Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	body_n	earth_n	element_n	7,308	5	10.1853	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53044	The description of a new world, called the blazing-world written by the thrice noble, illustrious, and excellent princesse, the Duchess of Newcastle.	Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of, 1624?-1674.; Newcastle, William Cavendish, Duke of, 1592-1676.	1668 (1668)	Wing N850; ESTC R13228	80,921	168

other Creatures within the Earth were colourless At which question they could not forbear laughing and when the Empress asked the reason why they laught We most humbly beg your Majesties pardon replied they for we could not chuse but laugh when we heard of a colourless Body Why said the Empress Colour is onely an accident which is an immaterial thing and has no being of it self but in another body Those replied they that informed your Majesty thus surely their rational motions were very irregular For how is it possible that a Natural nothing can have a being in Nature If it be no substance it cannot have a being and if no being it is nothing Wherefore the distinction between subsisting of it self and subsisting in another body is a meer nicety and non-sense for there is nothing in Nature that can subsist of or by it self I mean singly by reason all parts of Nature are composed in one body and though they may be infinitely divided commixed and changed in their particulars yet in general parts cannot be separated from parts as long as Nature lasts nay we might as probably affirm that Infinite Nature would be as soon destroyed as that one Atom could perish and therefore your Majesty may firmly believe that there is no Body without colour nor no Colour without body for colour figure place magnitude and body are all but one thing without any separation or abstraction from each other The Empress was so wonderfully taken with this Discourse of the Worm-men that she not only pardoned the rudeness they committed in laughing at first at her question but yielded a full assent to their opinion which she thought the most rational that ever she had heard yet and then proceeding in her questions enquired further whether they had observed any seminal principles within the Earth free from all dimensions and qualities which produced Vegetables Minerals and the like To which they answered That concerning the seeds of Minerals their sensitive perceptions had never observed any but Vegetables had certain seeds out of which they were produced Then she asked whether those seeds of Vegetables lost their Species that is were annihilated in the production of their off-spring To which they answered That by an Annihilation nothing could be produced and that the seeds of Vegetables were so far from being annihilated in their productions that they did rather numerously increase and multiply for the division of one seed said they does produce numbers of seeds out of it self But repli'd the Empress A particular part cannot increase of it self 'T is true answer'd they but they increase not barely of themselves but by joining and commixing with other parts which do assist them in their productions and by way of imitation form or figure their own parts into such or such particulars Then I pray inform me said the Empress what disguise those seeds put on and how they do conceal themselves in their Transmutations They answered That seeds did no ways disguise or conceal but rather divulge themselves in the multiplication of their off-spring onely they did hide and conceal themselves from their sensitive perceptions so that their figurative and productive motions were not perceptible by Animal Creatures Again the Empress asked them whether there were any Non beings within the Earth To which they answered That they never heard of any such thing and that if her Majesty would know the truth thereof she must ask those Creatures that are called Immaterial Spirits which had a great affinity with Non-beings and perhaps could give her a satisfactory answer to this question Then she desired to be informed What opinion they had of the beginning of Forms They told her Majesty That they did not understand what she meant by this expression For said they there is no beginning in Nature no not of Particulars by reason Nature is Eternal and Infinite and her particulars are subject to infinite changes and transmutations by vertue of their own Corporeal figurative self-motions so that there 's nothing new in Nature nor properly a beginning of any thing The Empress seem'd well satisfied with all those answers and enquired further Whether there was no Art used by those Crearures that live within the Earth Yes answered they for the several parts of the Earth do join and assist each other in composition or framing of such or such particulars and many times there are factions and divisions which cause productions of mixt Species as for example weeds instead of sweet flowres and useful fruits but Gardeners and Husbandmen use often to decide their quarrels and cause them to agree which though it shews a kindness to the differing parties yet 't is a great prejudice to the Worms and other Animal-Creatures that live under ground for it most commonly causes their dissolution and ruine at best they are driven out of their habitations What said the Empress are not Worms produced out of the Earth Their production in general answered they is like the production of all other Natural Creatures proceeding from