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
Spaces and such as contain Corporeal Substances indefinitely Extended Against which I offer a brief and obvious Exception by sensibly proving That as we cannot Imagine any Indefinite Extension or Space in the World in which we have Being so were another World equally Vast and Contiguous to this it were impossible to apprehend a boundless Corporeal Space within its total Continent By reason that uncircumscrib'd Space cannot be the Receptacle of Material Substance because whatever includes Body must have commensurable Attributes or such as in a Geometrical Sense may be defin'd a Superficies terminated by Length and Breadth Which demonstrably profligates his pretended Idea of Indefinite Space or Extension So little is in this Case the Doctrine of Nature beholding to the Philosophy of Des-Cartes His next Conception produc'd by his fruitful Idea is That Heaven and Earth are of one and the same Matter and that there is no possible Being of more than one World The first of this Head he no otherwise proves than as he takes it for granted That if there were Infinite or Innumerable Worlds they would be all of the same Matter wherefore he concludes there can be but One. The Objection that may be made against his Affirmation that the Matter of Heaven and Earth is the same is because Heaven can be no otherwise understood than as it has a Select and Primary Distinction from all Bodies of Elementary Composition Which is apparently manifest in its Figure Motion and Height absolutely different and far more Excellent than can be compar'd with other Substance Wherefore Zanchius writing of the Works of God gives to its most Sublime and Refin'd Perfection a spiritual Epithet to which purpose the Learned Pena in his Preface to Euclid defines it an Animated Spirit universally diffus'd To these may be added the Authority of Jamblichus a very considerable Author who in admiration of its Substance allows to its Perfections the nearest Attributes to Incorporeal Existence And who can doubt that the Judgment of any one of these erudite Persons in being more speculatively Refin'd and naturally suitable to the wonderful Objects Immensly distant from the Earth we tread on should not have a deference from our Understandings highly Superior to the gross Definition given them by Des-Cartes Who determines That the Substance of Heaven and Earth alike proceeds from the Heap of Nature's common Materials And whereas he Asserts in the latter Part of this Head That it is not possible to Imagine more Worlds than One. I think the contrary may be as certainly Affirm'd as that the World we reside in has a natural Confinement A Truth no less facile to Thought than 't is easie to delineate a Circle that in any Point shall touch another and yet leave betwixt them no Intervening Space that is not substantially repleted But this Speculation however readily exerted cannot be the proper Entertainment of the Mind unless I imagine a Similitude of Things and Beings Correspondent to the World in which I am As by the diligence of Thought I might observe in a devis'd World the same Persons Creatures Trees and Fields with such other Objects that had been visible to me in this Wherefore I take liberty to think contrary to the Opinion of this Author That the Intellect strengthned by the Senses is sufficiently enabled to Transport its Prospect to the plurality of Worlds To avoid which Imaginative Power of the Mind he annexes to his Idea of Matter undeterminate Extent A Notion absolutely Inconsistent with the Nature of Substance in all its Capacities which cannot have an Indefinite Being And therefore no less absurd than if suppos'd that Matter or Substance could be actually Infinite In some of his following Particulars he bestows many Words on the Motion of whatever may be deem'd Matter or Substance but finding nothing of Consequence to observe in most of them or that occasion any considerable Remark in being Dissentaneous to what he delivers I pass to his 25th Particular in which he Comprehends the main Fund of what he intends by Corporeal Movement the Instance which he gives is That any one Body or Substance in his Sense may be said to Move out of the Vicinity of other Bodies that were contiguous to it before and as at rest into the Vicinity of others By this Definition he proclaims an endless War in the Campains of Nature where the opposite Commotions and Powers of Individual Bodies endeavour to possess the natural Beings of their quiet Neighbours From which Problem could it be prov'd might be deduc'd a better Disciplin'd Argument in behalf of Exorbitant Potentates when Molesting or Intruding into the peaceable Vicinities and Provinces of others than has as yet been urg'd on their Part Because it might be dextrously grounded on the Toleration and Conduct dispens'd by Imperial Nature amongst her subordinate Dominions This War of Nature denounc'd by so Eminent a Philosophical Herald as Des-Cartes could not but Incense many Combats in the Schools of Science But how far prosperous there or disallow'd is not requisite in this Place to Discuss I shall therefore Imploy the Force of my Understanding without being