number'd Thing This Position he procceds to Explicate by Affirming That the whole Nature of Corporeal Substance may be consider'd as contian'd in the space of ten Feet altho' we attend not the Measure of any such Number of Feet And by Converse saies he the Number Ten may be understood as well as a Quantity of so many Feet although we are regardless of its Determinate Substance Here the gentile Monsieur renews his Address to his Mistress of Thought under the Notion of Idea Which he endeavours to Compleat by such a refin'd Mode of Philosophical Courtship That like a Platonick Lover he separates Sense from the Motives he Endears But I presume that his Amour has met with divers coy Reprimands from Reason the most Celebrated Mistress and Beauty of the Understanding And 't is no presumption I conceive if I Attribute a rational Success to my Pen which has more than often refell'd the Cartesian Idea in divers preceding Discussions Wherefore I might refer my Reply to what I have already Written Did not the respect that I have to the Abilities of this Author tho' none to his Mistakes oblige me to prolong my Inspection together with an earnest Desire of being convinc'd might I find Cause from his Proposals But instead of meeting with any Motives of his sufficient to reconcile me to his Assertions I may justly observe an Erroneous Relapse to his former Principles And thus in his 8th Particular that occasions my Debate He supposes That the whole Nature of Corporeal Substance contain'd in a space of Ten or any Number of Feet may be understood without any Computation of it as locally Commensurable and this to be accomplish'd by a sole Idea of the Mind in his Opinion But is it possible to promote meer Thought by an Insensible Act suitable to the purpose he intends it Can a Man that never understood how a Plain Superficies may contain Body or is produc'd according to his Example to a space of Ten Feet Conceive or Delineate such a Figure without knowing that it is Compleated by Multiplying of 5 by 2 Should a Mathematical Tutor Inform his Pupil That it would be sufficient for his Instruction if by Mental Speculation he Imagin'd that there was in Nature such a Thing as a Plain Superficies tho' he did not apprehend that Longitude and Latitude were its Numerical Proprieties Could Science be Improv'd by such an Impertinent and Idle Idea that can signifie nothing either to Theory or Practice On the contrary every Man must be as competently Intelligent as was this Author of the Qualifications of Lines that appertain to superficial Content and as certainly too as the Dimensions of any Number of Acres may be figuratively Included in a Square or Parallelogram or he will profit little on this Question by Reading of Des-Cartes Who next proceeds to inform us That notwithstanding 't is a certain Truth and so I think too that nothing can be taken from Quantity or Extension but the Substance to which they belong must also be Leslen'd And convertibly not the least Part of Substance can be exempted but as much of Quantity and Extension will be taken from it This Opinion of his he alledges as opposite to the Tenent of others of whom he saies there are some that consider Corporeal Substance as distinct from its Quantity Which Conception of theirs causes them confusedly to think that the same Substance may be term'd Incorporeal Whether there was ever Man of such a wilde Imagination may well be question'd Since nothing can be more absurd than to Imagine That Substance might remain in any Kind Substance without its proper Quantity and next notwithstanding that Contradiction or as he calls it confusion of Thought to suppose the same Substance Metamorphos'd by a mysterious Way of Thinking to Incorporeal which is no less contradictory to the natural Being and Definition of Substance than if a Man should determine that Body could cease to be Body Because Substance is inseparable from Quantity as its Corporeal Propriety and therefore by no Notion or Object of Sense can be deem'd Incorporeal But notwithstanding that the Incomprehensible Idea of Incorporeal Substance is reprov'd by Des-Cartes as Notionally Confus'd the Sense that he delivers in the 64th Particular of his First Part or Treatise of Humane Cognition is ally'd to the same Absurdity as may be observ'd from my Remarks on that Head Where he supposes That Cogitaion and Extension may be consider'd as Modalities of Substance because as he Affirms The Humane Mind may have diversity of Thoughts by which the Cogitative Substance as he Defines it may at one time Imploy its Idea of Things clearly distinguish'd without the Assistance of the Senses at another operate in Conjunction with the sensible Parts of the Body Is not this such a manner of Idea as would render the Thinking Substance of the Mind with or without Quantity as pleases the Thinker Which little differs from the Irrational Notion of Incorporeal Substance if any Thing by excluding of Quantity might be possibly Imagin'd substantial From whence it may be inferr'd That the Criticisme offer'd by Des-Cartes in this Place in order to refell the Opinion of others does considerably reflect on his own And thus I proceed to such of his Particulars as occasion my Remarks which I shall Insert no oftner than the Subject requires In his 11th Head he reminds us of the Idea that we may have of Body by the Example he gives of a Stone from which we may reject all that is not Essential to the Nature of Body As if a Stone be melted or pulveris'd it does not therefore cease to be Corporeal We may also reject Colour because we frequently observe Stones that very pellucidly shine as if they were without Colour And so we may reject Gravity Lightness Heat and Cold with All other Qualities because they are either not consider'd in the Stone or being Chang'd the Corporeal Nature of the Stone is not alter'd with them Here methinks he makes a great Pudder to little purpose or no other than to prove that which no Man ever deny'd If there can be any Thing more Experimentally manifest than That Substance by what means soever varied or Chang'd will still retain Quantity as its Corporeal Propriety not to be separated