the corporeal figurative motions of Nature but as for their particular productions they are according to the nature of their Species some are produced out of flowers some out of roots some out of fruits some out of ordinary Earth Then they are very ungrateful Children replied the Empress that they feed on their own Parents which gave them life Their life answered they is their own and not their Parents for no part or creature of Nature can either give or take away life but parts do onely assist and join with parts either in the dissolution or production of other Parts and Creatures After this and several other Conferences which the Empress held with the Worm-men she dismissed them and having taken much satisfaction in several of their Answers encouraged them in their Studies and Observations Then she made a Convocation of her Chymists the Ape-men and commanded them to give her an account of the several Transmutations which their Art was able to produce They begun first with a long and tedious Discourse concerning the Primitive Ingredients of Natural bodies and how by their Art they had found out the principles out of which they consist But they did not all agree in their opinions for some said That the Principles of all Natural Bodies were the four Elements Fire Air Water Earth out of which they were composed Others rejected this Elementary commixture and said There were many Bodies out of which none of the four Elements could be extracted by any degree of Fire whatsoever and that on the other side there were divers Bodies whose resolution by Fire reduced them into more then four different Ingredients and these affirmed That the only principles of Natural Bodies were Salt Sulphur and Mercury Others again declared That none of the forementioned could be called the True Principles of Natural Bodies but that by their industry and pains which they had taken in the Art of Chymistry they had discovered

in the middle Region and by reason of its leightness could not go directly to the bottom but was carried by the Air up and down Some would have it a flowing Water of the Air and others again a flowing Air moved by the blaz of the Stars But the Empress seeing they could not agree concerning the cause of Wind asked Whether they could tell how Snow was made To which they answered That according to their observation Snow was made by a commixture of VVater and some certain extract of the Element of Fire that is under the Moon a small portion of which extract being mixed with Water and beaten by Air or Wind made a white Froth called Snow which being after some while dissolved by the heat of the same spirit turned to VVater again This observation amazed the Emperess very much for she had hitherto believed That Snow was made by cold motions and not by such an agitation or beating of a fiery extract upon water Nor could she be perswaded to believe it until the Fish or Mear-men had delivered their observation upon the making of Ice which they said was not produced as some had hitherto conceived by the motion of the Air raking the Superficies of the Earth but by some strong saline vapour arising out of the Seas which condensed Water into Ice and the more quantity there was of that vapour the greater were the Mountains or Precipices of Ice but the reason that it did not so much freeze in the Torrid Zone or under the Ecliptick as near or under the Poles was that this vapour in those places being drawn up by the Sun-beams into the middle Region of the Air was onely condensed into Water and fell down in showres of Rain when as under the Poles the heat of the Sun being not so vehement the same vapour had no force or power to rise so high and therefore caused so much Ice by ascending and acting onely upon the surface of water This Relation confirmed partly the observation of the Bird-men concerning the cause of Snow but since they had made mention that that same extract which by its commixture with Water made Snow proceeded from the Element of Fire that is under the Moon The Emperess asked them of what nature that Elementary Fire was whether it was like ordinary Fire here upon Earth or such a Fire as is within the bowels of the Earth and as the famous Mountains Vesuvius and AEtna do burn withal or whether it was such a sort of fire as is found in flints c. They answered That the Elementary Fire which is underneath the Sun was not so solid as any of those mentioned fires because it had no solid fuel to feed on but yet it was much like the flame of ordinary fire onely somewhat more thin and fluid for Flame said they is nothing else but the airy part of a fired Body Lastly the Empress asked the Bird-men of the nature of Thunder and Lightning and whether it was not caused by roves of Ice falling upon each other To which they answered That it was not made that way but by an encounter of cold and heat so that an exhalation being kindled in the Clouds did dash forth Lightning and that there were so many rentings of Clouds as there were Sounds and Cracking noises But this opinion was contradicted by others who affirmed that Thunder was a sudden and monstrous Blaz stirred up in the Air and did not always require a Cloud but the Empress not knowing what they meant by Blaz for even they themselves were not able to explain the seuse of this word liked the former better and to avoid hereafter tedious disputes and have the truth of the Phaenomena's of Coelestial Bodies more exactly known commanded the Bear-men which were her Experimental