oblig'd to the Assistance of any Tribe or Scholastical Association to attack his Arguments where they deserve the most Emphatical Opposition My first Assault on this Head shall be against the main Fort of his New-Modell'd Fortification where to defend his Principles he Exerts the Artillery of his Idea which according to the Level of his Notions must batter to pieces the entire Confederacies of Nature and so separate their Societies and Rooms in the Universe That unless a more pathetical Expedient can be found than what he offers Towns and Countries with whatever they contain may as soon be Remov'd out of this World and Situated in another as one Corporeal Substance can Usurp the Province or Being of another Because no quantitative Matter but must if Mov'd into the Place of any other possess the Space that naturally appertain'd to its Existence And whether could he suppose That a Bodily Thing could Remove that is by any means Expell'd by the Motion of another Substance from its proper Appartment Since neither his Brain or any other Man's can by an empty Idea so diminish the World as that any Particle of it might be conceiv'd to vanish to Vacuity Nor less Intolerably opposite to the Proprieties of Nature is the Maxim he Inserts of the Translation of Material Things into the proper Residence or Place of others Not that 't is deniable that Bodies are alterably Mov'd or Chang'd by Effects of Rarifaction or Condensation and other ordinary Methods of Nature as to their manner of Extension and Figure but not as to the Space that Circumscrib'd their Substances because it is Impossible for them for Reasons before mention'd to be naturally provided for by any other Room for their Existence And thus if any Receptacle or Vessel be suppos'd fill'd with Earth or Water and those Materials afterwards Remov'd the Air
Men will not be laugh'd out of the Conceit of the Earth's Motion they may if they please consider the soundness of the Reasons here offer'd in a Philosophical and Astronomical Sense And 't is probable they may that way confute their precedent Tenent And tho' by this Calculation the Earth is Imagin'd to be in the Equator 't is not to be doubted if the Earth were thought to describe by her Ecliptical Declination any Parallel to the Equator that there could be wanted suitable Proportions if applyed by whomsoever understands the Doctrine of the Sphere At present 't is enough prov'd by me how much in any time given the Earth by Moving must transfer and alter the Zenith and Elevation of the Pole as may be perceiv'd by the Diagram here delineated And perfectly Demonstrates the Copernican Absurdity or rather the Impossibility of Motion in the Earth however comply'd with by the Opinion of Des-Cartes So that the Earth may be confin'd to her Immoveable Station to the expunging of the Planetary Room given her in any Scheme by this Author betwixt Mars and Venus from whence by his Hypothesis he removes the Sun and places him below the Planets as their common Center But the Proofs that I have Inserted are I presume in all kinds so perspicuous that I need not Catechise any Delineation or Diagram of his in order to a clearer Confutation So that if the Earth does not Move and surely no Proof of his has been weighty enough to Remove her she must be no Vagrant from her Place whatsoever becomes of his Hypothesis For which Reason I hold it Impertinent farther to Imploy my Ruling-Pen Compass or spherical Calculation in Opposition to his Planetary Theory Had he not added to his Novel System the Superfetation of Comets which he denominates Planets with no less assurance than if by a Convention of Stars it had been signify'd to him That they ought to be Naturaliz'd into their Number tho' formerly reputed spurious intruding Foreigners and confin'd by the Learned Ministery of Science to Exercise their Motions and Posutres far below the nearest Palace of Heaven till advanc'd by Des-Cartes to Superior Orbs Who assures us That 't is expedient to allow to their irregularity and rambling Above as vast a Sphere as can be suppos'd betwixt Saturn the sublimest of Planets and the six'd Stars But by what means he exalts their Substance to that Height shall be consider'd when I Treat of the Materials with which he undertakes to furnish and in a manner Compose the visible World Which he tells us in his 54th Particular is by such an unerrable Idea committed to his Understanding That it were all one as to question an Inspiration dispens'd by the Almighty as to doubt of the Principles and Causes that he delivers Tho' he could not but know that he was their first Communicator But had he been ask'd Why God should so limit his Providence as not precedently to Illuminate other Men with as much scientifical Certainty as he imputes to the Novel Discoveries made by his Pen He might have been somewhat out of Countenance or pos'd to Reply Which in effect he confesses afterwards where he acknowledges That it is not safe to be confidently conceited or too far pr esume on private Opinion but rather as a Philosopher or by way of Hypothesis to propose such Notions which if suppos'd untrue they may be equivalent to Truth if deduceable from them such Things as may