Philosophers to observe them through such Instruments as are called Telescopes which they did according to her Majesties Command but these Telescopes caused more differences and divisions amongst them then ever they had before for some said they perceived that the Sun stood still and the Earth did move about it others were of opinion that they both did move and others said again that the Earth stood still and the Sun did move some counted more Stars then others some discovered new Stars never seen before some fell into a great dispute with others concerning the bigness of the Stars some said The Moon was another World like their Terrestrial Globe and the spots therein were Hills and Vallies but others would have the spots to be the Terrestrial parts and the smooth and glossie parts the Sea At last the Empress commanded them to go with their Telescopes to the very end of the Pole that was joined to the World she came from and try whether they could perceive any Stars in it which they did and being returned to her Majesty reported that they had seen three Blazing-Stars appear there one after another in a short time whereof two were bright and one dim but they could not agree neither in this observation for some said It was but one Star which appeared at three several times in several places and others would have them to be three several Stars for they thought it impossible that those three several appearances should have been but one Star because every Star did rise at a certain time and appear'd in a certain place and did disappear in the same place Next It is altogether improbable said they That one Star should fly from place to place especially at such a vast distance without a visible motion in so short a time and appear in such different places whereof two were quite opposite and the third side-ways Lastly If it had been hut one Star said they it would always have kept the same splendor which it did not for as above mentioned two were bright and one was dim After they had thus argued the Empress began to grow angry at their Telescopes that they could give no better Intelligence for said she now I do plainly perceive that your Glasses are false Informers and instead of discovering the Truth delude your Senses Wherefore I Command you to break them and let the Bird-men trust onely to their natural eyes and examine Coelestial Objects by the motions of their own Sense and Reason The Bear-men replied That it was not the fault of their Glasses which caused such differences in their Opinions but the sensitive motions in their Optick organs did not move alike nor were their rational judgments always regular To which the Empress answered That if their Glasses were true Informers they would rectifie their irregular Sense and Reason But said she Nature has made your Sense and Reason more regular then Art has your Glasses for they are meer deluders and will never lead you to the knowledg of Truth Wherefore I command you again to break them for you may observe the progressive motions of Coelestial Bodies with your natural eyes better then through Artificial Glasses The

that all Natural Bodies were produced but from one Principle which was Water for all Vegetables Minerals and Animals said they are nothing else but simple Water distinguished into various figures by the vertue of their Seeds But after a great many debates and contentions about this Subject the Empress being so much tired that she was not able to hear them any longer imposed a general silence upon them and then declared her self in this following Discourse I am too sensible of the pains you have taken in the Art of Chymistry to discover the Principles of Natural Bodies and wish they had been more profitably bestowed upon some other then such experiments for both by my own Contemplation and the Observations which I have made by rational sensitive perception upon Nature and her works I find that Nature is but one Infinite Self-moving Body which by the vertue of its self-motion is divided into Infinite parts which parts being restless undergo perpetual changes and transmutations by their infinite compositions and divisions Now if this be so as surely according to regular Sense and Reason it appears no otherwise it is in vain to look for primary Ingredients or constitutive principles of Natural Bodies since there is no more but one Universal Principle of Nature to wit self-moving Matter which is the onely cause of all natural effects Next I desire you to consider that Fire is but a particular Creature or effect of Nature and occasions not onely different effects in several Bodies but on some Bodies has no power at all witness Gold which never could be brought yet to change its interior figure by the art of Fire and if this be so Why should you be so simple as to believe that Fire can shew you the Principles of Nature and that either the Four Elements or Water onely or Salt Sulphur and Mercury all which are no more but particular effects and Creatures of Nature should be the Primitive Ingredients or Principles of all Natural Bodies Wherefore I will not have you to take more pains and waste your time in such fruitless attempts but be wiser hereafter and busie your selves with such Experiments as may be beneficial to the publick The Empress having thus declared her mind to the Ape-men and given them better Instructions then perhaps they expected not knowing that her Majesty had such great and able judgment in Natural Philosophy had several conferences with them concerning Chymical Preperations which for brevities sake I 'le forbear to reherse Amongst the rest she asked how it came that the Imperial Race appear'd so young and yet was reported to have lived so long some of them two some three and some four hundred years and whether it was by Nature or a special Divine blessing To which they answered That there was a certain Rock in the parts of that World which contained the Golden Sands which Rock was hallow within and did produce a Gum that was a hundred years before it came to its full strength and perfection this Gum said they if it be held in a warm hand will dissolve into an Oyl the effects whereof are following It being given every day for some certain time to an old decayed man in the bigness of a little Pea will first make him spit for a week or more after this it will cause Vomits of Flegm and after that it will bring forth by vomits humors of several colours first of a pale yellow then of a deep yellow then of a green and lastly of a black colour and each of these humors have a several taste some are fresh some salt some sower some bitter and so forth neither do all these Vomits make them sick but they come out on a sudden and unawares without any pain or trouble to the patient And after it hath done all these mentioned effects and clear'd both the Stomack and several other parts of the body then it works upon the Brain and brings forth of the Nose such kinds of humors as it did out of the Mouth and much after the same manner then it will purge by stool then by urine then by sweat and lastly by bleeding at the Nose and the Emeroids all which effects it will perform within the space of six weeks or a little more for it does not work very strongly but gently and by degrees Lastly when it has done all this it will make the body break out into a thick Scab and cause both Hair Teeth and Nails to come off which scab being arrived to its full maturity opens first along the back and comes off all in a piece like an armour and all this is done within the space of four months After this the Patient is wrapt into a Cerecloth prepared of certain Gums and Juices wherein he continues until the time of nine Months be expired from the first beginning of the cure which is the time of a Childs formation in the Womb. In the mean while his diet is nothing else but Eagles-eggs and Hinds-milk and after the Cere-cloth is taken away he will appear of the age of Twenty both in shape and strength The weaker sort of this Gum is soveraign in healing of wounds and curing of slight distempers But this is also to be observed that none of the Imperial race does use any other drink but Lime-water or water in which Lime-stone is immerged their meat is nothing else but Fowl of several sorts their recreations are many but chiefly Hunting This Relation amazed the Empress very much for though in the World she came from she had heard great reports of the Philosophers-stone yet had she not heard of any that had ever found it out which made her believe that it was but a Chymera she called also to mind that there had been in the same World a Man who had a little Stone which cured all kinds of Diseases outward and inward according as it was applied and that a famous Chymist had found out a certain Liquor called Alkahest which by the vertue of its own fire consumed all Diseases but she had never heard of a Medicine that could renew old Age and render it beautiful vigorous and strong Nor would she have so easily believed it had it been a medicine prepared by Art for she knew that Art being Natures Changeling was not able to produce such a powerful effect but being that the Gum did grow naturally she did not so much scruple at it for she knew that Nature's Works are so various and wonderful that no particular Creature is able to trace her ways The Conferences of the Chymists being finished the Empress made an Assembly of her Galenical Physicians her Herbalists and Anatomists and first she enquired of her Herbalists the particular effects of several Herbs and Drugs and whence they proceeded To which they answered that they could for the most part tell her Majesty the vertues and operations of them but the particular causes of their effects were unknown onely thus much they

vital operation on the body The Spirits answered That they did not understand these three distinctions but that they seem'd to corporeal sense and reason as if they were three several bodies or three several corporeal actions however said they they are intricate conceptions of irregular Fancies If you do not understand them replied the Empress how shall human Creatures do then Many both of your modern and ancient Philosophers answered the Spirits endeavour to go beyond Sense and Reason which makes them commit absurdities for no corporeal Creature can go beyond Sense and Reason no not we Spirits as long as we are in our corporeal Vehicles Then the Empress asked them Whether there were any Atheists in the World The Spirits answered That there were no more Atheists then what Cabbalists make She asked them further Whether Spirits were of a globous or round Figure They answered That Figure belonged to body but they being immaterial had no Figure She asked again Whether Spirits were not like Water or Fire They answered that Water and Fire was material were it the purest and most refined that ever could be nay were it above the Heavens But we are no more like Water or Fire said they then we are like Earth but our