be experimentally useful Here he seems to depose Fiction from the Throne of Reason by depending on such Certainties that are above whatsoever Fund can be erected by Humane Imagination and this he briefly signifies by attributing Creation to the World with such absolute Perfection that originally compleated the Sun Moon and Stars As also that the Earth was primarily embellish'd with Vegetables of all Kinds maturely perfect And that the first of Mankind which he believes was Adam and Eve were Created in the exactest Bloom of Man and Woman Of all which he grants himself Religiously and Rationally assur'd But notwithstanding he advises us as our more ready Expedient rather to consider by what means Things might be produc'd than in what Method they were originally Created by God In my Opinion he had better have acquiesc'd on the Miracle of the Creation than to have prepar'd the expectation of his Reader as he does in this Paragraph by inviting him to attend on the Seminary of his Brain from whence he under takes to Expose the Principles Beginnings Ingredients Vegetations c. of whatsoever the Universe contains as likewise out of what Materials the Humane Composition was first effected Avowing that his Principles are very Concedable And so I grant could any one Miracle be understood by undertaking to prove it by admitting of another It being as Impossible to Explicate by any material Process the Original Production of an Atom as any Star of the First Magnitude And such I doubt may be found not a few of his Incomprehensible Suppositions as unaccountable perhaps to Man's Understanding as if he had undertaken to Enumerate the Points that are contain'd in the unknown Circle of the Universal World The main Phoenomena's of his stupendious Philosophy Relate to the Primitive Existence of Matter which Matter he abundantly divides into diversities of Parts and them again as variously divisible To these he appropriates different Motions but supposes that every Substance of which the visible World is Compos'd might by Divine Appointment be very near equal Of which he Imagines that the Heavens and Stars were produc'd and of the most fluid Materials applying the more Gross or Thick to inferior Things All which in his Opinion might be no less orderly determin'd than if they had Originally slipt out of Chaos with all their several Capacities and Motional Dexterities Thus far I have Extracted the quintescence of his Hypothesis or indeed but a reviv'd Model as it may be well understood of the Doctrine of Epicurus there being little difference betwixt his Theory of Atoms and setting them on work as he opens the Door of Chaos than as diminutive Particles of Nature they are busily Modell'd by Des-Cartes And I think that the Poetical Fancy of Ovid may be admitted to share in Principles with both where he expresses the first Start of the World's Individuals out of the confus'd Seeds of deform'd Chaos in these Verses Unus erat toto Naturae vultus in Orbe Quem dixere Chaos rudis indigestaque moles congestaque eodem Non bene Junctarum discordia semina rerum But should the fanciful Monsieur Des-Cartes be question'd for the Chaos of his Principles out of which he deduces the Constituted World the Infancy of Nature would be as oddly understood from his Positions as in the fantastical Doctrine of Epicurus or in the Lines of Poetical Ovid. Wherefore as I conceive his Maxims to be too innumerably perplex'd and entangled for my Brain or a better to explicate I shall wave
the beneficial Act of Providence than concentring with Humane Invention Notwithstanding all which Des-Cartes is so fondly confident of his supposs'd Phaenomena's in every consideration that he doubts not to promulge as he would be taken for a paramount Minister to the Counsels of Nature such Secrets that being enclos'd in her Cabinet could only be Reveal'd by him To which purpose he presents his Reader with no less than Thirty Four Particulars whereby he would explain the mysterious Sympathy of the Load-stone and Iron On which I am oblig'd to bestow no other Remark than by taxing of their dependancies on the Construction and Management he gives to his fabulous Elements Vortices and Globuli by which he attempts to Constitute the World and all its Individuals together with their occultest Qualifications and manner of Existence As surely as he Imagines that in this Place he has Decipher'd every Syllable relating to the obscurest Contexture Being and Nature of the Magnet the most useful Jewel of Stones with all its Excellencies Had it not been as easie for this Author having furnish'd his Brain with so many Notions Theories and Systems by which he undertakes to penetrate and display the total Recesses of Nature to have given a Philosophical Reason Why the Remora tho' one of the least of Fishes adhering to the Stern or Rudder of a great Ship should stop her Course when under Sail in a Tempestuous Sea Or Why the Eyes of a Crab-Fish should burst the Stone engender'd in the Bladder of Man Yet these Experiments are related by undoubted Authors but so as they are referr'd to ocult Causes or such as are impossible to be extricated by Humane Comprehension On which account Pliny the