Vehicles are of several forms figures and degrees of substances Then she desired to know Whether their Vehicles were made of Air Yes answered the Spirits some of our Vehicles are of thin Air. Then I suppose replied the Empress That those airy Vehicles are your corporeal Summer-suits She asked further Whether the Spirits had not ascending and descending-motions as well as other Creatures They answered That properly there was no ascension or descension in Infinite Nature but onely in relation to particular parts and as for us Spirits said they We can neither ascend nor descend without corporeal Vehicles nor can our Vehicles ascend or descend but according to their several shapes and figures for there can be no motion without body The Empress asked them further Whether there was not a World of Spirits as well as there is of Material Creatures No answered they for the word World implies a quantity or multitude of corporeal Creatures but we being Immaterial can make no World of Spirits Then she desired to be informed when Spirits were made We do not know answered they how and when we were made nor are we much inquisitive after it nay if we did it would be no benefit neither for us nor for you Mortals to know it The Empress replied That Cabbalists and Divine Philosophers said Mens rational Souls were Immaterial and stood as much in need of corporeal Vehicles as Spirits did If this be so answered the Spirits then you are Hermaphrodites of Nature but your Cabbalists are mistaken for they take the purest and subtilest parts of Matter for Immaterial Spirits Then the Empress asked When the Souls of Mortals went out of their Bodies whether they went to Heaven or Hell or whether they remained in airy Vehicles God's Justice and Mercy answered they is perfect and not imperfect but if you Mortals will have Vehicles for your Souls and a place that is between Heaven and Hell it must be Purgatory which is a place of Purification for which action Fire is more proper then Air and so the Vehicles of those Souls that are in Purgatory cannot be airy but fiery and after this rate there can be but four places for human Souls to be in viz. Heaven Hell Purgatory and this World but as for Vehicles they are but fancies not real truths Then the Empress asked them Where Heaven and Hell was Your Saviour Christ answered the Spirits has informed you that there is Heaven and Hell but he did not tell you what nor where they are wherefore it is too great a presumption for you Mortals to inquire after it If you do but strive to get into Heaven it is enough though you do not know where or what it is for it is beyond your knowledg and understanding I am satisfied replied the Empress and asked further Whether there were any Figures or Characters in the Soul They answered Where there was no Body there could be no Figure Then she asked them Whether Spirits could be naked and whether they were of a dark or a light colour As for our Nakedness it is a very odd question answered the Spirits and we do not know what you mean by a Naked Spirit for you judg of us as of corporeal Creatures and as for Colour said they it is according to our Vehicles for Colour belongs to Body and as there is no Body that is colourless so there is no Colour that is bodiless Then the Empress desired to be informed Whether all Souls were made at the first Creation of the World We know no more answered the Spirits of the origin of humane Souls then we know of our Selves She asked further Whether humane bodies were not burthensome to humane Souls They answered That Bodies made Souls active as giving them motion and if action was troublesome to Souls then Bodies were so too She asked again Whether Souls did chuse Bodies They answered That Platonicks believed the Souls of Lovers lived in the Bodies of their Beloved but surely said they if there be a multitude of Souls in a World of Matter they cannot miss Bodies for as soon as a Soul is parted from one Body it enters into another and Souls having no motion of themselves must of necessity be clothed or imbodied with the next parts of Matter If this be so replied the Empress then I pray inform me Whether all matter be soulified The Spirits answered They could not exactly tell that but if it was true that Matter had no other motion but what came from a spiritual power and that all matter was moving then no soul could quit a Body but she must of necessity enter into another soulified Body and then there would be two immaterial substances in one Body The Empress asked Whether it was not possible that there could be two Souls in one Body As for Immaterial Souls answered the Spirits it is impossible for there cannot be two Immaterials in one Inanimate Body by reason they want parts and place being bodiless but there maybe numerous materials Souls in one composed Body by reason every material part has a material natural Soul for Nature is but one Infinite self-moving living and self-knowing body consisting of the three degrees of inanimate sensitive and rational Matter so intermixt together that no part of Nature were it an Atom can be without any of these three Degrees the sensitive is the Life the rational the Soul and the inanimate part the Body of Infinite Nature The Empress was very well satisfied with this answer and asked further Whether souls did not give life to bodies No answered they but Spirits and Divine Souls have a life of their own which is not to be divided being purer then a natural life for Spirits are incorporeal and