great Naturalist acknowledges that there are many Things wholly absconded by the Majesty of Nature From whence I conclude That had this Learned Monsieur been as modest in his Opinion he had never propo'sd any Maxims of his in order to Frame the miraculous Consistence of the Universal World by Materials and Operations of his devising For doing of which however the labour of his Pen and pregnancy of his Fancy might in those respects acquire Applause Yet in a Judicious construction they cannot be allow'd any other Encomium than may be given to Ovid for the first Line or Introduction to his fictitious Poem where he tells his Reader that In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas Corpora To be plain I would as soon rely on the Metamorphosis of that Poet by which he fabulously produces the Universe with all its Appurtenances as confide on that account on the Principles engender'd by the Brain of Des-Cartes Not but I grant that the most accurate Thinker even where Causes of Things are obscurely Envelop'd will signally attain the nearest room to Philosophical Reputation Notwithstanding the endeavours of Men are so far unfortunately obstructed that where Knowledge is most desir'd and would requisitely be embrac'd the greatest difficulties not seldom Interpose Insomuch that the Faith we assign to the Zenith of our Salvation above Encounters too often the Soul with dubious Sentiments that in a natural Conception are more remote from our Apprehension than the absconded Cause that guides the Magnetical Needle to Epitomize a Line that would direct its Points towards the vastly distant Poles of the World The main Supposition of this Author and on which chiefly his before-mention'd Thirty Four Particulars relating to the especial Inclination of the Magnet or the Needle touch'd by it to regard the Nothern and Southern Points of Heaven is That he supposes two Poles in the Magnet that respect those Parts or Poles on which he imagines the Earth to Move But how the Load-Stone should be accomplish'd with two such Poles that Sympathetically affect those Points of the World he offers no natural Reason for their Consistence or Operation Some of the Learned have thought that by a secret Sympathy Influenc'd by Nothern and Southern Stars the Magnetical Needle points towards them Others have more naturally appropriated the Cause to vast quantities of Iron situated as some think under the North or South Pole of the World From which Opinion perhaps as probable as any other may be inferr'd That if one end of the Needle does steadily Point Northward the other will as certainly Point Southward because the Needle will be then demonstratively in the same Plane with the Meridian Line if not accidentally hinder'd But notwithstanding the strong Inclination or sympathetical Affection that the Magnetick Needle has directly to represent the two Polar Points of the World 'T is frequently observ'd that in some Places of the Earth ' tho not far distant from one another it considerably differ'd if compar'd with what it does in other Situations And what is more admirable if plac'd as near as could be judg'd on the same foot of Ground it has at one time more or less vary'd than at another And thus it is frequently observ'd that very near the same Place higher or lower or on the contrary Sides of a Wall or Window that the Magnetical Needle hath pointed on contrary sides of the Meridian Which might be from different Azimuths as the Compass was plac'd much like to the Substile of a declining Dyal on several Plaines Whether caus'd by some Aspects and Motions of Stars Alterations of the Air Water Earth and Seasons of the Year or Metals conceal'd within the Surface of the Earth If not as some have Imagin'd diverted or variously drawn aside by quantities of Iron that in Towns and Cities were more or less when Observation has been made near their Precincts As was the Opinion of Learned Gilbert who is said to have spent 50000 Crowns on his endeavour to find out the Secret But whatever were the Cause I think it not improper to mention the signal Observation made by practical Mr. Gunter in the 279 Page of his Book where he Writes that being inform'd in what place Mr. Bourough in the Year 1580 had observ'd the Variation of the Compass at Limehouse near London compar'd with the Azimuth of the Sun to be 11 dig 15 m. That he on the 13th of June 1622 made Observations on several Parts of the Ground in that Place and could find the greatest Variation of the Needle to be but 6 deg 10 m. Which differs from the Observation made by Mr. Bourough 5 deg 5 m. And tho' betwixt these Observations there was 42 Years difference it may be demonstratively concluded from them that if the Earth be suppos'd to Move as Des-Cartes Imagines it could not vary its Poles nor the Magnetical Needle if granted with him to have Poles also by the Virtue it receives from the Touch of the Magnet because both these Learned Authors made their Experiment in the same Place Having consider'd these Observations and not knowing whether or not the Variation of the Compass had been observ'd at Windsor where I now Reside I made from a high and convenient Place these following Observations by